Chapter 71 - An Unwelcome Transformation - Part 9

I endured sitting on Lord Geoffrey's lap for some fifteen minutes more because he just wouldn't let me go… until we arrived at Butterflies Paradise along the red-light district.

I breathed a sigh of relief once we got out of the carriage, and after retrieving the gift basket, we headed toward the establishment via the front door.

The moment we stepped over the threshold of Butterflies Paradise, the manager greeted us, and after instructing a maid to guide us to Mariann's bedchamber, the plump woman expertly stole Lord Geoffrey away.

"See you later, Alfie," said Lord Geoffrey, a dashing smile on his face that made my heart skip a beat.

The cute maid took us up the stairs to the third floor where the girls' bedchambers were located. There, we were led to a door at the very end of the hall. A few moments later, she knocked, and a soft voice said, "Come in."

The elf maid then opened the door and signaled for us to enter.

Mariann—a beautiful, exotic elf woman with ash-blond hair that came down to her waist, violet eyes, and sensual lips—was propped up in bed. The moment she saw us, she brightened up immediately. She even eagerly opened her arms, begging for a hug from Brenna, like a child. I wondered which of the two was the older sibling? From their mannerisms, I would assume that Brenna was the older one, since Mariann acted rather dependent and childlike when Brenna was around, and of course, Brenna turned into a mother hen when Mariann was around. From their looks, however, it was hard to guess their correct age since they were two different types of species, with Mariann an elf and Brenna a beast person. I had learned from Brenna that elves usually had a longer lifespan than beast people, and they grew and matured slower as well, which explained Mariann's behavior.

Suddenly, I wondered what it would be like to have a sister or even a female cousin for that matter. Since I was an only child, I felt quite lonely sometimes, having no one close to confide my troubles and secrets to. Of course, I had friends from high school and university, but that wasn't the same. As for a cousin, I had none of those either, as both Mom and Dad were only children from their respective families.

Brenna chuckled as she embraced her adopted sister, and the two laughed like schoolgirls. When Brenna moved back, she asked, "How are you feeling?"

Mariann said, "Sick. My chest hurts, and I can't breathe properly."

Brenna said, "Leona is here to examine your body, and Aria will check your qi. I hope that'll help us figure out what's wrong with you, because otherwise, we'll have to take you to the hospital."

Mariann looked a little worried for a moment and said, "No hospital, please. I don't like that place. And I'll be as good as rain in no time." She turned to Aria and Leona. "I'm so sorry that you two are brought into this. Is it all right for you to be here?"

Aria waved her concern aside and said, "It's fine, and I want to be here." She chuckled. "Oh, and Alfie made you food."

On cue, I held up the gift basket to show off my creation.

Mariann looked delighted, which pleased me. She said, "Thank you so much, Alfie. You're a wonderful boy."

Brenna said, "I helped with the tasting, by the way. It's delicious, Mariann. It's like nothing you've ever tasted in our kingdom."

I blushed. That compliment was a bit too much for me to accept. Seriously? Brenna thought my food was nothing like she had ever tasted in this kingdom? Surely not.

A moment later, Leona sat on the side of the bed and started her examination of Mariann's physical body.

I placed the gift basket on the table near the window and then took a seat on one of the chairs to watch.

First, Leona checked Mariann's pulse by placing the tips of her two fingers on the underside of Mariann's wrist. She timed it for a moment. Once done, she touched Mariann's forehead and asked the elf woman to poke her tongue out. So far, everything looked like a normal checkup back home when one visited a general practitioner.

Once Leona was done with the physical check, she said, "Your throat is red and swollen and your skin is too pale, even for an elf. Since you said your chest hurts, I suspect it has something to do with your lungs. But of course, we'll need to get you to the hospital to confirm that. You'll need some medications if it's serious."

Mariann said, "So it is my lungs, then."

Aria said, "Let me check your body qi to see if I can add any additional information to that."

