Chapter 28 (1/2)

Chapter 28

Giving Treatment.

「Maaan, it was incredible y’know? The monsters were like 2 meters tall, as big as a bear. And I slashed them like *zubaaa*, right? Yeah, it’s only a little but this sword has some adamant.i.te in it. I bought it not long ago with the money I saved up.」

A few days ago, having missed out on the Huge Slime hunts, Ruruka was grumbling about taking on a monster subjugation request from the knight brigade. She came back around to the hospital just now; apparently she completed it.

「Well, they were surrounding us, but I only got a few sc.r.a.pes. I was thinking that being the only tank for a party sure is tough.」

As Ruruka says that, she glances at Yuel, who’s sitting next to me. What’s with that look? I’d like you to stop looking at Yuel with those greedy eyes.

「I’m not giving you Yuel… wait, what? Hold on. Didn’t you tell me there weren’t many dangerous monsters near the city? Why were you fighting monsters like that?」

I have a feeling Ruruka said earlier that there weren’t any dangerous monsters on the outskirts of town. But now she’s saying that she fought against 2-meter-tall monsters, and moreover that they had her surrounded.

「A-Ahaha, well, you see… at first we were just going to hunt small fry like goblins and kobolds on the outskirts of the forest, but since the reward from the knight brigade was so high, there was a lot of compet.i.tion from other adventurers. It wouldn’t have been worth it, so we went a little deeper into the forest. Then it started to rain and some fog rolled in, and so we kinda got lost and ended up deep inside the forest. The fog cleared up pretty quickly so it turned out okay, but it was nearly a disaster.」

Ruruka laughs as she says such a thing. To laugh about flirting with disaster in a forest where monsters appear, is she brave or is she just carefree? Nah, Ruruka’s party might just be capable enough to be surrounded by monsters and come out with only a few scratches. She’s likely confident that she won’t be done in so easily by the monsters around here. Still, she did get wounded.

「Well, even deep in the forest, strong monsters almost never show up around here. Guess we were unlucky. Ah, but we’ll prepare for the worst from now on so it’s fine? …Alright, I talked my head off, could we get to the treatment?」

As she says that, Ruruka places her fingers on her s.h.i.+rt’s hem and prepares to lift it. I indulged Ruruka in that long conversation… and finally the wait is over. But at the moment, Yuel is right here. What we’re going to do now isn’t something that Yuel should watch.

「Oh yeah, Yuel. I’m kinda thirsty. I’d like to drink hot tea, could you go brew me some?」

「Hot tea, is it?」

Yuel responds questioningly. It’s still spring, but the temperature is rather high today. She’s probably wondering why I specifically asked for hot tea on such a hot day. It’s so that Yuel won’t see what we’re about to do.

「Yeah, hot tea. I want to drink some piping-hot tea, steeped in boiling water. Get it to a proper boil, got it?」

「Yes, Master!」

Yuel responds enthusiastically at my words and runs off to the kitchen. It’s not like I don’t feel a little guilty, but there’s no avoiding it. That’s right, it’s unavoidable.

Now that I think about it, when’s the last time I had a discount negotiation with Ruruka? I feel like it was quite a while ago. Around two weeks? I can’t let this opportunity go to waste. As I’m thinking about it–

「U-Umm, you… don’t really have to give me a discount today, okay?」

Ruruka blurts that out.

Then she shows m

e the wound on her abdomen. She only raises her s.h.i.+rt a little. Just the tiniest bit.

What in the world happened to this girl?

Yuel is in the kitchen, and Eris is out making house calls to elderly patients. Previously she didn’t hesitate to negotiate a discount even when it was a tricky situation where Eris might have been watching.

「I-It’s 400 Zeni, you know?」

「Yep. You raised your prices, right? I understand. Heal, please.」

Strange.