LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 12
“Get ready. We’re heading into the next class now.”
Enoch said this and turned his back.
Behind the man, who was fluttering his coat while wearing pince-nez glasses, a massive mechanical snake shook its body like a guardian deity.
“Lesson 2 is survival. I will teach you how to survive when faced with an unstoppable force.”
“…You want me to fight that thing?”
Laquirina turned her head in disbelief and asked.
“It’s not about fighting. It’s about running away. Use your smarts.”
Enoch said this and used a skill.
Golden Fusion. Then, Chain Harmony.
Blue flames and a golden glow seeped into the man’s pince-nez glasses.
[Laquirina]
[Value: Incalculable]
Again, the world affirms his actions.
Enoch chuckled softly.
“I know you can do more.”
“……”
“Begin.”
Enoch lowered his finger.
The two-headed mechanical snake looked down at Laquirina.
“…Ha ha.”
Laquirina laughed in a resigned manner.
She fainted two hours later.
@
Enoch loaded the unconscious Laquirina into a vehicle and took her to the hospital.
She didn’t have any serious injuries; it was just a precautionary measure.
The hospital they arrived at was Infirmary, located in the northeast of the city. It sat between the military district and the noble and bureaucratic areas.
The name of the hospital was somewhat peculiar, as hospitals related to universities, the military, or religious organizations were often named that way in this world.
The doctor in the hospital clicked his tongue as soon as he saw the collapsed Laquirina.
“Goodness. The girl’s a complete wreck. What happened to her?”
“I was training her a bit since we’re sending her to the academy. Is her condition serious?”
Enoch asked, a bit anxious. The doctor chuckled softly in response.
“Just a faint from exhaustion. If it were serious, I’d have taken action earlier.”
The doctor scribbled ‘Nutritional Deficiency’ and ‘Lack of Sleep’ on a clipboard and handed it to Enoch.
“How much is it?”
“Hmm. Since it’s just an IV drip, I think it’s about 80,000 Cro.”
“Here it is. You don’t need to give change.”
Enoch placed a bundle of 50,000 Cro on the desk.
The doctor laughed heartily as he stuffed the wad of cash into his pocket.
“Isn’t the change a bit too much? Anyway, thank you. I’ll make good use of it.”
“Don’t mention it. I have my reasons to be grateful.”
“Reasons, huh? It seems you’ve gotten quite accustomed to that way of speaking.”
Enoch quietly smiled at the old doctor’s words.
It was true, as he actually had.
“It’s been a while. As you said, that naïve phase passes relatively quickly.”
Enoch’s speech hadn’t originally been this way.
The heavy and formal tone he maintained was largely due to the advice of the doctor Felton in front of him.
His principle was simple.
Those with wealth shouldn’t act frivolously.
Enoch found that idea quite reasonable. So, he consciously stuck to the heavy manner of speaking.
Thanks to that, he could now let the stiff tone flow naturally without further thought.
Enoch believed he owed a lot to the doctor’s counsel.
“Anyway, I’ll take my leave now. Your student will wake up soon. It won’t take long.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, right.”
The doctor stopped mid-step as if something crossed his mind. For some reason, he glanced back at Enoch and hesitated before speaking up.
“Enoch, I’m sorry, but do you have a moment?”
“A moment? What’s the matter?”
“Well… I need to discuss something with you. If it’s okay, please visit me later.”
The doctor appeared quite hesitant. He seemed unsure about whether he should even be asking this.
“Understood. I’ll come by later.”
“Thank you. I’ll be waiting.”
The doctor left with an apologetic demeanor, while Enoch tilted his head, then sat back down.
After some time passed, Laquirina, who had been lying down, finally regained consciousness.
“Huh? Where am I?”
“You’re in the hospital.”
Enoch tapped Laquirina’s head lightly with the clipboard.
-Thump!
“Ow!”
Laquirina immediately covered her forehead with both hands and pouted.
He hadn’t even hit her hard. Was it because her training had worn her out a bit?
Seeing her react almost reflexively, it seemed she had built up some trauma.
“Ow ow… But wait, a hospital? Did I faint or something?”
“Yep. You cried out like a newborn and then just flopped like a frog.”
“A, a frog?”
Laquirina trailed off, seemingly unable to believe it. She was clearly reluctant to accept it.
Well, on the contrary, Enoch paused for a moment. It was true that she had flopped like a frog.
Did that reveal a truth of her teacher’s nature?
Laquirina sat there with a blank stare, muttering incomprehensible things.
“Frog… frog… I couldn’t help it… a snake appeared… snakes eat frogs… with two heads, three heads… eight…”
“Anyway, today’s training wasn’t bad. Remember what you learned. We’ll continue next time.”
“Snake… snake…”
Laquirina’s expression quickly dimmed. Just one time, and she acted like this. She was quite the drama queen.
