[Beckoning Finger Remedy (2/3)]
[Quality: Flawless (Manufacturer: Fran Herschel)]
[Effect: Crafted from 'Faded Erdleaf Flowers' imbued with the blessings and thoughts of a certain 'Lord', it enables high-level cross-dimensional summoning. Can summon a willing being to respond to you no matter where you are, lasting for ten minutes.]
[Note: "We helpful Tarnished, each has our own strengths, each has our unique skills. Weapon Arts and Incantations are even more astonishingly skilled. Primeval Sorceries offer even more unexpected surprises!"]
—
This small box of golden-hued ointment was the finished product Fran made from the "biological materials" obtained during her last cross-dimensional house call.
Although Faded Erdleaf Flowers were common in the Lands Between, practically easy to obtain... due to the rules of the "Transdimensional Effect", Fran couldn't freely take materials from the Lands Between. Moreover, ordinary Faded Erdleaf Flowers couldn't construct summoning runes spanning two worlds.
The reason this material could be classified as Flawless quality by the system module was naturally because it contained Yvonne's power and blessings.
— —
The main hall of Fog Street Clinic.
Fran held a slender, light quill pen, making revisions in a thick, simple and unadorned journal.
To collect all the fate threads for Yvonne, she had conducted seven house calls in total, and each time, the memories of that call would reset afterward. Although all those memories had now returned, such a vast amount still needed to be recorded and organized in writing to prevent conflicts and confusion.
As a doctor, she took her mental health very seriously.
Haida, meanwhile, was intently studying the heavy tome in her hands. She spent most of her vacation days at Fog Street Clinic.
The Burial Attendant's expression held a trace of near-reverent solemnity, as if any lapse in attention while reading would be a great waste.
"'Transdimensional Effect' actually refers to a rule maintaining stability. It manifests as 'resisting what comes, retaining what leaves'—rejecting foreign things, holding onto things trying to depart. That's also why I couldn't bring that greatsword back from the Lands Between..."
She pondered for a moment, a faint, almost imperceptible flicker of regret in her grayish-chestnut eyes.
After getting used to the intoxicatingly heavy feel of the greatsword, the wooden-handled clasp knives she previously used felt almost uncomfortably light...
"Actually, there were some conveniences in the Lands Between. For instance, while there, I could utilize the power of Runes to a certain extent to assist with treatment. That saved me a lot of trouble... In Norlington, directly treating a Demigod would be nearly impossible."
Fran closed the journal, took off her round-framed glasses with the silver chain and placed them in their case, then turned to Haida.
"So, how's the progress on Ascension Heart's Blood?"
"About one-twelfth. Even with the annotations Dr. Fran wrote... it's hard to go faster."
Haida gave a slight nod, somewhat apologetic.
Although she knew this pace was actually quite fast... in front of this doctor, it was best not to harbor any unwarranted arrogance. The Secrets-Hunters' precept was to maintain prudent humility, and she always followed that.
"You're doing very well, no need for undue modesty. This is the most obscure, profound, and mentally invasive of the four Skin Creed texts... Even I took a whole day to finish reading it."
Fran comforted Haida, then steered the conversation to the previous "Drinker's Descent" incident.
"Now do you understand why you were able to harm that 'Cup's Servant' back then?"
Drawing on the knowledge from the Skin Creed texts, Haida began explaining her understanding.
"The Drinker upon arrival hadn't yet adapted to the material world. Moreover... he hadn't completely shed his human essence, so he was merely a 'servant', not a 'lesser god'. Therefore, he still retained human weaknesses, namely the organs not yet fully transformed."
"That final organ is the 'Ascending Heart'."
Fran smiled and nodded, clearly quite satisfied with the answer.
"The heart is the most difficult organ to transform and ascend, and it's also the key to maintaining the Cup's Servant's material existence. He probably hid it quite well, but your keen, almost abnormal intuition caught a clue."
"Once the heart's integrity was damaged, he couldn't exist for long either, ultimately forcing him to choose self-destruction."
"So that's it..."
Haida finally clearly understood, on a principle level, why the other party's reaction to her strike back then was so intense. She had been fully prepared for it to be futile.
Fran tapped her lip, adding a comment.
"That probably also had to do with your attack strength exceeding his psychological expectations, but that's still questionable... let's not delve into it further."
The Cup's Servant Yates probably thought Haida was an ordinary Burial Attendant, and even with Secrets-Hunter prayers etched on her weapons, their power would be only ordinary...
But he didn't expect her physical strength to be comparable to a tyrant's; two stabs almost skewered his kidneys.
