The interruption arrived at Nina’s apothecary!
Eren went to get the door like always. When he opened it to welco their guest, he saw a short but muscular man staring back at him with interest. Behind him, there were a bunch of people. It looked like the short-statured man was their leader. This bunch seed stronger than Dom’s party to Eren. but it also seed that they were on edge regarding so trouble.
“Nina’s Apothecary. How may we help you?”
Eren greeted them with respect.
“Hello, young man. Is madam healer inside? I want to talk with her regarding the patient she had treated a few days back.”
“Sir, she’s inside. Please co in.”
Eren extended the welcoming greeting only to the short man. He understood Eren’s intentions and told the people with him to wait outside. He t with Nina before speaking out:
“Greetings, madam healer. It’s a pleasure to et you. Sorry to bother you during your work. My na is Lin Karr. I’m a D Rank hunter employed as a regulatory officer by Osan Braveheart Hunters’ association. My visit today is regarding an ongoing investigation.
We know from our records that a hunter by the na of Dom Walker had sought you out for one of his mber’s treatnt. The patient was poisoned by the Singarium Rattlesnake through the air.
Dom Walker is currently missing while the rest of his team’s status is presud to be dead, all except Matt. Our association has launched a formal investigation regarding the sa, to confirm their status and proceed with other formalities.
“We also tried asking Matt but he says he wasn’t exactly conscious after the poison started affecting him seriously. So I was wondering if you could shed so light on exactly what happened that day? And what was Dom Walker thinking about when he left your place? And was he alone when he left?”
‘I’ll tell you what happened. My man Dom was digested alive by Reen who, as we speak, is sitting on the shelf as a coffee mug in my room. I’m sure he must have turned into a waste product by now. If Reen poops that is!’
Eren said all that in his mind of course. Externally, he observed silence and looked at Nina. The latter just nodded and told Lin all that had transpired that day. Lin then asked about what potions were given to Dom and confird he was heading to Simar lake as his previous intel had dictated.
“Alright. Thank you for your ti, madam healer. I was wondering if you still accept official on-field missions. I have ford a party that is waiting outside. We are going to Osan woods carrying multiple missions right after we leave your place.
We don’t have a C Rank party. But your share, should you choose to accept the mission, will be according to the C Rank party’s pay. The healers’ normal practises have been stopped. So I mustered so courage to ask if you could spare ti for us.”
Lin said all that and bowed a little as a sign to show respect to a higher-ranked entity than him. He knew he was asking sothing unusual by wanting to avail the services of a C Rank healer while he and his party mbers were so much below her in ranks.
Usually, a party’s rank would be decided by the majority of its mbers’ ranks. For example, an E Rank party would have more than 60% of their mbers in E Rank. The rest of the numbers can be filled by so more E Rank hunters if the party is lucky. Otherwise, the filler numbers would be occupied by F Rank mbers or even rankless mbers doing nial jobs.
Dom’s party was an F Rank because most of his team mbers were in F Rank, even when he himself was an E Rank. On that note, a team leader’s status would usually be a rank higher than their party mbers. That ans an F Rank party would normally have an E Rank entity serving as their team leader whereas an E Rank party would typically have a D Rank entity serving as their leader.
In hunters’ and adventurers’ communities, it was considered rude to ask a higher ranked entity to lead a lower-ranked party when the difference between their rank was this high.
This would usually imply that the higher-ranked entity needs to ‘carry’ their team mbers, should they choose to accept the offer. They would also be forced to accept the missions based on their team’s rank and not on their individual rank. As a result, their pay would be reduced even if the entire team prioritized the higher-ranked entity’s share.
So that entity would have to invest more effort while receiving fewer benefits. Who would opt for sothing like this? So even asking about such a request was t with the harshest response from high ranked entities.
Lin’s party was an E Rank party with him acting as their leader. Eren guessed that the hunter association must have already obtained so intel about Dom’s party before visiting the. He’s coming here to ask about the case was just a ruse. His real intentions were to ask Nina to join his party.
