St Chaos Healer

Ch 30 - Apology and Remuneration

I could hear distant inaudible noise.
I have been going through this situation several times already.

The voice that I heard sounded distressed and concerned.
I couldn't properly hear it but it sounded very~ familiar.

It was kinda soothing.

"Ben~"

"Benji~"

It was my name being called by someone familiar.

That's when I finally opened my eyes and found myself in our room.
In front of me, I saw my mother looking at me with a concerned look. Her eyes were red and her hair was a mess.

She looked like she was crying for a long time.

"Mother..." I called out for her.

She quickly grabbed my hand in her hands and held it closer to her face.
The moist eyes again started flooding as tears rolled down her cheek.

"I am glad that you are alive. I thought for once that you will never open your eyes, ever again," she said with a solemn voice.

"Heh. Some moving rock can't get the likes of me. I've got your blood in me after all." I replied with a smile.

Judging by her situation it looked like she was crying for a whole day.
How long was I passed out?
What happened, everything was like a blur to me.

"Ow!" I cried after getting hit on the head by my mother's fist.

"You idiot. This is the second time that I thought I almost lost you. Can't you give your poor mother a rest already?" she shouted angrily.

"..."

I didn't say anything and remained silent.

The last thing I remember is that I was in the midst of my second trial which went very well.
I even managed to fully grasp the sword and waited for the coronation ceremony to begin.

But then suddenly the statue dropped the crown and attacked me out of nowhere.
I tried to flee but seeing that I couldn't escape the statue's reach, I decided to stand my ground.

Then the next thing I remember waking up here, back in our room.

Did the earth statue which conducted the trial go berserk?
Or was this intentional misconduct in play?

I can't say which is which.

For some reason, I was back in our room.
My father was also here standing beside my mother holding her shoulder to comfort her.
But unlike his carefree attitude he had a serious face for a change.

"How dare the examiners let our son get hurt like this." scowled my father in anger, "I must go and have a talk with the wagon manager. According to the code of conduct of the ceremony train, the organizers and the examiners both have equal responsibility for the safety of the candidates. In the case of endangering a candidate's life, the organizers in charge will be met with serious consequences that are according to the rulebook of the ceremony train provided to the general public."

It seems my dad had read the entire ceremony train rule book when I was passed out. Don't tell me they will go ahead and try to sue the organizers.

My mother stood beside him with her clenched fist in front of her face,
"Let's go and give those arrogant and abhorrent organizers a piece of my mind. So what if we came from a commoner's background, there is a limit to what we can tolerate. But endangering our Benji's life like this, they have crossed the line."

"My dear~ You should stay here with Benji. Let me do the talking, alright?" refuted my father.

"Hey, you don't know how to deal with those arrogant pricks. For all I know, you would get distracted and start talking about your antique collections instead of seeking answers. Let me do the talking and you stay here."