Fran glanced at the bronze pocket watch, confirming it was already afternoon. She immediately got up from the velvet sofa in the main hall to make some tea and prepare snacks.
[Dear Dr. Fran, the July monthly house call has been triggered. The target patients are Norlington citizens infected with flesh ailments due to the 'Cup's Servant' Yates. Target number: 10.]
"Afternoon tea is temporarily canceled."
She put the teapot she had just picked up back in its place.
"Next, we're off to the central city district for humanitarian social welfare medical assistance... Sigh, let's just consider it reducing the workload for the Secrets-Hunters cult's logistics personnel."
She opened the small medicine case, organizing medical instruments and pharmaceuticals. She even took out her beloved circular saw to avoid scaring ordinary people...
"Is it a house call, Dr. Fran?"
Haida looked at Fran with a subtle expression.
Although she was quite interested in those cross-dimensional house calls, the last one in the Lands Between lasted so long it left a tiny bit of psychological shadow.
"Don't worry, it's just volunteering within Norlington. The 'Drinker's' impact was significant; some people contracted flesh mutation ailments. I'll go handle it simply."
After saying this, Fran suddenly looked at Haida, sizing up the Burial Attendant. She clapped her hands as if struck by inspiration.
"Right, we can do this! Just put on the Secrets-Hunters cult uniform, and gaining ordinary people's trust becomes easy, right? Saves using hypnosis, which isn't very dignified..."
She immediately acted, returning to her bedroom to fetch the Burial Attendant's nun habit from before.
Haida remained silent, quietly watching Fran bustle about the clinic.
Through their interactions these past days, she discovered this doctor seemed to enjoy playing the part of a Secrets-Hunters cult member... and took great pleasure in it. But come to think of it, this nun habit was actually the one she herself had given away...
"Alright, Haida. Would you prefer to stay here and read more, or accompany me on the house call?"
After about a few minutes, Fran had neatly changed into the pure black nun habit.
This Secrets-Hunter uniform had undergone skillful tailoring, fitting closely and harmoniously, almost as if custom-made. Now her face wore an extremely professional-looking, warm smile, like a cheerful, young, ordinary Burial Attendant.
"...Let's go."
Haida agreed. After placing a small bookmark in the unfinished Ascension Heart's Blood, she stood up.
Her understanding of this Skin Creed text had hit a bottleneck; she needed to do something else to relax her tense and weary mind.
Moreover, Fran was now wearing the Burial Attendant uniform she had given her. She felt obligated to keep an eye on her and, when necessary, uphold the cult's image... This made accompanying her on the house call even more unavoidable.
"Why the worried look? We're not doing anything bad. I rarely offer medical services without charging fees, you know?"
She teased with slight reproach, then pushed open the clinic door, casually flipping the wooden sign to the "Closed" side.
—
Most areas in Norlington's main city district where the firefight occurred were now sealed with city hall notices. You could easily find chaotic bullet marks on walls, roads, even nearby flower beds, a testament to the fierce combat.
Although cleaning crews had scrubbed and washed with detergent no less than five times, a faint, lingering scent of blood could still be detected in the cracks between paving stones.
Fran strolled leisurely along the roads outside the sealed areas, seemingly in no hurry to find patients.
No, she practically seemed like she was specifically out for a stroll...
Haida suddenly sensed something amiss; the roads were becoming increasingly familiar... By the time she realized it, they had already arrived at the emergency entrance of Norlington Central Hospital.
For a moment, she felt she understood the unusually peculiar thought process of Fran's mind.
If you want to find ready-made patients, a hospital is naturally the best choice.
Central Hospital belonged to the Secrets-Hunters cult's Medical Court. With the nun habit and Haida's relevant credentials, Fran entered almost without difficulty, even using the internal staff passage...
"The smell of chlorine-based disinfectant... how nostalgic."
Fran remarked briefly, then began searching for patients infected with flesh contamination.
The house call requirement was to cure ten, so she would choose those with the most severe symptoms to treat. As for mild cases... the hospital could handle those itself.
—
"Mr. Clement, time for your medicine."
A light, silvery female voice came from outside the hospital room door.
Clement was the leader of the support team sent to the Sated Club that night. He now lay in a hospital bed, dazed and visibly weak.
"The midday medicine was just taken not long ago; the second dose should be after dinner, right? It's only just afternoon... Are you a newly assigned sister?"
He asked somewhat puzzled, only to see an unfamiliar Burial Attendant had somehow already arrived by his bedside, with keen interest playing with a willow-leaf blade as sharp as a mirror.
