episode_0025

[Phew, we’re finally all here! Mr. Stay, could you please start by explaining why you’ve gathered the three of us together like this?]

[What’s going on all of a sudden? Where have you taken me? You’d better explain things, Stay!]

[You suddenly woke me up and said we had to go somewhere. I don’t really know what’s happening, but it’s about time for an explanation, right? If you’re planning to do something strange after humiliating me earlier, you’d better be prepared. My tolerance level ends with that… assistant from earlier.]

“Ugh.”

As soon as the inner thoughts listening function activated, the voices of the three people simultaneously assaulted my eardrums. Since the three individuals lacked the ability to perceive each other’s voices through their status windows, this overlapping sound causing a slight disorientation was an anticipated side effect of this face-to-face meeting.

However, as soon as they started speaking, pouring out voices filled with different tones and strengths, I couldn’t help but regret having initiated this face-to-face meeting. No, still, it’s better to finish it all at once, even if it makes me feel dizzy for a moment, rather than repeating the same thing three times. As someone eager to conclude the treatment as soon as possible and regain freedom, I couldn’t tolerate such a waste of time.

“If you’re going to explain, could you please do it quickly? I’m curious about a lot of things, like why you suddenly fainted earlier and then decided to have this face-to-face meeting. I want to hear Mr. Stay’s explanation quickly, and once it’s done, I’d like to have a separate conversation as well, but…”

“Why aren’t you explaining it quickly?! Where on earth have you brought me?! I hate being dragged around without any explanation or consent! So just explain it right now! Explain it or, um, at least pat my stomach or something, anything…”

[Stay? You’ve experienced me, so you know well, right? I prefer efficiency and speed. If you have something to say, could you please say it quickly? If you have nothing to say, then just continue with that treatment you were doing earlier…]

Thwack!

The sound of flesh colliding reverberated loudly within Mei Luina’s hospital room. Naturally, it wasn’t a surprise attack on Mir Ryuin’s plump body, but simply the resounding clap of my hands. If I had smacked Mir Ryuin’s plump body, the sound wouldn’t have ended with just a thwack; it would have continued with a soft, squishy, elastic sound.

Lost in unnecessary thoughts, as I glanced around, the sudden clapping seemed to have startled everyone into silence.

“Phew, it’s gotten a bit quieter. With all three of you talking at once, I couldn’t get a word in. Since it seems like everyone wants an explanation, I’ll start right away. So, please stay quiet until I finish speaking.”

To think that a single clap could silence the mouths of the world’s top three heroes. The overwhelming power dynamic between them and me, the only person capable of curing the cursed plant-human, was undeniable. Yet, despite that, this situation itself felt rather satisfying.

Once the treatment is over, I won’t be able to enjoy this in my dreams, so I might as well savor it now while I can. Reveling in the sense of superiority I hadn’t experienced before, I began the explanation they were all waiting for.

“The reason I gathered the three of you here is because we need to establish some rules for future treatments. Just earlier, while trying to treat Mei Luina, I suddenly fainted. My energy bottomed out.”

“Oh, s-so that’s why you buried your face in my chest all of a sudden?”

“You fainted while treating Mei Luina? Your energy bottomed out? If your energy bottoms out, does that mean men faint…! I didn’t know that!”

[Hmm, I see. Since the treatment for the curse involves injecting Staine’s essence, it wouldn’t make sense for an unlimited amount of essence required to cure a curse as powerful as the one that turned the three of us into plant-human hybrids to be constantly available. Yet, suddenly fainting—could there be any other risks aside from fainting?]

Ugh, with all three of them bombarding me with questions at once, it feels like my head is going to split. I had barely asked for silence until the explanation was over, not even 10 seconds had passed, and voices rushed in like a torrent the moment I opened my mouth.

“Wait a minute! Even though it might just be muttering to each of you individually, when those three are combined, it becomes an unbearable noise for me alone! We’ll move everyone back to their individual rooms after the explanation is finished! I’ll take questions after that! So please, be quiet for now since you won’t be able to ask questions anyway!”

“Oh! I, I see! Everyone else besides me is talking so much! I forgot for a moment because I can’t hear Mr. Dain Adamas and Ms. Mir Ryu’s voices! Then I’ll be quiet!”

“This kind of reminds me of school days. Okay, I get it. You want us to be quiet, right?”

