Chapter 11: Aftermath

Tiles of basement around the blast were shattered, Deus Garcia laid on unmoving as the dust settled. Towards the side, Khufu was lying sideways with curled legs and hands grabbing his stomach. Trace's master stepped forwards and picked up a burnt piece of the blue talisman.

Trace, also unmoving, was staring at the scene with wide eyes. He fell on his butt after the explosion but not harmed in the slightest. After keeping the boxes back in his pockets he got up and rushed towards his master.

"Master are you okay?"

Master nodded and extended his hand to rub the dust off Trace's hair. His apprentice had truly grown up to be a fine man. Master sighed and looked over to injured Khufu. Leaving Khufu and Deus behind in such state would only invite more trouble.

"You did great Trace. Now let's take these two to a hospital".

...

The two coachmen were still waiting outside the building with a blue and white bird carrying a proud mohawk. The two men were called over and were surprised to see the large basement. Both of them gasped when they saw the two injured Sorcerers and wanted no part in it.

However, soon enough they made up their heart to provide any sort of help needed. While carrying out the two injured Sorcerers outside, their eyes took many glances at the young man present. Only a moment ago, they were looking at the person with long hair but seeing no rings in his hand, the coachmen turned their attention to Trace.

"Brother, I saw the Level 2 Sorcerer going inside. Don't tell me the little boy you brought over did this to him".

"I can't believe either. Make sure ya not offend him, bother".

The two coachmen whispered to each other while unbolting the carriages. One of the specialties of Binpark Carriages was the ability to combine many carriages into one. This was done when a big family wanted to travel, or large goods needed to be delivered.

Hurriedly the carriages were combined, and the seats were laid out as beds. A carriage with four horses and with space to fit a king-sized bed was procured! Four people present at the scene lifted the two fainted Sorcerers one by one and loaded them on the carriage. A bird flew over and sat on the carriage.

"Young master, which hospital in yar mind?", a coachmen asked to Trace.

"Koyoko Regional Medical Center", Trace's master sabotaged the situation.

...

The biggest hospital in Koyoko City was shining like an amusement park in the night. Compared to other places in the West, Koyoko Regional Medical Centre was the sun luring moths nearby. Even in the night this place was lively. There were many different shops, hotels, restaurants nearby.

Trace saw many carriages like the one he was riding. Even late at night many carriages and people could be seen around the hospital. After listening his master's instruction, Trace went alone inside the hospital. At the Grand Lobby, three receptionists were present but one of them was busy.

"Excuse me, we have two injured Sorcerers. Can you send nurses to fetch them from the carriage?", Trace said.

Both receptionists raised their heads together. They were sharing a book. One corner of the book was held by the first receptionist while the other corner was held by the second receptionist. Identification tags around their neck said Finn and Quinn respectively.

"Fill out the form, sir", Finn said.

"Tell me the details, young man", Quinn said at the same time.

The twin brother and sister glared at each other. Their facial features were similar, but it was clear that Finn was a boy and Quinn was a girl. Book between their hand was pulled from both sides. Only after Trace called out, they did stop glaring at each other and looked towards Trace.

"They work for the Federation", Trace said.

Master had told him to use Federation's name if the response of receptionist was not quick. Quinn immediately got up and went to call for nurses. Whereas Finn leisurely followed Trace to the carriage. Didn't every third person or so worked for the Federation?

Finn was taller and thinner than Trace and walked with long steps. On the way, he took a few glances at the rings on Trace's fingers. Probably a patrolman or a rich brat, he thought. After reaching the carriage, Finn opened the door to see the injured Sorcerers. A seven-edged badge entered his vision, he nodded towards the people present and stepped back.

Two male nurses came out from the hospital with a regular stretcher and Finn waved his hand towards them. After a quick discussion with Finn, one of the nurses took out a small notebook and wrote a few details with the number 7 on it. Then kept the notebook in his pocket.

"We will take the patients one by one", Finn said.

The nurses closed in the carriage and did a quick examination of Khufu Azami before looking towards Deus Garcia. Just one look and they abruptly stopped. One of them rushed out of the carriage, gave Finn a stern look and ran back to the hospital.

"How bad is the injury?" Finn looked towards Trace confusingly.

Trace was taken aback with the question and pondered. Tonight, was his second time using a talisman. After his master bought him the talismans, Trace was only asked to go over the instruction manual. Additionally, he himself was unaffected with the blast. Just when Trace was about to give a rough estimate, he heard a commotion.

