Seeing him falling to his knees with a dagger protruding from his stomach was horrifying to watch. My body went numb as I saw him clutching the dagger, attempting to pull it out to no avail. How could I not realise that he was stabbed? It would seem that Zen did not realise it either. I quickly rushed over to protect him, standing between him and this—person. Why does he look like Zen? He even called him "boy" earlier, but what does that even mean? This… can't be who I think it is, right? If memory serves right and someone didn't fuck up with history, he's supposed to be dead!
"Zen, hang on. I don't know why your father is here nor why he is still alive, but I need to get rid of him first before I can heal you safely. Zen? Onii-chan?" I continued asking him with a worrying tone as I didn't dare to look behind. None of us noticed when he got stabbed, so I'm not going to risk it by taking my eyes off him.
His father just stood there, showing no interest in attacking as he yawned and glanced around, looking bored. Seeing that he's having no interest in fighting, I allowed myself to ask the scouts about Zen's condition. They told me that his condition is rather grave and the blade seemed as though the blade had attached itself to his body. I was confused by that remark but kept my eyes focused on his father. I shouldn't be wasting time when Zen needs help, but there's no one else that is around to save us.
As though he knew I was deep in my thoughts, he suddenly vanished from my vision completely without warning, only to appear directly in front of me instantaneously. It happened so fast that I was completely caught off guard, and he was already attempting to stab me with his blade. I thought he would have had me until I heard gunfire erupting, causing Zen's father to leap backwards. His expression went grim as he inspected his wound. It would appear that he was grazed by the gunshot, as red blood began dripping from his right arm. Red… blood? He's an actual human? I was under the assumption that he was a demon in disguise, since his cloak caught flame earlier. Only one way for me to find out.
One thing about worshipping the Imperatrix is that she is rather generous with her blessings. I realised that I'm able to chant silently in my head now, after she had blessed me previously. I began chanting silently while thinking about what just happened. Zen's father had his cloak set ablaze by my weapon, which I'm fairly certain is due to the gem that Quasimortuus sold to me. Damn him, why can't he just inform me that it gives flame enchantment to my weapon against anything related to demons? Sheesh.
A couple of people stood in front of me, and I had to glance twice to be sure. Why are they here, and why did they save me?
"Take him somewhere safe, we'll do our best to keep him busy," spoke one of the hunters who sounded female.
"Why are you helping us? Weren't all of you supposed to be hunting us for our bounty? Why should I even trust you?" I glared at them.
"We have a different mission currently. And besides, if he ends up dead, we can't collect his bounty now, can we?" she chuckled.
"You'll get my thanks but don't expect me to repay you," I told her as I finished my silent chanting and casted a mini version of the Revelation spell, covering a small area around us. I thought Zen's father would be screaming or grunting in pain but… nothing happened. He seemed puzzled at what I had just done. His father… is real, not some demon in disguise. So why did the gem even work on him?!
I decided that it was pointless to waste any more time and carried Zen princess style, leaping towards the location where the mayor was.
"Tak pe, White Angel. I'm fairly certain we'll meet again soon enough," she shouted joyfully.
I had no idea what language she was speaking at the beginning, but I definitely heard Zen's father shouting "Good luck in saving him!" as I was heading away, which made my blood boil.
***
"I need a sterilised room and surgery tools! Clear that table! Get me some hot water too!" I gave my instructions as I carried Zen to the table. He's losing a lot of blood, and I don't like the fact that the dagger was still lodged in his stomach.
"Bring me more light," I requested as I began inspecting his wounds. Thank goodness that light bulbs have been invented, partly thanks to Zen. Doing medical work while fully depending on candles as a light source must have been a nightmare.
"Oh gosh, what in the world is that?" gasped the mayor after he saw what was sticking out of Zen's stomach, and I grimaced as I inspected his wound further.
It… appears as though it had fused itself to his body, with weird veins protruding from his skin from the dagger. I checked his nails, and they were turning purple, which means he's lacking in blood and oxygen. That is not good. We need to remove that dagger now before I can use my healing spell on him.
I gripped the dagger and attempted to remove it, but Zen started screaming in pain as I pulled on it just a little. I immediately retracted my hand as spikes erupted from the hilt of the dagger, injuring my palm and preventing me from gripping it any further. It's as though this dagger is alive and aware of what I'm trying to do.
Zen continued to scream and squirm in agony as the dagger continued to wreak havoc on his body. Damn it, what can I even do?! I can't heal him when the dagger is still lodged in him; my healing water doesn't even guarantee to work either. That dagger needs to go no matter what. Should I just slice it out of him? How much of his flesh do I need to cut away when the dagger has embedded itself and spread all these veins on his stomach? He'll bleed to death before I even finish cutting the dagger out. C'mon Rose, think properly! There must be a way to save him without harming him any further!
I clapped my cheeks to focus myself. Focus, Rose. See the little things that you never noticed before. That dagger is alive and responds to the slightest touch; Zen is losing blood due to that dagger, and I can't heal him because of that. What kind of dagger reacts like this? Some sort of… cursed dagger? Unless— wait a minute, Zen's cloak pin… it's still black.
"Mayor, do you have anything, absolutely anything that is remotely related to demons inside this building right now?" I asked him urgently.
"Demons? No… I don't recall having anything related to demons with us since none had ever stepped foot inside our city before," he assured me.
