The Wrong Hero

Chapter 42 - The Echoing Cry

One of the first things Dante did when he woke up the next morning was check out his body. He was pleased to see the shredded remains of the pants he wore the previous day underneath him.

"Hey, I'm back to my regular age again. I mean...whatever."

He'd returned to the age he was when he first entered this world. Everyone had gotten over their worry about Dante's curse last night, and had their bit of fun with him. Keel and Raphtalia got a different kind of enjoyment out of it. Keel for being taller than him while transformed, and Raphtalia as almost a bit of revenge for having to stay transformed. Fohl didn't react much, except when Atla wanted to hold him. Eclair, thankfully, was one of the more composed people.

On a related note, Dante would need to apologize to the maid for the shredded pants he borrowed from her.

The next bit of business was finally getting his arm reattached. Both he and Fiadia met with Rat early in the morning to get it done. Dante had Fiadia go first, letting her experience having two complete arms again for the first time in years. Unlike with him previously, the attachment of her arm and ear went perfectly. Both had taken much less time to grow than anything Dante had.

"Thank you again for this, Lord Shield." Fiadia said, fixated on her regrown limb's movements.

"This is me trying to make things up to you." Dante reminded her. "But, if you really want to thank me, just call me by my name."

He'd eventually get the people he was close with drop the titles and whatnot. Eclair would likely be the most difficult.

"Then, thank you, Da...Lord Dante." She tried.

Dante sighed. "Good enough."

Now came the time for Dante's arm to be reattached. Like with the previous alchemists, Dante had the arm strapped to him while Rat injected it and his shoulder with a syringe. The sensation of nerves being mended felt different than the last time, where the arm shriveled up before the process was complete. This arm didn't seem to decay at all.

"How is it, Lord?" Rat looked at her handiwork.

"It...burns." Dante remarked. "It's not too painful, but..."

"I see." Rat nodded as she looked over her notes. "What else are you feeling?"

"Well..." Dante explained everything he felt, compared to his good arm. Rat followed up with question after question, prompting Dante to give more and more details. As the inquiry went on, the burning pain increased more and more, which Dante informed Rat of.

"Okay, I should have everything I need." Rat said. Using a different syringe, Dante let Rat inject him in his new arm. There was a bit of pain, but the skin and muscles that had just formed around his shoulder broke loose, allowing the arm to fall to the ground.

Rat walked over to the containers with arms in them. Selecting one, she made some adjustments with a gadget and brought it to him.

"This one should be compatible with you, Lord." She said, preparing to attach this second arm.

They repeated the process. This time, the arm melded with him more quickly. The burning pain from before was completely gone.

"Much better." Dante told her, flexing his arm. "You really are a genius."

"Thank you, Lord." Rat gave him a light bow. "I'm not sure if this is a permanent fix, so I'll prepare another set of arms with a few variations. Please inform me if there are any complications with the arm."

Dante wasn't too worried about that. True, he may need to have the arm replaced, and possibly continuously replaced going forward, but it didn't feel likely. Rat accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. He was certain she'd be able to perfect a replacement arm sooner or later if this one didn't take.