Chapter 152
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Hospitalization (2)
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Even after Gloria examined me again and confirmed there were no other issues with my body, I couldn't shake off the lingering unease.
'Why would someone from the committee come to see me?'
I had no idea why the person I met was really Yohan, one of the committee's two seats. Was it because of what happened on the 22nd floor? But he had just examined me and left without a word.
'Maybe Vivian knows something.'
It seemed like I had one more question to ask Vivian when I saw her.
Gloria left with a tired look on her face, saying she was busy. I started organizing the questions I wanted to ask Vivian later.
'Whether the Labyrinth is connected to Earth, who the voice of "Death" and the other voice belong to, why Vivian is collecting these scraps of paper...'
I pulled out a scrap from my inventory and jotted things down. Then I heard footsteps outside the door, and it burst open energetically.
"Uncle! I'm here!"
"It's not uncle, it's oppa."
Clara, who had burst in full of energy, sat by my bed as if it were routine now. Ever since she saw my arm had been severed, she had been visiting like this every day.
She said she was here to nurse me, but honestly, I wasn't uncomfortable at all, so it just felt burdensome.
"Anything I can help with, uncle?"
"First, try calling me oppa instead of uncle?"
"Uncle."
"........."
Doesn't nursing involve caring for the patient's mental health too?
"How about nursing other patients instead of me?"
So I tried to politely suggest she go somewhere else. It was sweet that Clara came to help me, but having her visit every day and play with her was draining my energy.
"Tch. Mom said not to go near the other patients because they're dangerous."
And as if sensing the implication in my words, Clara puffed out her cheeks. But wait a second.
"Dangerous?"
When I asked what she meant by dangerous, Clara shook her head, saying she didn't know either.
"I don't know. There've been a sudden influx of admissions, and I wanted to help Mom with treatments, but she said it's dangerous."
"........."
At those words, I instinctively recalled the patients I saw restrained in other rooms during my walk today.
Those patients who looked somehow off.
'...They'll handle it themselves.'
It felt a bit unsettling, but since it had nothing to do with me whether there were patients or not, I shook my head and quietly watched Clara, who was now mangling fruit, saying she'd peel some for me.
And Clara, true to the disastrous dexterity she'd shown when knitting before, was scattering fruit fragments everywhere as she butchered it.
'...How do you even peel like that with a peeler?'
And not even with a knife, but a potato peeler at that. By the time Clara finished, her clothes and mine—watching from beside her—were a total mess.
As if used to the sight, Clara activated a magic tool enchanted with 'Clean', leaving only a fruit core about a quarter of its original size.
'This is so sticky.'
Even though the 'Clean' magic tool had tidied up, I still felt the sticky fruit juice lingering on my skin as I took a bite of the fruit Clara offered and muttered without thinking.
"I wanna take a bath."
A bath. Ever since surviving that freezing 22nd floor and returning, I'd been dying for a hot soak, but I'd been hospitalized right away and hadn't properly washed yet.
Thanks to 'Clean' magic, I was staying clean, but maintaining hygiene with magic felt completely different from actually washing. And now with fruit juice all over me again, the stickiness wouldn't go away.
"A bath?"
Clara, catching my mutter, stared straight into my eyes.
"Um... uncle. The bandages on your arm. They're waterproof magic, right?"
"...Yeah. Why all of a sudden?"
My severed left arm was wrapped in bandages now. They said it helped keep it fixed so it wouldn't regrow weirdly, plus protective spells like waterproofing to keep out debris.
But why bring it up now?
"Hehe... come with me, uncle!"
"Wait. Where are we going?"
"The bathhouse!"
...The bathhouse?
Clara suddenly declared she'd take me to the bathhouse and grabbed my arm, heading somewhere.
'Is there a bathhouse inside the temple?'
I'd never seen one while hospitalized. Maybe a simple shower, but a full soaking tub?
I was a bit flustered by Clara's sudden bathhouse offer, but honestly, if she was really taking me to one, it'd be great, so I followed her obediently.
We entered a corridor I'd never seen before, walked for a while, and Clara stopped in front of a door.
"We're here, uncle."
'...?'
No matter how I looked at it, it didn't seem like a bathhouse door. Clara pulled a key from her pocket and opened it. Inside was...
"...Wait, weren't we going to the bathhouse?"
"Huh? Yeah."
"...This looks exactly like your house though?"
A small bed and a large one side by side, a tiny kitchen in the corner, a table and chairs for two, and a wardrobe... it was a 'home'.
