“Hey Kanta.” I said as I entered his office. He was grinding some sort of leaf in a mortar when I got there, but it was too fine for me to tell which one. I held up the bottle of Sober Drops. “Need any?”
He looked at me like he was surprised. “I wasn’t drinking last night.” he said, looking a bit confused that I thought that.
“Oh, sorry. Berry said you left early and were probably heading to the bar. So I kind of assumed you would have a hangover.”
“No, I’ve actually decided to drink less. Last night I actually left to go to the Healer’s Guild and get a manual. I want to get my Healer certification so I can be more useful around here.”
“Oh, that would be useful. I had to loan your sister my Core necklace because she had so many customers yesterday. Having an extra healer on staff would be useful.”
He smiled when I said that. “Does that mean I’d get a raise?”
Ah, he wanted to earn more. Makes sense. Everyone can use more money. “Sure, if you are healing as much as Berry and making potions as well, I can increase your pay to, say, a silver and a half?” It wasn’t quite the healer and apothecary salaries added together, but it was over double his current pay.
“Really? In that case, I’ll do my best to get certified. I managed to cast Revitalization and Healing on myself last night and this morning, so I should be able to learn it quickly.”
“Those are the most common ones. As an apothecary, though, you probably will have an easy time learning the detection spells. I know I learned them more easily because I had used Essence Detection so much.”
“I don’t actually use it that much, as I’m mostly working with the same ingredients everyday, but I do know how to use it, so maybe I’ll try learning them next.”
I nodded and told him goodbye before leaving. Well, back to my lab to make more essences.
–
Persy was trying to keep busy by meditating when the door to the Slave area was forceably opened and a man came inside. He was wearing leather clothes with a snow-leopard trenchcoat and gaudy jewelry and looked like he was missing a few teeth. It was hard to regrow teeth and treat tooth decay, so she hoped he wasn’t here for that.
He held a chain in his right hand and when he tugged on it ten women that were handcuffed together entered the room. Persy counted seven beast women, an elf, a human, and a goblin. “How can I help you, sir?” she asked, trying to seem as friendly as she could, despite hating him immediately after seeing the woman and how he was treating them.
“I want you to check out these women.” he said.
“I’m not interested in females, but I can get one of my male colleagues to give you an opinion if you want.”
“Don’t get smart with me, Fox. I meant a medical exam. I just bought them and I want you to make sure they’re healthy before I take ‘em to work.”
“Can I ask what kind of business you do?” I asked. It wasn’t strictly necessary to know that, but it would let me know what he considered the most important.
“Sure, why not. I run the Bouncing Bunny. They’re my new whores.”
Great, they had just been bought as sex slaves for the scummiest brothel in town. Why the city guard hadn’t shut them down as a threat to public health, she didn’t know. Not only did they abuse the women working there, but half the STD customers they got in the Standard section had visited there recently. “Very well, sir. It will take an hour or so to finish with the examinations, if you’d like to wait.” She motioned to the simple wooden bench near the door.
He looked at the bench, then looked back at Persy. “I’m going to the pub, and will be back in an hour.” He then turned around to leave.
“May I have the key to the chains, sir? I may need to remove them to examine the ladies completely.” Not really necessary, but it would relieve some of their suffering, and that style of cuffs tended to chaff.
“How about you go find someone free for me to hand it to. I ain’t givin’ control of my slaves to another slave.”
“Very well, if you’ll wait for a minute, I’ll go get someone.”
Persy went over to the Standard section to find Berry healing a burn on someone’s arm. When she finished twenty seconds later she motioned her over. Persy quietly told her about the whorer in the Slave area that would only give the key to a free person, and she agreed to come over to receive it. She told her customer that she was finished and collected the money, then put it in the cash box and followed Persy into the next area.
“Bout time.” the man said, then walked over and handed the key to Berry. “Check to make sure they ain’t pregnant too. Hard to rent out a girl that’s got one on the way. Most guys ain’t into that.” With that he walked out the door.
Berry smiled at the girls. “Hi, my name is Berry. I run the Standard section of the clinic. This area is too cold for a proper examination, so please follow me.” She lead the girls into a large exam room in the standard area that was meant to deal with groups of accident victims. “If one of you would please get undressed and climb up here, we can get started.” The girls seemed to respond negatively to the phrase “get undressed” but one of them, a Cow girl, started silently obeying.
After a physical examination, they ran multiple detection thread through her to check for illness. Other that some bruising on her wrists from the shackles and some malnutrition, she was fine. They checked out the other girls soon after that. Two did have STDs, which were quickly cured with a Kill Virus spell, an intermediate one only Persy knew out of the two healers, but none were pregnant. Thank the gods for that. She didn’t want the girls put through a forced miscarriage on top of everything else, even if she wouldn’t be the one casting the spell.
