I know that there are a variety of interpretations of fantastical beings from all over the world and through the ages. I only read stories or saw movies occasionally that featured such beings, yet I find myself now in a world that accepts such persons as commonplace. It makes a lot of tensions back on Earth seem extremely petty to me when I look back, but I can’t exactly comment on that now, since I’m dead there.

My travels have brought me to an elven territory as I want to expand my knowledge base. As a doctor, I’ve only studied human biology and anatomy, but I have some theories running around in my head right now that at least elves and dwarves are really similar to humans. Part of the reason I’m here is to figure out the answer.

I talked with a number of what passes for medical personnel in this town. I really shouldn’t put them down so much, since they are trying, but their knowledge is spotty in so many places. Trading some knowledge for the ability to examine a variety of elves confirmed that they, at least, are anatomically similar to humans. I discovered they do have an organ in their abdominal cavity that I can’t identify yet. X-ray and ultrasound glasses make it easy to examine internal structures without the equipment back on Earth.

I did not expect Alzheimer’s disease to rear its head here, though they call it the Fading. I’d wager the life expectancy of humans here is about half what it is back on Earth, in the 40s or so. So later stage diseases wouldn’t really get to rear their heads in this world. Turns out elves do better, getting to maybe 120 on average. They can reach about 200 though so that’s interesting. I made sure to take some blood samples to check later for antibodies and run other tests. Maybe with the right elven antibodies I can get human life expectancy up another 20 to 30 years. I felt bad that I couldn’t offer any sort of cure. Even with my knowledge, there are some things we haven’t cured yet. Even with my newly learned magic, I can’t fix everything.

Adding elven sections to my database of medical knowledge in my ambulance clinic is exhausting as it keeps me up until late. I forced myself to stop and get proper rest despite my enthusiasm; don’t want to die early again. Now it’s on to search out various beastfolk and add them to the database. Should probably check on a few of my patients in the capital. There are dwarves there too right?

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Upon returning to the capital, I found a large number of the commoners here had been waiting for my return. It seems word of my work had spread while I was away, and that it was affordable to them as well. As such, I had to start implementing an appointment schedule, which instantly ran into problems with most people not owning a clock. Instead, I had bulk sessions at each hour, since several churches rang their bells every hour, and worked my way through the sheer volume.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to be learned from the numerous cases. It was mostly illnesses like colds, food poisoning, or cuts and scratches. I realized rather quickly that the limited number of instruments I had in the ambulance clinic would not suffice for the volume of usage. Plus, I still had to figure out single use items like syringe needles, intravenous catheters, and surgical blades since I had been improvising before. I decided to visit the dwarven smiths in town, since they were said to be skilled and capable.

My trip to see the dwarves was interesting, to say the least. Many were missing a finger or two here and there. Apparently they consider it to be a mark of prestige or something if such a thing occurs, but equally consider it a mark of failure if they lose the capability to forge. I found that out when I offered to try and regrow one’s missing pinkie finger, thinking that something like that might be possible with healing magic where modern medicine could not.

As I explained what I was looking to have crafted, numerous smiths said it was within their skill, but they wanted to charge me far more than I was going to be capable of paying up front. I mean even on Earth, things like surgical instruments, needles, and such are expensive. I was pointed towards a former smith named Tymur, since he had apparently received a mark of failure as a smith.

Tymur is apparently considered tall for a dwarf. I’m a little weirded out by the fact that his eye level is the ‘perfect’ height to just stare at my chest. Fortunately, he has to look up to speak with me and doesn’t take too much advantage of his view, though he does occasionally, so I won’t really hold it against him or call him out. It is nice to feel a little desired, but he’s not my type. His muscles are huge, which apparently comes from smithing for nearly thirty years. His smile is genuine, though hard to see through the bushy red beard and mustache he has going for himself. It makes it a little sad that his left hand is in such a state.

