Chapter 2: Or, how about I do mom’s work?

The streets of the free city of Tirikast were bustling with adventurers, merchants, and mercenaries from all over the world.

A young man with a pale, sickly face, wrapped in a crude brown robe, hugged his chest and shivered as he blended into the crowd.

Sleeping under a bridge was indeed too crazy.

That maintenance uncle had been right—sleeping there was no different from courting death.

After crossing over to this other world, Clay had caught a cold for the first time, and it had even turned into a high fever.

It never rains but it pours; when the boat is broken, headwinds come.

Clay could only believe that once he cured this illness, the sky would clear and a rainbow would appear.

Yes, just endure this difficult period and things would get better.

Holding onto that sliver of hope, Clay had sold off his once-splendid clothes and exchanged them for this relatively warm and practical robe. With the remaining money, he walked into the city’s medical clinic.

“Help me take a look. Also, here’s my graduation certificate…”

Clay sat in front of the physician, who was all smiles, and looked at him wearily.

Humans needed faith in the Goddess and Her blessing to cast healing magic. The medicines made by alchemists like him couldn’t fully cure illnesses without healing magic, which caused him endless frustration.

Fortunately, this world had a medical insurance welfare system. As an outstanding graduate of the Royal Academy, he could enjoy substantial discounts thanks to that status.

However, the smile on the physician’s face suddenly vanished. He gave Clay’s graduation certificate a cold glance, his eyes sweeping over the shabby low-grade robe, then whispered something to the side. After receiving a reply, he raised his smile again.

“So it’s Mr. Clay Sheens. You and I were once schoolmates. I’m deeply sympathetic about your illness. Please come to the inner room; I’ll examine you carefully.”

“Oh, an alumnus.”

Clay relaxed a little. Trusting his former schoolmate, he directly followed into the inner room of the clinic.

As soon as he entered, the physician looked at him with concern and eagerly stepped forward to take his hand, inviting Clay to sit down quickly.

“Brother Clay, how did you end up in such a state? You were the mage in Miss Limla’s party.”

As he spoke, he poured Clay a cup of tea.

Clay took a sip. The sweetness and slight bitterness of the black tea spread in his mouth, ultimately leaving a taste of herbs. His somewhat listless spirit, dulled by the cold, lifted slightly. He looked at the physician with a trace of gratitude.

“It’s no longer the case. I encountered some things… better not to mention them.”

He waved his hand as if to甩 away those awful memories. “Now I’m down on my luck. Once this illness is cured, I plan to go elsewhere to see if there’s any way out. Little brother, do you have any connections you could introduce me to…”

“Once Senior is well, I’ll definitely help.”

The physician replied promptly, then frowned, looking rather troubled.

“It’s just…”

“Is there something I need to do? Feel free to say it.”

Clay asked urgently. The physician shook his head, reached out, pinched his neck, flipped his eyelids, and asked him to open his mouth.

The diagnostic methods, no different from those of traditional Chinese medicine, were all applied to Clay. This made it hard for Clay not to trust his junior’s abilities, and hard not to wonder if he had other illnesses.

“Heavens… Goddess above, Senior Clay, your condition is very serious. I don’t know what will happen afterward, but if we don’t eradicate the problems in your body now, your life will be in danger.”

“Huh?”

Clay’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Explain clearly. What illness? How to treat it.”

“Your internal organs have already begun to fail. Your body’s ability to detoxify is impaired. Even if the fever is cured, other problems will arise later. We need to remove the kidney…”

“What?”

Clay immediately realized this bastard wanted to treat him like a sucker from Neon.

He knew himself well enough—at most he had caught a cold. How could his organs be failing, requiring kidney removal?

The friendly junior instantly turned into a demon wanting to harvest his kidney for stir-fried waist flower at a night market. Clay jumped up from the chair at once. He decided not to get treated—at least not here.

“I’d better seek another expert.”

With that, Clay prepared to leave.

“Diagnostic service fee—one gold coin.”

“I*!”

When the physician spoke those words with a hypocritical smile, Clay felt like killing someone. But when three burly men holding greatswords appeared at the room’s doorway, he knew he had no choice.

The night in Tirikast City was not much warmer inside the city than in the fields outside.

Having lost all his belongings and gained a debt, Clay staggered through the alleys.

He was going to die.

He had that feeling.

He was getting closer and closer to his death line.

There were many people in the alley, and quite a few looked even worse than him.

These vagrants he once hadn’t deigned to notice now differed from him only in the rags covering their bodies.

Soon, he abandoned that thought.

Because several vagrants he had woken by wandering around saw that he was dressed decently, beat him up painfully, and robbed him of his clothes.

Now, he truly had no difference from the homeless.

“Why though?”

Clay hugged his head. The tattered rags he had scavenged from a garbage pile offered no warmth at all when put on.

He reflected on his life after coming to this world.

From a glorious grand mage to this current state—all because he had been kicked out of the party.

It was too absurd.

Where was the promise that crossing into another world would let him live a carefree life?

Go fool ghosts!

Clay began cursing, began complaining, began sobbing.

In the end, he began praying…

“Goddess, oh Goddess, you unreasonably sent me to this world. At least show some spirit and give me a way to live.”

He was unwilling to die just like this.

He was, after all, an outstanding graduate of the Empire. He was, after all, a top talent who had become the mage of the Hero’s party before even graduating!

Not yet twenty-four years old, with plenty of youth and talent—how could he just die meaninglessly with a bunch of trash in this godforsaken corner?

“Come on, I was even a court mage.”

“Not to mention being a teammate to the Hero—I even taught the prince, and I still ended up here waiting to die?”

His ugly complaints disturbed the vagrants’ sleep. Curses came from the crowd. Clay didn’t want to bother with these boastful liars and continued praying.

Whether the Goddess took pity on him or not, a gust of cold wind blew by, and an advertisement landed on his face.

Clay held the advertisement and stared blankly at its contents. His eyes lit up for a moment, then quickly dimmed again.

Gritting his teeth, he blinked hard, then looked up at the sky.

“Goddess, if this is the path you’re pointing me toward, then…”

He took a deep breath.

“I’ll go all in.”

The young man straightened his back and strode forward with firm steps, like a knight setting out on a campaign.

The content on the advertisement was simple: just an address and a few requirements—

High reward for seeking a son. Seeking to be mother and son for one night. Adult males preferred. Human race preferred. Beastmen and dwarves need not apply. Those interested, please come for an interview at 11 PM at Star River Lane No. 101, North of the City.