*
Limbus Pit is the anus of the Empire's capital.
The metaphor is a bit crude, but I couldn't think of a more fitting expression.
Because everything unwanted from above rolls down to this place.
For example, people want to eat sliced meat, but they don't want a slaughterhouse reeking of blood as their next-door neighbor.
As a result, the slaughterhouses came down to Limbus Pit and became one of its main industries.
Besides that, factories, casinos, mercenaries, and so on.
Businesses that were in demand but had no place to go came down to Limbus Pit one by one.
Eight such businesses came down to Limbus Pit.
And to these, the original darkness of Limbus Pit latched on.When the slaughterhouses came, prostitution followed.
When the factories came, smuggling followed.
When the casinos came, loan sharking followed.
The Legitimate World and The Underworld.
The combination of the two is what forms the livelihood of Limbus Pit.
'And if I remember correctly, H-Sector's livelihood is...'
I recalled what I had learned during a history class with my tutor.
H-Sector began with a prison and an execution ground.
And its livelihood was 'human trafficking,' which parasitized them.
A death row inmate is going to die anyway.
In the past, someone wanted to diligently recycle that inefficient resource.
An arena where those sentenced to die were pitted against each other, an identity laundering service that sold the identities of the dead.
That evolved into the massive human market rife with kidnapping and the slave trade that it is today.
'Even other nobles tend to go to H-Sector when they want to buy slaves.'
And lately, that H-Sector has been crossing into D-Sector.
It was obvious they weren't coming for a friendly visit.
'Alright. Let's scram.'
Once I decided, I acted fast.
Following Wangcho's advice, I immediately started packing my things.
I might be the protagonist, but I'm not the type of character who likes to be a nuisance to others just to have my moment to shine.
If I'm here, I'll just be in Wangcho's way, so I should get out.
Besides, I hear that being rational is the trend for protagonists these days.
And since I too was a rational person, I didn't hesitate to prepare to head back up.
As I was packing, Eri asked with a displeased look.
"But Teacher, aren't you scared?"
"Of what?"
"They say the guys from H-Sector are coming up."
A slight smile crept onto my lips at Erika's reaction.
"You're afraid of H-Sector, even though you dine with the boss of D-Sector?"
All livelihoods are determined by hierarchy.
The strongest organization takes A-Sector's magical engineering manufacturing, and the next strongest takes B-Sector's adventurer industry.
And what Wangcho holds is D-Sector's slaughterhouse business.
In other words, Wangcho's rank is about fourth.
In contrast, H-Sector is at the bottom.
They didn't seem like they could be Wangcho's match.
The reason I was packing wasn't because I was afraid of H-Sector.
It was to avoid being a nuisance to Wangcho.
So, I calmly conveyed my honest feelings.
"When rats appear and the landlord decides to clean house, does the guest leave the room because they're scared of the rats?"
"Ah, as expected. An innately noble person is really different. Talking about etiquette even at a time like this."
Erika let out a dry laugh.
"Still, be careful. If you get bitten by them, you won't die, but you'll suffer quite a bit."
"Why? Are they that strong?"
"No? It's just that they're crazy, so it's a pain. They bite indiscriminately. That's why they're a hassle."
A pain because they're crazy?
Eri's assessment was different from what I had thought, so I leaned in slightly toward her.
"What do you mean, they bite indiscriminately? Can you be more specific?"
"Huh? What do you want to ask?"
"Why do the H-Sector gang members bite indiscriminately? Is it a guideline from their boss?"
"Aha."
At my words, Erika slowly nodded.
And then,
"You must be from Uppertown to not know at all. There is no boss. In H-Sector."
"?"
It was a sudden answer.
But I understood it a second later.
"So H-Sector doesn't have someone like Wangcho."
"That's right. The other sectors are controlled by one big organization, right? Like Wangcho. People you shouldn't touch, areas you shouldn't enter. There are lines like that. But H-Sector has nothing of the sort. It's just a bunch of minor organizations tearing at each other's throats."
