In reality, the entire suturing process was unnecessary. As long as Sigrid's condition remained stable, she could freely repair such wounds.
"Sigrid, you must be somewhat tired as well. Why not take this opportunity to sleep for a while?"
Fran stepped forward slowly, draping undergarments and a nightgown over Sigrid.
"Even if you don't feel sleepy, you must ensure proper rest and relaxation. Just like how most dragons enjoy sleeping for a hundred years... cough... though actually, they're just plain lethargic."
"Mhm..."
Sigrid was indeed very weary. After listening to Fran's soft and suggestive whispers, drowsiness washed over her.
Her golden lashes fluttered and closed, and she fell into a deep sleep, the sound of even, gentle breathing quietly beginning.
Fran gently wiped a strand of sweat from her forehead, tucking back the dampened hair. She then signaled for Haida to carry her back to her room.
"Putting adults to sleep is sometimes easier than children. At least you don't have to tell bedtime stories."
Watching Haida's back gradually recede down the corridor, Fran narrowed her eyes, feeling an inexplicable sense of gratification.
"It's really nice not having to move patients myself anymore."
"Come to think of it, September passed so quickly, it's almost the end of the month now. I must have been too absorbed in Sigrid's body lately..."
Fran lowered her head slightly. A hazy, dim gray mist had, at some point, risen past her ankles, billowing and spreading.
"For the quarterly house call in June, I achieved an Apollyon (Abyss) level completion. So, the difficulty this time should be lower. But September's overall difficulty tends to be on the higher side, so it probably won't be boring."
She then covered her mouth with her hand, yawned, and stretched her slightly stiff, slender waist.
---
Ethereal, illusory gray mist swirled around Fran, pulsing and spreading as if alive, like the grand, unfurling skirt of ceremonial robes.
"Dr. Fran, is the house call scheduled for today?"
Haida stood quietly outside the operating room, having evidently already taken the slumbering Sigrid back to her bedroom.
"Yes, precisely."
Fran nimbly placed her hands behind her back, narrowing her amber eyes as she looked at Haida with interest.
"Sister Haida, I can't guarantee that this house call won't last for years like last time... Although such cases are indeed rare, the possibility of consecutive occurrences still exists, you know?"
"Please don't worry about that. I can endure it."
Haida needed some time recently to study the secret arts in the Aphoristic Silence to perfect the corresponding spell models in her mind.
Therefore, a time span measured in years, like the journey to the Lands Between, had become more acceptable...
"Oh, that's excellent. I'm glad to have Sister Haida's company again... However, this house call is somewhat more dangerous than the last. You'd better mentally prepare yourself and acclimate to the 'differences' in advance."
Fran picked up the small medical case by the operating table, tidied away the reagents and instruments somewhat, and closed it.
She then straightened the lapels of her small suit jacket, looking every bit ready for a long journey.
Although Fran lived alone year-round at Fog Street Clinic, she didn't actually dislike having company on house calls.
Just like Holmes and Watson, Poirot and Hastings, a sufficiently reliable friend could bring unexpected help at times.
And for Fran, Haida's presence helped spare her from the torment of most physical labor... which was already more than enough.
... The gray mist coalesced, and the figures of the two gradually faded into it.
---
[Cross-dimensional Quarterly House Call Begins. You are about to proceed to "Hisham Psychiatric Hospital". This house call is a dual execution.]
[Diagnostic Target: The Eternally Wandering Nameless Sister.]
[Patient File: A despairing sister wanders aimlessly amidst the grand ruins of an ancient, forsaken city. She has forgotten her past vows, forgotten the commandments she followed, forgotten her own name... Now, she is but an empty husk filled with past obsessions. End her suffering, or...?]
[Symptoms: Paranoid Personality Disorder (End-stage).]
[Warning: This is one of the countless branches split and fallen from the Temporal Banyan. Maintain reverence, maintain fear. Everything you witness may be phantom shadows of a future you are destined to experience, or perhaps a fleeting glimpse of what will never come.]
[Beginning the patient intake process.]
