Do Your Own Revolution

#030.

“Phew…”

Doctor Otto, having finished his day’s work, sat down while forcefully keeping his tired eyes open.

The day at Grey Quarter National Hospital, which he operated, was like a war.

Woefully insufficient beds and medicine.

Slum patients flooding in with unheard-of diseases.

The Imperial government that wouldn’t even show interest, let alone provide support, no matter how much help was requested.

He thought that his time as a military doctor on the Eastern Front might have been better than this.

“Now really…”

Finally, he let out the words he had been holding in his heart all along.

“Is it time to quit?”

Usually, he wouldn’t have thought this far.

The difficult hospital operation was commonplace, and he could endure the physical exhaustion.

What shook Otto’s resolve was a newspaper published a few months ago.

[Elcidore Manor Engulfed in Flames.]

[Major Battle Breaks Out Between Revolutionary Army and Count Elcidore’s Forces.]

[No Survivors Inside the Manor……]

There was a boy who had survived thanks to his help.

A boy who said he would escape the slums, who had dozens of steel needles inserted into his young body.

At the moment when he could finally be free, he had sold the boy to Elcidore.

He justified it by telling himself there was no choice. That this would be better. That being a noble’s servant would be better than being a beggar in the slums.

“……”

Otto was able to treat many patients with the money he got from selling the boy.

Without investing a single penny in himself, he used the sponsorship money generously for the hospital and patients.

As if doing so would free him from the guilt of selling the boy, he lived like that for two years.

And this newspaper that came to him showed the stark reality of such escapism.

The Elcidore territory had burned, and the boy had died.

He was the one who had driven the boy there.

When his thoughts reached that point, Otto collapsed in despair.

His sense of duty as a doctor and his will to save lives all became meaningless.

Both body and mind had finally reached their limit.

“Let’s end it here.”

Finally, he made his decision.

After treating the current patients, he would leave the capital and retire.

Return to his hometown, and maybe open a small clinic there…

“Hm?”

A midnight knock pulled him from his thoughts.

Another emergency patient?

Feeling slightly tired, Otto left the examination room and opened the hospital door.

“How many times do I have to tell you to take emergency patients to the next district! We don’t even have hemostatic agents here anymore, nor blood for transfusions……”

“What’s this? Has the hospital gotten that bad in the meantime?”

Hearing the unexpected voice, Otto’s irritated voice stopped mid-sentence.

“Y-You…!”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Standing at the hospital door was Eugene.

The boy he had driven to his death.

The boy who had been taken to Elcidore because of him was smiling at him.

“I’ve come to pay my medical bills.”

***

Otto’s face was deathly pale, as if he had seen a ghost in the middle of the night.

“How are you… No, but they said there were no survivors…”

‘No survivors,’ huh.

Seeing that not just the Imperial newspaper but other media said the same thing, it seemed Keiren’s information manipulation had worked quite well.

There shouldn’t be any issues regarding Irene’s whereabouts.

Thinking that, I shrugged my shoulders demonstratively.

“Doctor. How can an Imperial doctor trust the media? I’m alive and well, so don’t worry……”

I tried to make a light joke to calm Otto down, but my words didn’t finish.

Because Otto suddenly lowered himself and wrapped me in a tight embrace.

“I’m sorry.”

“……Pardon?”

While I was frowning, wondering what this was about.

“Ah.”

Seeing Otto’s back trembling as he hugged me, I could guess why he was acting this way.

He must have been thinking about how he sold me to Elcidore, how I died because of him.

That’s usually how good-aligned NPCs are in this game.

“I shouldn’t have sent you there then. I, I don’t know what to say to you……”

“Yes, yes, Doctor. Please calm down.”

However, I didn’t have time to indulge in this emotional reunion.

There were only three days left until the funeral ceremony, and I needed to adjust my magic imprint within that time.

I peeled off Otto, who was grimacing with guilt, and rolled up my right sleeve to reveal my magic imprint.

“……!”

Seven red marks extending to the elbow.

Seeing this, Otto’s eyes grew even wider than when he first saw me.

“You, this is……”

“Since we don’t have time, I’ll ask directly. Please answer as quickly as possible.”

I understand his surprise.

A seven-stroke magic imprint.

It was no different from having a nuclear bomb in the hands of a three-year-old child.

However, instead of explaining how I obtained the magic imprint, I extended my right arm to Otto and said,

“Can you adjust this magic imprint?”

“Adjust?”

Hearing my words, Otto’s expression turned strange.

A magic imprint was the most important organ for using magic and a special weapon exclusively managed by the Knight Order and Magic Corps.

Asking a neighborhood doctor working in the slums to adjust such a thing was nonsensical.

“There’s no time. Just tell me if you can adjust it or not. If not, I’ll leave right away.”

However, I was certain.

The doctor of Grey Quarter district, Otto Klautz.

This doctor, who appears from Chapter 1 of [Revolution Empire], wasn’t just an ordinary back-alley doctor.

“……Haah.”

While I was thinking that to myself, Otto, who had been quietly watching me, stood up from his seat.

“Follow me.”

Success.

***

“Hmm……”

The place Otto guided me to was in front of the medical equipment where he had performed the magical power development surgery two years ago.

After I placed my arm on the Circuit Opener, Otto carefully examined my magic imprint through the lens connected to the machine.

“As I thought. The connection state is a complete mess.”

