Chapter 60: Torture or Medicine?
***
Silence reigned in the room since the pink-haired girl left the house, but the tension in the air could be felt, yet it didn't matter for Vlad and Eleine who were detached from those types of situations, especially the young woman who watched with disgust the one called Riannon.
Only when Bonney returned with a bucket of water and also some ropes, that Vlad began heating up the water over the fire using a caldron, and without a need for the girl to bring hot charcoal for obvious reasons, in about 15 minutes he reached the stage of final checks on his tools.
"Boiling Water, check. Ropes … check. Hot charcoal, check. Antibacterial ointment, check."
The young girl, who heard Vlad doing a rundown of everything he required and had on hand, saw him move one of the sick guys, ignoring Allan even though the kids wanted him to start with him first.
"Mister, heal Allan-onichan first."
"..."
Vlad ignored the kid's request and pressed his cane on the guy who tried to get up, telling him with a chilling tone.
"I'll start with you brat. Don't be noisy and take it like a man."
"Y-You! What are you planning to do to me?"
Bonney who saw Vlad's evil smile started doubting herself and what this black-haired man's intentions were, nevertheless, as she was pondering on this doubt of hers, a new realization came.
'He needs boiling water, hot charcoal and ropes, but for what? Wasn't a doctor supposed to work with a sharp knife and various tools?'
'Ahh, this feels more like something taken from a torturing dungeon. Wait a minute, torturing? Boiling water … hot charcoal, it does make sense. And considering the end goal of extracting the worm, it will for sure hurt.'
"Bart, Bim, Gelbin, Sina, this time you four have to go out from the house. I feel this isn't something you should see. Also, if you start hearing screams, don't be afraid, mister Vlad doesn't plan to harm them."
The brats looked at Bonney and later at Vlad who became colder and colder the more they watched him, and knowing that it wasn't a great idea to get into an argument with the pink-haired girl, they slowly walked out from the house.
Bonney thought that Vlad would stop them, to have them experience what the treatment looks like, but she was wrong, he looked indifferent.
"I am always pleased when a bright child can figure out what I am doing. Good, good, you also show empathy and decisiveness which is always a bonus."
"Mister Vlad, do you need anything else?"
"Mhmm. I guess. Eleine, go to that brat's side and pin him down if he starts convulsing. As for you Bonney, just help me out with the cups of water."
"Understood, master." said Eleine who walked with her madonna gait, standing beside the boy called Harlsey, watching him with her black eyes like some lowly animal.
"It won't take long, Vlad, right?" asked Bonney, who carefully filled a cup with the boiling water Vlad transferred into the wooden bucket.
"It depends on how long those worms can resist. From what I observed the timespan it takes to extract them is around 20 minutes."
Vlad explained casually to Bonney as if she already became one of his students, and moving the cup of boiling water to the guy's leg, it incurred Riannon's questioning and skepticism.
"Wait, what are you planning to do? That is boiling water."
"Ohh, this? Not much."
Responding with sarcasm in his tone, Vlad slowly poured the cup of boiling water over the left leg which was infected by the Maggris Worm, which resulted in the one called Harlsey to scream from the top of his lungs and cursing Vlad for what he just did.
"Motherfucker!! This is boiling water you are pouring on my leg. YOUUU!! BONNEY IS THIS HOW YOU PAY US BACK?"
Those screams of pain had no effect for Vlad who passed to the pink-haired empty cup, silently requesting another cup, and hearing her friend's scream of pain, and questioning, she slowed down.
'This is to heal them. As Vlad mentioned, he wouldn't waste his time to kill or torture them.'
She made up her mind to help heal those three guys, and taking another cup of boiling water, Riannon stepped forward reaching his hand to stop Bonney from passing the cup of water to this man who transformed into a Devil.
"I will not let you harm Harl."
"Let go of my hand, you idiot. This is how much trust you have in me?"
"Yea, I never liked you in the first place. It was Allan's idea to allow you into our group anyway."
She tried to force her hand out from his grip, but failed because the boy was stronger than her physically which made her grit her teeth not liking this feeling at all. Yet, it didn't take long for Vlad to get up and place his hand on Riannon's head and start to tighten his grip.
"Rat, one more defiance to my orders, and I will crush your head. I don't have time to play around with insecure brats who don't know what's good for them. But, also I don't mind letting this brat to die since the worm inside of him was already alerted."
"Argh, let go of me you bastard." called out Riannon who let go of Bonney's hand, moving to force Vlad's hands away, only to be stuck, as if a Giant was grabbing his head.
