Her right eye was pitch black; that beautiful, dark green iris was already gone. Yet there were no other forms of external injury, making it appear even more bizarre and eerie.
"The attacker took one of my eyes."
Dorothy gritted her teeth slightly, her tone carrying a trace of indignation.
"But he was also seriously wounded. Under the effect of 'S-066. Faded to Pure White,' that attacker will be unable to perform any secret arts for at least half a year."
In fact, had she been given a bit more time, she could have even used that relic to strip away the attacker's memories and self-awareness. Completely eliminating his capacity for action...
But that person seized an opening to attack Dawn. If Dorothy hadn't pulled back to defend, the receptionist lady's spirit likely wouldn't be as safe and sound as it is now.
"Please let me take a closer look."
Fran raised her hand, lifting Dorothy's chin with her fingertips to examine the specific injury to her eye.
"Oh... Exquisite technique. Almost like a work of art."
Although saying so might be somewhat inappropriate, she couldn't help but praise the method used by the assailant to extract the eyeball. Precise, efficient, the nerve and blood vessel incisions were neat and clean, worlds apart from simple, crude gouging.
"Dr. Fran."
Haida softly called her name from the side, signaling her to be more serious.
"My apologies."
Fran pursed her lips slightly in apology, then began briefing Dorothy on the situation.
"The nerves and blood vessels are well-preserved. No obvious external injury or signs of infection. Just requires simple management. If the missing eyeball is found later, I can perform an optic nerve anastomosis for you."
"That's what he came for. Since my eye has already been taken, even if we find it, it probably won't be usable anymore."
Dorothy was rather philosophical about this.
At the gambling table, once chips leave your hand, they no longer belong to you. The same goes for body parts... Even if we catch that attacker months from now, this eye has likely been made into a specimen or spiritual material.
At least she still has the other eye, and the one who fled in panic was the other party, not herself.
"That is indeed true. Eyes generally are difficult to preserve long-term; most would undergo specimen processing."
Fran agreed with Dorothy's statement.
Hearing this, a shadow fell over Dawn's eyes.
She vaguely remembered that it seemed Dorothy was pulling back to defend her when the attacker found that opening...
"Ms. Fran, could my eye be transplanted to the Priestess?"
After a moment of deliberation, she looked at Fran quite seriously.
Dorothy immediately turned her gaze to Fran as well, but the warning in her eyes was clear... As a senior and teacher, she naturally couldn't possibly accept her apprentice's eye.
"Oh, that's a question lacking somewhat in medical common sense."
Fran took out the silver-framed glasses she only wore when creating teaching materials from a small case in her medical kit. She deftly placed them on the bridge of her nose, like a young professor ready to begin a lecture.
"The human cranium has 12 pairs of extremely complex cranial nerve structures; related anastomosis surgeries are even more intricate, to the point where even using a microscope might not be fine enough. Just related to the eye, there's the optic nerve, oculomotor nerve, trochlear nerve, abducens nerve, and that damned trigeminal nerve..."
"Setting aside the difficulty of transplanting an eyeball under these conditions... Just the rejection reaction alone is unsolvable."
She seemed to be explaining a piece of medical knowledge, but Haida inexplicably heard a trace of resentment in her tone...
Although Dawn didn't fully understand what Fran was saying, she felt she had made a rather rude request.
"I'm sorry..."
"But, is there really no way?"
A smile played on Fran's lips. She rubbed the silver frame of her glasses with her fingertip, then took out a small case from her medical kit.
"Of course there's a way... While the aforementioned problems once troubled me, I overcame them many years ago. Coincidentally, I happen to have an unwanted eye here. We can install it for Ms. Dorothy as an emergency measure."
With that, she opened the small case. Soaking in a colorless solution... was an eyeball with a black pupil.
Vivian and Haida examined this gently floating eyeball carefully, faintly sensing something amiss.
The eyeball carried a trace of "Cup-Phase" spirit, faint and weak, yet somewhat familiar. Who could it be?
Come to think of it, didn't Madam Solani have an eyeball taken by Fran...
---
"Cup-Phase spirit. Ms. Fran, are you sure this thing is truly safe, and also... what is its source?"
Looking at the eyeball resting quietly in the small case, Dorothy's expression shifted several times, momentarily unable to decide.
Although Fran, while serving as an external physician for the Secrets-Hunter Cult, is also a fellow Mirror-Wiper of the Lamp cult, and thus has no reason to harm her...
But accepting an organ of unknown origin was somewhat creepy.
Upon hearing the word "source," Vivian and Haida quite tacitly each turned their heads away, silently declining to participate in this topic.
Fran, however, answered Dorothy quite meticulously, seemingly having a rather deep impression of that patient.
"There was a Red Cup Acolyte who had recently undergone promotion. She received my treatment and, as desired, recovered... This eye is the remuneration I collected."
"While preserving the fleshly vitality of the Cup-Phase, I removed the 'emotions' and antigenic rejection from this eyeball. You can install and use it immediately; it can be installed and removed at will... If you recover your original eye later, I can provide a replacement service."
It was indeed Solani... Haida's eyes dimmed slightly, understanding dawning on her immediately.
She still remembered how Solani's eye crawled out of its socket on its own, like some arachnid, and jumped into Fran's hand. That scene left a rather strong, unforgettable impression.
"A Red Cup Acolyte..."
Dorothy pondered briefly, momentarily caught in indecision, unable to make up her mind.
"If the price for you healing her was an eyeball, then... what do you want from me?"
As a Mirror-Wiper who glimpses fate and enlightenment, she doesn't believe in free lunches in this world.
Fran was quite satisfied with her cautious attitude.
Not overly paranoid, but not indifferent either. Dorothy's questions were indeed substantial and valid.
