Chapter 154
One’s Own Limit
It didn’t take long for Erin to come back to Julianna’s home with the others. After she had explained to them that they had found a place to stay for the night and that it belonged to someone they could trust, the others were more than happy to accept the invitation given to them. It wasn’t easy to drive the van up to the house, as there was no proper road, but it was still manageable.
As soon as they arrived, Julianna stepped outside to greet her new guests. The former maid had a smile on her face, as she introduced herself to the rest of Erin’s companions, who returned the friendly gesture.
“I have to say, I knew that there were more of you, but I wasn’t expecting this many!” Julianna said a bit awkwardly. “I fear that we might not have enough room inside for you all.”
“Hey, there’s no need to worry! I’m sure we’ll figure something out!” Ryle said with a grin. “It’s not like we were expecting a five star hotel! The fact that you’re willing to offer us a roof over our heads is more than enough!”
“Indeed. So far, we’ve had to sleep under the stars or inside the van most of the time. Thanks to you, our sleeping arrangements will at least be a bit better, which is more than we could ask for,” Lexton said with a smile. “Not to mention, the prospect of a proper home cooked meal is something that I’m sure most of us will appreciate.”
“I see. Glad to know that I was able to be of assistance,” Julianna said with a smile, before noticing Stacey. “Is that who I think it is?”
“Her? Yeah, she’s Golorath’s ex-wife alright,” Ryle replied as she gave a glance towards said woman and frowned. “It’s best if you keep your distance from her, though. She doesn’t like to hang out with regular people like us.”
“Well, I think I should still at least go introduce myself,” the former maid said as she walked over to Stacey and offered her a hand. “Hello! My name’s Julianna. I used to work as a maid at the hotel you were staying at before you were… You know…”
Stacey didn’t say anything in response. She simply stared down at the hand offered to her in disdain, like it offended her, before looking away.
“I… Did I do something wrong?” Julianna asked. “I was just trying to be polite…”
“Don’t mind her. She’s just very antisocial and shitty,” Ryle said as she glared at Stacey. “Guess she doesn’t like mingling with us lowly plebs, since she was part of the high society?”
Stacey didn’t respond to the insult. She only glanced at the blonde before resuming to stare into the distance.
“Why you shitty little-!”
“Let’s not start a fight here, okay!?” Erin pleaded in a hurry as she stepped between Ryle and Stacey in the hopes of keeping the two of them away from one another. “We’re here to rest after a long drive, remember? No use wasting anymore energy on pointless arguing.”
“...Fine,” Ryle said, turning away from the redhead. “Guess your favorite gets to go unpunished yet again.”
Hearing such words from the blonde cut deep into Erin’s heart, but she couldn’t do anything in response. Even if it wasn’t the case, she looked like she was giving Stacey a better treatment than the others. Trying to deny that would only make things worse or even lead to everybody finding out about her true identity.
“Hey, I’m about to start preparing dinner, so how about we all go inside?” Julianna suggested with a kind smile. “I’m sure we all could use a good meal right about now and I’ve got a bunch stuff prepared!”
The others voiced their agreement, with the exception of Stacey, who simply stayed silent. It was decided that she would stay in the van and Erin would bring her some food later. Everybody else went inside the house in order to enjoy a proper meal for once.
Once inside, Erin looked around the house. Much like the outside of the building, the inside wasn’t in a better shape either. There were the obvious signs of the building being worn down from time as well as lack of maintenance. It wasn’t as bad as some of the other buildings she had seen, as it was obvious that the two sisters living there were at least trying their best to keep things up, but their lack of skills and resources wouldn’t allow them to do the job properly.
However, it was very clean and looked like it had just been cleaned properly. There wasn’t even a trace of dust anywhere in sight. Erin couldn’t help but wonder how the place was kept in such a good state, considering how Julianna was working outside the town and Silvia was bedridden.
“I see that you’ve noticed Silvia’s handiwork,” Julianna said with a sheepish smile. “I keep telling her that she doesn’t need to do this, as I’ll be able to do it once I get back. She still insists on doing the housework while I’m gone. Guess there’s no helping her, huh?”
“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Erin said with a smile. “She just wants to help you, so you won’t have to carry all of the burden on yourself. It’s honestly admirable.”
“I know that! I’m not dense!” the former maid said with a chuckle. “But the fact is that she needs to be resting up. Stressing her body by doing work like this isn’t going to get her better any sooner, which is why I’d prefer that she would just rest and let me worry about thing here.”
