Raymond coughed in vain. He couldn't tell if it was genuine.
'Hmm. Is this why she's been so generous with loans so far?'
But Raymond shook his head.
He didn't think so.
It was a hunch.
After twenty-three years of living under duress, his instincts were very sharp.
"Anyway, your dream. I'll be rooting for you, and if you ever need money again, I'll lend it to you at a special rate."
Rose glanced at the healer one last time, her gaze saying, "Do well. I'll be watching to see how you do."
He felt a chill run down his spine.
"I'll see you then, VIP."
***
Once outside, the butler who had been accompanying her wordlessly opened his mouth.
"What do you think?"
"What about you?"
"If you ask my opinion, he's less feasible."
The butler narrowed his gray eyes sharply.
"I admire his concern for your patients, but he's a dreamer, and it's not likely to happen."
"You think so?"
"A dreamer with only good intentions is doomed."
A foolishly good dreamer.
This was Raymond, the butler judged.
He was nice and respectable.
One wondered if there was such a man in the world these days.
But that was it.
The butler, Karls, spoke coldly.
"Not the man we're looking for. He's sure to fall at some point. We'd better get our money back."
"You really think so?"
"Miss?"
Rose took out a lollipop and nibbled on it.
"Increase Mr. Raymond's VIP status to Red."
"...!"
The butler, Karl, was stunned.
Red!
This was the highest level of VIP they gave out, even for a VIP client.
"If he asks for an additional loan, I'll give him a special rate."
"Why?"
"He's not just a dreamer."
"Did you see it with your mind's eye?"
Mind's eye!
Her hidden ability to see through her opponent's essence.
Rose's eidetic eye shone.
"Yes, according to my mind's eye, he is not a foolish dreamer, but rather a man of great ambition."
Rose used her mind's eye to see right through Raymond.
There was a surprising amount of ambition in this man, despite his reputation as an angel from heaven!
"...What kind of ambition?"
"I don't know. I can only vaguely read the mind's eye, and it's not a perfect mind reader, but judging by the way he looked."
Rose paused for a moment.
Honestly, she wasn't sure about this one.
What does he harbor ambition for? She guessed with a genius mind.
"... Probably ambition for his patients, because the look in his eyes that I just saw was all about them."
Rose had never imagined that a man like Raymond could be in it for the money, and she made that judgment.
'I'm going to make this the best clinic on the continent.'
'For the patients.'
The way he said it, Raymond was so sincere about his patients!
'What a ridiculous ambition.'
Rose was dismayed.
She laughed.
But he seemed so sincere.
He had ambition for his patients in his heart.
No, it wasn't true that he was a fool who only cared about his patients.
For no one with such great ambition could be a fool.
He was a fighter.
A fighter with a sword for his patients.
"The amount of ambition he harbored, judging by the mind's eye, was immense, beyond the comprehension of most. He is no naïve dreamer."
Rose concluded.
"Rather, he's a revolutionary. One who wants to transform an entire continent for his patients. So he's worth keeping an eye on."
"... He will most likely be a failed revolutionary. The dream is too outrageous, isn't it?"
To be the best healer on the continent!
Karls realized that Raymond's words sounded like he meant to serve the patients of the entire continent.
It was an outrageous ambition.
"Of course, it could be. No, it's much more likely that it won't."
"Then what?"
"Because it's not just anyone we need, anyway. We need someone as outrageous as Raymond."
Rose looked to the northeast. Far away. Where she was supposed to be.
"Karls, no, Duke Karlstein."
The moment he heard the name, Karls' gaze shifted.
The momentum was tremendous.
At least Sword Expert Superior.
Considering that there were less than five Sword Expert Superiors in the entire Kingdom of Houston, that's a lot of power!
And a knight of such great power was serving as a nameless escort?
"Don't forget. Why we were exiled to this countryside? Don't forget where we belong."
"... I have not forgotten, my lord."
Bite.
Rose bit down on her candy.
She glanced back toward the Penin Healing Center.
In her mind's eye, all of Raymond's "ambition" came flooding back.
'For the patients.'
She chuckled again at the absurdity of his ambition.
"Again, lend him money whenever he needs it, as low as you can. So he can do a lot of things."
"I'll do that, but if Raymond falls apart, what will you do?"
"Then what?"
Crunch.
Rose answered as if it were natural, biting the candy left in her mouth for the last time.
"I'll throw him away then."
***
'I must pay my debts now!'
Raymond vowed.
Luckily, the meeting went well (?), but it didn't feel good.
'I felt like I'd met a snake.'
When he recalled it he got goosebumps.
He felt like he was going to be eaten.
'Money! I need to make money!'
The problem was, there was no money to be had.
Unless all of a sudden a bunch of aristocrats come in with a bunch of beggars.
'The loan is now nearly 70,000 pence. Ugh. When did we owe so much?'
