Reborn Healer Chapter 13

I had been under the impression that all my father’s excursions to the city had been to deal with noble families. He’d mentioned doing so off-handedly once or twice, and I’d assumed that was the end of the matter. In that vein, I had been a little concerned about what standards I would be expected to hold myself up to while working as his apprentice.

My expectations couldn’t have been further from the truth. After entering the city by way of horse-drawn carriage, courtesy of a driver Vallis must have hired, we turned into side streets well before the gleaming spires nearer the city center. The areas where I assumed most of his richer clients lived were visible from damn near everywhere, it seemed—even from outside the walls, I had been able to see the gilded towers.

Our ultimate destination, however, was nowhere near as glamorous. The building we ended up in wasn’t even as nice as our house was, but it was clearly my father’s. A wooden sign stenciled with the letters VALLIS KANE adorned the front of a weather-worn corner building. The path that cut in front of it wasn’t paved, while the main city streets had been, and it shared the space with a number of other storefronts selling wares of all sorts.

Even though it was still morning, the street was already bustling with business. More people were gathered in this one street than I had seen in one place for five years. Maybe longer than that, given how much I’d relied on food delivery and online shopping to keep myself from having to interact with the outside world before I’d been sent here.

Oh, wait. I died on a full-capacity flight. That counts, I guess.

This place was a lot grungier than that flight or the airport, though. That wasn’t to say it was run-down, but the structures themselves were fairly spartan. One- to two-story buildings lined the narrow dirt street, made even more cramped by the stalls hawking food and trinkets that I was sure had more significance to the other people walking this street than they did to me. While I had no skill for mana sense, I got the impression that the grandma selling warding charms that “protected from evil” and “brought good luck” on the side of the road for a handful of silver wasn’t providing actual magical protection.

If it hadn’t been for years of living in a village with a double-digit population and rustic facilities, I might have assumed that we were in a slum. By modern standards, it wasn’t great, but now I could see where the streets had been cared for, the buildings upkept even if they weren’t the nicest. The people hustling through the area and buying from the markets weren’t destitute, either. Though some of them had clearly seen better days, most of them had decent (if not fashionable) clothing. The aroma of rich spices floated through the street, vivid colors drawing my eye everywhere.

I didn’t have much time to sightsee, though Vallis did smile when he saw me craning my neck around.

“You’ll have plenty of time to explore the city when we're done,” he said. “Welcome to Liaren. It's a wonderful place. I hope you're not too overwhelmed.”

I wasn't. Though I hadn't been the most active in my previous life, I had also come from a world that was significantly more urbanized than this one. My postgraduate college education had been in New York, and that had been an order of magnitude louder and busier than the parts of this town we had been through so far.

Vallis’ clinic looked nicer on the inside than its façade had led me to believe. Its interior wasn't quite modern, but it was at least as nicely arranged as our own house. It wasn't very large—only a couple of rooms with a supply closet in the back—but I wasn't going to cast any aspersions as to how a clinic was supposed to be run. The only person I had healed so far was myself.

“So how does this work?” I asked my father. “Do you just take appointments, or…?”

“Sometimes, but rarely here,” he said. “The townsfolk tend not to come for the kind of complicated issues that require multiple visits.”

Any further questions I might have wanted to ask were interrupted by the wooden doors creaking open, bells strung up above it ringing to announce a new arrival.

“Matias,” Vallis said, greeting him. “Dungeon again?”

Matias looked to be in his early thirties, at a guess, though it was hard to tell exactly. Shoulder-length black hair matted itself on his face, grime and dried blood obscuring much of the rest of his features. He was adorned by honest-to-god armor. Leather armor, hooks and belts keeping it attached to his body, a sword sheathed at his waist. It was the kind of thing I had never thought I would see outside of a video game or museum.

Also, he stank. I hadn’t ever imagined that part when I’d fantasized about as a kid, but it only made sense. Sweat, blood, and grime did not make for the most pleasant combination.

Matias was limping, which I assumed was what he’d come for.

“Dungeon again,” he grunted. “And I’d like the washbasin, if it’s open yet.”

“Of course,” Vallis said. “Please see yourself into the care room. Feel free to use the facilities while I get ready.”

Matias limped towards the second room, pausing as he did. He peered down at me as he passed me as if noticing me for the first time.

Scratch that—based on how his hair was plastered over dirty, half-shut eyelids, he might have actually just noticed I was here.

“Sorry, little guy,” he rumbled. “Were you here before me?”

“This is my son, Ren,” Vallis said politely, sliding on white gloves that I’d only ever seen him take off when he’d gotten home. “He’ll be sitting in with us today.”

“Oh, really?” Despite how tired Matias must have been, he managed to work up some warmth as he leaned against the wall, crouching closer to me. “I didn’t know you had a kid. Nice to meet you, Ren.”

“Likewise,” I replied. “Did you get all of this from delving the World Dungeon?”

He barked out a laugh, slapping Vallis on the shoulder. “Smart kid, eh? Takes after his parents.”

“I can’t take credit for that,” my father said modestly.