“Hey, don’t underestimate the determination of family! I know more than enough about how much of a help that can be!” Ryle suddenly said. “My brother was also not in the best physical health, yet he never hesitated to give me a helping hand. Not only that, but he ended up becoming the greatest assistant I could ever ask for! So don’t look at the work your sister does as something that you should be ashamed of!”
“...Thanks,” Julianna said with a smile. “And I’m not ashamed at all. I just… want her to focus on getting better, so I won’t have to worry about her condition so much.”
“And I’m sure she understands that, but you need to let her do stuff on her own, too!” the blonde said. “Trust me. If you just let her do a few things here and there to help, it won’t just brighten her mood, but it will help her feel a lot better as well. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” the former maid said. “I’ll go prepare dinner. Could one of you help out with it?”
“I should be able to handle it,” Lexton volunteered. “Cooking isn’t that far from what I normally do anyways.”
The kobold looked up and saw the others, with the exception of Julianna, looking at him with wide eyes.
“And just what the hell are you guys looking so surprised for!?” Lexton asked angrily.
“I mean, isn’t it obvious?” Ryle asked. “YOU of all people volunteering to help? And with cooking?”
“And just how the hell is that so surprising, you mongrel!?” the kobold shouted. “I’ve been cooking for myself for most of my life! And in case you forgot, our generous host here has decided to offer her home for us to stay at free of charge, along with a free meal! Isn’t it normal to offer at least something in return for the kindness of others!?”
“Okay. Let’s calm down a bit,” Erin said, hoping to stop the arguing. “Let’s all remember that we have a sick girl here. I’m sure us fighting among ourselves isn’t going to help with her condition.”
“Speaking of sicknesses and such, where is Zeldana?” Durge asked. “You told us that she would be waiting for us here, as she was doing a checkup on the girl.”
“She’s probably still in Silvia’s room. She went there right away in order to look over her condition,” Julianna said. “Although, should a medical checkup take this long? It has been a while…”
“I’m sure it’s nothing to be worried about,” Erin said, more as a way to convince herself than the worried older sister. “It’s just that she’s performing a thorough checkup in order to make sure that she gets all of the information necessary. That might take some time, after all.”
Almost as if summoned by the conversation that was going on, Zeldana came out of one of the rooms. The others immediately turned their attention to her and were met with a sight that shocked those who knew the elf healer. The normally nonchalant and relaxed look that she had on her face was gone, replaced with a grim look that had a hint of desperation.
“Zel? Are you alright?” Erin called out to the elf. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
“O-Oh, it’s nothing! I just… have a lot on my mind right now,” Zeldana replied, trying to hide her grim expression. “I’m going to need to think about some stuff and that’s it.”
“Well, we’re going to have dinner soon, so maybe you can talk to us about it?” the redhead suggested. “A lot of issues are easier to resolve, once you have more than one person trying to solve it.”
“No… This is something that I need to do by myself,” the elf said as she walked past everybody and went outside. “Just eat without me, okay? I don’t have much of an appetite right now.”
The others were left in stunned silence, once Zeldana had left. They all knew that this was unusual behavior for her and wondered what it was about.
“Any idea what is wrong with her?” Lexton asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her act like this before.”
“I know what you mean. Usually, she’s just all jokes and not caring about anything around her, but now she seemed very… serious? It’s definitely a big change to her usual self,” Ryle said, agreeing with the kobold. “And that look she had on her face? It was almost like she was going to a funeral or something. What could have brought that up?”
“I’m sure she’ll tell us when she’s ready. Worrying about it isn’t going to help us out,” Durge said. “Now, how about we make ourselves comfortable? We have a very generous host, who invited us to her home, after all. It would be rude of us to not act accordingly.”
As the others went about their business, Erin couldn’t help but worry about what was causing such worry for Zeldana. The redhead only hoped that it wasn’t due to Silvia’s checkup.
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Outside with Zeldana, the elf healer was pacing back and forth in a frustrated manner. She then came to a stop next to the group’s van and hit the side of the vehicle with her fist. After letting her anger burst out, she leaned against it and slid down to the ground, where she sat with her face buried in her hands.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Stacey shouted angrily out of the window. “I’m trying to relax here and-!”
Her complaints were cut off, as something sharp flew past her face, leaving a small cut. Stacey looked over to the house and saw a scalpel sticking out of the wall.
“Shut up. Just shut the hell up!” Zeldana commanded with barely held back fury. “I am not in the mood for any of your shit right now! I don’t care whether you’re Erin’s old friend from her world or whatever. If you piss me off right now, I will show you just how many organs I can take out of you without killing you! Got it!?”
Stacey decided to do the smart thing and kept her mouth shut.
