01.23 - The Brilliant Healer`s Work in the Shadows

The blood covered man with the knife attempted to push right through us.

I swiftly readied a fighting stance.

But before I was fully prepared, Kentaro jumped in front of me, extended his left arm, and took him out with a lariat.

What a show.

“Seems like that also restored my muscle memory,” Kentaro said. “Just like in the good old days.”

The assailant was out cold, lying on the ground between us and the front door.

I used a weak kick to move the knife away from his hand, just to be sure.

An injured security guard arrived at the door right after that.

“Oi, Kentaro, long time no see,” he said. “Thanks for picking up the trash.”

“You’re welcome,” Kentaro said. “But I’d prefer a different kind of welcome next time. Which idiot allowed an armed bloke entry to the house?”

The security guard seemed to ignore Kentaro’s last question while he searched the unconscious man for other weapons, while still bleeding from a small cut on his right arm.

“You okay?” Kentaro asked.

“I am fine,” the guard said. “It’s just a scratch. But…”

“What?” Kentaro asked.

“Three of the girls weren’t as lucky,” the guard said.

“Who?” Kentaro asked. “What about Akane?”

The guard fell silent.

Kentaro grabbed my arm with a force that could have crushed a weaker man's limb and dragged me along inside.

My sight passed a woman with blue hair and strange fins where her ears should have been, lying on the ground in a pool of blood as Kentaro rushed to the second floor with me in tow.

Another injured woman with blonde hair and fox ears lay near the top of the stairs, with two other women trying to apply a potion to her wounds.

After passing all of them, Kentaro almost broke through a door he probably could have just opened with a small push.

We reached a luxurious room rampaged in what could have been a fight.

Two girls and an older woman surrounded a lady with long red-orange hair in a red kimono, partially torn and dyed with her own blood.

“It’s not working,” one of the girls said.

“But we don’t have any more High Health Potions,” the other said.

“The cuts are too deep,” the old woman said. “Probably injured some organs too. She probably won’t make it.”

Kentaro’s grip strength increased on hearing that last line.

“Please,” he whispered as he finally released my arm.

That must have been Akane.

Just my damn luck.

“Fine,” I whispered back, “but get those three out of here first. And close the door behind you.”

Kentaro already began to move before I had half finished the sentence.

He grabbed both girls in one swing and then lifted the old woman into the air.

“Kentaro?!” she asked. “What are you doing here? And what do you think you’re…”

“Just shut up granny,” he said. “It’ll be fine.”

He had dragged them off faster than I had expected.

I was now alone in the room with the dying Akane, bathed in blue light.

Healing her wounds was simple.

Reconnect the bigger severed blood vessels within the injured organs, mend the ripped tissue, and finally, close the wounds.

Took less than a minute overall.

Akane was unconscious through the whole ordeal.

I could replace some of the lost blood, but creating living things burned through my Energy, so I left it slightly above the save amount.

When I opened the door, the old lady rushed back in, with the two girls in tow.

“She’ll make it,” I said as I faced Kentaro.

My eyes wandered to the woman near the stairs and the girl on the ground floor.

The damage was done already.

If this was to be reported anyway, I could just as well try to save the other two while I am at it.

In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say.

Fortunately, I was still in the guise of the adventurer Klein, so any possible damage could be routed to him.

“Could you clear out the house for me?” I asked.

Kentaro looked surprised as he followed my gaze, then immediately began to throw out all the men on the upper floor and then did the same on the ground level.

While he was busy clearing the building, I first tended to the blonde woman with the fox ears, her wounds were a bit more shallow compared to Akane, but still nothing a simple potion could fix.

Finally, I reached the blue haired girl with the fins. She too had some nasty wounds, but had remained conscious during the assault and the whole healing process. She smiled at me and our gazes were locked for a long while.

Kentaro and I fled the venue right after the girls had stabilized.

Without giving my name or leaving much of a trace behind.

Well, at least his present turned into a big surprise, that much was true.

—

Predicting the next event in the chain should have been as easy as predicting 4 o'clock at 3:55, which just happened to be the time Kentaro knocked at our door two days later.

My mother was still out and about at the time, and Alfred almost had to drag me and Tia out of our beds.

“Couldn’t that have waited till morning?” I asked, still half asleep.

“No,” Kentaro said as he slowly shook his head. “They got Akane. Koharu and Loreley too.”

Were those the names of the other two girls?

“Who got whom?” I asked, still tired and visibly confused.

“The holy inquisition," Kentaro said. “They also tried to get me and Reiko, but I dealt with them. I probably injured, or even killed, a holy knight or two. I left Reiko with a friend. But we have to act. Now.”