I Opened an Illegal Animal Hospital in Another World - Chapter 25

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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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25

Medical Chart 2. The Young Lady and the Suspicious People (1)

“Renate, what about the puppy?”

The face of the one asking was dark with worry. Renate answered nonchalantly.

“It’s dead.”

“…As expected.”

Those were wounds that couldn’t possibly heal. Renate continued, watching the man’s face that looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.

“That’s a lie. She said she’d stay to repay her debt of gratitude.”

“If you hadn’t done something reckless, we could have at least held a funeral. Without even a body…”

“She’s alive.”

“Huh?”

“She’s alive. She was sleeping soundly with her belly exposed, living the good life.”

“She’s alive…?”

The man’s eyes widened as he stammered, then looked at the calm Renate and suddenly shouted in frustration.

“Who are you kidding? Is this really the time for jokes?”

“I’ve never joked.”

“That child’s internal organs were nearly ruptured. All the bones in her limbs were fractured, and there was massive bleeding. You said you had a way to save her and took her away, but be honest. You probably secretly buried her so I wouldn’t be depressed.”

“Whether you’re depressed or not is none of my business.”

“Even if you say that, I know you actually care about me…”

“Your delusions have limits.”

Renate muttered cynically.

‘To think that’s my alpha.’

Wolves were pack animals. Renate also belonged to a pack, and the man before him was the leader of that pack—the alpha.

Beastmen possessed habits similar to their base animals, and the stronger and rarer the individual, the more pronounced these traits became.

Among beastmen, small and weak individuals were ignored, while large and strong ones were revered.

Even beastmen born as strong individuals had little chance of survival. If they grew up safely, they would become stronger than humans, but the likelihood of dying along the way was higher. Many were also captured as slaves.

Weak species were obviously vulnerable, but for strong and rare species, there were many who wanted to capture them young and raise them to their liking. Beastmen, with their high magic resistance and bodies stronger than humans, could be collared and tamed from childhood to serve as the strongest bodyguards.

Renate himself had been captured by slave hunters as a child, sold to nobles, and barely managed to escape.

The one who saved Renate at that time was the very man before him.

Ron, the alpha of the gray wolves.

Ron’s pack included not only gray wolves but also beastmen from around the capital of the Bayard Empire. This was because they regularly raided slave markets to rescue beastmen, or took in beastmen that humans had raised and abandoned.

While it appeared to be an ordinary orphanage on the surface, it wasn’t an officially licensed facility recognized by the Empire, so the costs of running the orphanage were covered by money earned through mercenary work by adults like Renate, some petty theft, and income from Ron’s Tavern.

“She’s really alive? What’s your proof?”

“If you can’t believe it, then don’t.”

Renate snorted and turned around. Ron pathetically clung to his leg.

“I believe you! I’ll believe you! I’ll believe you, so don’t go!”

“…Annoying…”

“If you leave, I’ll have to work alone!”

“If you can’t handle it, don’t start the work!”

“But they’re pitiful, what can I do…”

“…”

Since he owed his life to that compassion, Renate could no longer blame Ron.

“So Evelyn is living well somewhere?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“To repay her debt to some miraculous someone who can heal beastmen.”

“Right.”

“Who exactly is that person? If it’s true, this is truly amazing. There has never been a single mage or priest in history who could heal beastmen! If wounds that should have been fatal can be healed, maybe diseases can be treated too. We could save our kin who had no choice but to die when epidemics spread!”

“…This is a normal reaction.”

“…?”

“When I asked if she knew how amazing she was, she just said it worked naturally.”

“…”

“Well, what would a 3-year-old know…”

“What?”

“You’re noisy. Get lost, Ron.”

Ron followed behind Renate, pestering him about the identity of the ‘mysterious healer.’ Where does she live? Who is she? What’s her name? How long did the treatment take? What does she think about beastmen? How can she heal beastmen? Is she a mage? A priest? And so on.

Renate ignored all the pouring questions and simply closed his eyes.

Shana seemed completely unaware of how amazing she was. Since her parents weren’t ordinary either, perhaps her sense of what’s normal had become numb.

‘She’s grown up well.’

He recalled the bright green eyes that had looked up at him. The plump white cheeks, the adorable lips muttering something, and the long, abundant golden hair like an angel’s resembled what humans commonly called angels. Even he, who didn’t particularly like children, found her undeniably cute.

When he discovered the dying Evelyn, remembering that baby from two years ago was purely coincidental.

While he did want to save the puppy he was seeing for the first time, he was also curious about whether that baby had grown up well.