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A bit later, the others were enjoying a nice seafood dinner while talking with each other. Much to Erin’s joy, they had pretty much returned to how things used to be with all of them getting along.
At the moment, Erin and Ryle were telling their hosts about the numerous adventures their group had gone through. Silvia was listening with eyes sparkling in wonder, while Julianna wasn’t completely sure if her sister was old enough to hear such tales.
“And then I simply mopped the floor with all those guys!” Ryle boasted with a big grin, as she told the story of her taking part in an underground fight pit. “In one day, I made myself the greatest fighter in Moonstone! Now is that badass or what!?”
“Uhh… That’s certainly quite the tale, but I’m not sure if my sister should be listening to this,” Julianna said as she glanced at Silvia, who was clapping happily. “These stories might be just a bit too violent for her…”
“Oh, come on! It’s not that bad!” the blonde said, waving off the older sister’s worries. “All good stories have at least some action in them! Besides, I’m a great role model for any kid, so she should be allowed to listen to my stories!”
“That’s a bit debatable,” Erin said as she rolled her eye, earning a glare from Ryle.
“While I might disagree with the role model bit, you should let your sister listen to this story,” Lexton suddenly said with a chuckle, getting everyone’s attention turned towards him. “After all, we are just about to get to the best part in it.”
“Don’t you dare,” Ryle said as her eyes went wide with realization. “Don’t you freaking dare…”
“You see, just as our dear imbecile here was getting all pumped up over her victories, a real challenger decided to step up and put her in her place!” the kobold said with a smirk. “That challenger being none other than yours truly. It wasn’t hard to get her to accept my challenge and we were soon getting ready for our match. Although, calling what would happen a match is a bit of an exaggeration, seeing how one-sided it was…”
“YOU took HER on!?” Silvia asked with her eyes glittering in wonder. “HOW!? How were you able to fight her of all people!?”
“That’s simple, my dear! I just used my brains for the fight!” Lexton explained. “You see, I am quite skilled at making tools for combat and my specialty are golems that can be transported easily with you. Once I released one of those, it only took a few second for me to claim my victory!”
“That sounds so cool!” the elf child said while staring at the kobold in awe. “Can you show me one of those golems!? Please!?”
“Well… They’re kind of special and I shouldn’t be using them up on a whim,” Lexton said, pretending to be thinking about it. “I suppose I could show you one. After all, you are a very special person! Not many realize my greatness as quickly as you do!”
“Yay! I can’t wait to see it!” Silvia cheered. “You’re so cool, Mr. Lexton!”
“But of course! What else could a great person like me be?” the kobold said, puffing out his chest. “If you’re truly fortunate, I might teach you a few things while we’re still here. Maybe in the future, you might be just as great!”
“...I’m starting to fear that you might become a bad influence,” Erin said, not liking the idea of Lexton having an influence on a child. “You aren’t planning on teaching her some of your more questionable skills, are you?”
“Yeah, I don’t think the world needs anymore crooked people like you!” Ryle said as she was sulking over Silvia’s praise having been shifted away from her to the kobold. “And I still call bullshit on that match! You were cheating with that golem of yours!”
“Now, there’s no need be so bitter! After all, what’s the shame in losing against someone who is better than you?” Lexton said smugly, further angering the blonde. “Or could it be that you’re upset with how you lost? Crying and screaming in a panic, as my golem swung you around? I think I even saw you wet your-”
“Alright! That does it!” Ryle said angrily as she stood up. “You and me! Right now! We’re having our rematch right now!”
“Hey! No fighting at the dinner table!” Julianna scolded the two. “And this is my house, so would you mind and not cause anymore damages to it!?”
“Julianna’s right, you two! You both need to calm down right this second!” Erin said sternly, joining the former maid in scolding her two companions. “If you two need to settle your differences, you’re doing it outside and after dinner! Understood!?”
“...Fine,” Ryle muttered unhappily as she sat back down. “But he started it…”
Lexton didn’t make any complaints and simply shrugged, before continuing to eat his meal.
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As everybody resumed eating and things calmed down, Ryle noticed Lexton mouthing “I beat you” in such a way that only she noticed it. This caused the blonde to grit her teeth in fury, but she didn’t cause an uproar, knowing that she would only get scolded.
As they were eating, Erin remembered that there were two people missing from their group and that they most likely needed something to eat, too.
“Oh, right. I almost forgot!” the redhead said as she turned towards Julianna. “I need to take some food to Zeldana and Stacey. Do you think I could borrow a couple of bowls and take them to those two? I’m sure they could use a meal.”
