After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

Chapter 1178: Rin’s Hospital Trip

The aforementioned judgey-old-man was unaware that his professional appearance was seen as a guillotine about to fall.

After a couple of moments more of reading through his results, Volohov finally lifted his eyes and stared at his patient. 

"Did you get injured in the head?"

This made the man flinch, before nodding. "Yes, but I recovered well," he said, assuming that his stay here would depend on his answers today. "I used the best healing potions I had." 

He appeared quite confident in this. 

The doctor sighed, rubbing his temple. "You, young man, have a vestibular problem." 

"Pardon?" 

"You might not know this but the inner ear is responsible for both hearing and balance." 

The young man stared at him, definitely very confused. Volohov remained very patient. This was understandable as the Xenoan knowledge about what was going on inside the body was quite finite. 

Deeper knowledge about the body was probably limited to healers and doctors from bigger territories. The others depended a lot on their inheritances or, if they had been apprentices, whatever knowledge their teachers decided to impart to them—which normally wasn't very much anyway.

Fortunately, Alterra had grown their knowledge about this subject in the past few months. Strictly speaking, they probably know more about the Xenoan body than Xenoan themselves. 

For one, they knew that the functions of Xeno and Terran bodies were very similar except for a few differences like Xenoans didn't have an appendix and that their brain structures were slightly different. 

They found that Xenoan brains were slightly smaller, and the parts of the brain dedicated to cognitive reasoning were a little bit inferior. 

This could explain why—on top of various cultural and societal factors—Xenoans were slow to innovate and a bit slower to learn new things. 

This wasn't publicized, of course, just kept amongst those in the know. Still, many of them have become much more patient than their Xenoan comrades since then. 

How did Alterra gain so much data about this, one would ask? Of course, through experiments. 

They had doctors, coroners, and scientists dissect and study the intact corpses of their enemies. It was disgusting for many, but they had to do many things for knowledge! 

For science! 

Anyway, Volohov thought about how to explain this to Rin. It was not even on layman's terms, but had to be even more simple. "Basically there are… fluids inside our ears that help us find balance. 

"When you got injured, that part was likely damaged. The healing potions probably didn't help. Rather, the healing could've been a bit aggressive and healed the body incorrectly." 

"The healing might have also created excess fluids in your ear, leading to swelling and pressure changes."

This was one of the dangers of using strong healing potions with serious injuries. If it was just simple stabbing, or bleeding, it could be fine. Even if the bones cracked slightly, that would be fine, too.

However, if a body's system—in this case the vestibular system—was damaged, then it was a lot more complex because there were many parts that had to be connected properly before they got healed—otherwise, it could stay in that way forever. 

This was why their pharmacy department was also developing the type of healing potion that would keep this in consideration. 

Anyway, everything was still up for study. Their new physiques pretty much threw most of their previous beliefs and instinctual judgement about the body and its recovery out the window. 

"We will need to… do an operation on your head. We have already identified which bones and tissues need to be fixed, so that surgery should be able to fix you. Don't worry it won't take long…" 

Rin stared; he had no idea what he was talking about.

As mentioned: All he knew was to fight. The other areas were… for improvement. 

Looking at the other man just staring at him, Volohov couldn't help but want to comfort him. 

"Don't worry, as someone hired directly under the territory, you have a certain amount of medical insurance. You probably wouldn't have to pay much for this treatment."

"???" 

…

Rin could only enter a daze as he was led into a ward by a male 'nurse'. He was also guided by the arms, making sure he didn't bump into a wall or something. 

They then handed him a robe to change into—wearing nothing underneath. This made him extremely self-conscious, but they said it was necessary for hygiene and for the convenience of what they were going to do to him. 

He felt a bit at a loss because, even if they explained it to him, he really couldn't absorb it. 

He arrived at a small room with four beds. He was led to an empty bed that was surrounded by thin posts with curtains. The nurse pointed at it before he left, saying that it could be pulled out if he needed more privacy. 

Two of the other three beds were occupied. On one bed, there was a young man a bit younger than him. He seemed alive and well except for some bandages that covered his entire body.

One of his arms seemed fine, and he was holding a short-haired woman's hand. 

There was nothing unusual about this. However, on the other bed next to them was… a goblin? 

Rin was just getting more and more confused. Even when he settled down the bed, he just stared at the ceiling, wondering what was happening. 

While he laid, he could hear the conversation from the other side of the room. He wasn't eavesdropping; it wasn't like he could stop his ears from hearing. 

It was the woman who was speaking to them. "Really, how can the both of you be so careless?" she asked. "We are a Town now… and while we can handle the majority of the mobs, there are still a lot of monsters way above our capability." 

The man answered her with a weak voice a moment later. "We were near the walls…" 

The goblin nodded, speaking casually to the humans (which alone made this whole thing feel more like a dream to Rin). "The scope of the Town expanded, but the walls remain the same… so monsters are still fewer." 

"Yeah, but you two got injured regardless, didn't you?" the woman repeated, voice changing to a more solemn tone.

Rin was a little taken aback by a woman being so bossy to a man, especially her lover. 

What surprised him more was the humble stance the man took. 

"I'm sorry for making you worry, Barbie."

The woman blushed a bit and just glared at him. 

This was Atlas and Barbara. Atlas was a refugee from Juno Town, while Barbara was one of the soldiers under Victor back then. 

They met as fellow guards and had become acquainted, slowly falling in love, though Barbara was promoted to captain of a separate team so they weren't together when the accident happened. 

It was a standard clearing mission with citizens. This time, some goblins asked to be escorted for a fee. They made sure to stay near the walls, with some guards luring some monsters in. 

It started out fine—as always. It was just that the infamous Leapard appeared, and they came in a small group, so it got very dangerous very quickly.

Fortunately, the guards in the battlement quickly sounded an alarm and a group jumped down to rescue them before it was too late. More fortunate was the fact that Maomao was among these guards so they were quickly handled.

It had to be noted that Maomao seemed to hate Leapards in particular though so it got a bit brutal… 

Rin didn't speak and just listened to observe. 

Goblins and humans interact like equals, discussing things. A woman being a captain—a woman being a Lord—and their men listening so intently for their opinions. 

And then… treating him, a person who literally just stepped into their territory. 

Although he didn't understand most of the process, he did understand their intent.

They were 'fixing' him—and that was something he never would have thought would be done for him. 

After all, it was much cheaper to just let him be and not renew his contract. "Cutting the losses" was a phrase he had heard so many times in the past year.

Letting him go through all these treatments must not have been cheap. Why? 

He had been through too much to think they were helping him for his 'potential'. That man next to the Lord was very strong, and he had also seen a group of level 30s or more while he was heading to the hospital. 

Were they just being kind? For some reason, Rin found it hard to wrap his head around that. 

Once again, he just stared at the white ceiling above him. 

What else would this territory surprise him with?

Long chappie~ I could've divided this into two you know!

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