Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy
Iris
“Iris-chan…? Iris-chan, are you okay?”
The sensation of having my shoulders shaken brought me out of a deep slumber.
Struggling to lift my heavy eyelids, as I raised my face, strands of slightly messy hair slipped down my cheek.
“Ah… I’m sorry, I fell asleep again…”
My body was aching all over, most likely due to me falling asleep while sitting on a chair beside the bed, and that’s absolutely not a good posture to fall asleep with.
I straightened my posture and stretched out my totally stiffened body.
“Did you stay here all night again? Lenny-san was quite upset, you know?”
“Aini-san…”
Even after being repeatedly told to rest and return to my room, ultimately, I couldn’t settle down there.
Therefore, I secretly slipped out of the guest room assigned to me and made my way here.
The reason being…
“Well… If there’s no one else available to take over, I suppose it can’t be helped… but it’s going to be for naught if you join them on the sick bed, you know?”
“I’m sorry… Please let me treat them one more time, then I’ll return to my room to get some sleep.”
I glanced briefly at the bed where I’d been resting my head until now.
There laid the still unconscious Reiji-san and Saul-niisama, whose faces occasionally contorted in agony.
With a sleep-deprived mind that wasn’t functioning properly, I absentmindedly watched Aini-san diligently conducting examinations and changing IVs.
“Both of them have already fully recovered from their injuries. Aside from the muscle weakening during their sleep, there shouldn’t be any lingering aftereffects.”
“Is that so? That’s a relief…”
It’d been three days since that battle.
Physically and mentally exhausted, I had slipped into a coma right after tending to Blanche-sama, waking up a whole day later.
Since then, I had been constantly attending to the two of them, providing care and treatment until there was not a single scar remaining on their bodies.
In other words, it took me two entire days of constantly applying healing magic to complete their physical recovery.
Severe as their injuries were, my magic should have healed them in an instant under normal circumstances.
However, there’s something that’d been hindering the effectiveness of my healing light.
It’s also the reason why both of them had yet to awaken…
“…It’s so potent, this miasma…”
The Death Serpent we fought could control miasma so powerful that it could overpower my healing magic.
Nevertheless, by consistently applying healing and purification magic, weakening its effect, and forcibly delivering healing magic bit by bit, I managed to slowly, gradually treat those two up to this point…
Still, even though the wounds have healed, I hadn’t been able to entirely eradicate the deeply-rooted miasma lingering within their bodies.
Perhaps, that’s the reason why both of them remained unconscious, showing no signs of awakening.
“I wish I could still use Sanctuary…”
“…Is it truly impossible?”
I nodded bitterly at Aini-san’s words.
My “Sanctuary”, which should have been usable again after I used it in that battle, had become completely inoperable.
It seemed that when the Death Serpent destroyed my Sanctuary, the pain and trauma in the aftermath had carved a deep scar in my heart, and I was unable to use Sanctuary again due to this lingering fear.
…There’s no use in dwelling in what can’t be done. I must focus on what I could still do in this situation.
Slapping my cheeks to gather determination, I turned back to the two on the bed, took a deep breath, and then prepared to chant.
“…Curse Erasure…!”
Magical light glowed in both my hands.
Despite its significantly narrow effective range that necessitated direct contact with the target, this was my most powerful cleanse skill I possessed. I gently brought this light closer to the chests of the two lying on the beds beside me.
“…Guh… Uuugh…!”
As the purifying light in my hands neared or almost touched the bodies of the two, a writhing darkness akin to a serpent oozed from within them. This darkness clashed violently with my healing magic, flashing intensely in black and white.
Until now, it’d been a struggle just to chip away at this darkness.
However, this time, some of those small snake-like shadows vanished. After numerous attempts, the purifying light finally reached the bodies of the two, blowing away and dissolving the surrounding darkness it touched.
“Just a bit more…!”
All this time, I’d been anxious about the progress of the treatment.
However, I finally became certain that I could finally make a breakthrough.
When I hurriedly tried to exert even more power… my field of vision wavered.
“…That’s enough. Please rest for the remainder of the morning.”
“*pant*…*pant*… Y… Yes…”
Sweat poured down from my forehead.
Doubling up on high-tier healing magic had depleted my stamina far quicker than I had anticipated.
I couldn’t help but wonder just how much effort Blanche-sama, who saved me from a far larger amount of miasma than those two currently afflicted, had expended or how much agony she endured… It must have been beyond my imagination.