"Ignorant Rat. I warn you once more if you ever bother me while I am working, I will kill you." warned Vlad in a cold tone, increasing his grip on the young man's head, which brought such pain to him, one could say his head was soon giving up, shattering.
Being thrown away, until he landed in some wooden chairs stopping his momentum, he extended his hand to take the cup of water from the shocked girl who didn't expect this doctor to be so domineering in his acts.
"You sick rats better listen well. I am only here because of Bonney, not because of my magnanimous heart. There's no such thing in my chest. However, if you think you can act bossy around me, even though you are sick, once I heal you, I will fulfill my end of the bargain and kill you later."
Saying that, no one tried to mess with this crazy doctor, not even Allan who tried to get up from his bad and challenge Vlad.
As such, once Vlad established who was the one in charge of this house, he continued on with his treatment, a process that wasn't anything special but which required a lot of precision as to not damage specific parts of the leg that were fragile compared to the rest.
Tying Harlsey's leg with the ropes, he placed some of the hot charcoals on his tight, and fibula, while ignoring the screams of pain brought from a nightmare, he morphed his black cane into a tweezer, and immediately as the screeching Maggaris Worm made his way out from the guy's leg, it made Bonney who watched the process to take a step back.
"Such creepy beings." commented the girl after Vlad placed the bug inside his jar, later on noticing how a lot of blood started oozing from Harlsey's wound that had the appearance of a large bullet wound.
"Master, I don't know what would hurt more, getting shot by a bullet or experiencing such a wound left by the Worm?"
"Heh, isn't it obvious Eleine? Everyone would better wish they got shot instead of getting such a nasty worm inside of their blood system."
"Hmph, you are only pouring hot water on the legs, nothing much." commented Riannon who thought he understood what Vlad was doing, only to be glanced with disgust by Eleine, whereas Vlad simply ignored the small vermin.
"These stupid guys." murmured Bonney to herself, who started getting even more annoyed by those friends of hers, who insulted her for bringing a killer to torture them instead of convincing the respected doctor working under the Royal House, Viril.
'I am fine with being insulted, but it's clear you idiots have no reason to get mad at Vlad for doing his job in healing you.'
On the other hand, Vlad after getting blasted with various insults, really felt like simply killing them, but he stopped developing any extra dark thoughts on them, keeping to his promise of healing them for Bonney who showed more of her personality which picked his interest.
Having an opened wound on his "patient" he couldn't just leave him to bleed like some cattle eaten alive by wild dogs, and morphing the tweezer into a long needle, he, later on, took some of his long strands of hair and began sewing up the wound, followed by using the ointment which made the boy to hiss instead of screaming in pain.
"Crazy Doctor, what is this ointment? I feel like my leg got frostbite. Ahhh, no, it's getting bad, it started burning."
"You'll not die, this is what matters. Now, on the second brat. You, whatever is your name, tell me where the bug got you. Left or Right?"
"... My name is Royy, sir. I think my right leg felt the stinging pain initially when I climbed the mountain."
"You think … Okay, we'll go with a guess. If you suffer extra, do not place the blame on me, if you can't even remember this."
Allan who looked at Vlad placing the water again on the boiling cauldron, was the one to complete his friend. "He was bitten on his right leg. I remember him telling me he got a stinging pain there."
"Good enough. Bonney, Eleine, the same procedure for this rat."
"Yes, should I bring more water from the well?"
To her shock, Vlad placed his hand on the still hot water to check the level of the water, and finding it was sufficient, he shook his head, continuing on with his preparations.
Then, in about 30 minutes while the screams from the one called Royy continued, the Maggaris Worm exiting from the wound created the same size wound, requiring him extra "attention" by sticking him up, finally reaching the end with Allan who told Vlad in a sickly voice.
"Crazy Doctor … I felt the stinging sensation on both of my legs."
"Both? Sure, sure. Are you ready?"
"You can start burning me for all I care. As long as I don't die in this pathetic manner."
"Don't worry, you'll not die." commented Vlad, who started pouring the hot water on both legs, but unlike the other two, this youngster took in the pain rather decently, only gritting his teeth and hissing when it got too excruciating for him.
Reaching his limits, Allan couldn't help but curse the pain he received, asking Vlad if this was normal.
"Can't you just cut my legs open and remove those bugs?"
"They are in your blood system, stupid kid. If I cut you open, I would just waste my time because those bugs can advance faster to your heart."
"Then, why the boiling water?"
