Chereads / District 42 / Chapter 23 - New home

Chapter 23 - New home

"Live in a castle? Are you kidding me? It is not even cooperation, but a unilateral benefit for sure!"

Casper was so relieved that things were going well that he could not help but sit in a chair near there and give a sigh.

"Hey! My chair… You are all dirty…"

"Sorry for this, but I needed to sit a bit." He said, not even care for the chair's state at all.

The Princess snorted, but let it go.

"Well, to be more precise, we need you to be here because we need to know how you got here, from where, and what you exactly are. We will interview you sometimes and even analyze your body for this sake, and other measures if needed…

"Anyway, that's not the only thing. As you already know clearly at this point, you are an incomprehensible anomaly. During the civil war, people must have got frightened about you but did say nothing because they had more important things going on. However, if you keep walking through the streets carefreely, the commoners will surely panic and start a fuss. Besides, the Frelsi will make sure to keep an eye on you.

"In short, we need to protect you from the outside, and prepare the outside to receive you, got it?"

"Yes. It's just natural that things go this way. If the citizens start to panic, the weight will always fall on the government's shoulders. People would start to conspire, thinking if the government isn't hiding something from them. The protests would start, pressure, anger, vandalism… Until another attack, like the previous one."

"Hmm, you seem to be well knowledged in politics, don't you?"

"I just know the basics, you probably have a wide perspective of the situation." She just giggled in response to it, but not denied or agreed with Casper.

"Well, let's start the preparations to you to live here in the castle, ok? First of all, I think you should go to a healer, take some medicine and treat your wounds. You probably are hungry as well, right? After the medical consultation, we can meet at the dining hall and discuss everything about it."

"Ok… And, Vick, I still have a lot of questions to do about a bunch of things. Would you mind explaining to me some things afterward?"

"Hmmm… It depends." Was all that she said. Then, she opened her room. It took some time, but a butler appeared at the entrance.

He wore formal clothes, mostly light gray and white. They had a Nordic look as well. He had smooth gray hair, probably due to his age. His posture was of someone full of responsibilities, who were very polite and cordial; and good, very good at what he did.

Just to look at his face covered by the sad mask, Casper felt that he was a reliable man.

He kneeled in front of Vick, bowing his head and murmuring:

"Princess Vick, what can I do for you?"

"That's Raul, my butler, and advisor. He will be your guider today and will show you the way to the healer's room and, afterward, to the dining hall. If you happen to feel like asking something, you can try to solve your doubts with him." She had back to his authoritarian and cold tone from before.

The butler got up, bowed very slightly to Casper, and then waited for him to tag along out of the Princess' bedroom.

The White warrior was getting used to always look at the eyes of someone he just met. It was the only way to discover more of this person's intentions and personality.

As Casper was always the cautious type of guy, he would diligently follow these types of protocol.

The same was made with the butler. The White warrior looked into his eyes. They were gray.

"Could it possibly be that… No…" After retrieving the stare that Casper gave him, the butler asked him politely to follow him and then started to walk with precise and confident steps.

"He returned my gaze, directly on my eyes. And he is walking so elegantly like this as well. No way he has this type of condition."

Casper brushed it off but kept in mind that possibility, in case it came in handy.

He started to follow the butler after saying goodbye to Vick.

It has been about thirty minutes that Casper had arrived in the healer's room.

To get there, they needed to pick another Teleporting pad, which was inside the mansion.

When the Princess said "healer" to him, he sure thought that a cleric-like guy, as in RPGs, would appear and use magic to cure his wounds.

However, that was not the case at all. It was a woman a bit more advanced in age than Raul.

Her clothes were white, like the doctors in Casper's world.

In the place she stayed, which had about 100 square meters, a lot of beds were lined up in three different rows, being separated by a curtain only.

Along with the room, and within the beds, were several technological devices of different varieties.

Assistant robots were walking around the room and treating patients.

There were quite a lot of beds there, and the room was so big that had even 2 floors.

The healer's room was busy that day. A lot of wounded Ridire were being taken care of. Of the 90 Ridire who survived, there was not a single one who was unharmed. Most of them, if not all of them, were in pretty bad conditions.

The robots went back and forth in the room, in a frenetic rhythm, doing their works with amazing precision and efficiency and going to another patient. Sometimes, they would help out the healer with some stuff and then head back as fast as possible.

They were extraordinary workers, no one could deny it.

Casper's wounds were treated quickly, and now his body was recovering fast. They used a lot of medicines, injections, and pills he had never seen in his life before, and even some devices and machines which Casper needed to struggle to know what they exactly did.

The butler strangely never left the room, always looking up for Casper, as if guarding him. He also exchanged glances with the healer, as though making sure that she would not do anything she could regret.

After a while, he approached Casper, since his treatment was mostly done and he could now get up from the bed.

"That woman there is my ex-wife. She doesn't like to interact with human beings. As you can see, she prefers the company of all these robots and machines.

"Either way, she is the best healer of the District. She invented autonomous surgical operations with nanotechnology, as well as a bunch of new medicines and treatments for different diseases. She is the main biochemical engineer of District 42.

"I see…" Casper analyzed that woman. She noted to try to interact with her in the future.

Being honest with himself, Casper admitted that he had an interest in the technology of that world. In the future, he would surely like to research a bit more about everything.

There was a whole world of new things, discoveries, technology and economic-social advancement… It was so many things that his mind could barely bear.

For a curious person like Casper, who was always pursuing more knowledge, that was like a playground.

"You seem interested in these things, right? Do you like medicine?"

"Not quite. But enough to make me wonder what all these things are, and what they do, how to make them, the science behind it…"

"Hmm… I see." Raul said it in a manner that let it obvious that he did not care the least for what Casper said.

"He is a passive-aggressive person, huh? I hate these types of people." Casper thought, narrowing his eyes to him.

"So, are we done here?" Raul asked the healer. She did not bother to answer him. But a robot promptly heeded his call.

"Everything is done. He just needs to come here once in a while for a check-up and take some medicine. We recommend avoiding fatty foods and alcohol. Also, physical activities are banned for two weeks."

The butler looked to Casper and said, ironically:

"You heard the robot."

"Okay, okay. Not that you had to pinpoint it." Casper rolled his eyes, and Raul giggled.

"He is also kidding with me… Is that his personality? Or is he a jackass just with me?"

In the end, he felt like it was a waste of energy to think of.

"One day I find out what's the matter with that guy"

Like this, the two of them left the healer's room.

Before leaving though, Casper looked again inside there, to all those people suffering in the bed.

Some were even crying in pain, others were in a coma, and the ones who have had minor injuries had to watch the everyday suffering of their friends.

Casper felt again that bitter taste on his tongue.

He had something that he would like to prioritize when questioning Vick. And, depending on how she would answer, he did not know if the Jarls could be seen as allies.

After Raul call for Casper once again, he headed with him to the dining hall.