“Sure. That’s fine by me,” the former maid replied. “But do you mind if I come along? I kind of want to ask Zeldana about Silvia’s checkup.”
“Of course!” Erin said happily. “Besides, it will make bringing the bowls a lot easier with the two of us.”
The two of them then proceeded to fill two bowls with some of the food and walked out of the house. Once they were close to the van, the redhead decided to bring up something important.
“Hey, I should probably handle Stacey. As you’ve already seen, she is kind of antisocial and can be hard to deal with,” Erin said. “I know that you’re a service industry professional and all, but she can a tough one to handle. I at least have had some luck in that field.”
“Fine by me,” Julianna said with a shrug. “I don’t see why she’s acting the way she is. It’s not like we’re some sort of monsters that she needs to avoid.”
“If you only knew the truth,” the redhead mumbled low enough so that the former maid couldn’t hear.
As Julianna walked over to Zeldana, who was still sitting on the ground and leaning on the side of the van, Erin went to the passenger side of the van. Stacey was sitting there and gave an uninterested glance towards her former friend.
“What is it you want now?” Stacey asked in a rude tone.
“Look, I get that you’re not fond of anything of this world and that I’m not particularly fond of you either. Still, I feel like I can’t just let you die from starvation,” Erin explained with a frown as she offered the bowl of food. “Here you go. This is tonight’s dinner. It’s soup made from this world’s fish. I’d say I hope you like it, but I honestly don’t care. Just eat your fill and make sure to give back the bowl once you’re done.”
Stacey simply took the bowl that was offered to her without saying a word. She then proceeded to take small amounts of the soup at a time.
Satisfied that her former friend was eating, the redhead decided to join up with Julianna and Zeldana. She also wanted to know the results of Silvia’s checkup and the way her elf companion had looked upon completing it still worried her. Much to her surprise, Zeldana was actually eating the soup that had been given her, despite having made her dislike towards seafood very clear.
“Hey, Zel,” Erin greeted her companion. “How’s the soup?”
“...It’s alright,” the elf healer replied as she slowly took spoonfuls of the food offered to her.
The way Zeldana had responded to the question worried Erin and Julianna. All the energy that had been present in her just earlier that day had completely disappeared. Considering what she had just done only made the worry that much worse.
“Hey, uh… We were wondering about the checkup you did earlier and wanted to know the results,” Erin said somewhat awkwardly. “Could you tell us Silvia’s results?”
“Yeah! I would like to know those, too!” Julianna asked. “Do you think there is something that can cure her illness?”
“...If you can get an act of God,” Zeldana muttered.
“W-What do you mean?” the former maid asked, shocked over the response she got. “Tell me what’s wrong with my sister!”
“Of course. You deserve to know,” the elf healer said as she stood up and looked Julianna straight in the eyes. “I hate to tell you this, but… Silvia only has a few months to live at best.”
Time seemed to stop for both Erin and Julianna at that moment. They stared at Zeldana in disbelief, hoping that this wasn’t real. That this was some sort of a cruel prank or something similar.
However, Zeldana’s expression remained unchanged. What she had told them was the truth. Silvia’s life was going to end soon.
Realizing this pulled Julianna on her knees, as she felt an unbearable weight come over her. Cold sweat ran down her face and she felt like it was starting to get difficult to breathe. Her beloved sister, the one she had done everything for in order to help get better, was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. It felt like the whole world at that moment was laughing at her and her attempts to save Silvia’s life.
Erin wasn’t faring much better compared to Julianna. While she had managed to remain standing, the shock over Silvia’s condition had nearly knocked her off her feet. All she could do was stare at Zeldana in stunned silence, hoping that the elf healer had at least some way to help the sick girl.
“...How? Just… how? How is this possible!?” Julianna asked in a trembling voice, as tears were now falling from her eyes. “How can this be possible!? I’ve done everything that’s possible to help her! I even found a doctor that has been supplying us with medicine to treat her! How can her condition still be so bad!?”
“When you mentioned medicine, I’m assuming that you mean this?” Zeldana asked as she took a small plastic bag filled with red powder. “Has your doctor been providing you with this as a way to help treat Silvia’s condition?”
“Y-Yes… That’s the medicine that he sells to me,” the former maid answered. “It’s incredibly expensive, which is why I had to-”
“The price of a medicine doesn’t matter. What truly matters is whether it works or not!” the elf healer said, her voice rising with anger. “Just because something is expensive doesn’t mean automatically that it’s good or even worth buying at all! That is especially true with medicine bought from hack doctors, who probably have never done any medical studies at all!”
“What are you saying?” Erin asked. “Are you saying that the medicine isn’t working?”