Thinking of something else, Berry left Persy to talk to the ladies as she went to talk to Cam. A few minutes later she returned with ten bottles of potion. “This is a potion of Infertility. If you take it, it will all but prevent you from getting pregnant for five or six months. I talked my boss into giving them to you for cheap.” With that she handed them to the girls. They might not be able to stop what was happening to them, but they could make sure that they didn’t suffer as much as they could.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
A few minutes after the girls drank the potions, they were lead back into the Slave waiting area and a few minutes after that the man in the snow leopard trench coat returned, the smell of whiskey on his breath. “Did you fix them up?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” said Berry, handing him the bill. From the way he looked at it either he hated dealing with money or couldn’t read. “Ah, that’s just a list of everything we did to them. The scans, healing, nutritional supplements, and infertility potions for ten of them, plus two STD treatments, at one copper each, come to three and a half silvers.” The potions cost Cam three copper each to make but when he heard who they were for he agreed to the discount.
“Infertility potions?” the man asked.
“You wanted us to guaranteed that they weren’t pregnant, yes? Those potions should prevent that for the next four or five months. Just bring them in again every four months for a checkup and we will sell those to you for a copper per woman.”
The man nodded. “Finally, a clinic that isn’t trying to rip me off. I’ll think about bringing in my other girls later.” He paid the three silver six coppers he owed, got his key back, and lead them out of the building. Maybe the other women working at the trashy establishment he ran could be treated later. It wouldn’t make their lives good, but it would make them less horrible if they were in good health.
I was surprised that the man had so brazenly brought all of those women into the clinic. Yes, what he was doing was legal, but only the worst people frequented his establishment, so you’d think he would downplay the situation. Maybe he thought it would be free publicity if he paraded them through the streets, but anyone that wasn’t a complete garbage heap of a person wouldn’t be interested in women in the state slaves were generally sold in. I was pretty sure most of the men in the slums wouldn’t even visit a dump like the Bouncing Bunny, even if they had the money to do so. I wasn’t sure where this man’s clients were coming from. Maybe they catered to some sort of unseemly taste only a few men had?
It didn’t matter. I couldn’t do anything about it other than buy the slaves, at which point the man would just use the money to buy more. I could, however, make sure that they weren’t forced to carry their rapist’s child. When Berry told me what happened I quickly mixed up ten long term Infertility potions. Normally, a common woman or man would pay six coppers for one, and a noble a silver, but I told Berry to only charge a copper each, so that the slaver wouldn’t complain about having to pay for them.
Once I handed the potions over, I went back to work. There was a pregnant woman with an appointment today. Apparently she was the mistress of some knight who was paying extra to make sure his wife didn’t here about the side woman. Well, as long as the man paid, I didn’t mind a bit of doctor/patient confidentiality, even if this world was a bit more lax with such regulations.
An hour later the woman arrived with a green haired woman in her sixties. She looked familiar. I just couldn’t remember where I saw her before. The pregnant woman introduced herself and told me the woman was her midwife. They just wanted to make sure that the baby was healthy. She was already eight months into the pregnancy, but sometimes developmental issues could arise and she wanted them found and, if possible, cured before the baby was born.
That wouldn’t be a problem. I took her back to one of the nicer waiting rooms and ran my detection threads through her and the baby. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t suffering any medical conditions which could affect the baby as well. After a few minutes I withdrew my threads. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a package of dried cherries and handed them to her. She took them and rapidly ate them with a smile on her face.
The midwife looked at me perplexed. “She was low on a key nutrient that is common in cherries. I was carrying them as a snack, but I knew she was probably craving them, so I gave them to her.” The midwife nodded and the woman tried to thank me with her mouth full. “Now, do you want to know the sex of the baby?”
The woman nodded. “It’s a girl. Should be born with a healthy weight. Might be a bit on the large size, but shouldn’t cause any problems. If it does, however, bring her by and I can do the surgery to remove the baby. If I’m not here, I’ll be at the palace. Do you know how to get there?”
The woman shook her head but the midwife nodded. “I’ve been there before, many years ago.”
I then realized I where I remembered her from. “Would that be a little over fifteen years ago to deliver the child of Lady Melody Starshine?”
She seemed surprised. “I’m surprised you could guess that.”
“Actually, I was that child. I knew I’d seen you somewhere.”
“You remember your own birth?” the pregnant woman asked. “I didn’t know it was possible for someone to remember that.”
“It is quite rare.” said the midwife. “I’ve only heard of a few exceptional people who could remember their own birth.”
Crap. I gave too much away. “Oh, I only get flashes from then. An image every now and then in my dreams. Maybe Coranya wants me to remember.” Surely saying it was a gift from the god of sleep, dreams, and prophecy would cover for me knowing such a thing, right?