When he first opened the clinic, he owed about 10,000 pence, and then he went into a lot of debt because he was giving to the poor commoners, and then he went into a lot of debt because he was renovating this casino building, and then he had to pay dwarves and the Magic Tower to implement a lot of medical tools.
'These dwarves are bad. They're robbers, too. Why are the herbs so expensive?'
In this world, heals come first, so the demand for herbs was low.
But did that mean herbs are cheap?
No. On the contrary, herbs were scarce and hard to come by.
Raymond used his vast knowledge of herbs to find herbs that had similar effects to modern medicines and extracted their ingredients, but the variety of herbs he used made it very difficult to stock up.
Herbs were hard to come by, especially those that weren't in the Kingdom of Houston.
And the prices were ridiculously high.
'Damn, maybe I'll run a shop specializing in herbs someday.'
But first, he had to pay off his debt to Healer Loans.
'Is there any way I can pay off the debt once and for all, even in an illegal casino?'
That's what he was thinking.
He heard a rumor.
"Master, they say ancient ruins have been found in the Gir Mountains."
"Ancient ruins?"
"Yes. Several parties of adventurers have gone in, but all have failed, and this one is said to be the work of the Knights. A notice has been sent out looking for healers to join them."
Raymond looked uninterested.
'Ancient ruins, eh. I shudder to think of it. I don't want to go in there and get hurt. Best to be safe.'
Raymond was a safety-first kind of guy.
Shouldn't he be taking care of himself?
"Throw that letter away. I'm busy seeing my patients."
It was an excuse, of course.
The real reason was that he was scared.
"Yes, I'll do that."
Hanson and Lyndon looked impressed.
"As expected, Master, you're thinking of your patients without a care in the world. Perhaps we can get some great treasures by participating in the Ancient Ruins."
"As expected, Master!"
At those words, Raymond's posture quickly changed.
"Come to think of it, there are treasures in the ancient ruins, maybe we can pick up some bean scraps!"
Raymond swallowed hard.
Ancient ruins!
You never know what treasures you might find.
If he played his cards right, he could win big and get out of debt once and for all.
'... It's so scary, what if I make a mistake and die?'
It was a golden opportunity, and not many healers were willing to take it.
Ancient ruins were dangerous.
Failure to explore meant death.
'No. Since we're doing this on behalf of the Kingdom Knights, it shouldn't be too dangerous. We must seize this opportunity!'
Raymond's face took on a stern expression.
"No, Hanson. On second thought, I think we should participate."
"Master?"
"The reason I want to enter is because..."
He didn't bother to explain.
Before he could explain, Hanson nodded in realization.
"You're not just worried about the patient in front of you, Master, you're worried about those who will join the expedition. Ancient ruins are dangerous places. We don't know what kind of bad patient we'll encounter, so we don't want any casualties."
"As always, Master."
"Look, Lyndon. Worrying about a potential patient. That's the kind of heart we should emulate."
"Yes, I will keep that in mind!"
Raymond's mouth dropped open as he looked at the two excited fools.
He was glad he didn't have to explain it to them. Rao, meanwhile, saw the scene and said,
'... A ruins expedition? He's not in it for the money, is he? Why does he always look like that?'
He had been suspicious for a long time, but it was not important, so he moved on.
***
"What, the 'bug' decided to join the exploration of the ruins?"
There was a figure frowning at the news of Raymond's participation in the ruins' expedition.
Mason.
He was a healer belonging to the royal family!
As the Royal Knights proceeded to explore the ruins, Mason, who was also a healer of the royal family, followed along.
'I can't believe I have to go with such a lowly worm.'
He was genuinely disdainful, and rightly so.
Mason was an A-ranked senior healer, and to him, Raymond, who practiced pseudoscience, was nothing more than a worm.
"I'll have to use him as a porter. I can't let a bug like that interfere with my sacred duties."
Mason was a noble healer who took pride in his abilities.
It was a blessing from heaven, the heals, and he found it rewarding to heal people with it.
This exploration of the ruins would be done perfectly, with no deaths.
He could not allow a lowly insect to taint his noble duty.
***
Meanwhile, there were those who talked about the expedition in the most unlikely of places.
In a place far, far away.
The capital of the Kingdom of Droton.
In an opulent mansion that rivaled a royal palace, a handsome man spoke languidly into a crystal ball.
He looked relatively young, perhaps in his mid-to-late thirties, but his aura was as sharp as a knife.
"So, the Royal Knights are exploring the ruins, all according to our plan?"
-Yes, no healer would be able to overcome that demonic curse.
-
(T/N: As much as I hate to interrupt the reading experience, I ask of you all to please follow my backup account or website to ensure that you can keep reading this book in the case that my account is banned, as this novel happens to be soaring in popularity.
Sorry for interrupting, once again.)