D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 1268 1268 Smacked Down

--- Nixilei ---

Nixilei still couldn't find anything that could be causing Asteodia's anxiety minutes later. The trees were full of monsters of course, but after flying by so many of them they felt more like part of the scenery then a threat. It seemed that the plane was fast enough for most of them to consider attacking 'not worth it'. Or at least, that was the assumption that Nixilei was operating under. Things were… not quiet exactly but calm wasn't quite right either. They were close enough as descriptors…

That was until the pair burst out into laughter. It was a moment after the first real attack came. Though calling it an attack might be overly generous. It was a feline creature that had a green lined coat that blended rather well with the leaves. It must have been hiding somewhere above them and been overlooked. 

In the end it didn't matter. The big cat had jumped straight at the front of the plane, perhaps assuming that taking out the propellor would send the plane crashing to the ground? Whatever the case, that's not what happened. The cat jumped down mouth open ready to bit down on the front of the plane… only for the propellor to smack it in the side of the face and send it pinwheeling off into the forest below. There was a moment, of frozen time that Nixilei just barely caught. 

It was the green cat, mouth wide open teeth at the ready… being smacked in the side of the face hard enough for spit to go flying and likely for the jaw to have been dislocated if not outright broken from the propellor blade. If that wasn't silly enough, the fact that it was knocked away spinning was the perfect cherry on top. 

"Oh that was wonderful," said Nixilei in between fits of laughter. 

"Yes, oh yes I needed that," laughed Asteodia, her hands relaxing on the steering wheel as she said it. Something Nixilei noted. 

"I wonder how strong that thing was supposed to be… Rank 1? Rank 2? Probably not Rank 3, I imagine one of those could've stood up to the propellor's speed but that's just a guess," said Nixilei. 

"Is that important?" asked Asteodia, genuinely curious. 

Nixilei nodded, "Indeed it is. It tells us how sturdy the plane is, and how fast the blades are really moving. It's faster then I can keep track of properly, but I can't tell by how much. If the feline that attacked us was Rank 2 then we can probably weather an attack or two from a Rank 3 without too much worried. If it was only Rank 1 then it's still up in the air. 

"The fact that the cat probably had its jaw broken in the attempt means that unless the thing's jaw is particularly fragile the plane has enough power to punch out a rank 2. Essentially," explained Nixilei. 

"Ah, that is a good point. I hadn't been thinking of it that way…" Asteodia awkwardly craned her head over Nixilei to look off to the side of the plane. She wouldn't have seen anything, they'd already flown well past the area the cat would've landed so it was mostly a waste. Still, it felt right, and Nixilei wasn't complaining about Asteodia leaning against her at all. "Hmm, can't see anything. Not that I really thought I would… but I do wish I'd paid more attention," 

Nixilei waited for Asteodia to be off her shoulder before shrugging and responding, "I sort of do as well. Obviously I heard the crack when the cat's jaw and propellor collided but that might've just been from the collision. I may be quite familiar with the sound of bones breaking from my medical training… but I with all the noise around and the fact I wasn't exactly expecting the attack, I couldn't really say," 

"Wait, what do you mean you know the sound of breaking bones from medical training?" asked Asteodia askance. "I feel like that's not something you can just casually throw into a conversation?" 

"Why?" asked Nixilei. "Bones are a pain to heal, especially at Rank 1. You have to make sure they're set properly, and that can be hard to tell before you've finished healing them. Then you have to actually do the healing without accidentally regrowing parts of the bone, or targeting the wrong area and growing muscles where they aren't needed. Breaking bones for training purposes is really common from what I know," 

"Well coming from someone who has no healing training it seems really weird. Whose bones were they breaking?" asked Asteodia. 

"Some random volunteers. They could opt for medication to name the pain or not as they wanted. If they took the pain medication they made less money from the experience but not everyone could deal with having their bones broken repeatedly for around an hour. Then there were the people that tried to act all tough. Mostly men. 

"They'd ask for no pain reducing medication and then scream their throats raw. They're lucky I considered that worth fixing as well, I didn't NEED to, but the healer that visited occasionally to help tutor me explained how it was good practice for other, more dangerous repairs that were just as easy to mess up. Though, a few did pass out from the pain. I was told to stop working on them. That was always annoying because it meant I wasn't getting any more practice done that day," explained Nixilei. 

"Passing out from the pain… just from one broken bone? Even if it was repeatedly that seems a bit strange, especially if you were healing them in between. Couldn't they stand it?" asked Asteodia, not understanding how unbelievably warped her perspective on the matter was as an adventurer. For them a broken bone was a known occupational hazard and not something to be avoided completely. 

Nixilei shrugged and said, "It happened somewhat regularly, but not all the time. Especially because we banned idiots like that from volunteering again afterwards. If they're that prone to fainting, or can't handle the pain properly we've got no use for them. Though, there was this one old man, a don't know what he did but I'm pretty sure he was either an adventurer or a knight. 

"The first time he came in, after he was told what bone the… teacher? Watcher? Assistant? The healer wasn't on hand, but I had an adult around. Anyway, they told him what bone they were breaking… and the crazy guy just snapped it himself. No hesitation. The bone was broken before my assistant could even stop him. I just sort of stared at the guy for a while before I started fixing him up. 

"He was cool. One of the more regular customers actually. He'd show up at least once a year, sometimes more often. It was nice to see him actually. Most people didn't come back for another round. Paying for the pain medication really cut into their potential earnings so most of them didn't bother with coming a second time, and the people who could deal with the pain usually had something better they could be doing. 

"Though a lot of the people we had showing up did come because they already had something broken, that was probably part of it," 

Asteodia lightly smacked Nixilei's helmet. "Lead with that dammit! Of course people are going to volunteer if they get free healing for their other issues," 

"Well I couldn't fix everything that early on," explained Nixilei. "Mostly broken bones, minor cuts and bruises. Certainly nothing serious like diseases or chronic issues. Still, quite a lot of people showed up to allow me to try, even if we turned plenty of them away on healing day," 

"So… how did that work exactly? The free healing?" asked Asteodia. 

"Ah, so before I was moved to the area someone would show up at the front desk for the building we used and take down what was wrong with everyone. If it was something I couldn't actually help with, they were just told to leave. If they were healthy they were offered a chance to have their bones broken for money, but people with bones already broken took priority unless they were willing to go without pain medication. 

"Then there were people that had a problem I might have been able to help with. Perhaps the bone was fractured, perhaps it was a sign of a long term issue. If I could 'possibly' fix them they were told as much and given the chance to stick around if they wanted. Though we prioritised people with more serious issues, assuming I could help them. 

"I know one of the worst things I ever tried to heal when I was starting out was a very recent case of gangrene. They'd broken a bone just after the previous healing session and instead of getting it looked at properly they'd just waited… and the flesh was already starting to die. It wasn't much, just the edges, so I made the attempt… but it didn't work. I did have enough medical training to 'fix' it somewhat. Cut away the deal flesh, align it the best I could, heal the bone and the skin, do what I could for the muscles. Any nerve damage would be too much for me, but I'm sure there was some,"