15 The Vixen isn’t even Half as Bad as this Elf!
A pitying expression grew in the face looking down on me. It was obvious what Ofris was thinking. To him, I must look both silly and stupid, to a dangerous level even.
«At least he is not angry at me.»
When we reached the counter, the woman working it spoke out to us. "Oh, Ofris? I didn't expect you to be back so soon."
She seemed quite young, maybe twenty years old. Her pale brown, curly hair looked well-groomed and her dark grey uniform didn't reveal a single spot of dirt. She was almost like a bank clerk compared to the two adventurer girls that I had seen standing in front of the entrance.
«She reminds me of Mira ...»
The Vixen totally did not care about me getting emotional, her head was already filled with weird ideas again: 「She is smiling at him! Don't let her steal away your man!」
"What do you- Nobody steals my man!"
「That's right, Rika! Show them!」
"That's not what I meant!"
Ofris only sighed. "It's such a-"
"It's not a shame!"
"You-" The woman working the counter stammered. "You have picked up a quite 'lively' one."
"Don't call me crazy!"
"Can you help me with this girl, Risa?" Ofris almost begged her. "We found her in the forest. She seems to be drugged or ill."
"You found her? Was she alone?"
Ofris seemed to be unsure how to answer her. "Alone ..." He hesitated. "I guess she was."
"You aren't sure?"
"She was talking to herself. Maybe she had felt so lonely she-"
"I wasn't talking to myself!" I protested.
Risa didn't even pay attention to me. "I see ..." She replied after a moment of silence. "You seem to have a pretty rough day."
"I was hoping you could let the healer take a look at her. We also need to find her master."
"I don't have a master!"
"Can I bother you with carrying her there?" Risa asked.
"It's no bother, really."
"Can you please stop ignoring me!?"
They didn't. Without granting me as much as a glance the woman called Risa stepped through an open door next to the two counters. The man carried me there gently, he even paid utmost attention to not hurting me while he stepped through the doorframe, but nothing of this improved my mood.
«Can't they decide between treating me like a lunatic and treating me like a child!?»
「You aren't insane, Rika.」 The vixen answered to my thought.
"... somehow I don't feel better hearing this from you."
"What did she say?" The counter worker asked.
"Don't mind it. She has been like this since we found her."
"That poor girl."
It didn't even take a minute for us to reach a large room that was furnished with three beds and a small desk. Luckily, all of the beds were empty. I didn't even want to think about how it would have been to be examined in front of strangers.
My gaze wandered towards the thin, tanned figure that sat on the one chair this room had. Pale, almost white hair flowed down her back and a purple robe was covering most of her skin. When she turned around, I was greeted by emerald green eyes, long ears and alluring pink lips.
«An elf! Now it's a fantasy world!»
「You aren't human either, Rika.」
"Who cares about that!?"
The elven woman was still smiling when she turned around, but when her gaze fell on me, her expression rapidly turned into a grimace that revealed anger and disgust.
«What!? She hates me!»
The goddess seemed to grow slightly angry. 「Nobody hates my cute Rika!」 Her voice rang in my ears.
"I am not cute!"
"What do you bring 'that' to me for?" The elf asked.
Risa didn't try to beauty up her words: "She isn't right in her head," she explained. "We hoped you could take a look at her."
"A look? On a dirty beast?"
"I am not dirty!"
The elf rolled with her eyes, before pointing to the bed that was standing right next to us.
"Place her down there, I will take a look at her as soon as I am finished with my work."
"Sahria, we really need you to check on her now." Risa urged her.
The elf once again rolled with her eyes. "Fine."
After waiting for me to be placed down on the bed, the healer took her chair, placed it next to the bed and sat down. Just a single glance in her beautiful face was enough to understand that I was at the same level than a rat for her, if not even lower.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" I heard myself protest.
"Who cares what you did, you filthy-"
Risa cut off her insults: "Sahria, please."
"Whatever ..."
The elf finally decided to do her job. She leaned forward and placed her hand on my forehead before she closed her eyes. She began chanting a magic spell.
"Helia of the sun and the moon, Helia of light and darkness, please shine down upon this child of yours and reveal the shadows weighting it down!"
A tingling feeling spread from her hand, it invaded my head, crawled down my neck and conquered my body. Within the time I took a breath, my whole body was already conquered by a prickling feeling. It felt as if I was assaulted by hundreds of tiny thunderbolts.
«What is she doing!? It itches!»
「What is she doing inside of my Rika!? She is violating you!」 A startled voice echoed in my ears.
"..."
When the magic finally stopped, Sahria slowly opened her eyes. She stood up wordlessly and moved her chair back to the table before sitting down again. Without wasting even a single word, she took a piece of paper and began writing down the results of her examination.
"She is about 15 years old," she announced. "There were bruises around her neck, likely stemming from a suicide or murder attempt. Aside from that, she had menstrual cramps."
"Those- those bruises might be my doing," Ofris hesitatingly confessed. "Did you find anything wrong with her head?"
"There are no mental health issues and no poisons or drugs affecting her character or thinking ability."
Ofris didn't seem to believe her. "But she is talking to invisible persons!?"
"Did you check her attributes?" The elven woman asked. "I believe she might be plain stupid."
I felt a vein popping up at my head."I AM NOT STUPID! STOP TALKING AS IF I WEREN'T IN THE ROOM!"
"Can you please make your dog stop barking? It hurts my ears."
"I AM NOT A DOG! I'M A FOX!"
「Good job, Rika!」 A voice cheered in my head. 「Show them!」
"Who asked you!?"
"A fox?" The elf laughed. "It seems your dog is even more stupid than I thought. You better take it away before it decides to mark its territory or gnaw on the furniture!"
Ofris could only sigh. He walked towards me and lifted me out of the bed again, without spending a single thought about asking me if his help was even needed in the first place. After making sure I was lying in his embrace more or less comfortably, he wordlessly walked out of the room.
«He totally thinks of me as a child, does he!?»
「We can go for a good-night kiss instead!」
"..."
⊱————- Extra ————-⊰
???: Say daddy, Rika! (ᅌᴗᅌ✿)
Rika: I will never do that!
???: But-
Rika: No! You understand?! Just no!
???: You aren't making this easy for me, you know?
Rika: Who would want to make things easy for you!?
???: Maybe I should change this quest...
Rika: The quest? What are you???: Let's change it to "Confess your love and-"
Rika: DADDY! You hear?! Daddy! Daddy, daddy, daddy!
Ofris: It's such a shame...
Rika: What are YOU doing here??
