CHAPTER 227(Debilitating Wounds)

Please read the author's notes.

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CHAPTER START---

---Babel Adventurer Hospital, Waiting Room, 2 AM...

"I'm done," Airmid announces. Walking into the waiting room and earning worried looks from all its occupants. The doctor was wearing her usual outfit with a new set of black bags under her tired eyes.

Hephaestus, Tsubaki, Welf, Thalie, Freya, and Ottar look at her expectantly.

Hephaestus and Tsubaki were in casual sleepwear with the goddess having a robe to cover herself. Welf and Tsubaki were wearing their full armor, without Yang they didn't have the luxury of changing into less eye-catching clothing before entering the upper floors, thankfully exiting the dungeon at midnight meant the plaza was empty, but they didn't miss the curious glances Ottar shot their way ever so often. The man in question was wearing his usual outfit.

Freya wore a pair of simple white silk shorts with slippers and Yang's grey hoodie for a top. Eyes bloodshot before even being called to the hospital.

"That was quick," Hephaestus says, rising to her feet. "How is he?"

"We can continue in his recovery room," Airmid waves for them to follow as she walks further into the hospital, all but Ottar follow her, sharing a small glance with Freya and moving to return to Folkvangr.

Walking down the hallways nobody utters a word. Simply matching Airmids brisk pace down the well-lit hallways. Occasionally passing a nurse or two doing their nightly rounds, checking on sleeping patients.

At the very end of the hallway they came to a single closed door, spotless like everything else in Babel's hospital.

Sliding the door open Airmid leads them into a simple hospital room. A bit larger than most, clearly decorated to be more comfortable. Likely not a room most low-level adventurers would ever get to use. And a small bedside table with a metal bowl as well as a glass and pitcher of water.

Laying on the bed, wrapped in layers of bandages and completely knocked out is Yang, oblivious to the world around him and the worry plaguing everyone in the room.

"What was the issue?" Hephaestus asks as they follow Airmid to his bedside.

While everyone takes in his bandaged body, his entire torso tightly wrapped as well as his right thigh and head, Freya fades to the back of the conversation and stares at him with a facade of indifference. Worried that if she shows how she felt for even a moment she wouldn't be able to control herself, that everyone would see her at her weakest.

"Effectively he was, poisoned, or cursed," Airmid says.

"What?"

Airmid pushes past everyone and picks up the metal bowl from the table, gesturing for them to look inside.

Leaning in they see what looks like jet black splinters, a handful large enough to fill a tea cup. "Whatever these things are, they prevent whoever is stabbed by them from recovering magic or healing, or atleast lower the rate of recovery to a rate that may as well be zero."

"Nergigante..." Welf mutters.

"What?" Airmid gives him a confused look.

"A monster, the second strongest we dealt with on that expedition. I guess Yang never fully recovered, then the boss was too much for him," he says.

Airmid turns to look at Yang and gives him a vicious glare. "He fought while injured, hmph, another careless meathead adventurer."

"He's usually more careful than that," Thalie says. "But his goal was one monster away, he got a bit...tunnel-visioned."

"Inexcusable," Airmid says. "And you all should keep a closer eye on your allies, those wounds were severe, it looked as if someone threw a dozen javelins at him."

"Nergigante is covered in spikes," Welf says, earning a cold glare from Airmid.

Tsubaki snaps a finger to get everyone's attention. "Can we please focus on the recovery, I assure you they'll all be much more careful in the future, but what about Yang's health, where does he stand on that?"

"He'll be fine," Airmid says. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief before she continues. "Anyone else would be dead five times over with these things in their system, but his body is always healing because of his skills and magic, from my understanding," she earns a nod from Hephaestus. "He still has more of those things inside of him than I took out, these were the last to be broken down by his body, I expect he'll sweat out the rest over time."

"How long?" Thalie asks.

"Five to six weeks, after they're all gone he'll be able to fully recover his body and magic."

"Is there any way to speed this up?"

"No," Airmid says. "I already used all my magic, but as you know he resists Light Element so healing isn't very effective, and you've already showered him in Elixirs."

"Used all from a few of our supply caches on the way up here," Thalie says.

"Exactly, he's already been asleep for a week, he just needs to recover on his own now. I extracted as many as I could but nothing we have can help him any further."

"I see, guess we're stuck waiting," Thalie says.

"I'll make his stay as comfortable as possible. And when he's awake he'll have to take daily medicine until he's fully healed."

"Yang hates taking pills," Freya says, finally breaking her silence but never looking away from Yang.

"I'm sure you can get him to take them," Airmid says. "For now all we can do is keep his bandages clean and make sure he's comfortable. He should be awake in a day or two."

"Thank you Airmid," Hephaestus says.