“Oh, it probably works alright, but not for what it’s been bought for!” Zeldana answered. “With just a quick look, I could tell that this wasn’t meant to help with curing anything! It’s a drug that only makes the person that takes it feel better! A lot of scam doctors use it to fool unsuspecting people out of their money! Since the person who takes it immediately feels better, they assume that it works and continue giving it, never knowing the truth about what they’re buying!”
“Then… Then the doctor that sold that to me,” Julianna asked with wide eyes as realization was beginning to hit her. “He was just-?”
“He was just using you to fatten his wallet. Yes,” the elf healer finished for the former maid. “This stuff is normally meant to be taken in small doses as a painkiller and nothing more. Did Silvia ever feel much worse than before, after taking her medicine?”
“Well… Yes,” Julianna said. “It often came right after the next day from taking it. The doctor said that it was just a sign that the medicine was doing it’s work in clearing her body.”
“The only thing this clears is your bank account. The reason she was feeling terrible was because the effects of this stuff had worn off and she was hit with the full effect of her actual sickness,” Zeldana explained. “Has she taken this stuff recently?”
Julianna was about to answer, but a loud commotion from inside the house caught their attention. All three of them rushed inside to see what was going on and saw Silvia laying in the floor, holding her stomach and trembling. There was also a puddle of her vomit close to her.
“What happened!?” Erin asked as Julianna rushed to her sister’s side. “Why is Silvia on the floor!?”
“We don’t know!” Durge replied. “One moment, we were all enjoying our meal while talking to each other peacefully, then she suddenly throws up on the floor and falls over! We have no idea what is happening to her!”
“Silvie!? SILVIE!?” Julianna called out to her sister as she held her trembling body. “Oh God… What happened to you!?”
image [https://i.ibb.co/6F3xtJK/Ch-154-Pic-1.jpg]
“Quick! Bring her to her room!” Zeldana shouted. “I might be able to help her!”
Julianna did as she was told and carried Silvia to her room. Once there, the door was closed, leaving the others to wait. It was safe to say that all of them had lost their appetites and were now more concerned over the well-being of the little elf girl.
Time seemed to be crawling at the pace of a snail, as everybody was waiting to hear an update on Silvia’s condition. Eventually, Zeldana emerged back from the room with a tired look on her face.
“Zel, what happened?” Erin asked in a worried voice. “Is Silvia alright?”
“Well, I managed to stabilize her condition, but that’s about it,” the elf healer replied. “But that’s all I could really do. There’s pretty much nothing else I can do in order to help her condition.”
Without saying anything else, Zeldana walked out of the house with tired footsteps. While most of the others were left confused and shocked, Erin knew what their companion was talking about. It seemed to be obvious that the redhead knew more about the situation with the younger elf sister, as the others picked up on it.
“E-Erin?” Arkay called out to the redhead. “Do you perhaps know more about what’s wrong with Silvia?”
“Yeah, your face is pretty much a neon sign screaming “I know what’s going on!” Ryle said. “So mind spilling it!? What is it that you know, but we don’t!?”
“...This is going to be hard for me to tell you guys, but I feel like I should,” Erin said with a sigh. “The thing is that Silvia’s condition isn’t something that can be fixed.”
The redhead proceeded to explain how Zeldana had checked on Silvia’s condition earlier that day and had come to the conclusion that there was nothing that could be done to save her. She even told them about how the young girl only had a few months left to live and how the medicine that was sold to Julianna in order to help her sister had been fake all along. These news obviously shocked the others, who were heartbroken to hear that such a sweet girl wasn’t going to live for much longer. Ryle and Arkay broke into tears, although differently. The blonde was crying silent tears of anger over the unfairness of the whole situation, while the cat boy was openly sobbing. Durge and Lexton had sad looks on their faces, as they let the whole thing sink in.
“To think that some bastard would actually use someone with a sick family member… just to make a quick buck!” Ryle said with barely contained anger. “I swear, if I ever find the bastard who did that, I’m gonna make him pay!”
“It’s honestly sad, when someone has to fool desperate good people just to make some quick cash,” Lexton muttered. “As a merchant, I’m appalled and ashamed of such behavior.”
“Like you’re one to talk like that!” the blonde shouted while pointing an accusing finger at the kobold. “You’re just as bad as that guy! Or was the whole thing about selling fake golems to unsuspecting people just a fluke!?”
“Hey, I might have scammed a few people, but even I have my limits!” Lexton shouted back. “Need I remind you that the people I scammed were in the Black Market, which is a place that isn’t exactly inhabited by innocent people!? I might pull a scam or two, but I’m not one to target good people, especially ones in these types of plights!”
