Chapter 273

Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes

Rough Surgery

Screams echoed . For a moment, the amputated section was white, then gradually blood started flowing from it .

『Show me, Silver Face . 』

「I’m not the one who’s gonna do it . 」Hikaru said . 「Go ahead . 」

「O-O-O-Okay!」

Paula rushed to Grucel’s side . The others could only watch in blank amazement . Doriachi himself was frozen on the spot, his eyes wide open .

「O’ God who art in heaven—」

As Paula chanted the spell, golden light flowed towards Grucel, and the wound frothed .

『Ooohhh…』

『Wh-What is this?!』

The people present were understandably shocked . Slowly, flesh began to form from Grucel’s severed arm . A few seconds later, his whole arm was back to normal . Even Grucel, who didn’t show much emotion, was astonished, staring at his arm in disbelief .

『How’s… your arm?』

『Ah, yes . Please wait a moment . 』

Cautiously, Grucel closed his hand tight and opened it . He then grabbed his sword with his left arm and swung it around . The weapon hissed sharply as it cut through the air .

『It’s perfectly fine . This is…』

『I know . Everyone here shares the same thought . There is only one word to describe this: extraordinary . 』Doriahi breathed a long sigh and turned to face Hikaru . 『Silver Face . I will entrust my body to you . 』

The surgency went well and didn’t take that long . Dream Maker had anesthetic that Hikaru used together with a magic item that induced deep sleep to create a pseudo general anesthesia .

They cleaned the room and sterilized the surgical instruments by boiling them in hot water . After that, they called an experienced surgeon who did the operation by following Hikaru’s instructions . It took no time at all to find the liver . There were spots on the organ, its surface undulating .

The surgeon cut off most of it, leaving only a little part . From there, Paula cast her spell, regenerating the liver and putting back Doriachi’s cut-up belly in one go . The operation lasted for ten minutes .

Eight points on Healing magic can regenerate a missing part of a body, but it can’t revive dead cells . What about ten points? Will it work then? Or maybe a different incantation is needed .

Paula said she hadn’t heard of “reviving” magic .

It might be better if she can’t use it… Regenerating something lost is already incredible enough .

As long as one was still alive, all that had to be done was cut off the bad part and make it grow again . That’s what made this regenerative ability astounding . Conversely, it was not as effective in curing illnesses caused by viruses .

『Silver Face . His Majesty is awake . 』

Grucel came to Hikaru who was resting in a separate room . Three hours had passed since the operation . They were asked to stay as no one knew what would happen afterwards . The commander led them to the room where they first met the king .

『What a wonderful day this is, Your Majesty . You look great . 』

『Now I can continue my research . And the city planning as well . 』

『Now, now . His Majesty is tired . Don’t give him work yet . We must let him rest for a while to make absolutely sure he is all right . 』

The clan leaders were gathered around the king’s bed and talking . Doriachi was sitting straight up, giving a strained laugh . Color had returned to his face . It was clear from a glance that the operation was a success .

『Silver Face! And…』

「This is Flower Face . 」Hikaru said, pointing at Paula .

The girls didn’t have names yet, so he used the designs on their masks as reference . Since Paula’s had flowers on her mask, she would be known as Flower Face . Lavia had stars on hers, so Star Face .

『I see . Flower Face . I thank you for your help . I never thought my health would improve so dramatically . 』

Hikaru was impressed at how straightforward the man was . He wasn’t an arrogant king . While he had the same black hair as Hikaru, his eyes were purple, although his skin color was that of a Japanese person, which made him stand out from the rest of the people . His mixed feature was clearly the result of his grandfather marrying a native woman .

『My doctor says I should rest for a while, but I feel like I can get back to work right now . We will hold a banquet for you today . 』

Like Doriachi said, they had a grand dinner later that evening in a huge hall located in a separate building . There were no hotels here . Which is why Hikaru’s party was given a flat in an apartment building .

Many people gathered in the hall which was as huge as a gymnasium . Not a lot of young influential people of Dream Maker were present . As for those who attended the banquet, about half of it were men, and half were women .

Round tables dotted the place . One particularly lavish table was placed at the deepest part of the hall where the king sat . People were surprised at how healthy he was, cheering in joy as they approached him .

