“Um, I came because my child has a cavity.”
“Sure, please write your name here and wait a moment.”
“Okay.”
While Yerna was processing the check-in, Pyris arrived at the dentist’s office, trembling with fear.
Of course, it wasn’t a fear of the dental treatment being painful like other children might feel.
Pyris wasn’t a being that felt fear from the sensation of pain.
– Creaking sound –
“Okay, just stay still… Don’t move.”
“Ugh…”
However, as soon as Pyris entered the dental office, the emotion contained in the sounds coming from inside was enough to terrify her.
Fear and discomfort.
Whoever was currently receiving treatment surely wasn’t fond of the dentist either.
In fact, if you think about it, going to a hospital or a dentist usually means that one cannot endure some form of bodily discomfort, so it’s quite odd to like going to them.
Moreover, this involved treating the hardest part of the human body: the teeth.
Naturally, the treatment methods wouldn’t be entirely graceful.
“……”
But what could be done? Dental treatment had to be received.
Luke held Pyris’s pale hand and said,
“There’s nothing to be so scared of. You can handle pain pretty well, can’t you?”
“Yeah…”
Despite Luke’s encouragement, Pyris still looked like she was about to cry.
Which was understandable.
No matter how much Luke reassured her, the fact that she had to undergo dental treatment, which others so feared, wouldn’t change.
Still, Pyris thought that Luke’s hand was quite warm and that it made her feel better.
When she looked away and saw Luke’s gentle smile, as if to say not to worry, she felt a little lifted.
Even though her teeth still hurt and the treatment was scary, she thought it would be okay because her sister was with her.
“…Thank you, sister.”
Luke lightly smiled and patted Pyris’s head to reassure her.
“Pfft. You’re welcome.”
In truth, it was Luke who was thankful for Pyris gathering the courage.
Luke was actually looking forward to Pyris’s dental appointment.
‘This is exciting.’
To be honest, when did Luke last visit the dentist?
Having been human in a time when everything could be resolved by divine power if one was hurt, Luke was totally ignorant of modern treatment methods.
Thus, regarding medical knowledge, even Luke knew little more than applying pressure to stop bleeding or using potions.
For Luke, who didn’t know about non-divine treatment for cavities, the only thing that came to mind was something as simple as extracting the problematic tooth before the decay spread to others.
However, in a modern age where divine power was absent and non-divine treatments were highly advanced, the approach to treating cavities was slightly different.
Without divine power, human teeth do not regrow.
Just like fingers that are amputated do not grow back.
Consequently, modern treatment required methods other than simply pulling out the tooth, specifically grinding down the decayed part and filling it with a prosthetic material to restore the tooth’s normal function.
How fascinating, right?
What spells or tools are used while grinding down the teeth? What kind of materials are used for the fillings?
Such topics would naturally pique Luke’s curiosity.
Even though he had only a rough grasp of the information, Luke thought he would never have to visit the dentist himself.
There was no way that a being with an immortal body like him would develop cavities, and would he purposely create cavities?
However, wasn’t Pyris providing him with an opportunity to see this process with his own eyes by sacrificing her own teeth?
With that thought, how could he not be excited?
The very reason Luke hadn’t simply let Pyris have her decayed teeth pulled was this.
However, Luke had another reason.
If he had originally extracted the decayed teeth as he had thought, Pyris’s life might have been at risk.
Although they called it a cavity, the parts embedded in the gums were practically real teeth.
And pulling out real teeth resulted in significant bleeding.
If Luke had pulled them all out based on what he knew, he would have had to extract most of her molars, and that bleeding would be too much for a child’s body to endure.
It was a horrifying thought just to save on immediate dental costs.
Hence, Luke believed it was prudent to leave Pyris in the hands of a professional with more specialized medical knowledge.
As Luke thought this while comforting Pyris by gently stroking her hand and head to prevent her from escaping, the door to the treatment room opened, and a man stepped out.
It seemed the treatment that had been accompanied by strange noises from within had finally concluded.
“Alright, the next person, please come in.”
——–
A middle-aged man with a very simple and honest impression greeted Luke, Pyris, and Yerna with a light smile.
“Welcome, you have a cavity?”
“Yes, it seems my child is in a lot of pain with her teeth.”
“I see.”
The doctor nodded in response to Yerna’s answer.
“Let’s see if it’s really a cavity. Now, you need to lie down here…”
The doctor glanced at the two children looking at him and smiled awkwardly.
“Which one is Pyris?”
“……”
Pyris hesitantly raised her hand.
Somehow, it seemed her vigilance had lessened a bit.
After all, Pyris was also a spirit who liked being called by name.
“Ah, so it’s the younger one.”
The doctor nodded.
It wasn’t particularly challenging to determine.
Unlike the proud and confident expression of Luke’s sister, Pyris, who looked like a troublemaker, was staring at the ground with a completely defeated expression.
If one were to ask, “Whose teeth are decayed?” it would be obvious that Pyris would be chosen without question.
“Got it! Now, please sit here.”
