Chapter 99: Confusing
Foggy morning time, and Valens was busy handling the mold gathered from the box of bread laid by the side. He had already distilled the alcohol and prepared the rest of the ingredients for penicillin, which would be ready in a few days' time.
The monotony of the work lifted the great weight settled across his mind. Working in the silence of the morning helped, as well.
That done, he went back to check on Selin, who sat calmly in the welcoming hall, tidying up her table and her chair, looking somewhere between excited and nervous. At the side, a silent Dain loomed as the guardian of their little clinic, covered in a thick coat that did a manageable job at hiding his sword.
At least he brought a smaller one this time. We don’t want to scare off our patients.
“Are we ready?” Valens asked as he rubbed his hands.
“Ready as we can, Mr. Kosthal,” Selin said.
“Uh,” Dain grunted.
“But are we…” Selin then muttered. “Just going to wait for people to find us? Perhaps we should consider putting that signboard over the building.”
“We’re trying to make it seem like this is an illegal operation, Selin,” Valens said. “This is the only way to get the attention of that unwanted crowd. Culprits and criminals, to my experience, like their business shady and out of sight. This will work. We just need Garran to do his thing.”
“He didn’t look too happy to wear those ragged clothes,” Selin said. “What if—”
“I’m telling you, ain’t no good gonna come from waiting in the line of those churches!” a voice boomed from beyond the doors of the clinic, followed by a set of thumping steps. “But this guy… The man’s a damned magician. He does this thing with his hands, and BAM! You’re fixed and good to go.”
“A Healer in Melton, you’re saying?” another voice questioned, this one belonging to a stranger.