Chapter 83
The Worth of One’s Work
Ryle, Arkay, Lexton and Durge could only stare at the strange elf before them. Despite having come to a battlefield and having just killed somebody, she seemed to think of it as nothing more than a mere annoyance. In fact, she seemed to be mostly relaxed, as she was leaning against a nearby tree with signs of a hangover all over her face.
However, while she might have looked like a normal elf to most people, one needed to only look a bit closer to realize she was anything but that. Even as she was casually leaning on a tree, her arms were readied in case fighting would resume. Her left hand was holding three scalpels and her right hand was close to her jacket’s pocket, where more weaponry was most likely located. Not only that, but her hazy sight that was clouded by her hangover, still held a sharp gaze that was carefully analyzing everything around her.
No one dared make a move, as it could easily be their last. The speed and precision she had used to throw her scalpels at the assassin was on a level none of them had seen before. They all knew almost instinctively that this was so far the most dangerous opponent that they had ever faced.
“Hey, is THIS the healer you guys were talking about?” Ryle whispered to Lexton and Durge. “I mean, I don’t mind her helping us out and all, but are you sure she’s the one we’re looking for? She seems more like an assassin than someone who heals people.”
“I know what you mean, but this should be the place,” Lexton whispered back. “The guy we got this information from told us that she’s a bit of a recluse, as she is a bit of an unorthodox healer. I think we’ve just seen what he meant by that.”
“Besides, just because you are a healer doesn’t mean you can’t learn how to defend yourself,” Durge added. “While a lot of healers focus only on fixing people, it leaves them helpless in combat. That’s why ones who operate alone have at least some level of skill when it comes to fighting. I suppose her level in that regard is just very high.”
Ryle was about to ask another question, but she was cut off by something flying past her head so closely that it left a cut on her cheek. Upon looking at what it was, it was a scalpel that was now sticking out of a nearby tree.
All eyes turned back on the elf, who was obviously the one behind the scalpel.
“Damn… I missed. Trying to do this with a hangover really sucks,” the elf mumbled to herself, just loud enough for everyone to hear. “Would you mind and quit whispering? It’s annoying as hell and hurts my ears. If you want to say something, say it properly.”
Not wanting to put their group in anymore danger, Lexton decided to speak up, hoping that his negotiation skills as a merchant would be able to help them.
“Greetings, madam! My name is Lexton Gibber and I-”
The kobold was cut off by a scalpel hitting him in his shoulder and knocking him to the ground.
“You don’t seem to get it, do you? I have a HANGOVER,” the elf said with a sigh as she rubbed her temples. “What I want is for you assholes to speak in what is called a normal tone. That means no annoying whispering or any boisterous greetings like you did before. Keep the volume to a normal level and everything will be fine. Got it?”
The warning didn’t really register with Ryle or Durge, as they now viewed the elf as a threat and were now grasping their weapons, ready to attack.
“Why you-!”
Ryle’s threat was held back, as Lexton held up his hand, signaling her and the others to stand back. Even with his shoulder bleeding after getting struck, he didn’t want there to be anymore conflict.
“Guys, I’m okay. There’s no need to escalate this. Remember what we came here for in the first place, okay?” the kobold said. “Just let me do my thing and I promise you that this will end in the best possible way.”
Realizing that their friend was right, Ryle and Durge reluctantly put away their weapons and took a step back. Like Lexton had said, the reason they had come there was to help Erin and that was their current top priority. If they missed their chance with this healer, then everything they had done so far by coming to this place was for nothing.
However, the two fighters gave each other a look and nodded. Without saying a word, they had agreed that if this elf were to endanger any of them, they would make sure that she would regret it.
“Good to see that at least one of you is smart. Even though your volume control is crap,” the elf said. “Now, I believe you were in the middle of introducing yourself, mister… I’m sorry, what the hell was your name again?”
“It’s Lexton Gibber, madam,” the kobold replied. “First, I would like to thank you for helping us out just now. You really saved our lives.”
“No need to thank me. And I really do mean that, this is none of that humility stuff,” the elf said as she yawned. “The only reason I killed that goblin bastard was because I assumed it would quiet things down a lot faster. After all, one of the best ways to end a conflict is to get rid of one of the sides in it, right? Not to mention, all that creaking and cranking that came out of those puppets of his was really tearing into my ears.”
Lexton could feel a bit of sweat go down the side of his face as he thought about how lucky they had been. It seemed like this person didn’t care for one bit who they or the goblin that had been sent after them were. All that mattered to her was that one of them was making more noise than the other.