An apprentice accidentally smashed his hand one day, and the resulting damage, plus the burns he received as his hand was plastered onto the piece of metal he was working at the time, caused him to have to have what was left of his thumb, index, and middle fingers amputated. Infection plagued his hand and he just barely survived. Now he has tremors, probably the severe nerve damage, that rendered him unable to work as he previously had.

Since I still have several things to think about for my instruments, I don’t mind that Tymur is slow in his work. The fact that, for me, his work is affordable is better. We arranged a contract and I thought that was that. Then a crowd showed up demanding that I work with them instead, but I wasn’t going to break the contract with my new partner.

As a side note, it seems the prince and his crew are back here in town. I was surprised they weren’t waiting for me when I got back, but maybe they had tried to follow me? Anyway, it’s reassuring that I have some people guarding me in a way.

...

You know that reassurance I was just speaking of? Turns out I needed it a lot more than I thought. An assassin and an arsonist tried to attack me one night. I’m going to have to owe the prince now for having his people protect me! I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

I’m getting out of town for a bit, maybe that will cool off the tensions surrounding me. Plus, I did only intend to be back here for a short while. Time to find some beastfolk.

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Before I left the capital, I did a little research. It wasn’t easy, since there was no library with books and public records to reference. I was interested in why it seemed that everyone wanted to call me a hero.

I stopped by one of the churches in town, figuring they might have some records and teachings that can go back a ways. I felt a little awkward going into a church in this world, so I’d only done it a handful of times before. I guess it was still lingering feelings regarding my old beliefs versus what I’d experienced that made me a little uncomfortable. That said, I made sure this church worshiped Pylosa, to give me a little edge if that mattered. Polytheism seems to be the norm in this world. I've heard that polygamy is a thing too, though that's mostly among the nobility. I'm saying it now, if I end up married to some noble, he will not have any other wives. But anyway, it was at the church that I met a priestess named Sera.

Sera is a bit older than me, I'd guess somewhere in her mid-twenties. She was dressed similarly to a nun, though instead of black, the color was a pale blue. Most importantly, she was able to answer all my questions about heroes.

Now I understood why the prince and his entourage kept calling me a hero. It wasn't because I'd done anything heroic like I had thought. Rather it was because I exhibited many traits comparable to the stories of heroes. This itself made me wonder just how many people Pylosa has sent from Earth to this world.

What was interesting to me is that many of those stories seemed to be about people who, based on lingering descriptions, seem to have come from East Asia, or at least had similarities to people from East Asia. Many also seemed excited, at least in the stories, like they had achieved some kind of dream come true by arriving here. Is it possible that the concept of reincarnating into another world is popular there?

Either way, there hasn’t been any new stories about heroes in this world for nearly two hundred years. Given life expectancy here is much lower than Earth, I’m guessing that’s about six or seven generations for humans, two or three for elves. Apparently that’s quite strange, as a hero typically has appeared once every hundred years or so. I guess if I am a hero, by their definition here, I’m way overdue.

Sera also mentioned a distant place said to be a haven created by the heroes of the past and ruled by their descendants. That certainly sounds interesting, but at the same time I feel like I'm making a difference here. If after talking with the prince things don't look good, then maybe I'll head to this hero haven.

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I can’t believe I never thought about changing my name! I guess when you find yourself not writing it all the time, you don’t think about it. Now I’ve made myself look like a fool in front of the prince.

You know how there’s a bunch of people that give their kids unconventional names so as to be different? It could be the name itself or maybe even just the spelling of it. Mom was one of the latter kind. At least she was smart enough to use a conventional name as a base for me.

It caused a lot of issues for me going through school, which I hate reflecting on. According to my mom though, my name helped with getting into medical school. She had this theory that people with unique and interesting names get into medical school easier. I’d like to think that the hard work I put in was a greater contributor, but I never asked why either.

