Recruiting The Blood Devil

"Oh yeah, what about the wound on your left eye?" Meteia opened the empty socket of my former eye. "It felt like it was done purposely, so accurately. There was no damage besides the loss of sight due to the modest amount of searing. Since when have you developed the habit of self harm?"

"I acquired that wound in a surreal fight, and it was done specifically by a self-proclaimed ninja from District 44. Annoyingly."

"Haish, the wound looks like a perfect fit for your old stiletto dagger though. Didn't knew you still used that washed up ol' product in your arsenal. The wound isn't new, too."

"You know too much."

"I'm an expert, after all!" She left my side before picking a couple moldable tissue-like substances, and a sphere in-between her fingers. "I think I can connect that nerve back as new again, want to try?"

If I accepted her offer, I might be able to have the advantage of normal sight width. It would greatly improve my battle performance and others, especially since my main skill of analyzing was highly dependent on my sight most of the time.

It would be great, but I didn't feel like devaluing the day when my husk was broken.

"I appreciate the offer, but don't do anything to my eye, Meteia."

"Aww."

"I don't want another accidental neuron surgery like last time."

Yes, my enhanced lower body reaction time was also the result of the restoration surgery that she did in the past. The memory of having my brain pried open like a lobotomy still felt extremely obnoxious even till this date.

"A little bit of disappointment, but at least you still remember the time we did it together! My, my, that's so sweet of you~"

"Hah hah ha, I'm afraid that I couldn't forget it if I wanted to."

It took quite a while, a painful quite a while. After two full hours or so, Meteia began to clean up some of her unnecessary doings before the stitching process. The thread she used was a self-made thread that would immediately combine with the flesh and skin without leaving any marks. For a side effect, it would leave an intense searing experience.

If one would look into her personality, this kind of aftermath might be purely intentional

"And there we go! You're good as new! Hmmm, Sir Faust? Are you still alive?"

"No, I'm dead inside."

Most of the devices, tools, and resources that she used were mostly selfmade.

She was a genius of the century in my view, if I may add. As for the results of her twisted mind, it might be for the fact that she had lived for more than hundreds of years.

And one could usually guess what kind of twisted event within the veins of the City that made her like this. As for her young and first-glimpse innocent appearance? She had probably done numerous operations on herself to preserve her youth.

Did I pity her?

Definitely not. She had the most satisfied face when it came to performing a restoration operation with me as the test subject. It might be a little too convenient, in fact. I have wondered for years about that.

She had a masochistic patient back in the day, yet when she did her operation, not a single sign of happiness was shown on her face.

There was also a patient who knew the positive side effects of her painful operation like I did. He wasn't masochistic at all, as all he wanted was to make himself stronger, accepting the fact that the surgery was some kind of tribulation.

Yet, Meteia shed a face of disgust back then.

Hmm

I have several hunches.

Some of them might not be far off…

After the operation was done, I was left with a woman with a look that was on the verge of tears, crying in happiness.

"Ahahah, that's a good one. I really appreciate the visit, Sir Faust." She took a napkin and started to wipe her sweaty face with glee. "Though you're still one tough cookie, not even a single scream I heard within the timeframe of the operation."

"I thought that would make you lose your concentration." I tried to stand, commencing some small moment of self therapy as I moved my left arm up and down. "Would be bad if you accidentally sawed my spine from the front."

"Don't worry about measly things, Sir Faust. One day, that one fruitful day, I'll definitely make you scream a joyous celebration for me. You shall wait for it!"

"That's not the goal worth pursuing…!"

There might be more than ten secret installments of enhancement that were inserted into my body. As for what in the world are they gonna do, I might need to experiment and find out all of it for myself.

Then again, I doubt that it was something that would demerit me. Meteia wouldn't want her favorite patient to die easily, preserving their freshness for another lavish harvest.

"Hmm? My movement felt sharper."

Most of the fatigues disappeared, now that I couldn't feel much of the pain, except for the searing experience of the special stitching. Like usual, it felt like having a new body.

As some of my senses were heightened, I felt a weird rhythm pulsating in some part of my body.

Right now I'm a little bit too anxious about the current restoration process.

"Meteia, can I get a hint this time?"

"That won't do, dear~"

Yup, she most definitely shut her mouth tight about the things she mischievously inserted.

After some extra checking, we went straight into the fee payment phase.

Meteia only charged me with 5,000 Solus. In which, it would be the ultimate rip off for the result that I'm having. That was, if she didn't feed her sadistic nature in the process of it.

But because she didn't have the slightest ill intent after all of those years, I paid an extra 50,000 Solus for that.

User: Faust Hecates

ID: 10827268

Balance: 2,865,000 Solus

"Oh my, you're too kind, Sir Faust."

"It's only reasonable for me to pay that much. In fact, I would pay an extra 200,000 if you started to use some kind of sedative when having me as your patient."

"Too bad, my love. I won't take bribes."

"It's not a bribe, it's a purely logical thing to request, you perverted devil."

With that, I have fully recovered, though not mentally. As I went for the exit, she lightly waved her hand with a gentle smile, expecting me to come again in the future.

I opened the glass door. Before going out, I stopped in my tracks and shifted my gaze to her.

"Say, I'm probably in need of a personal medical operator in the future. When the time comes, can I recruit you?"

A big look of shock was shown on her face, as if she was perceiving the most unexpected things in her life. A second later, a little touch of red started appearing on her pale cheeks. Afterward, she threw her glance, hiding her mouth with her hand as she changed her gaze back and forth to make sure that it wasn't a dream.