CHAPTER 27: a talk with Viviane

  "Claudio! Claudio", I can hear someone calling out to me, I slowly opened my eyes, head still spinning from being knocked out, and now that the adrenaline wore off my whole body was burning from the pain. I have no idea what happened, did someone intervene? "FUCK" I swore loudly, the molar behind me canines was loose, way too loose. And my eyes hurt for some reason?

  Claudio: What happened?

  My eyes are still closed off, from the strong smell of disinfectant; it's safe to assume that I was laying on the table in the lounge.

  Lyria: You send me away for 15 minutes and this happens!? Are you serious Claudio.

  Claudio: Aww someone is worried about me.

  Lyria: Fuck off!

  I tried to get up despite the pain coming from my abdomen and right arm, I can feel my whole body being covered in bandages, my head was wrapped so fully that I couldn’t see a thing, these bastards turned me to a mummy!

  I peeled off layers of bandages and I checked myself in the mirror. My left eye was so swollen you'd think that I was stung by a hornet, I had a large bruise on the right side of my jaw. The arm that I used for blocking the punch was black and blue, and to my surprise, so was left side of my abdomen, even though I swayed my body and blocked the attack cleanly, I still took way too much damage to my body, and well so did my right foot that I used to kick his head diabolically.

  Claudio: Who wrapped me up like this?

  In the lounge, there was Oliver, and three different adventurers. They all looked around before pointing their fingers at Oliver, anyways that doesn’t matter.

  Claudio: What happened? Did anyone hit me from behind or something?

  An adventurer by the name of Linda spoke up:

  Linda: No? When Fabian felt like he was about to lose he used his aura against you, pretty pathetic if you ask me.

  I mean that still doesn’t explain anything but it's not like I saw how those adventurers fought just yet, Magic is really volatile man. If this was a street fight I would've died without ever knowing how, next time if my life was really threatened I won't hesitate to pull out my handgun and take out any threat possible.

  Well, despite my stupidity I learned something useful today, now on to care on my injuries.

  Claudio: Lyria, hand me those two items over there.

  Lyria seemed distraught through this whole situation, she did as I instructed and I asked her to help me remove my pants since I was wounded between my foot and shin, after that I asked her to wet a clean bandage with the liquid and to gently tap the cut.

  Claudio: Ahhh.

  That burns, It would’ve been better for me to simply suture the cut myself but due to my cracked rib, I simply couldn’t bend down at all. Looks like I will witness the effects of the healing salves first hand, I was excited.

  Claudio: Alright good job Lyria, now add the healing salve to my wound please

  *Tss*

  Claudio: Mmm…

  Lyria: Please stop.

  Claudio: What?

  Linda: The sounds you're making are… erotic.

  Claudio: IM IN PAIN HERE YOU HORNY BASHTARDS.

  FUCK I FORGOT ABOUT MY LOOSE MOLAR, *Sigh*.

  Claudio: Oliver, mix some salt with warm water and bring it to me please, the rest of you thank you, you can leave.

  They thanked me once again for my services today and left the lounge. 30 minutes later, I was limping alongside Lyria towards the sanctuary and it was as awkward as you would imagine. Lyria asked:

  Lyria: Do you want me to carry you?

  Claudio: Hm? No thanks.

  I arrived at the sanctuary, entered my apartment and went straight to bed, I had no appetite to eat anything given the state of my mouth and I was sleep deprived from the previous day. Blue streaks came out of the pillow and I found myself fast asleep, this is heaven.

  ***

  Back at the guild, a couple of minutes after Claudio left

  One of the few platinum badge adventurers in the city of Canes Horos, Lirkin, entered the guild and everyone was talking loudly about what transpired today.

  Lirkin: Yoo Oliver, how are you my friend, long time no see.

  Oliver: Is that a ghost? Or am I seeing Lirkin in the flesh Hahahaa.

  Lirkin helped himself to a seat before answering:

  Lirkin: I woulda been a ghost if an angel had not intervened, half of my squad was wiped out by a Jygakin.

  Oliver: A JYGAKIN?!

  Oliver sobered up upon hearing the name of an elite giant, his expedition was nearly wiped out from a normal giant, he couldn’t imagine facing such a mighty and intelligent specimen alone, let alone with a group of people.

