Civilized society, a term both near and far.
Yharnam City was once a civilized society; after Laurence invented blood therapy, it was a place countless outsiders yearned for.
Every citizen of Yharnam had a healthy body and a composed demeanor. Blood therapy made them healthy and confident. Even the most ordinary town residents could enjoy the highest quality medical services.
This made outsiders flock to it, everyone wanting to taste Yharnam's cocktail mixed with sweet blood, everyone wanting to experience the splendor of a civilized society.
But with the outbreak of the third beastly scourge, Yharnam eventually fell into darkness. Various deformed monsters lurked around, and citizens either turned into grotesque beasts or mindless lunatics.
Civilization and barbarism are but a step apart. This was true in Yharnam, and it is true in Terra.
Leaving Saltwind City, which struggled on the brink of starvation, and traversing the desolate southern wilderness of Iberia, Goki finally arrived at 'civilized society.'
Of course, it was a relative civilization; at least in this place, as long as people still had hands and feet, even if they worked as laborers, they wouldn't starve to death.
Compared to Iberia, the residents of Sargon had more ways to die...
And recently, the news that two bounty hunters wiped out three mercenary groups began to spread across the land of Sargon.
Survivors said that those two were monsters among monsters, running faster than vehicles, each blow as heavy as a cannonball, and finally transforming into giants of flame Incarnations, devouring all the mercenaries who dared to scheme against them.
Of course, this legend was merely treated as a joke for after-dinner conversation.
It would be a long time before this joke became a consensus in everyone's perception.
----
"Hello, guest, are you here to see a doctor or buy medicine? Mom... the doctor is out."
This was a somewhat small but sufficiently clean clinic. In a row of wiped-clean iron cabinets, there were several sheets of pills printed with Columbian script, but more often, there were handmade powders and bandages.
And behind the counter, a Perro boy, whose height just barely cleared the counter and who looked exceptionally cute, smiled at the guest in the black trench coat.
"Mom should be back soon, but if you're buying medicine, I can do that too!"
His skin was the common grayish-brown of a Sargon native, his two floppy little ears drooped on top of his head, and his big eyes were filled with the words "pick me." He seemed very eager to serve customers.
"I'm here to buy medicine for my friend, the kind that relieves the pain of oripathy attacks—what's your name, little one?"
Looking at the somewhat familiar, yet still very young, true little puppy, several years younger than Angela, Goki, who had approached the counter, smiled slightly and reached out to ruffle his dog head... little head.
"Hehe, my name is Miyalo. Ah—guest, do you want a decoction or powder? We also have pills, but they're a bit more expensive."
The little boy squinted comfortably under the rubbing of the large hand, but then immediately reacted and began frantically rummaging through the medicine cabinet.
Soon, a somewhat fishy and musty odor emanated from the medicine cabinet, making Goki frown involuntarily.
There were many folk remedies for painkillers; some even used fermented Originium slug fluid. They were useful, but the smell was exceptionally unpleasant.
"Pills, then. They're easy to carry and don't smell as strong."
Since arriving in Sargon, more than half a month had passed since that not-so-intense battle. Goki had ventured from the Sargon border deep into central Sargon, not far from his destination.
Goki and Skadi bid farewell to Kal'tsit, but gained a new travel companion—the mercenary Gavial.
At least for now, she was still a mercenary, not yet the future Medical Operator.
Gavial, like Kal'tsit, was an oripathy patient. Although she was strong and robust, she would still sweat profusely from the pain whenever an attack occurred.
When Kal'tsit left, she had left Goki a good amount of medicine, but to be on the safe side, and to visit an acquaintance, Goki came to this small town called Changquan Town and sought out this little doctor.
"Do you want to go to Columbia? It's quite far from here."
Looking at a somewhat tattered "Columbia City Travel Guide" on the table, which had been read many times, Goki asked casually.
"Yes, Mom says Columbia has the most advanced scientific research technology. If I go there, I can learn the most advanced medicine and become a real doctor, but I have to save up for many years for the travel expenses—Okay, these are all painkiller pills. How do you think they look?"
Smiling a bit shyly, Miyalo picked up a pack of small pills and came before Goki.
"Alright, just this many. I'll take them all. If I don't finish them, they can be a gift."
Goki pulled out a few Columbian gold vouchers borrowed from Kal'tsit and handed them to Miyalo.
He owed Kal'tsit many favors, but in the future, he would have plenty of time to repay her.
If it didn't work out, he could either go to Babel or Rhodes Island, and perhaps even become an Elite Operator.