---
"Dr. Fran?"
Haida's vision plunged into a lightless gray-white. All sensations vanished in an instant. Even Fran, who had been right beside her, seemed to have been erased from existence, becoming imperceptible.
The dim street lamps swarming with night moths gradually brightened, and the surroundings became clearer.
This was a district in the deep silence of midnight. Snow, like willow catkins, drifted down, swept along by a biting north wind.
The chaotic black shadows on the lamp shades were not moths after all, but swirling snowflakes...
Haida exhaled a puff of warm frost, instinctively tightening her coat over her nun's robe.
The smell of blood.
A viscous, putrid smell of blood filled the entire alleyway, violently assailing her sense of smell, which was somewhat numb from the cold.
"Is this what Dr. Fran meant by 'a bit dangerous'?"
Haida licked her dry lips, catching a few snowflakes on her tongue. She looked around. This entire district, apart from the gray-white snow... seemed to consist of nothing but boundless darkness.
Dr. Fran had gone somewhere, but her presence was now completely undetectable. Both on a physical and an intuitive level.
She didn't immediately try to run through these streets permeated with an eerie atmosphere. Instead, she reached out and lightly wiped away the frosted grime on a nearby brick wall.
"Professional sewer unclogging, one clearance solves all, ensuring smooth flow for all matters. For inquiries, please visit Norlington North District 09, Building 23. Contact person: Mr. Moloch Darrow."
The familiar flyer confirmed Haida's suspicion. This was Norlington...
This discovery shocked her even more than witnessing the golden tree reaching into the heavens in the Lands Between.
No matter how majestic and vast that tree representing a divine will was, it could ultimately be easily understood by "common sense."
You've seen the sun before, so even if you don't understand what that celestial body hanging in the sky represents, you can roughly comprehend its immense power in bringing boundless light and heat.
But the scene before her indeed caused a slight disarray in Haida's logic. Simultaneously, a strange sense of familiarity arose in her mind.
"I... have been here before."
Haida's physical constitution was truly exceptional; even wearing only thin clothing, she didn't feel too uncomfortable. But that didn't mean she had ample time. If she couldn't find a way to maintain her body temperature... the limits of her endurance and hypothermia would eventually set in.
She stepped over the filthy blood that had already crystallized with ice flowers on the ground. Her hazel eyes reflected a few strands of fire that burned unceasingly on the carcasses of evil spawn...
Finally, Haida remembered where this was.
This was where she had once killed a certain heterodox sub-deacon, and also where she first met Dr. Fran. She should have recalled it at first glance, but due to the disorientation from traveling through the mist, it took a bit more time.
"Why have I returned here?"
Haida genuinely felt a flicker of doubt.
But at the same time, the initial sense of disorientation had faded. Adhering to the traditional virtues of patience and calmness of a Secrets-Hunter, she began to analyze her situation.
"Have I returned to Norlington's past, or... am I trapped within a certain memory of my own?"
Haida walked forward slowly and methodically, while vigilantly observing her surroundings to guard against any sudden anomalies.
She passed through still-twitching tentacles and bones, step by step heading towards the end of the alley. On the surrounding walls, she could see several black bullet marks, likely left from when she had shot at the evil spawn back then.
Haida reached the spot in her memory where she had collapsed and found a human-shaped snowdrift. The snow wasn't thick, so she could vaguely make out the clothing and shape...
An emptied pistol magazine, a wooden-handled folding knife scattered nearby, and a black, form-fitting nun's robe... Without a doubt, this was the "her" who had been exhausted and near death at that time.
Haida's brows furrowed tightly. She reached out to brush the snow from the face of the figure in the snow, wanting to see its features more clearly.
But the next moment, her hazel pupils suddenly contracted.
Something, beneath the soft, pristine snow... had grabbed her hand!
The sensation was like tentacles covered with jagged fangs. Instantly, the figure buried under the thin snow violently sat up.
Although Haida could vaguely see traces of herself in the other's facial features, there was a huge gash running from between the eyebrows down to the chin on that face. Mutated flesh was madly curling and writhing.
