Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Chapter 96

The familiar interface appeared in her mind. Ingrid looked over the displayed faces, checking each row carefully. There were the people she had already recognised, and several strangers whose names she still needed to learn. Her gaze moved towards the bottom row.

There she was. Lanxiang. Ingrid’s lips curved slightly. ’Alright. Lanxiang it is. The number one person I’ve choosen.’

She gently loosened Lanxiang’s grip and gave her a reassuring nod. "Okay. You can come with us."

Lanxiang froze. For a moment, she thought she heard wrongly. Then her eyes widened, and she looked towards Maya as if she needed someone else to confirm that she hadn’t imagined it.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. But I have a few things I need to arrange first. I can’t promise that everything will be easy once we leave, and I don’t want you thinking that escaping the Guild means all your problems will disappear. There will be dangers outside, and you’ll have to follow instructions when necessary. If I tell you to hide, you hide. If I tell you to run, you run. Can you do that?"

Lanxiang nodded repeatedly. "I can. No, I will. I promise."

"Good."

Ingrid then turned towards Maya. "What about you?"

Maya blinked. "What about me?"

"Do you want to leave too?"

Maya’s answer came quickly. "Of course not." However, the certainty in her words didn’t match the expression on her face. She looked away almost immediately, and her fingers moved towards the edge of her sleeve. It was a small gesture, but Ingrid noticed it.

She didn’t immediately challenge her. Instead, she pushed herself up from where she had been kneeling and straightened her clothes. After spending so many hours in the infirmary, her legs were beginning to feel uncomfortable, and she took a moment to steady herself before turning back to Maya.

"Are you sure?"

"I am."

"Then why do you look so troubled?"

Maya gave her a tired smile. "You think too much, young lady."

"Maybe. But I also pay attention to people around me, Old Lady." Ingrid teased, not willing to back down.

Ingrid glanced around the store before returning her attention to Maya. She hadn’t known either woman for very long, and she certainly wasn’t familiar with everything that had happened between them and the Guild. However, she had seen enough during the short time she had been there to form a few opinions.

"Look, I don’t know everything you’ve been through, and I’m not going to pretend I understand your situation. But from what I’ve seen, this place doesn’t seem to appreciate you very much."

Maya’s expression changed slightly.

Ingrid continued. "When Freya brought us here, I noticed another medical ward outside the area where you work. It was much busier than yours. Hunters were coming in and going out constantly, and most of them seemed comfortable with the people working there. They were talking, joking, and interacting with the staff. It looked like a place people actually wanted to visit."

She paused, watching Maya’s face. "But in the few hours we’ve spent with you, apart from us and Hunter G, I haven’t seen anyone come to ask for your help. Not one person. That seems strange to me, considering you’re a nurse in a Hunter’s Guild. Shouldn’t you have more patients than you can handle?"

Maya didn’t answer.

"At first, I thought that maybe it was just the time of day. But then I remembered something else. When we were brought here, the way people behaved around you wasn’t particularly friendly either. It seemed to me that you’ve been pushed aside, and the fact that Hunters rarely come to you only makes it more obvious."

Ingrid folded her arms. "So why stay in a place where nobody appreciates your work? Why keep offering your skills to people who don’t even want to use them? You could come with us. Outside this Guild, there might be people who actually need what you can do. You could help them, and you might even have the opportunity to improve your abilities and level up."

Maya shook her head. "No. I’m not interested in leaving the Guild."

"Why?"

"I just don’t want to go anywhere."

"Even if you have to stay here and continue being treated this way?"

"Even if only one person in this entire Guild needs me, I’ll stay for that person."

The answer sounded noble. It was the kind of thing someone might say after deciding that their own comfort was less important than helping others. However, Ingrid wasn’t convinced.

She watched Maya closely, paying attention to the slight tension around her mouth and the way her eyes avoided meeting hers. Maya had spoken confidently, but there was something beneath those words that didn’t quite fit. It wasn’t devotion. It wasn’t even resentment towards the people who had mistreated her.

There was fear and Ingrid knew that expression. She had spent a considerable part of her previous life observing people and learning to recognise the smallest changes in their behaviour. Back then, she had needed to understand when someone was in a bad mood, when a person was about to take their anger out on her, and when it was better to remain silent. She had learned to read the atmosphere around her long before she had the courage to stand up for herself.

Her marriage had taught her something else. She had once believed she was good at judging people, yet her ex-husband had managed to deceive her for a long time. Maybe it was that she had been blinded by love, or perhaps she wanted to believe him so badly that she ignored everything that should have warned her.

Whatever the reason, she had learned from it, and she wasn’t about to ignore the signs in front of her now. Maya didn’t look like someone who was determined to stay for another person. She looked like someone who had convinced herself that leaving wasn’t an option.

Ingrid narrowed her eyes slightly. ’Lorna, what kind of Beastman is Maya?’

There was a brief pause before Lorna responded. ’Host, Maya is an Axolotl Beastman. Her natural ability is an exceptionally powerful form of self-healing. She can regenerate damaged tissue, regrow lost limbs, and repair her cells. She can also donate some of her cells to other people, allowing their bodies to heal faster. She can also breathe underwater and swim very fast, she’ll be very useful underwater.’