“For today, just rest well. Once the IV is done, we can leave, so keep that in mind.”
“Okay.”
“Do you have anything you’d like to eat?”
“Something to eat?”
Laquirina’s eyes lit up in an instant.
Enoch found her quite easy to read.
“Yeah. Since you went through some trouble, you should get a reward.”
“Something I want to eat… anything is fine?”
“Sure.”
“Oh my…! I heard there’s a delicious waffle place in block 4 of the shopping district. I want to go there.”
Enoch recognized the place Laquirina mentioned; he had been there once before.
By the way, the price was 3,500 Cro.
“And… I also want to try the tiramisu in block 6. And the eclairs sold at the shop across the street with the blue roof… and more…”
Laquirina kept naming desserts. The prices were 4,000 Cro and 3,500 Cro, respectively.
She had racked up a total of 11,000 Cro.
Did this kid know that was extravagant?
He would’ve preferred to just take her somewhere good that he already knew about.
Enoch quietly regretted asking. Of course, he didn’t show it on the outside.
“Got it. Let’s check it out in a bit.”
“Yes!!!”
Laquirina smiled brightly.
The sweet treats pushed the nightmares of the three-headed snake far away.
@
After leaving Laquirina in her hospital room, Enoch moved to his next destination. The place he headed to was the Physician’s Office.
-Knock knock
Enoch knocked several times before entering. Doctor Felton, whom he had met earlier, was waiting for him.
“Welcome. You arrived quite early. Did your student wake up?”
“As soon as she did, she started talking about desserts. She must have a sweet tooth.”
“Kids her age are usually like that. If it comes to it, let me know. I can send some chocolates from the supply in her room.”
Hospital chocolates. People in this world called them ‘idiot chocolates.’
The reasons were complex.
First of all, they were terrible. To exaggerate, they were just barely better than boiled potatoes. Unless you were an idiot, you wouldn’t actively seek this out.
Even so, the demand for hospital chocolates was unending.
When providing nutrients to patients seriously injured and unconscious, there’s nothing better than melted hospital chocolate.
It’s not too sweet, reasonably bitter, and includes mashed vegetables and meat, so the nutrients are just okay.
In other words, that’s the second reason.
When one becomes ill, they have to live only off it for a while, willingly or unwillingly.
Thus, it gained a somewhat cynical nickname filled with affection.
‘Sounds pretty good, though.’
Yet Enoch felt his ears perk up.
Wasn’t eating some extravagant dessert costing 11,000 Cro less appealing than this?
And Laquirina was lying in the hospital after all.
It wasn’t something the one who had beaten her up should say, but Enoch felt a certain sense of fate here.
It was like charging toward a predetermined tragedy in a Greek-style fate.
-Aaaah!!!
‘No, that won’t do. It’s too cruel.’
At some point, Enoch envisioned Laquirina receiving the idiot chocolate and having a fit of rage.
He shook his head to dismiss the unhelpful thoughts. What mattered now wasn’t chocolates.
How did the conversation drift down this path?
“Chocolates are fine. I would like to hear the main point right away.”
“Um… alright. First, take a look at this.”
Doctor Felton handed Enoch a few papers.
Enoch received the clipboard and immediately flipped through it.
‘Clinical trial results for the new drug of Felton’s apprentice, Clarena… Results: inconclusive. Lack of experimental samples and insufficient test populations. Additionally-‘
Apprentice refers to a trainee, intern, student researcher, or assistant. For comparison, one could consider it roughly equivalent to a resident without a medical license.
“These are the results of some new drug clinical trials by a girl named Clarena. What’s the reason for showing this to me?”
“As you’ll see there, she’s my student. Quite talented and bright. But her family is poor, and she’s underappreciated given her abilities. The city folks tend to obsess unnecessarily about backgrounds.”
Enoch listened quietly to the doctor’s words, guessing there would be a main point hiding behind this emotional story.
His prediction came true.
Felton momentarily lowered his head in thought before finally speaking up with difficulty.
“Now that it’s come to this, I’ll be frank.”
At that moment, the doctor bowed his head almost as if he were about to prostrate himself.
“I beg you. Please help my student.”
“Please, get up. I fear it might damage your reputation.”
“I don’t mind. What does a teacher’s honor mean if he can’t even help one student?”
Felton’s attitude was resolute. Enoch learned that even a bowed head could maintain dignity.
“First, could you please explain further? What exactly do you need help with?”
“That is…”
As if he couldn’t find the words, Felton struggled to speak again.
“…Money.”
“Excuse me?”
“We need money. Specifically, a budget. The new drug needs to undergo testing again, but they’ve run out of funds and are stuck…”
Enoch paused for a moment.
He was momentarily confused about what the problem was.