32 Doctor Victor

At this very moment, in Happiness Village, the Harpies, the women, and the men in between were talking to each other trying to see if they could find their own solutions and fix some disputes here and there.

As for the travelers who recently came here, they were with the acting village chief, the Queen Harpy, and the real village chief within their house, sitting on two separate sofas.

"Penny, go to play with your friends, I have to talk now." Victor tried to push away the disguised Dog Girl from his lap, but she simply stuck on him like a leech while hugging his waist.

As the one who started the idea, and the one who is acknowledged by the entire party group as the 'biggest asshole ever', Victor was picked up to represent the arbiter who is entirely neutral and has to judge the situation accordingly to how the conversation between Lucretia and the old couple who lead Happiness Village.

Of course, he can't be distracted by Penny, who is on his lap, which is why he is trying to push her away.

"Nu-uh!" Penny shook her head inside Victor's chest. Then she looked up to Victor with doggy eyes and replied. "I want to stay with you!"

She probably felt extremely worried when she found out that Victor was really sick…

Victor sighed and looked at the others. "Sorry, I guess I'll be stuck like this for the time being."

"It's fine." Lucretia nodded at him before she looked at the old woman who acted as the village chief in absence of the original one. "Anyway, I called up to this meeting for one reason, I wish that Harpy Village and Happiness Village form a symbiotic relationship. We can offer help in labor and in return we want full access to the men inhabiting this village."

The acting village chief coldly stared at Lucretia and said. "The trading of services is too unbalanced. Just because we are having a hard time, it doesn't mean we can simply accept our fate like this."

"Honey, please let go of your ego and think about this more carefully…" Her husband softly spoke, trying to let his wife change mind.

Lucretia, however, nodded along with the old woman. "No, I understand what you are talking about. However, we Harpies shouldn't be underestimated. Even if we are all women, we are still monsters, and thus stronger than normal humans. Not only that, but they all came from the previous generation of Harpies, governed by the tyrannical rule of Refletsia.

Even the weakest of the adult population in my village is enough to match 20 men in combat, and her strength is much greater than the average monster in the entire continent. Not only can we carry out heavy labor faster than your average hard-working man, but we can also defend this village from external threats."

"That is actually a good point." Victor spoke, attracting the old woman's attention. "Not only are they strong enough to lift up a grown man with their talons and fly, but they can also carry stuff above the forest around the village.

If I remember right, you people have business with the beehive of Bee Girls nearby. Letting flying monsters transport the goods back and forth will not only be more efficient knowing their supernatural strength, but they can also fly straight there and back without any cut in their road."

"That is certainly an advantage. However, beekeeping is not something to be trifled with." The old woman spoke. "Our recent relationship with the Bee Girls is worsening because of our lack of contact. If we suddenly send out newbies, they might cause problems that will permanently crush our value as a mercantile village.

Even if they carry our men along, won't their advantage on carrying the good be useless? They will be busy with our men, after all."

"That is also a good point." Victor agreed with her before he turned to the Queen Harpy. "I don't know much about this myself, so I can only suggest teaching the Harpies how to do this task. It will require some time that can be better spent on other stuff, but it is still something. What do you think?"

"I can only leave the task of teaching my subjects how to deal with this job to the professionists. I myself also don't know how to do it." The Queen Harpy shook her head in defeat.

"Oh, we are willing to teach them." The real village chief finally spoke up, before he awkwardly rubbed his head. "However, it will take too much time for that if we split our focus between teaching how to collect honey from the Bee Girls and continue with our job. After all, it takes half a day going there and another half returning back, and that is by using our carriages."

"Well… Here we go, the first problem is the lack of knowledge on how to do beekeeping." Victor muttered under his voice before he took a deep breath. "So, is there anything else that has to be pointed out?"

"Actually, yes." The acting village chief nodded. "The second, and most important problem is that if we accept the company of the Harpies within our village, we will be branded as Heretics from the temple of Ilias."