“Oh, my bad. When I heard you fainted, I got a little worried about Staine’s health without realizing it. I guess I got anxious because if it’s not you, there’s no one to treat me. Alright, I’ll hold off on the questions for now and keep silent.”

“Phew.”

If these were the people I knew, they would have told others to shut up and continued speaking regardless of whatever pain I expressed, but thankfully, it didn’t seem quite that bad.

Am I thinking of these three as selfish beasts disguised as humans? Are they actually people like me, who, with courage, engage in conversation when approached? For a moment, I felt that way due to the more cooperative attitude of the three than I had imagined, but upon reflection, it was a crazy thought.

Originally, it might seem that just as someone who is kind a hundred times and does one bad thing looks like trash, and someone who is bad a hundred times and does one good thing might surprisingly be a good person, the reason these three people now look human is also because of that. After regaining my temporarily lost sanity, I remained cautious, recalling the things these three had done to me.

“Alright, then I’ll continue explaining. It won’t take long, so don’t worry.”

With that, I continued explaining the future treatment methods and procedures to the three who were maintaining their silence so well.

※※※

“Yes, so to summarize, from now on, there will be one treatment per day. It will be intense. The end of the treatment will always conclude with your fainting, so there’s no need to worry about whether your treatment is insufficient. If you overexert yourself and faint while treating someone, and at that moment, the Central Intelligence Bureau unexpectedly conducts an inspection, it could cost you your life, couldn’t it? Then your treatment would be in vain. To prevent such a dreadful accident, please understand.”

After finishing the explanation and summary, fortunately, I heard what seemed like an understanding voice from the three.

It seemed they couldn’t raise objections regarding the fact that if I die, the person who can release their curse will also disappear.

[But you know, couldn’t we just leave it alone and not say anything to those Central Intelligence Bureau people or whatever they are? Then even if we faint during treatment, there wouldn’t be any risk of being caught and executed, right?]

Of course, it was unreasonable to expect not only objections but also doubts not to arise, so such a question arose, but fortunately, it was very simple to answer this question.

“If the Central Intelligence Bureau suddenly saw Dain Adamas, the hero who saved the world, stripping naked and vigorously patting his stomach while developing Porchio, and we said to them, ‘We are curing curses,’ do you think they would believe us?”

[······No.]

“Exactly, right? They wouldn’t believe that I am curing a curse that the Holy See couldn’t even find in the first place.”

My words were met with agreement from all three, including Adamas and the others, as if acknowledging that I was right. Empowered by their consensus, I continued with what I still had to say.

“Judging by the rate at which the curse is receding, it shouldn’t take too long for a complete recovery. So, I think it’s best for us to keep this matter a secret and handle the treatment discreetly. After all, this VVIP ward is designed in a way that doesn’t even have CCTV due to the nature of its patients.”

[At first, when I found out that Stayne was assigned as a caregiver, I thought she had become useless and was discarded by the association and guild. But looking back now, it’s a stroke of incredible luck that things turned out this way. That she entered this special VVIP ward, and that you were assigned as a caregiver.]

Becoming the caregiver for the three of them was a coincidence that arose from being in the right place at the right time. Certainly, as Mir Ryu mentioned, it was a stroke of luck for both me and them. This way, I can pay off my debts much sooner, and the three of them can be freed from the curse.

The prospect of realizing my dream of running a peaceful and ordinary life, opening a café in a secluded place, seemed to be coming several years earlier than expected, making me feel elated.

So, with a heart eager to provide some good service, I brought up a story that I thought the three of them would enjoy.

“Oh, and don’t worry about having to talk about our time together once the treatment is over. Our connection will only last until the treatment ends, and after that, you’ll just consider me a stranger. There was truly nothing between us, and you will become miraculous heroes who recovered from the state of being plant-like. That would be great for me, and I’m sure it would be wonderful for you too, right?”

Feeling that ending here might raise suspicions, I added one more sentence.

“Oh, please don’t worry that I might bother you by charging for lifting the curse! My conversation with Ms. Meiruna is already settled. I mentioned that all she needs to do in return for curing your curse is to settle my debt. Ms. Meiruna agreed to this. We’ve even signed a verbal contract. So, after the treatment, as long as Ms. Meiruna settles my debt, there will be absolutely no inconvenience caused by me! None, absolutely none!”