Chapter 19: Snake in the Hospital

When the people of Gaion were still in deep sleep, some people were talking in the church, the central Naos. There was blood spilled everywhere. The people in the Naos were bathed in blood as well as the broken statue of their deity.

A black figure rose and screamed. A Hierius of the church shot an arrow towards it and it turned into ashes within a second, letting out a terrifying scream as if it was reaching its true death.

"Hierius Arne." said the man who killed the being who rose from the ground.

"That was the last of it...Yes, Belen. What is it?" said Arne as he took his hood off.

"I think that we should open such boxes somewhere else no matter how-"

"Belen, did you lose your senses? This church is the place where these being are the weakest. I didn't certainly expect it to be so powerful though. If we opened the box somewhere else, it would spread all over Gaion." Arne stayed calm. He wiped the blood off his cheek with the back of hand.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard as a man was approaching.

"Ah, it's it our Hierius Arne! What a pleasant surprise." said the man wearing glasses who came towards them, clapping. His indifferent smile made others around him feel uncomfortable.

"Greetings, Sir. Can you please tell me who you are?" said Arne.

"I am someone you don't need to know about. Just know that I came here because the Bishop told me to. I work under him." The man showed him a blue gem.

"I see. Shall we talk about the reports after we clean up then?"

After they 'cleaned' the place up, they moved to the 'waiting room' since it is the place where the discussions are made.

"Now, please be straightforward." said the man, sitting with his legs crossed.

"The boy is from Hephaestus family. Only three years old yet is very clever. I assume that it is because of his mother, Gunhild Galatis. The Galatis were renowned for their intelligence for once. Since Erland's parents were both from special families, we are assuming that the draugs of the underworld caught him that night...for certain advantages." said Arne.

"I see. What made you think that he is clever though? He looks sort of like a knucklehead to me." said the man.

"Oh come on, he guesses so many things right. He can even count, isn't that a form of intelligence?" said Arne, having his serious attitude worn off and replaced with the behavior of a bragging older brother or perhaps a father figure.

"The Bishop did tell me that you are a fond of children but I didn't think that your fondness would be this annoying."

"Hehe. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"No. You did a good job. I have an order from the Bishop though, since you have completed your task successfully. From now on, keep a close connection with the boy. We might get to use him in the future."

Arne frowned, seeming annoyed. "Can't you be a little gentle when it comes to words? You should say that the boy will once help us prosper. Your emotional quotient is mesmerizingly low. It can be seen through your way of conversing."

"You- Ugh...I'll be going now then. Do your work with all your heart or else you might get your heart pierced."

"Certainly! Oh my, that was a boring line you made there." Arne chuckled silently.

The man left, looking annoyed and leaving a sigh of relief that his meeting with Arne is done.

The sun rose. Erland started visiting the Naos more often and has gotten back his family.

After one month, winter came. Gaion was covered with snow. Even though it was a matter of joy for the people for the first few days, it became worse.

"*sigh*(I never realized the pain of winter. We really need a heater...)" Erland gazed outside the window, shivering.

"Finally. I can stay home now." said Erik, stretching his arms.

"Is there any way I can go out?" said Erland.

"No. I think that you should just tuck in your bed for now. Winter doesn't stay long. You should enjoy it while it lasts." said Erik with a wide smile.

"Can't we make something that will heat us up?" Erland looked at Erik, expectantly. "(Maybe there's something like a heater in this world? Maybe I can make dad bring that topic up and then make him buy it?)"

"I don't think so...Such things don't exist." 

"Oh..." Erland looked disappointed.

Suddenly someone slammed the door open. The person rushed in wearing some heavy cloths as if he was some sort of a winter soldier. Nothing could be seen. Even though it was pretty much of a usual view for Erland, it startled him.

The person went towards the couch of the living room. He took the heavy coat off and took off his mask. Then he took his glasses off. He took a deep breath and fell on the couch.

"Uncle Svend? What is he doing here?" said Erland.

"Let him sleep, let's go." said Erik, patting on Erland's back.

Svend looked at him without any words. After Erik tucked Erland into the bed, he went downstairs to know what was going on.

Erik walked towards Svend and kicked on his back. Svend turned away with a tired face.

"What's up?" said Erik.

"I messed up real bad..." Svend got up and sat on the couch with the coat covering his whole body.

"What did you do? You don't seem like a guy who would do such thing."

"What thing?" Svend immediately looked at Erik.