The old woman connected her eyes with Lucretia and told her. "This is not like our deal with the Bee Girls where we give our resources and they give us their honey, what you are asking us for is to let your subjects mate with the members of my village. According to Ilias' teachings, we shall not have intercourse with monsters.

By breaking that commandment, we will face grave consequences from the temple of Ilias, who will most likely send their soldiers after us. Even if we receive protection from your Harpies, a single word of theirs could spell doom for our honey's value. We have nothing else to offer except for our precious Happiness Honey, so it would ruin all of us if that happened."

"I don't think that is a problem." Victor commented, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. "Rather, the temple of Ilias is more of a joke for me."

"Hey!" Luka felt offended by that. "I live near there!"

Victor stared back at him with a dead gaze. "Luka, Amira lives in Iliasburg. No matter what, you can't simply refuse her existence."

"...Right."

"Excuse me, but who is this 'Amira'?" Lucretia curiously asked, making Victor sigh as he turned back to look at her. "She is a reversed lamia, the upper body of a snake and lower body of a human, you know…"

"Oh! Like Pyhar?" Lucretia looked at Victor with an expectant gaze.

"..." Victor's brain froze for a moment as that name sounded familiar. After going through his memory, he finally remembered who Pyhar was; just like Amira, she was also an unfortunate monster, but with a bird upper body and human lower body. "...Yeah, like her. She lives in Iliasburg and everyone doesn't seem to mind. Since she lives there, I don't see any reason for why Happiness Village can't let the Harpies mingle here. It can also work as a tourist attraction, no?"

"You have a point there." The old woman nodded along with Victor's words. "If the temple would really not mind it, then we can accept the queen's request to form an alliance. However, the problem of teaching them how to do beekeeping still remains."

"Well, about that…'' Victor trailed off for a bit. "I actually have a connection with the beehive nearby. I can ask them if they are willing to teach the harpies how to do it while the men work; by the time you people have stabilized your business, the Harpies will be ready to join the men to make the work more efficient."

"That's really good news!" The village chief gratefully looked at Victor who helped him accomplish his secret goal of having both the women of Harpy Village and Happiness Village with the entire male group at the same time. "If that's the case, I am willing to leave everything in your hands, Victor."

Victor sighed as another job was given to him. He really can't rest at all, can he?

"In this case, I am willing to agree-"

And yet, just to spit on Victor like the asshole Fate is, it decided to throw another ball at him and out of nowhere, an arrow flew from a window and pierced Lucretia right on her neck.

The speed of the arrow was really fast, so fast that no normal person in the room could see it until it struck Lucretia. Meanwhile, the targeted person was left in a stupor as she felt a stinging pain on her neck and her body tilted away.

"W… What…?" She paused after saying that before she collapsed on the Village Chief's shoulder.

"AHHH!!" Both the Village Chief and his wife screamed in surprise at the sudden ambush from outside, while everyone else was on a high alert.

"What is going on?!" Luka shouted in surprise, while Eva's gaze moved outside of the window. She vanished for a couple of seconds and returned back to her position, surprisingly carrying an armored Harpy in front of her, blocking her wings with her hands.

"Let me go, you inferior human!" The Harpy let out a surprisingly vulgar sentence as she struggled from Eva's grasp, although she couldn't.

What was even more surprising was that the Harpy is one of the 9 remaining Sky Knights that served the Queen. She, who is supposed to be closer to Lucretia more than anyone else, was the one who apparently shot off that arrow.

"What the fuck?" Just catching up with the situation, Victor spoke in shock. Did the Queen Harpy just get caught in a coup d'etat?

"Silence. Who are you, filthy monster?!" Eva ordered as a cold expression appeared on her face while her 'Heroic' personality emerged.

"I don't have anything to say to weaklings like you!" The Sky Knight spat out, but Eva tightened her grasp on her wings as they began to bend in an unnatural manner, eliciting pained grunts from the Sky Knight, who didn't give in yet. "Go on, break me if you have the balls!"

