Leon did not have to walk far to come across the healing house. It was a fairly regular looking wooden storefront, only differentiated by the staff with entwined snakes adorning a board hanging out the front wall. He assumed the healers would be magic users rather than divine practitioners, presuming that clerics would work out of a temple rather than an everyday store. It was a shame; he had always heard that divine healing was the kind that could feel good as it was being done. The healing house may require coin to pay, but it would also save him hours of waiting among the sick and destitute.

  There were not many others waiting, and none seemed to be grievously wounded aside from the woman with a spear impaled through her thigh. The healers must have put some sort of pain killing magic on her as she seemed none too bothered by her predicament.

  Forcing his eyes away from her, he walked up to a desk with a man sitting behind it reading a book. “Excuse me, I am in need of healing.”

  The man did not respond as Leon spoke. Leisurely he turned a page before bringing a hand up to scratch his chin.

  “Excuse—” Leon was cut off as the man held a ‘stop’ gesture towards him. He waited a minute just for the man to flip another page and continue reading. After the day Leon had had, he had thought it impossible that he might be able to become any more irate than he already was. Public healthcare sure was miraculous.

  “I need healing,” Leon demanded.

  The man did not seem perturbed. Another minute passed and another page turned before Leon reached out to snatch the book. The man was either more skilled than he seemed, or more likely Leon was far more injured than he thought, as the book danced out of his grasp. The man did sigh, however, and placed it down on his desk to save his page before giving Leon a drowsy look.

  “Injuries?” he asked.

  He seemed intent on speaking as little as possible, only continuing when he saw Leon’s confused expression.

  “What do you need healed?”

  Could have started with that. “Spear wound to the knee, arrow wound to the shoulder, lacerations on the hand…”

  The man nodded as Leon told him his injuries. It was not until after he was done did he realize that the man was beginning to doze off.

  “Hey.” He snapped his fingers in the man’s face, who woke up with a start. It was barely even dusk for crying out loud.

  “Healer?” Leon asked with an expectant tone.

  The man nodded, just once this time. “Right, that would be about six silver. An extra two if you want pain relief.”

  Leon paled at the price. Eight silver was not a small dent in his purse, especially when considering he would owe more to the commoners who had helped him. He swallowed his discomfort. “Just the healing is fine.”

  The man nodded and gestured to the chairs. “A healer will be with you soon.” He gave Leon a sickeningly dishonest smile “Have a pleasant healing.”

  Leon sat down and waited impatiently. Whatever balm the adventurer from earlier had given him had begun to wear off. Time passed by at an agonizing pace as those in the clinic were slowly called before him and released after a few minutes in an adjoining room. The woman with the javelin inside her took a significantly longer amount of time, not that he would begrudge her that.

  Eventually, the clinic had emptied out of those who had been waiting before him and had filled with those who had appeared afterwards, contrary to what he may have thought it did not make him the next patient. He would have complained if the idea of unduly standing did not upset his stomach so, or if the chair had not been so comfortable.

  Finally, he was called up. Leon managed to stand and limp to the side room with as noble a posture as he could manage. It was frankly a herculean effort to not simply fall to the floor and curl up in a ball now that the pain was back in full.

  Inside the room was a bear beastman, an ursiine, in an entirely too small white coat standing over a short table. Black hairs sprouted out of the sleeves and collar, but the man’s face was exceptionally clean shaven. It was a surprisingly uncomfortable contrast, unhelped by the small bear ears jarringly poking out of the otherwise hairless head.

  The man patted the table for him to lie on, an order Leon was all too grateful to comply with.

  “No pain relief, right? Looking at your wounds, I can tell you now you’ll want it.”

  Leon found himself very much agreeing that he would need pain relief, but outwardly just shook his head. He could not afford it no matter how much he was sure he would want it. The man grabbed a small towel from behind him and held it to Leon’s face.

  “Alright, bite this and I’ll get started.”

  Swallowing his nerves, he took the towel towards his mouth, gingerly biting down as the doctor placed his hands on Leon’s breastplate. A small glow began to emanate from the hairy hands and spread throughout the body. Leon felt the skin around his wounds tighten and expand, and he relaxed. There was practically no pain, a bit of discomfort perhaps but no pain.

  Suddenly, his wounds burned as if a molten brand were being pressed into him. Screaming into the towel with his teeth clamped down, his bite became the only relief from the pain. He could feel his wounds closing up slowly and torturously, his own skin and muscle needling itself back into completion. To be used as needle and thread, tailor and tailored, he wished for nothing more than to throw the man’s hands off of him and flee. Instead, he lay there and screamed. For what felt as hours finally came to an end, his throat hoarse and his body aching but he was whole.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Fine pair of pipes you got there, lad. Don’t envy your neighbors when you bring someone special home.” The healer's attempt at levity was met with a glare of pure loathing. He cleared his throat. “Right, that’ll be six silver then.”

  Begrudgingly, Leon reached down his breastplate and pulled six silver coins out from his coin pouch. He handed them to the healer, who gave a contented nod before waving him out.

  “Have a pleasant night, here’s hoping we don’t see you again too soon now.”

  Leon scowled as he closed the door to the room behind him and left the clinic.

  ~

  Opening the door to the Guildhall, Leon scanned those present. It did not take long to spot three familiar heads of hair in the rambunctious afternoon crowd. He made his way to their table, furious beyond what he had ever felt before. As he reached their table, he slammed his hands down onto it, causing the boys around it to jump at the sudden interruption. There was more than a little satisfaction for him in their reaction.

