Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 320 Hello Limbs

After a few more hours of endless noise and celebration, the party inside Wilder's Harem HQ finally died down. And the noise didn't just fade away, no — it disappeared almost instantly. Those who were still able to leave the building, and those who couldn't just decided to lay down where they stood.

Sure, there were still some people talking to each other; like Dominique, who was trying to talk to the cenleons, and the cenleons answering back even though they had no idea what each was saying. Perhaps that was the solution to their language barrier, alcohol.

But while everyone was wasted, Rhys was just casually sitting on one of the large sofas in the lobby. Katarina and Olga were resting on his shoulders, while Lina was seated on the floor and latched onto him; burying herself on Rhys's thigh as she was between his legs.

The other women, Ayesha and the others, were just dead asleep on the other sofas. Emilia was also one of them — she refused to drink at first since she really wasn't of legal age yet, but Agatha countered her with the 'old enough to dive into the Underworld, but not old enough to drink?' argument.

And so, Emilia made the mistake of getting a drink from Agatha, and now both of them were just lying dead on the floor.

As for Rhys, well, even with his own celebration, he did not drink alcohol at all and just settled with water — which he was drinking right now in silence as he just watched everyone sleep. His eyes were settled on Emilia, however, and how she looked so peaceful now.

She was making the right decision to forge her own path — after all, if she stayed by Rhys's side, she would have no choice but to be sucked in by what he was doing… and that wasn't right at all.

She has been through enough, Rhys didn't need to drag her back into the darkness.

"I was told you were a chronic overthinker. But I did not think that it was to this point."

Rhys's peaceful moment, however, was interrupted as Dr. Dhani approached him from behind.

"Where did you hear that from, Doctor?" Rhys scoffed and smiled.

"From your doctor," Dr. Dhani also let out a small chuckle as he sat on the back of the sofa next to Rhys, "I do need to know your history before working on you, Mr. Wilder."

"Well, I hope she didn't tell you everything," Rhys shook his head and sighed before carefully removing Lina, Katarina, and Olga from him.

"I do not really know whether I should call you lucky with all of these beautiful women by your side, Mr. Wilder," Dr. Dhani let out a long and deep breath as he looked at Lina and the others, "Or if it is just what the universe owes you — and if it is, I think it is not enough."

"No, I'm lucky…" Rhys shook his head; slightly smiling as he brushed Lina's hair and tucked it in her ear, "...and whatever the world owes me, I'll get it myself."

"So…" Dr. Dhani looked at Rhys and followed him as he headed to the bar, "...Are you going to tell me now why you are hesitating to regenerate your arm and leg? You have seen how fast Katarina's limbs regenerated, we could have already done it earlier and we would still be here, in this very same position. So, tell me…

…why do you not want to recover your limbs, Mr. Wilder?"

"Hm…" Rhys looked at his wooden hand before just looking at all the people in the HQ, "...Because it's a symbol, Doctor."

"A symbol…?" Dr. Dhani squinted his eyes as he grabbed whatever bottle was left from the bar and started pouring himself a drink, "A symbol of what?"

"Of weakness," Rhys breathed out before looking at his fractured reflection in the mirror of the bar, "It is a symbol of my flaws, very much like my black hair."

"Why would you want a symbol of that, Mr. Wilder?" The tone of Dr. Dhani's voice did not change at all as he sat beside Rhys, "Most men would want a symbol of their strength, of their greatness."

"Because those with the symbol of strength are looked up to, and I don't want to be looked up to, Doctor…" Rhys shook his head and smiled, "...I want them to relate to me. I want them to know that whatever I achieve, they can too."

"But you and I know that they can't," Dr. Dhani sighed, "What you are presenting is false hope, and that is dangerous."

"Hope nonetheless."

"And you will be creating martyrs," Dr. Dhani gulped a shot of glass, "And your path will be filled with their blood."

