Chương 42: Interlude 3

First Healer Zarren Quail"How is my son?" At least she had the decency to act concerned after what she had done to him. I gave my harshest glare to this woman. She didn't react in the slightest. She kept calm and gazed at me.

"He is alive, for now. We have a rotating team of healers watching him and keeping him alive after what you did." We had to break out the medical support equipment that the Dwarven Healers were always talking about. Barbaric machines, but there was no other way to keep the child alive.

"I am in charge of his care. I am First Healer Zarren Quail, a person managing this Institute. Come to my office, we are going to have a chat." I didn't wait to see if she followed me and went straight there. I took a seat at my desk, and she sat across from me. The Supreme Warlady Elena Burnstock is one of the most, if not the most, feared beings in existence. I didn't care about her body count. Or any of the other rumors about her. What I disliked her for was experimenting on her child.

"I dislike you, Elena," I said, waiting to see what she would do, not bothering to use her titles. No one dared to touch the Five Star Institute of Healing, but there were always exceptions. We might all die today, but that was fine. I would not betray our core principles, the ones this very Institute rests upon.

"I sometimes dislike myself," she calmly replied. Despite her stoic nature, she was clearly capable of self-reflection. I pulled off my enchanted glasses and rubbed my eyes. If this were anyone else, I would have taken them into custody and punished them for what they had done, even a legend. The one thing that even the most stubborn of Healers agreed on was no experimenting on children. Our list of actual rules for full members was relatively small, but the rules we had were fundamental.

But handing out an appropriate punishment was impossible with this woman. I put back on my enchanted glasses, and she stood up and bowed deeply.

"I accept full responsibility. Please ensure my son's health." Well, at least she understood she was out of her depth here. She might be a genius at killing things, but her talent in healing skills was practically nonexistent. Only a few basic skills from what my glasses could pick up. A dabbler at best. After a few seconds, she sat back down and kept staring at me.

"The only thing we can do is wait, for however long it takes for the Alchemical toxicity to leave his soul."

"How long will that be?"

"I have three senior healers looking over the case now. Based on the blood tests for Alchemical toxicity, it could be anywhere from three months to a year, depending on whether the rate of expulsion speeds up or slows down. I will review whatever they come up with to narrow the timeframe and the treatment plan. A 9, 000 on the Rumbart scale of Alchemical toxicity should be impossible. The cost of your son's care will not be cheap."

"I can pay."

"Yes, you will. I have priced out the care he will need for an entire month. The cost would be difficult for anyone but you, and our services are permanently closed to you. We don't take kindly to experimenting on children," I replied, waiting for her to yell. I slid across a sheet of paper detailing the immense number of resources that were being poured into keeping her son alive.

"It wasn't an experiment. I wanted him to get stronger," she replied.

"You say that, but you proceeded regardless of the risks. I have spoken with Healer Castelle. You are lucky someone of his ability was there with you. Anyone less qualified than him and your son would be dead."

"I know," she replied with no discernible emotion.

"No more Alchemical products, or anything else for your son. He can make his own decisions when he is older, much older. But for now, absolutely nothing. What you have done…that the information is going to be sealed. While I doubt anyone else will ever replicate what you did, it is unacceptable."

"I understand," she replied and picked up the sheet of paper. I saw her eyes go slightly wide for a moment.

"This is the cost for a month?"

"Yes. Four full-time Senior Healers rotating in to constantly apply their healing skills. A member of the Five Star Council will review the treatment plan and work on a solution. Lab testing provides more detailed information about Dwarven medical devices to keep your son's body functioning. And one Ritual of Protected Rest, so your son's mind can actually sleep. We haven't had to do it for almost a century. Normally, the doctors use it for extreme torture victims who have been broken mentally."

"I…I didn't realize the outcome could be so bad." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. This time, I picked up the hesitation in her voice, but it went as quickly as it came.

"No one has done this before. Now, the bill? While I hate to make a point of this, if we heal your son and you run off with him, there is nothing we can do."

"I was saving this, but it should cover my current debt and then some," she replied, pulling out a blue monster core and placing it on my desk. I put it away in my spatial storage.

"I will have it assessed, and the value placed against the cost of your son's treatment. That should probably cover a month and a half if I had to estimate. Now comes the hard conversation, Elena."

"And that is?" she asked while staring directly at me, giving off a calm appearance.

"Your authority and supervision of your son."

"While I will let you chastise me, do not overstep your place," she declared. This time, I felt a very acute sense of danger coming from the woman in front of me. But I would not back down. The first thing we taught all Healers was to have a spine here at the Institute.

