***

We arrived at the 'Dr. Hippocrates and his Lovely Pharmacy' this time. This place sells medicine, so they're open 24/7. Before we would go on a journey to Kristina's mansion, I wanted to get a general check-up here. I walked into the store, while Kristina walked away to different stores and I found an employee working there.

"Hello there. What can I do for you today?" The young woman behind the counter greeted us cheerfully. She was a beautiful girl with blond hair and blue eyes. Her face was very cute, and she had a figure that made men look twice.

"Oh, uhm, well, I'd like to get a general check-up from Dr. Hippocrates. Could you please prepare one for me?" I looked around to make sure no one could hear me.

"Ah, yes, ma'am. Please wait just a moment." She smiled gently and went back for a bit.

The first floor of the building was filled with shelves full of medicines. There were many different kinds of herbs and roots, and they came in various sizes and colours. They must have been carefully selected by a doctor himself, as everything was arranged neatly.

There were also bottles labelled “Medicine” and “Elixir”. These two words stood out to me, since I knew these labels referred to alcohol health tonic's.

It was called Elixir because it was supposed to be able to cure any disease. I didn't know much about alchemy, though. In fact, I barely understood what science or chemistry was. It all sounded like black magic to me.

Still, I thought it was interesting that something like this existed.

After a while, the lady returned. "Dr. Hippocrates will see you now. Please follow me."

She led me to a room where Dr. Hippocrates sat behind a desk. He wore a white lab coat over a long-sleeved shirt and pants. His beard was trimmed short and neat, and he had brown hair and green eyes. He looked to be in his early 30s.

He gave me a smile and said, "Welcome, Miss Moon, I believe. I saw you in the 'Turkey Shoot', you did quite well. How may I help you today?"

"Yes, thank you. Um, I'd like to get a general check-up. Is that possible?" I replied politely.

"Of course, let's get started then. Come over here." He gestured towards a table in front of him. On top of the table was a large machine. It made some strange noises and released steam from different places. It looked intimidating.

"This is a medical scanner. It's called 'Quantum Resonance Magnetic Steamlyzer 3000'. We'll use it to scan your body and determine if you've got anything wrong with it. Please put on the gown hanging over there." He pointed to a rack of aprons.

"Thank you." I nodded and took off my clothes. When I finished changing, Dr. Hippocrates told me to lie down on the table. I felt uncomfortable lying almost naked on the cold metal surface, but I obeyed anyway. After a few seconds, Dr. Hippocrates turned on the machine and began operating it.

What happened next was truly scary. A screen appeared before my eyes. At first, I couldn't tell what it was displaying, but after several minutes, I realized it was an image of my insides.

"Hiii!" I shrieked.

Everything inside me was displayed on the screen, including my organs, muscles, bones, and even blood vessels. My heart throbbed rapidly in my chest, and my lungs expanded and contracted. Even when I breathed normally, I could see air entering and leaving my nostrils. The red light coming from the machine illuminated everything in vivid detail.

'I don't want to look at this anymore!' I thought.

But, alas, I couldn't turn away. I was forced to watch as Dr. Hippocrates observed me closely. This continued for a while until finally, he spoke up. "Well, I think we're done. You can get up now."

"Huh? Oh, um, okay..." I sat up slowly. My skin was clammy and pale, and sweat poured from every pore. I trembled uncontrollably.

"You seem to have been through quite a lot," Dr. Hippocrates said. "Did you experience any pain during the scan?"

"A little, yeah. But, uh, I'm fine now." I answered. I wasn't sure how to feel about this whole thing. While it was certainly fascinating, I still found myself repulsed by the idea of having my insides seen through so vividly.

"Good. Now please take a seat." Dr. Hippocrates went back to work. As I sat on the chair, I tried to calm down, I felt something ominous.

After a few minutes, Dr. Hippocrates stopped working and said, "Okay, Miss Moon. I think we're ready to start your treatment. Do you mind if I ask a question?"

