The amount of walking a medical practitioner has to do in a day is a lot more than the number of steps novices have had to take in any other subject. Walking from patient to patient, writing down things their "guide" had said, then answering their questions just to walk to the next patient and do the same.

Sometimes their Priest guide might have to heal the patient; this he’d do while explaining the things that they were doing and why. Explaining each point of the code that they had just used. Communication was much more important than Kanrel had at first thought while doing such work.

The explanation wasn’t just for the sake of the novices but also for the sake of the patients, who might be scared and unaware of what the priest might do. Talking to them helped them at least understand that they were there to help heal any injury or wound that they might have.

Three whole weeks went by, and it was a lot less stressful than they had thought. Sure, some patients might be in danger of death, but most of them would survive because of the magic the priests would use on them. Not once did they see any of the diseases Forsvarn had warned them about.

Instead, they dealt with things they had dealt with in the first week of simulations.

And when the last week came, they got their chance to show all that they had learned to their respective guides.

Every day they would diagnose and treat multiple patients, and it was mostly about how lucky or unlucky you were with your patients. Kanrel was very lucky; there were no complicated cases, and he remained calm in all situations. Explaining to the patient and the person observing him the things that he did and why he chose to do them.

His guide Doctor Genrel was probably happy with how Kanrel was doing; he seldom had to intervene, and he even less often gave any criticism or tips after each patient. Though they did talk about other things, like how Kanrel had liked his time so far, what he felt was the most important thing he had learned within the past month.

Genrel seemed like a very nice man, completely different from Professor Forsvarn. Meeting a priest like him was very rare, but it might’ve been because of his upbringing and the tasks the Priesthood had commanded him to do.

Apparently, he was used to working with ordinary people, so his demeanor was always approachable and pleasant. It had become a habit of his because of years of traveling the edges of the kingdom, meeting people who were very different, and coming early on to the conclusion that things went much more smoothly if the person talking to him could think of him as a normal human who happened to be a priest.

He was basically acting, but it all had a reason: making people around him feel comfortable with him.

During the last week, Kanrel saw the others only in passing. Once in a while, during lunch or dinner, they’d have the possibility of talking with each other, but they mainly talked about work and how it was going.

Mostly everything was going just fine; there were a few mistakes here and there, but none of them had caused accidental deaths or failed to save their patients. However, some of their guides have had to give tips during diagnoses so that such things wouldn’t happen.

He would also see the flock of other novices entering at the same time they did; they were all tired, and he could imagine the things they had to go through daily. And at the end of the day, he’d see proof of this; suffering in their eyes could be seen so easily.

He felt bad for them, but there was a sense of relief within—an emotion he hadn’t felt in such a long time. He wouldn’t have to go through such pain; it was all behind him now, though it would still visit him in his dreams. In a cold sweat, he would wake in the mornings.

Things could only get better from here.

On the evening of the second-to-last day at the hospital, Kanrel finally received what he had been waiting for. A letter from his mother. Even though he was tired and really needed to sleep, he still opened the letter and read it:

Kanrel,

I am glad to hear from you. I’ve waited for you to write to me for months now.

I am pleased that things have been well for you, and I am even more pleased that you finally tried to make contact with those around you, your fellow novices.

We’ll talk of the rest later, for I’ve managed to make time for a visit there. Though this visit will only happen during the last week of your studies, I will hold a special lecture and a speech on the day of your graduation, and I will be the one to accept your vows.

We will see then, and I hope that such thoughts of doubt will be allayed when we get to talk.

Her writing was elegant, and her style was as direct as ever. He was slightly disappointed, as he had wanted to know of those things now rather than later, but the rumors were not minimal, and there wasn’t even a single case of vandalism in the past few months.

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Though this might be because of how little time Kanrel had for walking around the campus, these things might still happen frequently.

The last day he was as tired as during the other days, but now he had something different to wait for, something that wasn’t too far away. He wasn’t excited; instead, he had expectations. Questions that needed to be answered.

The last day was the final lecture that Professor Forsvarn would give to them and only to them. They got the honor of entering her office, which was mostly a mess; there were pieces of paper all over the place as well as books left open. They didn’t get any chairs, and only she sat behind her desk, facing them.

She didn’t welcome them in or give any real orientation to her lecture; she just began:

"Relief is probably what all of you feel in this moment. Ah, it is finally over; no more do I have to see this bitch of a woman, nor longer shall I suffer on one of those horrid simulation beds.

Congratulations! Soon, you'll all be free. For now."

"What you’re about to hear you might think that I am saying out of malice, but I assure you that is mostly not correct. Although I do take great pleasure in saying what I am about to say,”

"You’re all aware that the Priesthood is the one that chooses where you’re all appointed; but are you aware that here, in this academy, we, your teachers and professors, have a lot of sway in where you might find yourselves?"

"As in, we get to recommend a potion for each of our students, and I’ve just finished and set multiple letters of recommendation as well as the results of your past months in my care.

