When they reached Linus’ house puffing and blowing, a lot of people were gathering in front of the house.
“Oh, Jin! You came back!”
“Hey, Jin is back!”
Most of the people gathering in front of the house were men. Even Linus himself was outside.
“M-Martha, Jin is back!”
The door opened, and Martha appeared.
“Jin! Mine and Elsa, too! You’ve come at the right time! Mine, Elsa, please help me! … Jin, I’m sorry but you’ll have to wait outside.”
Martha, who beckoned Elsa and Mine, closed the door as soon as they entered the house.
Upon listening more carefully, a painful moan could be heard coming from inside the house. Jin asked Linus what was happening.
“Well, around noon today, Sera said her stomach was suddenly hurting. Martha took a look at her condition, but after 2 hours, she started to suffer terrible pain …”
Linus and Sera had an eight-year-old daughter, Patty, so this was not her first birth.
A few moments later, the door opened and Mine appeared. When she spotted where Jin was, she made her report in a hurry.
“Lord Jin! Ms. Sera is having a breech delivery! If this continues, both the mother and child’s lives are in danger! Do you know of a midwife or a Healer who’s familiar with this kind of childbirth?”
Mine had only given birth to Elsa. Even though Elsa had some knowledge, she had no experience. Martha could not do anything regarding breech delivery.
“Since Elsa is there, both of them should be in less danger. But it can’t be left as it is. Please, find an experienced Healer!”
“A-all right!”
After answering briefly, Jin rushed back to the workshop. Of course, Reiko followed him as well.
“Father, what are you going to do?”
“… I have no choice but to go to some city and bring back a midwife or a Healer.”
Jin answered while dashing down to the basement.
“But I don’t have time to search for them … Oh, that’s right!”
Jin suddenly remembered Sally Milleshan, a healer he met in Tellurus. She was an exceptional Healer. Even if she was not familiar with childbirth, she would most likely be able to refer Jin to one.
Jin went to Horai Island through the Warp Gate and asked Laojun the coordinates of the Warp Gate that was the closest to Tellurus.
“The ruins of the 8th fort would be the closest.”
That was the site where the Unifiers used as their base when they kidnapped Elsa.
“Got it. Just like the day before yesterday, I’m leaving with Pegasus 1 via the Transporter. Then I’ll use the Warp Gate on Pegasus 1 to come back.”
Jin was using the same method of traveling as when he investigated Marcus.
This time, the ruins of the 8th fort was the marker, so the error was small.
With Invisible activated, they approached the riverside near Tellurus. That was the riverside where MIne was washed up ashore with serious injury.
After landing Pegasus 1 there, Jin and Reiko disembarked.
As a matter of precaution, Pegasus 1 was left standing by, hovering in the air. It would descend if Jin called upon it.
It was a little after 1 pm at Tellurus.
Jin headed straight for the Milleshan Healing Center.
“I’m sure it’s around here somewhere …”
At the end of a narrow road, he found a familiar door with the sign “Milleshan Healing Center” written on it.
“Here, here!”
The door was tattered with holes here and there. There were pebbles and stones scattered around as well.
The place seemed to be deserted, but Jin pushed open the door and went inside.
“Hello.”
There was no reply. There no patients in sight. Everything was quiet.
“Doctor? Doctor Sally Milleshan?”
When Jin called her name out loud, a noise was heard coming from the back. Jin went further inside to check it out.
He found Sally in the far corner of a dimly lit room.
“Doctor …!”
“Hmm? … Who are you? …”
Her appearance was unkempt with dirty clothes, ruffled hair, and hollow cheeks.
Although her dark blonde ponytail and blue eyes remained unchanged, Jin could not believe his eyes that he was looking at Sally Milleshan, who had always been dedicated to her work.
“… What in the world happened?”
“Hmm? Oh, oh, you’re … Jin, aren’t you?”
Sally asked while an alcoholic breath oozed out of her mouth.
“As you can see, I’m drinking because I don’t have any patients. That’s all there is to it.”
“Why don’t you have any patients?”
The question seemed to have been taboo. Sally’s eyes turned vindictive.
