MHHC Chapter 123

What Must Be Done

At the sound of someone calling from behind, Adelheid stopped where she stood.

When she turned, she saw it was one of the soldiers who had been gathered in front of the tent.

Adelheid wanted nothing more than to escape the curiosity-laden stares as quickly as possible, but she asked as calmly as she could manage, "Is something wrong?"

"Actually..."

He scratched the back of his head a few times with an embarrassed air, then abruptly thrust his forearm toward her.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you take a look at my wound first?"

"Your wound? So suddenly?"

When Adelheid glanced at Klaus in confusion, he explained with a somewhat mortified expression.

"...Sir Ian's stubbornness isn't easy to break. That's why he's doing this. If you show them treating a simple wound, that fool will believe it too."

"Ah, I see."

"If you don't want to, you don't have to do it. These bastards should be grateful just for you looking at them. Their bellies are so swollen with arrogance."

As Klaus's fierce criticism landed with his gaze, the knight's face flushed with embarrassment. Adelheid thought the knight would quickly feel awkward and leave. However, he didn't yield and brazenly thrust his forearm toward Adelheid once again.

"It's not a particularly serious wound, but I was scratched by an unfamiliar monster's claws. I'm worried it might get infected."

"Let me take a closer look first to see if I can treat it."

She carefully unwound the bandage wrapped around the knight's arm and examined the wound.

The wound itself wasn't deep, but it seemed bleeding had been difficult to stop—dried blood and pus were tangled together in a mess.

"When did you receive this wound?"

"Yesterday evening. I was chasing a fleeing monster and let my guard down..."

"First, I think we need to clean the wound thoroughly. I'll need hot water and cloth."

At Adelheid's command, Margaret hurriedly poured hot water from the kettle into a basin.

Adelheid took the hot cloth Margaret handed her and carefully wiped away the wound, taking care not to aggravate the infection.

The book had always stressed removing any previous medicinal residue completely before applying new treatment.

Adelheid examined the cleaned wound from various angles with meticulous eyes.

"Fortunately, as you said, the wound isn't deep."

To the eye, no bone was visible, nor did the muscle appear damaged. It looked a bit gruesome, but it was no different from being scratched by a somewhat large cat.

The only slightly dangerous aspect was that the blood didn't clot easily, but even that was better than other serious injuries.

"If it's this much, healing magic should cure it quickly."

"..."

"Of course, if you're uncomfortable with that... there's also the method of using herbs to draw out the poison and letting it heal naturally."

From the moment healing magic was mentioned, the knight had tensed his body as if bracing himself. Now he looked down at his wound with troubled eyes.

Finally, he spoke with a resolute expression.

"H-healing magic, please."

As if those words meant anything at all.

His bearing was as solemn as if he'd been ordered to drink poison. Adelheid tried to calm her own unsettled feelings and grasped the knight's arm so it faced upward.

"Ah... before that, could someone bring a chair? There's a possibility of fainting while receiving healing magic."

"F-fainting?"

The knight's eyes went round as he asked.

"Um..."

Adelheid bit her lip lightly at the difficult question.

She couldn't very well explain outright that magic and sacred power were conflicting forces, and that exposure to each other's power could cause fainting.

Though she had the feeling she'd grown closer to 'authority' now, she couldn't be certain of anything.

If he fainted while being treated standing up, he might suffer an even worse injury. After deliberating, Adelheid offered a reasonably plausible excuse.

"Sometimes people who are sensitive to pain react that way. Still, if you're frightened..."

"Frightened? Not at all."

The knight seemed skeptical, but caught by her not-quite-provocation, he eventually gave permission.

"You may proceed."

"It won't take very long."

Several knights who had been eavesdropping nearby tactfully fetched a chair and table.

Once they'd set up near the bonfire with hot water and basin arranged on the table, it became a fairly decent makeshift clinic.

"I'll begin now."

After taking a deep breath, Adelheid spoke with bright eyes. The knight nodded with a thoroughly tense face and extended his arm to her.

