Rasial- The Talented Alchemist (Part 2)

In the spacious ward, one bed was occupied out of the many. An Old man sat on the bed as Han examined him using his stethoscope. Though the next second The old man coughed aggressively splattering his saliva on Han's cheeks which the physician blankly ignored. The old man and his guardian surprised at his action let out a small smile unknowingly.

The granddaughter's face twisted into a slight smile, she had to inform others of such a physician existing out here. Though she wondered why the physician decided to open his clinic here in the eath forest. Not that It wasn't allowed rather No one preferred it since it was isolated and only local people from Siron city visited.

Anyhow she had to inform others of such a clinic even though it was expensive it was worthwhile, and he was a treasure, to say the least not like the other physicians or herbalists she had visited. Those barbarians…just remembering how they treated her grandfather made her heart boil.

Han continued checking the patient, he read off of the system panel which popped up beside the patient analyzing his symptoms. The Physician's normal routine checkup was interrupted as he heard the sounds of shoes stomping. He turned his head to find the source and saw 2 individuals had entered the ward.

Everyone who was on the floor swung their gazes to rest on the 2 individuals that just walked in casually. Their steps contained no hesitation. A Blond man who oozed elegance but hard to tell was a noble man seeing his tattered clothing and the other individual who tagged behind him stood out more in comparison since he held a sword and wore an uncommon hat.

As the duo met Han's gaze, the straw hat grinned brightly and waved at him. "Long time no see!", exclaimed the straw hat excitedly as if they were meeting after ages.

Han questionably glanced at the familiar individual. 'What is Marston doing here?', he thought stunned.

*****

Arriving in the Ward, Marston and his master were shocked at the sight for different reasons. Marston was surprised at the fact that how much the clinic had changed over a few months and now seeing the ward grow significantly larger made him in awe and confirmed the suspicion that someone was backing the physician, or he had a high-ranked treasure in possession. Either way, he knew it was in his best interest to not go against him.

On the other hand, Rasial stared at the beds in shock he had never seen such comfortable beds, and glancing at the items around the ward made him envious. Now he wanted to go and makeover his alchemy workshop as new ideas came to him. Even though just recently he had splurged an enormous number of coins on his workshop.

Leaving the 2 individuals alone, Han had scribbled a few exercises for his patient's condition on a note, few exercises would make his stiff knee significantly better. The old man took the instructions and left with his granddaughter to pay the bill downstairs after thanking the physician. You could tell from his actions how much he respected the physician. As Usual, our physician was flustered in response to the bow he received.

Rasial who witnessed the interaction wondered what kind of a Physician was he. How come he had so many people downstairs waiting to meet him? He needed to know if it was his skills or was, he just ripping the innocent off.

After the patient had left the floor, Han invited the duo to sit so they can start their discussion. He could sense the duo had a lot to say since they specifically came all the way here to meet him.

The trio sat around a round table in the corner of the ward next to the bookshelves. The first one to speak was Han, "Marston what are you doing here?". He asked since it was unusual for his old patient to visit all of a sudden unless his injury wasn't fully cured or had gotten worse.

"Aren't you going to ask me how I have been doing?", said Marston in a disappointed tone. He acted as if they were close and not on a professional basis. Though Han wondered why the man was acting so differently compared to the interaction they had in the past.

"N-No it's just that I didn't think we were that close…", said Han awkwardly trying not to be rude. The one who was confused hearing the physician's statement was Rasial, he immediately glanced at his bodyguard narrowing his eyes in doubt. The bodyguard was guilty he was pretending to be close but in reality, they had no special relationship.

Marston coughed guiltily trying to avoid his master's gaze. "We were stranded in the forest and didn't know our way out of here", he asked going straight to the topic.

"Didn't you come here last time?", questioned Han clueless about the situation.

"Yeah, but I went back to the war zone camp and not to the city. I need someone to be our guide out of here", Marston explained.

"I see, so you need my assistance for that…all the patients that come here are from the city. You can ask them or even offer them some money to guide you", said Han trying to resolve their issue. To be honest, to him, it wasn't that big of an issue, but he didn't know the dangers the Death Forest held even for a mortal-ranked swordsman like Marston.

Marston nodded absentmindedly simply fascinated by the physician's wisdom. "I will do jus—", as he was about to respond he felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned to look at the source. "What's the matter? Master", he asked concerned as he found his master tugging his sleeve. 

"How about we stay for the night? We have to recover our mana so…", said Rasial persuasively. He wanted to stay in the clinic longer and observe the physician. He wanted to witness his skills in person and if they're on par maybe he can send some of his clients here. He hated to admit it, but a lot of his patients left disappointed since he and his coworkers couldn't treat them, or they weren't allowed to. He knew normally no one would want to give their patients to someone else but he held his patient's best interest in his heart and wanted them to be treated by the best. He heard the patients in the lobby murmuring about the costs of the clinic but for him, there was no such problem since all his clients came from noble birth from barons to dukes.

Marston had gotten the hint that something was up seeing his master's actions. "We would like to stay for the night if possible?", he asked.

Hearing their request Han was in thought if he let the duo stay would they mess with the peace in the clinic and what if they interrupted their daily routine? He already had a lot on his mind with the current quest.

Noting The Physician's change in expression as he was in thought, Rasial shook his bodyguard gesturing him to do something.

"We can offer you a gold coin for the night's stay ---", before Marston even finished talking, he had received his reply from the enthusiastic physician.

"Of course, you're welcome to stay the night", said Han grinning and letting go of all of his previous thoughts as the gold coin sparkled in his brown eyes. 

The bodyguard chuckled and placed a gold coin in the physician's palm. "Blade can lead you to the dormitory we have extra rooms in there so please have a nice stay", said Han smiling as he closed his palm gripping the gold coin tightly.

The duo nodded and went to visit Blade as instructed by the physician. Although Rasial left the ward reluctantly, he was extremely curious about the physician's skills and made It his goal to see his skills in action before he leaves.

Meanwhile, on the other side, The Duke had sent his trusted alchemist to visit the clinic and he was on his way to the death forest along with his small crew…