Of course, he was there to save more Infected, definitely not because Rhodes Island had many long-legged female Operators in stockings—absolutely not!
"Wait, I just happen to have an old book here, which I use to prop up a table leg. I can't understand it anyway. If you want to be a doctor, it's perfect for you."
Goki rummaged through his belongings and handed a slightly old book to Miyalo, his gaze sweeping over an Originium crystal at his collar.
"Moreover, even in advanced Columbia, discrimination against oripathy Infected still exists. Medicine cannot change everything; there is still much to be done."
Looking at the thick, brick-like book cover with the simple title "Oripahty Studies" in large characters, Miyalo's eyes lit up. He rushed over as if he had seen a bandit on red gold.
"Tha-thank you, sir! I will cherish this book!"
For medical students in big cities, this book could be considered every failing student's nightmare, but for a child who wanted to become a true doctor, this book was more precious than red gold!
Goki merely smiled and waved to this little doctor, who in the future would dare to sacrifice himself to save others. He grabbed the medicine and walked out—he deserved this gift.
"If it can help you, that would be wonderful. If in the future you want to make a big difference, to help more Infected who are suffering—in six years, no, in three or four years, you might consider looking for an organization called Rhodes Island. Remember, Rhodes Island."
Goki knew that his existence as an outsider had indeed changed many original plotlines.
But even a Great One could not fully foresee the direction of fate, let alone Goki, this Old Hunter.
Although he wanted to leave a few boxes of ammunition for the four fellow Earthlings who would come here in the future, considering that mercury bullets were neither 7.62 nor 5.56 caliber, and even more black technology than etched bullets, Goki gave up on this idea.
Goki couldn't be certain about Miyalo's future, but perhaps he could do something for him—who knows, it might be useful?
Walking out of the room under Miyalo's grateful gaze, a playful voice came from beside Goki.
"How rare. I thought you took the book from Kal'tsit to read yourself, but it turns out you specifically came to give it to this Infected boy."
Goki turned his head and saw the handsome woman with long green hair, wearing a black mercenary tunic, leaning against the protruding wall at the entrance of the small clinic, looking at him with a playful expression, her golden vertical pupils particularly bright.
"I told you, why didn't you go to Fekun City or Twin River City? You just had to come to such an unknown little town—he's not your illegitimate child, is he?"
Gavial, this cheerful Medical Operator of the future, was not even twenty years old yet.
Thanks to her familiarity with Sargon's terrain over the past half-month, Goki's journey had been exceptionally smooth.
Of course, during this process, Goki and Skadi quickly became acquainted with Gavial, this cheerful big sister.
Skadi, in particular, and Gavial were both people who disliked beating around the bush, so they got along exceptionally well.
"Bastard, my foot! I'm still young—and didn't I give you a few books? Those were works by authoritative experts."
Goki and Gavial bumped fists.
Before parting ways with Kal'tsit, Goki had also acquired many medical books from the most skilled doctor in this world.
During the days they spent driving, Gavial eagerly read the contents every day, and whenever she encountered professional terms she didn't understand, she had to ask Goki to translate them.
"Hmph, consider it payment for me teaching you Acahualan. You're just offering someone else's generosity as your own—but I like this kind of thing you do!"
With a hearty laugh, Gavial leaned close to Goki and, extending a slender arm from beneath her robe, vigorously patted Goki's back, producing heavy thudding sounds.
Thump, thump, thump—
Fortunately, Goki had already developed resistance from Skadi's pats, so he didn't immediately cough up a mouthful of old blood.
"You're truly strange. Everyone else shies away from infected communities, but you always like to dive right in. Aren't you afraid of us infected people at all?"
After spending more than half a month with Goki, Gavial had grown familiar with him, but her curiosity only grew.
Her greatest curiosity was this man's attitude towards the infected.
This was the infected community of Changquan Town. Anyone suffering from oripathy would move to live in this community. Although it only accounted for over ten percent of the total population, there were still many residents here.
Ever since leaving her hometown to become a freelance mercenary outside the Rainforest, Gavial had learned how outsiders viewed the infected, even having to conceal her own infected status.
Discrimination, expulsion, the use of force—whether for themselves or their families, the discrimination of healthy people against the infected was Innate.
Of course, with a complete protection system, the possibility of the infected transmitting oripathy was almost zero, but clearly, the impoverished Sargon region could not achieve this.
A lord who would establish a community for the infected was already considered a rare philanthropist.
"Young man, I told you, didn't I? Mialo is a good child."