Adelheid slowly called forth the energy within her body.

When she'd treated Greta and Margaret, she'd been too frantic to notice, but now she felt it—this power imbued with the will to heal radiated warmth, gentle and mild.

"..."

Adelheid drew up the energy until an appropriate amount of light gathered in her palm.

Before, creating even one sphere of light had been difficult, but now she could easily produce twenty.

She carefully covered the wound with her palm, taking care not to let the light dissipate.

The brilliant glow intensified slightly, then sank into the skin and instantly knit the torn flesh back together.

"Oh..."

The knight let out an exclamation that might have been surprise or admiration.

He seemed somewhat dazed, but far from losing consciousness, he looked perfectly alert.

Adelheid slowly withdrew her hand from his arm. The knight turned his arm this way and that with wonderstruck eyes.

"This is... it actually worked..."

He kept letting out hollow laughs as he alternated between looking at Adelheid and his arm. The idea that the wound had vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye seemed beyond belief.

"Are you all right now?"

"Yes, of course, yes... The throbbing pain that had been bothering me constantly. It's truly disappeared as if washed clean. Thank you."

Only then did Adelheid relax and smile faintly.

Seeing the knight's overjoyed reaction, she felt a deep satisfaction at having accomplished this herself.

Truth be told, treating Greta and Margaret had been closer to superhuman strength summoned under desperate circumstances.

Whether she could treat someone in ordinary circumstances had been uncertain. It would be a lie to say she hadn't been anxious or worried. But now, she could say with confidence to anyone:

"I'm glad if even I could be of help. If you experience pain later, please come find me anytime."

"Please don't say such things. You've been tremendously helpful. No... how can it heal so completely in an instant, as if I'd never been injured at all? I thought I wouldn't be able to use this arm for at least a month."

The knight was now half overcome with emotion, launching into elaborate praise.

Well, wounds inflicted by monsters typically took a long time to heal completely. Even if not life-threatening, the constant need to change medicine and bandages would have been bothersome and tedious.

Yet seeking out a healer for such a minor wound would have seemed excessive.

They were the sort who demanded a gold coin even for the simplest treatment.

"Your skill is truly far better than I vaguely imagined. For me to receive such treatment without compensation..."

The knight muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck with embarrassment, perhaps recalling his initial wariness. That was the moment. Other knights who had been quietly gathering suddenly rushed forward, one after another demanding to show their arms.

"Let me see."

"Good God. There's not a trace left? Was it the other arm that was injured, not this one?"

"It definitely smelled foul until just now! Look, now it even seems fragrant?"

"Maybe it's your nose that's broken?"

Adelheid looked with bewildered eyes at the knights swarming around her. The atmosphere still wasn't entirely friendly, but neither was it the indiscriminate hostility of moments before.

Every single pair of eyes was gleaming—not with hostility, but rather...

"If you wouldn't mind, could you look at my wound as well?"

These were the eyes of predators who'd discovered something exceedingly useful. They were cunningly thorough, even subtly blocking her escape route so she couldn't easily slip away.

When Adelheid found herself pushed into nodding, the other knights immediately complained of their ailments.

"I have a terribly painful boil on the sole of my foot."

"Don't show Your Grace your filthy boil! My ankle is in severe pain."

"I have a wound on my back! I haven't been able to lie down properly for a month."

"Stop pushing!"

People kept swarming endlessly. It didn't take long for initially skeptical looks to transform into admiration.

From that point on, it seemed every single Ansgarian began complaining of pain.

She could no longer count how many people she'd used healing magic on—keeping track had become overwhelming.

Adelheid gauged the total amount of magic remaining within her and staggered to her feet.

"Are you all right?"

Margaret, who had been anxiously waiting for this to end, quickly supported her arm. Adelheid barely found her balance and addressed the crowd.

"That's all for today. For those who didn't receive treatment, I'll continue tomorrow."

Dripping with sweat, she returned to the carriage utterly exhausted and collapsed. Without even the strength to change clothes, she fell unconscious into sleep.