Epilogue: The Doctor in the City of the Dragon

EPILOGUE:
The Doctor in the City of the Dragon

 

A pair of snake eyes opened with a snap.

Many people associated snake eyes with wide, tapered, slit eyes—but that really depended on the type of snake. Some kinds had wide, round eyes.

The snake eyes looking right at Glenn had cute, crimson pupils.

“…Doc…tor…?”

“Good morning, Sapphee. You had gone cold,” Glenn said and sighed.

He understood why she had coiled herself up under her blanket. Most likely she had done so to try and compensate for the drop in her body temperature from the poison.

Glenn couldn’t believe that Sapphee had been done in by poison, considering how deeply knowledgeable she was of both medicines and poisons.

“Doct…or…I…was poisoned, and…”

“That’s right,” he said. “It was a paralysis poison made from mandrake. For humans, it instantly causes difficulty breathing and leads to death by asphyxiation. If the bandits had had more of it, I imagine the Guard Patrol would have been in a lot of danger, but thankfully they didn’t have much. I guess it was their last trump card.”

“I…”

“It has no effect on lamia,” Glenn said. “All it does is cause drowsiness.”

Sapphee’s eyes opened wide in surprise.

“You…knew…?” Sapphee said, the ability to speak slowly returning to her.

“If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have ignored you while I treated the harpy girl, you know.”

“You…noticed?”

“I tried to keep an eye on what was going on.”

Massaging the harpy’s stomach, Glenn had somehow coaxed her to lay the egg. Of course, he had also been aware of Skadi and Sapphee defending them all from the bandits that had forced their way into the room. But he’d had to be careful as he goaded the egg out of the harpy, as he didn’t know if the oviduct would rupture.

“Just by looking, you knew what type of poison it was…?”

“Those soldiers didn’t seem prepared to battle monsters, so it stood to reason that they would use human poison? And I figured it wouldn’t work too well on a lamia, what with your high tolerance to poison.”

“Oh…”

“Besides, I thought they’d use some sort of paralyzing agent, though in actuality, you instantly fell asleep after you were poisoned, but…if anything, that made me relieved. I was worried it might give you spasms or convulsions, but it appeared you had no symptoms like that at all.”

As he treated the harpy, he kept an eye on Sapphee, but had given priority to the patient he was treating, as he was confident he understood the lamia’s condition.

“Things were looking desperate for a while there, but the harpy girl was able to safely lay her egg. I don’t think there is any problem with her oviduct either.”

“…I see.”

“Skadi let us borrow a room in the city hall. The clinic is still a mess, after all.” Glenn sighed. Before they could reopen, they would have to clean up the ransacking the bandits had given the place when they broke in.

Taking on the repairs wouldn’t too bad if they could get assistance from their helper fairies, but after the fright they’d been through, Glenn thought they probably wouldn’t approach the clinic until it was back to normal. They were a very skittish and cautious kind of monster.

The room that Skadi had prepared for them was very quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the conversation between Glenn and Sapphee. In a separate room somewhere, the harpy girls were resting and relaxing in their newfound freedom.

“In that case,” Sapphee said slowly, “what you’re saying, Doctor, is that you weighed me against the harpy girl and gave her priority.”

“Don’t say it like that—her life was on the line.”

“I know. I know, but…” Sapphee pouted, covering her head with the blanket. Her tail poked out from under it and swayed back and forth, standing up on end.

“Then…you saw it, didn’t you?” she said.

“Hm? Saw what?”

“Me. My fighting.”

Glenn nodded. “Yeah. For the most part.”

Pouting against, Sapphee averted her eyes from Glenn’s face. “I’ve kept quiet to you about it, but I’ve learned assassination techniques,” she muttered from underneath the blanket.

“That does seem to be the case, doesn’t it.”

“Back when I first met you…back when the Litbeit family was taking care of me, I was entrusted with an assassination mission. If the negotiations for the trade route didn’t go well, I was tasked with the assassination of the head of the Litbeit family…your father… since it’s harder to be on guard around a child…and…”

Glenn sighed.

He still remembered when Sapphee first arrived at his house. She had been embarrassed at first, but to Glenn, she was the first monster he had ever met in his life.

Together, they taught each other their languages, and borrowing books on monsters, they talked about many different things. Glenn’s sister had been more attached to Sapphee than Glenn, but in any case, the cultural exchange the children had shared them was profound.