"The path has already been filled with blood a long time ago — even before me, maybe even before you, Doctor," Rhys let out a small chuckle as he left the counter to grab a bottle of soda from the fridge,

"Now, I am just making sure that the path actually has a destination."

"And if it is the wrong path?" Dr. Dhani looked Rhys in the eyes.

"It's not about right or wrong," Rhys returned to his seat and returned the doctor's stare, "As you said earlier…

…It's about what's owed to me."

"Hm," Dr. Dhani took in a deep breath as he shook his head.

"Do you still want to treat me after hearing that, Doctor?" Rhys smiled.

"I am a doctor, Mr. Wilder," Dr. Dhani also smiled and chuckled, "People are patients first before they are criminals."

"Even after all that I said?" The tone of Rhys's voice lowered.

"Why, what did you say?" Dr. Dhani just raised his shot glass before chugging it and walking away, "Your operation is tomorrow morning at 10 — make sure not to eat or drink anything 10 hours before. For now, relax… make love with your women…

…because tomorrow you will be in so much pain, Mr. Wilder."

Contrary to Dr. Dhani's advice, Rhys did not relax or make love with his women at all — no. He did, however, gently put them back into their rooms one by one; placing Emilia in his room before heading to the roof and standing on its edge.

And there, right in front of him, what was once a lost and desolate place, was now filled with lights and people — of life.

"Careful, Rhys Wilder — step one more and people will think you are trying to kill yourself."

"I tried before, it didn't really catch on," Rhys smiled as he glanced at Margryth, who flew from below and hovered in front of him.

"Hm… enjoying the view of your city?"

"My city?" Rhys scoffed and shook his head, "They call it that, but I wasn't even here to watch it grow. It feels… weird. I'm just doing my own thing, and yet all of a sudden I own this growing city and even have a statue."

"Do you know who else experiences things like that?"

"Tyrants?"

"Gods, Rhys Wilder…

…Gods."

***

"Ready?"

"Yes. I'm—Kh…"

"R… Rhys…"

And so, tomorrow morning at 10 came — and Dr. Dhani was now in the process of regenerating Rhys's right leg. They had to take the wooden leg out too, which was not a pretty sight at all; but it was nothing compared to what was happening now.

Since Rhys's wound was already more than a year old, it was much more painful than Katarina's, and Katarina knew that and she could not help but just cover her mouth to stop herself from letting out her gasps.

Aside from her, Ayesha and Maria were also there… as well as Margryth, who removed the wooden limbs since Aengele had no signs of waking up still.

"You know, Mr. Wilder… you can scream if you want," Dr. Dhani was quite impressed that Rhys was only gritting his teeth; not even sweating at all as he even watched his leg grow back.

"It already hurts," Rhys shook his head as he just continued to watch his leg grow back, "Nothing would change if I scream."

"Well, that's not healthy at all," Dr. Dhani let out a long and deep sigh before just concentrating on healing Rhys's lost leg. And after what seemed like a minute — Rhys had his leg back just like that, "Can you move your toes and—Woah! Not that strong!"

Dr. Dhani almost found himself being lifted up as Rhys's right leg rose.

"Sorry… I'm not… used to it. Hah…" Rhys smiled as he started wiggling his toes.

"Well, don't smile just yet because we need to do the same thing with your arm," Dr. Dhani chuckled as he just quickly moved beside Rhys.

But while everyone in the room seemed delighted and happy, the expression on Ayesha's face could not be painted at all as soon as she saw Dr. Dhani moving near Rhys's dismembered arm.

"What's wrong, Commander?" Maria subtly stood closer to Ayesha as she noticed that.

"...Nothing," Ayesha just glanced at Maria before slightly moving away from her.

"Nothing, huh…" Maria, however, once again stood closer to her.

"What's your deal…?"

"Nothing," Maria shrugged, "But…

…I did hear that something happened when they were trying to attach Rhys's bionic arm. Does your expression have something to do with that, Commander?"