District 42-Chapter 156: Going to the healer

Vick was dragging Casper through the streets of the city. Now the soldier was more attentive with his surroundings and could notice that all the people that crossed those two would look intently at them, with disbelief or confusion, or both.

They were drawing the attention of a lot of citizens. It wasn’t common to see the Princess walking all carefree in the city, to begin with, and it was even more flabbergasting once you saw her holding hands with someone that didn’t wear a mask and had that strange white hair.

Casper was already very famous among the residents of the Castle, and even among the commoners out there. His existence had shaken the entire district, after all. However, not all the people there knew about him.

At first, Vick tried at all costs to hide Casper from others. Even if a lot of people already knew about him because of the Midwest battle, she couldn’t let that more of them could know that, at least not until she got her approval among the Council of Jarls.

Now that most of the issues regarding Casper were solved, she could let him be spotted for everyone, and the news was already spread about his existence and residence at the 16° floor of the Castle, however, it was still a shock for those citizens to see someone without mask walking there.

The Jarls could wear off their masks, but it depended on what activity or reason they had to do that. The masks would know when it was a good reason or not, and depending on this, they would let the Jarls take it off. That was the only taste of freedom that people of District 42 other than the king and the Forger had in their lives, and most of them would never experiment such a thing. So, seeing Casper walking normally in there without a mask, and doing ordinary things with the Princess of the district, was something that their minds couldn’t afford to accept.

Their trip was very uncomfortable because of all that attention they were getting, particularly for Casper. Vick was already used to be the center of attention and having a lot of people looking at her wherever she went, but Casper was a different matter, and all those looks just left him feeling uneasy.

"Where are we going, Vick?" He asked, trying to brush off his anxiety by talking to her a little bit more.

"Oh... that’s right, I didn’t tell you why we are here. Well, there are a couple of reasons, but for now, I just want to get you to a healer. After that, we will stroll around a bit, and I want to converse with you about some things. What do you think about it?" Casper didn’t answer. That question already had a response, since he was being dragged around without any choice. And even if he said that he didn’t like the idea, Vick would keep dragging him along.

"Why do you want me to visit the hospital... or healer, or whatever, by the way?" His voice was a bit tired as he began to remember all suffering he probably would pass on that day.

"Don’t worry, silly, I am just taking care of you. I don’t know how is your rehabilitation or your physical condition overall, and you seemed to pass for a lot of harmful situations inside Halden, so I need to know how you are doing."

They kept walking for a while. Casper didn’t know where the healer was, so he couldn’t guess if they were almost there or not. He could notice that the Princess wasn’t in any rush, though, and that she did not seem to have the will to converse to the trip look shorter, so they were probably about to arrive.

In the middle of the way, though, the two of them got themselves being surrounded. It wasn’t for normal people, though. They were a lot of robots shaped like spheres, with the same size as Casper’s head. They were flying around them, some arms were popping from their flanks and holding tiny speakers. They had something similar to a big eye on the middle of their bodies, but it had the same lenses as a camera.

"What... What’s this, Vick? I am pretty confused now..."

"Don’t worry they are journalists. They are here just to record a bit, take some pictures, and note a couple of things down. I don’t think they are aiming for an interview, mainly because I am here, so they can’t really keep stalking us."

They needed to deal with those robots for some time until they seemed to be done with whatever they were doing and then flew to another part of the city, in a really fast rhythm.

Casper got curious as to how journalism worked in that world, and those robots had given him an idea that he would try to experiment soon.

After some more time strolling, Casper and Vick finally arrived at the healer. It was basically a hospital with a different name. It was slightly different in design and structure compared to the hospitals from Casper’s world, but nothing much to be emphasized despite the technologies in there.

They entered the place, and without talking to anybody in the lobby, the Princess just marched through the place. She probably didn’t need to wait for an appointment with the doctors. Most likely she was seen as an exception for almost all rules of common places like that.

"Sorry for making you pass for all that situation out there. Those people are still getting used to you, and those robots were gathering some data for the news from tomorrow, that probably will be about you and the approval of your residence here by the Council."

"It’s fine..." It wasn’t really fine, but he would not bother her with such trivial things.

With this, they crossed the corridors until a room located on the fifth floor. The building was big and had five floors in total, and that room was one of the lasts there.

That room was far away, and they took several minutes walking to get there, which was bad since Casper was a bit tired to be looked at by so many people even inside that place.

When they entered there, the room was completely dark. There was no signal of lights turned on, nor a candle, nothing. It was just pitch black, which was very strange for a room of a doctor inside a hospital.

"Maybe the doctor isn’t here?" He supposed, looking at Vick, dumbfounded.

The Princess didn’t seem concerned at all; she narrowed her eyes and clicked her tongue. She seemed discontent, but not for the reasons that Casper was guessing.

"No, he is here. But that idiot never hears what I say to him, right Rurik?" The final part she said in a louder and annoyed tone, looking at that pitch dark place.

No one responded, and the soldier was starting to get suspicious. He gave a step far away from the entrance of that place, looking intently at what was inside there.

Strangely, the soldier felt that there was a presence inside the room. His instincts weren’t just warning him about someone who was hiding inside the darkness, but that this person was dangerous as well. His hair stood to end, and that situation gave him goosebumps.

"Something is going to happen... right? But now? Like this? Why is this presence so strong? Who the hell is inside there, and how Vick can keep so close to the entrance? Does she feels the same way as me, or she can’t?" The soldier was trying to find a way to protect himself, but besides the Master key, he was just with a knife in his waist.

Once he gave his third step behind, the Princess noticed what was going on, and laughed at his face.

"Stop being so startled about everything. We are in a hospital, not in a prison or a battlefield, you know?" She walked into the room, searching for the interrupter and turning on the lights.

The room was finally bright again, the light reflected on the white paint of that place, making it seem even shiny.

Inside there, was a man with the same height as Casper, about 175 cm. He had red, curled hair. He was wearing a uniform that Casper recognized very well, mainly because of the cape. His sad mask was white, and his eyes were filled with tears, which left him with the vibe that that mask suited him very well. His skin was tanned, and his body build was expected for a trained soldier.

"Is... Is that an Aesir?" Casper muttered. "But... What the hell is that guy doing!?" He was surprised.

Rurik had a rope around his neck, and it was attached to something in the ceiling of the room.

"Rurik... I already said to you right...?" The red-haired guy seemed to be getting startled and crying even more because of Vick’s tone. "Stop trying to kill yourself!"