No boss meant no control, and no control meant no one to draw the lines.
And on top of that, I thought I knew why H-Sector didn't have a boss.
'It must be because of the human trafficking.'
This is a fantasy world.
If someone you sold off becomes strong and returns later, your organization gets wiped out.
When you deal with thousands of people, it's impossible that a future Sword Saint isn't mixed in there somewhere.
Naturally, the organizations wouldn't last five years before facing retaliation, which is why no large organization could emerge from human trafficking.
"I understand, Eri. So if they have no boss, then negotiation is impossible."
Eri nodded at my summary.
"That's right. A lot of them live only for today. What kind of lines would they have?"
"They must think they can just bite and run."
"Exactly."
Sometimes, it's the smaller organizations that don't know their place and attack recklessly that are more tiring than the big ones.
After her brief explanation, Eri summed up the situation.
"It hurts if they bite you, and there's nothing to gain by stopping them. They don't even have a representative to negotiate with. It's not for nothing that Wangcho and the other sector bosses hate H-Sector. Now you see why people are afraid of them?"
It seemed so.
A person drooling is always scarier than a person spitting.
And H-Sector was a collection of small and medium-sized organizations that went around leaving their spit everywhere without a thought for the future consequences.
"So? Changed your mind?"
"..."
"So let's hurry up and go, Teacher. If we get bitten, we're the only ones who'll suffer."
With a look of disgust on her face, Erika hastily started packing her things.
In contrast, my hands had slowed down considerably compared to before I learned this fact.
'Uh... um...'
Because after hearing the explanation, I had a hunch that this wasn't someone else's problem, but my event.
*
After packing everything.
I picked up my bag and grabbed the doorknob.
"Let's go. If we delay any longer, Mister Wangcho will cling to us crying."
I had already told Otto, our chauffeur and bodyguard, to go get the car.
He was probably on his way from the border between Civitas Square and the Red-Light District.
"Teacher. We were supposed to meet Mister Chauffeur at the entrance, right?"
Eri.
Mr. Otto is still a young man.
He might be hurt if you call him 'Mister.' He's not even married yet.
Men get sensitive about their age as they approach 30, you know.
I wanted to say all that, but I held back for the sake of my persona.
"Let's go, quickly."
Eri took the lead and opened the door.
At that moment.
Thump.
Something collapsed through the doorway.
A young man fell, hitting his head on the floor.
A red puddle began to form from his head.
"Mister Chauffeur?!"
Eri turned over Otto's face and gasped in horror.
Someone had meticulously torn the corners of his mouth to his ears and stitched them with thick fishing line, fixing his face in a grotesque smile.
"How could this happen to him...?"
Otto wasn't Rank 1, but he was a skilled individual on the verge of reaching it.
It meant that in this area, no one but Wangcho could defeat him.
For such a man to be in this pitiful state, it was no wonder Eri was horrified.
Trying to say something, an unintelligible sound came from his open mouth.
"Urghh..."
His tongue was also stitched, so the sound emerged as a groan, unable to form words.
Looking at Otto's forehead, letters carved with a knife were bleeding.
[Einladung]
Seeing the invitation, Eri's complexion hardened.
"Uhm... Ein... uh... Ein (inside)? What word is this?"
"..."
"What? Hey! Why are you looking at me like that!"
Correction.
Erika didn't know the exact meaning of the invitation, but she sensed the grave atmosphere and her complexion hardened.
I ignored the grumbling Eri and examined Otto's wounds.
'Now I see why people don't want to get involved with the H-Sector folks.'
To think they'd do something like this to a person's face.
I had never met them, but it was clear they weren't people you could reason with.
"Kugh... ugh..."
Even in his pain, Otto desperately looked at me, trying to say something.
His tongue was stitched, so his pronunciation was unclear.
But it was clearly a plea to be saved.
"I'll make you comfortable right away."
I took out scissors from my doctor's bag and approached.