"Conscious and lucid, good."
Fran directly plunged the willow-leaf blade in her hand into his neck, aiming precisely for the artery.
Normally, what followed would be a spectacular and gruesome fountain of blood... But surprisingly, the incision seemed dry, the blood flow slow and viscous.
"Contamination directly from a Red Cup High Priest is indeed hidden deeper."
Her scalpel made a fluid cut around the affected area, finally extracting a piece of writhing flesh that resembled a wailing human face.
"Cough, cough, Sister... what is that?"
Clement, face pale, looked at the continuously howling, twisting flesh lump and asked Fran.
"Don't speak, wait for me to bandage you. This is the Red Cup's second-category, upper-tier secret art [Flesh-Shaping Ritual]. If left alone, it would eat your organs empty and grow a new 'Suffer-Walker'. Have you had close contact with a Sufferer-Walkers High Priest recently?"
Fran said as she began applying medicine to his wound.
"Was it back then..."
Clement recalled being ambushed by bone spines from a Sufferer-Walker. If not for Sister Haida's rescue, he would have died on the spot.
"Thank you very much, Sister. May I know your name? I will express my gratitude properly later."
The throat wound made him sound like a broken bellows, but the Outrider Hunter still forced himself to say the words of thanks completely despite the pain.
"Think nothing of it, colleague. It's my duty."
Fran gave a standard salute in return, then left the room, entered the corridor, and wrote Clement's name on a line in a small notebook, marking it with a "9".
"Just one more left..."
Most patients with severe contamination were Secrets-Hunters on duty that night, but there were also ordinary people among them.
This Burial Attendant uniform could easily gain ordinary people's trust, but fooling those keen-nosed veteran hunters was somewhat more challenging.
Treating Clement carried a certain risk of exposure, but Fran didn't care... The high-level heads of the General Affairs Division actually had long known about her existence; both sides just maintained a degree of tacit understanding.
She stopped briefly in front of an intensive care unit door, her amber eyes faintly glinting. She had already chosen the final lucky recipient.
Haida followed beside her, pulling down her hood's brim, trying her utmost to lower her presence.
Central Hospital was, after all, an institution under the Secrets-Hunters cult; even Silver Wing Locust was getting an IV drip in the lobby seats. To avoid unnecessary trouble... it was better for the two to maintain some distance.
Fran pushed open the intensive care unit door. An aged, somewhat irritable voice immediately sounded.
"Who is it? Didn't I say not to disturb me? Let a dying man have some peace in his final moments, will you?"
Black Banyan lay on the hospital bed, grumbling and shouting angrily.
He didn't look too bad; his voice could even be described as robust, a stark contrast to the weak and weary Clement.
The only difference between him and a normally vigorous old man was... his entire lower body was completely missing. At the severed area, no pelvis, hip bones, or flesh were visible, only disorderly, withered banyan branches.
"'S-923 'Death Banyan'... How interesting. Clearly a dangerous relic that steals others' senses and life force, yet you managed to survive a certain-death situation using its side effects. How ironic."
Fran approached Black Banyan's bed and then donned immaculate white medical gloves.
"A Medical Court sister? No, you're wearing a 'Burial Attendant' uniform... Who exactly are you?"
Black Banyan took the banyan mallet from the bedside table, pointing it directly at Fran. With only half a body, he showed no fear or panic whatsoever, still maintaining the dignity of a Burial Court head.
"Life force is nearly exhausted, but because the flesh's nature has become close to plant-like, death's arrival has also slowed... The lower body was probably too severely contaminated and had to be disposed of safely."
Fran paid no mind to the threat of the relic in Black Banyan's hand, nor did she answer his question. She just pinched her chin, lost in thought.
"What a pity. I've always wanted to try if a cutting and grafting method could reconnect a plant-person's limbs..."
Hearing Fran's seemingly casual mutter, Black Banyan's hair stood on end.
Being assassinated by an Outrider pretending to be staff in the hospital—is this my final death? But I'm already short-lived anyway; what's the point? I see... Her real purpose is to steal this relic?
+++
T/N: Hey readers~! New Translator here! Before I say anything, I'd first like to thank the original author for creating this wonderful story. Without them, I wouldn't have the chance to share this adventure with you. I hope my translation does justice to their work, and that together, we can enjoy this story.
With that said, I'm happy to let you know I'll be uploading daily chapters. And for those who wish to support my work and gain early access, I've set up a Patreon where advanced chapters will be available.
[email protected]/PeakTL