Just as Eva had an idea of outright breaking her wings with a snap, a pale hand reached for the Sky Knight before it grasped the headgear on her head and pulled her head around. The Sky Knight's wrathful eyes met up with a pair of amber reptilian eyes before everything went white.

And just like this, Alice put the Sky Knight into a hypnosis. Upon seeing how the Sky Knight is relaxed now, Eva let go of her as the monster stood on her talons by herself.

"The questions will come later, we must first take care of the Queen!" Alice spoke with a serious tone.

"Put her on the table." Victor told the people in the room with a professional tone. With the help of Luka and Granberia, Lucretia sprawled her body on the empty table between the sofas, with her head lying near the edge while her legs were hanging down.

While they were doing so, Victor decided to top it up by a notch and bought the passive skill of Advanced Medical Intuition with 12'000 Gold Coins, ten times the amount of money that the intermediate version costs. Since one hour had passed already from the last hourly income, he currently has 17'671 Gold Coins.

With that, Victor's knowledge of the medical field expanded even further, and his point of view of Lucretia's situation changed. At this very moment, he could even fix his own leg by himself if he wished so.

Victor bent his body forward and looked down on Lucretia, who was taking deep breaths and didn't move. "How do you feel?"

Lucretia paused for a bit and replied. "Weak… I can't breathe right… I also feel a lot of pain."

"...Hmm… By any chance, is the arrow poisoned?" Victor asked Alice. Alice raised an eyebrow in curiosity and checked over the tip of the arrow, before touching it and rubbing away some kind of dust from the arrow's tip.

She licked the finger that collected the dust and tasted it for a couple of seconds. "...Yes, it is actually poisoned."

"I see, is there anything that can be done?" Victor asked Alice again. Surprisingly, he was totally calm about the situation, as if he had everything under control.

"If I used my recovery spell on her, the arrow will probably damage her even further, so it should be removed. Otherwise, we need to prepare a medicinal soup with Antidote Grass."

Victor nodded and looked at Eva. "If you have the materials, can you make it?"

Eva nodded. "Yes. This isn't like a disease, where I have to find the virus or bacteria's identity. Antidote Grass has curative properties that break down the majority of poisons. However, I would need at least six stalks of it."

Victor immediately bought it for a cheap 1'233 Gold Coins for each, summing up for a total of 7'398 Gold Coins spent that brought his counter to 10'273 Gold Coins. He passed the six stalks of Antidote Grass to Eva, and she immediately went to another room to prepare the medical soup.

As for Victor himself, he began to observe the area where the arrow had struck, which was in the frontal side between the head and the throat. Using his medical knowledge, he began to connect the position of the organs with his mental image as he further observed her. Fortunately, it had missed any major organ and the bones, also the main arteries and veins. Only the muscles were hit. Unlike Victor, the Queen was truly lucky…

However, he doesn't have the privilege to spend time without doing anything. The arrow is coated in poison, and if he takes too much time, Lucretia will die. Also, the arrow was made of wood; if he does this in a loose manner, it will break inside her neck, and pulling it out without preparations will cause the tip of the arrow to damage her even further.

The first thing he must do to remove the arrow is to protect the neck vessels first, so that they won't rupture when he will remove the arrow.

"Sorry, but I doubt normal anesthetics work for monsters of your calibre." Victor had said, but Lucretia didn't answer. Even without receiving an answer, Victor proceeded by buying a metallic stand, on which he attached a blood bag filled with the same kind of blood that the Queen Harpy possessed. The price for both was still cheap, not even reaching 2'000.

Following that, in the case he will have to deal with excessive blood loss, he also bought cheap but useful tools to proceed with the surgery.

"Bring Penny out, this won't be a good thing for her to see…" Victor told Luka, who immediately obliged as he carried the little girl out of the house.

"Where are we going?" Penny curiously asked.

"Victor has to work now, let's not disturb him." That was Luka's reply as they walked outside the village chief's house. His presence immediately attracted the attention of the many harpies and humans surrounding them and stared at him with expectations.

