I Opened an Illegal Animal Hospital in Another World - Chapter 147

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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147

Chapter 29. Brilliant Lights Embrace Me (2)

We held a strategy meeting.

The location was the 2nd floor of our hospital.

The 2nd floor, which had the inpatient ward, was usually used as the Twins’ hideout. But now the empty inpatient rooms were saying goodbye too. We had regulars who seemed like they’d drag patients here even if they had to create them!

…No more illegal activities. I quickly corrected my wayward thoughts.

“Needless to say, our potions are much better in terms of effectiveness. We’ve been selling them to regulars at ridiculously low prices all this time, but now we need to properly set our prices from the start.”

“Wow, Maria… You really sound like a professional!”

“I am a professional!”

Maria puffed up with pride. She had every right to.

In her teens and twenties, she was a martial artist who reached A-rank, then successfully changed careers to become a healer in her thirties. What kind of incredible elite life course was this?

“Can’t we increase the variety of potions?”

“Nope. We can divide them by color, but no matter how much water we add, the effects are similar.”

“Isn’t it all about the labeling anyway? Let’s just divide them by labels.”

As expected from an educated person, her decisiveness was impressive too.

“The Apothecary Guild has monopolized the potion market for a long time. They must have heard rumors about our potions and tried to keep us in check beforehand. But now that I’m stepping forward, hehehe…”

“The Mercenary Guild said they can’t interfere unless we directly negotiate with the Apothecary Guild.”

“Don’t pour cold water on this, Ian. I know all that.”

Ian shrugged his shoulders.

“Should we gather the kids?”

Leon spoke with murderous intent. I was starting to see the Twins as street thugs more and more.

Even Evelyn, who was quietly nodding and standing there, looked like a formidable organization executive. Could it be that I had unknowingly created something like an organization of people in black clothes who developed drugs that turned high schoolers into elementary students…?

“Gather what.”

My point exactly. We’re not real gangsters. Right, Maria. Stop them!

“We’re more than enough on our own.”

What?

“Couldn’t Evelyn alone annihilate them?”

“Well, yes. It wouldn’t be difficult.”

Evelyn answered cheerfully too. I felt a terrible sense of disconnect and unease. Since when did you kids become so violent?

Come to think of it, they’d always been like this. I looked at the Twins and Evelyn with coldly sobered eyes. The Twins, especially Leon, had always been the type of kid to act first, and Evelyn too… looked calm, but was the type of kid who’d break the bottle when the cap wouldn’t open…

“We can do it too. Obviously.”

Leon, that’s not something to compete over…

Maria listened fondly to her violently-raised disciples’ boastful promises, then spoke with an expression trying to look cool-headed. It was obviously clear she was imitating Bailey, which was a bit funny and cute.

“Taking the initiative is important in matters like this, Lady Shana.”

“Huh? How do we do what?”

Suppress the ini-tiative?

“I’ll directly negotiate with the Apothecary Guild myself. Since I can’t say I heard they pressured the Mercenary Guild, for justification… let’s say I came to greet them. That we’re officially opening for business now, so please treat us well.”

I felt like we should prepare a gift too.

I had asked Mother to create a fake identity for me, so I planned to become Maria’s disciple under that identity and go through the process.

Healers often doubled as travelers or scholars, so unlike the Apothecary Guild, they weren’t very organized. The distinction between healers and apothecaries was ambiguous to begin with.

Proof of becoming a healer wasn’t much either. I just needed to be able to say whose disciple I was. Or formally graduate from the Academy.

Since it was originally a field different from the Temple, and was more of a scholarly profession than a merchant one, that’s how it was. That’s why they didn’t band together like the Apothecary Guild, and most either traveled individually or established themselves as the sole healer in a small village.

“Lady Shana’s potions will be registered as my secret technique, so it’s right for me to step forward. Since I have experience as a mercenary, we’ll communicate well too.”

“Then what about me? I feel like I’m not doing anything…”

Still, I was the hospital director and the only healer.

“You’re the chairman.”

“The boss.”

“Aren’t you the leader?”

“Captain?”

None of those, you lovable idiots.

That was Maria, Evelyn, Ian, and Leon in order.

‘What’s with captain, and what’s boss… huh?’

At that moment, an image popped into my head. Like a revelation.

When I whispered my scheme to Evelyn, she smiled very brightly and told me there was no problem.

