"How's your ear? Can you hear properly?"
"A bit hard to hear, but yeah."
The doctor was checking Baron's ear while he obediently followed instructions.
"In a few days, your hearing should be completely restored."
"Great."
"Congrats, man!" Rocker said happily, almost clapping—until he remembered… he didn't have hands anymore.
Baron's expression twitched. Rocker also realized what just happened and laughed awkwardly.
"Uh… my bad. Must be muscle memory."
The room fell silent for a second before Rocker rested his elbows on the table and sighed:
"Honestly, if I knew I'd lose my hands, I should've buried some money somewhere beforehand."
Baron raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you have money?"
"No, but imagine this: I dig a hole, throw in a bunch of cash, and years later, some guy finds it and gets all excited. Wouldn't that be hilarious?"
"I can't tell if I should laugh or send you to a psychiatrist."
Anyway, no matter how advanced medical technology was here, regrowing limbs was still impossible.
Unless you had some overpowered healing skill or high-tier recovery magic… which, unfortunately, cost a fortune. And hospitals were broke.
Kai was trying to eat an apple pie, but it ended up falling onto his shirt.
"Goddammit."
He sighed. They had been stuck in this hospital for days.
At this point, he had memorized all the cracks in the ceiling.
"Honestly, if there was a world championship for being useless, my hands would win first place." Kai muttered, looking at the pie stain.
"Nah, you'd be disqualified from the preliminaries because your hands are still better than Rocker's." Baron smirked.
"At least I can still feel the apple pie landing on me! Can't say the same for someone here!" Rocker shot back.
Kai ignored them. In the meantime, Alice had been updating him on news from the academy.
According to her, the academy had publicly mourned a student's death.
If they had known he was planning something bad for Alice, maybe they would have just mentioned it in passing and moved on.
But the surprising part? He was from Class A!
Well, it made sense—his skills were a real pain to deal with, perfect for an assassin.
Not that it mattered. If you have bad intentions toward a girl, you deserve to die.
After that, the academy also praised two students for taking down the killer.
Two members of the student council.
…What? The student council?
When we heard the news, all of us were pissed.
The hell?! We nearly died fighting that fucker, and instead of getting any recognition, our achievement got stolen by those student council bastards??
"If things keep going like this, I'd say you guys will be discharged soon."
"Good. Once I get out, I'm definitely spending big money to hunt down those assholes who stole our credit," Baron said irritably, munching on his apple pie.
After that, the doctor left, and the three of us sat in silence.
"You two, don't worry about it. I'll find a way to get justice for you!"
How kind. We hope you get your hands back.
Suddenly, the door creaked open, and several well-dressed men stepped inside.
"Rocker, sorry for leaving you to handle this alone."
Oh! Rocker's colleagues!
Weren't they from some kind of association for protecting people and the nation?
"Oh, it's fine! I'm always ready to sacrifice myself to protect others! Besides, these two helped me take down the enemy."
And with that, they all turned to look at us.
"You're… Kai and Baron Libert, right?"
We both nodded.
A middle-aged man stepped forward, gratitude evident on his face.
"Thank you. You saved my comrade and sacrificed a lot."
"So, where's our reward?" Baron asked, his usual arrogant expression returning.
"Don't worry. I know your family is well-off, but I have something you'll need. Consider it a token of appreciation—and an apology for dragging you both into this."
Wow, at least they took responsibility.
He handed Baron a pair of gloves with a lightning symbol.
"These are enchanted gear. They enhance your electricity-based abilities—perfect for you."
"Oh, nice stuff."
Seeing Baron receive equipment, my eyes sparkled with anticipation.
The men glanced at me, then scratched their heads awkwardly.
Hey, don't give me that look. I'm not amused.
"As for you… Well, based on the reports, your skill makes your sword stick to whoever you stab, right? We couldn't find anything that fits you, so…"
"…So at least let me choose, right?"
"Of course! It'd be unfair otherwise, so you can pick any gear within our limits."
"How about something that can destroy a building?"
"…Within your capability range. I don't want to get fired for giving you something too overpowered."
'At least he's honest.'
I sighed, waiting for them to bring out different pieces of equipment.
Coward's Boots: Increases speed when not engaged in combat.
Armor of Love: The more you love someone, the tougher it becomes.
Hunchback's Dagger: Filled with the resentment and misfortune of a hunchback. Has a 10% chance to instantly kill weaker enemies and 1% for stronger ones.
Righteous Fighter's Belt: Enhances combat skills and slightly boosts physical stats.
"You said I could choose any equipment?"
"Yes, because this is all we have left. The rest were already taken by others."
"You've got to be kidding me…"
Well, whatever. Free stuff is still free.
To be honest, out of these, only the Coward's Boots and the Fighter's Belt were decent. The other two? Absolute garbage.
Armor of Love? The more love you feel, the harder it gets? Just call it the Simp Armor at this point.
And Hunchback's Dagger? Completely useless for me. It might work for someone who can attack rapidly, but with my luck? No way.
On the other hand, the Coward's Boots were perfect—because, you know, when facing strong enemies, running is the best strategy.
And the Fighter's Belt was great in its own way. If I had to fight, this would definitely come in handy.
Damn, it's hard to choose between these two…
While I was struggling to decide, both Baron and Rocker spoke up.
"Why don't you just give him everything?"
"Huh?"
Everyone turned to stare at them—including me, frozen in shock.
"If you're wondering why, let me tell you what the report didn't include," Rocker said.
Kai was the one who took a hit for Baron and gave him the motivation to fight.
He provided great support and held out for a long time.
He was the one who asked Alice to call the police.
And he even risked his life to wield a cursed sword from a weapon shop and finish off the man-eater.
Hearing my actions described so dramatically made me want to bury my face in my pillow out of embarrassment.
"Thanks for the explanation, but I still can't give him everything. At most, I can allow two pieces…"
"I'll buy the rest," Baron yawned.
Everyone stared at him, speechless.
And just like that… I ended up with all four pieces of equipment.