At nine o'clock that evening, once their discussion about the fireworks wrapped up, Jin decided to make his move as planned.
"Work around the inn should be winding down right about now."
"Mm."
With that, Jin, Elsa, Reiko, and Hope headed down to the innkeeper's office on the ground floor.
They knocked and were welcomed inside. There, the landlady, Alana Becker, and her father-in-law, Gregoras Pecker, were busy going over the ledgers.
"Can we help you with something, guests?"
The rest of the staff still seemed to be tidying up the dining hall or having their evening meal.
"Yes, actually, there was something we wanted to discuss..."
Jin began by explaining that he wished to cast Toughening on the building for preservation purposes.
"It's partly to thank you for the wonderful stories you shared with us earlier today, and partly because I want to help protect such a historic building."
Naturally, the offer was met with a skeptical look.
"You want to...?"
Jin, however, had seen that coming.
"Yes. Though I might not look the part, I am something of a magi engineer."
Jin gestured toward Hope.
"I built Hope here myself."
"Oh...!" Gregoras exclaimed, thoroughly impressed. "My, that is fine craftsmanship indeed."
He seemed convinced of Jin's skill.
"Father, wouldn't it be fine to let him go ahead?" Alana suggested.
"Well now..."
Sensing Gregoras was still hesitating, Jin decided to give him one more push. He offered to demonstrate on the spot by casting Toughening across the office's walls, floor, and ceiling.
"'Toughening'... 'Toughening'... 'Toughening'."
He cast the spell once across each of the six surfaces, wrapping up the demonstration in six quick casts. On the surface, nothing appeared to have changed.
And yet...
"Oh, now this is truly remarkable."
Gregoras appeared to have some knowledge of magi-craft, as he could tell without a doubt that Jin's Toughening had taken full effect.
"You are unquestionably a first-rate magi craftsman, guest....Though, hearing you call yourself a 'magi engineer,' does that mean you hail from the Shouro Empire?"
"That's right."
Looks like that sold him, Jin thought with relief.
With that hurdle cleared, he brought up their other objective.
"By the way, there was one more thing I wanted to ask. Are there no healers in this town?"
"...None, I'm afraid. We have an apothecary, but the clinic closed down some twenty years ago and hasn't been replaced since."
"I thought as much."
Jin figured that was precisely why Gregoras's leg had never fully healed.
"Well, you see, my wife... Elsa is a healer. If you don't mind, could she take a look at it? Oh, and there won't be any charge, of course."
Both Gregoras and Alana stared at them in shock.
In the modern Kingdom of Franz, certified healers were vanishingly rare, and their consultations and treatments commanded exorbitant fees.
"Th-That's..."
Hearing that it would be free of charge made it all the harder for them to accept the offer without hesitation.
"You see, while she's fully qualified to practice on her own, she doesn't run a clinic of her own yet," Jin added on a whim, fleshing out their cover story. "I was hoping to let her gain a bit more hands-on experience whenever the chance presents itself."
"I see! I did think she seemed rather young, but that explains it."
To Jin's surprise, the explanation went down smoothly.
"In that case, we would be glad to accept your offer. Please, go ahead."
With that settled, Gregoras agreed to let her examine his leg.
"First, allow me to carry out a diagnosis."
Gregoras shifted comfortably in his chair, and Elsa sat down facing him to begin the examination.
"...'Diagnose'."
It was a diagnostic spell in the Shouro Empire style.
"...'Diagnose'."
After checking several spots, she reached a conclusion.
"I see what the problem is. The ligaments in your right knee are suffering from chronic inflammation."
As Elsa explained it, severe tightness in his iliotibial band was causing it to rub against the bone just above the outer side of his right knee, producing inflammation.
"Painkillers might create the illusion that the issue has resolved, but the underlying condition remains unchanged. Unless the root cause is addressed, it will simply flare up again."
Iliotibial band friction syndrome was a condition commonly known as runner's knee.
The iliotibial band is a thick tract of fascia running from the ilium—the pelvic bone—down the outer side of the thigh to attach to the fibula, the outer bone of the lower leg.
When this band rubs against the prominence of the femur near the knee joint, the resulting friction causes inflammation.
While surgical intervention sometimes involves shaving down the bony prominence of the femur, standard practice usually focuses on relieving the tension in the iliotibial band itself. In other words, relaxing the surrounding muscles eases the strain on the band.
"'Schmerzmittel'... 'Behandeln'."
After dulling the localized pain, Elsa performed treatment to ease the tension throughout the entire structure. Focusing solely on the affected area often stood in the way of a proper recovery.
And finally...
"'Healing'."
As a finishing touch, she restored balance to his whole body.
"How does that feel?"
At Elsa's prompt, Gregoras stood up, only to find that the ache in his right leg had vanished completely, as if it had melted away.
"Ah, it's completely gone! Thank you so much! Truly, you are an extraordinary physician!" he cheered in pure delight.
Elsa gave a modest nod. "Not at all. Thank you for giving me such valuable practice."
Watching the exchange, Alana looked deeply touched. "Oh, goodness, thank you both so much. How can we ever repay you?"
"No, really, it was valuable experience for us as well," Jin replied, declining just as they had rehearsed.
"Please, you mustn't say that."
"No, genuinely, we're glad to have helped."
"We can't simply accept this without giving anything in return."
"Really, don't worry about it this time."
...After several more rounds of back-and-forth, they reached a sensible compromise:
"In that case, we insist on waiving your lodging fees for tonight and tomorrow."
Afterward, Jin cast Toughening across the entire inn, successfully accomplishing everything they had set out to do.