07 - First patient

“Errr... I think I came to the wrong place.” He said as he took a small step backwards, preparing to run away from us.

“Wait, you've come to the right place.” My father stood up quickly while using his more than 10 years of experience as a merchant to talk to the man in a friendly manner. “My son is a young healer who is treating minor injuries for 2 copper coins, the ad is true.”

Listening to my father's explanation and realizing that he was speaking in a more sympathetic way than he had imagined, the man became less frightened, but still looked at us suspiciously.

I don't blame him, with scary eyes like ours, it would be a miracle if he didn't get scared when he arrived at the store and saw us staring at him, it was like a scene from a horror movie from my old world.

“What do you consider to be a minor injury?” He asked worriedly.

Not knowing exactly how to answer, since we hadn't tested how effective the spell was specifically, I responded with a question. “Can you show me the wound?”

Nodding his head, the man approached the counter and was about to remove the bands from his arm, when I pulled out a wooden chair for him to sit on.

At that moment I realized that asking the patients to sit while they were treated wouldn't be ideal... my father and I would have to get a bed to treat the patients in the future if this was to work.

When the man removed the bandage from his arm, I saw a wound with several tears, as if he had been bitten by something.

The wound hadn't been treated properly, causing dirt to get into the wounds and some complications to arise because of this.

I wasn't a doctor in my previous world, but I knew the basics of first aid.

Whenever a wound was opened, you had to clean it as carefully as possible, even if it hurt, to avoid infection, swelling and the like.

Unfortunately, the man's arm was already showing signs of infection, with redness, swelling and pus bubbles forming.

Fortunately the size of these wounds wasn't too big, which I think could be treated with [Levare Vitae].

“What caused that wound on you?” I asked in a serious voice as I used my enhanced eyesight to be able to observe the wound in more detail.

Seeing it with my current eyes was even more disgusting than seeing it with normal eyes, but thinking of the money I could earn and how much food it could buy, disgust was the last of my worries.

Perhaps seeing how serious I was and not reacting negatively to his wound, the man replied. “I'm a hunter. On our last hunt this week I was bitten by a wild boar and now I'm away from the hunting party for a few weeks... I need to be able to get back to hunting as soon as possible...”

Listening to his explanation, I could see patterns in the wounds that actually corresponded to the teeth of some kind of animal.

“Okay, I think that with the size of this wound my magic will be able to help you, do you want to proceed with the treatment?” I asked as I shifted my view from his wound to his face.

Looking at me in surprise, I think my professional way of speaking gave me more credibility, despite my small size and young age, as well as how seriously I was taking all this. “Yes, as long as you can heal that wound I'll pay the two copper coins.”

Nodding to him, I stretched my right hand forward, the hand I was most used to performing this magic with, since my left hand usually served as a guinea pig for my training, and began to control my Mana.

With the dozens of attempts and improvements I had made to this magic, I found it much easier to perform.

Within seconds, my palm was glowing with a green hue and the Mana in my body was mixing with the Mana in the environment as it was converted into vital energy directed specifically at the spot hit by the green light.

The wounds on his arm were healing with the naked eye.

With my enhanced vision I could see which spot was already perfectly healed before moving my healing hand to the next spot, ensuring that no spot was left with remnants of the wound, or that no healing was wasted on a spot that was already perfectly healed.

“There, I believe your wound has been treated.” I said as I took a damp cloth and ran it over his skin, wiping away all the dirt, blood and dead skin that remained, showing brand new white skin underneath.

There was a difference between the tone of the new skin and the old skin, because of the natural tan he had, but that was irrelevant for a man like him.

Looking surprised at his own arm, the man used his other hand to carefully squeeze the treated spot.

Feeling no pain, he squeezed harder, but still no pain came, causing a smile to appear on his face.

“Kid, thanks a lot! With my arm healed, I'll be able to get back to hunting much sooner than I thought, earning me a lot more copper coins than the two I'm going to pay you!” He said excitedly.

“Good, if we're both satisfied that's a good deal.” I smiled as I held out my hand to him, trying to maintain a calm expression and disguise the weakness that the magic had brought out in me.

I wanted to give a trustworthy and serious impression to patients who came to see me, and acting all weak wouldn't add anything to that.

Seeing my outstretched hand, the man smiled and gave me a firm handshake.

He then reached into a small leather pouch hanging around his neck and took out two copper coins before handing them to me.

“Here, kid, thanks for the treat. When I get back from the next hunt I'll bring you a present as a thank you!” The man laughed before waving to me and my father before leaving.

Looking at the two copper coins that the healing magic had earned me, a big smile appeared on my face.

Turning to my father, I realized that the smile on his face was just as big as mine.

“Well done, Kael!” He said proudly as he patted me on the shoulder.

I then sat down in the chair where the hunter was and began to rest, focusing on recovering mana.

My current estimate was that I would need almost three hours to completely recover the Mana I had spent on this healing, and the hunger I was feeling wasn't helping matters...

Suddenly I began to smell something very tasty.

Looking up, I saw my father holding two loaves of bread in one hand and a glass with a drink in the other as he came towards me with a smile on his face.

Unlike the stale, hard bread I was used to eating at home, these two loaves my father had brought were apparently warm and soft, perhaps fresh out of the oven...

Just the sight of them had my mouth salivating, and the hunger pain in my stomach was getting even more intense.

“Here Kael, this is my present for seeing your first patient.” He said as he held out his hands to me.

Taking the food and drink carefully, I looked at this gesture of affection my father had made for me and something warm spread through my chest.

'So this is what it's like to feel cared for by someone who cares about you?' I asked myself a little emotionally.

Unable to say anything in thanks out of embarrassment, I just picked up the food and drink and started devouring it.

Every bite of this bread seemed tastier than any handmade hamburger I had eaten in my past life.

Even though it was just plain bread accompanied by a glass of citrus juice, after spending a week eating nothing but tasteless food, this bread looked divine!

When I finally finished eating it all, for the first time since I came to this world I felt as if the hunger pain I had been feeling had stopped.

I didn't feel full, but the hunger didn't bother me at all.

Even my Mana recovery was accelerated because of this, reducing the estimated time to recover Mana from the spell from 3 hours to just 2 hours!

Embarrassed, I looked at my father, who was still looking at me with a proud smile, and said quietly. “Thanks, Dad.”

Hearing my thanks, my father just nodded at me in pride, without saying anything else.

After that a few people came into the store, but most of them just came as pawnshop customers.

After a few hours another patient arrived, this time a man with a sword cut.

His treatment was even simpler than the previous patient's, earning me another two copper coins, bringing my total profit for the day to four copper coins!

To celebrate, I suggested to my father that we go to the market to buy some tastier ingredients and make a big meal at home.

Those 4 copper coins might not be enough to make three hearty meals a day for 5 people, but a big meal with a few pieces of meat and lots of vegetables was still possible.

And considering how much my body and the twins' body needed nutrients, there was nothing better than a big meal like this to nourish our bodies even better.