“I’m sorry for hiding it from you… Ever since we were reunited at the academy, I thought I would have to tell you someday, but…”

“Yeah.”

“I thought that…if you knew that my family had been assassins for a living, that… that you might end up hating me, and—”

“Yeah, I knew that.”

“That’s why I——Huh?” Throwing aside the blanket, Sapphee’s round, red eyes pierced through Glenn.They had a vacant look to them and Glenn thought that it had been a while since he had seen Sapphee make this sort of expression.

“What did you say, just now…?” she said.

“I knew. Or I should say, my father knew. He knew the Neikes family secretly worked as assassins.”

“Wh-why…?! Only a few know that, even among monsters!”

“He did exhaustive research. The poison-fanged pharmacists of the Neikes family. Now and again it would show up in old documents. When dad was negotiating with your family, he had sent for piles of old monster documents and literature.”

“Th-this was supposed to be my big confession…”

Even though Sapphee had thought she’d kept it hidden, Glenn had found out her secret.

Ultimately, it wasn’t common to have a deep knowledge of medicine and drugs. Since he took part in creating treatments himself, Glenn knew very well that poison and medicine both had similar origins. And if one were making poison, of course they had to know very well how to handle it.

Following that line of thinking, it seemed obvious that eventually someone would end up using said poison for its intended purpose: poisoning and assassinating others.

“Incidentally, the Litbeits also thought of something similar.”

“What…?”

“You came down with a fever while you stayed with us, right? A servant of ours acted of their own accord and laced your food with poison. The poison didn’t work on lamia, so you got away with just a fever, but…they thought if you became sick then the negotiations with the Neikes family might move forward more smoothly.”

“Both sides planned the same thing—is that what you’re saying, then?” Sapphee was dumbfounded.

Indeed, both sides had been thinking the same thing. Glenn thought that since both families were deceiving their allies and communicating secretly with the enemy, it was probably appropriate that these sorts of schemes had been swirling about.

However, young Glenn wasn’t convinced at the time. Although he was young, he stayed by and nursed the fevered Sapphee, and after doing research in old monster documents, he found an effective herb to combat the type of poison that had been used, and gave it to her. At the time, he had stayed at her side day and night, but Sapphee had been in a haze, so Glenn was sure she didn’t remember.

At the time, Glenn didn’t know that it was a servant that had acted independently to poison Sapphee. He thought that, whether it was his brother or his father or someone else, there was definitely someone involved with the negotiations that had administered poison to Sapphee with the intention of killing her. Suddenly, Glenn found himself looking at everyone as if they were a suspect.

Thinking back on it…

Caring for Sapphee during that time had been the first medical care he had ever given. As such, becoming a doctor had been product of his anger instigated by Sapphee’s illness, and the passion he had for treating her.

“Hmph… Honestly! So this means you saw through everything, didn’t you?!”

“No, I just had a hunch, that’s all.” Glenn gave a wry smile.

He simply had the thought that if the Litbeit family had their own schemes, it was natural to assume there was something being planned on Sapphee’s side, too. That didn’t mean that he had understood everything about the situation.

“But, Sapphee, your assassination skills and techniques ended up being really useful, didn’t they?” he said. “If you hadn’t been there during the fight, we wouldn’t have been able to save those harpy children. I’m always grateful to have you around, truly.”

At Glenn’s words, Sapphee’s cheeks grew red. Glenn thought to himself that it was an embarrassing line for him to say—or at least he did for a moment or two.

Faster than Glenn could catch with his eyes, Sapphee’s snake tail bound both of Glenn’s arms. Then, with her lamia strength she dragged him into the bed.

“Wh-what are you doing, Sapphee?!”

“Oh, Doctor! If you say something like that, I… I won’t be able to hold myself back!”

“I’m happy you like me so much, but this is way too aggressive!”

“Well, I’ve always been like this, haven’t I?!” Sapphee had gotten serious.

This is bad, Glenn thought to himself.

“We’re in City Hall, Sapphee! If by any chance a rumor spreads and Dr. Cthulhy finds out, we’ll be chased out of the clinic!”

“I don’t care about that anymore! Heh heh heh… Heh heh, that’s right, if we can’t stay at the clinic, then we can run away together! We’ll leave Lindworm and run forever… Heh heh heh…!”