"Sure." I replied.

"Are you feeling unwell in any way?"

"Not really, no. Why do you ask?"

"Another question: Have you experienced any symptoms similar to those described in this chart recently?" Dr. Hippocrates showed me his steamphone.

"Umm... well, erm, maybe a little. Like a slight fever or a headache."

"Have you experienced these symptoms more than once recently?"

"Err, yes. Once, twice, three times."

"I see. Next question. Did you participate in some serious gunfights recently? Any close-range combat involving firearms?"

"Yes, I did. Some days ago, I fought against bandits on my way here. One of them shot me in the leg and arm, maybe a stomach too? But it's already healed, see?" I showed him my scars.

Dr. Hippocrates sighed deeply. "Miss Moon, you are indeed a Gunner. Your body has adapted to battle and will naturally heal itself faster. However, that adaptation isn't ideal. You might think your body is all healed on the surface, but actually, it's not. In fact, there are many places where your internal organs aren't fully functioning yet. That's why I need to treat you. You are in grave danger right now."

"Grave danger?! What do you mean?" I stood up in shook. It was so unbelievable. W-Would I die soon? I don't want to? I have so many things to do! I still didn't even find 'that boy' who gave me Beary! I... I...

"Please sit down again. Let's continue." Dr. Hippocrates put on his glasses and resumed talking. "We'll be doing an operation today, Miss Moon. Please relax. I'll make sure everything goes smoothly. First, let's confirm what happened during the recent fight. Tell me exactly how you got hurt."

So, I told Dr. Hippocrates everything. About how I was attacked by four unknown men, then when I was in a cave I was jumped by the strange nimble man that tried to do things to me. And also, about how Angelika tried to put me to sleep and stepped on me. The doctor nodded along as I spoke. When I finished, Dr. Hippocrates said, "It seems like you went through quite a lot, didn't you?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"But you survived. Amazing. That's pretty impressive. Still, please rest assured; we will give you proper treatment. Rest assured, you won't die. But you need to be more careful next time."

"Thanks. So, erm... I'm going to be operated on today, right? Will it hurt?"

"No. We'll use anaesthesia, so you won't feel anything. It'll only take one hour, tops. Then I'll finish treating you. After that, I'll explain the details of the operation to you. Don't worry, it won't hurt at all. Now, let's prepare the operating room. Oh, and one last thing before we begin. Are you scared?"

"...a little."

"I thought so. There's nothing to fear. Just listen carefully to what I say. Everything will be fine. If you're worried, you can ask questions later, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you very much, Doctor."

***

When I woke up, I saw Dr. Hippocrates standing over me. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept for a while. His eyes were red and bloodshot, and his skin was pale.

"Miss Moon, are you awake?"

"Ah, yes. Good morning."

"Good morning. Do you remember what happened yesterday?"

"Erm, yeah. A bunch of stuff happened, huh? You treated me, right? Er, uh, sorry. For causing you trouble."

"Don't worry about it. All done now. No problems. You are as healthy as you can be now!" Dr. Hippocrates sat down on a chair near me and leaned back. He seemed exhausted. "I'm glad you're okay. How do you feel?"

"A little nervous, actually. Is it really okay? Am I really alright now? It's just, I don't want to die, y'know?"

"Moon, you aren't going to die. Of course, you won't. Not after being saved by our clinic. You've been given medical care and your wounds have healed completely. Your body has recovered its full strength. Isn't that great?"

"Really?"

"Yes. Really." Dr. Hippocrates smiled gently and patted my head. It felt good. "Okay, now for the payment. It costs four goldens for treatment. Can you handle that?"

"Huh? Four goldens? Only this much, for practically saving my life? Why is it so cheap?"

"Well, um, well... We still haven't received any new patients. Since there are no other customers, I decided to give you a discount. Also, since I've already treated you, I'd like to treat you again if possible. Please consider helping us out. This is a business, too, you know."

