01.22 - Undo of Healer

“A surprise?” I asked. “I don’t see any presents here.”

“It’s a bit… different,” Kentaro said. “But I am sure you’ll love it.”

He paused. Then he clapped his hands.

“But first, let’s eat,” Kentaro said. “It’s all on me today. Besides, we’re gonna need the stamina.”

He clapped his hands again.

“Man, you don’t know how much I missed that,” Kentaro said. “It’s the simple things. I really can’t thank you enough.”

“As long as you don’t audibly thank me in public…” I said.

The served dishes could be best described as a mix from various east asian and western influences, interpreted through the local ingredients and made to match the common taste.

Kinda like how a Chinese restaurant in the west doesn’t serve food the original culture would recognize, or how American bread is more akin to European cake than the real deal.

But of course, there were exceptions to the rule.

Anyway, the food was good, the dresses of the waitresses were better.

Excuse me.

That must be the very late stage puberty speaking through me.

This too was a pain.

It wasn’t nearly as bad as my unwanted second infancy more than a decade ago, but it had its downsides.

I had mostly made peace with the fact that my new body did somewhat influence my state of mind, but the thought of it still irked me.

Speaking of my libido, it did act up more than I liked, my mind did drift off from time to time. And those times got longer and more frequent by the day. Among other things.

Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of maidens around me. Girls of my reborn body’s age were alluring, but I usually caught myself fawning after older women. That in itself was another problem. What woman in their right mind would want to be seen courting a teenager? There must have been more than zero, but it didn’t seem that common. Sure, I could use ‘Transform’, but I was already juggling two personas.

Isabella seemed awfully friendly to my regular self. So did Reiko to my alias of Klein. But both of them were long time friends. They were both in their early to mid twenties by now, and my mind kept circling back to them from time to time.

“Ouch!” I cried out.

A rather strong poke from Tia’s elbow interrupted my musings.

“... we go there?” Kentaro finished what must have been a longer sentence.

“I am sorry, what?” I asked.

“I wanted to know if it’s okay with you if Tia leaves now,” Kentaro said. “She declined my invitation when I told her about it.”

“What?” I asked. “Oh… eh…. sure.”

“Are you getting cold feet?” Kentaro asked.

“I… what?” I asked.

“Everythings cool,” Tia said. “He’ll go. I’ll take my leave now.”

“Why are you answering for me?” I asked.

“Just trust the wingman on this,” Tia said.

“I… sure,” I said.

What exactly had I been daydreaming through?

—

The nature of the excursion slowly dawned on me as we passed some parts of town that were still mostly foreign to me. I was still transformed. Tia and I would keep up our alter egos as Tiffany and Klein when we were around Kentaro or Reiko. The only exception was his visit to the Tria Prima family’s workshop.

“She told me a bit about you,” Kentaro said. “On top of what I gathered during our quests, I mean. Is it true that you haven’t seen your old man even once?”

“Eh…” I said. “It’s not like I wanted too.”

“Well, I might be a poor substitute,” Kentaro said. “But I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I said.

It was after the next turn that we fully entered Lichtheim’s red light district.

“Stay close to me,” Kentaro said. “Try not to engage with the drunkards and johns. We could probably solo most of the dudes here, but starting a fight is just a recipe for disaster. Besides, I’d rather not be kicked out for good.”

That sounded like he ran into trouble before.

Not like I was eager to get in a fight.

“Are you a regular here?” I asked.

“Kinda,” Kentaro said. “And kinda not. You know, missing limbs and eyes weren’t exactly a chick magnet.”

I just shrugged my shoulders.

“I actually worked as a security guard here,” Kentaro said. “That was before my adventurer rank went above Iron.”

“I also knew a few of the workers,” Kentaro said. “Before their time here I mean. But it’s not exactly a good story.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Eh, you know, life happens,” he said. “Like Akane, one of the up and coming stars here. Her family used to live next door to us. Her father was an adventurer. Steel rank actually. He fell fighting against a Giant. Then her mother got sick and perished soon after. She ended up having to support the rest of her siblings. Pretty common story, to be honest.”

“Sounds rough,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “We all have to struggle with fate.”

“I didn’t exactly start working here as a guard by choice either,” he said. “It was either that or join as a goon for one of the local gangs. I actually lost my eye during that time. Not like adventuring was that great either. My arm was ripped off by a Hydra ten years ago. At least that was a worthy fight.”

He suddenly stopped.

“Here we are,” he said.

It was one of the more extravagant houses, going by the four floors and the fancy facade.

A lot of the other houses were smaller and more run down.

Thinking of it, the whole street seemed a bit more on the luxurious side.

Loud screams interrupted my train of thought.

“Bloody bastard!” a woman shouted from within.

Seconds later a blood covered man with a knife rushed out of the door.

Kentaro and I stood right in front of his path.