Chapter 782: Medical Check-up [1]

"Thank you for coming."

Maren Holt, the Guild Master of Silver Lanterns, was waiting near the entrance when I arrived. She stepped forward to greet me, her grey hair tied back as usual, before glancing towards my hand.

"...Are you injured?"

Another one...

"A little bit."

"Well, you must take care of yourself. This is a pretty dangerous business we’re in."

"So I’ve been told."

She looked at me for another moment before leading me inside. I followed her down the corridor, noticing that there were fewer people around than during my previous visit.

"I wanted to thank you properly," she said. "Without your team, we still wouldn’t know where to look."

"Joanna deserves most of the thanks."

"I’ve already spoken to her."

"Ah. Then I’ll accept the rest."

A small smile appeared on her face, although it faded as we approached the medical ward.

"How is he?"

"The same."

She opened the door and stepped aside.

The man lay beneath a thin blanket, his head turned slightly towards the window. His head was clean shaven, and outside of how pale he looked, there wasn’t much about his appearance that suggested anything was wrong with him.

His chest rose and fell steadily.

I approached the bed while Maren placed a folder on the table beside it.

I looked back at her.

"He hasn’t woken up at all?"

"No. We’ve tried calling his name, speaking to him, even bringing in people he worked with, but nothing at all."

I looked down at his face and tried to see if there was anything weird.

But right as I did⎯

His eyes flicked open.

".....!?"

For a moment, I thought he was looking at me, and my breath paused. His gaze seemed to settle somewhere around my chest before his lips slowly started to pull apart. As if he wanted to say something, only for a smile to slowly settle on his face.

The room seemed to suddenly lose all its air as I looked at him.

Only for everything to return at the Guild Master’s voice.

"...He does this occasionally."

The Guild Master said, her voice soft.

"He’s not actually awake."

I remained where I was, watching him.

His eyes didn’t follow me when I moved.

A doctor entered while I was still standing beside the bed. He adjusted the pen clipped to his coat pocket before checking the chart hanging at the foot.

"There’s been no change in his responses."

I looked towards him, then back at the patient.

’VILE-1048...’

The thought came almost immediately into my mind.

There were just too many similarities. The coma, the smile, and the fact that he looked perfectly healthy otherwise...

It was hard not to remember Geneva’s brother.

Still, I kept the thought to myself. I had come here to check a possibility, and not directly jump to conclusions. It could very well be some sort of absurd coincidence, even though I severely doubted it.

And considering the current situation with the Guild, if news about their best member being influenced by an anomaly nobody could catch, then...

’They’re very likely aware but not saying anything because of that. I guess I should be quiet myself and pretend like it’s nothing serious.’

"Was there anything before this?"

I turned towards the doctor.

"Any sort of illness, an injury... anything that might explain it?"

He shook his head.

"Nothing in his history that would account for his current condition."

Maren folded her arms, her attention settling on the bed.

"He was usually healthy. Just the occasional fever or cold. Nothing special, though."

"Usually?"

She paused.

Then her brows drew together.

"...Actually, he did mention feeling a little sick before he left."

My attention returned to her.

"Sick?"

"It was nothing serious. A slight cold, I think. I asked whether he needed to sit the mission out, but he said he was already feeling better."

The doctor nodded.

"He came in to get checked before leaving. The results were normal."

He opened the folder beside the bed and drew out several pages, placing the earlier report on top.

"This was the examination."

I took it and looked at the date.

’A cold.’

Geneva had mentioned something similar about her brother.

That did bother me a little.

Then again, people caught colds all the time.

"Were there any complaints after that?"

"Not that I heard."

Maren replied after shaking her head.

"He went about his work normally."

I turned the page.

Most of the report was just regular stuff. There was nothing out of the ordinary, and certainly nothing that suggested he was going to fall into a coma.

The doctor indicated another sheet.

"The later examinations are underneath."

"I had everything put together. I thought it might help."

Maren followed up.

"It does."

At the very least, I had something to compare.

I lowered my gaze towards the next page.

Then stopped.

For some reason, the words on the page had started moving within my vision.

I had to blink several times for the words to finally settle back in place before they started floating in my vision once more.

’...What the hell?’

I blinked and tried again.

That was the moment I felt an ache at the back of my head. I moved around the chair, only to feel the floor tilt slightly beneath me.

"Seth?"

My hand caught the edge of the table.

For several seconds, I remained there before slowly raising my head.

"...The report seems to be corrupted."

Maren’s eyes studied me from top to bottom.

"Are you okay?"

I considered telling her that I was fine, but another wave of dizziness made sure those words never left my lips.

"Lightheaded?"

The doctor asked.

"I guess I’m... a little lightheaded."

I pressed my fingers against my forehead while the sensation slowly settled.

There it was again.

My nodes.

Even without trying to use them, I could feel the same uncomfortable resistance. It seemed like my previous actions had really drained me.

"You should get checked if you’re not feeling well."

The Guild Master suggested.

"...A check-up?"

"I think you should."

The doctor followed up.

"Your face is incredibly pale, and it doesn’t seem like you’ll be able to go back to the Guild at this rate."

"I... can call a driver."

"That doesn’t make it better."

The doctor waited while I looked down at my wrist. The bruises had yet to fade, and moving my fingers still hurt.

’I probably should.’

Actually, there wasn’t much probably about it.

I needed to get checked.

Taking another pill and hoping my nodes would improve was not the solution. This much was clear to me. I couldn’t keep waiting until they stopped working in the middle of something important, like back in the school incident.

If something similar happened again...?

I was lucky that the fridge was stocked, but if it wasn’t?

I shuddered at the thought.

But it wasn’t like there weren’t any problems.

Going to the Guild would mean having my condition recorded somewhere the Section Chief could potentially access. After our last conversation, I wasn’t particularly interested in giving him another reason to invite me to dinner.

He didn’t even follow up on my throat.

Even now, I was waiting for him to ask if it had gotten better.

"You can have an examination here if you want."

The Guild Master suddenly offered.

"We do have pretty good facilities for this."

I looked up.

Here...

That wasn’t such a bad idea.

There were things I couldn’t explain, but getting checked didn’t mean I had to tell them everything about my nodes. Especially if it was just a quick scan.

I could start with the parts that hurt.

"...I would need it kept private."

Maren’s expression became more serious.

"Of course."

"I mean, from my Guild too. I don’t want any reports sent over, and I don’t want any information to be shared with them."

The doctor nodded.

"Your results would be discussed with you first."

"I won’t contact them without your permission. You came here as a guest, and we can also sign a contract that prevents us from saying anything."

I looked between them before lowering my hand.

"I’d like that."

That settled the largest problem.

Well, I was desperate. Things couldn’t keep going like this.

"...All right. Just an examination for now."

I didn’t want anything deep. I didn’t fully trust these guys.

"No worries. We’ll just do a quick scan of your head without anything deep. So... just light equipment."

Maren reached for her phone.

"I’ll let them know you’re going down."

"Thank you."

She gave a small shake of her head.

"After what your team did, it’s the least we can do."

I returned the reports to the folder and slowly stood while the doctor stepped towards the door. This time, the floor didn’t tilt.

I appreciated the floor.

"Thank you, floor."

"....."

I followed the doctor into the corridor.

We passed several rooms before he stopped beside one and pushed it open.

There was an examination bed inside, along with a desk and several pieces of equipment I didn’t recognise.

I sat down carefully.

"Well then."

The doctor took a seat besides the desk whilst also taking a notepad.

"What’s been bothering you?"

I looked down at my wrist before rubbing the side of my head.

"...That might take a while."