The decisive battle was tonight.

***

After finishing the meeting, we opened for regular clinic hours in the afternoon.

For Maria, we decided to renovate the break room that Lili had used into a second clinic room. Evelyn said the repairs would be finished before sunset. She planned to work the Twins to the bone.

‘Are those kids going to live like this forever…’

No matter how I thought about it, the Twins’ future seemed such a waste. I wasn’t saying anything because they threatened that if I kicked them out, they’d protest in front of the hospital looking like beggars. The Twins were kids who would do what they said they’d do.

They wouldn’t just look like beggars – they’d probably hold picket signs and stage a two-person protest.

‘Let me adjust their salaries…’

If the potions sold well, I could give them a decent share. For that to happen, tonight’s negotiation was very important.

The afternoon clinic was quiet as usual.

It was a normal scene.

All the regulars who had come to scold me would be passed out drunk until sunset anyway.

Even if that weren’t the case, all the beastfolk in Rierem District were planning to leave their homes entirely, so unpacking would take time too.

How stubborn they are. So stubborn…

The beastfolk establishing themselves in this Empire’s capital centered around Rierem District must have been something achieved long ago and with great difficulty.

And now they were thinking of abandoning it all and leaving.

I thought Renate’s decision was truly remarkable, but the beastfolk who decided to follow without complaint were also incredibly admirable.

Strictly speaking, Renate was the leader of the Wolf Clan, not the leader of all beastfolk, so they could have easily rebelled.

But no one voiced any complaints, they said.

‘My death was that shocking, I got scolded terribly…’

Anyway, beastfolk customers wouldn’t be coming today at least.

Even the few human customers we had were all Lili’s friends, so they probably wouldn’t come for a while. It would be hard to come to a hospital without Jake or Lili.

One of their mothers was the aunt who had given me the nickname “Angel” when I was young…

‘That was already several years ago.’

A long time had passed.

I was reborn into this world and, unlike my natural circumstances, settled in this hospital in Rierem District. Life really was unpredictable.

Originally, I might have become the Crown Prince’s consort, enjoying balls with laughter, living while engaging in political schemes.

‘The conditions were perfect. For enjoying that kind of life.’

Golden spoon bloodline, a storybook first meeting with the Crown Prince, healing power that was good for winning others’ hearts, and even good looks.

But somehow, I had thrown away that good status by even holding a funeral for it, and now I was sitting in a hospital in the slums.

‘I chose this myself, after all.’

It was all the result of my own choices.

And I was very satisfied with this result.

I liked it here, and felt comfortable as if wearing perfectly fitted clothes.

I savored the clinic chair’s cushion and leaned back against the backrest. Warm sunlight streamed through the window at just the right pleasant temperature.

This is heaven…

‘Where did Seth go after that?’

He should come to replenish my lifespan.

There’s been no word of where he went after we parted in this clinic. I didn’t need to worry about Chloe since I’d told my parents about her, but normally by now he should have popped out shouting “Were you waiting for me? When I’m in front of you I’m annoying to look at, when I’m not in front of you you miss me – that’s how charming I am!” But since he wasn’t appearing, it felt awkward.

Is this that famous push-and-pull strategy?

‘There’s no way I’d fall for that loose clown’s push-and-pull tactics.’

No way, absolutely not.

Though it’s embarrassing to say about myself, I had endured quite well even against Raven’s schemes after he’d been playing hard-to-get for 11 years.

‘Sly as a fox.’

My mood dropped slightly. Why did that Raven have to be the Crown Prince of all things. In other words, this would be “Oh Romeo! Why are you Romeo!” but unfortunately I wasn’t Juliet and there was no romantic atmosphere.

Someone at the Crown Prince’s level would choose his partner carefully, so I don’t know why he had to specifically put effort into something like flirting with me and making my heart complicated.

But no matter how hard I thought about it, with just romantic feelings that amounted to merely “Do I have a bit of a crush?” I couldn’t do anything.

Of course, Raven was definitely a very important person to me.

It had been exactly 18 years. There was no way he wouldn’t be precious. Someone who recognized me anytime, anywhere, in any form.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the sunlight falling on my face.

If I left my stirring heart alone, it would soon sort itself out.

As it always had.

“Miss Shana, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

Not a patient?

The clinic door opened, and behind the troubled-looking Evelyn, I saw a familiar face.

Why on earth is this person here?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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