Faust VIII.
The eighth-generation descendant of the hero Faust.
Shamans could harness the power of gods, spirits, and ghosts through Shaman Arts to manifest various abilities and achieve their goals.
Faust VIII was precisely such a Shaman. With the Mysticism Encyclopaedia's reminder, Luo Shu also recalled the man's origins.
'A character from the anime Shaman King... truly an ancient figure...'
Luo Shu gave Faust a peculiar look before saying:
"Is Mr Faust also a member of the SDS?"
"I suppose you could call me an external affiliate?" Faust chuckled softly.
His tone carried a somewhat effeminate quality, giving off distinctly perverted vibes.
However, with the Mysticism Encyclopaedia's aid, Luo Shu remembered that while Faust wasn't a bad person, his behaviour was indeed somewhat twisted.
After all, the Shaman Arts he specialised in was necromancy, also called the Corpse Revival Art.
For Faust, manipulating corpses was perhaps easier than breathing.
"An external affiliate?"
Luo Shu glanced at the ring on Faust's gloved hand, then said with a smile:
"With Mr Faust's capabilities, I imagine becoming a full member would be simple."
"Please spare me that."
Faust ruffled his hair, disturbing his otherwise neatly styled blond locks:
"Between surgical work and the SDS assignments, I'd run out of coffee."
At this, Faust glanced at the temporary ID badges worn by Kisara and Utaha, then said:
"In this country's hospitals, nurses don't follow doctors during ward rounds."
"Ladies, please hand over those temporary badges." As he spoke, Faust extended his hand towards them.
Seeing this, Luo Shu immediately said to the hesitant Utaha and Kisara:
"Give them to him."
Upon hearing this, Kisara promptly removed her badge and handed it over, while Utaha shot Faust a wary look before reluctantly doing the same.
"Kisara and Utaha, is it?"
Faust narrowed his eyes, suddenly raising his hand to kiss the ring on his finger before running his fingertip around both badges:
"Done!"
"Any patients who see these badges will be misled into thinking you're doctors - unless they possess Shaman aptitude."
"Of course, the effect only lasts one day."
As he spoke, Faust twirled a lock of his blond hair around his finger, then asked Luo Shu:
"I've reviewed the materials Mr Luo Shu requested. Currently, in our urology department, there are fifteen patients hospitalised with kidney stones awaiting surgery. As for trigeminal neuralgia, the neurology department has two cases... Additionally, we have some patients with challenging conditions like HIV and syphilis."
Faust glanced at Luo Shu before continuing:
"Shall we head to the urology department first?"
Seeing this, Luo Shu nodded and said:
"Mr Faust, we'll follow your arrangements and cooperate fully."
Relieved that Luo Shu wasn't throwing his weight around as a superior, Faust exhaled quietly.
'It seemed this assignment would be much easier than expected...'
With that thought, Faust immediately proposed:
"In that case, the three of you will accompany me on ward rounds as junior doctors. I'll use my methods to create cognitive discrepancies in the patients, making them perceive us as their attending physicians."
At this point, Faust turned to Luo Shu: "Shall we go to the changing room to rehearse the procedure?"
Luo Shu nodded in agreement:
"Alright!"
...
Beneath Kamijo Hospital, at the research department's branch facility.
With a cheerful ding of the door opening, Kirika Tachibana's amused voice rang out:
"Where's our SDS live-in son-in-law? He should have come to see you today, Verde."
"Annoying!"
Seated in his specially designed infant-sized office chair, Verde unwrapped a lollipop and popped it into his mouth, eyes never leaving the screen:
"If you're looking for Luo Shu, he's currently playing doctor up in the hospital. Go find him there instead of disturbing me."
"Playing doctor? Did he bring girls along today?"
"Brought two."
Verde pondered momentarily – who had Luo Shu brought along? Ah, forgotten their faces already. He never bothered memorising non-research subjects.
"Brought two girls to play doctor?" Kirika processed this information and blinked: "He's quite the player, isn't he!"
"That boy really..."
Shaking her head, Kirika addressed Verde:
"Alright, since Luo Shu isn't here, let's get straight to business."
"I have zero interest in commercial adaptations."
Verde snorted dismissively, clearly irritated by Kirika interrupting his research for such trivial matters.
"You..." Kirika could only suppress her frustration and adopt a conciliatory tone:
"Verde, you seem particularly engrossed in your yokai research today."
"Surely you don't want the organisation's funding issues to disrupt your studies soon?"
"Funding problems again?"
Verde looked puzzled, pulling out a thick stack of funding applications from his armrest compartment:
"Strange, I haven't even submitted these requests yet."
"You..." Kirika felt her head throb at the sight of that stack.
This funding glutton had just submitted a batch the day before yesterday – how could he be preparing more already?
"I've already contacted an acquaintance about the virtual reality technology applications. Knowing him, he's probably conducting basic volunteer testing by now?"
Curious, Kirika asked: "Who did you assign for commercial development?"
Adjusting his glasses nonchalantly, Verde replied:
"Shigemura Tetsuhiro."
"Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Kyoto Institute of Technology. We get along rather well."
"I suddenly feel the need to propose replacing the virtual teality technology lead at the next meeting."