Chapter 72 13.4 Solo Instance?

Shizu? "What's wrong-"

"Father!" the princess yelled out in distraught. "He needs medical attention!"

Oh... Oh!

Years of doing reluctant medical work rushed back into my head as I quickly made my way to the Emperor, my eyes quickly scanning his body for any sort of injury that might be making Shizu upset.

"Are there any injuries?" I asked. "Any sort of pain that shouldn't be there?"

"I-I don't know," Shizu stammered out in a panic. "He's just panting more than he should, and he has never done that before!"

Okay? Not a lot of information, but it'll work? "Your Majesty?"

"I-I'll be fine," he chuckled, his breathing ragged even as he smirked. "This is simply the result of me lacking in a bit of exercise."

Well that's just helpful now, wasn't it?

Shaking my head, I leveled my gaze on the Emperor's body, trying my best to look past the blood that was staining his clothes. No visible injuries... Any sort of gunshot wounds was pretty much obscured by his magnificent outfit... Damn it... I'm not trained for this!

"M-Moriya?"

"I'm thinking here," I mumbled out. "I might have some idea, but I really don't know. Just lay him down."

Shizu nodded, quickly laying the Emperor down on the ground as I wracked my brain for ideas. I wasn't a doctor by a long shot, but I was still a part of the allied medical courses. Granted, I was holed up in the lab doing absolutely nothing for the patient's bedside, but that didn't mean I didn't know squat about medicine!

Taking a deep breath, I looked around for any sort of NPC- person that I could call to, only to find that we were the only ones outside the courtyard? "Where are the guards?"

"I-I relieved them of their duties..." the Emperor panted out. "I wanted our fight to be a private affair. And my dear daughter did her due diligence in preventing the court from following us here."

I blinked. What kind of excuse was that?! They mean to tell me that the Emperor was gonna die because there was nobody present in the freaking Imperial Palace to witness his demise?!

"Shizu, call for a physician. A doctor. Whatever you call the healers," I instructed. "It wasn't-"

[*COUGH! COUGH!*]

"Father!"

I winced in horror. I could only watch as the Emperor seemingly got weaker with each passing second. He was coughing out blood now, and I still didn't know what was happening.

"M-My time is at an end..." the regal man whispered out.

"No- No! Not yet!"

I gritted my teeth at the sight. This was so stupid! Why was there nobody helping the man in the middle of his own palace?!

"Moriya! What's-" Turning my head, Guidance had walked to my side, her eyes trained solely on my previous opponent as she stood shock still. "W-What..."

"Haven't seen someone dying before?" I morosely spoke. "Cause that's what happens."

"Father, please..." Shizu sobbed, kneeling right beside the fading emperor as she pleaded. "I'm not ready... Far from ready...."

Damn it... I knew it was selfish and downright psychopathic of me, but this was so annoying to see! Was there truly nothing we could do for this man? If not for him, then for Shizu, at least?

"L-Lady Guidance! Please!" Shizu turned to the dev as soon as the princess noticed her presence. "Please heal my father!"

"W-Wha-"

Before Guidance could even respond, Shizu was already bowing low on the ground, groveling with the deepest respect as she cried. "Please! We can still heal him!"

I found myself humming in deep thought. Healing huh... I suppose Guidance could do it. Hell, she could've probably made this man young again. But the amount of time and effort it took for each change to pass would pretty much mean the man would fade before the dev could fix it. Then again...

"I think I know exactly what you can do with that keyboard of yours," I voiced out.

"W-Wait! I-"

"You should heal the Emperor," I leveled with the dev before turning back to the princess. "Shizu, do your thing."

"T-thank you!" the princess cried out as she got out of her bow and made her way back to her father's side. "[C-Code Watcher]."

My mind kept spinning as I watched Shizu stare intently at the downed Emperor with her dark eyes. Meanwhile, Guidance was still frozen beside me, seemingly unsure of what she was supposed to be doing in the first place.

"I-I'm not fast enough-"

"I'd think that you can manipulate your own code like it's your own," I pointed out. "Besides, you said you wanted us to form a party, right?"

"What're you saying-" Guidance almost skeptically asked, before her mouth stood still as she finally realized what I was implying. "You want me to figure out healing, don't you."

"You're pretty much the ultimate support already," I pointed out. "And based on the fights I just fought as well as you saying we need a party, I figured your game was designed around a party with a tank, a healer, and a few DPSs."

"Then-"

"Lady Guidance?!"

"We should probably talk later," I caught myself saying. "We can't afford that man to be dead."

"Oh! Got it."

And with that, Guidance whipped out her [Manifest] and started typing. Shizu talked in programming gibberish as the dev took it all in, her fingers flying as she probably compiled another executable to heal the Emperor.

"Seriously... This is ridiculous..."

I crossed my arms in wait, taking in my surroundings as I ruminated on the world around us. Ever since the fight against those Vestygian goons, the story seemed to take on a more nonsensical turn. And while I was a cutscene skipper, I still took track of what was being asked of me. The earlier quests were easy enough and made a lot of sense. But the longer I spent time progressing through them, the more the world seemed to destabilize. Even now, I still haven't leveled up after what was clearly a hard-fought boss fight. I didn't technically kill him, but surely that should've netted me some sweet [EXP]. But then... Oh no....

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Don't tell me the game bugged out again and I didn't get squat for completing the quest....

"Guidance?"

"What is it? I'm busy here."

"We'll have words later, okay?"

This was ridiculous...

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

AN: Kindly vote so that I can get back to 2 chaps per day ^^

Also, I have a Discord server now: https://discord.gg/NZA6Jun

TWT: @ChellyArks