Jenna was genuinely happy, not even her own father had ever told her that he was proud of her, she felt a slight warmness in her chest and promised to push herself even further, it would take her years to reach the level of her mentor but it's better than doing nothing. It's not like she would ever be a strong and powerful individual given her lowly talents, but as long as she gets paid handsomely like this, maybe she could buy herself some nice defensive and offensive gear later and who knows? Maybe her mama will also stop despising her as well.
***
We arrived at the brothel shortly after grabbing Jenna, I told her everything that she needed to know about, what I will do next would be considered criminal and unethical for a physician, I mean think about it, cutting open a woman to take her baby out of her open stomach? Who would trust someone who says something like that? In the middle of me pondering, a hand tried to reach out towards my crotch, I took a step back and glared at the culprit and I saw an old brunette with messed up yellowish teeth.
Claudio: I'm not a customer, hands off.
Suzie: Ah! No Mynthia he's here to save mo-m I mean Lydia! He is not here to-
Mynthia: Oh? This cutie right here? Is this a play of some sort I wonder?
Mynthia inched closer to me, the stairs were right behind me and as soon as I turned my head to go down, Mynthia tried to do the same action, again, which resulted in her hand being sliced off clean by Lyria.
Mynthia shrieked in pain with tears in her eyes, she cursed at the heavens while glaring at Lyria.
Claudio: *sigh* Lyria, thanks for intervening but just knock her out next time no need to-
Mynthia: AHHHH! I WILL KILL YOU!
Her breathing was uneven as she tried to glue her hands together; she was bleeding like a fountain.
Claudio: Jenna deal with this bi- with this woman we already wasted enough time.
Jenna was shaken up by this altercation; she had a confused look on her face, so I instructed her more clearly this time.
Claudio: Stop the bleeding, and place her severed hand in ice, don't take too long.
Jenna: YES!
Suzie turned pale, she didn't know whether she made the right call by calling me or if she fucked up.
***
I entered the room to see a woman laid on the bed with her back against the wall, she looked like a ghost, and the sheets were covered in blood. The man next to her who I assumed to be her husband, was crying his eyes out while stroking his wife's head. There was an older woman to her right, who I assumed to be the midwife.
Claudio: Midwife, tell me what happened please, and in detail.
Husband: WHO THE FUCK IS THIS?!
Claudio: Claudio, a skilled physician, I came here to help.
Husband: A CRIPPLE AS WELL?! IS THIS A JOKE!
I got close to the man, way too close, as if we were about to start swinging, however I had a calm smile on my face which calmed down the agitated baboon, I looked straight at his eyes and said:
Claudio: I know this is hard to believe but I know a way to save both of your loved ones, I need you to trust me, please.
He seemed skeptical but let his guard down, before he could speak, Lydia opened her eyes weakly; her entire body was covered with sweat and her lower body blood. She seemed to recognize me, fortunately.
Lydia: Is that you? Claudus angelus?
Claudio: Yes, now tell me midwife, what happened exactly?
Midwife: I've never seen this before young one! The baby came out wrong, arm first, he then a fired a flame missile at me which both burned the madam and me! Madam Lydia used all her strength to push the baby back to her womb, he is still alive and kicking!
FUCK! This is way too complicated, and it looks like we don't have enough time as well! Jenna joined in soon after and I gathered all them all around me and told them the exact operation, Lyria and Jenna already heard from me but the midwife was not pleased at all, no matter how much I explained, she still wouldn't budge.
She quickly left the room and went home soon after, not wanting to do anything with me and my plans.
Claudio: Looks like you have to take her place Lyria, don't worry your part will be easy, Jenna's as well.
Lyria was not happy but it's not like she had a choice, Jenna was more focused, and I was scared of the little demon hiding there.
Claudio: Father, you need to leave the room, the faster the better.
Husband: You better save them both! You promised!
