I Opened an Illegal Animal Hospital in Another World - Chapter 58
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
58
Medical Chart 4. People Who Come After Hearing Rumors (3)
He was an elderly gentleman with a firm impression.
Though he wore an obviously old coat that had seen better days, his straight back and broad shoulders showed no signs of age. However, his neatly combed graying white hair and deeply wrinkled face were unmistakably those of an old man.
“Wow, he must have been quite the catch in his day. I bet he was super popular.”
“Maria, that’s so rude…”
“It’s a compliment though? Look, if you look closely past the wrinkles, he’s actually handsome!”
Shana pressed herself against the crack in the clinic door, secretly observing the old man.
“While you wait, could you please fill out this medical questionnaire? If writing is difficult for you, you can tell me verbally.”
“Give it here.”
“Yes. I’ll guide you in shortly, so please wait just a moment.”
“Thank you.”
Fortunately, since he hadn’t been there long, the conversation went smoothly. Shana was secretly impressed.
“Lili seems the most ‘convincing’…!”
“Oh my, I haven’t even gotten to show my skills yet. Please hold off on the evaluation!”
“Us too.”
“Just wait and see.”
Shana looked at Maria and the twins with slightly tired eyes. Ever since they became master and disciples, there was a side effect where the three of them together looked like identical troublemakers.
“Then I’ll hide, so please take care of things. Evelyn, prepare one potion for me.”
“Yes, Lady Shana!”
After giving out instructions efficiently, she hopped down from her chair and scurried toward the door connecting to the back of the clinic. From her triumphant expression, it seemed she was quite proud of having done some proper ‘doctoring.’
Ian couldn’t stand it and followed behind, interfering.
“Don’t run, Shana. You’ll fall.”
“I won’t fall, okay? My legs are totally strong, okay?”
“You always trip when you get excited, look at this.”
“…Even monkeys sometimes fall from trees…”
“Right, so you are a monkey, Shana.”
“…”
It was only because Ian quickly grabbed the back of Shana’s neck as she fell that she didn’t smash her forehead into the door. Maria and Ella unconsciously shook their heads.
“My leg strength is still weak…! It’s not because I’m clumsy…!”
“Excuses are ugly, Shana.”
Though Ian spoke teasingly, even he could see that Shana’s body structure made her prone to falling. With such weak lower body strength, her center of gravity was bound to keep wavering.
‘I want to nag her…’
Leon patted his back as if telling him to endure it. Shana knew the twins were nags, but she didn’t know that there was only one person the twins truly cared about.
“Let’s exercise more starting today, Shana.”
“Mm-hmm. I should…”
“Not ‘I should,’ but ‘I will.'”
“Ugh, nagging!”
“It’s not nagging.”
“Ah, fine, fine! I will! So let’s hurry up and hide now. The patient is waiting!”
“He’s probably busy filling out the questionnaire. Don’t worry.”
“What I mean is, this isn’t the time to be making noise!”
Ian decided to stop there.
Maria and Ella had also made many efforts to train Shana’s stamina. However, she was born naturally frail, would quickly suffer from just a little movement, and would collapse and fall ill if she overdid it.
It was amazing how weak a person could be. She didn’t gain muscle or weight easily. Naturally, her growth was slow too.
Shana only grumbled about not growing taller, but her slow growth was the biggest concern for her guardians.
The twins weren’t being overprotective for no reason.
Running just two laps around the training grounds and then being bedridden for five days was excessive, wasn’t it? The twins, who had encouraged Shana to exercise, thought they were going to die from guilt during those five days she was ill.
They thought she was just out of breath and panting, but she gradually developed a harsh cough, and when they thought she would stop appropriately, she collapsed right there—it was traumatic enough.
From that moment, the twins realized: Shana… might actually die if we treat her normally…!
“I’ll hide here! That’s okay, right?”
Shana, who had been looking for a hiding spot, slipped right under Maria’s desk.
“If you’re there, you won’t be able to watch much. You can’t see his face.”
“It’s, it’s fine.”
She definitely hadn’t thought of that.
“Then hide well.”
“The patient has finished filling out the questionnaire. May I guide him in?”
Lili came in and looked suspiciously at the chaotic interior of the clinic. After Evelyn and Ella dragged the twins into the inner room and closed the door, only Maria seemed to remain. She had expected to stay until the end.
“Lady Shana is…?”
“Shh.”
Maria pointed under the desk with her finger.
“Aha.”
“Yeah, please take care of it!”
Someone’s coming in! Finally coming! Finally the first patient…! Lili was received before opening, so she was the unofficial first customer.
Shana knelt in the space under the desk, waiting excitedly for a patient to enter. She was thrilled at the thought of immediately examining them with clay and sending them off perfectly healed.
‘I should have told Maria to tell them to spread the word like crazy… No wait, even without saying that, word will spread that I’m a complete master physician, right? What if people flock here like clouds? I’ll be rich.’
The position Shana was aiming for was that of a renowned traditional medicine clinic that every neighborhood supposedly had one of.
However, when the patient entered, Shana had to put her dreams of becoming a renowned traditional medicine clinic on hold.