“You’re way too out of control…”

Without hesitation, Sapphee took off her clothes.

Her underwear, which protected her from harsh light, caused the lines of her body to clearly stand out, though at the moment, the only light in the room came from a lantern. Sapphee coiled her snake tail around Glenn, its white scales sparkling mysteriously in the light.

As far as strength was concerned, Sapphee was overwhelmingly superior. If she seriously wanted to show her love, there wasn’t anything Glenn could do about it.

“Hey, um, Sapphee?” He couldn’t win with his strength, so all he could do was use his words to try and persuade her. Coiling around Glenn’s body, Sapphee leaned over on top of him, looking Glenn straight in the eyes.

“I don’t want to leave this city,” Glenn said to her. “I still need to stay here and be a doctor. There are still a lot of monsters in this town that need treating.”

“I know, you’re right… In that case, we can just enjoy each other in a way that won’t be discovered by Miss Cthulhy!”

“That’s not what I mean!”

Sapphee’s eyes were out of focus, as if some of the poison still coursed through her.

No, Glenn thought, this isn’t the poison’s fault. At any rate, her sickness—or rather her strange, out-of-control behavior—didn’t seem like it was going to stop.

She had only ever wrapped herself around him like this was when she had been drinking alcohol.

“It’s okay,” Sapphee said. “That octo-woman is so shortsighted, she’ll never find out!”

“That’s way too convenient an excuse!”

Glenn had started to think that his chastity was about to be in danger, but—

Sapphee’s head lurched forward. She stopped moving, as if she had gone numb. It seemed that all of the poison hadn’t left her, after all.

“I thought that might be the case,” Glenn muttered.

Sapphee collapsed onto the bed as if in a faint. As soon as the strength had gone out of her tail, Glenn immediately unwound himself from her and got out of the bed.

Glenn was glad most of all that they weren’t actually going to get chased out of the city. If she’d felt like it, Cthulhy would have probably destroyed the clinic entirely.

For Glenn, leaving a city like this, filled with monsters, would be truly hard. The city needed a doctor, and professionals that could examine and treat monsters were in overwhelmingly short supply.

“Just calm down and behave yourself. I’ll stay right here by your side,” Glenn said.

Sapphee nodded at Glenn’s words, apparently not completely out of it.

“Doctor…I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?”

With her face red, Glenn was sure that the reason she ducked her face deep under the blanket was to hide her own embarrassment.

“I’m always no help, always inadequate…”

“That’s not true at all. Having you with me is a huge help.”

“Doctor…? I-In that case, um, I have a request I’d like to make,” Sapphee said, her voice coming up timidly from under the blanket. “Can you hold my tail…just until I fall asleep?”

She held out her snake tail modestly.

“Of course I will,” Glenn said.

The aggression she had shown up until that moment was nowhere to be found. Gently gripping her tail, the cool scales felt comfortable in his hand. Finding a suitable place to sit, Glenn savored the touch of Sapphee’s tail.

“Your hand’s warm… It makes me feel very much at ease, Glenn,” Sapphee said to him, speaking like she was breathing a sigh of relief.

She said Glenn’s name the same way she had when they lived together at Glenn’s family mansion—to Glenn, it was a nostalgic address from a childhood friend.

 

***

 

Somehow or another, they were able to restore the clinic.

The prompt return of the frightened fairies was a huge help. Glenn thought it was going to be difficult to make a guarantee of safety that the scattered fairies would accept, but fact that they returned quickly was a testament to Glenn’s natural virtue.

He was delighted that they were able to reopen the clinic without much delay. Then came their first patient.

“I’m sorry for making you do this so much, Dr. Glenn.”

“Not at all, it’s my job.”

It was Kunai, who’d had her left arm cut off by the bandit ringleader.

Unlike before, when Glenn had sutured her together in the street, Glenn was now surrounded by all the proper tools and equipment he needed. It appeared that the blade on the bandit ringleader’s sword had been quite sharp, and the left-over cross-section of Kunai’s arm was extremely smooth. As such, Glenn was quickly able to continue with the suturing. He even had the composure for small talk.

“After the raid, what ended up happening with the harpy children?” he asked.

“Hmm. We’re sending all of those with a place to return to back to their homes,” Kunai informed him with a business-like tone to her voice. She had come on her own to have Glenn suture her back to together, so even though she hated doctors, Glenn was positive that she’d had a change of heart.

