Ch.254[Chapter 254] Peaceful Daily Life

Sir Dominic left the tax office in a hurry, sweating profusely.

Of course, he was carrying a paper bag containing the 5L fabric softener he had received as a gift.

As soon as Sir Dominic stepped outside, he looked at both of his palms.

Something felt strange.

Once or twice might be coincidence, but constant danger signals from his body meant something was wrong.

Sir Dominic immediately took out his phone and searched for the symptoms he was experiencing.

[My body feels chilly and trembles. I can’t sleep because of this sensation that keeps crawling up my spine—I don’t know if it’s a chill or creepiness. How can I get better? Offering 10 mana.]

[Mana nom nom.]

[Go to the hospital. (This answer was selected by the author.)]

“Hospital?”

Sir Dominic stared blankly at the answer on the screen.

Right. Hospitals exist.

Sir Dominic had forgotten something quite obvious.

He was familiar with the concept of hospitals.

Knights were valuable personnel.

In some novels he’d read in Gacharland, knights were treated as disposable cannon fodder, but as Feralant’s famous poet Rankel said, “A knight is like an hourglass as massive as his build. The cost required to become a knight, the time it takes to complete training, and their eventual disappearance—both are similar in these ways.” Each knight was valued like their weight in silver.

Because knights were so valuable, doctors were always hired to accompany them on battlefields to prevent death or injury-related complications.

Of course, Sir Dominic was thinking of field hospitals, but he at least understood the concept of hospitals.

“A hospital, huh.”

Sir Dominic opened his map app to search for nearby hospitals.

While Sir Dominic had the mental fortitude to endure pain and overcome adversity, there was no need to suffer through something that might be an illness.

…

After passing by pediatrics, orthopedics, and plastic surgery, Sir Dominic finally found a psychiatric hospital that seemed somewhat relevant to his situation.

True to its name, the psychiatric hospital was filled with all sorts of people. Since Gacharland typically overlooked moderate mental abnormalities as personality quirks or traits, the people here were truly the most deranged individuals in Gacharland.

“I like sleeping socks.”

“Ah, yes. They’re warm, aren’t they?”

“Warm…? I never thought about heating sleeping socks before eating them.”

“…?”

“That’s seriously… sigh. Never mind.”

“Hey, don’t give up.”

“I’m sorry about that. This person is a patient who thinks they’re a doctor.”

“Nurse. Is it time for food yet?”

“Now, when I count to three, your mind will return to normal. One, two, three!”

“My goodness! Why are you swinging that liquor bottle?!”

Sir Dominic passed through this chaotic lobby and headed to the counter.

“Welcome to Nouvelle Vague Psychiatry. If you’re looking to secure, isolate, or protect a patient, there’s a mental hospital one block away. Please inquire there. We’re already full here.”

The nurse at the counter spoke with a drooping voice, apparently exhausted from caring for patients.

“I’m here for a consultation.”

“…?”

When Sir Dominic said he had come for a consultation, the nurse’s eyes suddenly widened.

Her already pale, glowing face became even paler, almost transparent.

“Um, just a moment. Could you repeat that?”

“I’ve developed a problem and came for a consultation.”

Sir Dominic repeated his purpose, thinking the nurse hadn’t heard him properly.

Suddenly, the nurse burst into tears.

“Why, why are you crying?”

Sir Dominic was at a loss, watching the nurse cry like a waterfall.

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just… it’s been so long since someone spoke normally…”

The nurse was deeply moved by the appearance of someone who could “communicate normally.”

She said Sir Dominic was the first person to speak to her properly in her ten years working there.

“I don’t understand. Surely you converse with others after work.”

“Well, I’m a ghost. A bound ghost, actually.”

The nurse approached Sir Dominic, passing through the desk.

Her body, overlapping with the desk, was semi-transparent. Sir Dominic thought it was due to the lighting, but she was actually a ghost.

“I can’t leave this place. I don’t know anyone, so I work here on the condition that the doctor offers memorial services for me.”

The ghost nurse dejectedly went back inside the desk.