Fortunately, Shana was growing up healthy. The eyes that smiled at him hadn’t changed either.

But that power was something suspicious and unidentifiable.

She could heal not only humans but also beastmen, and after performing such an amazing feat, there seemed to be no burden on the practitioner herself.

It was a power that could only be called miraculous.

Having an unclear identity, and being a power unique in the world, also meant it was easy to become a target.

Ron seemed to want to know the identity of the ‘mage who could heal beastmen.’ However, Renate had no intention of exposing Shana.

Shana was remarkable but still young, and if she were carelessly exposed to the world, those who would target her would emerge. No matter how remarkable her parents were, it would be impossible to completely protect a child from those blinded by greed.

‘I should go visit again soon.’

After all, he had worked hard to obtain her parents’ permission.

Ron watched Renate, who was smiling to himself, with an unreadable expression for a moment.

***

Raven stared intently at his own palm.

‘Only trust me!’

Trust what, exactly.

His own hand was small, but Shana’s hand was even smaller.

The small child, who had only recently learned to run, toddled over to his side and grabbed his hand without hesitation. Raven could have easily shaken off that hand, and he wasn’t weak enough to need someone to hold his hand, but he couldn’t move.

Raven finding Shana had been purely by chance.

A white wolf that had been grazed by an arrow.

When Raven discovered the white wolf in the snow plain, he had planned to use it as his guard. Because of the persistent assassinations and kidnapping attempts since childhood, he wanted to have even slightly stronger protection.

The Current Empress was the Emperor’s second wife. The previous empress had died after giving birth to Raven’s older brother, and the Emperor married the current empress the very next year.

The Son of First Empress was frail and timid. His relationship with Raven wasn’t bad, and he himself said he had no intention of inheriting the throne, but that didn’t apply to the people around him.

Raven had been constantly plagued by assassination attempts from birth until now. The more the Emperor favored Raven, the more dangerous he became.

Some criticized Raven for being excessively clever and mature, calling him disgusting, but he was in an environment where he had no choice but to be that way or die.

Better to kill than be killed. And he had to become strong so no one could look down on him. If he couldn’t become strong immediately, he had to create strong allies for himself.

That was why he had pursued the wolf beastman. Since guards were following him anyway, he wasn’t worried about being attacked. The guards his mother had pathologically gathered and assigned to him were strong enough to easily kill a wolf or two.

The baby he picked up that way.

Raven naturally thought that baby belonged to him. Because he had found her. For a child, it was an inevitable way of thinking in that situation.

When returning her to the Wentworth Couple, he even felt a trace of loss. If the Wentworth Couple had been commoners instead of high nobles, he might not have returned the baby.

He could tell the moment their eyes met.

That ‘this one’ understood everything he said. That she was the same kind.

‘Not childlike.’

‘Disgusting.’

‘It’s good that you’re clever, but… sometimes you go too far.’

‘Scary.’

While praising him as a genius, people sometimes looked at him as if seeing an incomprehensible monster.

Shana was definitely the same type as him in that regard. Due to the Wentworth Couple’s overprotectiveness of their once-kidnapped child, he could only meet her again after about two years had passed, but Shana had grown up without disappointing his expectations.

Someone like him but different.

Raven considered Shana to be the same kind. Since she also had special talents, he was very curious about how she would grow in the future.

But the moment Shana approached and took his hand, his feelings that had been mere curiosity changed slightly.

If I had ‘this,’ wouldn’t I be fulfilled?

How can one completely possess a person?

Wasn’t there a way? Fortunately, Shana was kind and affectionate.

Then what would be the obstacles?

Raven fell deep into thought.

***

“You said it was a curse that definitely kills! Then why is the Empress still alive and well?”

“Th-that’s impossible. There’s definitely no one who can break that curse!”

“But the Empress survived.”

“This, this can’t be happening…”

“What are you going to do about this? At this rate, Raven will become the Crown Prince. We’ve missed our last chance.”

The Client threw a tantrum and kicked the desk. When the Robed Man flinched, the Client glared at him as if looking at something pathetic.

“I can’t give you a single penny. You claimed to be the Empire’s greatest curse mage, but it was all just rumors.”

Then he turned around and walked away with rough steps.

The Robed Man only straightened his hunched shoulders after the footsteps had disappeared.

“What a temper… But anyway, what exactly happened?”

“Maybe your skills have gotten rusty?”

“That can’t be. The curse was properly cast.”

Yet the fact that she was still alive and well meant there existed a mage with power greater than theirs.

“Strange.”

The Unknown Man tilted his head.

“There shouldn’t be any human capable of breaking a curse cast by the demon race.”

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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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