A Hospital in Another World?

Garrett followed the voice and looked over. The little girl in the room looked to be under ten years old, thin and frail, with dull curly brown hair. But what caught Garrett’s attention first was the girl’s yellowish face and the equally yellow and dim hands resting on the door frame.

"You..."

He unconsciously spoke up. Just as he started, the little girl jumped in surprise, shrinking back like a startled rabbit. Meanwhile, the washerwoman turned around, standing in front of Garrett with a deep bow, her smile uglier than tears:

"Master Mage, please, please, the room is over there..."

She stretched out her trembling arm, pointing to the other end of the corridor, like a quail desperately spreading its wings to block the path of a bulldozer. However, Garrett raised his hand to interrupt her:

"Wait."

He gazed fixedly into the room. He looked in the direction where the little girl disappeared, at the strangely yellow face that vanished from sight:

"Call her out. Let me see her."

"Master Mage!!!"

"When I tell you to call someone, you call!" The stern man shoved aside the washerwoman. She stumbled back, crashing into the nearby wooden wall with a loud bang. But the stern man paid no attention, striding into the room.

"Hey, don’t—" Garrett called from behind. But the stern man had already dragged out a screaming, kicking, and punching little girl, pushing her in front of Garrett, bowing apologetically:

"Master Mage, it’s this child!"

"Don’t lay a hand on them," Garrett waved his hand. He crouched down, meeting the little girl’s gaze at eye level, softening his voice as much as possible:

"Little sister, your name is Jenny, right? Don’t be afraid. I’m a healer, and your complexion seems a bit off. Let me take a look—"

He reached out his hand. Jenny desperately shrank back, leaning against the washerwoman, who hugged her like a mother. Garrett held her small face to take a look, then cast a flash spell to observe her eyes in the white light:

"Strange, her sclera isn’t yellow either? Little sister, open your mouth, let me see, ah—"

The girl tightly pressed her lips together. Aurora bent down behind Garrett, whispering softly to him:

"What are you looking at?"

"Her face and hands are strangely yellow. If it’s an illness, the sclera should be more yellow, but hers are normal..."

Garrett pondered, partly explaining to Aurora and partly to himself. When he first saw the little girl, he thought it was jaundice. However, jaundice causes yellow discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes, appearing first in the sclera, hard palate, and soft palate. Could he have been mistaken? Speaking of which, he wasn’t really familiar with the symptoms of foreigners...

Lost in thought, Aurora sneered behind him:

"Oh, it’s a stain."

She pointed with her hand, and a slight magical ripple swept across the girl’s face.

[Magical Trick: Cleanse!] In an instant, the yellow faded away, the stains disappeared, and everyone’s eyes lit up. Nestled in her mother’s arms was a delicately beautiful little girl, with azure eyes, soft golden hair, and delicate features. Even though her cheeks were sunken from thinness, one could still see the potential for beauty.

Such a face, in this slum, spells trouble...

The washerwoman turned pale instantly. She bent down, holding her daughter’s face, as if hiding her from view. Garrett sighed softly, gesturing to the stern man to hold back, letting the washerwoman carry her daughter back into the room, while he followed in.

Looking at the room’s furnishings, it was probably the living quarters for the mother and daughter. It was humid inside, with clothes washed clean and waiting to be ironed hanging everywhere. There were two or three large wooden basins on the floor. As soon as the little girl entered the room, she automatically squatted by the corner basin, her back to them, vigorously scrubbing.

Garrett casually pointed, and a bedsheet flew up, unfolding in mid-air to cover the little girl. Only then did the washerwoman breathe a sigh of relief. Garrett hung up another bedsheet for himself, then sat behind it, took off his shoes and socks, letting the washerwoman briskly wash them. He chatted amicably with her through the curtain:

"How much money can you earn by washing a piece of clothing like this?"

"It, it depends on the size... For a big one, it’s a copper coin, for a small one, five pieces for a copper coin... and we have to give a cut to the boss..."

"How much can you earn in a day?" Garrett frowned. "Is the boss the man from earlier?"

"About... about 1.5 copper coins on a good day, only 3 on a bad day... Yes, the boss is him, he gets the jobs and assigns them to us..."

Garrett frowned. He remembered that in Hartland City, a black bread cost a copper coin, barely enough for a day’s meal. With these two, would a black bread be enough for them? Judging by the looks of it, the house might not even be theirs. They still had to pay rent and buy charcoal for ironing clothes...

"By the way, how do you usually eat? Do you cook for yourselves? Where do you get water?"

"Just... just from the nearby river..."

That filthy, stinking river?

Even without a plague, that kind of river water could knock down a healthy person in minutes!

Garrett’s face turned as ugly as it could get in an instant.

Seeing him silent, the washerwoman dared not speak further. She lowered her head to iron his socks, passing them to Garrett through the curtain, then took his pants to wash. Just as she soaked the clothes in the water, the wooden door burst open with a bang, and a muddy high-top boot stepped in, almost stepping on the basin:

"Laura! You borrowed money from me half a year ago, when are you going to repay it!"

The washerwoman instinctively shrank back. Without looking up, she immediately dove to protect the basin, then tremblingly raised her head:

"Mr. Robert, next month, I will definitely repay you next month..."

"Definitely?!" The man sneered. "You owe me 15 silver coins already! 15! If you don’t pay up this month, the interest will accumulate, it’ll be 2 gold coins! How much money can you earn washing clothes in a month? If you don’t pay by the end of the month, get out of my house!"

"Mr. Robert!" The washerwoman’s voice trembled. The man paced around the room for a few steps, then suddenly laughed:

"Alright, I, Robert, am also a kind-hearted person. I won’t push you into a corner. How about this—you give me little Jenny, and I’ll find her a job. She looks good and knows a few words, she should be able to fetch a good price..."

"Mr. Robert!"

The washerwoman cried out in anguish. The heavy footsteps didn’t stop, pressing straight toward the corner of the house. After a moment, a surprised gas

p came from the corner, followed by the sound of the basin overturning, kicking and beating, struggling, and cries for help:

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy—"

"Aurora, stop him!"

Boom boom boom boom—

Aurora burst out of the curtain, a series of magical missiles sending the unwanted guest flying out. After a moment, there were only two mages left in the room, bowing their heads, looking at the mother and daughter huddled together.

"Little sister, can you read?"

Garrett spoke softly. The washerwoman hugged her daughter tightly, tremblingly lowering her head:

"Yes, yes... I taught her a little..."

Surprisingly, both of them could read, in a world where literacy rates were touching. Garrett didn’t pursue why the washerwoman could read. He bent down, trying to make himself smile more amiably:

"Well then, how about you two come work for me at my house? I just bought a mansion and need someone to clean it..."

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