To some of those recommendations, I’ve written a plea for you to be sent back here or to other hospitals around the kingdom."

There was absolute silence as she spoke, and a level of nervousness had risen among the novices present. Each of them could, in a way, guess if they were recommended or not just based on the conversations they had with their guide.

"Now, do not fret, and instead take this as a sincere compliment from me. I am in a way proud of your performances, how you dealt with your patients, and how you managed to improve and solve the different situations given to you by the simulations."

"There is a lot of aptitude among you. And for that, you all should be rewarded in one way or another."

"So, those letters of recommendation are that reward; they don’t only hold my wish for you to all work under me, but also about your abilities in magical medicine, your coding skills, and perhaps most importantly, your problem-solving skills and the will that you all seem to have."

"Such a reward can of course be a curse instead, a condemnation to a life you might not want to live, so let me at least give you this as well: the rest of this day you’re free to do as you will."

"You are novices, after all, barely adults, so go and do things students do in their free time: swim naked in the lake or whatever I’ve seen some of you do before."

They were dismissed, and again Kanrel found himself in the park with his group, sitting on the same benches they had sat on before. The day was less bright and less warm as autumn was slowly coming; the leaves of the great oak trees were starting to shift in color, and soon enough the ground would be covered with golden leaves.

"I know for sure that I am safe." Yirn blurted out suddenly, "There is no way I’ll find myself working in one of those hospitals; I’ll make sure of it."

Yviev scoffed, "You’ll come by as a patient; I am sure of it. Then I’ll be waiting there for you to use one of Kanrel’s favorite tricks!"

"And what is that? No, let me guess!" Yirn said with a smile on his face, "Has it something to do with removing my robes and squeezing here and there?"

Yviev grinned while eyeing Kanrel and Uanna. "Yes! I might even squeeze a little too hard so that when you do that, you’ll know to moan in excitement!"

Uanna suddenly looked at her with such murder in her eyes that Yviev just made a face at her and then let the topic drop.

Kanrel chose to ignore the jokes of his friends: "I finally got a reply from my mother; she will be visiting during the last month of our studies, and she will apparently hold some lectures and even a speech during our graduation day."

"Some good news at least; I can’t wait to meet her." Yirn said with a smile on his face, I've got some questions of my own for her as well, you know."

"Like what?"

"It’s a secret," Yirn whispered loudly, then smiled mysteriously.

Then Uanna got up and pulled Wen with her: "I think we’ll go for a long bath; days of not having time to do so have been perhaps worse than anything else." She announced then, with a sudden smile, "Kanrel, you can of course join us; would there be a better way of truly understanding the human body, and this time you’ll have my permission as well?”

Her invitation was left in the air, and she laughed brightly as she left, pulling Wen with her.

Kanrel was baffled and didn’t know what to do or how to react. So all he did was sit in silence and look at how the two girls disappeared into the distance.

"Well now… Did you do more than carry a couch to her room?" Yviev asked; she was as confused as he was.

Kanrel shook his head. "I only offered a few words of consolation and a smile."

Yirn took Kanrel into a headlock and said, "You fox, that is sometimes all one needs." He had a sweet smile on his face. "You’ve grown so much, and I am proud of you and all, but can we go somewhere else? It is kind of cold out here."

So they left the park in its blooming autumn beauty and went somewhere they hadn’t visited in what felt like an eternity. The Laboratory for the Study of Magical Energy; there they could look for Oidus and perhaps ask about the coming classes, so they visited her laboratory, but there was no one there.

Just more notes scattered around the floor and a lot more notebooks than there were before; Kanrel couldn’t help but read one of the pages on the floor: ...they had disappeared before the lectures on magical medicine, and soon after the amount of graffiti found was more than halved...

She seemed to be investigating or theorizing about the disappearance of the three students; maybe Kanrel’s own theories had been incorrect?

They waited for a couple of hours in the hall, trying different codes they hadn’t had much time to practice with, like lifting a chair in overly elaborate ways. Poor chair.

They soon left the laboratory behind, as it was getting too late. At the northern building, they ran into Oidus, but she seemed to be in a hurry and ignored them when they tried to ask her questions. Maybe she had suddenly gotten another brilliant idea that would lead to a failed experiment and then an explosion that would cause her laboratory to be remodeled... again.

Kanrel got to his door and opened it. His day had been uneventful, but that was always good. No unnecessary pain or surprises like the past few months.

He entered his room and immediately noticed something off. There were rose petals on the floor and lit candles all around; on the bed, someone was laying down. He didn’t close the door behind himself; instead, he approached the bed and soon saw her, naked, lying on the bed with pedals covering her most private parts.

Her eyes were open, and she looked at the ceiling. She was beautifully positioned on the bed as if she had been a piece of art.

She did not breathe. She did not blink her eyes. She was dead.

He backed out of his room and back to the corridor. What was going on?