Although, this did lead to a question on the kobold’s part.
“May I ask you something about that?” Lexton asked to which the elf gave a small nod. “You say that he was causing more noise than we were, but we didn’t hear any noise come from his puppets, outside the ones from combat. Mind telling us how he was the more noisy one?”
“You might have already guessed it, but my ears are a bit special,” the elf said as she pointed at said parts of her body. “I can hear a lot better than most people, which includes sounds that some of you can’t hear at all. That’s how I was able to hear the sounds coming from the puppets.”
“I see. But still, why did you decide to target him?” the kobold asked further. “While I hate to admit it, I think we were far more loud. Was it just because he was alone and our group had multiple members in it?”
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“That is somewhat of a factor, but not the main reason,” the elf said with a shrug. “It’s more of about the type of sounds you all were making.”
“The type of sounds?” Ryle asked. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I meant. Sometimes it’s not about how loud something is, but how irritating it can be,” the elf answered. “As much as the loud barking of a dog can annoy me, it’s nothing compared to dealing with door hinges that let out a horrible creaking sound every time they move. One might be louder, but the other has this horrible quality to it that just cuts you to the soul. As loud as you guys might have been, the sound of that goblin using his puppets was something I found far more annoying, which is why I decided to kill him instead of you.”
Lexton had to wipe a bit of sweat off his head. If such a thing was enough to turn this person against you, then they were truly walking on the edge here. One slip up and it would be over.
“But enough of me. What brings you all here?” the elf suddenly asked. “I seriously doubt that you came all the way over here just to look at the scenery.”
“Right. That is something I was meaning to bring up,” Lexton said. “As you may have already figured out, we actually came here to see you. You see, we-”
“You have someone that needs my special healing abilities or else they will die,” the elf finished for the kobold as she let out a yawn. “Seriously, it’s always the same damn thing with you people. Every time somebody has gotten badly injured or has a horrible disease that can’t be cured by your average doctors or healers, so you come running over to me. I’ve heard the same sob story so many times that I no longer can even bother to act slightly interested.”
“Umm… I see…” Lexton said, having been taken aback by the healer’s unexpected response. “Could you… still help her? She is in critical condition and needs immediate medical assistance.”
“...Where is soon to be corpse?” the elf said with a sigh.
The kobold guided the healer to where Erin was laying on the ground. The elf turned the redhead’s body so that she was laying on her back and began to inspect her much closer.
“Yeah, this one is in a bad shape alright,” the healer said without even a hint of sympathy in her voice. “From what I can tell, she’s suffering from her body starting to destroy itself from within after having her magical power forced out. Did she take some sort of a drug for that?”
“...Y-Yes. It was a potion that I made,” Lexton answered, not really keen to talk about said subject.
“Wow. I don’t know if you did good or crap work,” the elf said without even looking up from Erin, as she continued her inspection of the redhead’s body. “On one hand, you made a steroid that didn’t kill the user right away, but at the same time I can’t help but doubt it was all that effective. Some of the most powerful magical power boosting drugs kill the user in less than an hour.”
The kobold simply grit his teeth and held back any anger he wanted to unleash. Now was not the time for that.
The healer continued her inspection for a bit longer, before finally standing up. All eyes were on her, waiting for her diagnosis.
“...Well?” Ryle asked.
“Well what?” the elf simply asked in return.
“Can you heal her or not?” the blonde asked as she held back her own anger.
“Oh that? Of course I can. It’s a pretty simple job in the end,” the healer said, causing the faces of those around her to light up. “But I’m not going to.”
“WHAT!?” Lexton shouted, much to the surprise of the others, as he had been the one to act calm and rational so far. “What the hell do you mean you’re not going to!? If it’s about money, I’m sure we can-”
“Listen here, if I cared about money, do you really think I would be living in the middle of nowhere in the backside of the Western Continent?” the elf asked. “Right now, if I need more cash, I’ll just travel to the nearest big city and set up shop. It won’t take long for me to get enough money to satisfy my needs.”
“Then why!? Why is it that you won’t help us!?” the kobold asked furiously.
“Because you guys are boring,” the healer stated bluntly. “These days I only give my services to those who I find interesting, which you obviously are not.”
“What the hell are you talking about!?” Lexton shouted, as his companions were holding him back, fearing what he might do in his angered state. “Is saving lives some sort of a game to you!? How can you look at someone who needs help as boring and just leave them to die!?”
