episode_0111

As night fell, the doctor from Teildon arrived.

As soon as he saw my condition, he frowned.

“This will be tough.”

First, he washed the wound with clean water. Then, he finished a simple treatment using medicine and bandages.

Next, he performed various checks, such as lifting my arm, taking my pulse, and flipping my eyelids.

“I don’t understand.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… it’s as if he’s alive, yet there’s no response, like a dead person.”

At Uncle Marvin’s question, the doctor stroked his chin.

“If the royal physician-nim were here like last time, it might be different, but this case is too peculiar for me to know.”

“Isn’t it perhaps the same? Didn’t you treat him by putting him into a deep sleep when he was badly injured by a bear?”

“Yes. It feels similar. However, that healing art was administered to someone whose ‘life was still clinging on.’ Now, it’s not even clear if he’s alive… and because it’s only handled by the royal medical institute, an ordinary doctor like me doesn’t know the method.”

“Th-then, couldn’t you call that royal physician-nim?”

“Hmm…”

The doctor replied with a troubled expression.

“I’ve heard that the political situation in Deseo is quite chaotic right now, so it would be difficult for a letter to reach there. Besides, I was in the middle of examining soldiers when I received the Lord’s command to come here…”

Thud.

Suddenly, Uncle Marvin knelt.

And he grabbed the doctor’s hand and pleaded.

“Isn’t there any way, Doctor-nim! Please, I beg you! Ritsu is a child our village cannot do without! If it’s money, I’ll even empty the village safe, so please…”

“…Ahem.”

He had been saying repeatedly that there was no way and he was troubled, but it seemed he wouldn’t be let go if he didn’t grant the request right here and now.

In the end, the doctor from Teildon was forced to promise.

“All right. First, I have some medical books left behind by the royal physician-nim, so I will research and investigate them to see if there’s anything helpful. However… there’s a problem: we need to buy time for that.”

“We’ll do whatever we can.”

“No, no. It’s not such a simple problem.”

The doctor said, looking at my body.

“You’ll need an assistant to make the medicine and oversee the nursing care. Is there anyone here who has done similar work or knows how to read?”

“In our village, Ritsu handled everything, but…”

As he said that, Uncle Marvin recalled something.

“…There is. There’s one more child who knows how to read.”

“Good. Could you call them for a moment?”

“Please wait.”

A moment later, Tia was brought in.

She was literally ‘dragged in’.

Her expression was dark, and seeing the scratches on her shoulders and arms, I could easily guess she hadn’t come willingly.

Uncle Marvin held Tia’s arm tightly and spoke.

“Teacher-nim. This child knows how to read.”

“Understood. Then I’ll speak with the child for a moment.”

“Eh? Can’t I be here?”

To the bewildered doctor, Uncle Marvin said in a cold voice.

“Because she causes a lot of trouble. The fact that Ritsu ended up like this twice is all because of her.”

“…”

Did he really have to say such a thing to the doctor?

Tia must have been the one with the most heartache, more than anyone else.

But Tia had her head bowed, so I couldn’t see her face.

Her disheveled hair hung down, and her appearance was desolate.

“Come closer, child.”

At the doctor’s gesture, Tia approached him.

While Uncle Marvin watched from behind, the doctor told Tia what she needed to do.

“Do you know what Enbus is?”

“…Yes.”

“Then it will be easy to understand. I also learned a bit by observing the royal physician-nim, so I know the principles.”

Tia received the book.

“Here, the recipe for a medicine that slows the body is written. Make the medicine as it’s written here and keep feeding it to him. Five times a day, consistently. You must steadily warm his body so it doesn’t get cold. You must continue without rest until I find a solution. Understood?”

“Yes.”

Then the doctor asked Uncle Marvin.

“Please help this child make the medicine. Cooperation is needed.”

He had a reluctant expression, but he nodded, saying he understood.

Screech-. Clank!

And so, Tia entered the dispensary again.

Her expression was dark, but her determination remained.

Just like when she resolved to save me and left Breezedon.

She opened the book without hesitation, read it carefully, and then extracted the recipe.

Since she already had experience making medicine, Tia’s skill was flawless.

She skillfully selected the ingredients and prepared the manufacturing equipment.

It was almost as good as mine now.

Although she received the book from the doctor and produced the medicine straight away, in less than a day.

There was always someone watching Tia’s back.

“…”

The villagers always visited the dispensary one by one to watch what Tia was doing.

It was Uncle Marvin’s instruction.

She made medicine all day long, and if she tried to catch her breath for a moment, a discreet cough would immediately be heard.

Even when she asked for more ingredients for the medicine, saying they were insufficient, she had to undergo inspections multiple times.

The villagers didn’t really trust Tia’s words.

Even when Tia showed them the text in the book and explained, ‘It’s written like this here,’ the people, not knowing how to read, couldn’t understand.

Despite such unfair circumstances, Tia did not falter.

“It’s my fault… It’s because of me…”

She muttered this to herself as if casting a spell, and threw herself into the work frantically.

Tia fed me medicine, and nursed me without leaving my side.

She didn’t even go near Fosao’s general store, where she used to visit occasionally.

