Date- 3 April 2321
Time- 18:07
Location- Sun Blossom City, Card Creationist Association, Auction house, VIP Venue
“Eliza, have you bid for any card in the auction?” after the chat with Ann, I decided to leave the auction and prepare for tonight. But before that, I decided to attend to one matter. For which I would require Eliza’s cooperation.
“No, instead of buying cards for steep prices here, I would rather plan a trip to the southern capital and buy the cards for a reasonable price at the southern card association. Why do you ask?” Eliza made it sound like the rest of us in the open auction were all fools to bid for the cards in the auction.
“Why don’t we go somewhere quiet to discuss?” I said looking at the crowd of self-important people in the venue.
“Sure, let me check with Lucy,” Eliza agreed
“Bring her with you,” I said
“Lucy, we are going to… somewhere quiet. I will come to pick you up later or If you are done with the auction you can tag along with us,” Eliza asked Lucy, who answered, “I did not get a gift for my grandpa.”
“So, you will stay?” Eliza asked Lucy for confirmation.
“No, I will come with you,” Lucy answered.
“Okay,” Eliza nodded. All three of us followed Cheng to a secluded hall deep inside the auction house. Making ourselves comfortable on a couch, I asked Cheng, “Master Cheng, please Inform Rami that I am waiting for him here.”
“Yes, I will do that,” With Cheng’s departure, I turned to look at Eliza and Lucy.
Feeling the graveyard silence awkward, Eliza said, “Well, what was it that you wanted to discuss?”
“I cut to the chase. It is about Lucy’s condition,” I skipped the small talk and directly spoke about the reason I invited Eliza and Lucy hear.
“What about it?” Eliza asked while Lucy glanced at me.
“I know the reason behind it and I think I have a solution for it,” I said confidently.
“What do you mean?” Eliza looked at me with a scrutinous gaze as if looking at a scammer.
“There is a tumor in Lucy’s brain. It is not malignant but benign but It is responsible for Lucy’s mental condition,” I explained feeling that adding more context to my claims would help Eliza and Lucy trust my words.
“What is a tumor?” Eliza asked. In this world where soul energy washes each cell of the body of every card apprentice cancer was not that common. And not many even knew about it.
“Tumor is an abnormal growth of the tissue, for example, a mole. Now imagine that such growth inside the human body. In Lucy’s case, it is inside her brain or adjacent to it,” I explained.
“By mole you mean, the disgusting stuff that grows on a mortal’s face, it has a hair in it sometimes,” Eliza asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Such a thing is inside Lucy’s brain and it is the cause of her mental condition,” Eliza said based on my explanation so far.
“Correct,” I exclaimed seeing Eliza understand what I was saying, and added, “Though this tumor stopped growing long ago, it is located near the sensitive area of her brain making it hard for Lucy to function like an average human being.”
“Okay, let’s say what you are saying is true. How would you treat it?” Eliza questioned. I don’t think she believes me but she could not ignore my confidence so she decided to hear me out for Lucy’s sake.
“Before I explain that you, promise me that you will hear me out to the end, let me finish, and then ask your questions,” The process of removing the tumor would sound too cruel for someone who does not know about surgeries and would drink a potion or take a soul pill to treat every injury or disease in their life.
“Fine,” Eliza promised.
“Okay, just let me finish. Hopefully, you will not have any questions to ask when I am done explaining,” I said and thought, ‘Hopefully, you two will be on board with the procedure.’
“Just, explain it already,” Eliza said in annoyance. As for Lucy, the subject of our conversation her gaze never left me since I brought up her mental condition.
“The only way to treat the tumor is to remove it. To do that I will have to make a small hole in Lucy’s skull, from where I can access the tumor and cut it out. And then patch her up using elixirs and medical cards. Once the tumor is gone, the area of the brain it was affecting will be able to operate normally. Allowing Lucy to function like average humans,” I said everything in a single breath in fear of being interrupted mid-way.
“Well, you were right about one thing. Hearing everything you had to say, I no longer have any questions. As I now know that you are fucking crazy. And you would be crazier if you thought that I or anyone else would allow you to cut Lucy’s skull open,” Eliza yelled and even added a few cusses in between.
“…” I expected Eliza to react wildly but not this much. For the subject of this topic, she was calm and listened to us as if it did not concern her.
Eliza kept glaring at me, her chest heaved up and down with her deep breaths. It was already a surprise that she did not storm from here along with Lucy in a fit of rage. Taking this as an opportunity I asked Lucy, “What do you think?”
“You haven’t dropped this matter, yet? Wasn’t I clear enough earlier,” Eliza said while glaring at me.
I ignore Eliza’s glare and said, “Eliza, this matter is for Lucy to decide, not you.”
Hearing my words Eliza turned to look at Lucy, but she did not get any answer from Lucy’s blank and calm face so she asked me, “How do you even know all this? Now you are some kind of genius medic, is that it?”