“Anyway, you said you came for a consultation? Please wait a moment. We happen to be free right now.”

After saying this, the ghost nurse passed through the wall behind the desk, showing only her lower half as she shouted something to those inside.

The sounds of a man and woman raising their voices could be heard from inside, and then the ghost nurse returned to Sir Dominic with a bright smile, saying his appointment was registered.

“There. Just go into that room over there. Enter the corridor and it’s the first room. There’s a nameplate that says Dr. Nouvelle Vague, so it should be easy to find.”

Sir Dominic nodded at the ghost nurse’s instructions and walked toward the indicated location.

After confirming the nameplate that read Dr. Nouvelle Vague, Sir Dominic knocked twice, and a deep male voice responded from inside.

“Come in.”

Sir Dominic carefully opened the door and entered.

Inside was an elegant desk and chair, a computer for writing diagnoses, and various decorations. The bookshelf behind the chair contained intimidating-looking books with titles like “Attachment in Psychotherapy,” “Child Psychology,” and “Social Psychology.”

“Are you customer Sir Dominic?”

Amid this scenery sat a hairy giant who looked more like a sailor than a doctor.

That must be Dr. Nouvelle Vague.

Thinking this, Sir Dominic nodded.

“I am.”

“What brings you- no, wait. Look at me. Please, have a seat here first.”

Dr. Nouvelle Vague gestured for Sir Dominic to sit in the chair in front of the desk.

Sir Dominic sat down silently.

“Now, let me ask again. What brings you here?”

“Well-“

Sir Dominic explained that his body was suddenly sending danger signals.

At random times, completely unrelated to any actual danger.

After hearing this, Dr. Nouvelle Vague asked several questions.

“When did this start?”

“Yesterday.”

“How exactly do these danger signals manifest? Is it just a cool sensation? Or does your body physically react?”

“Both.”

“I see. Have you been working or moving excessively recently?”

“…”

Sir Dominic shrugged at Nouvelle Vague’s question.

While he didn’t feel particularly tired, it was true that he had been moving around a lot due to one incident after another.

“Good. Not much more to go. Now, when did you last sleep?”

“I fell asleep early yesterday because I was tired.”

“For how long?”

“About 8 hours.”

“How much do you usually sleep, and when?”

“Around dawn, for two to three hours. Four hours at most.”

Dr. Nouvelle Vague fell silent at Sir Dominic’s answer.

The only sound in the room was Nouvelle Vague typing his diagnosis into the computer.

After writing for a moment, Nouvelle Vague sighed deeply and then said to Sir Dominic:

“I believe I’ve found the cause of your condition, though I’m being cautious.”

Nouvelle Vague placed his hairy arms on the desk, interlocked his fingers, and looked at Sir Dominic over them.

“You’re sleep-deprived.”

“Sleep-deprived?”

Sir Dominic questioned Nouvelle Vague’s statement.

“But in Gacharland, we don’t need to sleep. Though I do sleep out of habit—”

“That may be true for your physical body.”

Nouvelle Vague interrupted as Sir Dominic tried to explain.

“Let me ask one more question. You’re from outside, aren’t you?”

Sir Dominic considered the meaning behind Nouvelle Vague’s words and nodded.

He had come to Gacharland from Feralant.

“I thought so. This condition commonly appears in people who come from outside.”

Nouvelle Vague looked directly into Sir Dominic’s eyes.

It was a silent question asking if he could continue.

Sir Dominic nodded and gestured for him to proceed.

“Very well. While it’s true that sleep isn’t necessary in Gacharland, those who aren’t native to Gacharland can’t completely eliminate that need. This is because sleep is both a defense mechanism and a recovery mechanism.”

“Defense and recovery.”

Sir Dominic mulled over Nouvelle Vague’s words.

“To put it simply, it’s like when you pay 100G at an inn and all your health and mana are restored. To explain it more complexly, when you’re mentally exhausted, the disconnect between body and mind—”

Nouvelle Vague mixed in difficult terminology while claiming to explain things simply, but Sir Dominic couldn’t understand a word of it.