My intention was to cut the thread binding his tongue first.
Snatch.
Just then, Eri roughly grabbed my arm.
"Teacher, I think it's best to leave him."
She warned me with eyes full of terror.
"Teacher. We can't treat Mr. Otto or take him with us now. The best thing to do is for us to get out of here first."
She was right.
The moment I saw Otto's condition, I knew what they were after.
Rationally speaking, I should abandon Otto and go up.
No one would call this choice heartless.
He was my bodyguard before he was my chauffeur, and being left behind for my safety was part of his role.
And his monthly salary reflected that..
"You're probably right."
"You catch on quick. So let's go up right now. We'll be safe if we can just walk to Civitas Square."
Eri's judgment was cold. Rational, as befitting a child who survived on these streets.
Any person with common sense would turn and run without a second thought.
But I couldn't take my eyes off Otto's stitched lips and the message on his forehead.
"Teacher?"
"..."
My feet wouldn't move.
A doctor's pride?
There was that, too.
But the fact that I was the protagonist of a misunderstanding genre weighed on my mind more.
'It's not like I can escape just by running away.'
The protagonist always wins in the end.
But the word "win" is predicated on the fact that one will inevitably get entangled in an incident.
No, wait, am I already entangled?
After considering these two things, I judged that escape was impossible.
Once I made a decision, I acted quickly.
I ignored Eri chattering beside me and turned toward the treatment room.
"Eri. Put down your bag and lock the back door."
"No, you can't be... Teacher! Are you crazy? They're right on our tail!"
"So?"
I pointed the beak of my crow mask at Eri.
"He's my patient. And he's one of my family's people."
And above all, I'm the protagonist.
"..."
"Thirty minutes is all I need."
"Haaa..."
Eri moved with a sigh of resignation.
Her reaction makes me feel a little guilty.
I know it's fine because I'm the protagonist, but for Eri, this is reality.
'Since I feel bad, I guess I'll have to show her something cool.'
It's not much of a substitute, but I'll show you the fantastic surgery that mesmerized medical students.
I headed to the safe on one side of the wall.
Rattle. Clank.
From deep inside the safe, I carefully took out a brown ampule in a velvet case.
The label read [Erythroxylum Coca].
I hadn't been able to make Lidocaine yet, so this was the local anesthetic I was using as a substitute.
For reference, it's Latin for cocaine.
What? Latin sounds cool.
'IV (intravenous anesthesia) seems a bit risky, so I'll have to go with topical application.'
The oral mucosa and open wounds have a high absorption rate for cocaine.
There's no need to inject; just soaking and applying it is enough.
Additionally, its vasoconstriction effect means I can expect it to help with hemostasis.
If it weren't for the addiction, it would be a truly perfect drug.
"Don't move now. You can also go to sleep."
If he can, that is.
While waiting for the anesthetic to take effect, I observed the wound.
'From both corners of the mouth to the anterior auricle. About 7 centimeters each.'
The H-Sector guys' fishing line was thick and rough.
It was more like they had just tied it, rather than suturing.
Tsk. If you're going to make art, you should at least do it cleanly.
'The tissue necrosis isn't severe. It should be fine to start reconstruction right away.'
After formulating a surgical plan, I opened an old leather case.
A silversmith's razor blade.
Dwarven watchmaker's tweezers.
An assortment of fishhooks arranged by size.
I set up the surgical tools and dipped my hands in and out of limewater.
"Don't move your tongue. I'm going to cut the fishing lines first."
Instead of a reply, Otto's fingers twitched minutely.
I cut the fishing lines one by one.
Each time a line was cut, the wound gaped open. I immediately performed hemostasis on the blood that seeped from the opened wounds.
I also removed the thread stitched through his tongue.
"Take a deep breath."
His tongue freed, Otto took a deep breath.
"Now breathe through your nose."
Next was debridement.
The necrosis wasn't severe, but there was still contaminated tissue.
I cut away all of that tissue.
