A Lion's Way Home

9. Forget Me Not

Since Lyn's disappearance, Leon had always hated going to the infirmary and preferred chugging potion and getting tipsy due to overdose. The healers would always remind him of her because just like Lyn, they wielded Life element to treat wounds and illnesses.

This time, he didn't have a choice. Seeing his broken arm, the guard post staffer at the training center immediately reported it to Mr. Burke. The principal then had Leon hauled off to the infirmary, much to his chagrin.

The first floor of the infirmary was a large air-conditioned hall divided into four sections; each of them had their own representative colors for an easier identification. Dying and comatose mercenaries would go to the blue Resuscitation area, seriously injured or very ill mercenaries with decent vital signs would go to the red Emergent area, while mercenaries with mild illness or injuries would go to the green Non-Urgent area.

Leon ended up in the yellow Urgent area.

Lying still, Leon watched as the healer lady sat beside his bed and placed her glowing hands beside his mangled forearm and fingers. Healers always wore white coat like doctors, but doctors hated them with burning passion and often regarded them as lowly shamans. "They don't know a single thing about an illness. They only know to heal everything with magic," doctors had always said.

Leon thought pretty much everyone in medical field had the reason to hate healers; the emergence of mercenaries and magic rendered medics obsolete. Nobody would seek a doctor, undergo a surgery, and get hospitalized for days when healers could heal numerous internal injuries in a minute or two.

Sometimes, though, their anger seemed unreasonable. Casting Life magic would age up the healer, whereas counselling patients, performing surgery, and prescribing drugs wouldn't.

It only took a few seconds for the broken bones to return to their original position and the torn flesh to heal up, similar to how the potion restored his arm earlier. However, with something as strong as Life element involved in the healing, he wouldn't need to worry about breaking his arm with Ravage again.

After wiping off the blood from Leon's arm with soaked gauze pads, the healer lady threw the bloodstained pieces of fabric into the trash can on the trolley and smiled at him. "All done. Take care." Then she pushed the trolley away and headed to another bed, atop which a wounded mercenary lay.

Leon sat up. Oh, sure, he'd take good care of himself; the academy funded a mercenary's health care only once every 24 hours.

Leon looked at the digital ceiling clock and scowled. Why hadn't Neil returned? A super speedy mercenary like him shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes to bring some empty vials to the recycling department and get Leon's jacket washed in the academy's laundry.

I regret letting that rooster head carry out those tasks.

He sat still, but soon, the agonized cries from other patients gave him a headache. For Aedifex's sake, they were mercenaries! Mercenaries put their lives on the line on a regular basis!

Worse yet, some of the wailing patients were men in their 30s.

Close the damn curtains already! Leon complained in his head, folding his arms over his chest. I can't stand looking at those crybabies!

A moment later, Leon hissed and hopped off his bed. After wearing his boots and backpack, he stormed out of the infirmary.

Just as he walked past the sliding glass doors, he bumped into Neil at the pavement, beside a bus stop. The rooster head had finally returned with a clean leather jacket in his arms. It gave off the scent of jasmine, the most popular flower in the world due to its association with Aedifex.