End of a Long Journey

Subject's body temperature, oxygen saturation levels, breathing, and heart rate are all normal.

The operation was a success.

Good work, everyone.

It's finally over... What a miracle, right?

This might be strange for me to say, but to be honest, I never thought this operation was going to be successful at all...

Persistence on a subjective level and the inability to give up are perhaps one and the same. If we consider solely the outcome, perhaps we should take solace we persisted through this ordeal.

Chloe is a brave girl. She never gave up on life, and as doctors, we must never give up before the patient.

Considering how high the patient's cell-Originium assimilation levels are, I really can't imagine how it feels...

This is all very strange, though. We've never seen such symptoms before in Oripathy, and her organs are still somewhat functional even though most of them have already completely crystallized.

If we write a paper out of this, it will draw considerable attention in the medical science community. It could be a huge breakthrough to Oripathy medical theory.

A breakthrough, or perhaps the disease has mutated in ways beyond our comprehension. It's hard to say which.

This is worth taking a closer look into. I will head to the laboratory later to analyze—

Wait.

Hm?

That's got to have broken the record for the longest procedure, hasn't it? That was, what, seventy-three hours? Seventy-five?

Seventy-nine hours and forty-five minutes.

I changed shifts twice the last couple of days, but you never left the operating room even once. And now you want to go to the lab?

Kal'tsit, you've been way too industrious ever since your trip to Victoria. Like, even more so than before.

Is there another reason to this?

In a number of ways, yes.

You were there in the meeting. You know the predicament that Rhodes Island is in right now.

We only have so much time, Warfarin.

I could say the same for your stamina or sanity.

No one can keep burning themselves out like this. Not even you.

I know my own condition better than anyone, and I will take the most reasonable course of action.

I can trust you on that first part, but if your 'reasonable course of action' involves working day in and day out without end, then I have to stop you.

Your experiment won't suddenly grow legs and run away. I can help you, too, but only if you actually live to see it to fruition.

I am a doctor, too. You can't tell me to watch my coworker keep on endangering her life. What you are doing is a bad example for the entire Medical Department.

...

So, get out of Medical right now, head to the canteen for a bite to eat, and go back to your own room right now. There, you can do whatever you want.

I'm locking the lab's door. Until you get eight hours of rest, don't let me see your face here.

Okay.

Save it. No amount of begging will—

I beg your pardon?

I will follow your advice.

Thank you all for participating in this procedure. You have all earned some well-deserved rest. I, too, will stop my work for the time being.

Uh...

Is there anything else?

N—No...

It kinda feels like... you've gotten more reasonable since your trip to Victoria...

How about I give you a thorough medical check—

Your time is just as valuable as mine. Let's not squander it on such meaningless pursuits.

Hmph...

I'll leave the postoperative observation to you. If anything comes up, contact me immediately.

Thank you for all your hard work, Warfarin.

Amiya, we're really in a pretty tight spot right now.

I know... but we need a little more time for a solution...

*sigh*... To think we're always short-staffed. I wonder if there's anyone—

Whoa, what the f—

Dr. Kal'tsit?!

Amiya, you seem kind of tense.

I... I'm just a little surprised.

I don't think I've ever seen you in the canteen... so I thought maybe you...

Naturally, I need to eat for sustenance.

What about you, Amiya? Have you not had lunch yet?

Not yet... I'm helping the logistics operators to take inventory of our food supplies for the winter.

Do you want anything to eat? Today's menu is... carrot cake, carrot pie, and creamy golden carrot soup...

It sounds like there isn't much variety.

Well, about that...

To tell the truth, we did run into a small issue...

We have more carrots than we can eat.

Hm?

After our last stop in Rim Billiton, the mine workers that we treated there insisted on giving us carrots to show their gratitude. Lots and lots of carrots...

Yes... Lots of them.

There isn't much room in the kitchen, and we don't have anywhere else to put the carrots.

We don't want any of it to go to waste, so... all we can do is to use them up as fast as we can.

Perhaps we can allocate another storage room for carrots.

Huh? Are there still empty storage rooms onboard?

There was a storage used for weapons and other war essentials. It's perfect for storing logistics' supplies now.

Now that the war is behind us, we should spend our resources toward the betterment of our employees' lives.

If you need me to, I can ask Closure to have Engineering prioritize this matter.

In fact, we can take the carrots that can't be stored here to the storage room right now.

We can't ask you to—

N—No, it's okay! Just leave it to me. I'll take care of everything.

Very well.

The carrots indeed look very fresh.

Huh?

This will be a particularly cold winter. Perhaps we should be thankful that we received such nutritious foods.

Yeah... I still remember how Theresa was always worried about supplies every winter.

Back then, being able to buy food from nearby villages was very good news.

