Chương 503: B8—Chapter 10: Fixing People and Buildings

My students came back after three days, but there were too many of them. The drama queen was back. I looked her up and down, letting the silence stretch.

"Yes?" She shifted from foot to foot, eyes darting away before she caught herself. Squaring her shoulders, she met my gaze.

"I apologize for my outburst," she said, the words coming out stiff.

"I wish to be a Healer and help." I kept looking at her, saying nothing, still undecided. She let out a slow breath.

"I will sign a contract."

"The problem is your temper," I said, folding my arms.

"You didn't let me speak and immediately exploded. How are you supposed to work with people, especially kids, with such a short…" Now I was stumped. They didn't have the concept of a fuse in this world.

"…such a short reaction time." She frowned, clearly confused, her head tilting to the side. Yeah. That came out sounding strange. Her shoulders slumped, some of the stiffness draining out of her.

"I promise to be a good apprentice."

"And your temper?" I asked again, not letting it slide.

"I will never shout at the children. Never," she said in a heated tone. Before I could respond, the rest of the kids jumped in. Half of them talked at once, voices overlapping as they rushed to her defense. They told me how good she was with the younger ones, how patient she was, how I had nothing to worry about. A few nodded so hard it looked like their heads might fall off. I sighed and gave a short nod.

"I'll give you a chance. But the first time I hear you shout at a kid, you're out of here. Understand me?" She nodded quickly.

"Thank you." I took out my original medical text and some loose pages, cast Copy Text, and handed her her own set.

"Learn this and come back in three days." She accepted it, flipped through the pages, and looked up.

"I learned everything already." She tilted her head at the girl beside her.

"Tapin gave me her pages." Tapin shifted awkwardly under the attention, suddenly very interested in the floor. Well, it was a good sign. Hopefully, I wasn't making a mistake. Temper and healing didn't mix well, as Mahya's bedside manners showed repeatedly. I clapped my hands to get their attention. They all straightened and looked at me.

"Alright, everybody," I said.

"Did all of you study the information I gave you?" They nodded, a few soft yeses mixed in.

"Good. I talked with Titi, and starting today, I'm healing all the caretakers. I'll also handle anything urgent with the kids, of course." All of them got a focused expression.

"Your job is simple," I continued.

"Go to the caretakers first. Use what you learned to examine them and write down everything you find. Before I heal anyone, I want a written sheet detailing all the problems you discovered." I paused, looking around.

"With me so far?" More nods. Another round of quiet yeses.

"Good. While you're moving around and looking for the caretakers, keep an eye on the children. If you notice something that needs attention, examine the kid and bring them to me with a sheet explaining the problem." I let the silence sit for a second.

"Questions?" A boy hesitated, then raised his hand. I pointed at him.

"Before you ask, tell me your name."

"Ram."

"Nice to meet you, Ram." I gave him a small nod.

"What's your question?" He glanced around, then back at me.

"Where do we get paper and something to write with?" I reached into my Storage, pulled out a thick stack of paper and a handful of pens, and started handing them out. It took a minute to make sure everyone had enough. When I was done, I looked around the room again.

"Any more questions?" They all shook their heads, already shifting toward the door.

"Wait a moment," I said, raising a hand. They paused.

"Checking people will take time. While you're doing that, I'll be working in the next building." I pointed at the half-ruined structure to the right of the tower.

"When you're ready with patients, come get me there." They agreed and filed out, heading off to do basic triage. I crossed my fingers, hoping this would work out and that I could give them the class, like I had with Rima. After a quiet pep talk to stop doubting myself, I turned toward the ruined building and went to see what needed fixing. For the next two days, I split my time between fixing up the building and treating the caretakers as they came in.

One moment I was patching cracked stone or shoring up a wall, the next I was leaning over a cot and casting spells. Among the students, the drama queen, Palma, turned out to be the best. She caught everything that could be found with basic checks. Pulse, temperature, breathing. She listened to hearts and lungs by pressing an ear to a patient's chest, was patient and focused, and never rushed. When something felt off, she wrote it down instead of guessing. Under my guidance, she even handled a dislocated knee.

By the end of the second day, she had become the group's go-to expert on cleaning and treating cuts, and bandaging scraped hands and knees like she had been doing it for years. What surprised me the most was her bedside manner. With the kids, she was gentle and calm, her voice soft and reassuring. With the caretakers, she was polite but firm, insisting they come see me even when they tried to wave things off or claim they were too busy to bother the Healer.