“You can definitely take some,” I countered. “I didn’t get the resources to learn all of this by myself.”

Vallis shook his head, grinning ruefully. “He’s humble, too. Sorry, Matias. I shouldn’t keep you waiting.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Matias said. “Last night’s journey was easier than most. I was lucky.”

Lucky? I looked over the haggard, worn-out man in front of me. Physically imposing and taller than my father, he looked like he’d be well-suited to his job. Maybe his armor wasn’t the best, but I was no professional when it came to that. Despite all that, he was a mess and had come to a magical healer to get a nasty-looking limp fixed.

And this was a good day?

I waited for him to wash himself before asking him my burning questions. The washbasin, as it turned out, was a magical device that served the same purpose as a showerhead except for its complete lack of reliance on plumbing.

Vallis must have mistaken my fascination with the runes igniting in the basin for too much interest in Matias.

“He’s had a long night, Ren,” my father said. “Give the man some privacy. The small dignities matter more than you might think.”

I nodded, turning away while Matias finished washing. It took a shorter time than I expected—something magical in the water as well, perhaps, though I couldn’t confirm that—and then he was back and reclining on a padded wooden examination table that could have come straight out of my GP’s office.

The absence of the odor that had accompanied him was a relief, as was his now grime-free visage. Matias wasn’t exactly what I would call handsome, but he looked a lot more human now that he was less dirty.

“Symptoms?” Vallis asked.

“Took a club to the back of m’right leg,” Matias said. “Knocked me right down a slope, banged me up real good. Not too bad otherwise, but I had to call it a night there.”

“Good haul?” Vallis moved his fingers in a spellcasting pattern as he did. “You were out for longer than usual.”

I tried to follow along with what he was doing,  but Vallis wasn’t incanting, and this spell was one I had never seen even after going through the books from front to back. Granted, his books made no claim of being fully comprehensive, but this seemed more complicated than what I’d seen so far.

“Not the worst,” Matias said. “Enough that I can hold off on the next one for a week or two. Spend a few nights out on the town with the missus, heavens willing.”

“That’s good to hear.” Vallis stepped back from the table, his spell apparently complete.

“Hold off on the next one?” I asked. “What does that mean? Do you go in there as a job?”

“Ren,” my father said, a slight hint of a warning in his voice. “Don’t pressure a patient when he needs healing, okay?”

“S’all good, doc,” Matias said, grinning widely. “Let the kid be curious. This didn’t kill me before. Won’t kill me now.”

“What do you do?” I asked. “Are you an adventurer?”

“Y’might call me that,” he replied, his grin fading. “But I think of myself as a diver. People like your daddy, see—them who go out on epic journeys, saving princesses, finding legendary treasures? Those are adventurers.”

“Not anymore,” Vallis said modestly. “I gave that life up.”

Matias waved his hand, dismissing him. “Don’t kid yourself, doc. You know what I mean. Anyway, Ren, I’m not like that. I got no guild, no party, no safety net. Don’t get too involved with people like me, okay?”

Guilds. Parties. Those were familiar terms to me, but I was sure the preconceptions I had about them were wrong. I’d picked up all of my knowledge of those from games and anime, neither of which were reliable in any way as a guidance system here.

I nodded. “So… you just go to the dungeon alone? Why can’t you get other people to go with you?”

“Ren,” Vallis repeated.

“S’fine, doc. What’s the damage? How long’ll it be? If there’s no waiting out there, I’m happy to stay here and talk all day long. Beats the dungeon.”

“I was hoping that you would permit my son to heal you,” Vallis said. “He is a capable magician in his own right and already Initiate-tier, but he lacks experience on helping those other than himself.”

Matias’ jaw dropped, his eyes opening comically wide as he sat up, staring at me again. “D-did you say Initiate? How old is Ren?”

“Five and a half or thereabouts,” I said.

The not-quite-adventurer let out a flabbergasted sigh, flopping back down and grunting painfully.

I hadn’t been ready for this either, but I had seen something of its like coming. I’d hoped to see my father cast his spells and try to imitate them over time, but it was also true that I lacked practical experience. I’d grown quite familiar with my own body, of course, but other than that bear, I hadn’t done much other healing.

“Initiate at five… y’know, I didn’t even open my core until I was fifteen years old. It took me more years than you’ve been alive to hit Initiate myself. Near another decade before I got Adept.”

I raised my eyebrows. Vallis hadn’t reacted to that, so I assumed that was a somewhat normal pace for an average person. That felt… painfully slow. I seriously hoped that Adept wasn’t going to take me that long to reach.

“Matias,” Vallis said. “Does Ren have your permission to—“

“Oh, yes.”

“—would waive your fee and—oh, really? Excellent.”

“Hold on, what’s this about waiving my fee?”

Vallis laughed sheepishly. “I suppose the extra encouragement was unnecessary, but I won’t take that back. No fee today.”

“Thank you kindly, doc.” Matias shifted his weight slowly, leaning towards me and whispering conspiratorially. “Twenty silver for a healer ‘round these parts, kid. When you don’t have a party of your own, that adds up. If your dad was charging fair prices, I’d have a deep, deep hole in my pocket right now.”