Lin was a smart guy. He had already cleared that Nina will be paid according to her Rank, irrespective of the mission’s outco. That removed the monetary objection Nina could raise against the latter’s request. But that didn’t solve the issue of respect a higher-ranked entity needs to be given.
Eren didn’t think Lin was the kind of guy who would ask a high ranked entity to ‘carry’ him and his team mbers at the cost of bowing his head. He was a D Rank himself after all. Then that can only an the circumstances and the associations have nudged him to ask for Nina’s help.
Lin also asked about Dom first as a way to make Nina realize that she needed to extend her help, as a form of an obligation to her patient’s well-being.
If Eren could see through Lin’s camouflage, Nina could too. She imdiately guessed that there was more to the story than Lin was letting on. She had to ask to confirm her suspicions:
“What aren’t you telling ? What happened in the Osan woods that you needed a C Rank healer to be dispatched there?”
Nina didn’t mince her words and asked Lin in a threatening tone. His absurd request was one thing. She didn’t like when things were kept in the dark from her.
Lin bowed even deeper at Nina’s response before responding:
“You will be briefed as soon as you accept the mission and leave this place with us, madam healer. We are not trying to hide anything from you. It’s just that… we don’t want to cause a mass panic yet.”
Lin looked at Eren at the end of his statent when he was saying it. Nina didn’t fail to see through his actions and pressured Dom once again:
“I’ll take responsibility for Eren. he will not speak of this matter to anyone until I tell him to. Now, speak. What did you find in Osan woods?”
Lin seed conflicted after Nina had said to him. He knew young boys like Eren would have a loose mouth, especially when they tried garring to the girls they know and want to woo. But Nina had taken responsibility for him. He could only take a long sigh before obliging:
“As you said madam healer, the issue is regarding Osan woods. Our investigation team was dispatched to Osan woods after Dom Walker did not report back to us for an extended period. His info and status had beco sensitive due to the Osan woods disturbance. So we prioritized his safety when dispatching a team of investigators.
The team used the intel given by Matt and soon found the trail left behind by Dom’s Raiders. It followed it to a natural cave near Simar lake. The team started its investigation there and found out there was indeed a huge nest of SR snakes in the cave, in line with the intel previously received. But it doesn’t exist anymore.
We also found out that after Dom had left your place, he had rented two horses from a rental agency. He headed to the Osan woods right after that. We don’t know whom the other horse was rented for as there was no na ntioned in the agency’s record. But that’s not the issue here.
We also found out that Dom had successfully reached Elena with an unknown person and treated her out of her condition successfully. But instead of exiting the forest as he should, he went back to the cave. Now here is when things take a turn for the worse.
We found that the demon beast went through evolution at the sa place. The mbers of Dom’s Raiders had their bodies vanish into thin air, probably because of it. But surprisingly, Dom and Elena also died at the sa place, sharing their party mbers’ fate at the sa place, sa way. We couldn’t recover any of the mbers’ bodies from the cri scene. The historians are also facing so problems casting their investigative spells. Therefore, we can’t confirm exactly what happened to them.
Our primary investigation also tells us that there’s foul play involved. Because we found that soone had extracted a Mana Blessing of unknown Rank from the deeper parts of the cave. We are still looking for the unknown person with whom Dom visited the woods for the second ti. We believe they both are the sa person. We are yet to find clues about them.”
Lin concluded till here and let Nina process the information. But she replied just as quickly:
“This is sothing the hunters’ association can deal with using their resources. It doesn’t explain why you would need involved in this ss, does it?”
“Well…”
Lin took a long pause before coming clean:
“We’ve also estimated the rank of the demon beast at the site. It was a D Rank beast that has been evolved into a C Rank. Therefore we require you to be a part of the mission in your capacity as a C Rank healer. Otherwise… Let’s say… there would be more casualties than anticipated.”
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