Free Web NovelChapter 170: Chapter 170: A New Arm
Back in his room, after the disaster involving Jeanne and Marco outside the tavern, Mitsuki lay down on the bed. He stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. The faint moonlight slipped through the poorly closed curtains and drew pale lines across the aged wooden walls.
Returning to what he had seen while repairing the cracks in his soul, there were simply too many unanswered questions.
Of course, all of that would eventually be answered one way or another, but it was difficult to be patient when the mystery was so tangled. Every memory seemed connected to another, even stranger one, like a thread impossible to untangle.
Mitsuki sighed. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Within his dreams, he saw a distant and blurry place. It was filled with flowering trees of every kind; vast and thick plains covered in flowers stretched far into the distance. The wind moved gently through that place, causing petals of countless colors to drift through the air like a silent storm.
Morgan stood there, silently staring at the landscape.
Mitsuki still did not understand this. Although he was incarnating Morgan, he could not see beyond that. He could not feel what Morgan felt, much less clearly see what he saw. It felt like being an intruder inside the memory, where everything became confusing specifically to confuse him.
Even the sky looked strange. It was too pale a shade of blue, almost whitish, and the horizon was covered by a shining mist that made it impossible to tell where the plains ended.
Morgan remained like that for several minutes until he was finally heard whispering something.
"Something isn’t right..."
He touched his head in pain.
"There’s something wrong with me."
Mitsuki understood there might be something useful there, but the memory distorted itself and forced him to open his eyes. The flowers disappeared first, then the sky, and finally Morgan, as though someone had torn the dream apart from the inside.
He found himself staring at the ceiling once again.
’No comment. Even if I could say something about this, all of it is just scattered pieces with no possible connection to everything I already have, but eventually there’ll be something I can do.’
Outside, it was still night. Mitsuki looked toward the window and closed his eyes again. The streets were dark, and only the faint light of an occasional oil lamp or magic stone could be seen illuminating the distance.
He waited for another one of those dreams to appear, but unfortunately, it never happened.
The exhaustion still weighed heavily on him, though his mind continued circling around those words. ’There’s something wrong with me.’
***
The next morning, loud knocks echoed from his room’s door. On the other side could be heard the voice of a bad-tempered elf.
"Hey, tick! How long are you planning to sleep?!"
Mitsuki woke up abruptly. He shook his head to clear away the drowsiness and walked toward the door. His hair was messy, and his gaze still looked slightly unfocused from the interrupted sleep.
When he opened it, he found Ellegaard holding a piece of cloth wrapped around a suspiciously elongated object.
"Good morning? Why are you waking me up like this out of nowhere? I thought I told you—"
"Just shut your mouth," she said while entering the room.
The curtains opened on their own. Clearly, this elf had something to do with that.
’She just invited herself in, huh...’
There was nothing Mitsuki could do to stop her. Ellegaard walked toward the room’s desk and placed the cloth on top of it. Then she removed the covering, revealing a sinister amputated arm.
The arm’s skin had a pale, unnatural tone. The nails were perfectly formed, and faint bluish lines could be seen running across its surface like newly created veins.
Mitsuki swallowed hard, and cold sweat began running down his forehead.
’That thing is...’
He shook his head.
"No way, Ellegaard, you—"
"I managed to gather all the necessary materials, tick. You should be grateful that I wasted my precious time on something as insignificant as you. I made this arm based mostly on visual references, so it may end up slightly bigger or smaller."
"Oh. I see. This is the arm I asked you for that day. I didn’t think you’d make it this fast."
Ellegaard smiled proudly. She crossed her arms and puffed out her chest as though expecting her ego to be fed.
"Human biology is practically identical to elven biology, so it’s far too easy for a genius like me to replicate a limb. Honestly, gathering the necessary materials took longer than actually creating the arm itself. The only thing left now is attaching it, which is usually extremely painful and unpleasant."
’I don’t like the sound of that.’
Mitsuki looked at the arm once more. The longer he stared at it, the more unsettling it seemed. It was too perfect, too real.
Ellegaard continued.
"Since a lot of things need to be connected, the process can take a while. So, tick, are you ready to suffer?"
"Are you sure the pain part isn’t revenge for what I told you earlier?"
Ellegaard smiled, though there was a certain darkness hidden in her eyes.