“Oh please… Don’t even get into that ethical debate crap with me. I have heard it more times than I care to count and it always ends the same,” the elf said as she rolled her eyes. “In my life, I’ve been approached by countless people in need, all of them asking to be saved. Back when I was just a fledgling of a healer, I obviously helped them without any hesitation, but that changed once the Five Overlords came into the picture. All of a sudden, all the work I did became completely pointless.”
“What do you mean?” Durge asked, as Lexton continued to seethe while being held back.
“I joined those who fought against the forces of the Five Overlords and got to heal countless people that tried to fight back. It pretty much became a daily occurrence for me to have someone on my operating table that was on the verge of death after challenging them,” the healer explained. “I still did my work perfectly, allowing them to continue fighting. They would always thank me with smiles on their faces and tell me how they would soon defeat the tyrants that had conquered our world. But do you know what happened? None of them even got close to making a bit of difference. In the end, all the work I did was for nothing, as they simply ended up dying in the next battle. I might as well not have even bothered helping any of them.”
“How can you say something like that!?” Lexton asked angrily. “Healing people is one of the most admired and appreciated professions out there! There are countless of unfortunate victims who would like nothing more than to be allowed to continue living just for a little bit longer, yet they are denied that! How can you look at something like that as pointless!?”
“I can because it is. Does the work I do really matter, if the end result is pretty much the same? Is it worth it to save someone and make them happy, when their family ends up heartbroken and miserable soon anyways?” the elf asked in return. “I can’t even count the number of people I saved from death that would proclaim that they were going to “defeat the tyrants oppressing us” and save the world. I saw so many such people, yet all of them ended up dead, making my work pointless.”
“But how does that relate to us?” Durge asked.
“It’s obvious to me what you guys are. You’re just another hopeless group of wannabes that are trying to make the world a better place,” the healer answered. “The puppet guy was obviously an assassin in the service of Golorath, so you guys must have done something quite big to upset him of all people. Not only that, but I can just tell by looking at you all that each one of you has some sort of a grudge against the current rulers, like the oppressed kobold and the warrior tribe orc.”
“If you know that we are fighting against the Five Overlord, why not help us!?” Lexton asked. “You apparently did so in the past, so why not now!?”
“How many times do I need to tell you that it’s pointless?” the elf asked in a frustrated tone. “You’re all just going to end up failing to make any type of a change and die needlessly. Why should I waste my time with that?”
Erin’s companions couldn’t just accept this. They had gone through so much together and there was still so much they needed to do. There had to be a way to get treatment for their friend. But how? Judging by what she had just said, there seemed to be no way to get this person to help them.
“I see that you get it, so we’re done here,” the healer said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I would like for all of you to pack your crap and leave. I don’t want to waste anymore time with any of you.”
The elf was about to walk away, when a hand grabbed her ankle. She looked down to see Erin holding onto her and staring up at her with a surprisingly strong gaze.
However, while the healer had expected the redhead that was at death’s door to stare at her with anger, she was surprised to see confidence behind her lone eye.
“Hold on just a second,” Erin said as she was breathing heavily due to her condition getting worse by the minute. “I believe you said something about giving out your services only to those who you find interesting, right?”
“That’s correct. Only those with a story that catches my interest get my treatment,” the elf answered. “But I doubt you have that. You seem like any other walking hero complex I’ve seen in my life, so-”
“I might have something that will interest you and it’s not just your typical wannabe hero stuff,” the redhead said. “Mind giving it a try?”
“...Might as well,” the healer said with a shrug. “Go ahead. Tell me your story.”
“Not yet. I need to make one thing sure first,” Erin said before looking at her companions. “Would you guys mind and leave us alone for a moment? I’d like to talk with her in private.”
Ryle, Lexton and Arkay were about to protest, but Durge stopped them.
“We don’t have much of a choice. Erin’s the only one who might be able to convince her,” the orc said. “Let’s have faith in her.”
Although reluctantly, the others walked away, leaving the redhead on her own with the elven healer.
“So now that you have your privacy, mind telling me this story of yours?” the elf asked with a hint of impatience in her voice. “This better be good.”
“Oh trust me… It will be worth your time,” Erin said with a small, confident grin.
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Time passed as Erin’s friends waited to see whether their friend was successful or not. They all desperately hoped that she would be able to convince the healer to help them, but couldn’t help worrying that it would all be in vain.
After what felt like and eternity for them, they finally heard the sound of footsteps coming towards them. They all looked up to see the elf carrying Erin on her back.
“Congratulations to you all. You have earned my services,” the healer said with a small smile on her lips. “Zeldana the Holder of Life will help you out.”