“……”
When Pyris hesitantly sat in the chair, the examination began.
The chair slowly transformed into a bed-like shape, reclining Pyris’s body back.
Luke watched the scene with a very curious gaze.
‘To think a chair could adjust its shape freely for its purpose. Hmm. I might want to add that function to the chair I get for home later.’
Luke was lost in his own imagination, completely disregarding Yerna’s gaze.
The moving chair seemed rather fascinating to him.
‘Really…’
Yerna looked at Luke with a smile as if to say he was hopeless.
“Okay, say ‘Ah-.’”
“Ah.”
“Louder-.”
“Ahhhh-.”
“Don’t just make a loud sound, open your mouth wide-.”
“Ahhhhh.”
Following the doctor’s instructions, Pyris held back her pain and opened her mouth wider.
At that moment, the doctor, satisfied, smiled as he was finally able to examine the inside of her mouth.
“Alright, just a moment.”
As the doctor examined Pyris’s mouth, he turned to Yerna and said,
“Hmm… Yes, there’s definitely a severe cavity. The molars are quite serious; I think a few will need to be extracted.”
“Is that so…?”
Yerna nodded.
“Eww… My teeth…”
Pyris clutched her cheeks, on the verge of tears.
“…Extract? Wasn’t there another way to treat cavities?”
Luke raised a question.
———–
From what he understood, there were a few that appeared to be severely decayed to the point that the roots were completely rotten, which meant that even with some fillings, extraction was necessary.
Fortunately, since Pyris’s body was still young, even extracting molars should be fine.
However, Pyris had no intention of letting go of Luke’s hand even as the doctor approached with equipment.
All the tools that the doctor brought and placed next to Pyris were instruments engraved with the ‘fear’ of countless humans.
Even though Pyris had no idea how to use that strangely shaped magical tool, she instinctively felt repulsed by the horrible, cold metal that had grown on the fears of numerous patients.
(Of course, Luke was quite intrigued and was scanning the magical tool with his magic sight.)
Pyris felt chills racing down her spine and clung tightly to Luke’s hand.
“Sis, I’m scared… Don’t leave me alone.”
Luke inwardly rejoiced at Pyris’s words and held her hand tightly.
“Of course, where would I go without you?”
Luke tightened his grip to prevent Pyris from escaping into spirit form.
‘I need to see the treatment process directly,’ he thought, without saying it aloud.
Luke turned to the doctor and asked for permission.
“Excuse me, if it’s not too much trouble, may I hold Pyris’s hand while she undergoes the treatment? She seems very anxious. I won’t get in the way…”
The dentist watching the scene couldn’t help but smile as the corners of his mouth lifted behind his mask.
The sight of two sisters protectively comforting each other was simply heartwarming.
The doctor replied with a smile.
“Well… Holding hands might be a distraction, so that won’t be allowed. It’s okay if you stay a little away.”
“I see.”
“Can’t you hold your sister’s hand?”
At Pyris’s trembling voice, Luke spoke soothingly.
“Unfortunately, they said it’s not allowed. But I’ll be close by, so don’t worry too much. Also, unlike my case, they use anesthesia well this time, so you won’t feel much pain at all. So you have nothing to be afraid of.”
“Okay… I understand, Sister Luke.”
What a close-knit pair of children they were!
The dentist found himself feeling warm inside just by watching them.
It seemed even the guardian elf was quite moved, as she wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and was crying.
However, the reasons for Yerna’s tears were slightly different from what the doctor had thought.
In her mind, the image of Luke suffering without anesthesia during a horrific chimera experiment flashed through.
Yerna couldn’t shake the thought that the usage of anesthesia was an incredibly curious concept.
In truth, from Luke’s perspective, it was indeed a fascinating idea.
Anesthesia is a toxic effect that dulls the senses.
Moreover, for a mage who values sensitivity, consciousness, and willpower more than anyone, anesthesia was considered barbaric, making the aversion to it even stronger.
In the old days, when divine power existed, there was rarely a need for anesthesia in treatments, and even if it was needed, it served merely to eliminate fear and pain during combat; there was no thought of using it for treatment.
Thus, living in an era where there was no reason for anesthetic techniques to develop outside of combat, the idea of anesthesia that could be used exactly when needed, for as long as desired, was entirely new.
So, he couldn’t help but marvel at it.
Luke had even performed emergency treatment on himself without anesthesia when his abdomen had been completely pierced.
But to Yerna, it appeared completely differently.
‘What do you mean Luke is unfamiliar with anesthesia…?’
Yerna realized that her assumption that ‘Luke is more familiar with anesthesia than anyone else’ was a great misunderstanding.
When we deal with lab rats, we don’t necessarily give them anesthetics to lessen their pain.
Perhaps, for test subjects like Luke, anesthesia wasn’t particularly necessary either.
‘But still, that thought of caring for her sister is just so touching that it brings tears to my eyes…’
Unbeknownst to the doctor, who was simply chuckling, he asked.
“Ha ha ha, aren’t the children just adorable?”
“…Yes, they really are.”
