I felt extra refreshed the next day, probably from sleeping on such nice bedding.
After our showers yesterday, we’d gone out for dinner, and once we got home, we all immediately plopped into bed and fell asleep.
For dinner, we’d bypassed the street lined with incredible-looking restaurants and settled on a cheap diner. We were saving the lavish feast for tonight, once the surgery had been successfully completed.
“How’re you feeling, Ralph?” I asked. “All mentally prepared?”
“Yeah. I feel a lot more relaxed after such a good sleep. I think I’ll be in a pretty good headspace for the surgery today.”
“Glad to hear it. I’ll be crossing my fingers that we can all head back to the hotel today with smiles on our faces. Okay, then... Ready, guys?”
And with that, we left the Grabbel Hotel and headed for the black market.
Ralph must have been speaking the truth earlier, because I couldn’t sense the usual anxiety radiating off of him. Instead, he made pleasant chitchat the whole way to Vlad’s clinic.
There was no sign of any other patients today. We made our way through the empty building to the operating room that Vlad had shown us to yesterday.
Vlad was already there waiting for us, wearing a white coat. It was a complete transformation from his disheveled look yesterday.
“Welcome, welcome! I’ve been waiting for you. Thank you so, so much for your understanding yesterday,” he said.
“No need to apologize. Just make sure today’s surgery goes well.”
“Of course. Leave it to me,” he said. Then, turning to Ralph, he instructed, “Now then, Mr. Ralph. Just lie down here, please, all right? We’ll start with some anesthetic made from razzle leaf, and then we’ll put you to sleep with extract from the dormir fruit. From there, I’ll begin the surgery. I expect it will take some time, so I hope you won’t mind waiting.” The last part was directed at Hester and me.
“That’s all right. We’ll wait as long as it takes,” I said.
Before I’d even gotten the sentence out, Vlad had already deftly administered the anesthetic to Ralph’s leg. It was clear he was an old hand at this. Once Ralph took the sleeping medicine next, he was out in about thirty minutes.
After that, Vlad waited about an hour to make sure that the medicines had taken full effect. Then he began the reconstructive surgery.
Vlad didn’t have operating assistants or nurses; he did everything by himself.
Just as the rumors had suggested, he was clearly in a league of his own. I didn’t have to know anything about medicine to realize why he’d made a name for himself.
About eight hours had passed since Vlad cut Ralph’s knee open, and he must have finally completed the operation, because he began sewing it up again.
The guy was clearly a grade-A asshole, but putting his personality aside, his surgical skills were absolutely worthy of respect.
Vlad wiped some sweat that was beading on his forehead as he flashed a tired smile at Hester and me.
“The surgery was a complete success. I’ve used some custom healing medicine on him, so he’ll just need to keep the wound closed for about three days. After that, I can remove the stitches and he’ll be good to go, no further steps necessary. It will probably take some time before he can walk again, but if the healing process goes well, then eventually, his leg should be as good as new!”
“Thank you. You’ve helped us immensely,” I said.
“Oh, don’t mention it! I was just happy to do what I could for him, of course. Now then... Perhaps I can take my payment now?”
Just as I was starting to respect him, he had to go and ruin it.
It was strange how massive an impact his personality had. He was so loathsome that I could understand why he’d found himself working in the slums, in spite of all his skill.
If he could only fix that moneygrubbing aura he gave off, I felt like he’d probably be a lot more successful—and he’d be able to help a lot more people.
No... Actually, I doubt he’d have been able to learn all those skills if it weren’t for his personality, I thought.
“I still can’t pay you in full yet,” I said.
“Excuse me...?”
“I’ll pay you three platinum coins today, though. If no issues have emerged in three days when we come to visit you again, then you can have the other two after you’ve removed Ralph’s stitches.”
“Right... Yes, all right! Well, that’s perfectly fine, then! May I have the three platinum coins now, then?”
Honestly, I didn’t even want to give him those, but I could easily see him screaming at us and pitching a fit if we didn’t.
Greedy son of a bitch...
I knew that he wouldn’t do a good job completing his work if I didn’t withhold the two other coins.
I withdrew the three platinum coins from my bag. After Vlad sidled up to me, I handed them over to him.
“Wah hah hah! Oh, yes! These are real, bona fide platinums, all right! Ahem... I’ll claim the rest in three days’ time, so...until then. You can leave whenever the boy wakes up,” Vlad said, still admiring the three platinum coins in his hand, before taking his leave.
After witnessing that little spectacle, I felt pretty confident that I’d made the right choice in holding off payment until after the surgery—and to hold on to the last two coins until he’d taken out the stitches too.
Now that it was all over, I was suddenly hit with a wave of fatigue. But I was glad that Ralph’s surgery had been a success.
Technically, we couldn’t actually confirm that until he’d woken up...but from what I’d seen, it didn’t look like there had been any issues.
“Chris... Thank you so much,” Hester said.
“It’s still too early to thank me, remember? We’re not out of the woods yet.”
“I know. But I can’t just keep my gratitude to myself.”
“In that case, I’ll accept it, then.”
The two of us watched Ralph sleep as we spoke, our voices the only thing breaking the silence of the operating room.
Two hours passed. Finally, Ralph woke up.
“Hey, Ralph. How’re you feeling?” I asked.
“Hmm...? Oh...right. I got that surgery today, didn’t I?” he muttered quietly as he looked groggily down at his legs.
The wound where Vlad had opened up his knee had been stitched tightly shut, so you could barely even see it. It probably didn’t feel real to Ralph when he looked at his leg.
“Are you in any pain?”
“No... I’m completely numb, actually. I don’t feel anything.”
“The anesthesia must not’ve worn off yet. Vlad said that the surgery was a success, but we can’t relax just yet,” I cautioned.
“He said that it should be back to the way it was if you make a solid recovery, though,” Hester added.
“He did...? Chris... Thank you so much.”
“Like I said, it’s too early for that. Come on, let’s go back to the hotel. Do you want me to carry you on my back, or do you want to try walking by yourself with a cane?”
“I’ll take you up on that piggyback ride today. I can’t feel the lower half of my body, so I don’t think I’m gonna be able to walk right now.”
With that, we headed back to the Grabbel Hotel with the still-recovering Ralph on my back.
We’d been planning a big celebration for tonight, but with the way Ralph was looking right now, it was hard to get up the energy for that.