「Looks like they really like him . 」

「Yeah . He’s a great king . 」

「Phew… I’m glad the spell worked . 」

Paula had recovered from casting healing spells repeatedly and was now reaching for the food served on the table .

On a related note, they left Drake behind in their room with some food . He did complain about getting a boxed lunch when it was dinner time soon . They couldn’t bring him with them . Who knew what that glutton would do if he saw all this food?

Hikaru and the girls sat beside each other on a table good for ten people . The unoccupied seats were easily noticeable . With their masks and hoods, no one bothered talking to them, perhaps unsure how to approach the strangers .

For Hikaru, however, that was a good thing . He could have his dinner in peace .

「It’s sweet . 」

「Yeah . 」

「Indeed . 」

Most of the food were sweet; steaks with caramel sauce, noodles with sweet soup, among others . Perhaps they had this notion that sweet equaled luxury, or maybe they just harvested many fruits . In fact, at the center of the table was a huge plate full of them—red bananas, fist-sized yellow fruits, things Hikaru had never seen before .

Halfway through the banquet, salty food—what Hikaru suspected as the cause of the king’s cirrhosis—were served . They were either salty or dried foods . The sudden Japanese-style cuisine caught Hikaru off-guard .

「So even when eating you’re not removing the mask . 」Luke arrived with an unpleasant look on his face .

「What’s the point of wearing a mask if I just removed it here anyway?」

「You shouldn’t have come if you don’t want your face seen . 」

「I did tell them I didn’t want to attend the banquet . 」

「Really…」For some reason Luke looked surprised . 「When that happens, you should just say “I humbly accept your offer” so the other party doesn’t feel offended . 」

「Make up your mind, man . Do you want me to come or not?」

「Anyway—」Luke sat down across Hikaru .

「What kind of magic did you use to heal him?」the knight asked in a whisper . 「He looks like a completely different person . Was it poison after all?」

That must be what he came here to talk about, Hikaru thought . Luke wore a curious expression . He wanted to know so badly how Paula managed to do what his Healer couldn’t .

「Not poison . An actual illness . 」

「Illness? If that’s the case, he couldn’t have been healed that easily . 」

「Well there are different kinds of illnesses . It just so happened that I knew exactly what his was, so we were able to take some drastic measures . 」

「That was more than just drastic…」Paula muttered softly .

「I see . I understand why you want to keep it secret . 」

Luke nodded to himself, seemingly reaching his own conclusion about things . Suddenly, his expression turned serious, and he stood up .

「Thank you . 」he said, bowing .

「Where’d that come from?」

「If the treatment didn’t go well, Vireocean would’ve lost face completely . Then a battle might break out again . To be honest I looked down on you and found you irritating . But you deserve all the credit for this success . 」

「Not me . It was all thanks to Flower Face’s magic . 」

「I-I only did what Lord Silver Face asked me to do . 」

「I suppose . Indeed, you all deserve the credit . I cannot thank you enough . I’m sure the Supreme Leader will reward you handsomely . 」

Luke raised his head . He looked refreshed . Hikaru thought he was a despicable man who had too much pride for coming from a family of soldiers . Contrary to expectations, however, he seemed like a good man .

Then the hall stirred .

『Thank you all for coming here . 』

Doriachi stood up and raised his voice . Some were deeply moved after seeing him well, bursting into tears . Hikaru had his mind on something else . No megaphones or something, huh?

『My illness was cured by those people over there who came all the way from Primeval . They can use magic, something we do not possess . 』

A resounding “Oohhh” came from the people . Hikaru asked the surgical procedure be kept secret . He didn’t care that it spread later, just not now . It was too early to be drawing attention . Hikaru wanted to wander around the city and buy and eat food .

『I want to make an announcement . 』

The hall went silent, waiting for his next words .

『For the first time in five hundred years, I will reopen relations with the continent of Primeval . This will be made possible by the sea-crossing technology we have developed . I want to combine our science and their magic to create new technology . 』

His words were met with great applause . Doriachi was gifted, still young, and loved by the people . Many of those present believed he could carry out what he just declared .

But Hikaru knew some of them were only pretending to clap, their eyes not smiling at all . He kept their faces in mind .