“You have a standard rate?” I asked Vallis. 

As I spoke, I started casting Body Scan on Matias. I was more than used to using it now, and the mana cost barely fazed me. Though I was going to have to scan him a whole lot before I could find the exact injuries, Initiate had brought a significantly expanded mana pool alongside deepening my existing experience with my magic. I could cast Body Scan a hundred times before I even started to risk getting tired.

“Twenty silver, as he said,” Vallis said. “Or whatever one can afford to pay, at times. The market rate in this part of Liaren.”

I had no idea what twenty silver could buy. It struck me that thanks to my upbringing, which had largely been at home so far, I had very, very little idea of this world’s economics. Gold was pricier than silver, which in turn outranked bronze, but that was about it—and of course, that was also just common sense.

“Lifesaver, he is,” Matias said. “Not many others who’ll take you in on a bad day.”

“Someone has to provide for the divers.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” The armored man shook his head, throwing off my Body Scan targeted to see if he had a concussion or something similar.

I made another without complaint. No major damage there, it seemed, though there was some light yellow that indicated he might have at least taken a hit that might need healing.

“So like I was asking,” I said. “You just go into the World Dungeon alone?”

“Right, right,” Matias replied. “Yeah. City’s got contracts. Need a couple of thousand mana crystals here, rare monster corpse there, all that. I take one, spend a week or two clearing it out day by day, then get my payment for it.”

“What’s stopping you from just selling it yourself?” I asked. “If the city wants it, others will too, right?”

“The guilds,” Matias said frankly. “They line the city’s pockets, then choke out anyone trying to strike it out on their own.”

“So it’s collusion then,” I said. “Oligopoly kind of thing?”

“Huh? Vallis, you raised this kid too smart for the likes of me.”

I frowned. In this language, those words were both compounds made from easier-to-understand terms. Did he really read that little?

Not my place to judge. My Body Scans were going on his midsection and legs now, and it was evident that he lived a much harder life than I did.

“So why don’t you join a guild?” I asked instead.

“I’m tryin’. All of ‘em have big ol’ entry fees.”

Ah. Suddenly, things were clicking together.

“I imagine they might also come with access to a healer?”

“Yup. Not that anyone can beat your pops in this town.”

“Then—ah, okay, I’m done scanning you.”

I considered his injuries. There were a fair few of them, though the major ones were in his right leg, which had what I assumed was a hairline fracture as well as a lot of general damage from scrapes and such. 

I said as much, narrating my thought process aloud. “I’ll be using an Initiate-tier Basic Heal to get the fracture, then use a couple of Mend Wounds for the smaller bits. It’s a good thing the damage isn’t too severe. With some good precision, I should be able to manage it in three spells or less.”

“Do what you gotta, doc.”

“Alright. Try and hold still. This might feel a bit weird.”

I focused my mana with pinpoint accuracy as I cast Basic Heal, putting the entirety of my focus into knitting the fracture back together. I hadn’t dealt with broken bones much, having only managed to accidentally break a finger once and never quite being able to work up the courage to break another one, but I knew they required a whole ton of precision to fix.

There was a spell meant specifically to cure broken bones, but it was Adept-tier and I hadn’t tried learning it at all. For now, I made do with what I had, staying entirely still as I slowly guided his body to put itself back together. Sweat beaded on my brow, sliding down into my eyes, but I didn’t even blink. My state of focus was deep enough that I could feel my Flowing Harmony skill taking effect, making me more aware of my body, my magic, and even the target I was casting it on.

And… there. I exhaled deeply.

“It’s not a perfect repair,” I noted, casting the various Mend Wounds I had on hand to patch the rest of him up. “It should heal soon, but I don’t think you should go—diving, was it? Shouldn’t do that today, at least.”

“Very good, Ren,” Vallis said, applauding lightly. “I’ll do the finishing touches and go over improvements, but this was a very strong heal.”

I opened my mouth to reply—

“Matias, you’re good to go.”

Wait, what? During that quarter second, my instincts flashed, telling me that something had happened, but it was gone as fast as it came.

My father must have cast the rest of the healing spells in that time without incanting or even moving.

“There’s levels to this shit, huh,” I muttered to myself in English.

“Hope I don’t see y’again too soon,” Matias joked, standing up. “Thanks for the help, doc.”

He leaned down, ruffling my hair with surprising grace, then extended his hand.

Not sure what to do, I shook it, which he found funny for some reason. Matias pressed something lumpy and coarse into my palm, then stood up and waved goodbye before leaving, his limp completely gone.

I looked at what he’d given me. A bag of coins.

“Buy yourself something nice!” I heard Matias’ voice from the other room, followed by the bell jingling again as he exited.

I looked down at the coin. I hadn’t expected that. I hadn’t expected any of this.

My time as Vallis’ apprentice had just barely started, and I’d healed my first person. I felt… good. Satisfied. For the first time in a long while, I felt like I was doing the right thing.

Huh. I could get used to this.

The bells jingled again, and we were off to the races.