Chapter 332 This Time For Sure
When Amelia entered the hospital room on the second floor, there was a boy lying down. He was breathing shallowly and quickly.
"He is the most serious patient in this dorm. A 14-year-old boy who just became a knight apprentice. He had a fever since yesterday, and this morning he got much worse. He already has pneumonia, so if things stay like this, he won't survive."
"That's... ."
Rihito looked at the boy with a pained expression. Amelia, knowing about the many patients she couldn't save, felt a pain in her heart but didn't show any panic.
"Sara would be able to save him. She can help him the same way she helped Blaze."
"Is it impossible for Mr. Rihito?"
Amelia tilted her head and asked Rihito.
"Well, can you really call me your master, Amelia? Your teacher might get jealous. Plus, you're the first one to add 'master' to my name, Rihito."
"If you are a respected predecessor, then I should call you master."
"Thank you. But I don't have the power to save that boy."
"Is Sara really that special?"
"I understand how Sara's magic works, so I can recreate her magic. But I don't have enough magical power to heal him."
Rihito looked sadly at the boy lying there and used magic to slowly drain the water from his lungs.
"You're using magic to remove the water from his lungs, right, Mr. Rihito?"
"Only I can do this magic. I'm draining the water while also giving medicine. But this medicine doesn't exist in this world. You can think of it as a magic medicine. Maybe one day I can make it without using magic, but I can't do it alone. In the world where Sara and I were, there was no magic, so medicine slowly improved over hundreds of years. Of course, other technologies did too. It's not something you can fix overnight."
Seeing Rihito's tired expression from using too much magic, Amelia quietly handed him a magic recovery potion.
"Thanks. This potion is your special recipe, right? You haven't shared it yet, have you?"
"I can tell Mr. Rihito, you know?"
"Please teach me slowly next time."
Rihito gulped down the magic recovery potion in one go.
"Wow, this really works. I feel like I'm getting magic drunk."
"That's right. For regular people, drinking this would make them feel sick or cause a magic overload."
"Yeah. This might be something we can't make public."
"If you had that potion, could you be the same magician as Sara?"
"Probably not. I'd run out of magic halfway."
"Then we have no choice but to call Sara."
However, Rihito showed hesitation at Amelia's suggestion.
"Hey, Amelia. I mean, how many fever patients will Sara have to save from now on? Sure, with her magic, she might be able to save them, but the number of fever patients will keep increasing. There will be many severe cases too. Can we really ask Sara to treat all of them?"
"That is..."
"We're not gods. Of course, neither is Sara. We can't help everyone. Amelia, you've seen many patients you couldn't save, right? There are many who need help but can't pay for treatment. But we can't keep providing free medical care to those people. It's really sad and unfair, but we can't help everyone equally."
"Mr. Rihito..."
Amelia slumped her shoulders and could only stare at the boy suffering in front of her.
"--But that doesn't mean I can just abandon those I can reach. Even if there will be many people I can't help from now on."
Suddenly, a crack appeared in the space, and a girl with silver hair emerged. It was quite late at night, and she wore an ivory nightgown with a matching robe over it.
"Sara!?"
"I knew you learned space travel magic, but it's still surprising to see you appear like a fairy."
"Well, Arata jumped into my place. If I had to hurry, this was the only way. I was already getting ready for bed, so changing into horseback riding clothes was too much trouble."
"Arata went to Sara's place?"
Rihito was shocked to find out that his fairy friend was seeking help from Sara.
"Yes, he came. 'Rihito is suffering. I want to help him, but he's been holding back because he thinks it's wrong'."
"Arata! How could you do that!"
Rihito shouted at his friend, who appeared late in the air.
"I'm sorry. But Rihito, you always suffer like this! Every time you send off a patient you can't save, you're in pain. Do you think I've forgotten how you cried for days when they banned the production of the special medicine?"
"Oh, Rihito cried, huh?"
"I understand how you feel as a fellow pharmacist."
Sara and Amelia's comments reached Rihito's ears, and he shouted with a bright red face.
