Chapter 15: All That Determines a Person's Worth Is Their Appearance
Lumin opened his eyes after waking up.. and with some difficulty, tried to remember what had happened to him, and how the castle man, Lord Richard Alexander, had saved him from that overwhelming aura that had coincided with the eclipse in what he believed was the Red Mist.
He raised his body and found himself inside a white tent.. the club's medical tent.. At the same moment, he noticed that he was not wearing his suit, and that bandages had been wrapped around his rib. He let out a soft sigh and said, after realizing that he was not suffering from any headache or pain, "I do not feel a headache.. Is that because I have become a Salik? In the previous times, I had not yet become a Salik, but this time I am.."
Christie entered through the tent opening and cut off his thoughts, holding a bowl of water in her hand. She spoke quickly when she saw that Lumin had woken up. "Are you alright now?"
Christie did not wait for his answer, but quickly stepped toward Lumin, took hold of him, and made him lie on his back as she said, "Lie down for a bit.. I need to check your wound first."
Lumin did not try to resist, and simply obeyed her, while thinking, 'My wound? Where did I get injured? I did not leave my tent last night.. Could it have transferred with me? I need to make sure of this..'
Lumin looked at Christie, who was removing the bandage from his rib, and it took him a few seconds before he asked, "What happened?"
Christie did not find anything strange in his question. He had bled a great deal, and had nearly lost consciousness for three days. In such a situation, it was natural for some people to forget the details of what had happened for a while.
Without stopping to remove his bandages, Christie recounted everything she knew to Lumin without forgetting a single thing.. she told him everything, from the moment she saw him lying on the ground in the forest, all the way to her meeting with Lumit at the front.. Thanks to her good storytelling and her mention of the small details that many would overlook, Lumin was able to understand what had happened and how he had gotten his wound. However, he did not remember leaving his tent to explore the front. Originally, he had intended to go there at dawn before the journey resumed, but he was certain that he had woken up immediately after defeating the Fishwhale, and had not gone out to explore the front.
Lumin did not think too much, so as not to arouse Christie's suspicions. He wanted to ask her about Mr. Valjan and what he had done, but Christie interrupted him, saying in surprise, "You've healed!"
Christie did not wait for Lumin's reply, and left the tent while saying, "Wait here.. I need to inform the doctor.."
Lumin placed his hand on his rib and spoke in a low voice as he felt the place of the wound. "I was unconscious for only three days.. The wound should not disappear this quickly if it was severe enough to make me lose consciousness.. Is it because I am a Linker?"
He raised his hand to his chin and began to think: 'But why did I heal through the Linker's power? I can only link myself to things, could this be a side effect of the ability?.. No, there is still another possibility.. I was healed by one of old Valjan's medicines.. those medicines mixed with blessing..'
After a short while, Christie returned to the tent accompanied by the doctor, who did not possess any distinctive features.
The doctor approached Lumin and began touching the remains of the wound before speaking calmly, "Alright.. you are both leaders, and I can tell you this."
He paused for a second and looked at Christie before continuing, "There is nothing strange about Lumin's condition.. In fact, he drank a healing potion, and that is why he recovered so quickly."
"This is a special treatment from Lumit for the leaders.. He paid a huge sum out of his own pocket to buy it from the black markets and gatherings."
'He is telling us that it is expensive so that we will not ask him why Lumit made it exclusive to the leaders.. This medicine is incredible,' Lumin thought after hearing the doctor's words, before glancing at Christie, who remained silent for several seconds before speaking calmly, "Can you give me one of those?"
The doctor wanted to ask her, Why do you need the potion?.. But after a brief moment, he understood what Christie wanted it for, and said, "That will not help.. The potion cannot heal this disfigurement. The potion has its limits.. It only treats injuries and wounds, and does not regrow lost limbs. It also has a time limit; it does not treat old injuries that have exceeded twelve hours."
The doctor fell silent for a few seconds before stepping closer to Christie and saying in a low voice, "If you want my advice? This place is not for you.. It would be better to hide, and not show this disfigurement to the world."
Not long ago, Lumin would not have been able to hear the doctor's voice or what he was saying.. But at this moment, Lumin was not an ordinary person; he was a Salik on the Linker's path, and he possessed extraordinary hearing.
Lumin glanced at Christie and noticed that her expression was pained, and that her pupil had widened. He did not know what he should do, and remained silent for a few seconds, until the doctor returned to his side and began asking him a few questions to check his mind.
..
After some time, the doctor left the tent, having given Lumin permission to leave, but he reminded him that, in the eyes of others, he was still injured, and that he must act like an injured man and move as though his rib pained him a little.
Lumin looked at Christie and noticed that her expression was calm, unlike when she had heard the doctor's words, and he thought, 'She has tremendous composure..'
Silence settled over the place for five seconds before Lumin spoke, pointing with his hand toward one of the simple tables from which his black suit hung. "Ma'am.. could you give me my suit?"
Christie nodded and moved to take the suit.. but then remembered that his suit had been torn, so she changed direction toward another table. She took a white suit from the collection of suits inside the bag placed on top of the table, then handed it to Lumin and said, "Your suit was torn.. There is a tent to the left of this one. You can go there and wash up."