Tia truly tried her best to care for me, to the extent that I, watching this memory’s illusion, felt sorry for her.

But that didn’t last long either.

Was it after two days?

Marvin came to the dispensary.

“You. Are you organizing the warehouse?”

“…What?”

“‘What?’ What do you mean? Does that mean you’ve left the warehouse untouched until now?”

“But I have to make medicine…”

“Is that all?”

Looking down at Tia, who was slowly raising her head, Marvin asked again.

“I asked if that was all.”

“…No. B-but I… when will I make the medicine for Ritsu then?”

“You have to make the medicine too.”

“But how am I supposed to make medicine and organize the warehouse at the same time…?”

“That’s for you to figure out.”

Marvin warned her in a harsh voice.

“Remember. Fulfilling your responsibilities. That is your duty.”

“…”

From that day on, ‘sleep’ was not allowed for Tia.

From morning until evening. She sat in the dispensary’s shed and made medicine.

As soon as she finished a brief meal, she went into the warehouse without any rest.

And she had to organize the items in the warehouse until deep into the night.

The villagers patrolled, checking if Tia was working properly.

Because of this, she had no time to close her eyes for even a moment, and had to show herself working, shivering in the cold of the winter night.

Her appearance was no different from that of a slave.

What would happen if Tia were left alone in Breezedon without me… I could easily imagine.

It was ‘I’ who had been protecting her.

Even if everyone had complaints about Tia, they hadn’t dared to touch her, unsure of how I would react.

However, with that restraint gone, people had nothing more to fear.

They called Tia the most terrible disaster of the village and slowly tried to wither her to death.

Yes.

This was… tantamount to ‘murder’.

Very quietly. An act of murder that slowly choked the breath out of her.

Like a pillar slowly rotting from the inside, appearing fine on the surface, they couldn’t imagine that a great disaster would soon strike.

Breezedon was slowly collapsing like that.

Shatter!

On the third day.

Tia, who hadn’t slept a wink, dozed off and broke a glass bottle.

Marvin, who was sitting in the dispensary, watching, burst into the shed.

“What?!”

“Oh… I… I’m sorry…”

She tried to hurriedly pick up the glass shards scattered on the floor, but she still couldn’t keep her balance and swayed.

Marvin sighed.

“Are you tired?”

“…”

“You seem very tired from making medicine and organizing the warehouse.”

Tia lifted her hollow eyes. A slight glimmer of hope appeared in her red pupils.

Honestly, I thought Uncle Marvin would tell her to ‘rest a little’ there.

Tia looked as if she wasn’t in her right mind.

But the words that came from his mouth were completely different.

“Then make the medicine in the warehouse. You can do two things at once, why are you being so foolish?”

“…”

He didn’t try to understand at all.

At the same time, this was proof of his thorough ignorance of the work Tia and I had been doing.

Why does a dispensary exist?

It’s not simply because medicinal ingredients are gathered there.

Nor is it because those who make medicine are eccentric and prefer quiet spaces.

It’s because handling medicine… is the most dangerous.

You must always keep a fire lit. You must raise the heat until the cauldron boils over. If you follow an incorrect formula, it can instantly become so toxic it can take a person’s life, and in severe cases, the entire dispensary could explode and be blown away.

That’s why only skilled individuals guard this place.

One must be able to read books to follow safe formulas.

Entry to the dispensary must be strictly forbidden, as an ignorant person wandering in could easily lead to a major accident.

It requires such caution that medicine is made only in the ‘dispensary’.

To tell her to make medicine in the warehouse.

Such a statement came out because he knew nothing at all about the work I did.

Tia seemed to know it was dangerous, but she no longer had the courage to object.

“Understood…”

She began to take out the heavy distiller from the dispensary and move it to the warehouse.

Naturally, Tia had to do that arduous work all by herself.

She barely managed to clear a space in a corner of the warehouse, which was filled with goods, and set up the distiller.

She diligently made medicine, trembling.

In the cramped space, she lit a fire, carefully prepared and dissolved the medicinal ingredients, working with utmost caution.

But the winter warehouse was incredibly cold.

Tia, warming herself by the fire in front of the distiller, suddenly found her head nodding off.

“…Hah.”

She was alert for only a moment.

Unable to shake off two days of accumulated fatigue, she ended up resting her head against the pile of firewood.

So that’s what happened.

That was it.

Bubbling-.

Even though the distiller was shaking as if it would explode right in front of her.

Tia, lost in sleep, couldn’t wake up.

Hiss-!

Steam leaked out, bursting through the stopper, and the back-flowing liquid entered the fire.

Whoosh!

The fire raged fiercely. When the fire spread to the pile of firewood Tia was leaning on.

Tia slowly opened her eyes at the sudden rush of heat.

“…Huh?”

Woosh-!

The fire had already spread in all directions.

Swallowing everything, a mass of red flames instantly engulfed the warehouse ceiling.

“Ah…”

Just before she was consumed by the inferno.

Tia barely managed to run out of the warehouse.

“No…”

Like a giant bonfire, a vivid red light emanated.

As thick smoke settled over Breezedon, people screamed and came out.

The flames, carried by the wind, burned all the cultivated fields.

Tia, watching the scene, could do nothing.