Miss Shana, you’ll be discovered if you do that! Wait, where are you going… Close your gown, they’ll think it’s belly fat! Who would believe that with my face being this slender…
The gentleman was so healthy that it was hard to believe he came because something was wrong, and his eyes were bright and alert. As if saying that aging was only skin deep, his soul was still in its prime.
‘Word… won’t spread…’
Shana hid her disappointment as she carefully climbed down from Maria’s legs.
“What brings you here with discomfort? You filled out the medical questionnaire…”
Maria looked over the questionnaire through her non-prescription glasses. As visible, not a single item indicating discomfort was checked on the questionnaire.
“I heard rumors that you can meet an angel when you come to Rierem.”
“Pardon? An angel…?”
“An angel who willingly holds the hands of the sick. When she smiles, it’s as if pain gets washed away…”
Cough! Hack, ugh!
“Doctor?”
“Yes? Oh, cough, cough, hack… Oh, I, I choked. Please, please continue…”
Maria glanced down at her feet. Shana was covering her ears and making a tearful face.
“When she seems to cry with sympathy, it makes you feel compelled by a sense of duty to immediately get up and comfort her…”
“Cough, hack…”
“Who, who, who, who is going around saying such things?!”
At this rate, our young miss might die from coughing…! Compared to when she was a baby, she had built some tolerance for enduring shame, but even so, it was only at thin ice level. The kind that shatters with a touch.
“Well, I heard that the entire way here.”
“…Don’t tell me, did you come from outside the capital?”
“That’s right. I traveled quite a long way.”
“…And yet you heard it the entire way.”
“Correct.”
This is terrible… Miss Shana might not be able to bear it… Maria cast pitying eyes downward. Shana was clinging pitifully to Maria’s feet, sniffling.
Tell me I heard wrong, Maria… I’m sorry, Miss Shana… How can I say I didn’t hear what I heard…
“Haven’t you seen her?”
“I… haven’t seen the angel myself!”
It wasn’t a lie. Shana was human, after all.
“But why did you come looking for this place after hearing the rumors? You don’t have any particular discomfort…”
“An angel who comforts the sick – wouldn’t she come to where the sick gather?”
“That… does… make sense…”
If you’re caught loitering around here now, you’ll definitely become the angel, Miss Shana… Shana seemed to grasp the situation as she trembled and covered both her cheeks.
It was fortunate that she was hiding her body for now, but if someone said such things to her face, she might just want to bite her tongue and die.
“At my age, what kind of angel am I…”
Hearing Shana’s small muttering, Maria smirked. What age – she’s only 7 years old.
“But if you’ve heard so many rumors, don’t you also know the angel’s name? From what I know, the angel is the daughter of Duke Wentworth.”
“How could I easily meet a duke’s daughter? If I went, I’d obviously just be turned away at the door.”
The old man clicked his tongue. That would be common sense. Wentworth wasn’t someone you could just visit and meet readily.
“By any chance, is the child hiding there the angel?”
“Yes, ye-ye-yes?!”
“Haven’t you been glancing down repeatedly since earlier?”
“…Haha, well, that’s…”
“There’s been a fairy-like small presence rustling around the whole time, which has been bothering me.”
His smiling face showed clear certainty. Maria realized there was no point in clumsily playing innocent.
Even if he wasn’t a warrior, if he was someone who had trained his body continuously to that age, he would naturally be sensitive to presences.
‘I thought it would be fine since Miss Shana wanted to watch, but if this person came specifically to see Miss Shana…’
It wasn’t impossible that he came knowing everything.
When Maria stared at him searchingly for a moment, the old man rather straightened his shoulders as if pleased and received her gaze. His attitude was completely confident without a hint of hesitation, and his eyes gently gazed at where Shana was fidgeting…
‘If that person is evil, I should retire.’
Because that would mean my eye for people has become completely useless. Maria said.
“Miss Shana, please come out.”
“Maria…”
“There’s no point in playing innocent. This gentleman says he came from far away to meet the angel.”
“I’m not an angel…”
Shana spoke in a voice so small she seemed ready to crawl into a hole. The old man’s eyes sparkled.
Maria pushed her chair back to make way, and Shana barely stood up but seemed to lack the courage to step forward in front of the old man. Her small face was written all over with “I WANT TO RUN AWAY!!!!!”
“Angel is very shy, you see.”
“Ah, Maria! Wait!”
I slipped my hands under the squirming Shana’s armpits, lifted her up, and sat her on my lap facing forward.
The writing on Shana’s face changed. It read “Maria, just you wait!”
“Oh my, you are…”
“Ha, haha. H-hello there…”
Shana couldn’t look directly at the gazes pouring down on her and smiled awkwardly. The old man beamed with what seemed like deep emotion.
“I’m not really like an angel or anything… I just went along with a friend, but the rumors…”
“I see.”
“The rumors are exaggerated! When people are sick, they tend to see things that aren’t there and make small things seem bigger…”
“You’re more like a fairy than an angel.”
“…”
That’s even worse…
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————