“Enough, you two! There’s literally no reason for you to start fighting!” Erin said with authority, stopping the argument right away. “What we need to focus on is helping out Julianna. Even if there isn’t much we can do, we should figure out what little there is and do it. Those two need as much of our help as possible right now.”
“...Is there really nothing that can be done to help Silvia?” Durge asked. “That kid doesn’t deserve to die so young. Is Zeldana certain that there isn’t anything she can do to help her?”
“I… I don’t know. The way she said it convinced me that there was really nothing she could do,” the redhead said. “I’m still going to go and talk to her and get a better understanding of the situation. I’m sure if there is something she’ll do it.”
Erin walked out of the house and looked for their elf companion. She soon found her sitting against the van just like she had been earlier, except she somehow looked even sadder than before.
“Zel?” the redhead called out to the elf softly as she walked up to her. “I was wondering if-”
“I know what you want to ask, but I’ve already made it clear. There is nothing I can do,” Zeldana replied without even looking up. “There is absolutely nothing that I can do in order to help that little girl even get a couple more days added to her life expectancy.”
“B-But surely there has to be something we can do!” Erin tried to desperately argue. “I mean, with your medical knowledge and Lexton’s skills with potions, there has to be-”
“NO THERE ISN’T!” the elf healer shouted angrily as she stood up to glare at the redhead. “Did you really think that I didn’t consider every possible thing we could do for her!? That I simply threw up my hands in surrender over how tough it was!? I’ve helped people come back from the brink of dead more times than I can count, so believe me when I say that I can’t do anything here!”
Seeing how serious Zeldana was completely convinced Erin of Silvia’s case. There was truly nothing that could be done to help the girl, no matter what they tried.
“Seems you finally get it,” the elf healer said as she leaned against the van. “At least we made progress with that, since I hate having to repeat myself.”
“...What exactly is wrong with her?” the redhead asked. “What is it that makes her case so impossible to treat?”
“I’d like to know that, too,” Julianna said as she walked up to Erin and Zeldana, having just come outside. “Please tell me what exactly is wrong with my sister.”
“...I guess I could explain it to you. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ll at least give you a good enough explanation that should give a clear enough picture as to what is happening in her body,” Zeldana said. “What’s happening in Silvia’s body isn’t an illness caused by bacteria or a virus, but a rare genetic defect that is spreading through her whole body. As it spreads, it causes the affected internal organs to deteriorate, making them less effective until finally shutting them down completely. The reason why she is so thin and pale is due to this, as her body doesn’t take in the necessary nutrients from the food she eats.”
“Oh God… How could this happen?” the former maid asked herself as tears began to fall from her eyes again. “Is there really nothing that can be done to cure this?”
“Not at this point, I’m afraid. The only way to treat this is by identifying the problem as early as possible. Once that is done, the organ that the defect is spreading from needs to be removed and replaced with a new one,” the elf healer explained. “When it comes to Silvia, the sickness has spread so far and into so many places that she needs to have at least half of the organs within her body to be replaced and even then I’m not sure if it would help.”
“...And of course that damn doctor that I’ve been buying her medicine from was never going to identify what was truly wrong!” Julianna said with venom dripping from her voice. “That bastard just used my lack of knowledge against me in order to earn himself some quick cash! And to make it worse, I’m no better than the people of this town, who got fooled by outside con artists and scammers! I got taken advantage of just like everybody else…”
“It’s not that you were a fool or anything like that. You were desperate and for a good reason,” Zeldana said. “The worst of the society have a tendency to use the pure feelings of others to their advantage, which in this case was your love for your sister. You only did what you could, even if it wasn’t what needed to be done. No one can blame you for that.”
“Thanks… But what do I do now?” the former maid asked. “If there is no way for me to save Silvia anymore, what am I supposed to do for her? How can I help her at all?”
“Just stay by her side. Let her know that she is not alone and that you love her,” the elf healer replied. “That is something that all those who have sick family members that can’t be cured can do. Show them that they are loved and cared for, so they won’t have to face the end alone.”
“...Alright. I’ll do that,” Julianna said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “And uh… Thanks for letting me know about this. I know this might sound weird, but I do appreciate your honesty. If nothing else, now I know not to give that fake doctor anymore money.”
The former maid walked back into her house to see her sister, leaving Erin and Zeldana alone outside. The redhead turned towards her companion, hoping to have more about Silvia’s condition be explained to her.
“Look… I know you’ve made it very clear to me that there is nothing we can do to help Silvia. I completely get that,” Erin began. “But I still have to know something in order to fully understand this. Why can’t you use your healing magic in order to help her? Can’t that just fix her organs or something?”