"It's my pleasure lady Hephaestus, I don't mind getting out of bed to save a life, especially one as important as his, now if you'd all please follow me out, visiting hours ended a while ago and Yang needs his rest," Airmid gestures to the door. Receiving nods from most of them she watches them walk out, all but one.

Watching them leave Airmid turns to Freya. They all noticed her not following them out of the room, but none of them were surprised. They were used to her...devotion. But Airmid wasn't.

"Lady Freya, are you alright?" she asks the goddess, still staring at Yang like an indifferent statue.

Without even glancing at the doctor Freya speaks, "bring me a chair, and a blanket, this could be a cold night."

Airmid is slightly confused by this, "lady Freya you can't stay here o---" she's silenced by a murderous glare from Freya. Airmid's gaze drops to the floor as she instinctively lowers her head, suddenly very interested in the floor tiles.

"Do I need to repeat myself Airmid?" Freya asks with a dangerous edge to her voice. As if she were a moment away from lashing out at the innocent doctor.

"No lady Freya," Airmid says in a quiet, shaky voice.

"Thank you for saving him, I'll remember this in the future," Freya says in a suddenly kinder voice before turning back to Yang.

"I'll be right back," she scurries out of the room, a cold sweat suddenly forming on her forehead.

Taking the moment of privacy Freya reaches down and touches Yang's face, gently stroking his cheek.

Their expedition took over a month, she'd missed the warmth of his body. The feeling of joy she'd get just from being in the same room as him, knowing he was nearby. She was terrified that she'd never get that feeling again, that she'd never see him again.

Placing her palm on his cheek she doesn't feel his body radiating the same heat as before. She frowns at this.

"His magic must truly be low..."

Taking in his broken, bandaged body, she sees the bandages holding him together. And she sees his face appearing, uncomfortable, disturbed, hurt.

The goddess can't even begin to guess what's going on in his mind, maybe it was the recurring dream he always told her about. Maybe he was reliving his last expedition.

"Or are you so upset that you're stuck here with me just a bit longer?" she mutters to herself.

Allowing that thought to linger in her mind even more she suddenly can't help the tears flowing down her cheeks.

"If you knew what I was," she says in a brittle voice. "The things I've done and the things I'd gladly do to keep us together, I wouldn't even blame you for wanting to run away from me...maybe I am the unlovable goddess of love, Odr."

As Freya continues dwelling on her thoughts, she doesn't hear Airmid approaching with a wooden chair and an extra thick blanket. The doctor gently places it behind Freya before moving beside the goddess.

"Will that be---" Airmid is stunned silent at the sight of Freya crying. The true tears of a goddess, formerly Orario's most powerful goddess for over a decade. Suddenly everything snaps into place for her. She'd thought, like most thought, that Freya was simply playing with Yang because of his power, but now she sees. The same tears she's seen hundreds of times over when telling families their loved ones were never coming back. Tears of sorrow and heartbreak.

"He'll be ok," Airmid says. "Nobody else could survive this, but he's Yang Shen, he'll be fine, you won't lose him," she reassures Freya with a genuine smile.

"I know," Freya's tone becomes cold and blunt. She turns to Airmid and meets gazes with the doctor, allowing her to see the mix of pain, rage, and love in her bloodshot, teary, silver eyes. "Death isn't a good enough reason for him to leave me..."

---Trifecta Floor, Thalie's Bedroom...

Splayed out across her massive bed, Thalie was joined by Mikoto, the young girl resting her head on the woman's arm. And Tsubaki, sitting up on the other side of Mikoto, staring out the window.

They'd been talking for a few minutes and decided to get comfortable, after seeing Yang in that state it didn't feel right to be apart at the moment.

"Am I a bad person?" Thalie asks aloud, staring up at the ceiling and stroking her daughter's head.

"The answer is probably yes," Tsubaki says. "But in what context are you talking about right now?"

"All he wants to do is finish his adventure and go home right," Thalie says, keeping the details vague because Mikoto was still present. "He's done so much for us, me especially. And I...when I saw him there I just thought, it'd be good if he fails."

Tsubaki thinks it over for a minute before she responds. "Believe me you aren't the only one who thinks that, but that's not our choice to make."

"I know," Thalie groans. "But it's hard just watching him leave, him failing wouldn't be so bad, right?"

"He'd die," Tsubaki says. "Yang will keep trying until he wins or dies, you know that."

Thalie sighs, "I know, still feels like shit just waiting for him to leave."

"It's like the orphanage," Mikoto says, earning curious looks from both women.

"What do you mean?" Tsubaki asks.

"Well, in The Far East, between monsters, wars, factions, famine, diseases---"

"It's a shit hole we get it," Thalie says. "Get to the point."

Mikoto pouts at her mom before turning on her side and wrapping an arm around Thalie, holding her in a hug. "We had to watch a lot of kids get adopted instead of us, for years and years. Nobody wanted us and it felt like the kids were happy to leave us at first."

