Altaïr had slept so deeply that when he woke, he was completely disoriented.
He sat halfway up and looked around.
It was a warm room. The thick curtains had been carefully drawn, leaving the room dim and its furnishings difficult to make out.
A faint herbal scent lingered in the air. It was not unpleasant, and the familiar smell led him to conclude that he must be in the clinic.
The sound of steady breathing reached his ears. Altaïr turned his head and saw Isis lying beside him, sprawled out in her sleep.
Altaïr instinctively leaned back.
All right, that confirmed it. This was not the clinic. The clinic did not have beds more than two meters wide, nor would it put two injured patients in the same bed...
He glanced at Isis again. Her body was wrapped in bandages, making her look like a corpse from one of the ancient tombs in the Great Desert. The sight was somewhat comical.
Feeling something restraining him, Altaïr instinctively shifted. When he looked down, he realized that he was wrapped in just as many bandages as Isis.
Altaïr frowned slightly and listened carefully for a few seconds.
It was relatively quiet outside the room. The occasional muffled voices did not sound tense or panicked, so this was probably not a battle still in progress.
That eased his mind somewhat. He spent another half minute carefully checking each part of his body. Once he was sure that simple movements would not dislocate any bones or tear open his wounds, he quietly got out of bed.
The softness beneath his feet surprised him. He looked down and saw a thick, luxurious carpet covering the floor beside the bed.
Altaïr recognized it at once. It was woven from Moofah wool and extremely valuable.
As for how he knew, that was rather embarrassing... Weaving blankets from woolly camel hair and passing them off as expensive Moofah wool carpets had been one of the nomadic tribe's main sources of income when he was young. He had even woven one himself...
Ordinary families could not afford this kind of carpet. He had a good idea where he was.
The mayor's residence.
He turned the handle and pushed open the door, only to find an attendant still standing guard outside. The man stared at him for a moment before exclaiming in delight, "Mr. Hunter! You're finally awake!"
Altaïr forced his facial muscles, stiff beneath the bandages, into a smile. "Hello. What's the situation now? How many days has it been?"
The attendant carefully supported Altaïr and called someone else over, instructing them to notify the mayor. Then he answered Altaïr's questions. "We don't know the details. All we know is that we're safe now.
"You and the young female Hunter were brought here the morning before last. How do you feel? Should I fetch a physician?"
Altaïr politely declined. Just as he was about to ask for more information, he saw the portly mayor hurrying toward them.
The man's plump face was beaming, and his neatly trimmed mustache twitched with every step. He was clearly in excellent spirits.
He strode up to Altaïr and, before Altaïr could speak, clasped his hand in both of his own and shook it vigorously.
"Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Altaïr! On behalf of everyone in Manti Town, I thank all of you for everything you've done!
"Thanks to you, the defensive operation went extremely well. No one died, and the damage to Battle Street and the fortress facilities was so minor as to be negligible. I truly don't know how to thank you enough!"
Over the past few days, he had truly experienced what it meant to swing from despair to joy and from crushing lows to soaring highs.
The Shen Gaoren had arrived thirty years early... and a team of Hunters had come to reinforce them!
The defense system had flaws... and the Shen Gaoren had died.
An even stronger Shen Gaoren had appeared... and that one had been driven off.
To be honest, when he first learned that the Teppeki Shen Gaoren was approaching, he had prepared to abandon the town he had poured his life's work into building and organize an evacuation.
Yet in the end, the town had emerged completely unscathed?!
He knew exactly who deserved the credit. If all Hunters were heroes, then these young Hunters, who had tirelessly intercepted and weakened the Shen Gaoren day and night without rest, were heroes among heroes!
Honestly, if he had not known how much Hunters disliked such displays, he would have given each of them a solid gold medal the size of a dinner plate!
Altaïr asked about his companions and the other Hunters.
Nymera had suffered no real injuries, only exhaustion, and was currently resting. Morgan had been injured earlier when his weapon exploded, but he had returned to Manti Town sooner and received proper treatment.
Many of the other Hunters had been injured.
The Blademasters led by Griffin, who had been responsible for pinning down the Teppeki Shen Gaoren, had suffered burns of varying severity.
In its overheated state, the Teppeki Shen Gaoren had been like a giant furnace. Anyone who approached it was bound to be injured. Fortunately, no one had died.
Altaïr then pressed for more information about the Teppeki Shen Gaoren.
The mayor knew little about the matter. He only knew that after the Teppeki Shen Gaoren was driven back, Miss Nightmist had led a pursuit team after it, with the Professor among them.
Where the Teppeki Shen Gaoren had gone and whether the Guild would send anyone to finish it off were beyond the mayor's knowledge. Altaïr was not surprised.
"I have one last question." Altaïr's expression grew serious.
Seeing how earnest he was, the portly mayor's face also turned solemn. "Please, go ahead. If I know the answer, I won't hide anything!"
Altaïr pointed toward the room behind him. "Why were the two of us put in the same bed?"
"Uh..." The mayor had never expected that question. His expression tensed as something occurred to him.
"It... it was Mr. Ted. When he brought you here, he asked us to lodge you together. He said that seeing each other as soon as you woke would put your minds at ease.
"The residence has plenty of guest rooms, but it isn't an inn, so we don't have any rooms with two single beds."
Afraid that he might be blamed, the mayor explained everything in great detail. Then he cautiously asked, "Could it be that you two... aren't actually a couple?"
Altaïr fell silent for a moment. Instead of answering the mayor's question, he asked, "Have you seen Sajji and Clawdia?
"They're our hunting partners, the two Felynes."
If Clawdia had been around, she surely would not have let him and Isis share a room, much less a bed. The mayor glanced uncertainly at the attendant beside him. As mayor, he could not possibly concern himself with every minor detail.
The attendant assigned to care for them immediately replied, "The physician said you both had extensive burns and that Felyne fur might interfere with the healing of your wounds, so Malika took the two Felynes away."
For some reason, Altaïr imagined the couple grinning in unison and giving him a thumbs-up.
Of course, that was only his imagination.
He did not think the two veterans would have been in the mood for such a prank under those tense circumstances. More likely, they had not given the matter much thought. They had simply asked for Altaïr and Isis to be lodged together, and the attendants at the mayor's residence had misunderstood.
It was a good thing he had woken first. If they had both woken at the same time, it would have been far too awkward.
"Mr. Mayor, could you prepare another guest room for me? Something simple will do."
"Of course!"
At the mayor's urging, two more attendants hurried over. Ignoring Altaïr's insistence that he could walk on his own, they carefully helped him away.
—--
Once the sound of footsteps had faded, Isis suddenly sat bolt upright in bed.
"Good thing I pretended to be asleep and got away with it..."
She covered her face with her hands. "How did things end up like this...? Should I write to Mom and ask?
"...Forget it. I'll ask Francesca instead."
* * *
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