Summarising my thoughts quickly, I took out my healing water and passed it to the mayor. I told him that if anything were to happen to me or render me unable to move or unconscious, he needed to pour this over Zen's wound. I'm not certain whether it'll work, but it's much better than letting him die when I couldn't heal him. I'm fully expecting the dagger to retaliate even if I so much as sneeze on it.
I took a deep breath and unsheathed my rapier. Zen, honey, I'm sorry for what I must do, but this is the only thing that I can think of that might save your life. I sure hope this works; otherwise, I don't know what else I can do for you.
Seemingly unable to figure out where or which angle my point of entry is, I carefully jammed my rapier between Zen's flesh and the dagger. The sound of Zen screaming in pain will forever haunt my memories, but I daresay that my idea actually worked. Pink flames began erupting from his wound and onto the dagger itself. The dagger made an intense screeching sound that hurt the ears all the way to my teeth. It is either retaliating or screaming in pain, trying to force me to release my rapier, but I held on to my weapon tightly. The sight of Zen screaming excessively pushed me through the pain. The very idea of losing him hurts me even more than what I'm experiencing now. The screeching sound eventually began to muffle, followed by a ringing sensation in my ear. I knew that my eardrum had ruptured when I felt something wet dripping down my ears. I need to make sure the concussion doesn't stop me from saving him.
The dagger knew that it could no longer stop me with sound and decided to retaliate physically. It extended a long spike, aiming for the direction of where my heart is. I moved my body aside, and it ended up piercing my left collarbone instead. I grunted in pain, but still, I refused to release my rapier. It was clearly destroying the dagger, and I just needed to persevere through the pain a bit longer for the flame to engulf the dagger fully. The mayor and the others were quick to respond and grabbed the spike that had pierced me, preventing it from retracting to take aim once more.
My vision was starting to get blurry, but I continued pushing myself to hold my rapier, refusing to let it go for even a second. My brain was hazy at this point, and it was not until people started nudging me that I finally realised that the dagger was finally gone, hopefully burned to ashes. I quickly rushed myself to the opposite side of the table but fell to my knees after a few paces as my vision was extremely blurry and my ears were ringing badly, which made it difficult to focus myself. I need to save Zen; otherwise, he's going to bleed to death now that the dagger is no longer there. I glanced towards his direction and saw silhouettes of people seemingly putting pressure on his body.
The mayor and someone else lifted me by my shoulder and limped me over to where Zen was. I asked for water, and when someone passed me a glass, I chugged it and splashed the remaining on my face, trying to refresh and force myself to focus. That certainly helped, but the nauseous feeling at the back of my throat was still there. I know I'll be hit with fatigue when I'm done; perhaps that was the enemy's plan all along, but there was absolutely nothing else I could do but heal Zen and myself simultaneously.
I placed my left hand on his stomach as I placed my right on my right ear. I began chanting the healing spell, which caused my hands to glow. Single-handed healing is much slower than two-handed, but I need to stabilise myself to heal him properly and anyone else who was hurt by the deafening scream earlier. I won't let you die, Zen. Not when you just met your father, even if he's like this.
***
I opened my eyes. This familiar, comfortable feeling means I must be on a bed again. I sat up and inspected my body; the dagger was missing, and there was no wound. Rose must have healed me up when I lost consciousness, but strangely, I don't see her anywhere.
I tried getting off the bed but was immediately hit with dizziness and fatigue throughout my entire body. This feeling… feels like I've been through hell. Judging by the colour of my fingernails, it would seem that I'm anaemic right now. How much blood did I lose when I was unconscious? Something must have happened for Rose to heal my wound so sloppily when she's usually a perfectionist. Where is anyone anyway? It's relatively quiet here in this ward-looking place.
I explored around and eventually found someone who pointed me towards the direction of where Rose was. I finally found her resting on a bed, seemingly panting badly. I rushed to her side to see how she was doing, but a lady who was attending to her stopped me from disturbing her. She told me that she had exhausted herself by healing me, herself, and other people who were injured by the dagger. She was also wounded, which further contributed to her extreme fatigue.
Damn it, this must have been his strategy to wear us down. I'm feeling fatigued and dizzy myself, but it's clear that Rose had overexerted herself with her healing spell. I can't expect Rose to heal me further when she's in this condition, and I might have to take my blood regeneration potion to recover my blood, even though I'll be sick for a couple of days. Damn him, he knew very well what he was going to achieve when he stabbed me with that dagger.
I held Rose's hand and kissed her palm, and was surprised when she responded by gripping my hand tightly. She apologised, saying that she'll be needing time to recover herself and gave her appreciation to Quasimortuus and the Imperiatrix for hinting her to get that gem. If it were not for that gem, I would have bled to death with no way of removing the dagger. I kissed her forehead and told her to rest without worries, as I'll be taking over, showing no hint that I was actually in a bad shape myself. But I'm sure she's aware of my condition deep down. I thought of leaving her to rest up, but she refused to release my hand. She apologised once again, explaining that my father was actually real and not some demon in disguise despite the gem reacting to his cloak. I just nodded and asked her to take it easy. All she needs to focus on is to gain back her strength and nothing else.
I met with the mayor, who was surprised to see me up and about so quickly after seeing me with a dagger sticking out of my stomach. I asked for a sit-rep on the city and what his original plans were to protect the city before I came along. He gestured me to follow him to the meeting room where the remaining ranked soldiers were currently discussing. I held my blood regeneration potion but held back from taking it. I might not be combat ready, but that doesn't mean my brain is not working. I'll mount a comeback on you, "Dad". Just you wait, I'll kill you with my own hands for stabbing me.