“Tisalia’s cooperating, too,” Kunai said. “Scythia Transportation is lending a hand with sending the harpies back to their homes. I’m sure those able to return home have had their minds put at ease, and have started the journey back already.”

“Then…you’re saying there are some who can’t go home?”

“Yeah. Some don’t know where their home is. Perhaps some don’t have any hopes of supporting themselves even if they did return home and others don’t want to go back… Those children are going to be taken care of by the harpy colony in the Vivre Mountains. Harpies live a communal life, so they should get used to it quickly.”

It seemed like the futures for the harpies was looking bright. Glenn happened to look to his side and saw that Sapphee was smiling, too. Glenn had risked his life to save the harpy children, so it was a relief to him that they were going to be able to continue to live safely from now on.

“It seems the harpy that you desperately treated in the hideout is going to live with the harpy colony. Turns out she was an orphan, anyway. The chief of the colony is a fine individual, so there shouldn’t be any reason to worry.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Climbing the mountain is hard work, but it’d be nice if you could check up on her every once in a while.”

To Glenn, a doctor, conducting follow-up examinations on patients was only natural. He knew that he’d be dropping in on the harpy colony before long. The colony most likely had no doctors among them, either, so it would also serve as a periodic exam for the whole community.

“Oh, and about the captured bandits,” Kunai said.

“Oh…right.”

“Presently, they are being forced to work hard labor on the Waterways. The sloppy city planning for the Waterways was the start of this whole incident in the first place. In order to make sure it can’t be used by bandits again, the bandits themselves are being forced to renovate the Waterways.”

“I don’t—”

Know about that.

Glenn couldn’t help but feel ill at ease. Escape or misbehavior seemed likely. They had been bandits, after all. He wondered if they would really carry out their construction work obediently.

“What?” Kunai said. “They don’t have any weapons to stage a revolt. They were originally just people who were out of work when the war ended. They’ll work properly if they’re given a job. They’re a surprisingly serious bunch. Their ringleader is setting a good example for them. “

“So you’re saying they’re…reformed?”

It sounded to Glenn like they had, perhaps, learned their lesson after getting beaten black and blue.

That, or perhaps when they had been attacked, something had changed within the ringleader’s state of mind, Glenn wondered. All he could do, however, was make a guess as to what it might have been.

“What?” Kunai said. “I’m their onsite supervisor. I’m returning to the Waterways as soon as you finish stitching me up. If by any chance there is someone who looks like they’re trying to escape…well, then it’ll be my turn to show them my skills at arms.”

“S-sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

It should be noted, however, Glenn thought, that I’m currently reattaching one of the arms you’re so ready to show off back onto your body.

In any event, the series of events surrounding the slaver trader disturbance had come to a close. Glenn just happened to end up with Kunai and Skadi by chance, but with Sapphee’s help he had been able to find his way out of the difficult situation.

Glenn was confident that with Kunai keeping watch over them, the bandits wouldn’t try to do anything dangerous. Their ringleader was probably the strongest among them, but he had been soundly defeated by Kunai in their one-on-one battle.

Kunai seemed to be in good form since getting stitched up by Glenn, and lately she seemed to be more and more energetic. (Despite the fact that she was a corpse.)

“Right now, the Guard Patrol is pursuing the insolent scum who were buying the harpy eggs from the bandits. I don’t know how far they’ll be able to trace their movements, but the Lady Draconess wants to punish them, if possible.”

“Thinking about it from the monster’s standpoint, it’s possible humans might be denounced over this,” Sapphee chimed in.

“But, if that keeps happening, and it triggers the war to start up again, then…” Glenn trailed off.

“Of course,” Kunai said. “The Lady Draconess isn’t intending for that to happen.”

“In that case, I suppose it’s okay, then.” The desire to never go to war again was written plainly on Sapphee’s face.

Glenn agreed with her. He felt that it would be better if the world never turned into one where Sapphee’s skills as an assassin would become useful. Her knowledge and skills were best used for healing others and nothing else.

That was precisely why, for Glenn, this clinic was an important place. It was his duty to protect the place where Sapphee could live in peace and thrive without having to become an assassin.

The clattering of a bell sounded. It was the new bell that had been installed to announce customers. Glenn cocked his head, wondering who had come, when a large silhouette came barging into the clinic.

“Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaardon me!”

