Chapter 347 Who Is This Kid?
"Grandfather, the blood tests for both of them are done. The blood transfusion preparation will be finished soon."
"Got it. Sara, can you scan my body once so we can see the condition of my organs? You might not feel great, but it would really help if you could hold on for Adam's sake."
Rihito quietly spoke to Sara.
"Don't worry. I got pretty used to the last scan with Blaze. I think I could probably scan Rihito without any issues, but I'll check again just to be sure."
"Please do."
Sara temporarily stopped Adam's scan and started scanning Rihito.
"Okay. I think I understand the position of the organs and how to get them back to normal. But, Rihito, it looks like you have an ulcer starting in your duodenum (small sore in the upper part of your small intestine)."
"Ugh, seriously?"
Sara displayed the scan image of Rihito, zooming in on the duodenum area.
"Wow, you're right. That's not good."
"It might be because of the packed schedule these past few days. Just hold on."
To restore Rihito's body to its proper state, Sara activated her healing magic.
"Alright. The preparations seem fine. I should be able to activate the healing magic smoothly."
"I appreciate the treatment, but don't use me as a test subject."
Sara scanned Adam's body again and displayed it in front of them.
"Sara, the order of treatment is important. Start by fixing this area first. That should stop the bleeding. Then we can move on to this part. The external injuries can wait, but it seems better to fix this broken rib first. It might have been close to piercing the lung."
Rihito carefully explained while pointing at the image.
"Okay. Then let's get started. Rihito, you'll give me instructions, right?"
"Of course. Alicia, are you ready for the blood transfusion?"
"I'm all set, grandfather."
"Okay, here we go. Mike, release the time magic!"
"Okay!"
Sara quickly began Adam's treatment, following Rihito's instructions. As she worked, she realized how inexperienced she had been when she treated Blaze's burns in the hunting ground. Just treating the external injuries wasn't enough; she couldn't think it was all healed. He probably had serious damage to his throat and lungs as well.
It was a race against time. She couldn't heal everything in an instant, so she had to carefully repair each organ one by one. However, since multiple organs were badly damaged, Adam's blood kept flowing during the treatment. Rihito made a small cut on Adam's body and used magic to draw out the blood, collecting it in a large glass container. This was to prepare for a blood transfusion in case they ran out of blood during the long treatment. But there were limits to that too.
If she lost focus, her image of the healing would fall apart, so Sara continued to treat Adam's body without taking any breaks, following the instructions calmly. Of course, to return each wound to its original state, she needed to visualize it properly. Gradually, her sense of time faded, and she couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed. All that was in front of Sara was Adam's body, and she kept repeating the process of restoring it to how it should be.
"Yeah. You're going to be okay now. Sara, you did a great job."
Hearing Rihito's voice, Sara stopped the flow of magic and returned to her usual calm state.
"Is Adam okay?"
"Yeah. He's safe now. But he needs to rest for a while."
"That's good..."
In front of her, Adam was quietly sleeping, looking pale but without any injuries. While she heard Alicia saying that his breathing and heartbeat were normal from a distance, Sara quietly let go of her consciousness.
* * *
Sara woke up in the middle of the night. More like, she regained her awareness.
Looking around, she realized she was in her own bed and remembered what she had been doing just before. Sitting up in bed, she noticed she was properly dressed in her nightgown. Maria must have helped her change.
"I fainted, didn't I?"
As she muttered to herself, fairies suddenly flew out from the air. Today, Pochi and Sedrick's familiars were all there, with cats, dogs, and leopards floating around the room in a fluffy mass.
"Wow, it's a fluff paradise! Come here!"
Then, Mike, who was bigger than usual, sat on Sara's lap and started wagging his tail and playing in front of Sedrick's familiars. Pochi, as always, was plump and floating around Sara's shoulders.
"Could it be that I didn't wake up for days?"
"Nope. It's only been about 2 hours since you collapsed. You woke up pretty quickly this time."
Mike nuzzled against Sara as he answered.
"Ah, that's good. It hasn't been that long."
"But during those 2 hours, the Young Marquis has been causing a big fuss, so you should probably go and stop him soon."
"What do you mean?"
Then, Sedrick, who looked like a big black panther, transformed into a human by Sara's bedside.
"I will explain."
"Okay. Please do."
"The Young Marquis heard that Sir Adam was attacked in the slums and, in his anger, shouted that he would eliminate the slums."
"What do you mean by eliminate?"
"He is furious and plans to capture all the people in the slums and exile them from the territory, destroying the crumbling buildings and shacks."
"If he does that, the people in the slums will freeze to death in the cold!"
"However, to be precise, the residents of the slums are not citizens of Grandchester. As the ruling family, they have the right to do this."
"That's terrible! If we don't stop this, something awful will happen."
Sara got out of bed, put on her indoor slippers, and draped a large shawl over her shoulders before leaving the room.
"Ed, don't say such reckless things. Not everyone living in the slums is a bad person."
As she left the room and went down the stairs, she heard Robert trying to calm Edward from downstairs. His voice was quite loud.
"If it had been Sara who was attacked, you would say the same thing."
"Even if Sara was attacked, that doesn't mean we should burn down the slums. It's already snowing. Do you plan to let many innocent people freeze to death?"