"Like I said to some other idiot called Ademar, what I am doing is akin to burning the house the worm chose to move in. Once they see that they can't continue living in this house, they will make their exit. The ropes tie your leg down, to block the blood flow up the circulatory system to your heart and constrain the bug to specific zones under my control."
Allan asked some other questions, but Vlad choose to ignore him, as he continued the treatment, until at the same time, as if the Maggris Worms could coordinate themselves in synchrony, they made their way out from the boy's leg jumping toward Vlad who morphed his tweezer into an opened jar, catching the aggressive bugs.
"Those ones are heavier than the other two. Seems to have enjoyed your body rather well."
In a couple of minutes, he was done with the procedures for all the sick youngsters, who returned to a better state after the invasive bugs were extracted from their bodies.
"... Thanks … doctor. We were wrong about you." remarked Allan whose skin color returned to a normal one.
"Huh? I don't need your thanks." replied Vlad who washed his hands preparing to walk out from the house before stopping to tell the pink-haired girl.
"My promise to you has been fulfilled, young lady. I will now go to Ursus Hotel since there might be a lot of commotion there with the announcement I made. Do you want to join me?"
"... No. I will pass on the offer."
"Mhm, okay. However, don't forget my proposal. Give it a thought."
"I will, mister Vlad. Thank you for helping my … friends even though they insulted you so much."
Vlad, who only focused on the pink-haired girl, nodded slightly, taking his leave accompanied by Eleine and Titania, stopping for a brief moment at the house entrance where the little brats were trembling when seeing him, like he was the biggest monster they saw in their lives.
"G-GO AWAY!"
"You brats, what are you saying? Those are bad manners to the one who healed your friends." called out Titania who didn't like when people regardless of age were vilifying Vlad for his good acts.
Instead of responding to the kindhearted Fairy, they went into hiding, making her want to explain to the kids what happened, but Vlad stopped her.
"Forget it. I don't care about people understanding my acts. They can sanctify me, vilify me for all I care."
The brats exited their small hideout only when Vlad walked out from this part of the city, quickly dashing inside the wooden house, only to see Bonney punch Riannon in the face.
"Is this how you see me and speak to me after everything I've done for you guys? This is how much you care about our friendship? Once you view that I do something that doesn't make sense to your logic, I am the bad person?"
"Bitch, you dare?"
Riannon who got back on his feet after being hit by Bonney raised his fist at the pink-haired girl who viewed him in his eyes, not showing any fear.
"I dare far more than you think, you stupid fuck. I've even risked my life to have that person heal you guys, but I barely get some thanks. The food I brought to you with a lot of effort, even risking my freedom, amounts to nothing in your selfish eyes."
"You only want you guys to fair decent!"
"Anne … I am sorry for doubting you. I also know that you can always get in danger by doing all of those things you are doing for us. Your grandmother … should be looking for you." called out Allan from his bed, still requiring time to recover from the effects of the Maggris Worm.
"And? It's been months since I've run away from the Castle."
"Sigh, Anne, I think it would be better for you to return to the Castle. Even now I can't understand why you choose to not live there, the good life of a Princess."
"That shouldn't bother you, but I can tell you this. I just want to be free without being controlled by anyone." added Bonney while glazing at Allan who got into a seated position, to watch the pink-haired girl showing a lot of emotion in her purple eyes.
The kids jumped in between Riannon and Bonney who were about to enter into a scuffle like some lads, and as she heard their innocent voices while glancing at the 4 older guys, who watched her with different eyes compared to the kids, she gritted her teeth and said.
"You know? Maybe you don't speak wrong. Regardless of how much I try, you guys would still only see me, the Sorbet Kingdom's Princess Anne. Right?"
The brats didn't understand what Bonney was saying, but Allan only lowered his head, as if the young girl hit the nail on that question, which made her once again ask a "Right?" just to get no words, but she only received the confused replies of the kids.
She gritted her teeth and while touching the heads of some of the kids around her, she moved slowly out of the house to the delight of a certain someone who wasn't that far away from the house, eavesdropping.
"Master?"
Eleine asked when seeing Vlad's satisfied smile that came out of nowhere since he chose to stop a brief moment from taking off to the Ursus Hotel.
"Let's get going. I just confirmed some of my thoughts."
"Could it be that you've eavesdropped on the kids?" asked Titania, knowing the capabilities the black-haired man had especially when it comes to secretive movements.
"It's obvious, Fairy. Master is that type of person." replied Eleine to Titania, as they got into a bicker, while Vlad walked toward the new location he was required to be, full of thoughts.
'You also want freedom, little girl? A kindling spirit. No problem, I will offer you all the freedom you want.'