"How is it going in there?" Olliana, who didn't have anyone to talk with and thus was completely free, asked Luka. Of course, the ambush has been done from inside to outside by a Sky Knight, so no one still knew about the Queen Harpy's incident.

Luka put down Penny and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Well… Apparently, one of the knights serving the queen attacked her with a poisoned arrow…"

"..." Olliana didn't say anything in response for a short while, and blankly stared at Luka. "....What?"

"Victor is currently taking care of removing the arrow from the queen's neck." Upon making himself clear of what was going on, an uproar rose from the mob.

"The queen is hurt?!"

"What happened?!"

In the middle of the chaos among the Harpies, eight Harpies in particular appeared in front of Luka and Penny. All eight of them were armored just like the Sky Knight who tried to assassinate the queen, signaling their status as Sky Knights.

"What happened to the queen? What knight?"

"Well…" Luka tried to explain himself, but the intimidatory presence that these eight Harpies released was overwhelming. Even Penny hid behind him with a scared expression. "...An Harpy dressed like you tried to assassinate the queen, and-"

"WHAT?!" The Sky Knights went into a panic and looked at each other. They were supposed to be all there, so it was easy to find out which one out of them was the culprit.

"Diana is missing!" One of them quickly noticed the absence of the ninth Sky Knight, and quickly assessed the situation. From the information they gathered, Diana supposedly ambushed the Queen Harpy during the meeting with the village chief to bring together the two villages.

But why? Why did Diana do this? Why did one of the Sky Knights, who were supposed to be loyal to the Queen, do this? And most importantly, how is the Queen right now?

"Let us pass, we must attend to the queen at once!" One of the Sky Knights ordered Luka, and the door opened.

However, it wasn't Luka who opened the door, but rather a red-haired woman dressed in finely-made armor and carrying a large sword behind her back. Even with the sturdy and lean muscles that could be seen on her arms, she still carried a beauty comparable to that of monster girls, whose bodies are naturally attractive to better capture men.

Of course, that woman is Granberia, still in her human disguise. She stared at the eight Harpies in front of Luka, who was currently trembling at being stared down from their intimidating gazes.

"At this moment, no one must go inside until Victor is done with the treatment." Granberia replied to the Sky Knights' requests. "You are all also currently under suspicion of treason against the Queen Harpy Lucretia. Once the Queen Harpy is safe, I will let you enter."

"Shut up! We are the most loyal-" Just as one of the Sky Knights tried to rebuke Granberia, the latter threw out such a nasty glare that even the eight Sky Knights in front of her flinched and closed their mouths.

"Did I stutter?"

"...No, we apologize for this mess. It's just that we have fallen into panic once we heard that Diana was the one who tried to assassinate the Queen."

"Hmph." Granberia scoffed. "If this much is enough to shake you all, then where is your worth as Sky Knights? Wouldn't any trained Harpy be able to take your place with ease if you can't even control your emotions?"

With only a small speech and a glare, Granberia was able to subjugate the eight Sky Knights and shift their emotions from anger to shame. At that sight, Luka couldn't help but admire her.

'As expected of a Heavenly Knight…' Those were his thoughts, before he was shaken by Granberia's voice.

"Carry away Penny, I'll see this place by myself."

"Yes." Luka nodded as he brought the little Penny away from Granberia and the Sky Knights. However, in that moment, Luka wasn't the only one taken aback in the village; the people within the house were spectating the magical event happening in front of them, which was Victor surgically removing the poisoned arrow by himself.

He enlarged the wound while making sure that not a single important vein within Lucretia's body would get damaged or infected by external bacterias. Using both alcohol to clean the wound and injecting the medical liquid made by Eva within her throat to keep the poison at bay, Victor safely removed the arrow without it breaking apart or the feathers.

After that, he delicately closed the wounds from both sides with a tiny needle and stainless steel wires, starting from the muscles in the queen's neck using the assistance of pincers before he closed the flesh and skin in the same way.

