“Sometimes even the simplest things could be extremely difficult to attain, whereas at other times even the most improbable occurrences might just drop right onto your lap. Life is indeed often stranger than fiction.” - Astra Cornelius Barca, Senator for the Republic of Caroma, circa 33 FP.

“There you go, those old scars should trouble you no more,” said Aideen nonchalantly as she raised her hand off Alva’s shoulder. Alva had apparently asked for her aid to deal with some old and rather embarrassing injuries he would like to keep private, and the Silver Maiden had simply offered to take care of every injury she could find in his body instead, so he would not need to explain the circumstances of said injuries. It was a boon Alva was all too happy to accept.

“My deepest gratitude, Milady!” he said in a most sincere tone as he bowed deeply to Aideen. The only reason he had not bowed even deeper was because Aideen actually held him and prevented him from doing so.

“Think nothing of it. You all took the trouble to come all the way here, why would I turn you away when I help people I ran into during my wanderings?” replied Aideen with a shake of her head. “Now, I think that’s most of you taken care of? You two seem to be the last ones left, so who will be next?”

The Silver Maiden had also nonchalantly helped heal all the mercenaries that came to Paradise of any lingering effects they had from old injuries, something that took her mere moments but was a priceless thing for the recipients. Even Reinhardt and Elfriede benefited from the effects, as while they had learned how to compensate for the effects of some old wounds, to have the lingering side effects removed was even better.

Soledad mostly asked for help with an old injury on her hip where she sprained the joint during her youth. The old injury had been aching of late, which bothered her quite a bit since she was used to controlling her horse using nudges from her legs and feet. Aideen had not taken more than a moment to deal with the old injury and moved on to the next person.

All that was left of the group were Egil and Ze’phane, who looked at each other to decide who would go first before Ze’phane offered for Egil to go ahead of her. Egil nodded thankfully and walked over towards where the Silver Maiden sat while she waited for one of them to go forward and sat down across from her, close enough for her to reach over and touch him.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“Hmm… How long have you had these issues?” asked the Silver Maiden after a quick check of Egil’s condition. “I am honestly surprised that you could move around so nonchalantly while dealing with this many tumorous growths in your body. Does the pain not bother you?”

“To be honest, I haven’t been able to feel many parts of my body for a while now, even if I could still move them,” admitted Egil honestly. He was very old already by goblin standards, and rather resigned to his fate, as he considered that he already had a good, long life behind him. Even so, the chance of a miracle happening was something he wouldn’t pass up despite that acceptance. “How bad is it?”

“Honestly speaking? I wouldn’t have been surprised if you had keeled over and died long ago. I haven’t seen many people who could still move around, much less function well enough to be an active mercenary with the sort of chronic tumors you have,” replied Aideen with a rather impressed tone. “You came to the right person, though. Grit your teeth, because this will hurt at least a little bit.”

“Go ahead, Milady. I’ve come to peace with how I probably had little time left, so a little pain won’t scare me,” replied Egil with a wide, toothy grin across his wrinkled face.

“All right then,” replied Aideen with a nod of her head as she held both of Egil’s hands in her own and started to channel her mana through his old body. At first there was little to see other than Egil grunting in pain from time to time, but after a while, everybody nearby – or those with sharp enough eyesight – noticed how part of Egil’s flesh seemed to wriggle around underneath his wrinkled skin.

Some of the flesh on Egil’s arms – he had changed to sleeveless tunics since it was quite warm in Paradise – bulged around the outside of his upper arm on both sides, and keen observers even noticed that smaller bulges were traveling beneath his clothes to merge with the larger bulge, which grew in size as they did so.

Then to everyone’s surprise, the bulges opened and leaked a stream of pus and filthy blood out of them while Egil grunted some more. It was only after both bulges drained completely – with small puddles of filth left on the ground to Egil’s sides – that he finally relaxed and opened his eyes. Egil looked at the Silver Maiden with a look that was full of surprise, awe, and not a little admiration.

“Had to do it that way since you got so many tumorous growths in you. Normally I’d just destroy them and let your body sort it out naturally, but you had too many for that to work,” explained Aideen with a satisfied smile on her face. “You will need to eat well and rest properly for at least the following month before returning to normal activity. I fixed the damaged parts of your body and took care of your ailments, but removing so much mass from your body meant that I didn’t have all that much to work with. Your body needs to recover the rest naturally.”

“That said, you should have at least another decade ahead of you this way, so use that extra time well,” she added with a smirk. “Don’t let my work go to waste now, you hear?”