"My position is the First Healer of this institution. We have endured since before the time of the Eldarin Empire. Even the Eternal Emperor could not make us fully submit to his whims. Even when the Eternal Emperor forced all the healers of this Institute to bear witness as he forced my predecessor's soul to be mutilated, not a single Healer of this Institute submitted to his tyranny or overwhelming power. We did not submit, even when he subjected four more Senior Healers to the same horrible fate.

That is where this Institute earned its name. While there have been dark points in our history, we will not condone medical experimentation on children."

"If you try to take away my son or turn him against me, there will be no more Five Star Institute of Healing. I will not torture you, I will just kill you all. You will keep him alive and fix him as quickly as possible. Beyond that, you do not have the authority or strength to object to," Looking at her, I knew she would destroy this place without hesitation. Time to take a step back and compromise, no matter how distasteful I found it.

"Then, on your word, you will give no more Alchemical products to your son. We do not use children as test subjects," I stated while staring fiercely at her.

"Very well. On my honor and word as Supreme Warlady Elena, I won't give any more Alchemical products to my son Justin." I finally could relax. There was a knock on my door. Without waiting for me to refuse them, the door opened.

"Quail, what a marvelous case you brought me. Never seen such soul turbulence before. And with the history, two green soul fruits, and an unsanctioned Alchemical product from the Last Bastion, this is shaping up to be the case of the year. Possibly the decade," Second Healer Sebastian declared as he walked over.

"Who is this lady?"

"This is the patient's mother," I replied. Before I could give her full title, Second Healer Sebastian continued.

"Oh, you are the idiot who almost killed your son. Well, it is simply quite exciting," he said, and saw Elena close her eyes and focus on her breathing. She had far more control than I had ever imagined.

"Surprised you didn't toss her out of the tower or the window after what she did."

"We were just discussing things when you interrupted us. Do you have any progress on the case, or do you just like hearing yourself speak?" I asked with a lot of annoyance.

"Progress, of course. I am smarter than you and the rest of the Healers here after all. With Healer Castelle, good documentation and background made it a lot easier to figure everything out. Definitely Alchemical toxicity exiting the soul, and since the soul overlays the body, that is where it is going. Now, this might seem crazy, but I say we break out the old Eldarin soul compressor we keep in the basement."

"That is a torture device that we only held onto to figure out how to deal with soul injuries. It isn't meant to be used on a living being," I replied in a deadpan tone.

"Exactly! Squeeze the soul to force the Alchemical nonsense out, then let it snap back into place without binding it. We would use half of it. Unless you want to authorize my access to the soul skills you keep tucked away."

"Will it work?" Elena asked.

"Maybe. But it is the only thing we can do besides wait. It's not like we will deform your son's soul. Just compress it as much as possible, hopefully pushing out the Alchemical nonsense faster," he explained.

"Do you know how long this issue will last?" Elena asked.

"Nope. The best guess is three months to a year based on the declining toxicity rates. There's never been a case like this before for comparison. With that Mega Elixir and the super high toxicity, I would say half a year to nine months is most likely."

"That long? Do what you need to do. I have no objections," Elena stated.

"Sebastian, the patient's health comes first. Don't let anything happen to him," I said.

"Ah, got it. Don't worry. Now I need to dig that soul compressor out of storage and give it a test run. I need two homunculi and a team to record results."

"Do whatever you must. I will cover the cost," Elena stated. She wasn't uncaring, she was just far too stoic in the face of adversity. I wanted to say something, but I knew it wouldn't matter at this point. Second Healer Sebastian had many faults, but he truly was a genius of Healing, being able to figure out the tricky cases like this.

"Excellent. Always love it when I have free rein on a project,""I will know if you padded your numbers. We will treat this case with no nonsense, out of respect for the Supreme Warlady Elena here. Do. Not. Cause. Trouble," I declared while staring at Second Healer Sebastian. He wasn't to play any of his usual games with this patient, and especially not with his mother. I knew he liked to pad the bills he gave wealthy patrons to support his medical research.

If he sensed someone as rich as Elena, he might go overboard, which would cause problems.

"Oh, got it. Well, off to get the torture, I mean the medical device," he said and quickly left.

"You Healers are an eccentric group. Very willful."

"We don't accept anyone who doesn't dare to stand up for themselves, no matter how talented. Otherwise, people like you would dictate to us, not the other way around, even when this is our profession."

"We can discuss everything as long as my son is fine. If he dies, there is no need for discussion," she said and stood up. I stood up as she left my office without another word. I really hated powerful people, but they were the ones with complicated cases and could pay the expenses that accumulated at this Institute. Funding was always tight. While I said I would turn her away, the other four towers would no doubt accept her if she showed up, even with her history. A customer was a customer after all.

I might have talked tough about bringing up the Eternal Emperor, but my predecessors would have probably folded if he had handed over money instead of threats. Time to make sure that the kid stayed alive, so his mother didn't go on a rampage and level this place.