I stood there under all their stares, letting the weight of their silence wash over me. The entire place had gone quiet for far too long, and it started to settle awkwardly on my shoulders. At least in my world, people would applaud a successful save, or at the very least speak. They would not simply stand like statues struck by lightning.

Maybe that was why I always preferred the quiet, tense atmosphere of the operating room. I understood that silence. I was in control there, and the people around me knew how to place their trust in my hands. That kind of quiet never embarrassed me. It brought comfort.

Lucy tried to push herself up, forcing me to drop to my knees again as I gently eased her back down. Any sudden movement or panic could undo the treatment, and I wasn't about to let her throw herself into danger after I went through all that effort.

"Breathe slowly. Take your time to stabilize. You will be alright now." I watched the shifting look in Lucy's eyes as the panic faded. The malice she had shown earlier was nowhere to be seen. At least she wasn't one of those people who would sue you after you saved their life. In some strange way, maybe this medieval world did a few things better than the modern one. People here were… simpler.

"Th-thank you…" she whispered.

I gave her a gentle smile, and perhaps it was better to let her believe I had stepped in out of pure kindness. But the real reason for the smile sat glowing in front of me as I glanced at the system screen.

[Congratulations on clearing the quest: {Prevent Airway Failure}]

[You have received a reward: 50 System Coins / New Skill: {Deep Body Scan}]

[{Deep Body Scan}: Your eyes can now see the body like an X-ray machine and more.]

My heart fluttered with excitement. A skill that allowed me to see inside a patient? If I had possessed something like this in my past life, how many more lives could I have saved? They would have called me a goddess by now… maybe even built a shrine in my name. It wasn't too late to chase that dream in this world either. I half-joked to myself as the thought drifted through my mind.

I rose to my feet, already preparing to leave. The celebration was clearly finished, and there was no reason for me to linger any longer. But just as I turned, a heavy hand closed around my shoulder.

"Haha! Beatrice, you sure are something!"

Northern Wolf's laughter boomed as he gave my shoulder a firm pat. The force of it nearly drove me into the floor. For a moment I wondered if he was testing my strength, or if he was simply a brute who had never learned how to handle a woman gently.

Others slowly broke out of their stupor as well, and the clatter of mugs returned to the air in uneven waves. The tension dissolved little by little. Lucy held Cut Throat in her arms with surprising tenderness, though she refused to take even a single sip of her drink again. Later, she confessed to me in a quiet voice that she had never touched alcohol in her twenty years of life. She only wanted to impress him.

In my opinion, the moron in her arms was hardly worth the effort. But who was I to talk? Thirty years old and still single, and even in this world I had no one waiting to hold me at night. Judging others for their choices in love would be rather hypocritical.

Northern Wolf welcomed me as one of theirs after that. He must have seen some potential in me, and honestly, I would have done the same in his place. We ended up talking through most of the night. He told me about his party, about their journeys, their victories, and their mistakes. I learned he was a heavy longsword wielder, strong enough to face a giant head-on. When I looked at his aura, it glowed in a soft light blue. Another new color I had yet to understand.

I had no manual explaining what each shade meant. All I knew was that gold marked the peak, and that was where Lyssandra existed.

When Cut Throat finally woke in the middle of the party, he shot up with murder in his eyes, ready to attack me again. Before he could take a single step, Lucy smacked him square on the head with her cup. The impact rang louder than the music, and it forced him to calm down long enough to choke out an apology. I accepted it, but deep in my heart I knew I would always need to be careful around him. He did not seem like a man who understood gratitude, let alone how to express it properly.

But in the end, I had made a few friends tonight… and a few enemies. Even so, I trusted none of them. Their smiles were pleasant enough, yet I could not forget why I was here. I simply played along, pretending to be one of them while quietly manipulating the situation for my own benefit. The Qillin bones would end up in my hands, one way or another.

When I finally stepped out of the pub, the morning sun greeted my squinting eyes. My head still felt heavy from the alcohol lingering in my system, and the streets were silent in that peaceful way only morning could create. Most people here were either still asleep or had already gone to the fields to work, leaving the village as quiet as the dawn itself.

I stretched my body, raising my arms high into the air, and took a step forward. My foot caught the edge of a barrel nearby and I nearly crashed into it.

"Whoopsie…"

Alright, I was clearly a little too drunk. I could admit that much.

When I made my way back to the caravan, the first thing I saw were Beelzebub's round eyes watching me. He was chewing on something, sitting proudly in front of the wagon I called home… if you could call it that.

"Yo!" I lifted my hand high, stumbling closer to him even though my legs barely remembered how to function.

"At least someone waited for me, hehe. My cute little hamster. I'll make sure to get you the biggest nut next time we enter the forest—just you wait."

I buried my face in his soft fur, exhaling warm breath that made him thrash wildly in my arms. His tiny panic only made me laugh harder.

"Beatrice, you're finally back. Where… where have you been? Are you drunk?" Elira stepped out with a sleepy face, and for some reason it made my mood twist a little.

"Heh, wouldn't you like to know? I was with my friends. Yes. Loooots of friends."

I wasn't sure if that was the alcohol talking or if I genuinely wanted to rub it in. Either way, I took a step toward her, but the world suddenly spun like a carousel. My vision tilted, my knees gave in, and the last thing I felt was Elira's arms catching me before everything slid into darkness.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.