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Volume 4 Chapter 121

 

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Translator: ranzan

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Chapter 121 – Knee Healing

When I awoke, the sun was down. I guess I had slept for two hours.

I noticed that Cruz was next to me. I was thankful.

My knee hurt, but it wasn’t enough to knock me out.

「Oh, are you awake?」

「Cruz, thanks.」

The reason the pain decreased was probably because Cruz was lying next to me.

Yureena was there too. Of course, she WASN’T going to lie next too me.

She was next to the bed, examining my knee.

「Thanks to you too, Yureena.」

「I’ve been examining your knee as you slept, Al.」

「Thanks. So how is it?」

「There’s still something like a large rock inside of it.」

「A rock?」

Yureena nodded slowly.

I put my hand down on my painful left knee.

「I told you this morning it was like a part of your knee had broken off, right? Well, now it’s suddenly grown larger.」

「Can something like that grow fast?」

「Normally, no. So it wasn’t just a loose body in your knee joint. I misdiagnosed it.」

「…now it’s a mysterious growing rock?」

Scary. Something strange is happening inside my knee.

Cruz looked confused.

「What’s a loose body?」

「Well, that’s its proper name. The bone in your joint breaks off, and it hurts like crazy. But what’s going on in Al’s knee is even more dangerous.」

「What do you mean? I’m scared.」

「ryaa ryaaa…」「…mooo」「wuff」

All three of the beasts looked quite frightened.

Maybe they imagined the pain. Shiggy’s tail was between its legs and it covered its head with its hands.

I guess that’s what an ancient dragon does when scared.

A new discovery. I guess I should tell Luka.

After thinking it over, Yureena said something startling,

「I think we should operate and open it up.」

「Whaaaa? Open it up?!」

「Yeah.」

I was scared, but Yureena was taking this all calmly.

「Eep!」「Wuff?」「ryaa…」「Moo?」

Cruz and the beasts were terrified.

Now not just Shiggy but Femm also had its tail between its legs.

「That stone in your knee isn’t going to just disappear. And since it’s growing, so will the pain.」

「I…I see. Then please.」

「Is Al going to be okay?」

Cruz looked very worried.

I guess I’d just have to bear the treatment. Just like drinking a harsh medicine.

If Shiggy and Cruz had to bear drinking some nasty-tasting potions, then I could take this treatment.

「Okay, I’m begin immediately.」

「Wha? What about anesthesia?」

「Don’t have any. Sorry.」

「…no way…」

Yureena with the startling statements again.

Anesthesia is bad for the body. Yurenna said you should refrain from using it if possible.

So I was scared.

「I wonder if anyone’s discovered anesthesia that doesn’t hurt the body yet…」

「Or maybe it could be done by magic…」

It was just as Cruz said. Maybe something with illusory magic.

「Al, just count all the cracks you see in the ceiling…」

「…sure.」

「It will be over quickly, so relax.」

Yureena was prepared quickly. She first put a roll of cloth in my mouth, I guess to keep me from biting my tongue.

I was getting scared.

Before I could get mentally ready, Yureena took a sharp blade and began cutting into my knee.

「WAIPHHH! WAIIPPH!!!」

I was trying to tell her to wait, but the words were muffled.

She deftly sliced the knee open.

Of course it hurt like hell.

I guess I should be thankful that the girl didn’t take her time.

It’s better that she didn’t wait to tell me,「Okay, you ready?」over and over.

She was able to slice into a body with magic too.

But since she didn’t know what would happen without using a sharp blade, she used that instead.

She also probably needed magic reserved for suturing and healing the knee after the operation.

「Hang in there, AL!」

Cruz said beside me. I was thankful for her support, but it didn’t change the pain.

I looked down at my knee. Her surgery was amazing.

She took the minimal cuts necessary. The pain was hard but there was little blood.

「Wu, wuff」

Femm was looking away from the whole process. Shiggy was shaking, perched on Femm’s head.

And the both had tails between their legs.

Shiggy was covering its face, and its fingers were shaking. It looked really scared.

「Muffm Muffm」

On the other hand, Moofy was chewing on my right hand.

She was worried, and this is how she coped. Wait, maybe not.

Maybe she just wanted to do it.

While I was thinking about this, Yureena said,

「Just a bit more!」

Yureena pulled the rock from my knee.

—-CLUNK

With the stone placed on a dish, she now began sewing the wound up.

She sewed using magical thread. The wound was closed almost instantly.

「Now I just need to cast healing on it.」

The healing magic hit me and the former pain was gone like an illusion.

「Al, it’s over. Are you okay?」

「Thanks. Actually, I feel like I could sprint a mile.」

「I know you’re joking, but I’ll tell you anyway. DON’T RUN ANYWHERE.」

Cruz and the others looked at the stone on the plate.

「What a painful looking shape.」

「…ryaaa」「…mooo」

『What a repulsive stone.』

Cruz and the others shrunk back from the stone.

Then I looked at it.

「Whoa, what the hell…」

I shrunk back too. Damn.

The stone was the size of an index finger. It had a strange shape. It was like a star, but geometrically shaped.

「Is this a great stellated dodecahedron?」

「Does this shape have a name?」

「Maybe…」

I didn’t know geometric shapes well, but it seemed like the correct name.

It was an extremely spiked shape. There were exactly 20 spikes.

It creeped me out that something like that grew inside of me.

Yureena looked it over and said,

「Something was coming out of each of these points.」

「What is it?」

「Something that interacts with your nerves. That was the reason for the pain. It’s not the shape. It probably hurts way worse than a kidney stone. You really took the pain well.」

「I see.」

So this really painful looking shape wasn’t the reason for the pain.

I wondered what it was made of.

「I think it’s better to say it’s just the shape.」

「Does it hurt now?」

「No, it’s almost all gone.」

「Good to hear.」

Yureena looked relieved.

On the other hand, Cruz looked seriously down at my knee.

「It still has a weird, bad feel to it.」

「Really?」

I was scared again. This pain would probably continue.

「Cruz, what do you sense about this stone?」

「It’s really ominous. I’ve never felt this bad about something before. It has even a more negative feeling to me than Al’s knee.」

Cruz frowned at the stone. But there was no doubt that there was a really bad vibe from this stone.

「I’m going to check this stone out carefully.」

「Yureena, thanks for all you’ve done.」

「Don’t worry about it. Just take care of the knee and eat well.」

The healing magic didn’t heal your body strength. There wasn’t a lot of blood, but there was some.

Eating was the best way to recover.

But I was thankful the pain was gone. I helped her finish up the clean up.

「Let me prepare this bed for recovery.」

Yureena said and prepared everything.

She prepared sheets to contain the bleeding and cleaned up the area.

Even though I let Yureena get everything prepared, I wasn’t just going to sit there.

After we were done, I made my way to the kitchen.

「Good morning, Al!」

「Oh, you’re up, Al. Is your knee okay?」

Vi-Vi and Vallimie were waiting there for me.

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