Shit, I really did promise him, I shouldn't have done that, I need to be trained again by the… never mind they don't exist anymore.
I extracted a couple bags of blood from Suzie, she was a perfect match and shared the same blood color of her mother, Lydia saw everything unfold and asked about the very long needle that I had in my hand for her anesthesia.
Lydia: What are you doing kid?
Claudio: You seem to be in pain, this needle right here will help with that, trust me.
Lydia: It's not like I have a choice, isn't that right Suzie?
Suzie: IM SORRY MAMA! THE HEALING MAGE WOULDN'T-
Claudio: Suzie, please leave the room.
Suzie was a nervous wreck, she would emotionally collapse every few minutes and I can't imagine her reaction when I dig deep in her "Mama" to pull out the baby.
Jenna was done removing Lydia's clothes and disinfecting the place, Lyria helped Lydia get up so the I can administer the spinal anesthesia. While waiting for the drug to kick in I checked on the damage caused by the little demon in her nether region, thankfully it looked like it was at most 4 inches of second degree burn on her inner thigh. I was shocked by the appearance of her vagina at first, my first thought was 'WHAT TYPE OF STD IS THAT?!' it was like gonorrhea on steroids but that is a problem for later.
Lydia looked to be in euphoria, I pinched her side tightly and asked if she could feel the pain in which she responded while laughing melodically:
Lydia: I've never felt better.
Claudio: Listen Lydia, you will feel an uncomfortable amount of pressure in your abdomen but that is normal, so don't panic, okay?
Lydia: OKAAAY~~~~
I don't like how she is acting, I feel like I'm missing something for some fucking reason and it's driving me insane. This time, everyone present was dressed in surgical gowns and gloves, everything from A to Z, Lyria tried to scratch her nose with her hands and I scolded her with a simple "LYRIA!", Lydia was in her own world so she wasn't startled by my man shriek.
Here is how everything went:
I applied the dark orange disinfectant also known as Betadine and began slicing her lower abdomen region until I reached the fascia, I explained every step to Jenna, I wanted her to calm down and believe that this is going as intended, and it worked.
Removing the fascia, I was now looking straight at her pink uterus. I told Jenna and Lyria the next and most important step:
Claudio: Do you see this you two? Behind this pink soft wall is the baby, you will see his head if I sliced this bag open, I want you to use moderate strength against the outer and inner layer of the skin so that I can pull the baby out, is that clear?
Jenna and Lyria were shaking profusely, they didn't seem too enthused by the next action so I assured them again:
Claudio: Listen you two, I did this surgery twice before, and everything went well.
That was a lie, the first one died, it wasn't really my fault, I was going home then suddenly, a Herathian missile struck our hospital and I had to drive back in the wreckage and be an emergency surgeon, it still haunts me to this day, if I stayed a little bit longer I would've died alongside my colleagues.
Jenna took a deep breath, and I instructed Lyria to do the same, she didn't like how the face mask was obstructing her breathing, that much was obvious.
They pulled apart the stomach using their index and middle fingers on my command; they seemed to struggle and were scared that they would rip the women in half.
Claudio: Pull harder! This is nowhere near enough! Don't worry she doesn't feel this.
After they finally gathered the courage and followed my lead, I planted my hands in the woman's stomach, it was tight but after a struggle I managed to pull out the baby safely.
Jenna and Lyria: WHAT THE SHIT!?
I was honestly disappointed by Jenna's reaction, I told her that she shouldn't scare the patient but oh well, I will scold her later on. The baby was KICKING and SCREAMING his minutes old lungs out! He was strong as fuck to say the least which made no sense.
Claudio: Jenna, the scissors, cut the umbilical cord.
Even though I said it in English, she still understood the assignment. After removing the placenta, I sutured up the woman's stomach and with that, everything was done.
Claudio: Congrats Lydia, it's a boy, and a strong one at that.