But there is nothing to worry about now. Rhodes Island has a lot more operators now, and we have a lot more ways to procure food. Things won't get so bad anymore.

You're right. She put in tremendous effort to make sure all the operators had enough food to make it through each winter.

However, important as that may be, do not forget to take care of yourself, Amiya.

Be sure to take your meals.

And don't forget that you can rely on those around you whenever you need us.

Uh... Yep!

Dr. Kal'tsit, if you have time right now, why don't we have lunch together?

What would you like to eat? We don't have a lot of choices, but still...

...Carrot cake.

Okay!

Amiya... Why didn't you tell her that your limitless supply of carrots is all we have left for the winter?

We exhausted most of our basic supplies in Victoria, and we still haven't established a stable supply line after we got back to Rim Billiton.

Dr. Kal'tsit's been very busy... Let's not give her any more to worry about...

The weather forecast says the snowstorm will calm down a little in three days. We should be able to cross the valley and buy supplies at the cities to the north.

The barrenlands are dangerous. We should assign more field operators to the convoy. I'll chart the route...

Don't worry. We'll make it through the winter.

Hm... If this won't do, then how 'bout this proposal? I guarantee—

Closure.

In the past forty minutes, you've shown me twenty modification proposals for Rhodes Island's nighttime corridor lighting system.

The significant majority of them are not remotely feasible.

Well, I'm working on the right plan. I just need a little inspiration.

We needn't have a meeting over this matter. This is something you alone can decide, and you are merely wasting my time right now.

But you ended up sitting here in the Convalescent Garden for forty whole minutes! How could you call that a waste of time?

Did Warfarin ask you to come find me?

Bingo!

That's not the point though. What's important is that you really need some rest. That's something that everybody with eyes can tell right away.

Have you ever paid this place a real visit ever since it was fixed?

I know each and every facility aboard Rhodes Island well.

No, no, no. What I'm saying is, as a normal Rhodes Island operator, you really oughta enjoy places like this where you can relax your mind.

Loosen up a bit, take a deep breath, and enjoy the feeling of being surrounded by all these living plants.

I bet you haven't noticed all these weeds and whatnot that Lena has been planting here or what they are called.

Star Valerians. First discovered by the Gallic scholar Jacques in 817. After the Battle of the Four Emperors, it was brought to Victoria.

It was widely cultivated for its aesthetic and medicinal value, and it is the primary ingredient in many hypnotics.

Gosh darn it. I forgot you had botanist listed on your resume.

Thank you, Closure.

But if you don't need me for anything important, I shall return to the Medical Department to write my report.

Ehh, come on, can't you at least finish your tea first? Think of this as having afternoon tea with your buddy.

Just this cup of tea, then.

Tsk, always so stingy with your time...

By the way, Kal'tsit, how long have we known each other?

Twelve years.

The year was 1086. After we excavated the Rhodes Island landship, Babel needed a sufficiently skilled engineer who can be trusted.

Theresa told me there was a self-taught genius engineer in Kazdel who was rumored to have laid one-fourth of Kazdel's nomadic cities' Originium electrical circuits all by herself.

When Babel reached out to you, you were linking the electricity of three districts to assemble an electric hot-air balloon.

Whoa, you remember even the year? Here I thought old people tend not to fuss about when things happened in the past.

I am not that forgetful yet.

But in these twelve years, you haven't had tea with me even once! Not once! And you call yourself a friend?!

...I don't remember.

Hmph—

Has it really only been twelve years, though? It kinda feels like it's been a lot longer than that.

A lot has happened in these twelve years.

Mind if I ask something? Just out of curiosity?

Do twelve years go by in the blink of an eye to you?

It is not easy to measure a sense of time with a metric. All we can do is speak in terms of relativity.

Twelve years is not a particularly long stretch of time. That said, everything that happened during these twelve years is irreplaceable to me.

Hmm... That's what you say, but I'm still really curious.

If everything around you goes by in the blink of an eye, do you think of everybody around you as insignificant? Like the plants in this greenhouse?

To the significant majority of races, Vampires likewise have an unbelievably long lifespan. Do you feel that way yourself?

Well, I'm still a pretty young gal myself... Maybe I'll feel differently once I'm, god forbid, as old as Warfarin.

I do not proclaim to be a gardener over all other lives that live upon Terra. Never have I, and never will I. This has nothing to do with how long I have lived.

Even though you talk like a grumpy old gardener every time you're worried about something?

...

Hm, maybe we should talk about something else...

Say, when you dug Rhodes Island out of the ground, did you think about what it was going to become?

I did.

That said, what it has become is nothing like what I imagined.

So your predictions of the future can be wrong, too?

Uh, no offense! Just blurted that out.

I've made many mistakes, Closure.

No one can completely take control of her own future. Not even a Cyclops's Originium Arts can see all of time's possibilities.