"Did you cheat on Frida or-"

"I would rather burn in the Hells than doing that." Svend yelled out. His face looked furious.

"Okay okay, sorry. Tell me what happened." said Erik as he took a seat on a stool nearby.

"Do I have to?..." said Svend, sounding as if he is about to break down.

"Then get outta my house." Erik slapped on Svend's face with the back of his hand as he got up from his seat.

Svend leaned back on the couch, rubbing his forehead. "Ugh. I actually came here to vent..."

"Then why are you being so dramatic about it?"

Svend replied, sounding like a shy high school girl with an extremely deep voice. "I'm feeling uncomfortable to tell you such thing-"

"JUST SAY IT, DAMN IT!" Erik held his clenched fist high, ready to launch another smack on Svend's head.

"Don't yell. *sigh* There is a snake in the hospital."

"Okay then, go kill it." 

"We can't. *sigh* There's this colleague of mine. She has recently joined as an assistant doctor under my teacher."

"Stop telling me the whole history and get to the point!" Erik yelled.

"Chill out, will you? Why is it that when I open up, you all treat me like this? *sigh* I am telling you. Okay so, everything was going fine. I sometimes take shifts to that hospital so I got to meet her pretty often. We became good friends. I always thought that she has thought of me as a friend but inside she hated Frida and wanted to take her place."

"Why did you hide all these from us?" Erik took a seat again, looking concerned.

Svend looked at him as if he is done with everything.

"I had no face after messing up so many things. I suspected your child for nothing and then Frode got mad at me after hearing it. Then I messed it up real bad with the situation with Gunhild. If your son hadn't gone to get help, she would have met her end...I'm a failure...I lost my face to both my family and your family."

"Um...That isn't really much of a 'messing up' or whatever. We all are humans, we all mess things up. We aren't holding any grudges against you." Erik leaned in a bit and patted on Svend's back.

"I messed things up even more because I didn't bring any female nurse with me. The neighbors were talking crap about her. I still feel bad about it..." Svend rubbed his forehead and let out a long sigh.

"We don't really give a damn to them."

"*sigh* So back to my problem. Frida started to visit my hospital more since she has to close the pet shop."

"Oh? Where are the animals then?"

"Good for Frode, they are now at the house. A cat got really attached to him and me by the way." said Svend as he remembered a core memory of happy little Frode playing with the small cat as it nuzzled on Frode's cheeks. 

"Good for you too then."

Svend continued. "I didn't realize that she has been telling bullshits about me to Frida. Frida didn't believe anything for a long time until one day. I took a light nap whilst that pesky woman got a bit too close to me, right at the moment Frida opened the door. Even worse, some employees told Frida that I sometimes do shits with her...Why did I meet this fate even though I never even looked at a woman that way except my Frida..."

"I never saw you swearing this much." Erik was still confused. "So why are you at my home?"

Svend stopped leaning and yelled "Seriously?!" His voice became calm after a moment. "Because I'm too embarrassed to go home of course. I don't want Frode to guess that me and Frida fought..."

"O-Oh...I mean, you can just tell her that it was just a misunderstanding-"

"You are a himbo, you know that? But your idiocy is too high, higher than your mediocre good looks."

"Just get to the point." Erik frowned.

"I tried but she doesn't listen. I want to buy her, her favorite snack and calm her but they don't sell it around winter."

"What's her favorite snack? Hilda can make it for you."

"You remember those vegetable bread-buns?"

Erik was on the verge of landing a slap on Svend's face as he slightly got up from the stool. "Dumbass, they sell it in malls during winter. Don't you ever leave your hospital?"

"I do but only when I go home or have an urgent call." 

"Seriously...Are you sure that it's gonna be enough to calm her down?" Erik had audible doubt in his words.

"No of course. I need someone's help but Gunhild's too sick...Can I take Er-"

"No." Erik's face became indifferent.

"Please-"

"No. Why do you want to take him?"

"Because he seems to have somewhat an understanding about these things. Maybe he can say something to Frida so that she will come to me and then we will have a calm and nice conversation about what really happened." 

"Don't drag my son into this." Erik got up from the stool and headed towards the coat hanger. "How about I go with you and see what it is."

"Re-really?" Svend's cold face showed a glimmer of sparkle.

"I don't know if it will help but let's go."

Being pumped up with motivation and hope about it, they both went to the hospital. It was still at service during the freezing winter, since it is a hospital after all.

The two friends were going through the harsh snow to the hospital, both looking like penguins from afar. Erik looked like a thin one and Svend looked like a fat one. As snow was still falling from the sky, it was making the two friends' struggles seem comedic. 