“Oh, that must be it.” the midwife said, helping the woman up.
–
The next day that same trashy man reappeared in the slave section with fifteen new women. “Same thing as last time.” he said.
Persy nodded and went to get Berry to get him to hand over the key. Thankfully Berry wasn’t busy. Once he handed over the key, he headed for the door. “I’ll come back in a few hours. I got other business.” He left, and they repeated the procedure from the day before.
Again, none of them were pregnant, though one of them, a dwarf, had signs of a recent miscarriage. Persy had to fight to hold back a tear, knowing that he must have forced a miscarriage when he found out. Thankfully, as long as the women came in for treatment regularly that wouldn’t happen again. They treated the woman, who seemed to have more injuries than the new slaves, and gave them all the Infertility potion. If this man’s customers were treating them worse than the slave merchant, how horrible were they?
–
The man returned three hours later to pick up his slave girls. They were reluctant to leave, but knew that they had no choice. Thankfully they at least had some downtime.
There were a few more customers that day, mostly people with pets or farm animals, but a few people from the slums came in for treatment as well. As this place charged so little, it was the only place the refugees and the slum dwellers could afford treatment in, though not all of them could. Most of them appeared to have food poisoning, a lung infection, or both. Persy would have to talk to Cam about maybe running a discount program for slum dwellers and refugees. Maybe a one time free checkup? They might be able to convince Lord Starshine that it would keep them from bringing in outside diseases and that more healthy people meant more workers in the city. If they could do that, he might pay for the medical treatments, so they wouldn’t have to take a loss.
–
It took a few hours, but eventually I was able to convince father that the health of the city and increased number of workers would increase tax revenue by more than enough to make up for the cost of treating them. He agreed to pay three coppers per person that was treated under the free program, though we could only accept slum dwellers and refugees, and only treat them once under the program.
Hopefully that would be enough to turn the city around. Though, if I’m being honest, I should probably hire people to clean the slums and refugee camp and sterilize the wells in those area. That would cost money, though, so I would have to treat some of them to earn that money before I did that. Otherwise I’d start taking a loss. The cleaning could be done with slum dwellers and refugees I hired, but I doubt many of them knew the Sterilize utility spell, or they would be using it to clean the area they lived in. I guess I could teach it to them. Maybe the ones that did the best could be trained as extra assistance for my clinic? As I got more popular, the refugees and slum dwellers could fill the need for healers in the Slave and Standard area. I might even get lucky and find someone with experience working for the rich or nobles and be able to train them to help me.
–
The next day Cam called Kanta and Berry into his office. He informed them about the deal he had struck to treat the people of the slums and refugees, and that the slave section would get much busier due to that deal. They would need to help out in that section if they didn’t have any patients in Standard and Persy still had customers. To that end he handed them each a Core necklace. They were only rated 4.1 and 4.2 respectively, and hung from simple monster leather bands, but they would provide both of them with a source of mana in case they needed it. When Kanta put it on, however, he winced in pain.
“Migraine?” asked Cam.
“Yeah, for some reason I started getting one when you handed me the necklace, and it got a lot worse when I put it on.”
“You aren’t used to the mana pressure and are experiencing Overpressure. Close your eyes and meditate on allowing the mana to flow into you.”
Kanta did so, and for a moment the pain seemed to spread out and lessen. Fifteen seconds later, though, the pain started to return. “Well that helped for a little while.”
“Now the Core is trying to push your mana pressure up to its level. It is a 4.1, and I doubt you are up to three yet. This will also cause an internal Overpressure, as opposed to the external one of wearing the core. What you need to do now is to use a spell at the highest level you can manage while also allowing it to flow into you. This is called Channeling.”
It took Kanta a few tries to learn to focus on two things enough at the same time that they both worked reasonably well. He chose to cast Healing on himself, so he had a slight golden glow surrounding him as he meditated. Unfortunately, all that would do was keep the physical damage Overpressure was causing in check, not prevent the problem in the first place. It did, however, limit the pain somewhat.
A few minutes later the spell started to falter again, and Kanta started to look exhausted, so Cam took the necklace off of him. “I think you’ve reached your limit and exhausted yourself mentally. This exercise takes a lot of concentration, so it is good at training your concentration, the image of your spell, and your mana pressure. Eventually, if you do this every day, your internal pressure should go slightly above the pressure of the Core, so maybe 4.2 or 4.3. As you need to prove you can cast a level four spell for any kind of Mage certification, including healer, you can consider this part of you training for that as well. Consider the necklace to be company property, though. You can use them here if you want, even for training when your other jobs are complete or for a little while after hours, but you’ll need permission to take them out of the building.”
They both nodded, and left to put the necklaces in their offices in case they needed them.