Time is like a river. On this drifting boat, we have no way to control the flow of the water or the wind, and we cannot see the reefs and water currents underneath us.

Most of the time, all we can do is hoist the sails. That alone is an exhausting enough ordeal.

Isn't that exactly the issue, though?

If we go by your analogy, you just keep holding tight onto the sails for dear life, not even wanting to let go for a second. How could a person stay so tense for so long? If you work yourself so hard, those ropes are gonna snap.

I agree with your viewpoint.

Rhodes Island will undoubtedly face many more challenges in the future. Both Amiya and the Doctor shoulder heavy responsibilities, and we need someone to share their burden in a different way.

Closure, this is something that only you can do.

*sigh*... You're still worried about others. Too much on your mind, and you're bound to forget what's actually in front of you right this moment.

For example, I bet you didn't notice what was in that cup of tea while you were rambling on and on.

What's... in this tea?

Don't worry. It's just a herbal tea that Lena formulated. Really calms your mind, especially so for someone who hasn't had any shut-eye for three days straight.

I...

Hmph... Finally got this old hag to get some rest.

Sleep well in the garden, Kal'tsit.

Indeed it is, but I personally need to fully grasp your condition.

The environment of the battlefield is particularly harsh to you. I believe your health condition requires close attention.

The tools I have on hand are more than enough for me to carry out this examination. No complaints, Doctor. This will save us both a lot of time.

Owing to certain external factors, I've chosen to halt my work at the Medical Department today. However, that does not mean I will waste my time.

Warfarin's concerns are entirely unnecessary. You should have a decent grasp of her personality already.

A lot of times, she is actually not as nonsensical as she appears on the surface. She works with the mindset of a responsible doctor, albeit an overly cautious one as a result.

You needn't worry about me. I have sufficient knowledge and techniques to handle my own problems. I will not allow myself to collapse when I am needed.

I am not as weak as you think I am. To the contrary, your body requires more attention. I see that a few of your body indices are somewhat unstable.

Work-life balance, perhaps?

Have you made progress? Or have you perhaps run into a bottleneck?

I am happy that you are willing to continue making such attempts.

A significant part of Rhodes Island's medical research results are built atop of your previous research. I myself am looking forward to you making further breakthroughs and bringing these lands a new turning point.

But more importantly, you are making this decision on your own will.

You need not be impatient. Although I am just as anxious to see the fruits of your labor bring a turning point to our predicament, but this is not something that can be rushed.

Your past experiences have proven you can regain your past knowledge bit by bit through effort. What we need is patience and time.

You are putting in the effort toward this endeavor, and the meaning behind it has far exceeded its outcome.

In any case, I hope that you can maintain a healthy and manageable condition.

Rhodes Island will need you even more going forward.

Control your work-life balance. It will be beneficial to your immune system, although I know that is very difficult for you.

Now do what you need. In addition to monitoring your body's condition, I will take full responsibility of your health and safety.

That is not a very proper way to put it.

Dr. Doctor, you are a special existence, and you shoulder a special mission.

I believe in your vision, and I will assist you in this undertaking as I always have. As a mere assistant to your vision.

There is no need to thank a person merely because she carries out her duty.

I will never go against my promise, especially when I now have even more reasons to continue to defend everything.

At the very least, you can trust me when it comes to your safety.

Oripathy is not the crux of all the lands' problems, but it is undoubtedly the most direct source of the hardships and sufferings that countless lives face.

It seems you don't need a special reason to choose to treat Oripathy.

...

This is not a pervading responsibility. Instead, it's one of the many methods that I've attempted to fulfill my one and only mission.

And I only realized later, but this is also one of the countless ways that I understand this world.

I learned to not scrutinize everything on these lands purely purposefully, and because of this, I realized that these lands need to be cured of far more than just violence.

With respect to violence, a cure would be difficult and complicated, as such a method could only be predicated upon trust.

This is a method that I never once attempted in the past, and anxious though I was, I nonetheless had to stop thinking before attempting to find the answer.

And it was as if someone had told me... even if it ended up taking me a lot of time.

It was probably much longer than who you are now could ever imagine.

The metric of time is relative. The two hundred years that I spent as a doctor seem particularly long because of everything that I lost.

Now, I see possibilities I have never before seen, and I have things that I never once possessed.

...

Certainly, they all fit the criteria, but there is far more.

I persisted and made it to this point because of my original mission, and what I gained has far exceeded what I once could comprehend.

Correct.

I may not be able to thoroughly explain to you its meaning, but one thing that I am certain of is that it is the reason why the individual 'Kal'tsit' stands here now.

As such, no matter the reason, giving up has never been an option.

I am grateful to the person who gave me that mission.

At the very least, it's predicated on trust.

...

...A long day.