“It was simply most rude of them to try to steal our breadbasket from right under our noses, in plain sight in broad daylight. As such, I feel no guilt whatsoever about ordering for them to be trampled to mush in exchange.” - Roderich Gustaf von Loust, Head of the Imperial Association of Healers, Clangeddin Empire, Circa 227 VA.

After some rest, since they still had some time in the day, Aideen brought Celia to walk around the second - and third - districts since they could freely pass the gates now that their identities had been confirmed. As they walked around they discreetly fished for information related to how the local healers were set up. As Aideen posed herself as a traveling healer with Celia as her apprentice, it made sense for them to ask such things, as travelers generally tried to avoid stepping on toes when they could avoid it.

The locals proved to be rather forthcoming with their queries, as to them, there was nothing to hide about such matters. It turned out that the Guild had indeed attempted to spread their influence over to the Empire, and while they managed to gain a foothold on some of the poorer provinces with the help of some corrupt nobles, they faced a massive hurdle the moment they crossed into the richer core regions of the Empire.

That obstacle was the Empire’s own association of healers, one that was more of an informal group, mostly meant to help fledgling healers get on their feet and ensure that their patients received care that was worth the money they paid. The organization was almost the polar opposite of the Guild Aideen ran into, as they were first founded after a scandal in the Empire’s past where some healers shorted out their patients rather than treating them properly.

Said scandal had even caused the wrath of that time’s Imperial Family, and the association was founded to prevent such an incident from repeating itself. Quite naturally, when the Guild ran headlong into the Association’s area of influence, their opposite mindsets completely clashed with one another. At first the clash was merely that of benign rivalry, but soon after, it escalated.

As they learned about the past incident which caused the formation of the association, the Guild spread word that denigrated their rivals as unreliable, and promoted themselves as being worth the higher fees they demanded. What they had not expected was the Association’s reply to their propaganda campaign, which pretty much flipped the situation right around.

The head of the Association at the time was the third son of a merchant, and before he rose to his position in the Association, had at first wanted to follow his father’s footsteps. When the issue with the Guild was brought to his attention, his response was to start a price war to drive the Guild out fiercely. Almost overnight, the Association’s healers lowered their prices by a fair bit, at times down to four-fifths of their usual fees.

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Propaganda ran headlong into practicality, since the Association’s services were priced such that magical healing, while expensive, remained within the reach of even commoners as long as they saved up, something which could not be said about the Guild’s prices. While the Guild succeeded in luring some richer clients over, the vast majority of the populace went to the Association instead, and before long, even those richer clients also changed their minds, having seen proof of the Association’s healers’ reliability with the masses as their example.

As a result, while there were still some Guild presence here and there in the poorer regions - Aideen had spotted some in Lavinja - in the wealthier central regions of the Empire, they failed to gain a foothold, and the local Association kept their prices reasonable, if not something a commoner would be able to afford without preparation.

Since she had heard news that the teachings that had grown popular in the border duchies - the same teachings she helped popularize and spread - were spreading already, Aideen figured that after a while, they would reach the Empire as well, where they’d likely depose the remnants of the Guild’s influence that remained. As for the Association, its goals seemed more closely aligned to what she had taught before, so they would likely get along well.

During their trip around the city, just as they were about to return to their inn, Aideen and Celia noticed a ruckus that took place on their road back, and how some people were running around asking for healers with a panicked look on their face. Judging from the fine clothes those people wore, they were likely retainers for someone either really rich, or was part of the nobility.

Since they were there already, Aideen saw no reason to hide herself, and volunteered her aid to one of the panicked retainers, who thanked her and immediately cleared a path towards the center of the accident, where Aideen saw several more retainers in the same outfit as they tried to apply what she detected to be meager healing skills on an injured person lying on the ground.

The person - a young woman, Aideen noticed once she got a closer look - wore a riding outfit, and was bleeding from her head. From what the panicked retainer told her, she was just riding her horse around town when a bee stung the mount, which caused it to rear up in surprise. The woman injured her head when she fell off the back of her horse, and had yet to regain consciousness since.

Aideen knelt by the injured woman, and gave her a quick check, which was easy for her despite the woman’s natural resistance due to her unconsciousness. She quickly pinpointed the reason for the woman’s condition, since she detected some severe hemorrhaging in the woman’s brain. Such an injury was difficult to handle, especially if it had persisted for more than a short time, and often led to permanent crippling or even death if handled poorly.

For Aideen, though, it was a trivial matter, mostly a case of sealing the hemorrhaging parts, then invigorating the woman’s body to let it absorb the blood from the rest of the bruising herself. The minor fracture on the woman’s skull and the small - but profusely bleeding - head injury was handled in the same breath as well, and before long, to the relief of her retainers, the unconscious woman regained her consciousness.