Chapter 52 52 – The Devil’s Doctor
It was difficult for me to fly. Many times I have to adjust my balance. I also can\'t fly at high speed because that would blur my vision.
"I really flew with the demon lord…." For the umpteenth time, Lexi whispered those words. Like on the outskirts of Beckingsale, her voice was too loud for me to hear, even in the howling wind.
"That\'s the location, Your Majesty." Ayre pointed to an alley between two tall buildings.
"There?" I didn\'t expect the devil\'s doctor\'s residence to be in such a place.
As soon as I landed, some of the mice ran away. I also smell a bit of a foul odor which makes me uncomfortable.
"Don\'t worry about it." Lexi opened a door at the end of the narrow alley. "I purposely used that smell to dispel people with no interest."
As I walked through the door, I found something different. There was not the slightest dust on the table, chairs, walls, and floor of the front room. Even so, I didn\'t find any decorations or anything. Everything is plain.
"So, this place you used to treat a demon before?" I asked while looking around.
"Not this place, I have room for that…." She cleared her throat.
"That\'s what earned you that nickname, right? You\'ve really treated a demon before."
The woman sighed. "Yes, someone has seen me do that, sir. A few years ago…. That demon almost looks like you, but its wings are more like a bat….. Ah, we\'ll talk later. You better take off your clothes now, sir."
I frowned at the strange request. "Huh?"
"Sorry..." She grimaced. "I\'ll check your condition."
***
I\'m just wearing a loincloth, lying on
a bed. Meanwhile, Lexi scanned my body with a weakly twinkling magnifying glass.
"There are some tears in your joints. You have a concussion in your head too." She explained. "There\'s nothing I can do. You just need to rest, my lord. At the very least, I\'ll give you a potion to ease the pain."
She then moved to a table in the room\'s corner and began mixing something. I took a good look at her face. Behind the big glasses, there is a face that is quite exotic, with quite prominent cheekbones, slightly raised corners of the eyes, and a sharp chin. That combination makes her appearance somewhat different from the women I\'ve met in this world.
"So…." I got out of bed and started wearing my clothes again. "I\'ve never seen pocket dimension magic and that magnifying glass. Are they something common?"
Lexi, pounding something with pastels and mortar, sighed. "Not at all, sir. It was my own invention, after developing other people\'s theories… Well, for the pocket dimension, it was actually the development of a lost magic technique."
Ah, she must be referencing the space-expanding magic the demon chariot also uses.
"That\'s surprising." I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest. "You should have received great recognition. And sorry, not that I wanted to mock your house. However, with your intelligence, you should have a better one. You should have a lot of money with your inventions."
She put what she had just pounded into a glass. "Well…. It\'s because I\'ve been obsessed with demons since I was at the academy."
"There are academics who are also experts on demons, right?"
"I\'m different, sir." She turned around, handing me a blackish-green potion. "I even searched for forbidden books about dark rituals and the like. It\'s not strictly forbidden, but I must have a high academic level before doing it. And that\'s just for research."
"So, you did it prematurely." I drank the potion and almost coughed. A bitter taste filled my mouth. However, I tried to act normal to maintain my charisma in front of her. "Why are you obsessed with us?"
"I don\'t really know…." She gulped. "Maybe because you guys are unique? And also because you are shrouded in mystery. The government has been trying to suppress information about the demons for a long time."
My mouth still tastes bitter, but the pain in my joints has started to lessen. "You\'re great, Doc. I feel much better now."
"Thanks for the compliment." The woman\'s thin lips flashed a faint smile. "Well, actually, my mother did ask me to study healing…. However, I instead focused on other things. The kinds that exiled me from the magic community."
"Do you regret that?"
The smile on the young woman\'s face disappeared. She looked the other way and sighed. "Actually, come to think of it, I regret it. If I stay on the right track…. I can…. However, I can\'t suppress my desire to find information about demons. Oh, sorry. I don\'t know why I\'m telling you this."
I could see that this woman had been holding back ever since we met. As a demon fan for years, she should have been more enthusiastic.
Perhaps her emotions almost exploded because of meeting the demons again after a long time.
"How about you just come with us." I approached her. "There are a lot of demons in my place. You are free to research them as long as you don\'t hurt them."
Her eyes widened, and her body also trembled. She had opened her mouth, but then turned away her gaze again with tears.
"Sorry, but I can\'t do it, sir." She spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Why?" I had expected this rejection, but it wasn\'t the end. "This is your dream, right? We will also appreciate your abilities."
She was silent for a moment, took a deep breath, then flashed a faint smile again. However, that smile was different from before. I could feel the bitterness on this young woman\'s face.
"Please, follow me, sir." She started walking.
I followed her out of the room, moving to another room only a few feet away.
She then opened the door of the room.
What I found was the sight of an old woman lying on the bed. Even though her body looks so thin, her condition is clean, a sign that she is well taken care of.
"She\'s..."
"She\'s my mother," Lexi responded. "I can\'t leave her, sir. I still need to take care of her."
As soon as she closed the bedroom door, I spoke again. "You can take her to my place."
Lexi wiped a tear from her eye. "She will not survive on the way to your place…. I heard rumors about you and can guess the location of your residence. That\'s a long way, sir."
"I can teleport, Doc."
She shook her head. "She won\'t be able to survive displacement magic either, sir."
"I can get someone to take care of her…."
"No, sir. She has taken care of me since I was little and paid my tuition at the magic academy. So, I\'m the one who has to take care of her." She interrupted.
"But..."
"And I won\'t be able to leave her for too long. Your teleport magic can only be used once every two days, right?"
The easiest way, of course, is to kill Lexi\'s mother. I\'m sure Lexi will be easy to persuade after that. As long as she doesn\'t know we killed her mother.
However, I also wanted Lexi to have a genuine desire to join us. It\'s impossible for now, so I\'ll give her a deep impression before I find a suitable method.
"So, what is your mother\'s illness?"
"She has paralysis. The kind of unknown cause. As time went on, she became more and more immobile. Now she can\'t even speak."
I feel bad about doing this, but I can\'t pass up the opportunity.
"You know a mare\'s abilities, right?" I asked the doctor.