When you don’t utilize something, it’s easy to forget about it. I mean, I wasn’t signing prescriptions or orders on a daily basis. I wasn’t even handing out my name to most people I came across, instead referring to myself as a doctor. I did work for that honor, not that it means much here.

Then there are the prince’s ideas. They sound really good for the most part. I can’t say I like the idea of war in any capacity though. Where I lived previously, true war happened in far away places that I never saw directly. So if he can grow the country through peace, then I could support that. Of course, I’m not exactly sure how that would work either, since again very few border changes generally occurred on Earth during my time.

I do get a good feeling about the prince though. Should I call him Quinn? He did ask me to. Anyway, he seems to care about the future of his people. I guess I always had the impression that medieval-ish levels of society like this one always had nobility lording over commoners like tyrants. I’m not saying that it doesn’t occur here. After all, that one noble, was it Graywolf, sent goons to drag me off. Point is, I think I can work with him in the future.

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Patient 831

Name: Jekru

Age: 16

Race: Equid

Patient suffered a slashing dismemberment of the left leg from a giant mole creature (unknown name). Massive hemorrhaging, shock, probable infection and possible future necrosis.

Early Prognosis: Terminal

Treatments:

Applied improvised tourniquet to slow bleeding.

Encased severed limb in ice in attempt to preserve for reattachment surgery

Time magic applied to temporarily stop bleeding

Blood transfusion from patient’s mother and sister preformed

Healing magic applied (Reference Addendum 1.2 to Magic Application section of reference documents)

Surgical procedure successful

Post Procedure Prognosis: Life Threatening, 30% chance of recovery, <1% chance of full recovery

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From the Reference Documents of Dr. RH

Magic Application

Magical application, as it is understood to be, requires the clear mental visualization of the desired effect. The clearer and more detailed the mental image, the easier the magic application is to achieve the outcome effect.

Addendum 1.1 - Conjuration of Material

After several tests of the magical creation of material with minimal details and no raw ingredients, it is to be concluded that creation of material puts too great a strain on the Capacity of a mage. Test Subject passed out for several hours after each attempt. Test Subject is understood to have the largest Capacity in the world. Technique is not advised as potential side effect is death.

Addendum 1.2 - Visualization and Desired Effect

Evidence from a singular case suggests that magical effects require more than mental visualization of processes and desired effects. In the aforementioned case, healing magic was attempted to reattach and reconnect the amputated limb of a patient. Results were minimal, despite the caster in question having intricate understandings of tissues, muscles, bones, etc. Further understanding of this phenomena is required, additional research to be conducted.

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Patient 831

Name: Jekru

Age: 16

Race: Equid

Three Weeks Post Procedure

Patient has nearly made a complete recovery. Physical therapy exercises have improved the patient's usage of the left limb. Patient is still using crutch support for balance while healing continues. Minor reflex delay suggests minor nerve damage. Advised patient to remain less active than previously for another six months to help ensure best outcome.

Prognosis: Patient recovery to >95% expected.

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I found it curious that Adelade is one of only two women around Quinn, which is why I asked about them. Then she hits me back with her and Wyen and that I can have Quinn if I want. I can have him? You mean that, as the prince of the nation, at eighteen, as handsome as he is, he isn’t engaged already? Isn't that insane? With my guess of an average lifespan in the 40's, he's basically already halfway through. Then again, so am I. Does my reincarnation have any time extensions?

Anyway, the thought of the two of us together danced through my mind. Something about how Adelade said that though is concerning, since she dodged the question I asked about his personality to say that. Could he just be putting up a front? Wyen seems to watch Quinn carefully whenever Quinn is speaking to me. Does he say things incorrectly a lot because he’s the prince?

Either way, the prince and his people can’t keep a low profile to save their life, can they? He went to the naval base and got all chummy with the people over there, and soon everybody’s going to know we’re here! As such, I guess I’m moving on a little faster than I wanted to.

By the way, otterfolk and sealfolk are SO CUTE!