  “Surprised to see me?” he asked, his voice was cold and two of the boys nervously looked between him and their trio leader.

  The leader in question seemed to have overcome his initial surprise and wore a calmer expression, a playful smile etched on his face. “Not at all, Leon. I will admit that it took you a little longer to return than I had expected.”

  “So you hadn’t left me for dead, then? I suppose it was the fae who took my body, and those goblins so far from where they had died.”

  The boy shrugged nonchalantly even as his companions stared steadfastly down onto the table. “You told us you wished to see a healer, which I see you evidently did. Ya even took most of the goblin ears as guarantee we couldn’t finish the job without you.”

  As the leader spoke, the other two seemed to be recovering their own resolve as they nervously nodded their heads along with what was being said. Leon growled at them, and they quickly ducked their heads back to stare into the table.

  “Is that your story now? I’m sure the Guild would be fascinated to hear my side of events.”

  The two boys looking down began to shake, but the leader’s smile only grew, taking on a malicious tint.

  “That would be interesting, your word versus ours.. Who d’ya think they would believe: the three lowly unranked grasping desperately for a mission, or the one who loudly claimed they could do the mission themselves and demanded an unfair share of the loot? Why, it might almost seem like he was trying to cast the other three as thugs so they could take all the reward themselves,” he spoke with an innocent voice, the words only being betrayed by his much crueler expression.

  “I would never cast accusations upon innocent men.”

  Their leader's smile never faltered. “I am sure you wouldn’t, but it’s not me you have to convince now, is it? I’m just saying, it’s three against one here.”

  The boy’s expression reeked of someone who thought themselves triumphant. Leon’s blood boiled.

  “It is only natural they would listen to a noble over dregs such as yourselves,” he proclaimed.

  The boy had the audacity to chuckle at the statement. “Really, I don’t see any nobles around here.”

  Those words were enough to have Leon sucking in his breath. He was right, of course; Leon did not have a noble house anymore, let alone a family name.

  “F-fine.” Leon cursed the slight stammer to his voice but continued on regardless. “Then let us finish this mission and drop the matter. I require coins to pay those who actually assisted me once you three ran off.”

  The way the boy smiled told him he had said something wrong. “Happy to, we’ll take a fourth of a share per person for the contract. You, of course, may feel free to collect the reward for the five goblins you personally slayed.”

  “That’s outrageous! I killed all the goblins and did the entire damn mission. You should feel lucky to even receive a reward after what you pulled!”

  “And we renegotiated after we were forced to assist you,” the boy replied simply, spreading his arms out as if any of that had ever happened. The other two boys were nodding along much more confidently at that point. “We have the mission report anyhow, along with three sets of ears. You’re free to turn in your ears separately to the mission and have it marked failure if you wish.”

  At those words, Leon lunged across the table and grabbed the boy by his collar, balling the cloth in his fists as he brought the boy’s now much more nervous looking face to his own.

  “Or I could beat you black and blue and take the whole reward. I think I like that plan much better, how about you?”

  A bead of sweat dropped down the boy's face as his cocky demeanor evaporated.

  “Fair’s only fair! We had to rescue you, you can’t just take the whole reward after that!” It was one of the other boys who shouted and grabbed Leon by the arm before nodding their head gently to the side.

  Leon turned to look, only to see the rest of the Guild watching them, a few higher-ranked adventurers even standing up and seeming prepared to intervene. The entire hall was unnervingly silent—a stark contrast to the mood that had existed scant minutes ago.

  He dropped the boy as realization dawned on him. They all thought him the bad guy, some bully trying to cheat the others out of their coin. The three boys all looked at him with terrified expressions, betrayed only by the victorious gleam in their eyes.

  “Fine.” It was the only word he said, the only one he could bring himself to say.

  The three boys nodded cautiously for the crowd even as everyone went back to their own business, no doubt a few keeping an eye on them. They made their way to the clerk and turned in the mission, the leader of the other three boys handling all the talk as Leon could do nothing but hang his head in shame and horror.

  It all passed in a blur from there. The mission reward for killing the goblins was four silver while each dead goblin was worth twenty-five copper as a general bounty. He received his one silver as reward for the mission, and then the one silver twenty-five copper for the five goblin ears he had collected. If all had gone to plan, he would have earned four silver from this mission; instead, he barely earned over half that.

  He had almost died for two silver. The thought plagued his mind as he returned home in silence. Altogether, the mission had cost him close to seven silver compared to his coin not two nights prior, and that was without considering the debt he owed the two who had saved him. His life demanded at least a gold coin surely, and yet he did not even have that left in his pouch. It would be indecent to give them less, but he would need to. He could only hope they would not be too angry with his remaining coin as reward.

  Returning home he collapsed onto his bed. Everything he had gone through, all the pain and humiliation, and he was further behind than when he had started. It was unfair. Unfair that those who had abandoned him were rewarded. Unfair he had to pay someone to help him hobble back to town. Unfair that he had not the coin to even pay them properly!

  His destiny had been to become a noble lord, trained to be as strong as a knight, married to a beautiful lady of some other noble house. Instead, he lived a life of squalor, squatting among the middle class without so much as a friendly face in his world.

  It had been a long time since he had cried. Last time, he had been nine after hearing how his parents had died and he was to be made the baronet early. He had been hit for that, his nanny chastising him on how it was unbecoming of a noble to display such emotions. Now though, there was no one who cared enough to do even that.

  So it was that as he continued to lament the unjustness of the world, he began to silently weep. Curled up in a ball on his uncomfortable straw bed, he cried for the first time in a decade until sleep finally took him into its comforting embrace.