Eodem: A Rifle and Sword Adventure (Complete)

Chapter 18: Why we say 'Porro Terra'

The Maglev sped through the Kesserheim cityscape casually as the Tyr Rian delegation sat on one of Kesserheim's most efficient public transports. After disembarking from the Starport and then taking a bus to a Monorail station that will directly take them to the 'Orchard District' where they will arrive to the Saint Luke's Medical Center one of the most sophisticated Hospital-Resorts in all of the UFE Space. They boast state of the art medical equipment, self sufficient Organic Produce Farm and even their own Pharmaceutical Factory. Some of the UFE's greatest medical triumphs were found in that very place from the Cure to Cervical Cancer, the first successful Full Body transplant and grape flavored Antibiotics.
They did have to reassure their guests that the 'Giant Metal Snake' that they will be entering isn't going to eat them as it was only a means of transportation 'like a really long carriage' as Samantha awkwardly tried to explain.

Princess Aria looked on from the Maglev window and saw the Kesserheim City Scape. Tall Pillars with volcanic smoke stacks breathed out to the gray sky as Neon Lights twinkled from the distance like fairies swarming around their shire homes. The place was devoid of any natural life except for the people who live their yet even then, the Kesserheim Earthlings looked contrastingly different compared to their more down to earth cousins. Their bodies were from head to toe covered in sheets of metal that all looked indistinguishable to human flesh. Mechanical Humanoids walk freely and just as lively as one's who remained purely organic in physiological nature.

"Those people... are they all Golems?" Aria asked.

"No Princess those are people like you and me." Samantha answered.

"Why do they endure themselves to the painful processes of having metal forced into their bodies?" Aria continued, her legs quivered over the stories of the primitive healthcare of Gliesian society.

They had no sense of sanitation, anesthesia, germs, bacteria and diseases. All utterly alien concepts to the medieval people. Plagues could develop into full on epidemics and surgeries can be just as lethal as simply letting a disease slowly kill the patient.

"It isn't painful at all Princess. When we get to Saint Luke's I can assure you that the surgery won't be painful. You won't feel a thing." Samantha said.

"But... I am scared..." Aria whispered softly.

"Of what?" Samantha asked.

"I... never went to another doctor before other than my Physician. I saw what Doctor Lee Han-Nool did to you. Those needles... and knives... and... potions strapped above your beds in your big Healing Shrines you have back in New Albany." The princess admitted. Her blood began to pulse up as her mind lingered on the hundreds of unknown aspects of her journey to finally walk again.

"It's called a 'Hospital' my lady." Samantha corrected. She then reached out her hands to Arias and held both amply as she looked in a comforting manner.

"I was like you before Aria." Samantha said.

"You were?"

"When I was just a little girl around the age of 5 my mother took me to get my first Vaccine shot. At first, I had no idea what it is until I saw the nurse pull out the needle from her pockets." Samantha softly said.

"I cowered behind my mother's legs, refusing to let go until my mom dragged me away from there." The Lieutenant continued.

"So... did you leave or did you get the Needle?" Aria asked. Her attention hooked on Sam's snippet of her life story.

"I got the Needle eventually." Sam replied.

"How? You were as scared as any child when he see's something scary." Aria questioned.