"Indeed, as Stefan Zweig said, 'All gifts of destiny have long been secretly marked with a price.' And as for your portion of the payment... I have already collected it."
"So, this one is free."
Fran interlaced her fingers, her amber eyes flickering subtly, their meaning hard to decipher.
Dorothy lightly bit her lower lip, falling into silence.
"All gifts of destiny have long been secretly marked with a price"—this statement was indeed quite philosophical... But who is Stefan Zweig? And what does "already collected" mean?
As a Mirror-Wiper, she often used such elusive, cryptic tones with fortune-seeking clients. She never thought that one day she herself would become the victim of a riddle. Karma is indeed real...
"Are you sure there's no charge? If it's within fifteen hundred standard silver coins, I can manage."
Fran seemed somewhat tempted upon hearing this, but ultimately, she shook her index finger quite principledly.
"Free."
"Guaranteed safety, and no invasion of privacy?" Dorothy pressed.
"Guaranteed," Fran answered quite patiently.
Dorothy lightly touched her empty eye socket and finally made a decision.
"Put it in writing."
"Let me draft the contract. I'll provide the paper and pen."
Fran nodded slightly, evidently having no objection.
"Of course. A reasonable service agreement is also an indispensable part of the medical process."
Soon, Dorothy took out ritual paper and skillfully drafted a service agreement with contractual force. Fran promptly and neatly signed her name on it.
The spirit symbolizing law quietly established an invisible connection.
"Are you reassured now, Ms. Dorothy?"
"...Yes."
Seeing the other party act so forthrightly, Dorothy instead felt she might have been overly cautious.
But if she had to do it again, she would still do the same... Just as the Secrets-Hunter code states, "Caution is a courtesy to both parties." And the Lamp cult disciples deeply agree with this as well.
Completing the preparations, Fran activated Drive Away Dust and Filth to repel the dust particles floating in the surrounding air. Then, she put on latex gloves, took the eyeball from the case, and placed it in front of Dorothy.
"Alright, hold your eye socket open. Don't resist too much. It might feel a bit itchy when the initial connection happens..."
Dorothy could feel, accompanied by a wet, slippery, viscous sensation, the eyeball "crawling" into her eye socket. It was as if it possessed an independent life.
A bone-deep, tingling itch spread within the eye socket. The slightest movement sent ripples through it, like fresh plasma carrying the vitality of life re-entering a long-numbed limb.
Nerves, blood vessels, flesh—everything was merging on its own.
"Complete."
A moment later, Fran took out a hand mirror and handed it to Dorothy. She took the mirror and examined her current state closely.
One pupil dark green, the other deep black—it looked somewhat strange. But it also added an indescribable, exotic style to her face, like a Persian cat with special coloring. In any case, it was far better than having an empty socket.
"How is it? Is your vision normal?"
Following standard procedure, Fran began her post-treatment check-up.
Enduring the sensation of nerve reconnection, Dorothy began to look around.
"I can see clearly. Even clearer than before, actually."
The faint Cup-Phase nature within the eyeball made it more active than ordinary organs and functionally superior as well.
"Good... Then we are settled."
Fran withdrew Drive Away Dust and Filth, thus concluding today's medical service. Leaving only Dorothy confused... To this day, she couldn't remember when she had ever paid this doctor.
Haida then spoke solemnly, beginning to perform her official duties by inquiring about the events of the previous day.
"Ms. Dorothy, can you describe the course of yesterday's attack in detail?"
"Yes."
Dorothy rubbed her temples, beginning to recall.
"Around 18:00 in the evening, a man dressed in a black long robe entered the club. He was of medium build and probably used some secret art or relic; I couldn't see his face clearly the entire time..."
"His method of action was strange; his way of casting spells was hard to describe, and the Phase of his spirit was impossible to discern. Based on his performance, he pulled out people's spirits through physical pulling and dragging. It was because she was touched that Dawn suffered the symptom of spirit-flesh separation."
Vivian, recording Dorothy's description, immediately thought of how Dr. Fran had used a similar secret art when stuffing Dawn's spirit back in.
"Some method of manipulating spirits?"
"Perhaps."
Dorothy didn't commit to an answer on that, then mentioned other information she was aware of.
"The method he used to take my eye was also 'touch.' Before contact occurred, that person seemed to have applied some kind of ointment to his arm. It's speculated it might have been a consumable-type relic or spiritual-infused medicine."
"That guy originally wanted to take both my eyes along with my spirit, but Mr. Child happened to be nearby at the time. With his help, the attacker ultimately had to flee wounded."
"...Without external assistance, he will be unable to drive secret arts for at least half a year."
S-066. Faded to Pure White is an ancient relic from the Lamp cult system, shaped like an earring. It was precisely because of it that Dorothy, skilled in divination secrets, could suppress the mysterious man in a direct confrontation.
"That's all I know about the situation."
After deep thought, Dorothy finally confirmed there was no other information worth mentioning.
Vivian attempted to delve deeper with further questions.
"Couldn't you track his movements through 'divination'? Also, I recall the Mirror of Enlightenment Club should be equipped with Mirror Image?"
"The Mirror Image only shows a constantly shifting black mass. As for divination... He left no traces. Direct divination without clues yields very poor results."
Dorothy pursed her lips, clearly having already attempted this.
For a Mirror-Wiper of the Lamp cult, analyzing and observing the enemy is already completed simultaneously during combat. That guy maintained a high level of secrecy throughout, carrying relics capable of concealing spirit and Phase... He was clearly well-prepared.
"This makes things troublesome."
The Confidential Division where Vivian worked also handled some criminal investigation and tracking; she knew how difficult such situations could be.
+++
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