Right in front of them, on a chair across the narrow, cluttered street, sat a gaunt, frail Liberi Old Hunter with jagged black crystals growing on his arms and chest.
He was already extremely weak, breathing with difficulty, on the verge of death at any moment, and would turn into Originium dust after his body crystallized, becoming a new source of contamination. He was, in essence, no different from a bomb.
Even for other infected people, such a severely infected individual was someone to be avoided, let alone healthy people.
Yet, when this "bomb" accidentally fell to the ground just now, Goki unhesitatingly helped him up.
"Thank you, elder. This is for you. Take care of yourself."
Goki, next to Gavial, walked over to the infected Old Hunter and gently placed a few pills into his hand as payment for asking him for directions.
He turned his head, smiled at Gavial, and replied jokingly.
"Afraid? Of course, I'm afraid, but there are also cool and beautiful girls like you among the infected. If I discriminated against the infected like everyone else, wouldn't I miss the chance to meet you?"
In fact, Goki was indeed not afraid of oripathy. In fact, the liquid Originium currently in his body, though its activity was suppressed, was steadily increasing in content.
The Originium did not harm him but coexisted with Goki in a low-profile manner.
Oripaphy patients, however, were "parasitized" by Originium, which ruthlessly plundered nutrients from their bodies to fuel its gradual spread—in Specter's body, the huge dark shadow Goki saw was presumably a consciousness related to Originium.
But if Goki wasn't a Hunter, just an ordinary person who came to Terra, and didn't have the ability to be immune to oripathy, what would he do?
However, Goki knew that if he rejected the infected, wouldn't it be equivalent to rejecting so many lovely girls on Rhodes Island—he absolutely couldn't do that!
"...Huh? You—you're such an old pervert! Get out of here—but I actually quite like what you said."
Hearing Goki's words, Gavial suddenly found herself between laughter and tears. Her large green tail behind her wagged twice, thumping against the ground.
This man's attitude towards the infected was just like... the people from her hometown, where she was going back.
"If you weren't smuggled from Iberia, I'd think you were idiots from Acahuala—Alright, you are handsome, that's true, but I'm not interested in a man who can't even beat me in an arm wrestle. Supplies are done, time to hit the road again."
Grabbing Goki's sleeve, Gavial pulled him towards the city gates.
"By the way, where's Skadi? Wasn't she with you just now?"
Completely outmatched in strength by this Aegir sister, Goki was dragged forward, but he looked left and right and couldn't find the other Hunter.
She was the protagonist of this journey, after all.
"Skadi? She was just with me. She seemed to have seen a food stall, and since she has money anyway, I just let her—"
"Murderer—catch her!"
However, before Gavial could finish her answer, a scream came from in front of them.
Immediately after, they saw at the end of the street a white-haired girl in a black Hunter uniform, waving her arms, stirring up a gust of wind and dust, and rushing towards them.
With panic in her red eyes, Skadi, a crispy rice candy in her mouth, directly grabbed Goki's sleeve and hid behind him.
"I, I just touched it lightly, and that jar broke. Some auntie said it was an antique jar from Yan Country, and she was screaming and demanding a lot of money from me, and then a few big guys surrounded me, so I beat them up... and then more people started chasing me!"
Although this bounty Hunter could take down Seaborn as tall as several stories, seeing the swarming crowd behind her, she was actually a little scared. After all, she had promised Goki not to casually harm ordinary people.
"Hahaha, this is truly—no wonder you couldn't rest easy about him."
Gavial shrugged, her smile growing even brighter.
"Ha... Alright, for today's lesson, we'll talk about what 'extortion' is. Before that—Nigero Dayo!"
Grabbing Skadi's hand, Goki and Gavial ran out of the city together—of course, he was soon picked up by Skadi.
Skadi was gradually learning about this world on land, and Goki was also understanding the full picture of Terra.
And that dense Rainforest was not far from them.
— — — — — —
"Huff, huff, huff... Towers, city walls, impenetrable gates, my laevatein—it's not here either. I clearly felt it, did I search in the wrong place again?"
The red-haired girl in a black dress with two horns on her head, holding a burning long blade, was breathing heavily as she looked at a few twisted charred bodies around her.
Around her, the lush Rainforest had been completely incinerated, burning with raging fires.
Thud—
As the last enemy disappeared, the red-haired girl seemed somewhat exhausted and collapsed directly onto the scorched ground, falling into a deep sleep.
And soon, a large tail slowly emerged from the surrounding trees.
"...Wow, a dead person! You're not dead, are you? Don't scare Tomimi!"
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