“A mess?”

“Yes.”

The red marks glowing on my right arm.

After staring at them for a while, Otto spoke with an exasperated expression.

“The magic imprint you were previously using was broken internally for some reason. And without removing it, a new magic imprint was inserted in its place.”

“……!”

How does he know this so well?

Did he somehow witness the battle situation?

Perhaps my thoughts showed on my face.

Otto, as if it was nothing special, pressed various points on my right arm while speaking.

“Here and here. Fragments of the original magic imprint remain in the circuit, causing interference. It won’t perform at full capacity like this. There’s magical power leakage from the interfered circuits.”

“Ah.”

“What do you mean ‘ah’!”

When my reaction was lukewarm, Otto’s voice grew louder instead.

“It’s magical power leakage! If something went wrong, the entire circuit could have necrotized from magical power mixing! What kind of madman would make an imprint like this……”

That would be me.

I was in quite a hurry.

I wanted to say that, but Otto’s expression was so scary that I had to swallow my words.

“Anyway, in this state, adjustment would be pointless. We need to extract it and reimplant it.”

“Reimplant?”

“Yes.”

After saying that, Otto adjusted the hydraulic devices attached to the machine and replaced the end attachments.

The stimulus needles that had wrapped around my arm in a circle were removed, replaced by claw-shaped extraction tools and thin needles.

It looked twice as menacing as what I saw two years ago.

Feeling uneasy, I looked at Otto, who silently attached restraints to my shoulders and legs.

The trauma from two years ago was starting to surface.

“These are very familiar preparations.”

“We’re going to extract the magic imprint and reimplant it. If you struggle and the magic imprint breaks, it’s over.”

Ooh, that wouldn’t be good.

I obediently bit down on the towel Otto had carefully rolled up for me.

“…You still don’t even blink.”

Shaking his head, Otto operated the Circuit Opener without delay.

Unlike during the magical power development surgery, the extraction devices moved rhythmically as if they were living creatures.

Seeing those, the terrifying pain I experienced two years ago came flooding back.

“Don’t worry. There’s no life-threatening danger like during the awakening surgery.”

Along with the machine sounds, the extraction devices gradually approached my arm.

“Instead, it’ll hurt enough to make you beg for death.”

And the moment one of them dug into my arm.

“Ngggh……”

An all-too-familiar pain engulfed my entire body.

Ah, this nostalgic sensation. It’s been two years.

Biting down on the towel in my mouth, I screamed internally.

‘Sh*tty reincarnation difficulty for real.’

***

“You bastard, what did you just say?!”

Along with the shout, a chair in the examination room went flying.

The one who threw the chair was a huge man covered in tattoos.

On his prominently displayed arm was a black snake tattoo indicating his membership in the Valks gang.

“Say that again, you son of a bitch!”

“I’ll say it as many times as needed. I don’t want your money, so get out of my hospital right now.”

“You fucking…!”

The enraged giant threw down the doctor whose collar he had been gripping.

“Kyaaak?!”

“Oh, Doctor Otto!”

“Everyone stay back!”

Otto, who had been thrown out of the examination room, rolled twice on the floor.

Though the muscular giant glared at him as if ready to kill, there was no fear in Otto’s eyes.

‘This arrogant bastard……!’

A doctor who always looked soul-dead, mechanically treating patients.

That’s why they had barged in so forcefully.

They thought he would cower with just a few threats.

But that wasn’t the case.

Far from shrinking away from the fierce threats, he gritted his teeth and shouted at them to leave.

‘Can’t let this slide.’

If they backed down here, other rabble would look down on the Valks gang too.

They couldn’t allow that, especially in the middle of an ongoing war with neighboring organizations.

And above all, he didn’t like that arrogant attitude staring him down.

“Alright, so that’s how you want to play it?”

As if his patience had reached its limit, a pistol appeared from the giant’s clothes.

“I’ll say this one last time. Take our boss for treatment right now. Otherwise, right here……”

An old military pistol commonly seen in back alleys.

When it was pointed at Otto’s head, the faces of the hospital staff and nurses turned pale.

But at that moment.

“Saul?”

From one side of the hospital, someone called his name.

“You bastard, who dares to say my name so casually! Huh?!”

An unfamiliar voice.

Not many people in this alley knew his name.

Who is it?

The Jake gang’s people?

Thinking that, he turned the gun muzzle, and there stood an unexpected figure.

“……Eugene?”

“Saul. It really is you, isn’t it?”

A ten-year-old boy in a clean shirt that only nobles would wear.

Though he looked unrecognizable compared to before, Saul could still identify the boy.

“How are you here…? No, more than that, that appearance……”

“A lot has happened. But that’s not what’s important right now…”

Eugene, who spoke friendly as if meeting an old friend, raised his hand.

“You just pointed a gun at a noble, didn’t you?”

“……What?”

With those words, Saul’s chest burst open.

Saul died without even making a sound.

“Doctor, you should hide for now.”

Eugene smiled while looking at his magic imprint, which now glowed brighter than before, without even glancing at the corpse.

“I’ll pay back everything today – the overdue medical bills and the adjustment fee.”

Valks, Jake, Dallas.

The gangs that had spread like parasites throughout Grey Quarter district.

He planned to exterminate them all as a warm-up before the funeral ceremony began.

Along with getting revenge for the protagonist’s parents, who were killed over debt and thrown into a pigsty.