Lydia held up the boy near her bare chest and she kissed him weakly on the head, she couldn't believe that she survived that incident, the door opened and a family of sex workers of all colors and races stormed in alongside the father, overwhelming the weak woman with their congratulations and tearful gratitude.
Suzie was kneeling on the floor exhausted, she was a match for Lydia and I took three Blood bags from her before we did the surgery, the husband was proudly holding the kid in the air like a trophy, the only one who didn't seem too happy was Mynthia the groper.
Mynthia: You evil bastard, how will I attract customers with a missing hands now?!
Claudio: You were successful before? With those teeth?
Mynthia stormed off the room crying with a tantrum and as she was leaving, I noticed Lydia dozing off, I rushed towards her to check her pulse and everything seemed normal? Was she just tired? No, Her pulse was increasing.
Husband: Whats wrong! Please don't do this to me now-
Claudio: EVERYONE GET THE FUCK OUT! NOW!
Jenna was dashing towards my bag on instinct and Lyria was pushing the crowd out of the room, they were not helping at all. Checking her retinas with my flash light, she was out cold. Her heart rate was high and Jenna was checking on her blood pressure with a simple tool that I gave to her.
Jenna: It's low Claudio!
She was delirious before as well? Taking off my mask, I came close to her mouth and started sniffing and she had a fruity like smell! I had to confirm my diagnosis so I instructed Jenna to do the following:
Claudio: Jenna! Prick her fingers and add a sample of blood on this device and tell me the numbers.
I opened the door to a worried father and asked him:
Claudio: You! Did Lydia take any kind of fruit earlier?
Husband: No she only had wate-
I closed the door off, Jenna told me that the reading was 270 mg/dL, I was right, she was in Diabetic Ketoacidosis aka DKA, and luckily, I had some Insulin on me. The baby was crying on the sterilized table next to me as I administered insulin towards her IV bag, since she was a superhuman, she recovered very quickly and woke up feeling groggy, and with the expected memory loss.
Lydia: Oh my god what happened?
Everyone sighed a sigh of relief upon hearing Lydia speak again, since the situation was under control I opened the door and told everyone that she is fine, at least for now.
The husband lunged at me and hugged me aggressively, followed by Suzie, after they calmed down they walked towards a more coherent Lydia and began talking to her, the baby was crying. I went to grab him and reintroduce him to his mother and as soon as I picked him up the little bastard arms glowed red before burning a small portion of my arm and the side of my stomach, startling everyone.
Claudio: It's fine everything is fine.
I had some tears at the corners of my eyes, the only reason I didn't punt the little shit was because compared to the pain of the mist, this was nothing, not even a speck.
I handed the baby to his confused mom while exuding the scent of burnt flesh, I calmly explained to her:
Lydia: I-I don't understand? I was in pain a couple of hours ago because of birth and now everything is fine? Is this a dream?
Claudio: It's normal to be confused Lydia, it happens sometimes after giving birth. Now for the reason why you passed out.
I gave them a quick explanation on diabetes, a very simple and quick one, that a medieval person can understand it the first time.
Lydia: So if I don't take any of this mysterious liquid I would die?
Claudio: Yes, make sure to not remove it, given your constitution it should take you about a day for the ketones to be removed from your blood stream, drink a lot of water.
Normally she would've been administered to the ICU but those don't exist anymore, I was freestyling everything as I go.
Everyone left leaving only my group and the mother and father, before Suzie left the room I handed her a pain relief gel and explained the benefit to her, her eyes teared up and asked:
Suzie: You could tell? How?
Claudio: Don't worry about it, focus on recovering, do you mind telling me what happened?
Suzie broke down, this time for real, like Lucia, even worse, she sobbed uncontrollably outside the view of her mother and said:
Suzie: IT'S That noble bastard! He wanted to get back at mom by hurting me!
It feels like I shouldn't have asked, she was rubbing her teary eyes and I was standing there like a statue, I don't think the best option for me as a man to hug her because of her recent trauma so I glared at Lyria to do it in my place and she begrudgingly obliged.
