Chapter 135: A Surgery I Can't Perform
“Uh…… um……. This is really…….”
Minsia, the grand matriarch of the Hoblood Clan. After hearing her—or rather, his—explanation, my throat tightened, and even my breath caught. It was impossible to fully grasp the anguish he must have felt upon confronting the invasion of his clan and the brutal abduction of his precious granddaughter, whom he'd raised like a forbidden fruit.
But what shocked me even more was that the body of this woman who looked to be in her twenties actually housed a seventy-year-old master, and not just any old man, but one straight out of a wuxia novel—someone utterly far from ordinary.
“Hoo…… It's the first time I've spoken of this to anyone outside the Hoblood Clan. Though it hasn't solved anything, unburdening my heart like this has lightened it considerably.”
“I'm glad it helped.”
But it's made my own heart unbearably heavy.
Psychiatrists, whose daily work involves probing patients' psychological issues, seek mental health counseling more frequently than doctors in other fields.
No matter how I look at it, I need to teach Rebecca, Hazel, and Stella some psychiatry……
Generally, you don't get psychiatric counseling from people you know. But when it comes to fully grasping and mastering psychiatric knowledge in a short time, the witches are the only option.
Psychotherapy, which explores unconscious dynamics, prohibits sessions between close relations. Even in cases requiring deep interviews for treatment, familiarity between psychiatrist and patient inevitably breeds discomfort.
The biggest issue is having to interact outside of treatment. But right now, that's not the point. My own mental health is suffering.
I'm someone who cherishes not just my body, but my mind as well. That's why I constantly strive to maintain positive thoughts.
But for a seventy-year-old master to end up in a body like his granddaughter's…… and for that granddaughter to be kidnapped by mad wizards……
I kept my expression neutral, but as our conversation continued, my mind grew foggy. That's when he pulled a crystal orb from his bosom and projected an image of an elderly man and a young woman into the air.
“This was the last image of me with Soso, before I entered closed-door training.”
“You look so much like…… the grand matriarch.”
“Heh heh, yes. She truly takes after me.”
What I'd meant was that Minsia's current appearance resembled the image of Min Soso in the crystal orb. But seeing his face filled with longing, I held back further comment.
From the orb alone, she didn't seem at all like an outsider—almost suspiciously similar.
Minsia stared piercingly at the projected images of himself and his granddaughter, then let out a heavy sigh before continuing.
“This body…… it's utter torment for me now.”
“You must miss your granddaughter terribly.”
“Yes…… Every time I look in the mirror and see this face that mirrors Soso's, the image of that child—tortured by those bastards, whom I'd tear limb from limb a thousand times over—haunts me relentlessly.”
As memories of the kidnapping resurfaced, Minsia's eyes squeezed shut, his body trembling with rage. After a moment to steady his breathing, he pressed on.
“When those vile scum abducted Soso, I destroyed every mirror in the Hoblood Clan's territory. This cursed form, twisted by black magic into a woman's body, drove me mad just by evoking her image.”
His eyes gleamed coldly again as he spat those words.
“And you! Without knowing, you not only used my name, but also the heirloom we hold sacred in the Hoblood Clan—the symbol of our house!!”
“I'm sorry. If I'd known the circumstances, I never would have done the tattoo for Duke Lancaster. But why did you go to such lengths to gather magic stones?”
I kept my tone casual and composed, but my vitals were spiking beyond what reciting the Heart Sutra could cover.
The quickest way to defuse an opponent's rage? An apology and a swift topic change.
“Hm…… Yes, in the midst of my irreplaceable granddaughter's abduction, my quest for northern magic stones must have seemed bizarre.”
As I abruptly shifted to magic stones, Minsia's gruff voice softened noticeably.
Aside from the black magic, bipolar disorder seems almost certain.
“After Soso vanished, my first act was to lead the Hoblood Clan's elites to the magic tower in Hermilda Territory. But as expected, they feigned ignorance.”
“But didn't the clan head confirm the black mages were mages from the Hermilda magic tower?”
“Yes, but it turned out the territory office staff there had fallen victim to black magic just like us Hoblood clansmen.”
I couldn't hide my surprise at Minsia's continued explanation. Even Rebecca, a genius witch, had said no spell of hers could last that long.
Mind-altering disruption magic typically lasts minutes to an hour at most. Only a 5th Circle tower master could sustain it for a full day.