With Mariann nodding her head, Aria took over and started doing her magic.

My eyes were large in fascination as Aria spread her palms out above Mariann and a hue of blue light was released from Aria's being, surrounding Mariann. It was an orb around the elf woman for a moment, as if scanning her whole body like a CT scan. When she was done a moment later, Aria said, "Yes, the lungs are very bad. They are not functioning properly. The qi is all mucked up, as if it has been contaminated. The good news is that other parts of your body are fine, so whatever is happening, it's localized within the lungs only."

The lungs, eh? My interest was piqued, and I said, "Maybe it's a lung infection. Viral infection? Pneumonia?"

Leona asked, "What's a viral infection?"

I blushed, realizing that I was speaking in a scientific language the citizens of the Aurora Realm were not familiar with.

I cleared my throat and said, "In my homeland, it's pretty common for those with a low immune system, especially the very young and the very old, to get lung infections, especially during extreme weather, like when it's very hot or very cold. Although the hot is usually when you get asthma attacks."

Aria said, "Extreme weather?"

I nodded my head. I turned to Mariann and asked, "Have you been anywhere where the weather was extreme?"

Brenna suddenly gasped. She turned to Mariann, who was already nodding her head. She said, "I visited Uncle in Lyria. It's a kingdom in the northern territory of the Aurora Realm, and it's currently in the depths of winter."

So there were more kingdoms within the Aurora Realm, which I knew from instinct. But to hear about Lyria, which was in the north and in the depths of winter, fascinated me. I've learned that Acaedien sat in the west, but here it was currently summer, so how did that work? Shouldn't the west be in autumn, the south summer, and the east spring to make the north winter? But of course, I was being silly, bringing in Asian metaphysics, which I had learned a bit about from Grandfather Kenjiro, into the mix. It was Aurora Realm here, after all, which meant the way the seasons changed was completely different from that of Earth or the system of Asian metaphysics.

"I see," I said. "You could have caught something unpleasant, like a cold or flu, from there, and because it was left untreated, it has now gotten worse and your lungs have become infected."

Brenna said, "That could be the case." She turned to Mariann. "Were you unwell when you were back in Lyria with Uncle?"

Mariann nodded. "Just generally unwell, like blocked nose, headaches, and sore throat. When I arrived back here after a week of travel, my body started aching and my chest started hurting."

I nodded. That sounded like a lung infection all right.

I said, "It sounds serious, Mariann. I'm no doctor, but I think it's best you go to the hospital and get yourself properly checked out. In my homeland, if this type of infection is left untreated, it can lead to nasty consequences. The worst-case scenario is death."

Of course, I didn't mean to scare her, but simply wanted to state the fact. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Leona and Aria nodded in agreement with me.

Leona said, "Lung infection. We've never had those before. Not any sort of infection. I do wonder if our world is receiving new pathogens because of the weakening barrier."

I cocked my head to one side, perplexed. I asked, "You mean the people in Acaedien have never had infections like this before?"

Aria nodded. "Our environment is usually very clean, with the Aurora barrier purifying the air and eliminating anything that is not beneficial to the ecosystem. But recently, there have been many unexplained sicknesses, not only in our kingdom, but in others as well."

"I see," I said. God, I seemed to be learning new things every day since I had entered this realm.

It was a little later, after Mariann had finished with the meal I had prepared for her, of which she thoroughly enjoyed, that Mariann, along with Brenna, Aria, and Leona, headed out the door of Butterflies Paradise. Their destination was the Acaedien public hospital, and I wanted to come along. Then again, someone had to stay behind, and I was apparently the most logical choice. Brenna wanted to be with her sister, which I totally understood. Aria and Leona… I supposed it couldn't be helped that they wanted to find out as much as possible about a newly discovered sickness and wanted to get the full details, which they could only get from the hospital. In the end, they had nominated me to stay behind to find Lord Geoffrey and inform him of what had transpired, and of course, I had no choice but to agree.