"Yeah, I cried. Got a problem with that? I know hundreds of people are dying, and you want me to do nothing?"
"Hmm. Rihito usually seems so calm, so it's surprising to see him show such emotions. Even after living for over 300 years, there are things that are hard to bear."
Sara nodded at Rihito, then looked up and stared straight into his eyes.
"Then you should understand. I've only lived for 8 years, and I can't handle this situation. He is still alive, and even if I'm accused of being arrogant, I can save his life. Even if I can only help those within my reach, it's wrong to abandon them just because there are many others I can't help."
As Rihito took a step back, overwhelmed by Sara's intensity, she walked over to the boy lying down and gently stroked his forehead.
"He looks about the same age as Scott."
"He's still a 14-year-old knight-in-training. His name is Philip, and everyone seems to call him Phil. His father was also a knight."
"Was?"
"Yeah. His father has passed away. He was chasing a runaway embezzler, but it seems their escort was stronger than expected, and a few days later, the whole squad was found dead."
"You know a lot about this."
"Earlier, a knight who came to visit him told me. If he dies, his mother will be left all alone. I should really call his mother, but I can't because she might get infected."
"Then, we have to help him so that his mother won't be alone."
"But if we keep doing this over and over, you'll be worshipped as a saint all at once."
Rihito looked back at Sara with a worried expression, then turned his gaze to the boy lying down, who was breathing shallowly with a wheezing sound, and looked at him with sad eyes. At this, Sara said.
"You know, I'm not unaware that I'm rushing in without thinking and causing trouble for everyone. I understand that Rihito is being patient for my sake. But if I keep using that adult-like reasoning and making excuses not to do what I can, Rihito will end up falling asleep again. Maybe my heart will break and my magic will go out of control. If I can do something, then I should just do it. Even if it leads to something terrible, let's think together about what to do then."
Sara placed her hand on Phil's face and noticed that his complexion was not normal.
"Rihito, I haven't properly studied medicine, so I don't know, but is he turning blue? His face looks too pale."
"Yes. His pneumonia symptoms are severe, and he's having trouble breathing."
"Phil... it must be painful for him. I'll help him now. He can't leave his mother all alone. If she's the only one who survives, it's really lonely and really cold."
Sara remembered the feelings of loss and loneliness she once experienced, and her chest ached while something hot rose in her throat. With those thoughts in mind, she analyzed the condition of the boy Phil, who was lying there, using her non-attribute magic.
"Rihito, there's water building up not just in his chest but also in his stomach. Should we drain it all at once?"
"That would put too much strain on the patient. He might go into shock."
"Use my healing magic together with your magic, Rihito. I can't use that magic, so I need you to hold it together. I think it won't work well unless we do it at the same time, but can you activate it without interfering?"
"Hmm. I think I can. It seems better if I activate my magic a little after you start using your healing magic."
"I'll leave the timing to you, Rihito."
"Okay. Then, Amelia, while we're activating the magic, there's a chance the patient's breathing or heart could stop. Keep an eye on his condition. Let me know immediately if anything happens."
"Understood."
Sara surrounded Phil's body with a massive amount of magical power, her hair standing on end, and activated her healing magic all at once. She was increasing the healing speed more than when she healed Blaze because she realized Phil's body was nearing its limit.
Watching this, Rihito was astonished by the complexity of the magic Sara was using. If time allowed, he would have wanted to draw a magic circle because it was so beautiful, but Rihito, who understood that there was no time to waste, carefully worked to recover the physical issues that Sara couldn't cover.
In about 10 minutes, the magic treatment was finished, and Phil's breathing became calm. His fever went down, and his complexion returned to normal. However, it was understandable that he was still exhausted since his lost stamina wouldn't come back right away.
"Rihito, how's Phil doing?"
"It seems fine. Well, there's nothing we can do about the infection."
"That's beyond the healing magic, so it can't be helped. Still, treating 2 people in one day is too much. This really uses a lot of magic."
"Of course. It's like regenerating the body from scratch. Just so you know, I can't do it, and probably the royals can't either."
"Right. If I only had the magic I keep for myself, I think I could only handle one person."