Two stretchers on wheels with thick pads and shining sliver body were being brought over by six nurses. Finn looked over to see and wondered who was the important person that was injured. But the stretchers were getting closer and closer to him. The nurse that just left was leading the six-man unit and ran the stretcher over Finn's leg.

Finn wanted to voice a few words of contempt but held back because he felt something amiss. He looked over to the group standing beside the carriage. A young-looking Level 2 Sorcerer was the attraction but was the boy actually young?

There were many Sorcerers who hired surgeons to look young. Additionally reaching the second sequence of Level 1 made a variety of changes to the body were possible. For example, Sorcerers could fiddle with their vocal cords to permanently change their voice.

Trying to look younger was a huge trend among Sorcerers. Nourishing the skin with mana to get silky smooth skin was another example. Another trend, which no one talked about, was over the centuries the number of women with bountiful bosoms skyrocketed.

Poor sister, ahem, Finn tried to get his thoughts straight. His sister and him were only at the first sequence of Level 1. So, a Level 2 Sorcerer was someone to be respectful towards. But the other people in the group were non-Sorcerers. Two coachmen and a weirdo with hair covering his eyes.

However, when the first stretcher passed him, he choked on his own thoughts. His eyes and his mind reflected the triangular emblem that was on Deus Garcia's belt. Holy, a person from the Sovereign Jurisdiction Department(SJD)! Only after the stretchers disappeared from his vision, did he let out a breath of air.

Inside the Grand Lobby, Quinn was eagerly waiting to see the important patient. The stretchers rushed in, following the nurses was the young man from earlier and…. Holy, the fortune teller from Coiling Cradle Street! Only after the people disappeared from her view, did she let out a breath of air.

"Sister, did you see him?" Finn rushed inside the hospital.

"Brother, I saw him!!", Quinn smiled back at her twin brother.

The twins resumed reading the novel after zealously thinking about the person they saw today, smile not leaving their face. Outside a Sorcerer with unbuttoned shirt and messy hair was walking closer to the hospital. A few people saw him collapse at the entrance of the Grand Lobby.

A nurse rushed out to check the pulse of the collapsed man. But when she lifted the man's hand her composure fell. The twins were disturbed because of the commotion caused. A few people were surrounded the collapsed man.

The man's skin around his nose and neck was pale white. His breathing was regular, and body looked fine. The twins saw and speculated that the person was poisoned. But after seeing the man's hand they were even more surprised than the people present. A Level 3 Sorcerer now? What the hell happened today?!

...

In the ethereal darkness of the night, two shadows stepped down from a carriage. A torch light inspected the surrounding walls as the shadows moved. Finally, the torch light stopped on a burnt corpse. Another, torch light emerged. This time from the second shadow and began inspecting the surroundings.

"Good uncle, two bodies in two days?", voice belonging to a young man said.

The good uncle was pacing around the corpse. He lifted his hand to smell a black netted cloth. His heart instantly filling with sadness. When he saw how the corpse was missing a head, the sadness seeped deep into his bones.

"That son of a witch, making me dispose such hot body", this voice was that of a middle-aged man.

"Good uncle, are you stupid? How can a corpse be hot?"

"You, son of a… an angle", the man lightly hit on his nephew's head.

...

Wind gently tapped on the windowpane glittering with reddish light. The window itself was not made of anything special but it emitted a corporal light in the dark night. Inside the window were rows of chairs and were occupied by naked people.

The space inside was fairly big and walls around were decorated with thin long lines. The lines formed a pattern home to a red hue travelling along. Torches were burning around the corners of the room and large stone slabs were places at one end.

A girl was sitting on one of the stone slabs. Her left hand was covering her own face but her right hand left a gap for her eyes that were looking at the distance. To her side were other people lying on stone slabs. At the front, people were sitting on chairs with their head down.

The girl looked like sixteen or seventeen years old. Her green hair matched the colors of her eyes. She looked down caressed the small peaks on her chest. A smile escaped her lips as she left the stone slab and walked towards the rows of chairs present in the room.

As she walked towards the end of the room her lips moved, counting the number of people present. After looking around for a while, she picked a spot to sit. Beside her was a woman who seemed to be in her thirties. After giving the woman a quick look, the green head titled downwards seemingly sleeping.