Road to Recovery
『Who"s this masked guy? He looks shady.』
『Can we really let a man like this see the king?』
The clan leaders were suspicious of Hikaru, and for good reason. No one could possibly simply trust someone wearing a black hood low over their eyes. He expected that, of course. Hikaru and the girls quickly entered the room. The soldiers standing guard tried to stop them in a hurry, but Grucel shook his head as though telling them to stop.
Doriachi, down on his bed, turned his face to Hikaru. There were bags under his eyes, but the light in them still burned bright. Yet when Hikaru came to his side, he could feel that the king already had one foot in the grave.
「Let"s get to it right away. Ready?」Hikaru asked Paula.
「Y-Yes!」she answered with a nervous tone.
「Give it all you"ve got.」Hikaru whispered in her ears.
She nodded.「O" G.o.d who art in heaven, in thy name I ask for a miracle. In thy right hand thou offer the gift of life, in thy left the blessing of death. Give us grace so we can survive. I offer thee my mana—」
It was a very basic spell to increase vitality, except Paula had a whopping eight points on Healing Magic.
Okay. Let"s see how effective it is.
Yellow light enveloped her body. Doriachi"s body glowed as well.
『Ah… I feel warmth in my body.』
『Your Majesty!』
The leaders stirred, but Hikaru was focused on something else. Paula"s expression was dark.
「I"m done casting the spell. But it feels like the root cause hasn"t been healed, like something"s hindering me.」
「Something"s hindering you, huh…」
Hikaru looked at Doriachi. The king was delighted about his body feeling so light. But going by Paula"s words, his recovery would most likely just be temporary.
He looks yellowish and thin… but his stomach is big?
Hikaru suddenly remembered what Duinkler said to him.
One cup enough to make me feel good.
「Duinkler, I have a question.」Hikaru said.「How do you produce alcohol? Distillation or fermentation?」
「Distill…? There is other method, besides ferment?」
Suddenly everything made sense.
「Forget that, Silver Face. Thank you for healing His Majesty. He says to give reward.」
「No, we"re not done yet.」
「What?」
「Show his belly right now. We need to cut it open.」
『Duinkler! You"re saying to trust this man who doesn"t even show his face?! Cutting His Majesty"s belly open and surgically removing it is no joke!』
『Indeed. His condition is already better thanks to the Healing magic. How can he not be healed when the magic clearly worked? Hmm?』
The leaders were having a heated argument in the next room. It was Hikaru"s words that triggered it all, of course.
『Silver Face says he might be fine now, but his condition will deteriorate later on. If the root of his illness has not been cured, then it"s our job as his va.s.sals to fix that.』
『Is this Silver Face guy a doctor?』
『No. He says he"s an adventurer.』
『His Majesty"s attending physician diagnosed him as having Yellow Belly disease. It can only be healed naturally, so as long as he has the stamina, he"ll recover on his own. In other words, this is more than enough.』
Hikaru and the girls watched the scene from a seat in the corner.
「These snacks and dried fruits are quite good.」Lavia said.「They"re sweet, so there"s no need to put sugar in the tea.」
「Do they manufacture sugar? Sounds difficult with how small the population is.」Hikaru replied.
「I think they can. They seemed to have optimized manufacturing.」
「I doubt they can handle production of luxury items like sugar and tobacco.」
「Y-You two are too calm!」Paula cut in.「How can you be so relaxed?!」
「Well, they"re the ones who"ll make the decision. There was nothing wrong with your magic. No need to feel so down.」
「I"m fine…」
Deena appeared. It looked like Grucel called for her.
「Lord Silver Face, the leaders want to know more. Can you talk to them?」
Duinkler and Grucel couldn"t explain well what Hikaru said as they only had basic knowledge of the language.
「Fine. Oh, just so you know, Doriachi is not exactly sick. It"s not caused by a virus. A part of his body is not functioning well.」
Deena explained what Hikaru said to the leaders. It looked like they understood, but at the same time, didn"t.
「Going by his symptoms and this place"s diet, Doriachi most likely has cirrhosis of the liver.」
The people here produced alcohol using a primitive method: fermentation, resulting in lower alcohol content. Yet Duinkler said one cup was enough to make him drunk. They were extremely weak to alcohol. Hikaru could then guess that their livers" ability to break down alcohol was feeble.
Furthermore, the city was located near the sea, which meant they used salt a lot in their diet. Eating salty food and drinking alcohol would be more than enough to cause cirrhosis.
『H-His Majesty indeed loves alcohol…』one leader muttered.
Deena translated for both parties.
「Cirrhosis means the cells are dying. Which is why Healing magic can"t cure him. The only option is to cut his belly open and removed the dead part of his liver.」
『It"s not that easy! How can he even live if we cut his organs?!』
「He"ll be fine as long as we finish it quickly. Thirty minutes… No, ten minutes shouldn"t be a problem. Healing magic is extremely effective against wounds. With her power, growing back a severed arm is easy. All we have to do is remove the dead tissues and regenerate them back from the remaining ones.」
『That"s impossible!』
「But it is.」
『Then show us. I"ll cut your arm off myself!』
One man was fuming with rage, while Hikaru showed no concern at all.
「Why should I get hurt? If you don"t trust me, then so be it. I don"t care. You"re free to watch Doriachi as his health declines.」
「See?! He"s not even sure it"ll work! Yet he dares suggest to hurt His Majesty! Arrest this crook!」
The soldiers moved.
『Stop.』Duinkler intervened.
The perilous atmosphere remained. Hikaru was relaxed as usual, however, nibbling on dried fruits. Lavia was sipping on her tea, and Paula was freaking out.
『Calm down, everyone. Such disgraceful behavior in front of our guests who came from a distant land is unacceptable.』
Doriachi entered the room. He was walking on his own two feet, supported by soldiers on both sides.
『Y-Your Majesty! You can walk?!』
The leaders swarmed the King. Hikaru could see genuine concern in their eyes.
『Yes. It"s been a while since I"ve felt this good. This all thanks to that man. I didn"t know magic was this incredible.』
Doriachi was smiling, but Hikaru knew with his Mana Detection. The man was outside all this time, listening to the conversation in the room and waited for the perfect timing to enter. Clever guy, Hikaru thought. He liked people like him.
『I know the risks. I will overcome this illness using Silver Face"s suggestion.』
『What?!』
『Are you serious, Your Majesty?! It"s not guaranteed to be safe!』
『Silver Face says he"ll fix me. There"s no other option. I can"t die just yet.』
『Your Majesty…』
『Rather than clinging to what little life I have left, I want to take my chances with magic.』
All the leaders, except one, kneeled down as though struck by the King"s majesty—no, his resolve. Grucel remained standing, however.
『Grucel?』
『Your Majesty, I will ascertain the procedure"s safety.』
The commander drew the sword from his waist.
『Silver Face. You said you can grow back a severed arm.』
「Yeah.」
『Then show it to me.』
Grucel swung his sword down on his left arm. He specialized more in spears rather than swords, but still twelve points on Strength was no joke. As the blade sank just above his elbow, his arm was cut clean off.