For people of this era, such medical care is never seen before. People would usually utilize medical herbs to assist in the healing of their patients; as for things that get stuck in the body, you either are able to pull it out or you leave it in the body.

Rather than a doctor helping a patient, this looked more like a necromancer taking care of a corpse.

In little time, Victor had successfully removed the arrow, closed the wound, bandaged it, and now he is proceeding to assist the queen on drinking the remaining medical liquid in a position where the liquid would not disturb the wounds he had just closed.

"Alright, I'm done here. In the short future, you might feel some discomfort around your neck. Until you can't feel that anymore, you must let others feed you in a sprawled position, unless you want your food to go in places where it should not. The food must also be soft, so avoid ingesting hard food for the moment."

Lucretia merely smiled at Victor and nodded in gratitude. As for Eva and Alice, they were bewildered at the scene they had spectated the entire time.

"Wow… You are really a good doctor." Eva commented with a surprised expression.

"Is this one of the 'superpowers' you bought? You could even heal your leg at this point." Alice followed after Eva with an equally surprised expression.

Victor merely shrugged. "Well, I don't really like pain. As for the question, the answer is yes. I bought knowledge on advanced medical practices so I can deal with this… Phew." He let out a sigh as he relaxed on the sofa where he was sitting the entire time during the surgery.

"You can stand up now." Victor told Lucretia before the queen slowly sat up from the table and stood on her feet. She used her soft feathers to touch the place where she was wounded, and didn't feel any more pain. Just like Victor had said, there was only a bit of discomfort when she moved her head in any direction, but she trusted him that there won't be any immediate damage by twisting her head as long as she doesn't exaggerate.

"This is truly the work of a godly doctor!" Lucretia exclaimed in surprise. She looked at Victor and bowed at him. "I really don't know how I can repay you for assisting me this time, Harpy Village will always be indebted to you for this favor."

"Just let me relax this time… Fuck, I can't stay calm for a single second before something bad happens." Victor scratched his head as he replied back to the queen. He shifted his gaze from Lucretia to the hypnotized Sky Knight and asked. "So, what are we going to do with her?"

Lucretia's gentle and grateful expression shifted into a judgemental one. "I wish to know what is going on before acting."

Alice nodded and looked back at the hypnotized Sky Knight, Diana. "Who are you?"

"My name is Diana, and I am one of the remaining 9 Sky Knights that served Queen Refletsia before Queen Lucretia replaced her." Without missing a beat, Diana replied to Alice's question.

"...Why would you attack me?" Lucretia asked with a serious expression that was hiding discomfort. After all, she was attacked by one of the harpies she trusted the most.

"In my opinion, you are not fit to replace Queen Refletsia. You are weak, and a shame to the harpies who fought in the past to claim the territory that was rightfully ours. Not only did your rule weaken the current harpies, but you also gave back all the territories we had conquered. That is a sign of a coward. I prefer dying with glory than living as a chicken!" Diana didn't hesitate to tell Lucretia her thoughts and reasons for her actions.

Upon hearing these words, Alice scoffed. "So it was just the actions of a moron following her suicidal ideologies… What will be your…?" She paused as soon as she saw the queen's face, which revealed a surprising ice-cold expression devoid of any discomfort or hesitation.

"I see, so you are that kind of person, huh?" Lucretia rhetorically asked before she sighed. The Queen Harpy looked at Alice and asked. "Could you please remove your hypnosis? I will deal with her later."

Alice snapped out of her surprise and nodded, before she dispelled the hypnotic spell she casted on Diana. Diana quickly recovered once the spell was gone and fell into panic upon seeing her queen standing in front of her.

"Shit-!" Just as Diana tried to fly away, Lucretia immediately stopped her by raising one talon and grabbing her face with it, before slamming her head on the ground. Even if she was a pacifist queen, a queen-class monster is not to be trifled with, especially if she is fighting against someone of her same species.

