Even though only the emergency doctor was on duty at the hospital at night, because the town was nestled against the Rice Forest, the emergency doctor here was the most skilled physician in the entire hospital. So going to see a doctor at night was absolutely no problem!
Ang was that eager.
On the other side, Merlin, who had parted ways with Ang, was also thinking to himself was this ability to hear Ang’s thoughts a problem with that mushroom in the white gauze skirt, or had Ang cast some kind of spell on him?
He couldn’t wait any longer. Perhaps Ang was using this mind-reading to mislead him, to deceive him!
Merlin felt he needed to go to the hospital!
…
Ang went straight to the emergency room of the town hospital. Although he was an orphan, thanks to his relatively outstanding magical talent, the Mages’ Association had purchased medical insurance for him, so Ang wasn’t too anxious about the cost.
But even with insurance, how much would it actually cover?
While waiting for his number to be called outside the consultation room, Ang’s heart was truly in turmoil.
However, upon seeing the waiting patients some with broken arms, some with long teeth from some unknown magical beast piercing straight through their bodies, some completely blue-skinned and unconscious and even one who had a magical surge right in the waiting room, nearly affecting several people around him.
Still, there weren’t many people here, because those who could afford insurance, or those who couldn’t afford insurance but had the money to see a doctor, were ultimately in the minority.
After all, this insurance was jointly issued by the Mages’ Association and the Knights’ Association, and the premiums were by no means low.
But across the entire Lemon Kingdom, or the entire continent, the vast majority of people’s income levels couldn’t afford such insurance. Moreover, most people were ordinary mage apprentices or trainee mages, the knight equivalent being squires and trainee knights. These people, who had a bit of talent but were extremely limited in it, made up the largest portion of the continent’s population.
These people had no way to join the Mages’ Association or the Knights’ Association. If they wanted to earn money, they took on everyday jobs, such as service industry work or ordinary clerical positions, with wages generally hovering around the average.
If they wanted to delve into the adventuring world, they wouldn’t casually gamble with their lives, because they had no money for insurance. So they would only collect various materials in less dangerous small forests, and even if they came to the Rice Forest, they would only operate at the very outskirts, never easily putting themselves in harm’s way.
Thus, a variety of reasons meant there weren’t many people in the emergency room.
But although there weren’t many waiting, the occasional arrival still kept the doctor constantly busy.
Still, this meant Ang didn’t have to wait long.
When he entered the consultation room, Ang closed the door behind him before turning to look at the doctor seated at the desk. He walked over awkwardly and sat down across from him.
“What’s bothering you?” the doctor asked directly.
Ang noticed the quill pen hovering in midair beside the medical record book at the doctor’s hand.
Thinking about everything he’d experienced that day, Ang felt embarrassed but still stammered through recounting his entire day’s experiences, looking with hopeful eyes at the doctor whose temples were streaked with grey.
The quill pen beside him was rapidly writing away from time to time as Ang spoke.
Throughout Angle’s account, the doctor did not so much as furrow his brow, maintaining a completely expressionless face the entire time. Only after Angle finally finished speaking did he extend the hand holding his staff and point it at Angle. “Let me give you a simple examination first.”
Angle nodded and felt various diagnostic spells land on him, seeing only a dazzling array of magical lights.
A full minute of examination passed before the doctor finally withdrew his staff. “There’s nothing wrong with your body. You’re perfectly healthy.”
“But, but what about the information I received in my mind?” Angle couldn’t help pressing further.
“I think it might be related to your bloodline. You very likely possess the bloodline of a magical creature.” The doctor’s gaze settled on Angle’s eyes. “Although ordinary humans occasionally mutate to have red eyes, those with red eyes are more likely to carry magical creature blood.”
This magical creature wasn’t referring to ordinary magical beasts, but rather those capable of shapeshifting into human form. Magical creatures that could become human were all at the level of Archmage or above. Once they transformed into humans, they could interbreed with humans and produce offspring.
As an orphan, Angle had never imagined he might possess such a rare magical creature bloodline, especially since he had been sponsored by the Mages’ Association since childhood. If he truly had magical creature blood, wouldn’t they have discovered it?
“It’s possible that your magical creature bloodline was previously suppressed by your body and only recently awakened, which is why it’s now manifesting,” the doctor said, causing the quill at his side to dart over to another notebook and rapidly write out a form. “Take this form to get a blood test. However, we can only detect the attribute of the magical creature here we can’t determine the specific species of your bloodline. Generally speaking, a magical creature bloodline won’t conflict with your innate magical talent, but if it does, you’d better be prepared to spend a considerable sum on treatment.”
