Ernest closed the door behind him, exiting Olivia's private office. He clearly showed a resolution in his eyes. His back also felt light as if a burden had been lifted. That was because he had just received valuable information from Olivia.

Actually, he didn't immediately leave when he was kicked out. In order to get information, he had to make an effort to improve Olivia's mood first. Fortunately, his effort to apologize while kowtowing was successful.

Initially, Olivia mentioned that although Ernest had been given some medicine, those medicines were common. A charity hospital couldn't provide rare and valuable medicines that were difficult to find anyway.

Then, when Ernest argued that he suffered severe pain all the time due to the curse—side effects of the vegetative state and worried that he might fall into a vegetative state again, he inquired about medicines that might help him.

"There's a rare magic item specifically for treating all Mana-related diseases. The magic item is called Elixir."

Furthermore, Olivia explained that information about Elixir was unknown to the general public. Even Olivia only knew about it because she had an acquaintance who was also trying to find the item.

When he forced Olivia to introduce him, Olivia refused. Nevertheless, Ernest managed to get Olivia to share information about Elixir if she knew about it.

The problem is ... money.

Ernest was sure that he wouldn't be able to buy it even if the Elixir was right in front of him. However, he didn't think about it too much now. It didn't matter how difficult it was to get that item; what mattered was that there was hope of obtaining it. Therefore, Ernest's first goal was to find a job, make money, and gather information about Elixir.

***

Orlando City, United States.

As the automatic glass door opened, Ernest received a breath of air without the smell of blood blowing all over his body. The late afternoon sun was almost hiding from view as Ernest stepped out of the hospital's entrance.

The evening scene full of human activity, with people returning from the office, was a sight Ernest hadn't seen in two years.

No more dragons flying in the sky or demon battles on the city streets. The terrifying monsters that Ernest often encountered in the Netherworld were also gone.

Clearly, he felt peaceful, and unconsciously, he stretched his arms wide.

Although the Earth had experienced The Great Catastrophe, there were no more magical events happening on Earth. So, there were no longer people carrying swords at their waists or wearing armor that covered their entire bodies.

There were still many dungeons, gates, sky castles, and other places where many monsters were present. Some regions on Earth also became monster habitats. Although such places were scattered all over the world, they didn't spread where the general public lived.

In general, since Earth regained peace, life in whichever countries had returned to normal, either in a small town or large city.

Walking on the sidewalk, Ernest looked north, where the Central Business District was located—the place he was heading to. It turned out that Circle of Hope Hospital, where he was treated, was not too far from the Central Business District.

As Ernest continued walking on the sidewalk, he received strange looks from people.

"Mommy, why is that person dressed like that?"

"Ppsstt! He's just someone in trouble, honey. Don't get too close, okay."

There was a mother carrying a little girl. The little girl asked while putting her finger in her mouth. It was clear that the little girl was asking about Ernest because her other finger was pointing towards him.

Unlike Ernest, who was focused on the cityscape, people passing by him were looking at his appearance. Their gazes were the same. Disgust. That's why many of them ran or just avoided Ernest.

Although he was considered a beggar by those who looked down on him, Ernest gave them a smile as an answer.

Ernest no longer wore neat patient clothes; instead, he wore wrinkled, shabby clothes, and there were even some fungi growing on certain parts of his clothes. It was normal because the clothes he wore were his personal clothes from two years ago.

When he was about to leave the hospital earlier, he received these clothes from Olivia.

"These are the clothes you wore when you were brought here. Your personal belongings are in your sling bag. You can check the contents later," Olivia said.

When Ernest asked why Olivia still kept such worn-out clothes, she just said that it was a hospital procedure to keep patients' personal belongings.

If it was just a sling bag filled with his personal documents, he would believe it. But to keep clothes too? Ernest was sure there was no procedure for keeping the patients' worn-out clothes.

Actually, Ernest wanted to tell Olivia to just throw away his clothes, but then he realized that he didn't have money to buy new clothes.

"Did she predict my situation when I woke up? Or is she afraid that these clothes are important and meaningful to me?"

Taking the wallet from his sling bag, Ernest opened it with the hope of finding some remaining money from the debt to buy food to celebrate his continued small life. However, besides finding his identification card, he also found...

"A few bills?"

If added up, there were about five 100-dollar bills. As far as his brain could remember, Ernest only had a few dollars and cents? Because, anyway, he had spent all the money from the debt on drinking and gambling.

"Is this all Olivia's doing?"

Ernest turned his lips into the shape of the letter U when thinking about Olivia's almost dandere-like personality.

***

Still in her private office, Olivia sat while focusing on a document on her laptop. The document was titled, [Report Number: 35. Patient Name: Ernest Ralstone.] In addition to Ernest's name and the suspicious report number, there was also a note that the document had been successfully sent to someone.

After checking the document, Olivia wanted to leave quickly and go back to her residence. But suddenly, someone came into her private office uninvited. The person entered without knocking, opened the door, and, without orders, sat in the chair in front of Olivia's desk.

He didn't wear clothes like a patient who wanted to consult, nor did he wear a white coat like a doctor who wanted to meet Olivia for a chat. Instead, he wore a suit like a government official.

"What brings you here, Mr. Audamaro?"

Although Olivia felt disgusted looking at Audamaro, an old man with a big belly and thinning hair, almost bald, Olivia still showed basic respect because Audamaro was one of the members of the board of directors who controls the Circle of Hope Hospital.

"It seems you don't have many patients to attend to. I'll get straight to the point. I hope you can stay in the emergency room for a week."

Actually, Olivia wasn't surprised. Olivia knew that the time would come when Audamaro would come to her. She knew that his arrival was actually due to her beating—throwing Dr. DuPont last week. In short, Audamaro was the one behind Dr. DuPont.

'Well, if this issue can be resolved just by working in the emergency room, why not?'