"No, not at all. I simply thought I should get rid of this supposed debt I have toward you. Here’s your arm, your soul is healing, and I can already see your emotions beginning to return. Now sit on the bed, shut your mouth, and let me do my damn job."
"Your words are very sweet, yes. I’d definitely follow you to the end of the world," Mitsuki said.
[ The skill "Sarcasm" resonates slowly. ]
"At last, you say something that makes sense, tick. You should crawl before me and beg for forgiveness. That’s what you should be doing instead of continuing to be so annoying."
Sitting down on the bed, Mitsuki looked toward the window.
"The only person I owe an apology to is my mother. After that, I’m not obligated to apologize to anyone, not even you. But I can say that I’m grateful. You do amazing things like this so casually, and thanks to that, I’ll be able to get my arm back."
For a moment, Ellegaard remained silent. Her elf ears twitched slightly, as though she did not know how to react to such direct gratitude.
"Yeah, yeah. Shut your mouth."
Ellegaard picked up the arm from the table and placed it beside Mitsuki on the bed.
Mitsuki removed his poncho and watched as Ellegaard summoned her staff from nowhere to begin implanting the new arm.
She closed her eyes, and everything became silent.
Even the sounds coming from the tavern seemed muted for a few seconds. The air inside the room grew heavy.
’Is she seeing through my body or something? I think this kind of thing requires way too much knowledge about nerves, muscles, and all that.’
Holding the staff in front of herself, Ellegaard spoke in her native language. A gentle current of wind wrapped around both the arm and Mitsuki’s side, making him look over in confusion.
The wind was cold and light, but it carried a strange sensation, like tiny needles brushing against the skin.
Then Ellegaard slammed the staff against the floor, and the arm floated toward the amputated stump of Mitsuki’s shoulder.
For a second, he thought nothing major would happen, but Ellegaard switched languages to tell him something.
"Clench your teeth and grip the bedsheets tightly. This is really going to hurt."
In an instant, Mitsuki’s eyes widened completely. A violent stab of pain attacked the stump. The flesh on both sides split open while the nerves grotesquely extended outward, seeking to connect like some kind of symbiote.
The pain was atrocious. Mitsuki had to do exactly what Ellegaard told him to do: he clenched his teeth so hard he could hear them grinding and gripped the bedsheets with all his strength as though that alone would somehow help.
’Damn it. This isn’t what I expected.’
The pain was not merely physical. It felt as though tiny electric shocks were running through every part of his body while the nerves connected one by one.
The arm and stump finally joined together, but the process continued internally. The nerves connected, the muscles fused together, and the bone was accepted and integrated into the rest of his body.
Small drops of sweat fell from Mitsuki’s chin onto the bed. His breathing became heavy and uneven.
Finally, after several minutes, Mitsuki let out an exhausted breath. Sweat covered his forehead, and he struggled to breathe properly. ƒreewebɳovel.com
"That’s it, tick. I’m surprised you didn’t burst into tears."
"That... was horrible."
"I told you it would be. Now try moving the arm. It should already work."
Mitsuki raised the arm. He moved his fingers and felt the cold air against his skin.
The sensation was strange. After so long, he could once again feel that something was there. The weight of the arm, the movement of the fingers, even the touch of the air all felt slightly unfamiliar.
"Looks like it works."
"Of course it works, idiot. I’m the one who made it in the first place."
Mitsuki slowly opened and closed his hand several times. The movements were still somewhat clumsy, but they worked.
"Right. Thanks."
"If you noticed, that arm is thinner and weaker. Just like the rest of your body, it needs training to grow stronger. Strengthen the arm so it doesn’t explode again from a single hit and everything will be fine. No, actually, strengthen your entire existence so you stop being such a pathetic and weak little boy with a girl’s face."
"That last part was unnecessary, Ellegaard."
She snorted, and just as quickly as she had appeared to perform Mitsuki’s implant, she walked toward the door to leave.
"Yeah, whatever you say. I’m leaving now. I don’t want to keep wasting time with you."
Mitsuki looked toward the door.
She was already gone.
The room became silent once again. Mitsuki lowered his gaze toward his new arm and slowly flexed his fingers.
’I felt like she was much kinder for some reason. Did what I told her actually work? Damn... words really do have power.’
But that was something he already knew.