The Queen Harpy shifted around and looked at the human couple who lived in the house. She bowed at them with her wings down and told them. "I apologize for this shameful action from one of my subjects. Anyway, I hope that our alliance will not be affected by it and that the harpies and humans can thrive together as a single community."

"It's… It's fine, I understand what is going on." The village chief, although he was surprised by the short row of events that happened in the last 10 minutes, nodded in Lucretia's direction.

"Good, I'm going outside to speak with my brethren then. I'm sure they are currently confused about what is going on now."

Following the queen who was still holding on Diana with one talon, literally dragging her face on the floor, Alice and Eva walked outside the house, leaving Victor with the Village Chief and his wife inside the house.

The eight Sky Knights who were waiting outside immediately shifted their gaze to the door once it opened again. Granberia stepped aside and let Lucretia walk out with Diana under her. She continued to struggle, but she was unable to escape from the powerful talons of her queen.

"My queen!" Upon seeing Lucretia in a healthy state, the Sky Knights exclaimed with happiness. However, Lucretia didn't look any happier than she should be. Seeing that, and Diana bound to one of her talons, the Sky Knights knew that they should let the queen by herself for a moment.

"My people!" With a single call, Lucretia stopped the panicking mob of harpies before she flapped her wings and landed on the roof of the village chief's house, standing on the edge of the roof with one talon while the other was still gripping on Diana's head.

"I have good and bad news for you all! The good news is that the meeting ended with success. From now on, Harpy Village and Happiness Village are united as a single community. In return for our labor, they will share their men with us so we can prosper and recover our number!"

That would have brought joyous shouts from the harpies, who had already solved their internal problems with the families of the men they had kidnapped. However, the sight of a Sky Knight struggling under their queen's talon brought them a bit of dread.

"The bad news… Diana, one of the nine Sky Knights, decided to betray me and our village's peace for her selfish ideals coinciding with the previous queen's mindset to spread destruction and blood to satisfy her own lust for battle!"

Her words elicited a shocked gasp from the adult harpies. They all wished for the peace they were feeling to continue forever after the terrible and consecutive wars they had to face under Refletsia's rule, so it took them by surprise knowing that there was one among the Sky Knights who thought otherwise.

"For now, she shall be imprisoned. Her punishment will be announced tomorrow morning. As for the other Sky Knights, they will have to go through a test to see if their loyalty is for me or the previous queen. Now, please enjoy this evening to commemorate this fantastic day where we are finally one with Happiness Village!" After announcing that, Lucretia vanished from everyone's sight thanks to her supernatural speed as she was headed back to the Harpy Village.

…

Victor Luis' (future) Trivia Book: Siren

Sirens are a very unique species of Harpies, the only one subspecies of the Harpy race that possess hands, although they are shaped like a bird's leg. Her wings are not connected to her arms, but rather to her hips to permit flight without moving her arms.

Just like Wing Harpies, Sirens are also a species of Harpies born already powerful. Their physical strength is greater than that of Wing Harpies and Sky Knights, and her sharp claws give her another edge over other Harpies whose arms are used only to flap and fly.

They generally live in the northern sea, flying above the large mass of water and resting on the tiny islands between Sentora and Hellgondo.

Along with arms and physical strength, she has yet another advantage over other harpies, and that is her hypnotizing voice. By singing songs in the ocean, Sirens attract nearby sailors who wish only to copulate with her, and she obliges them by sucking and pumping out all of their semen.

However, they will keep being under a trance until death, which the Sirens take advantage of and extract their seed until they are completely dehydrated. Because of the high rate of death present in the northern sea, sailors usually communicate with sign language and wear ear plugs.

Curiously enough, they can find their direction by sensing the world's geomagnetism, never losing their way in the middle of the sea. Also, although they can hypnotize men with their magically-charged voice alone, they take in high consideration their singing capabilities.

Unless they are in mortal danger, they will never use their hypnotic voice without singing. It is a culture for them, a way to classify the strong and the weak between their tribes. The best singer is the leader of the tribe; but even among the worst singers, they are still considered as important members of their tribe due to their body's strength.