Angle:
Why did he only hear the bad news?
Staring at the form floating before him, Angle reached out and took it with a heavy heart.
“As for why you behaved the way you did last night…” The doctor raised an eyebrow, causing Angle’s face to flush crimson instantly as he looked at the doctor nervously.
“I believe it’s highly likely that the bloodline awakening triggered your heat, this is the influence of the magical creature bloodline within you. As for the various symptoms that followed, it may be because your heat period hasn’t ended yet. However, since the magical creature bloodline is relatively weak and partially suppressed by your dominant human heritage, that’s why you experienced those results. Perhaps you could try touching other people to see.”
Angle:
Angle now felt like he was being roasted over charcoal steam rising from his entire body as he left the consultation room bright red.
“Heat? Why does this have to happen to me?! I don’t want any magical creature bloodline at all! A human with a heat period isn’t that no different from an animal?! And telling me to touch other people, what if I have that reaction again? I don’t want to be taken advantage of again!”
Angus, his mind in a daze, followed the directions and left the examination room, heading toward the place for bloodline testing. Merlin, who had just arrived, overheard Angus’s thoughts and froze entirely.
Wait, how on earth could he run into Angus here of all places?!
Angus had called him a stalker and a pervert, but now Merlin saw Angus as exactly that kind of person too!
Fuming, Merlin cursed inwardly for quite a few lines before finally starting to think it through. No, judging from Angus’s thoughts, he was also here for a physical check-up, probably because of all the various events during the day.
Because of the strange things happening to his body, Angus had grown worried and come to the hospital for an examination.
But looking at Angus’s rare red eyes, it was quite possible he really did have some magical creature’s bloodline.
Yet the fact that he was in the same hospital as Angus made Merlin feel like cold sweat was about to break out. If the two of them ran into each other face-to-face, how was he supposed to explain himself?
Just as Merlin was desperately racking his brains for a solution, it was his turn to enter the examination room.
After closing the door, facing the doctor, Merlin stated his problem concisely: “I don’t feel any discomfort in my body, but I’ve run into an issue, I can hear one person’s thoughts, and only that specific person’s.”
The doctor looked Merlin up and down, his quill pen scribbling rapidly at his side, while he himself waved his wand to conduct an examination on Merlin.
“What kind of contact have you had with that person?” the doctor asked after finishing the check-up.
“Just last night, we had intimate contact. This morning, I could hear his thoughts. Is there any connection between the two?”
At this point, the doctor’s mood turned somewhat subtle two patients in a row had developed issues due to intimate contact.
However, the previous patient’s intimate contact had likely been the result of the other party’s bloodline awakening, whereas this patient’s current condition had been caused by intimate contact.
The doctor stroked his chin: “Perhaps during your intimate contact, there was some exchange of blood between you, which formed a sort of contract that allows you to hear his thoughts. Can he hear yours?”
“He shouldn’t be able to,” Merlin replied.
Ah, so this patient had probably had a one-night stand, or the relationship between the two wasn’t all that close otherwise, why would the answer be so uncertain?
If they were truly a loving couple, the two of them would have already communicated about it.
“Go get an examination from a specialized contract master,” the doctor said, quickly writing out a referral slip.
Merlin let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly grabbed the slip before leaving the examination room.
Following the hospital’s signs, Merlin arrived at the contract master’s office door, but before he could even step inside, he heard Angus’s thoughts: “The bloodline test that can’t even detect any magical creature heritage still takes half an hour, and it’s so expensive! A whole gold coin! Grenor Magic Academy’s tuition is only 20 gold coins a year, and this diagnostic fee is already one-twentieth of that it hurts so much!”
From the corner of his eye, Merlin spotted Angus walking over with a slip in hand from around the bend, which made him quicken his pace instantly and push straight through the door into the contract master’s room.
Closing the door behind him, Merlin felt a thin layer of cold sweat forming on his forehead he had nearly collided with Ange!
Turning to look at the contract mage who was watching him, Merlin handed over the form.
While the contract mage examined him with those strange and peculiar magical artifacts, Merlin clearly overheard Ange’s thoughts, who hadn’t moved far away: “What if the bloodline of this magical creature of mine conflicts with my own wood-element magic attribute? Then I’m truly done for, I have absolutely no money to see a doctor!”