“No, because the way healing magic works is that it basically enhances the body’s natural regeneration in order to close up injuries and break down illnesses,” Zeldana explained in a tired tone. “While it’s useful in most cases, there are a number of things that it simply cannot fix. For example, there are certain viruses that mask themselves as regular cells inside the body, thus fooling its own immune system into ignoring it. That’s something that my healing magic wouldn’t be able to help with, as I would be doping up the immune system to fight something it can’t even find in the first place.”
“And the thing with Silvia is similar?” the redhead asked.
“Pretty much. The core of her sickness didn’t come from a bacteria that invaded her body, but from her own body itself,” the elf healer explained. “Since those are her regular cells causing the damage, my healing magic wouldn’t be effective in getting rid of them. Hell, in the worst case scenario, I might even end up speeding the whole thing.”
“I see… So there truly is nothing that can be done then,” Erin said in a sad voice as she sat next to Zeldana.
“Nothing realistic. In order for her to have even a slight chance of survival, we would need to replace so many parts of her body that it would almost be like building a new person,” the elf healer said. “Even if we ignore the fact that we would first have to find multiple organs that are compatible with her, do you have any idea how hard it is to find organs that are ready for transplant in the first place? They don’t exactly grow on trees, you know. Even if we managed to do all of that and somehow found the money to pay for it, there is still a high chance that she wouldn’t survive the operation itself.”
“...So what’s going to happen to her?” the redhead asked, already dreading the answer. “Is she simply going to pass away peacefully in her sleep or is it going to be… painful?”
“I wish it was going to be peaceful and painless, but I fear it will be a long and agonizing journey ahead,” Zeldana began to explain. “As the disease moves through her body, different parts are going to affected, bringing their own issues. She already has issues with getting nutrients due to her organs having been affected and when I was doing my checkup on her she coughed up blood. That is a sign that it has already reached her lungs, as well.”
“...And when it continues to move, what does that cause?” Erin asked.
“The lungs have only started to get infected, so they will be affected even further. This will lead to her having trouble breathing at times and cause her to tire out far more easily. Even walking inside the house is going to make her go out of breath,” the elf healer explained. “After that, it will affect the heart, making all her issues even worse and cause occasional heart attacks. Once it reaches the brain, she will probably first lose her sight, then her memory, motor functions and… Well, I’m sure you get the picture by now.”
“Oh my God… I’m kind of regretting that I asked you to tell me all of that,” the redhead said as she buried her face in her hands. “How could something like this happen? And to a sweet kid like Silvia? It just isn’t fair.”
“This might sound bad, but it’s honestly just very bad luck,” Zeldana replied. “Like I said earlier, this is something that happened within her own body and it’s very rare. The true cause of it is still unknown, as there hasn’t been enough studies done. The biggest misfortune for her was that she was born in this town, as the medical knowledge here is pretty much non-existent. Had it been somewhere else, they might have figured things out soon enough. In the end, she just had the absolute worst fate dealt to her.”
Erin was silent in thought. She was thinking about everything Silvia was going through right now and what the future had in store for her. Knowing just how much pain and misery the elf child was going to be going through, her mind began to wander into dark thoughts and ideas. This raised questions that she couldn’t believe she was starting to ask, even if there was a sensible reason behind them. Despite how sensible and reasonable these questions were, the redhead was afraid to ask them, as she feared what the reaction from Zeldana was going to be.
However, there was someone nearby who had heard their whole conversation and wasn’t afraid to ask such questions.
“Why not just kill the brat?” Stacey asked bluntly from the van, where she was still sitting. “I mean, if she is just going to die anyways, why keep prolonging the inevitable? At least then she won’t have to suffer so bad. Would save everyone a lot of trouble in my opinion…”
Erin stood up with a furious glare directed at her former friend. The fact that Stacey had spoken so easily about a sick child that was dying absolutely infuriated the redhead.
Just as she was about to yell at her former friend, Zeldana decided to speak up.
“Honestly? I can’t deny that,” the elf healer said, shocking Erin. “What you just said makes complete sense. Why should her life be prolonged, if it’s going to just end in pain and misery? When you think about it like that, killing her would be a mercy.”
Erin stared at Zeldana in disbelief, unable to fathom how she could have said such things with ease. It especially didn’t make sense, seeing how broken up the elf had been over Silvia’s condition.
“Zel, you can’t be serious!” the redhead shouted in anger. “Are you actually saying that we should just kill a girl because of her medical condition!? How can you be so cold towards her!?”