She didn't raise her voice or argue, just stood her ground until they gave in. So far, at least, it looked like I'd been wrong about her. During those two days, I had to let two boys go. The sheets they kept bringing me were the problem. Instead of observations, they were full of guesses. Things like, she looks old, maybe you can help that? About a woman with an obviously infected cut and a high fever.

Or his nose looks too big, about a man suffering from severe malnutrition, with an entire collection of issues brought on by age and no healing. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. No matter what I said or how many times I went over the same basic points with them, it didn't help. I explained what to look for, how to describe it, what mattered, and what didn't. The next sheet would come back just as vague as the last.

In the end, I had to admit it to myself. They simply didn't have it. Happens. In the evenings, I worked with them on sensing mana. Once again, Palma stood out. She felt it within the first hour of training, eyes widening in surprise when it finally clicked. By the next day, she could push a thin, unsteady stream of mana out through her right hand, concentrating hard as she kept it going for a few heartbeats before it fizzled out. For a beginner, that was impressive.

I'd learned a lot from working with Rima, so I didn't try to teach them my spells before they had the class. That part I already knew better than to push. But I did try something new, something that hadn't occurred to me back when I was working with Rima. Palma could already direct mana out of her hand, and I didn't care how weak or unstable it was. That gave me an idea. On the third day of working with the group, a bunch of boys half-carried, half-dragged another boy in who had fallen off a ruined balcony.

Actually, that wasn't how it started. First, they came in without him and subjected me to a serious interrogation. They stood before me with grim expressions, asking about secrecy and confidentiality as if they were negotiating a state secret. I assured them I kept patient confidentiality. That wasn't enough. In the end, I had to cross my thumbs and swear on the name of the Protector that I wouldn't tell anyone. Only then did they bring the injured boy inside.

He was pale and shaking, teeth clenched so hard his jaw trembled, his right leg lying at an angle that made the problem obvious even before I touched it. Even so, I still had to cross my thumbs again and promise him personally that I wouldn't tell Titi about the balcony. I glanced over my shoulder.

"Palma. Come here." She stepped closer, hands clasped tight in front of her, eyes flicking between me and the leg.

"I'm going to stop him from feeling pain," I said, keeping my voice calm.

"After that, I want you to straighten the bone so it can heal properly." Her eyes went wide. She gulped. For a moment, I thought she might step back. Instead, she nodded. Once.

"Okay." I knelt beside the boy and placed my hand just above the break.

"This will feel warm," I told him.

"Then you won't feel anything at all." He nodded, breathing fast. I activated Sensory Control, narrowing it carefully to the injured area. The tension drained from his face almost immediately. I looked up at Palma.

"Alright. First things first. Support above and below the break. Don't pull yet." She crouched down, hands shaking as she did exactly that, one hand steadying the thigh, the other bracing the lower leg.

"Good," I said.

"Now, when I tell you, straighten it in one smooth motion. Hesitation hurts, even if he can't feel it." She sucked in a breath.

"Okay."

"Now." She set it fast in one decisive motion. There was a soft, unpleasant shift as the bone slid back into place. Palma flinched but didn't let go.

"Keep holding," I said immediately.

"Don't let it move." I grabbed a few straight pieces of wood and slid them along either side of the leg, forming makeshift splints. Palma kept the leg steady while I wrapped bandages around it, snug but not tight enough to cut off circulation. Once it was secured, I leaned back on my heels.

"Now comes the next part." Her shoulders tensed again.

"Close your eyes," I said gently.

"Put your hands near the break, but don't touch. Feel your mana." She obeyed, eyes squeezed shut, breathing unevenly.

"Direct it into the injured area," I continued.

"Slowly. Don't force it. Just let it flow. And while you do, picture the bone whole." A faint thread of mana flickered out of her hand, wavering like smoke in a draft but not cutting off. Palma shook from head to toe, sweat beading on her brow, but she held it there, jaw clenched.

"That's enough," I said after a few seconds.