There was no way I could ask her about it now, though.
Still… I’d made some progress this time.
I resolved to try again by the end of today, hoping for an actual breakthrough.
“I admire your dedication, but you’re in dire need of rest. Leave the two of them to me, okay?”
“Thank you very much…”
Aini-san had a point. Dizzyness was overwhelming me, and my eyelids felt incredibly heavy at the moment.
As I reached for the doorknob to return to my room…
“…It’s frustrating, isn’t it? In times like these, as someone who can’t use healing magic like you, Iris-sama, all I can do is monitor the progress.”
“Aini-san?”
I instinctively turned around when I heard Aini-san’s mutters.
On her otherwise calm expression, I could see a slight shadow over it.
“My ancestors from many generations ago were said to possess similar healing abilities like yours. When I faced patients whom I can’t help no matter what, I always found myself thinking about what could have been if I had that power… and why that power was lost.”
While her gaze remained directed towards the sleeping Nii-sama, Aini spoke at length while brushing aside the strands of sweat-matted hair on her forehead, seemingly lost in thought.
In her eyes… if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of frustration.
“…It’s futile to think about such things, isn’t it? Even if I can’t use healing magic, I’ve trained myself in alchemy and medical practices to save people the best I can. Now, please have some rest, will you?”
Aini-san urged me to rest with her usual gentle smile.
However, her words seemed more like she was trying to reassure herself than anything.
“Ah, Nee-chan.”
“…Hayato-kun?”
Upon opening the door and stepping into the corridor, there sat the well-behaved Sirius cub… I should really give her a name once things calm down… Alongside her, Hayato-kun was crouched down and gently petting her fur.
“It’s pretty docile, huh? It doesn’t seem to dislike me, right?”
“Um… She seems okay with it, I think.”
I didn’t sense any negative emotion from the Sirius cub.
In fact, she seemed to enjoy being petted, squinting her eyes contentedly.
But more importantly…
“May I ask why you’re dressing like that…?”
Hayato-kun, whom I hadn’t seen for a while, was now dressed in well-tailored shorts, a white shirt, and a vest, the attire of a young male servant – or valet – working in this castle.
“Haha, I was just helping out here and there, one thing led to another, and they gave me this to wear… I don’t think it suits me, though.”
“No, not at all! It looks really good on you.”
Among us players, Hayato-kun’s appearance didn’t stand out much compared to the more prominent figures like Saul-niisama, but he was quite good-looking in his own right.
Slightly tanned skin with glossy jet-black hair.
His hair, usually somewhat tousled, was neatly combed, with a single long strand tied back neatly and falling from his shoulder to the front. Objectively speaking, he appeared to be a beautiful young boy emitting an Oriental vibe.
I idly pondered that in a few more years, with a bit more height, he might attract attention from girls…
“…You know, Nee-chan, you’d better take a rest. You won’t believe what your face looks like right now.”
Saying this, Hayato-kun scrunched up his face, furrowed his brows, and pulled down the skin under his eyes in a comical manner, causing me to burst out laughing involuntarily.”
“Pfft… Is… Is my face that weird…?”
“Yeah, totally. You have those huge dark circles under your eyes and stuff. Just hurry back to your room already.”
He then reached out a hand toward me while facing the other way, seemingly offering to escort me back to my room.
Feeling like I might doze off on my own, I gratefully took his hand, also picking up the Sirius cub that had flown over to me in my other arm, and followed along.
As I walked down the corridor, smiling at his slightly shorter stature than mine, I couldn’t help but find his demeanor endearing.
“…?”
“What’s the matter?”
While on my way back to the room, I suddenly felt something amiss within the scenery visible from the window. I paused, peering outside.
“Are those… ballistae?”
I didn’t notice those large contraptions before when I visited the garden, but now I could discern a number of them lined up in the courtyard.
…They were aimed towards the back of the castle, toward the direction of the mountains.
However, despite feeling skeptical about it, my drowsy mind couldn’t function properly. I brushed it off, telling Hayato-kun it was nothing, and resumed walking towards the room.
And so, after two days, I finally lay down on my bed in my room.
Succumbing immediately to the comfort that felt as if my body was sinking, I fell into the clutches of sleep without a moment’s delay.
Just a few hours later…
…I was abruptly awakened once again by the sound of alarm bells echoing throughout the castle.
APM - Translation 