But these black mages, using blood as a medium—or perhaps some other reason—cast spells beyond ordinary mages' capabilities.
Regular mages who lop off limbs are brutal enough. Black mages, with their superior power, are existences to avoid at all costs.
“Back at the Hoblood Clan, with help from nearby tower mages, we broke the brainwashing on our clansmen. My foolish son only then remembered Soso……”
Minsia, the grand matriarch, went on with the tale. The reason he relentlessly gathered northern magic stones? To erect defensive barriers across the entire Hoblood territory to prevent such tragedies.
“Defensive barriers? Magic stones can be sourced elsewhere—why specifically from Lancaster Duchy?”
“Indeed, they seem no different for ordinary use. But activating an anti-black-magic barrier requires vast mana.”
I'd thought Duke Tolstoy was just bragging about quality. But Minsia's words revealed the northern stones were far superior.
“Ordinary dungeon stones can't handle the power, they say. Do you not know even your Black Moon Church's crystal orbs are made from northern stones?”
Minsia clicked his tongue lightly and continued.
“No matter how precious my granddaughter's life, I am the Hoblood Clan's grand matriarch. Lightning may strike twice. There's no guarantee it won't happen again. Moreover, tracing the black mages' remnants required sending clansmen to the South Continent—not just anyone would do.”
“The South Continent…… you mean the Land of Darkness?”
At my startled question, Minsia nodded slowly.
“Yes, few return alive from the South Continent unscathed. That's why, after full preparations, I intended to go myself.”
The South Continent, also called the Land of Darkness. It was the place where Owen—former Exploration Tower master and Rebecca's teacher—had been suspected of secretly importing cinnabar, a mercury ingredient, from.
“And with my body like this, I needed preparations too. My dantian remained intact, but a lifetime of martial mastery had left my muscles and functions severely diminished.”
“……”
Grand Matriarch Minsia's true age was sixty-eight this year. Muscle weakens with age as a rule—how formidable must he have been in his prime? Even now, in a woman's form, he exuded strength, his palms thick with calluses.
“A year and a half after Soso's abduction, I've only now recovered about eighty percent of my original realm. Yet this body remains excruciating. Seeing my reflection in streams or blades—the pain is indescribable. Part of me wanted to carve this face unrecognizable……”
But he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Min Soso, as seen in the crystal orb, looked nearly identical to the Minsia before me.
“If the grand matriarch finds this face too painful, I could perform procedures to make it resemble your original as closely as possible.”
“Heh heh heh, what an amusing fellow. I knew from Duke Lancaster that you do peculiar procedures and surgeries, but changing one's face? You're not talking about a dermal mask, are you?”
“A dermal mask?”
“A mask made from flayed human skin.”
“……”
Is that what a dermal mask from wuxia novels is—sliced from people's faces?
Western Continent mages are bizarre enough, but East Continent martial artists are equally grotesque.
“I don't know what Duke Lancaster told you, but it's not something like a skin mask. Typically, I perform surgeries shaving bones or inserting implants to help patients achieve their desired look.”
Minsia stroked his nonexistent beard in the air and let out a hearty laugh.
“Heh heh heh, truly entertaining. If surgery can alter appearance, could you make me male again? I'd pay any fortune for it, ho ho ho.”
“Externally, yes.”
“Gah! Don't jest like that!”
“……”
Even madness should be refined. This one's not.
Thinking we'd need another bipolar screening after this, I continued.
“I only answered your question truthfully. As I said, only the exterior—unlike a natural male, full functionality wouldn't be possible…… Um…… Grand Matriarch? Are you alright?”
Minsia, now in a girlish form resembling his granddaughter exactly. His large eyes, fringed with long lashes, welled up without a blink, tears streaming like a broken faucet. I quickly offered tissues, but he ignored them.
“Truly…… is what you said fact?”
“Cease your qi, old man! This time I'll end you!”
“I asked if you could restore me—return me to a man's form!”
Tears pouring chillingly, Grand Matriarch Minsia began emitting a fierce blue qi.
Oh no! This is my office!
As his robes fluttered from the qi surge and Walter drew his sword, stepping forward, I shouted.
“I-it's possible, so both of you calm down!”
“You truly mean…… you can restore my form to a man's?”
Like a child desperate for confirmation, Minsia asked again. I took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
“……The surgery itself is possible. But it's a surgery I can't perform.”