"You can stop." The mana vanished. Palma sagged back, breathing hard, eyes still closed. It hadn't healed anything, and I didn't expect it to, but I hoped it would speed things along. I placed my hand over the leg and cast Structural Regeneration, and guided the healing carefully where it had to go. The bone knit together beneath my touch, and the boy's breathing evened out, color slowly returning to his face. Palma watched the whole thing in silence.

"That mana work you did," I said, standing up, "wasn't wasted. From now on, every scrape and bruise you clean and bandage, I want you to do the same. Direct mana into the injury while picturing it whole." I lifted a finger for emphasis.

"And no rushing." She nodded, still pale but determined. I crossed my fingers again and hoped it would work. I kept working with them for another two weeks, splitting my time between training and repairing buildings. This time, I focused on restoring the main building and told them to let Rue know whenever they needed me in the infirmary. The arrangement worked well, and I no longer had to hover around the treatment tower.

In the evenings, after the day's work was done and the gang had been fed, I continued making new contracts for Titi, so she'd have plenty ready for future Healers. By the end of the two weeks, the three inner parts of the main building were basically new, even if they didn't look it. Structurally, they were solid again from top to bottom, but I went out of my way to keep the same battered look.

Cracks stayed visible, stone remained uneven, and anything that made the place look old and tired stayed right where it was. Underneath, though, it was sturdier than it had been on the day it was built. The front was the exception. I left most of it looking just as bad as before, collapsed sections and all. Broken floors still hung at odd angles, long cracks still split the stone, and entire chunks looked like they might have given up years ago.

From the outside, it still screamed about to fall apart, but underneath, it was reinforced against future deterioration and collapse. Best disguise and all that jazz. The area around the gate, though, had to hold, so I fixed it properly, reinforcing the surrounding walls and stabilizing the stone all the way into the deeper structure so the load would carry rather than pull everything down with it. Mahya even made them a new gate to replace the old one.

During this time, I finished treating all the caretakers and went back to treating the kids. It was pleasant work, the kind I enjoyed immensely, with one small, nasty fly in the ointment. For some reason, I assumed that since my advanced class was new, the levels would come fast, as they had in the past with the Healer class. I was wrong. All that healing, and not a single level to show for it. The spells progressed much more slowly, too.

I cast Life Weaving dozens of times a day, and it eventually climbed to level three. The other spells progressed even slower. The thought kept nagging at me, and eventually I realized I didn't actually know whether Mahya's class was her original one or an advanced class. That evening, while she was busy with her tools, I finally asked. She looked up at me, blinked a few times, then shook her head as if I'd just asked something obvious.

"Of course it's an advanced class."

"Oh." I paused.

"So what was it originally?"

"Fencer."

"Huh." I leaned back, rubbing my face.

"Is it normal that I keep healing people, and my new advanced class is still stuck at the same level?" She made a face.

"Yes. Advanced classes progress much slower than basic ones." That explained a lot. Two more students learned to sense mana and direct it outward. Still girls. Tapin and Lali. I worked with them the same way I had with Palma, guiding them through channeling mana and visualizing healing. They were slower and less steady, but the basics were there. I kept my fingers crossed that it would work. We wanted to help, but none of us wanted to stay there for a year or more.

As the next stage, I gave the girls a supply of Al's salves and told them to look for kids with cuts, scrapes, and bruises. They were to clean the wounds as instructed, channel mana with the intention to heal, and if that didn't work, use Al's salves to finish the job. Of course, this only applied to kids I had already treated. Anyone I hadn't seen yet still had to be brought to me first. I had to let another boy go.

Rue told me he started bossing the younger kids around, ordering them about, and telling them they had to do whatever he wanted because he was an important healer now. That was enough for me. I kicked him out so fast his head probably spun, and I even added an actual kick to the butt for extra lesson reinforcement. While I worked on the main building, Mahya visited a few blacksmiths and ordered hinges for the shutters. She didn't feel like making hundreds of hinges herself.

Once I was done and the first shipments arrived, she recruited four of the older boys and put them to work installing shutters all over the main building. Al kept brewing potions and salves to leave them with a decent stockpile, and he also taught his students how to make the ones that didn't require mana channeling. When I told him about my method, he tried to copy it. He didn't tell me whether or not it worked. Secretive bastard.

Rue was still the main entertainment around the place, our errand boy and my secret informant who kept an eye on the students. After the incident with the bossy boy, I wasn't taking any chances. Basically, we were all moving in the right direction.