"W-What should we do? The blood..." The inflexible rule of stopping
bloodflow was to put pressure on the artery closest to the heart. However,
amateurs tended to fall into a panic and end up only placing pressure on the
wound itself. Rebecca was a classic example of such an amateur, as the sight
of the bright red cloth sent her into a fluster.
...This lot got what they deserved, but I suppose the owner isn't at fault...
The only ones involved in the fight were Rio, Gene and Assil — Rebecca
was an innocent third party. Seeing her desperately attempt to stem the flow
of blood, despite her lack of involvement, was more than Rio could bear.
With a sigh, he pointedly approached Assil.
"Please move."
"Huh?"
Ignoring Rebecca's confused voice, Rio easily lifted Assil's larger body
up. He was only able to perform this by secretly enhancing his physical body
with essence. But to everyone else around them -- including Gene and
Rebecca -- it made Rio look like he had a tremendous amount of strength,
making them all freeze in confusion.
Rio carried Assil to a corner of the room and untied the makeshift cloth
bandage, locating the proper point of pressure to stem the blood flow and
retying it tighter. Then, he placed his hand over the wound and chanted the
spell for healing.
"Cura."
A mystical, faint light emitted from Rio's hand. However, no spell
formula -- no magic circle, that is -- appeared alongside it, because Rio's
peculiar constitution prevented him from performing magic. Instead, he
imitated the flow of essence in a magic formula to perform the same
phenomenon as the magic itself. To anyone with even the slightest
knowledge of magic and sorcery, Rio's actions would seem extremely
suspicious. No matter how few commoners could handle magic, using such
supernatural abilities in front of others was enough to cause concern. That
was why Rio had carried him to this corner, where the onlookers couldn't get
as clear of a view of his treatment.
Thankfully, Assil was squeezing his eyes shut to avoid looking at his red-
stained leg, giving Rio a chance to heal him just enough to close the wound.
Once more, he carried Assil to where they had been before and laid him
down, untying the cloth that had been putting pressure on the blood flow.
"I've stopped the bleeding, but you'll need to refrain from any vigorous
activity for at least a week. Otherwise, the wound will open again. It'll hurt,
but you should be fine to walk again starting tomorrow," Rio explained
indifferently to everyone there. They were barely listening with their jaws
dropped in shock. A silence fell over the room for a moment. Then —
"A-Are you serious...?"
"He healed him with magic?"
"Hey, could he really be a noble?"
"Shit, this is bad. Touching a noble carries a penalty of death."
Instantly, murmurs of fear and unrest spread through the room. Rio,
however, watched the reactions of those in the room coolly, searching for
anyone who noticed the irregularity in his actions. As a result, he determined
no one had noticed anything strange. Once he had come to that conclusion, he
no longer had any reason to remain in the cafeteria.
"Chloe," Rio called the name of the girl frozen behind the counter. She
had been in the middle of carrying a bucket of water into the room to wash
away the blood. The moment Rio saw her jump out of her skin and stumble
backwards with her small, frightened body —
"...Sorry. Nevermind. The food was delicious... Thank you for the meal."
Rio gave a slightly sad smile and returned to his room.
◇◇◇
The next morning, Rio left the inn before the sun had even risen.
"Thank you very much for healing that injured patron last night. The
situation was contained because of you," Rebecca said, bowed her head
deeply towards Rio at the front desk.
"Please don't worry about it. It's not something you should be thanking
me for, ma'am." Rio shook his head with a forced smile.
"No, it was my fault... I didn't intervene sooner."
"Adventurers fighting in bars is a daily occurrence. You can't afford to
break up each and every one of them. The ones at fault here are the parties
concerned: myself, and the other two men." Rio defended Rebecca so that
she wouldn't feel as guilty.
Last night, Rebecca had been the one to bring water and a bucket to Rio's
room. She had apologized numerous times in that interval, making Rio feel
quite badly for her.
"So please, don't let it bother you. I must be going now," Rio said, trying to leave as soon as possible.
"Umm, would you like to take a lunchbox with you instead of breakfast?
Please wait here just a moment, I'll go pack it now! I'll also return your room
fees." Rebecca took a coin purse from the counter; she had probably prepared
it beforehand. Rio shook his head in a fluster.
"There's no way I can accept a refund. I've received more than enough
service from this inn."
"Then let me make your lunch, at least. Breakfast is meant to be included
in the fee, after all."
Without waiting for Rio's reply, Rebecca placed the coin purse down on
the counter and made a dash for the kitchen.
She's an honest and good person, but rather than giving off a wise aura,
she seems to be the type to be fooled easily... Rio noted his impression of
Rebecca. He looked towards the kitchen to see Chloe and another unknown
girl in an apron watching him back. They hid the moment their gazes met
with Rio's.
Chloe... and her little sister? She's young.
Whereas Chloe was around ten years old, her sister was clearly much
younger. Having someone that young helping out at the inn provided more
than enough evidence that Rebecca was struggling.
Is this place being run by three girls? I don't see any sign of a husband.
Rio hadn't seen a proprietor since entering this inn. He had thought that the
man might have been working in the kitchen, but the kitchen was being run
by Rebecca.
...Well, whatever.
It had nothing to do with him, so Rio decided not to stick his nose into
their business any further. It was then that Rebecca returned with a neatly
wrapped lunchbox.
"Sorry for the wait. I packed it full of breakfast foods and bread. Chloe
woke up early to bake it, so I hope you enjoy it."
"Thank you for going through the trouble. Please let Chloe know too —"
"Hey! I'm back!"
Just as Rio was thanking her with a smile, a drunken man entered the inn.
He spotted Rebecca and wobbled his way over to her.
"Honey! Don't tell me you're coming back drunk again!"
"Shut up! I can drink whenever I want to!" With a yell, the man suddenly
struck Rebecca.