"Oy." Erik looked at Svend

"Hm?" Svend looked at Erik as well.

"Why didn't you tell me to wear firmer cloths?" said Erik.

"Huh!?" Svend leaned in, trying to hear what he was saying. "I did tell you, you ignored me." He yelled.

"I can't hear you!" Erik yelled as well.

After a short unnecessary conversation between two 'himbos', they both entered the hospital.

"Ah, welcome. I see you have brought a friend." said a woman who wore rather revealing cloths even in winter. It was certain that she was shivering but her attention craving instincts led her to choose such a drastic decision.

Svend took his mask off and spoke with a harsh tone,

"Change your clothes and wear something appropriate or else get out of this place." 

"Why, don't you like this?"

"Scram..." Svend frowned. 

Erik backed away a little. "(He would have slapped this woman if it was our Svend of the past...)"

The woman got a bit close to Svend. "You are going too harsh on me baby. Did you want me to-"

"Miss, can you please let us go? I don't know about anything you two are talking about, but getting interrupted when I came here to get a checkup is just annoying." said Erik and slowly took his mask and coat off.

"Oh! Yes, please get in." said the woman, seeming even more enthusiastic after seeing Erik.

After they both got in the chamber, they sat on the chairs beside the desk. They both were clueless about what to do.

"How come others doesn't notice that the woman is a total snake? She totally acts like one." said Erik.

"She has bribed others somehow. I don't know why the old man isn't doing anything about that." Svend rubbed his forehead.

They both sighed.

"Oh wait, I think that I accidently brought something. I felt like my coat was heavier than before." Erik took the coat on his lap.

"Did you shit your pants?" Svend got his head up from the desk, and spoke apathetically.

"I WAS TALKING ABOUT MY FRICKING COAT DAMN IT- NOT MY PANTS!" Erik looked furious.

Svend rested his head on the desk again.

"Wait a minute, it wasn't heavy when I wore it." Erik rubbed his chin.

"So you did shit your pants-"

"Shut up." Erik looked annoyed. 

Svend looked at his right side while resting his head and noticed a small figure which started patting on Svend's head, seeing his exhausted face.

"Oh, it's true then. You really can see an angel of hope when you are in despair." said Svend with an exhausted expression even though he spoke of a glimmer of hope a second ago.

"What? Who do you see?" said Erik and scratched his neck.

"I see Erland."

"Tch- Why are you so attached to my son in all of a sudden." Erik frowned.

"Ha hah!" Svend slammed his head on the desk and sighed.

A little hand caressed on Svend's head. Svend put his head up and said "Thanks."

"Wh-WHAT THE- Erland, what are you doing here?" Erik jumped out of his place as soon as he saw Erland.

"I got in that bag thingy on the back of your coat. I heard everything by the way." said Erland with a small smile.

"Oh Lords..." Erik palmed his face.

"(Should I actually help them though...it seems risky. I'm probably being inspected by the government as well...No it doesn't seem like anything I'd get in trouble for...But what if I succeed in helping them and then they think of me as some prodigy and takes me away?...No, I'm overthinking...But what if I'm not!?)" While Erland had a small smile on his face, looking confident, he was going through an episode of great anxiety in his head.

"Erland, glad to meet you here. How have you been?" Svend smiled at Erland.

"Well, I heard that you are in trouble so I came here. Can I help?" Erland's eyes became full of hope and excitement. 

"No." Erik disapproved.

"Pwease." Erik looked at Erik with puppy eyes.

"No way. I can't drag you into this mess." Erik crossed his arms.

"Pwetty pwease...I will even do my laundry from now on." 

"You don't have to. I don't want you to catch a cold." Erik walked towards Erland.

"Why can't I? I want to help..."

"Because you are still little and you might mess things up more.(Also this bastard is trying to use you somehow, I can sense that.)"

"Then...I will get people who can help." said Erland, scratching the back of his neck, confused about what to do.

"No need. We don't want this matter to spread." Erik shook his head with a frown.

"Then...I will find a way to fix it in one day!"

"Sure then.(You will eventually fail and give up on this so it's a win win for me. I want to help my friend but considering how much worse of a woman that snake is, I might get in trouble as well.)"

Erland let out a cheer and started to run across the chamber. "(Why do they complicate everything though...It seems like a simple problem to handle to me.)"

Svend palmed his head and looked down.

"Erik, you definitely hate me..."