"There's a bathhouse here!"
"No, that's not what I—"
Misinterpreting my flustered question, Clara insisted there was a bath and opened a small door in the living space.
"You can use the bathhouse here, uncle."
"...Even so, using the bath you and Gloria use feels a bit..."
I thought it was inappropriate for me to use a mother-daughter's private space, so I made an awkward face and declined, but Clara was insistent.
And as I kept refusing, Clara dropped her trump card.
"Uncle, you stink."
"....!!!!"
Me, stinky? I maintained hygiene daily with the Clean magic tool, but compared to actually washing, there was a faint odd smell...
Anyway, when the usually clingy Clara suddenly changed attitude and looked at me like I was dirty, I was more shocked than ever and meekly entered the bathroom as she suggested.
'...Her stubbornness must come from her mom.'
I recalled Gloria forcibly binding me yesterday when I refused hospitalization. Looks like Clara took after her mother.
After shoving me into the bathroom and saying she'd eat in the meantime, Clara left. I closed the door and carefully undressed.
'...Can't just leave these outside.'
There was underwear and such, so if Clara came back and saw, it'd be awkward. I stowed all my clothes in my inventory and cautiously stepped into the filled tub.
"....Haaahhhh...."
And an uncle-like groan escaped my lips. Is this why Clara kept calling me uncle?
The sticky feeling from days without a proper wash faded, and the muscle fatigue I couldn't relieve with [Heavenly Touch] due to missing an arm began to ease as the hot water warmly enveloped me.
'...Feels so good...'
Soaking in the hot water lifted my mood, making me drowsy. I entrusted my body to the water flow and slowly closed my eyes.
Steam rose gently from the hot water, gradually filling the bathroom.
'No ventilation?'
Seemed like I needed to activate some magic tool for that, but I had no idea which... whatever. A bit steamy bath wouldn't hurt. No problems.
Just close my eyes like this and relax a bit...
"Hoo... my head..."
Gloria, just finishing an exam on a new patient, sat down complaining of fatigue.
"This patient has the same symptoms too..."
She furrowed her brow, thinking of the characteristics of the patients suddenly flooding the Labyrinth City, a headache brewing.
'A drug that potions and divine power can't cure... does something like that even exist?'
Lately, patients addicted to a new 'drug' spreading in the Labyrinth City were overflowing. It wasn't unusual; illegal drugs always circulated here.
But this 'drug' was different. Divine power didn't work on it? Unheard of.
There was even a saying: 'If divine power doesn't heal, maybe you just lack enough divine power.' Faith in divine power was that absolute here.
It could heal any injury, disease, poison, curse—anything.
But this new 'drug'...
"...I need a break."
Having pushed herself treating patients, Gloria felt deep fatigue and decided on a short rest.
'I wonder if Sia's doing okay... She joined the investigation team right when Ian went missing. Ian returned safely, so Sia should too...'
Worrying about Sia in the Labyrinth, Gloria stretched. She thought of Ian, who had returned safely.
'...Ian...'
When she heard from Sia that Ian had entered the Labyrinth and then the anomaly hit, her heart nearly stopped. Not just despair from losing hope to heal Sia, but...
'...Dear...'
She recalled her late husband, who entered the Labyrinth and never returned. She worried if Ian would meet the same fate.
But Ian came back intact. Well, minus an arm, so not fully intact... but alive was a relief. And when he tried to refuse hospitalization, she lost it and cast binding magic without thinking... She'd apologize properly later.
Ever since her husband overexerted himself to death, she couldn't leave anyone enduring pain silently.
-...Drip...
"...Ngh!"
Thinking of Ian, Gloria felt a sudden wet sensation at her chest. She glanced around to ensure no one saw and peeked inside her top.
"...Breast milk again..."
Since her birthday last time, milk occasionally leaked from her breasts. She wasn't mismanaging divine power, so why...?
"...Can't ignore this. Need to wash up... and express some."
She sighed at the heavily soaked milk, wiped with a cloth but still feeling sticky, and decided to go wash.
Most scheduled patients today had the same symptoms, so few divine treatments, ending work early.
Worried about more leaking, Gloria hurriedly closed the clinic door and headed to the temple's residential area.
"Mom! Ian uncle is... Huh? Where'd she go?"
Just barely missing each other, Clara arrived at the clinic to find Gloria gone and tilted her head.
"I was gonna tell her Ian uncle is borrowing our bathroom... Where is she?"