"Are you awake?"
Merlin looked up at her, pinching the black hem of her skirt with his left hand. With his right, he drew his dagger and swiftly sliced through the fabric, cutting off a large piece.
He folded the cloth into a pad. Pinching her cheeks, Yol opened her mouth involuntarily due to the pain, and Merlin stuffed the cloth inside.
"I'm going to save you. Just watch quietly as I do it."
A bitter look appeared in Yol's eyes. She knew her own condition all too well.
Merlin looked at her lower abdomen, then carefully wiped his dagger and right hand with her skirt.
On the way here, Merlin had already absorbed the Amber Lead Syndrome calamity from her body and stored it in his left index finger.
As for the calamity of the gunshot wound, this kind of physical, directly observable calamity was easy to understand. While absorbing it, Merlin realized that if he didn't remove the foreign objects from her body, the self-healing of the wound would seal them inside.
His calamity absorption couldn't assimilate foreign objects along with the injury.
After cleaning the dagger, Merlin pinched the sides of her wound with his left hand. He looked at her with calm eyes.
"This is going to hurt. Bear with it."
Yol looked at Merlin hesitantly. Observing him now, she realized Merlin seemed to be preparing to operate on her. But if he operated now, she would only become a burden. Just as she was about to move, Merlin spoke flatly:
"Don't cause trouble for me."
Scolded suddenly, Yol stopped moving, a look of grievance flashing in her eyes. But Merlin's hand was steady; the dagger pierced into the wound, slicing it open in an instant.
Unimaginable pain shot through her. Beads of sweat instantly broke out on Yol's forehead, and she couldn't help but let out a suppressed groan.
At that moment, Merlin paused, a sudden inspiration striking him:
"Pain... pain... then pain should also be a type of calamity."
Following this sudden insight, black flames spread from his left hand pinching the wound. He sensed a distinct type of calamity. Merlin manipulated the black flames to analyze and understand it, and soon, the calamity flames absorbed the pain.
Instantly, Yol's eyes went blank. The intense pain had vanished. Merlin looked up at her, then lowered his head to focus on cutting the wound.
A few seconds later. The incision was large enough for his fingers. Merlin withdrew the dagger.
He pulled the flesh apart with his left hand. Placing the dagger on her belly with his right, he inserted his index and middle fingers into the wound in her abdomen. amidst the sticky sensation, he fished out the two blood-stained bullets and some debris from her intestines.
Yol stared blankly at Merlin's crude operation. Her abdomen had been cut open, fingers were digging inside, yet she felt absolutely no pain.
After removing the bullets and debris, and observing no other foreign objects, Merlin pinched the incision closed with his left hand. Black flames rose, and a black halo wrapped around her body.
Calamity Absorption.
It was like manipulating causality.
If the "effect" of the penetrating wound disappeared, the "cause" of the injury naturally ceased to exist.
As his physical and mental energy drained rapidly, ten seconds later, Merlin removed his left hand from her lower abdomen. Yol's wound had vanished.
The black flames in Merlin's hand disappeared, but his thumb quietly turned crimson.
Calamity: Crimson of Pain.
Stored.
Yol sat up, her mouth slightly open in shock. She touched her lower abdomen with her fingers; it was as smooth as ever. Even with slight pressure, there was none of the agonizing pain from before, as if she had never been injured.
"Laplace, can you use magic?"
This sudden change left Yol's mind in chaos.
Merlin sat on the ground, panting slightly. From saving the doctor, then Lami, and now Yol, his stamina was mostly depleted. He was very, very tired.
He glanced at the courtyard house and said softly:
"Have you heard of Devil Fruits?"
Saying this, he stood up and walked toward the main building. Yol quickly got up and followed Merlin, nodding repeatedly.
"I've heard of them. They're legendary treasures of the sea. It's said they grant people all kinds of strange abilities."
Realizing something, her mouth opened slightly as she stammered:
"So you are one of those legendary Devil Fruit ability users?"
"Yeah, got lucky."
Arriving at the main building, Merlin pushed open the half-closed door and walked in.
Looking around, he saw a wine rack in the corner. Merlin walked over, grabbed a bottle of fruit wine, bit off the cork, and gulped it down. Half the bottle was gone in an instant.
Yol watched this scene, wanting to say something but hesitating. Seeing this, Merlin blinked and handed her the remaining half bottle.