“Because it’s the truth and you know it just as well,” Zeldana replied. “You’re the one who isn’t thinking clearly here. What awaits that girl is nothing but days upon days of agony, where she will be in such a terrible condition that she won’t even know who she is. And don’t forget that her sister is most likely going to end up taking care of her all by herself when she’s like that. Are you ready to leave those two in such a fate?”
Erin wanted to argue, but couldn’t. She knew that both Zeldana ad Stacey had a valid point. No matter what they did, the two elf sister had a harsh and painful life ahead of them. The only question was whether they should lengthen that pain or not.
“However, let me make one thing absolutely clear. This is a decision that won’t be done by us, okay?” Zeldana stated. “At the end of the day, it is up to those two to decide whether or not they are going to put a quick end to Silvia. All I’m going to do is tell Julianna what awaits her in the future and what her options are. No more. No less. And whatever she decides to do will be a decision that the rest of us will just have to respect, even if we may disagree.”
Having said her piece, the elf healer went back inside to talk with Julianna. Now that the two former friends were left by themselves, Stacey decided to ask something from Erin.
“Honestly, why are you so shaken up by this? It’s just some freaky brat with long ears that isn’t even human,” Stacey said. “I cannot understand why you would care at all about any of these people, let alone those who are just going to die anyways. Seems like a complete waste of time to me.”
Erin whipped around and gave the most hateful and furious glare she could at her former friend, before stomping over to her. Stacey was so taken aback by this that she couldn’t react, as the redhead grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the back of her seat.
“W-What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Stacey asked as she struggled futilely against the hand around her windpipe.
“Shut up. Just shut the hell up!” Erin commanded with no room for argument. “I don’t care what you’ve gone through, you have no right to treat the good people of this world in such a manner! Even if you don’t care about them, don’t bother voicing it to me! I am so sick and tired of listening to your shit that I am very close to just dumping you to the wild for animals to eat! The only thing preventing me from doing that is the fact that we used to be friends, but you’re pushing me too far for me to care about it any longer! Piss me off one more time and it will be the end for you!”
“...Fine. I get it,” Stacey said with a nod. “I’ll be careful not to upset you anymore.”
“I didn’t get upset just now. Only small things, like badly cooked meals upset me,” the redhead said as she let go of Stacey’s throat. “What you said got me completely furious.”
Having dealt with her old friend, Erin went back inside the house to see the others. Once she got through the front door, she heard sobbing come from the room Silvia had been taken to. The redhead immediately knew that Zeldana had most likely told Julianna about what the future held for her little sister. The older elf sister was the obvious source of the sobbing.
The redhead looked around and saw her companions all dealing with the recent news. All of them had saddened looks on their faces, as they were silently just pondering the whole thing. Ryle was sitting next to Arkay with an arm around his shoulders, hoping to offer at least some comfort to him. Lexton and Durge were simply sitting at the dinner table in silence.
Erin didn’t know what to tell her friends. While she knew a bit more about Silvia’s condition thanks to her talk with Zeldana, she didn’t feel like it was her place nor that it was a good idea to tell them about it. It was already hard enough for herself to accept the whole thing, so she didn’t know how the others would react to it. In the end, the redhead decided that it was for Julianna to tell them or for Zeldana, if they decided to ask the same questions she had.
Just as she thought about the elf healer, Zeldana stepped out of the room with a depressed look on her face. In a brief moment where their eyes met, Erin knew without even a single word being uttered what had just happened. There was no need to ask anything further, as she let her elf companion go outside to be by herself.
With nothing else for them to do, the group decided to go to bed for the night. Due to the overall mood, no one felt like fighting over who got to sleep where, so the arrangements were made quick and easy. Lexton would go sleep in the back of their van, as he was used to smells coming from the chemicals he used for his potions and other works. Durge would sleep on the floor of the dining room, as his massive body couldn’t really fit anywhere else comfortably. Erin took a couch that was near the front entrance, while Zeldana had decided to stay outside. No one really knew where the elf had gone to, but knew that she would be able to take care of herself, so they didn’t question her decision.
Ryle and Arkay would share the bed that used to belong to the parents of the two elf sisters. Julianna had told them that their parents had passed away a long time ago, so their room was left unused. While Erin would normally have issues with the way Ryle behaved around Arkay, she decided to let it pass for now. The blonde had also been an older sibling, so she knew exactly what Julianna was going through. The redhead was certain that her friend could use some comfort right now.
As the redhead stared up at the ceiling while trying to sleep, she could only hope that things wouldn’t get any worse than they already had. She didn’t realize just how bad it would get the next morning.