"Sara is stronger than a dragon. Rob would say that! Why hesitate? We are just getting rid of pests that have settled in Grandchester without permission."
"They are human beings. They might be struggling for reasons beyond their control, but they are still doing their best to live."
"Is their best effort really to hurt my son!? I don't like that you're protecting a boy from the slums with a fever. Why is Mr. Paracelsus treating someone like that? Plus, it's locked with magic, so I can't even get inside."
From the conversation Sara overheard, she understood the general situation. The absence of women's voices likely meant they were with Adam.
Sara quietly entered the library from the third floor and slowly walked down the stairs inside, calling out to them.
"Why are you shouting so loudly when the patient is resting? If you're going to talk, please be a bit calmer."
"You're right... I'm sorry. Is Sara okay now?"
Edward, who had been standing and shouting, relaxed at Sara's appearance and sat down on the sofa.
"Thank you for helping Adam, Sara."
"You're welcome."
Sara smiled at Edward.
"Is Adam in the guest room?"
"Yes. Right now, Liz and Revi are with him. We plan to move him to the main house tomorrow."
"I'm glad he's safe. But please don't shout so much. Adam needs to rest his body."
"But..."
Edward hesitated.
"I overheard you when you were coming down the stairs. Are you planning to clean out the slums?"
"Yes. I can't let those who did this to my son go free!"
Even though he had just stopped, Edward shouted loudly again.
"Please stop that!"
Suddenly, Adam stumbled out of the guest room. All his wounds were healed, but he must have been struggling to stand because he had lost so much blood. Elizabeth and Rebecca hurried after him from behind, supporting him on both sides, and pulled a nearby chair for him to sit down.
"Adam! You can't do this. You need to rest properly."
"I can't just lie down! Because of me, everyone in the slums might die!"
"Everyone in the slums?"
At that, Edward leaned forward.
"Why? Those people have taken over Grandchester territory without permission and don't pay taxes. They are not our subjects. Plus, they attacked the lord's family!"
"Father, the ones to blame are only those who used violence. The others have nothing to do with this. Please don't involve innocent people."
"But no one came to help you when you were hurt. If it weren't for Sara and the golem, by now..."
As Edward's voice trailed off, Robert patted him on the back.
"Father, in the slums, people don't have the luxury to care about others. If they get involved, they could be hurt too. Ignoring trouble is the rule of the slums."
Adam spoke calmly to Edward. Sara was surprised to hear the words "rule of the slums" come from Adam, but she still understood what he was trying to say.
"Uncle Edward, they didn't strip Adam of his clothes."
"What does that matter?"
"Since it's a secret, Adam's clothes are simple for a noble, but they are still high-quality. For those living in a life where they could freeze at any moment, Adam's clothes are very valuable. They could have taken them to make them their own or sold them for some coins to buy food."
"That's true."
"But they didn't do that. It was because Adam was still alive. If they had stripped Adam of his clothes while he was lying there injured in this season, he wouldn't have had any chance of survival. It was their minimum kindness, I guess. They were probably waiting for Adam to die so they wouldn't need the clothes anymore. Thanks to that, he managed to survive."
"That's a strange kind of kindness."
"People who have never struggled in life might not understand."
Sara suddenly lost her expression and remembered the last time she spent with Adelia before her memories returned.
"When you're hungry, it's just so cold. Even if you huddle together, the other person is cold too, so you can't really warm up. Even if you're wrapped in the same blanket, it feels like your fingers and toes are freezing. And then, right in front of you, a rich person wearing a warm-looking cloak collapses. The robbers probably took all the money, but he's wearing clothes so expensive that you could buy several loaves of bread with just one button. Yet, they didn't reach out to take anything."
Edward and Robert looked at Sara again.
"Sara, were you cold too?"
Edward quietly asked Sara.
"Yeah. I remember it was really cold. When Mom passed away, we were sleeping in the same bed. She stroked my hair and said, 'I love you, Sara,' and then she fell into a long sleep. Gradually, the warmth from her hand faded away. I thought that if I kept sleeping like this, I would become cold too. I hadn't regained my memories from my past life yet, so I couldn't do anything."
"I see... I'm sorry for being late to come for you..."
Then Adam frowned and spoke to Sara.
"I really think I did terrible things to you, Sara. I know that just saying sorry doesn't make it right, but I still want to say it. I was a coward and a terrible man. I'm really sorry. And thank you for helping me."
"Helping is just what people do, so don't worry about it. I don't think I'll ever forgive what happened in the past. But I hope you'll be as kind to me as you can."
Sara smiled brightly at Adam. Adam smiled back at her.
"I will. If I don't treat Sara kindly, I might get burned and my butt will be scorched."
Then Adam quietly looked up and spoke to Edward.
"Father, please don't interfere with the slums. I think there are many people there who were once like Sara, so I hope you can treat them with compassion. They don't choose to live in the slums. Of course, there are many bad people who brought it upon themselves, but most of the children are just poor kids who have lost or been abandoned by their parents!"
Sara watched Adam plead for mercy for others with a strange feeling.
'Who is this kid? This is clearly not the Adam I know.'
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