"Don't absorb the surrounding magic like a dragon."
"Thanks to that, they say I graduated from being human."
"Yeah, I can see that. If it's you, you might surpass dragons and even gods, Sara."
"Stop it. The god in this world looks like they shaved their head and has 'fool' written on their forehead."
"Why does it have to be so disappointing?"
"Because it annoyed me."
"Who did?"
"I did."
Rihito, holding his head, looked down and shook his shoulders slightly.
"Ha, Sara, did you just pick a fight with a god?"
"Other gods supported me, you know? They made sure the words on their forehead wouldn't disappear."
"That's crazy... It's hilarious... My stomach hurts."
Unable to hold back, Rihito started laughing loudly while holding his stomach. But the next moment, Amelia, who was watching Phil, raised her voice.
"Hey you two, I think Phil is about to wake up."
"Oops."
"I'll leave before things get complicated, Sara."
"That sounds like a good idea."
Sara returned to Maiden's Tower through the same tear in space as when she arrived.
Phil, who was lying down, quietly woke up, shifted slightly, and slowly opened his eyes.
"Um, I had a fever, right? Where am I?"
"This is the second-floor room of the knight's dormitory. It's temporarily set up as a sickroom."
Amelia answered Phil's question with a bright smile.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the pharmacist, Amelia. The person over there is the pharmacist, Mr. Paracelsus."
Phil slowly turned his face toward Rihito.
"Hey, Phil. Nice to meet you. You had quite a fever, but do you have any memory gaps?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I remember up until around noon. I had a really bad headache."
"Yeah, I think your fever was pretty high by then. You must have had trouble breathing too."
"That's right. It was harder than when I was running during training."
While Rihito and Phil were talking, Amelia quickly measured Phil's temperature, pulse, and blood pressure.
"Mr. Rihito, his temperature has dropped to a normal 36.8 degrees. His pulse and blood pressure are also normal."
"Well, that makes sense. But it's certain that he was infected with a fever, so he needs to eat meals that will help him regain his strength. Phil, do you have any pain anywhere?"
"No, not at all."
"That's good. You were on the verge of death."
"I was almost dead, huh? No wonder a really beautiful angel told me not to leave my mom alone."
"I see. So that's why you came back."
Rihito calmly analyzed Phil's condition without saying anything unnecessary.
"Right now, things are calm, but that doesn't mean the fever is gone; it just means the symptoms have eased. For now, you can stay in this room tonight, and if your temperature is normal in the morning, you can go back to your own room. But for a while, you're not allowed to go outside. You need to rest, or the fever will come back."
"Understood."
Just as Phil finished his examination, Golem No. 21 entered the room.
"Sir Rihito, Lady Amelia, a meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow morning with His Excellency Marquis Grandchester, Edward the Young Marquis, Sir Robert, several bureaucrats, and some people related to Guild. You are requested to attend."
"Got it. I'll attend. What about you, Amelia?"
"Of course, I'll attend. Is Sara coming too, No. 21?"
"Yes. Milady Sara and Lady Alicia have also expressed their intention to attend. Additionally, Sir Jeffrey has sent a message for you, Sir Rihito."
"Oh?"
"I'll read it. 'The special medicine for the fever is moving towards approval. Clinical trials in the knight order will be permitted under the authority of the knight commander. However, patients must sign a pledge to prove they have given their consent. If you can attend tomorrow's meeting, please prepare the materials for the special medicine. I apologize for the last-minute request'."
Rihito felt a little brighter at that moment. It seemed that a medicine that the previous leader had stubbornly refused to approve could now be released to the world.
"Materials, huh?"
"I believe we golems can also help with preparing the materials."
"Ah, that's right. You guys are the best. But, this is a boys' dorm, so I can't leave a young woman like Amelia all alone. I guess I have to make the materials here. Is it true that you all read all my past materials?"
"If there are no hidden materials, then yes, that's correct."
"Well then, for now, I'll rely on you guys."
And with that, Rihito started to create the explanation materials about the special medicine.
'This time, I will definitely get it out into the world...'
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