'Next is suturing and reconstruction.'
The wound was at the corner of the mouth, a frequently moving area.
Just stitching it up would cause contracture later.
The scar would tighten, and he wouldn't be able to open his mouth properly.
'I'll have to go with a Z-plasty.'
Z-plasty.
A technique where a straight scar is intentionally cut into a Z-shape and then sutured again.
It's a method to prevent contracture by dispersing the direction of tension, and it can also be expected to have the additional effect of leaving a less noticeable scar.
'There isn't enough skin. I'll have to pull some skin from behind his ear.'
The area behind the ear is a suitable donor site because the scar can be hidden by hair, and there's spare skin.
I couldn't anesthetize the area behind the ear with gauze, so I used an injection.
Using the Dwarven watchmaker's tweezers, I picked out the tiny blood vessels, and with the silversmith's razor blade, I lifted the skin.
I placed the removed skin on the defect area and sutured the muscle layer with catgut suture (thread made from goat intestines; absorbable suture) on a fishhook.
After a few minutes of this.
"Done."
Washing my hands once more, I checked the clock.
29 minutes.
One minute faster than expected.
A completely dissatisfying result.
'Tsk. It still takes this long.'
In my previous life as an adult, it would have taken 15 minutes.
With a well-matched resident doctor assisting, it took 12 minutes.
I guess it's because I have a child's hands and they're still slow, and the equipment is worse than in my previous life.
'Still have a long way to go.'
That's enough self-reflection.
I looked over at Eri.
She had forgotten to keep watch and was staring blankly this way.
"...What's with that suturing speed... Teacher, what did you do before?"
"A doctor."
Erika has a good eye.
Many people think a surgeon's lifeblood is a steady hand, but the true ultimate skill is the ability to handle thread.
And in my previous life, I received quite a few job offers for my suturing skills.
...But why the hell did I choose trauma surgery? Dammit.
Enough gushing.
Erika's voice brought me back to reality.
"No, that's not what I'm asking... Are you sure you're not related to a ducal family?"
"I've never even been near one."
"Hmmph..."
Eri looked at me with suspicious eyes.
"You didn't just do a sloppy job, did you?"
"Do I look like that kind of person to you?"
"Well, you were cutting so swiftly without using a ruler or anything."
"There are ways."
My tweezers and forceps have grooves carved at 0.5cm intervals.
It was a small customization to save time from measuring with a ruler each time.
I originally wanted to have this customization in my previous life, but the hospital said it was too expensive.
It might also be because I didn't have enough seniority.
But in this world, I have plenty of money and nothing like seniority to worry about, so I could get this customization.
Money really is the best.
"But is it okay to be chatting like this? Just a moment ago, you wanted to run away."
"Oh, right!"
Eri hurriedly picked up her bags again.
In contrast, I leisurely prescribed medicine to the patient and guided him to the back door.
"This is technically a drug, but as long as you only take it when you're in pain and no more than three times a day, you won't get addicted. Now, take this and go to Wangcho."
Otto shook his head.
He still couldn't speak properly, but his eyes were resolute.
It must mean he couldn't leave the Young Master behind.
"Honestly, in your current state, you'd only be a burden."
But that wasn't what he needed to do right now.
"Go out the back door and bring Wangcho. That's the best you can do right now."
"..."
In the end, Otto nodded.
When I opened the back door, he staggered off toward Wangcho's slaughterhouse.
"Teacher! What are you doing!"
"I'll be waiting, Mr. Otto."
"Teacher!"
After seeing the patient off, I turned back to Eri.
"Eri, don't rush me."
"How can I not rush when our lives are on the line!"
"But does rushing change anything? We couldn't go up anyway, from the moment Mr. Otto was attacked."
"..."
"And above all, it's already too late."
Thirty minutes is enough time for the pursuer to have had a meal and still encircle us.
Slam!
And as if to confirm that fact, the front door was smashed inward.
See. I told you.
This is my event.