Chapter 23 (2/2)
“… oh? Oi, she’s a girl. Whatcha gonna do?”
“Whaddya mean what, it’s not gettin up over a dirty brat. I’m just gonna hit ‘er till I’m satisfied”
That said…
“— Is something the matter?”
Now that he’s seen them, he couldn’t just ignore them.
After all, the men’s yelling had inevitably drawn quite a few stares.
Because of that, he needed to do it in order to maintain his good doctor image.
Thus, s.h.i.+zuru talked to the men.
“Huuuh!? Outsiders stay out of i — ah, Mister s.h.i.+zuru!?”
One of the men rudely tried to shoo away the sudden intruder in irritation.
But as he turned around he saw s.h.i.+zuru and straightened his back.
The other three followed suit and did the same thing.
— The slums were primarily occupied by ruffians or people who had fallen to poverty.
In short, it was a gathering of the capital’s undesirables.
Therefore, whenever somebody fell ill in the slums, there were almost no doctors that would come to examine.
s.h.i.+zuru was one of the few exceptions, and in addition, he was well known in the slums, the entire East Ward even.
At least to the extent that rough ruffians would bow down at him when they saw him
“Is something wrong? You were quite loud just now”
He knew even without asking, but s.h.i.+zuru asked anyway.
He understood that he had the appearance and voice that would put others at ease.
He did it in order to calm the angry men down.
“Uh, ah, no … well, sorry fer bein loud. This kid, uh, took off with my lunch …”
“I’m not accusing you or anything. So that’s what happened?”
Looks like it’s just as he imagined. s.h.i.+zuru wryly smiled.
He then took out his wallet and handed two silvers to the men.
“M-Mister s.h.i.+zuru? This is …?”
“… The child probably had to do it because she had no other alternatives. I understand that you’re angry, but can you please forgive her for my sake?”
He knew how much the food a shabby looking slum dweller would carry with him.
To give a man two silvers would more than make it up.
Most of all, the one who requested it was s.h.i.+zuru who controls even the unreachable Casca.
His influence in the slums was huge. The men forgot their earlier anger and repeatedly nodded.
The men went back in shame, so much that one might think he did too much.
After they did, s.h.i.+zuru stood in front of the little person left behind and crouched to meet her eyes.
“Are you alright? You have to do these things well or not at all, you know?”
He said half jokingly in as gentle a voice as he could.
She was a girl of about twelve.
She wore tattered rags for clothes, her naked feet were coated in mud.
In fact, her whole body was coated in mud.
The very picture of a waif. [^waifu]
[^waifu]: TN: Ragam.u.f.fin, urchin, homeless and abandoned child. Not to be confused with *waifu*, though I’m not one to judge… [^twelve]
[^twelve]: TN: But seriously, dude, she’s like, twelve…
Merp: you should know there's people out there like that kind of fetish…
Only her ruffled hair was white.
And her slightly inhuman pupils bearing a light green s.h.i.+ne drew the eye.
Then s.h.i.+zuru noticed that the girl’s body was covered in light cuts and bruises.
“You’ve been having it hard, haven’t you. I can treat you if you like; come home with me?”
“………”
The young girl said nothing, she didn’t even budge an inch.
There was not the slightest bit of fear in her, she just seemed to be in a daze, staring intently at s.h.i.+zuru’s face.
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