'Alright.. I have gone three days without bathing in this state.. Really, I need to go. How wonderful it is to be a leader, I will not be able to bathe in a private tent,' Lumin thought quickly, and agreed with what Christie had said before speaking calmly as he put on the suit, "Have you eaten breakfast? We can go together if you do not mind."
Christie nodded and said, "I do not mind.. I have a lot of time, and I do not have any important tasks on the journey after we returned to the center."
Lumin rose from his bed, and there was no pain in his rib. 'This is difficult.. How am I supposed to pretend that I am in pain when I do not feel anything?'
He looked at Christie before leaving and said, "Ma'am, wait for me for a little while."
Christie nodded, and Lumin left for the other tent to bathe, while thinking, 'Fortunately, she agreed to my request.. I need to make good use of this chance to learn the full extent of her relationship with my sister.. Perhaps I can get her to help me find them.'
'After I finish breakfast, I will return to my tent and ask Lord Castleman through the card to learn what happened in that world after I fell.. I remember that a man came out of the house, but I cannot remember his appearance clearly.. I have many questions I want to ask, so I need to organize them while I bathe.'
...
Lumin returned to the medical tent after bathing, and spoke to Christie, who had been waiting for him, "I am done.. let us go."
As they walked, they spoke about many side topics.. about the city, about Lumit, about the count, and about the privileges of nobility. Through these conversations, Lumin learned that even a baron had special privileges.
In many cases, special teams possessed full authority over citizens and their property, but their authority was limited when it came to a baron, and became nonexistent when facing a count. In Christie's case, since she was already a baron, they could only search her house with a special search warrant.. and they did not have one at that moment. And, to the misfortune of those seeking it and the good fortune of Lumin, the police station in this small city did not have enough authority to issue a special search warrant, so one of the employees had to go to the special center in the city of Hansan.
Thanks to this, Lumin had gained some time.. enough for him to return from the journey and speak to the count in order to convince him to buy the house, on the condition that he would become his assistant. In that case, Lumin would gain the safety needed to search the house with the help of Lord Richard Alexander, and the count would gain the assistant he wanted.
Of course, before anything else, Lumin had to ask Christie several times whether she agreed to sell the house or not.. and fortunately, Christie did not mind doing so, for his sake.
The two reached the food tent amid the eyes of a not-insignificant crowd.. This was not the only tent on the journey providing food, but rather one of seven tents, and even then, that number was not enough for the sheer number of people on the journey.
Lumin looked at Christie and said after seeing the crowd near the cart, "Ma'am, wait at one of the tables, and I will go get breakfast."
Christie remained silent for a while before saying, "It is among the basics of courtesy not to refuse the request of a noble man."
After some time, Christie was trying to ignore the stares of the people around her, and the clear disgust in their eyes. Some looked at her burned eye and muttered to their friends, others spat on the ground and turned their backs, and there was a small number who did nothing at all, as though they had grown used to it. It was clear to Christie that this small group were old members of Lumit's club.
At times, Christie heard someone say, "Look at that monster." At other times, someone would call her a whore and laugh with those around him.
Christie was not spared by the women present there either. "Look at her burn.. thank goodness I am fine." And another said, "I am starting to believe that Nevis is beautiful," before laughing with her acquaintances.
Of course, there were those who did not laugh and felt pity for her.. but they were few, for in the eyes of the majority, all that determines a person's worth is their appearance. Christie could do nothing but keep ignoring them and search for an empty table, while thinking, 'Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it.'
At first, no one was talking about her.. Yesterday, more than three hundred people had died, and twice that number had been injured, and grief and exhaustion were obvious on many faces.. until one person decided to laugh at Christie so that his exhausted companions would laugh too and be pulled out of their mood, and because of that, many around him copied him.
Christie spent a long time looking for an empty table, but she failed. She remained standing in place as the talk about her lessened with time, and some returned to their grief.
In the end, she approached a table that was not completely full and sat on one of the seats. Immediately, one of the four people at the table, which could fit six, cursed and said, "Damn, I am done, guys."
That man stood up from the table, and the others followed after him. In the end, only Christie remained at the table.
Christie lowered her head to look at the table and said in a low voice, with obvious pain on her face, "I cannot blame him.. I was unconscious for three days from the start of the journey.. He did not know that the food is prepared and brought specially for the leaders.."
Author's Note:
I have a Twitter account, which is:@Laly12 0
I hope that everyone interested in the story after these 15 chapters will follow me there to stay updated on everything related to the novel..
I know I disappeared for a long time, but I had personal circumstances that prevented me from continuing. However, I will be tweeting almost regularly and interacting with readers on my account..
Unfortunately, my circumstances are not stable enough to allow me to release a chapter every single day, so I am currently torn between two choices:
1- Releasing 3 to 4 chapters per week..
2- Writing a batch of more than 15 chapters first, then publishing them daily afterward..
I would like to hear your opinions about this matter on my Twitter account, or here in the chapter comments section.
Thank you, everyone.