  Oliver: How did you survive?

  Lirkin remembered the visual promise to keep the identity of the person who helped him a secret; he backtracked and made a reasonable excuse for his victory.

  Lirkin: The Jygakin was simply too proud, he thought that he could win against is while being buck naked, guess we were just lucky and the idiot thought that his balls were immune or something.

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  Oliver: Oof, you were really lucky, my grandfather's expedition were wiped out by a single Jygakin that was hiding in a great tree, can you believe that bastard made a crossbow with whatever he could get his hands on after just seeing it once? After a single gigantic bolt wiped out his team, he retired and decided to become a farmer.

  Lirkin: No shit?

  Oliver: No shit, wait, didn’t you just say that you was saved by an angel?

  Lirkin took a sip of his ale before answering:

  Lirkin: I meant that figuratively you bald bastard, somehow one of the bolts hit him in his you know what which made him scream in pain, I took that moment to slice off his head with my horizontal Vocarian slash.

  Oliver: The technique that you kept on praising and singing about, but when you asked to put it to the test in front of lord Veminesk you failed horribly? Right, just say you were lucky and that’s it, no need to boost your accomplishments man.

  Lirkin: Oh fuck you, anyways, what happened here? I heard you guys faced a giant when you were hunting gnolls? How did that happen?

  Oliver: You have no idea, the smart little bastards lured us into a sleeping one. Lucia thought that we were lucky to stumble upon one while it was sleeping and lo and behold. The bastard wasn’t no normal giant, he was a tamer as well!

  Lirkin: Get the fuck out of here.

  Oliver: I swear to God, he had four gray bears that were scouting the area while he napped, Lucia used all of her Mageia to take out the giant but she was torn apart between to gray bears when she got close to it, if not for the Wolfborne, none of us would be standing right now.

  Lirkin took his mug of ale in the air and toasted:

  Lirkin: This is for Lucia, May she rests in peace, she may not be attractive but she was a young and aspiring woman.

  Oliver: What are you on about? Lucia isn’t dead.

  Lirkin choked on his mug while he was chugging it, the ale soaked his whole beard as he was struggling to breathe while coughing his lungs out.

  Lirkin: *cough* What the fu*cough*ck do you mean? She survived?! How? wasn’t William dead? Did Vuram manage to find a physician this fast?

  Oliver: You would not believe it, None of us died, including the members of the wolfborne tribe as well, well at least not yet, anyways! Let me tell you about the new physician! He is a cripple.

  Lirkin choked again, this time on a piece of dry pie, so his suffering was worse than before. After he regained himself, he asked:

  Lirkin: A cripple? I've never been more confused in my life, please explain everything from the beginning.

  ***

  The next day

  It was officially my 5th day since I entered this city and my 10th day since I escaped the invasion. Checking my watch, I've slept for 14 hours straight, no nightmares, nothing, if I wasn’t so fucked up than I would’ve easily called it the best sleep of my life, I have to purchase this pillow even if my life depended on it.

  There was barely any light outside, I got up to check myself in the mirror and the swelling on my left eye had gone down considerably, I can see out of both eyes now opposed to yesterday.

  Not gonna lie, I'm kind of scared because I coughed up blood yesterday and I don’t have access to CT scans or X-rays to find out if I suffered from internal damage but I hope the healing salve would somehow help, I honestly doubt it though.

  I checked my foot one last time and was surprised to see it healed this fast, It was as if 8 days had passed since my injury, it was still tender and I had a little bit of a limp but it was better than nothing.

  And I was no dentist, I had a little bit of knowledge in every field in medicine here in there but I can tell that my teeth and gums were recovering better than yesterday, it sucks that I have to bite on a cotton ball most of the time until it's fixed though.

  I hoped into the bath, massaged my sore body and in the middle of my relaxation, I heard a couple of knocks at the door, which was weird since Lyria never knocked.

  Claudio: Come in.

  Maid: Mr. Claudio, you have a visitor by the name of Viviane at the gate.

  Claudio: *sigh* Tell the guard to let her in.

  ***

  Viviane: Oh my god Claudio What happened to you?!

  Claudio: Nothing serious just a bar fight, anyways tea or coffee?

  Viviane: You look bad! Why didn’t that wench protect you?