“The centaur princess…” Sapphee didn’t even attempt to hide the scowl that came to her face.

Bursting into the clinic was the ever-imposing and stately Tisalia Scythia—with Lulala was riding on her back. The mermaid gave a wave with her webbed hand.

“Hello, Dr. Glenn!”

“What’s the matter, you two?” he asked.

“I heard that Sapphee had gotten hurt… Here, some gifts from the Waterways.”

“Oh my!” Sapphee gasped.

Lulala had brought glass accessories and seashells. All of them were things that had caught Sapphee’s eye when they had visited the Waterways on previous excursions.

“My, my, my! I’m so happy, Miss Lulala—thank you!”

“Are you all better?” Lulala asked.

“Thanks to the doctor’s treatment, I’m all perfect again!” Sapphee reached out her long tail and hugged Lulala. The mermaid looked like she was being tickled, and a smile broke out on her face.

“I also brought a gift!” the centaur said. “Here, Lindworm’s famous dragon dumplings!”

“Thank you very much, Miss Tisalia. You’ll see the exit is that way.”

Tisalia didn’t take the hint and said, “Now then, Dr. Glenn! Today I will make sure we set a date for our marriage interview! We must find an opportunity to introduce you to my parents!”

“I thought I told you that idea was postponed indefinitely!” Sapphee said.

“It’s gotten noisy,” Kunai said, sounding exasperated.

“How shameful for our clinic,” Sapphee hissed.

“I don’t mind, actually,” Kunai said. “It’s just proof that the people here are energetic and healthy. This might be a clinic, but it wouldn’t be good to have nothing but pale and sickly looking people hanging around, right?”

As Kunai had the palest and sickliest face of all, Glenn found himself at a loss for a response. In other matters, he felt that, while Tisalia and Sapphee were arguing with each other as always, he was probably the only one who thought that they both looked as though they were enjoying themselves. Meanwhile, Lulala was stuck in between the two of them with an awkward smile on her face.

“I’ll have to tell you everything about how I valiantly drove those scoundrels away!” Tisalia said.

Sapphee raised a critical brow. “So you just came to brag, is that it…?”

“Of course!” Tisalia crowed. “I have to tell the doctor all about it and receive my well-deserved praise from him!”

Glenn couldn’t tell Tisalia she had come for a get-well visit or for something else altogether, but either way, the centaur was in perfect form today, too.

“I’m done, Miss Kunai,” he announced. He had finished up his work quickly, but neatly.

Kunai appraised her securely sutured arm, opening and closing her fist. “You’ve done a good job. Thanks.”

“That’s very kind of you to say.” Glenn turned to his assistant. “Sapphee. I’ve finished.”

Saphentite was still glaring at Tisalia, but at Glenn’s command, she quickly raised her head towards him. Glenn had been right; she did seem to be in a good mood.

“Who’s our next patient?”

“Miss Tisalia Scythia. She’s here to have her head examined,” Sapphee said dryly.

“Just how impertinent can you be?!” Tisalia exclaimed.

“Now, now, don’t take the jokes too far,” Glenn admonished.

The clinic had just opened for the day, but—emergency or not—their regular patients had begun to gather. The city was full of monsters and humans all living together—yet had few hospitals that took in monster patients, meaning that Glenn’s work for the day wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon.

Her treatment finished, Kunai told Tisalia that she would get out of Glenn and Sapphee’s way and led Tisalia out with her. Tisalia appeared to still have things she wanted to talk with Glenn about, but considering the busy work ahead of him, he knew he hadn’t the time to spend with her.

Lulala cheerfully waved to Glenn and Sapphee, and then the three left the clinic.

“Honestly… Tisalia’s so noisy,” Sapphee said.

“You’ve got a good friend, Sapphee.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Still, as Sapphee spoke, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

In the clinic that specialized in monster treatment, the small-town doctor rolled up his sleeves and sighed.“I wonder how busy we’ll be today… Let’s do our best, Sapphee.”

“Yes, Doctor,” she said and, showing more respect than usual, the lamia assistant bowed her head.

 

***

 

In Lindworm, a city crowned with the name of a dragon, the human doctor who specialized in monsters indeed had a busy day ahead of him. His weapons were neither sword nor spear—just his medical knowledge and technique.

Thusly armed, Doctor Glenn fought on to protect the health of Lindworm’s monster denizens yet another day.