“Why? Ahahahahaha! They’re all fools! Blood-purified medicine is creepy, they said?!”
“Huh?”
“Every last one of them! I literally bled myself and did research for every one of your sake’s! But they whined about how only demons used that method to create medicine!”
When she helped Mine who was gravely injured, Jin told Sally to “combine Healing magic with a recovery medicine obtained by precipitating a demon’s blood that possessed magical power”.
Sally seemed to have practiced it with her own blood. Residents who knew about it rejected to acknowledge Sally who used such medicine.
Jin managed to infer from Sally’s drunkenly incoherent words.
“They even threw stones at me! Hahahahaha … Funny, isn’t it? Laugh!”
She mowed down the table with her hands. Empty bottles of liquor fell to the floor and shattered.
She had become self-deprecating. Truthfully, she could have blamed Jin who taught her that method originally. But she did not.
“Doctor, I’m sorry I told you unnecessary things …”
She threw a cup at Jin. Reiko fetched it just before it hit Jin. Jin silently stopped Reiko who was enraged.
“It’s not your fault! It’s my bad! Because I’m helpless!”
“Doctor …”
“Why do you think I became a Healer? To help others! To save people! But do they know how painful it is being rejected even though I had such intention at heart?!”
Jin wondered what to do after hearing her spiel regarding what had happened to her.
In dramas, this would be the perfect time to slap her back to reality and give her a loud pep talk.
However, Jin could not bring himself to do that to Sally.
While Jin was contemplating what to do, Reiko changed the subject.
“Doctor, there’s someone suffering from dystocia. Would you please lend a helping hand?”
Sally stopped laughing as soon as she heard Reiko’s request.
“What … did you say …?”
The vindictiveness in her eyes dissipated.
“Did you say … dystocia? How long has it been?”
“Well, about 3 hours already …”
Jin responded after making the estimate in his mind. Before he could take a breath, Sally exploded in anger.
“Idiot! Why didn’t you come earlier?! It’s dangerous for both mother and child!”
“Oh, right now, she has someone who can use Healing magic by her side. She has no experience in assisting delivery, though.”
After Jin said so, Sally’s anger subsided a little.
“Well, then that’s a little better. … Wait, I’ll get ready … Oops.”
Sally tried to get up, but staggered because her drunken body did not cooperate. Jin helped to support her.
“Please pull yourself together, Doctor.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. … ‘Detox’.”
Sally used magic that Jin was not familiar with. She became as fit as a fiddle in an instant.
“Doctor, what magic was that?”
“Um, ‘Detox’? It’s a healing magic that removes toxins from the body. I finally completed it recently.”
“Completed?”
Apparently, Sally had been developing a new healing magic. That was definitely no easy task.
“I see, that’s why it’s called ‘alcoholic poisoning’. Did you get rid of the alcohol?”
“That’s right. You understand well. … But this isn’t the time to chit chat about this. Help me with the preparation!”
“Yes.”
With Jin and Reiko’s help, Sally packed some healing equipment in her bag.
Jin felt relieved. It appeared that she lost her temper due to the alcohol.
Jin had a strange impression that there would be no such thing as a drama-like development.
In the meantime, Sally finished packing her clothes and appeared.
“OK, let’s go.”
Seeing her with a large baggage, Jin could not help but ask.
“Doctor, what’s with all the baggage?”
“Hmm? I have no intention to come back here anymore. After I helped the patient you mentioned, I’m thinking of going on a trip.”
“I see …”
Upon hearing this, Jin invited her to Kaina Village and thought in the back of his mind that perhaps to invite her to Fuso Island, preferably his Horai Island family in the future.
“All right, let’s go. Please show me the way.”
After leaving her healing clinic, Sally glanced over her shoulder. She soon followed Jin with a trot without turning around.
“Hey, up ahead is the river. Is there a woman in labor up ahead?”
Sally was suspicious of where Jin was taking her to. Jin turned toward her and explained with a serious expression.
“Yes, the patient is in the Klein Kingdom. We’ll be heading there shortly using an Artifact.”