Dr. Hippocrates spoke politely, but I could tell he wasn't lying. I paid him four goldens without even thinking twice.

"Thank you very much! I'll definitely come here again, so please look forward to it!"

"You're welcome."

After thanking Dr. Hippocrates, I went home. When I was walking though the street I felt like someone or something was watching me. But when I turned around, I didn't see anyone. I guess I must have imagined it.

When I turned back I bumped into something.

"Ouch."

The person in front of me wore a cloak, but I couldn't make out their face. No, the face wasn't visible because of the mask they were wearing. Don't tell me...!

"Are you Lufas?!" I pointed at the person and asked quickly.

"Hmm. I saw you earlier at the competition. You made yourself quite famous. And also got 9th place, right?"

He asked calmly. It was Lufas, right? Was he praising me?

"Hehe, thank you!" I thanked him with embarrassment.

"I wasn't praising you."

"Wha...?!"

"It was really stupid. Even though I told you about the organisation, you still made such a ruckus. You really don't have any danger sense, don't you?"

"What?! Are you saying you weren't praising me?"

"No, I'm not. I thought it was really stupid. That's all."

"Hmph... I though... I thought you would praise me... Sniff... I know I didn't do all that well, but... Sniff..."

I began crying quietly. What did I do wrong? Did I mess up somehow? Or maybe he hated me?

"Hey, Moon. Listen. How much do you think your stupid actions made me work for?"

"What... What do you mean?" I asked him confused through my tears.

"You think the organisation would just leave you alone? How many times do you think they went after you already? They wanted to kill you. But I managed to stop them. So, you can understand why I said what I did, right?"

"So that means you're angry with me?"

"Of course, I am. If I hadn't stopped them, you wouldn't be alive today. Do you understand now? Just how much danger you put yourself in?"

Was he actually protecting me all this time? It made me so confused. I didn't know what to think.

"But, I... I didn't realize it myself... I'm sorry..."

"Moon, you idiot. I'm telling you, I hate idiots like you. Your idiocy makes people waste their precious lives. You should learn to read between the lines more carefully. I can't believe you made yourself even more famous and easy to find."

I was so shocked by his words I fell silent.

"Anyway, that's what I wanted to tell you."

Lufas left before I could say another word. I watched as he walked off.

I stood there dumbfounded for a while, but eventually started walking to the inn again. My head hurt. Why was I getting involved with these things anyway? I didn't even know I was being followed. So, he was protecting me all this time, huh? That made me feel better. But why would he do that?

All I knew was that Lufas Maphaahl had probably saved me countless times, and I'd never known it. Thinking about it made me happy and sad at the same time.

Once I arrived at the inn, I found Kristina and Sebastian gathered together.

"Welcome back, Miss Moon. I heard you got treated at the pharmacy. Were you badly hurt?" Sebastian asked me with concern.

"Umm, I'm okay. Thanks for worrying about me."

"You need to better take care of yourself if you want to be my escort!" Kristina pointed at me and yelled.

"Hey, hey, calm down, Lady Kristina. Don't shout," said Sebastian.

"But Moon is weak! She needs to pay more attention to herself. What if she gets gravely hurt again?"

Was she worried so much about me? It kind of made me happy, even though the way she said it was kind of dubious.

"Thank you Miss Kristina, for worrying about me. But don't worry about me too much. My body's pretty tough. If something happens, I can heal myself easily enough." I tried to boast, to forget my earlier encounter with Lufas.

"That isn't what I meant. W-who's worried, I'm not worried at all about you!" Kristina stuttered and looked away.

"Heheheh, it seems you were worried about me. I'm glad. Well, let's go to sleep now."

After that I walked to my room and went to bed early. After falling asleep, I dreamed. In my dream, I was running through a forest. There was no one else around, and I was running really fast.

Suddenly, I saw an old woman appear out of nowhere. Her face was covered in bandages and her eyes glowed red. She wore a long dress and had a staff in her hand. The staff had two heads on it, and when she turned towards me, I realized they were real snakes. They seemed to be staring right into my soul.