"Want some?"
Yol couldn't help but glare at Merlin. "We're stealing, aren't we?"
Merlin latched onto the "we" in her sentence and chuckled mockingly.
"This country is destroyed. The people are mostly dead. Everything here is ownerless now.
"If I don't take it, should I leave it for those executioners?"
Hearing this, deep sorrow appeared in Yol's eyes. She took the bottle from Merlin and took a big swig. "Cough! Cough!"
She drank too fast and choked, spraying out some of the fruit wine.
She looked quite wretched for a moment.
Merlin looked at her helplessly, then took another bottle, opened it, and started drinking.
Yol squatted and coughed for a while, then gasped heavily for air. She sat on the ground hugging her knees. A few seconds later, her shoulders began to shake.
She wept silently.
Merlin tactfully walked away, going to the kitchen to find food. He soon found some fruit in the refrigerator, along with baguettes and ham.
He grabbed a bright red apple and ate it with the baguette in large bites. The energy from the food soon revitalized Merlin's weary spirit.
A moment later, he packed a bag of bread and brought a plate of food out. Placing the plate in front of Yol, Merlin said:
"Eat something to fill your stomach. You must be hungry too.
"Once you're done, we'll leave here."
Yol nodded gloomily, picked up the plate, and thanked Merlin.
"Thank you. I've caused you trouble."
Yol ate large mouthfuls of food, but tears quickly blurred her vision. She sobbed as she ate and spoke:
"I thought I was dead for sure today. Thank you, Laplace."
Merlin sat on the ground, his ears twitching slightly, keeping part of his attention on the movement outside.
"Call me Merlin from now on. Laplace Merlin.
"That's my full name."
Yol looked up at Merlin in confusion, but didn't ask further. She just nodded vigorously and replied somewhat awkwardly:
"Okay, Mer~lin!"
After a while, swallowing the food in her mouth, Yol searched for a topic and asked:
"How did you know I was there?"
Merlin was silent for a few seconds. "I was born with a keen sense of smell."
Then he briefly recounted his experiences after separating from her, including obtaining the Devil Fruit because of it, though he only mentioned it simply.
Yol's eyes gradually widened. She looked at Merlin with shock.
"So you've been through so much in this short time? So, my Amber Lead Syndrome has been cured by you?
"Is Lami still alive?"
Merlin nodded. "When I discovered I could cure this genetic disease, I went looking for you guys.
"Lami should be safe now. We'll rest a bit and then go find her."
Yol fell silent after listening. Her tone was bitter:
"Okay, I'll listen to you. But since Viscount Mela had this Devil Fruit, why didn't he use it?"
Merlin said flatly, "I don't know. Devil Fruits are said to be very mysterious. Some have known effects, some are unknown.
"Maybe the Calamity Fruit was one of the unknown ones!
"Besides, most nobles in this world wouldn't use their wealth to save ordinary people."
Yol was silent. A few seconds later, she asked softly: "Hey?
"Do you think if we went out now and announced you can cure this disease, they would stop?"
Yol wasn't stupid. After experiencing this event, she knew her words were childish, but her past habits made her unable to resist asking.
Merlin's gaze was calm. "Flevance's Amber Lead Syndrome isn't a contagious disease. It's just a biological toxin disease that accumulates through bloodlines.
"The royal family here knew long ago and left in advance.
"The common people didn't know, but do you think the royal families of the neighboring countries didn't?
"Amber Lead is a precious commodity comparable to gold.
"Flevance is now a battlefield of annihilation. Do you think that now, with mountains of ownerless gold everywhere, they would listen to us and stop?
"Yol, the noble lords of the neighboring countries are probably drinking wine and holding banquets right now, discussing how to divide the rich, ownerless resources here!"
Yol lowered her head. A few seconds later, she stared blankly and asked, "Human lives... what do they count for in their eyes?"
"I don't know, and I don't want to guess. All I can do is survive."
"Survive..."
Yol murmured in response to Merlin's words. Then Merlin looked at her and asked:
"Enough about that. What about you guys?"
"Us?" Yol's eyes became lost. "After getting your information earlier, I organized the children in the church to prepare to flee together.
"We were planning to find suitable piles of corpses to play dead and fool them.
"But war suddenly broke out around the church. The children and I got separated.
"In the end, only ten children were with me. And as a result, I couldn't protect anyone."