"Hmph."
Haida clenched her teeth, her gaze sharpening.
The power sword "Nirvana" was drawn and swung in a flash, decapitating this "self" that had been completely possessed by the evil spawn. The head rolled into the snow with a nearly soundless thud.
"...Kh... cough..."
The head slightly opened its mouth. Pale, bloodless gray lips moved incessantly, emitting a few meaningless syllables.
"Cough, kh... Haida..."
"...Haida, stop... stop it! Dr. Flamel is suffocating!"
As the head let out that cry, Haida's brows furrowed tighter. The familiar sense of disorientation washed over her again, and somehow, the surroundings had brightened...
"Nurse, give her a sedative! Save the doctor first!"
A panicked female voice accompanied by screams kept ringing out, inexplicably stirring a thread of irritation in Haida. She then felt a pair of soft, slender hands pressing down on her wrists.
"Cough... Wait a moment. No need to panic. Haida's condition is quite good now. No hurry to use sedatives."
A familiar voice sounded. It seemed to be... Fran.
Haida bit her lip hard, using the pain to dispel the haze shrouding her thoughts... She found herself in a clean, tidy hospital room.
The entire room was white. The faint smell of disinfectant permeated the air. Many unknown instruments and tubes were connected to her body.
And, at this moment, she was strangling Fran's neck.
Judging from the red marks on the other's neck and her slightly bluish complexion, Haida's grip was definitely not light...
"...I'm sorry, Dr. Fran."
She quickly released her hand. Simultaneously, she cast a questioning look at Fran, hoping she could offer some explanation for the current situation.
Fran, able to breathe again, let out a long sigh, coughed a few times, and gave Haida a somewhat reproachful glance. She then picked up a strand of her pale, frosty white hair, twirling it slightly around her finger.
"Fran? Hmm, it seems in your dreams I've always been called that. It's concise and pleasant, I don't dislike it. But I'd still prefer you call me by my real name—Flamel."
"That way, our subsequent treatment sessions can proceed pleasantly."
Although this doctor who called herself Flamel denied the name Fran, her appearance and bearing were extremely similar to Fran's.
Even twins would hardly be so alike.
"...Where is this?"
Haida stared intently into Flamel's clear yet deep amber eyes, wanting to detect some flaw or clue, but the other's gaze seemed to hold only pure sincerity...
"This is Hisham Psychiatric Hospital."
Flamel's voice rang out, familiar and brisk, as if she had explained this countless times before.
"Haida, for many years, your consciousness and sense of self have been trapped in the quagmire of memories. We have tried countless times to awaken you from the depths of your delusional dreams. We've used every conceivable treatment method, even recording and compiling the ravings from your delirium."
"Until today, you finally stepped out of that dark, snowy alleyway at night. You've returned to us, to 'reality'."
As she spoke, her tone carried a nearly tearful relief, and indeed, glistening tears welled in the corners of her eyes.
"Wait, let me calm down."
Haida rubbed her temples, trying to reorganize the thoughts and logic that had become a tangled mess.
She looked at the woman who had just screamed. Her long hair and eyes were both a molten gold color... Without a doubt, it was Sigrid.
But this Sigrid wasn't like the shy yet passionate one she remembered. On the contrary, she seemed quite irritable and short-tempered. The look she was giving Haida now was far from friendly.
"Sigrid?"
As a test, Haida still uttered the other's name.
"Hmph, at least you remember my name correctly."
Sigrid pursed her lips, responding to Haida with a hint of resentment. Clearly, she was somewhat displeased with Haida's earlier attempt to harm Dr. Flamel.
"Alright, nurse, put the restraints back on. This time, remember to tighten the buckles properly."
She urged impatiently. The orderly beside her then pressed Haida back onto the hospital bed and tied her limbs with nylon restraint straps.
"There is someone who has been waiting a long time to see you. We'll step aside for now, please talk with her alone."
"I know, you might still think the world you're in is illusory. But I hope she can help you see reality more deeply..."
+++
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