"Foolish girl. Die!"

Her voice echoed throughout the woods, while her snakes attacked me repeatedly.

***

I woke up and thought, "What was that just now?" I was lying on top of my bed, drenched in cold sweat. I sat up quickly and rubbed my forehead.

"Oh dear, I think I have a fever."

The clock in my steamphone told me it was already morning. I loitered around town for a while, then decided to return home. I felt like taking a bath. For some reason a man accused me of shoplifting and chased me away. It was hard to shake him off, but finally I was able to do that. It was really not my day at all.

The next day we finally left the Sunnyrise and headed towards Kristina's manor.

***

We rode our horses, talking about nothing important as usual. I didn't know how far it was. I patted Donkey's neck and asked Kristina, "How many days will it take to reach the manor?"

"Mm, a week, I guess."

"A week? Isn't it rather long?"

"It's fine. We'll be there before you know it."

I nodded along with her. We rode for another hour or so after that, eventually reaching a lake. We saw a young man collapsed by the water.

"Hey, wait!"

I ran over to him immediately. When I approached, he suddenly started screaming and crying hysterically.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'M GOING TO DIE AIIIIIIIINNNGGGGG!"

"Calm down! Stop yelling like that. Hey, stop shaking your head back and forth. You're making me dizzy."

"You...you're a weirdo, aren't you? Why are you here?"

Who was this guy? He was obviously crazy.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"There's a monster!" he said deliriously ant pointed behind us. But, when I turned around there was nothing there. When I turned around, he was already running away while screaming "Aaaaah, I'm going to die aiiinnnggggghhh!"

"...Is something wrong with him?"

He was gone. Where did he go? I stood still for a moment, dumbfounded. Then I heard a scream.

"Uwaaaaah! Waaaah!"

It was a different direction than where he was pointing. So, he was probably hiding somewhere in this area. Hiding his fear.

"Where are you?!" I shouted.

"Y-you're scary..."

When we walked in the direction of the scream, two masked bandits jump at us.

"Hmph, look what we have here," one of them sneered. "Two little girls and some old man. Do you want to join our gang? We will make you feel really good, hehe?"

They both had masks covering their faces. One had a white mask, and the other had a black mask. They looked identical, aside from colour. Both had short hair and carried gun. Their clothing was also similar, although their outfits were slightly different. For some reason the crazy young man was nowhere to be seen.

"It's an ambush! Don't let them hit you with their guns!"

Kristina jumped behind me. She was trembling violently. Sebastian readied his gun to fight.

I took my new rifle and shot the first bandit dead instantly. The second one had fell to the ground dead too, before he even aimed at us properly. We won. I have killed again.

"Ooh, you did this Miss Moon." Kristina praised me.

"Yeah...I'm getting pretty used to this now, I guess." It actually didn't make me all that happy. Getting used to killing wasn't good, but I remembered Lufas's words. I had to be more decisive and aware of dangers. That I could die anytime. I couldn’t hesitate. So, this time I'd managed to kill without any hesitation. Still, I felt bad about it. It made me sick to think that I had no choice but to kill people. Even if they were just bandits. This definitely wasn't normal. But, right now I needed to keep moving forward. I had to follow Lufas's instructions. I couldn't lose sight of that.

We looked through their belongings and found a bunch of stuff including food and water. We also found another rifle. There was also a map and a compass.

"This is a treasure map, huh?" I asked with wonder.

"I think it's a place of the bandits hideout." Sebastian said. "What should we do about them? Should we go to their hideout? Or should we leave the bandits to the authorities?"

"No, we don't know anything about them. If we left them to the authorities, then might never catch them. I think we should go there and investigate their hideout first."

"Yes, I agree. Let's go, Miss Moon. Let's clear away those filthy bandits!" Kristina nodded.

Sebastian also nodded and put down his gun.

***