I went into the room and the husband stared at me and said:
Husband: Name your price, I will pay double the amount for it!
Claudio: I didn't ask for a price.
Husband: You will get paid whether you like it or not!
Claudio: Well how about you grant me a citizen ship?
Husband and Lydia: You want to be our slave?!
Claudio: *sigh* Never mind.
I shouldn't expect much from a rundown brothel, it looked like a Halloween haunted house, I need to pay a noble to grant me a citizenship, but these bastards don't have the best reputation.
Husband: Please name your price! We can't let you walk away empty handed!
Claudio: The stuff that I used to you is priceless, do you understand? It doesn't exist anymore, so for the last time, no, I don't require any monetary compensations.
Husband: Uh… I understand.
Seeing that I was starting to get pissed off, the husband backed off, at the last second he asked me:
Husband: Would you honor us by purifying our child?
Purify? What does he mean? Like circumcision?
Claudio: I'm not sure I haven't done it before, I need to study the procedure before I start doing it, give me a couple of days.
The husband, Lydia, and Jenna looked at me weirdly, it seems like I misunderstood their request, the husband asked with a confused tone:
Husband: Study? What are you on about? We just want you to name our baby.
Ohhh…
Claudio: Ah sorry about that I got confused with the term, I'm a foreigner and all…
Husband: What is it that you needed to study for anyways?
Claudio: I'm not sure how to say it in Voratrae, like this? You remove the extra skin and shit?
I made a scissor gesture which scared the parents, Lydia exclaimed:
Lydia: We want our boy to remain a boy! Why would you remove his penis?
Penis is a cognate word, somehow it has the same meaning in both English and old Herathian and Voratrae.
Claudio: You didn't understand me! I just remove the extra skin not the penis it self! I had it done to me when I was born and I still have one!
Husband: Is that why you look like that? It makes you less of a man?
Oh I'm being rage baited for sure.
Claudio: Wanna make a bet? 5 thousand groshen if you are packing more than me.
Husband: Easiest 5K of my life! Done!
Claudio: Jenna, leave the room please.
Jenna: But…
Claudio: I'm not suggesting.
Jenna sprinted out of the room, Lydia thought that I was sent by God to relieve their problems and financial situation, but she was only right about one thing.
***
Later
It was about 5 pm now, this was supposed to be a relaxing day and here I am, I really can't catch a break.
Jenna helped bandaging me up since I was burned by the baby, nothing too serious thankfully, but it still caused me discomfort. I helped stitch Mynthia's hand back and she regained full control of her hands again, my left hand turned purple upon getting shocked by her electric veins.
I bid Jenna farewell and handed her a bonus from a generous patient:
Jenna: I can't take this Claudio! You told me that…
Claudio: Where I came from, you get paid if you worked extra, enjoy you earned it.
Seeing that I was already sick of seeing her face she thanked me and moved on with her day
***
Lyria: So what do you want to do now?
Claudio: I don't know.
Lyria: You seem upset, why?
Claudio: I don't know.
Lyria: Are you okay?
Claudio: I don't know.
I was feeling multiple feelings at once, anger, frustration, pain, and emptiness. And I had no one to direct these feelings on, I was lost once again. My hand feels numb and looked purple for some reason, I felt sick most probably from the Mageia, I was sitting on a bench and nothing made sense anymore.
Lyria: How about you try drinking to celebrate your success?
Claudio: I don't know, I was never good with alcohol, last time I drank I ended up killing someone.
Lyria laughed.
I was being serious, I usually act stoic and reasonable but when I take alcohol and drugs I simply let loose, you know what? I'm dying, I accepted the fact now, ever since I entered this fuckass of a world I've felt like my entire body was getting weaker, day by day, at this rate I won't live to see the end of the contract, so who cares? I will enjoy myself tonight, whatever happens, happens.