"At first?" Thalie asks.

"Mhm, lord Take explained that they weren't happy to leave us any more than we were. They were happy to have a family, or for Yang, happy to get back to his family. Just think about it like that," Mikoto says.

"Easier said than done," Thalie pulls Mikoto a bit closer and closes her eyes, trying to go to sleep. "But yeah I'll try to be happy for him."

Seeing Thalie and Mikoto so close Tsubaki can't help but chuckle.

Thalie cracks one eye open and glances over at her, "what's so funny?"

"Oh nothing, just, never thought motherhood would look good on you, maybe you should adopt another one, Take has two other girls," Tsubaki teases.

"I don't take in trash," Thalie bites out.

Mikoto frowns, "why can't you say anything nice about my friends for once?"

"I will, when I find something about them that isn't completely worthless..."

Tsubaki chuckles again as they begin bickering, "that's more like it," she mutters to herself.

---Trifecta Floor, Welf's Bedroom...

Laying in bed Welf only wears a pair of shorts below the blanket. He looks up at the small piece of what looks like a pitch-black stone in his hand, staring intently into it as if it offended him.

Laying beside him Hephaestus is only in her underwear below the blanket, head on his shoulder and one hand draped across his chest as she also stares at the item.

"What do you plan to do with it?" Hephaestus asks.

"No idea, it has some Dragon Energy but, not enough to make anything. It's the first time a monster ever dropped what generates the energy from them, Nergigante's horn."

"Then you need more, maybe the bigger Elder Dragons will drop more like this."

"Probably..."

They fall into a comfortable silence, Hephaestus lifts her head slightly to get a look at his face with both her eyes, her eyepatch was on the bedside table. Exposing her draconic right eye with both its independent pupils moving about to study Welf.

"Are you worried about him?" Hephaestus asks.

Welf chuckles, "if it were anyone else I would be, but Yang won't let something like this stop him, he'll be fine."

"But you're worried about something, what is it?"

Welf releases a deep sigh and twists his body to deposit the drop item on the floor before settling back under Hephaestus.

"What about after?" he asks.

"After what?"

"After his adventure, he leaves, that's the end of it right. Thalie finished her goals and got Mikoto. I accomplished my goals," he turns and kisses Hephaestus on the forehead causing her to blush. "Then what?"

"Well, you could go back to selling publicly, not that I think most people could afford you, so maybe custom jobs only?"

"That sounds fine I suppose, keep testing myself and what I can make, right?"

"Hmm," Hephaestus smirks as she brings up a brand new topic, something they'd foolishly never discussed. "What about babies? Retired adventurers make babies right?"

Welf chokes on nothing at the thought. "Well, yeah. But I mean, you're a goddess."

"Right, I can't get pregnant," she lies easily. "But if I could, would you want a family, if you were with someone who could have children that is."

Welf gives her a suspicious look. "Yang warned me about trap questions like this, is this gonna start a fight?"

"Tch, no," she rolls her eyes at him. "I'm just curious about what our future holds and what you want from it."

"Hmm," Welf considers what he should say for a long moment. "Well, yeah. I'm twenty-one, super accomplished, and honestly, aside from adding levels to my Falna, not much else left to do. Guess we would start having babies pretty quickly."

Hephaestus's face goes tomato red as her heart tries to leap out of her chest, her entire body suddenly feeling like it was on fire.

"So I guess we should work on that eventually then," she says.

"What do you mean?"

"Starting a family, obviously."

"Um... I don't know if you'd be ok with that, with me at least," Welf says.

Hephaestus blinks dumbly at him, "what do you mean, why not?"

"Well... let's say I'd rather not adopt," he gives a sheepish smile.

It takes a moment for Hephaestus to fully grasp what he was implying, and to her credit she maintained her composure better than most would have. "Well what you're implying is...a bit much to ask of me, I'm not as open to sharing as Freya."

"I know."

"But, if we had a Riveria of our own, just out of curiosity, who would you choose?"

Welf can feel a cold sweat about to break out, he swallows nervously, "ok, this definitely feels like a trap."

"It's not!" Hephaestus replies a bit too forcefully.

Welf tries to look away only for her to grab his head and force him to look into her eyes, it warms her heart every time he looks at her and doesn't even flinch at the sight of her eye.

"Just tell me, I'm only curious I promise," she gives her most inviting smile.

"Mmm," Welf tries his best, but sadly, "Shakti," he caves in.

Hephaestus just gives him a blank stare, before her face turns to a harsh glare and she turns her back to him, not saying a word.

"Hep---"

"You aren't allowed to be anywhere near her anymore!" she barks out.

Welf rolls his eyes and lays on his side, pulling her into his chest. "Yang was right, there is no such thing as a normal woman in this world, certainly not a goddess. You're all so dramatic," he chuckles.

"I'm not dramatic!"

END CHAPTER---