  Claudio: *sigh* Viviane, thanks for the worry but everything was my fault; if you want to be angry at someone then it should be me.

  I made her some tea since the people of this city were more accustomed to, Viviane was shaking her legs angrily before calming down, I asked her for the reason for her sudden visit:

  Claudio: Is everything okay? Did something happen at the orphanage?

  Viviane: No its just I figured since you work early, I can only visit you at this time.

  Well that still doesn’t answer my question.

  Claudio: I see.

  We both drank our tea awkwardly before Viviane mustered up the courage to state her reason for the visit:

  Viviane: Remember earlier? At the orphanage door when we spoke…

  Claudio: Oh… That.

  Well I guess I should rip the band aid fast as they say, even though it’s too early to talk about this bullshit but whatever.

  Claudio: You know… I'm not from around here, that much should be obvious.

  Viviane: Yeah, pretty obvious.

  Claudio: I really can't tell you where I was from, but just know that, that place does not exist anymore.

  Viviane raised an eyebrow; maybe she could take a hint already, but no.

  Viviane: Yeah I didn’t ask about where you was from, earlier you said and I quote "at least not now", than when?

  Well, she was straight forward at least.

  Claudio: Viviane… I have a question for you.

  Viviane: A question?

  Claudio: Yeah.

  I put both of my hands on the table and stared directly at her.

  Claudio: If one day, you lose all of your loved ones without any warning, and the last thing you see before departing from your lover is their back against you because they were upset with you, how long would it take you to recover from that?

  Viviane: Uh? I don’t know, why did you ask me that sudden…ly.

  Seriously? I know it's early in the morning but lock in Viviane!

  Viviane: Oh.

  Claudio: Yeah.

  Her face was dark, she didn’t realize how selfish she was being until now.

  Viviane: I'm sorry.

  Claudio: Nothing to be sorry about.

  We sipped on our tea silently for 10 minutes, before Viviane spoke:

  Viviane: Your Voratrae has gotten significantly better.

  Claudio: Uh, thanks?

  I took a sip before Viviane asked me a diabolical question:

  Viviane: Was her name Marie Jane?

  *pffffft*, I spat out my tea while Viviane was confused by my actions, I grabbed a towel to clean the table and answered her:

  Claudio: No, she was more like Miss Piggy.

  Viviane: Mississippi?

  Claudio: I didn’t say that, wait here.

  I went to my rucksack and pulled out a sketchbook, I spent 18 minutes speeding through my illustrations while Viviane patiently stared at me.

  Claudio: Look, this is you.

  I handed her the sketch and she opened her mouth in awe. Her face turned red at first but she was surprised at how I drew her this fast.

  Claudio: And this is Marie Jane, someone famous from where I came from, see? She looks like you.

  Viviane: She really looks like me I guess; I think I look better though.

  Claudio: You do.

  She giggled and thanked me before I got up to pour more tea to our cups.

  I waited for her to take a sip before I slid the sketch of Angelica that I drew from memory.

  Viviane: *pfft*

  Claudio: What's wrong? Don’t you think she's beautiful?

  Viviane: *cough* She *cough* uh, sorry, I didn’t know your last lover was a beastfolk.

  Wow, I made sure to hide as many flaws as I did and she was still called that, I know Angie is rolling in her grave right now.

  Claudio: She wasn’t a beastfolk Viviane, show some respect here please.

  Though I did enjoy the slander, but I had to draw some lines.

  Viviane: I'm sorry, but why did you purposefully hand me the drawing like that like that? Almost as if you wanted me to react like that.

  Fuck I forgot about the soul reading bullshit, if it wasn’t so early on the morning I would’ve been more careful.

  BEEP BEEP BEEP

  Looks like the fun is over, I had to walk to work now, more like limp really.

  Claudio: Thanks for the visit Viviane; I'm looking forward to the next one.

  Viviane: Thanks for the tea Claudio, let me know when you're free.

  Viviane wasn’t expecting much from this visit but one thing was clear, she was closer to Claudio now more than ever. She knew why he was acting the way he did and how much he was struggling up until now.

  She asked herself the same question that Claudio asked her before, she herself believed that she would’ve never recover from such a tragedy but there was Claudio laughing and joking back with her, so who knows, maybe he will move on sooner than later?