chapter 5
5 – The Injury of the Brave Daisy
I open my eyes wide and inspect the hygiene of the castle as I walk around.
“Becky!”
“Good morning, bath master!”
“Have you washed your hands?”
“Wash my hands? Umm… I’ll do it later!”
“Tsk! Can’t you do it right away? Do you want to catch a disease?”
“Tsk.”
Washing hands fifty times a day!
If you forget, you’ll never do it again.
Becky grumbled as she headed to the well.
I felt satisfied watching the other maids washing their hands diligently, especially those in the kitchen.
“Let’s do it properly while we’re at it!”
I might not be a good doctor, but I can certainly take care of the Earl of Roland like a nurse.
I’ve grown fond of the earl over time, almost like family now!
But sometimes, I do things to keep up appearances…
As soon as I got up, Miss Catherine followed me with a smile, exuding an aura like an inspector coming out of a health center.
“Hehe, Kim Cheol-soo. What treatment are you going to give?”
She asked as if on a leisurely stroll, but giving the wrong answer to Miss Catherine might lead to crossing a line.
Who knows, Miss Catherine might say to Earl Roland, “Kim Cheol-soo is a complete scoundrel!”
I shuddered at the thought of my head rolling in front of me like an adult’s punishment.
“Ugh… Prevention is important even if there are no patients. I’ll be checking the hygiene of the castle.”
“Hmm~ Like washing hands or taking a bath?”
“Exactly, Miss.”
Nodding repeatedly, Miss Catherine followed me.
Doesn’t she have a lot to do?
“Um… Miss, don’t you study etiquette or something like that?”
“Etiquette? I left that behind when I was young~”
“Is that so…”
“Yes! I’m done with etiquette. The only thing left for me is going to the temple for prayers, you know? Our earl comes from a family of priests.”
“And those prayers…”
“I pray at dawn and come back relaxed~ Don’t worry.”
Damn it.
My plan to send Miss Catherine elsewhere has fallen apart.
Honestly, my heart flutters at the thought of the kiss she planted on my cheek earlier. It makes my heart feel unsure and restless.
Although I worked as a nurse at a women’s hospital, I can count the number of times I’ve been in a relationship on one hand.
I was a male nurse with a pure soul!
So, the feeling of being with a female coworker and her kiss made my restless heart feel even more burdened with overwhelming pressure.
I felt like I would lose my mind if things continued like this, so I checked the hygiene conditions of the hospital more diligently.
“Wash your hands and get to work!”
Emma, my supervisor, acknowledged me with a serious expression, impressed by my passionate attitude.
“Indeed, Kim Chul-Soo, no matter what task you’re given, you always fulfill your responsibilities. You might be the only talented person like Kim Chul-Soo in the entire hospital.”
Although Emma murmured quietly, her words reached my ears.
“Why is even Emma acting like this?”
I wanted a job that was easy and enjoyable.
* * * *
A party of five is rushing through the forest path.
One female inspector was supporting her colleagues while blood flowed profusely from her leg.
“Sigh, huff!”
“Damn it! Daisy’s complexion doesn’t look good at all! We need to stop the bleeding, amputate the leg, and cauterize it with fire!”
“Ugh… Matteo! Never, never amputate my leg. You know… a warrior without a leg is as good as dead!”
The woman with blonde hair, known as Daisy, was a superhuman known as a “warrior.”
She protected people from monsters and aimed to defeat the Demon King!
As they constantly fought against monsters, they often sustained injuries. However, Daisy’s leg injury was particularly severe this time.
“I let my guard down… I didn’t expect the Giant Mantis to extend its thorns so quickly.”
“Ugh, Daisy, are you okay? I neutralized the venom with my divine power. But your leg…”
Lara, a priestess, disinfected Daisy’s leg with her divine power, but she couldn’t stitch it up.
The wound on Daisy’s leg was too deep to be sutured!
Even when they wrapped Daisy’s leg with bandages, the bleeding didn’t stop, as if the thorns had pierced her blood vessels.
Daisy bit her lower lip and sensed her own end.
Many inspectors lose their warrior status due to injuries.
Daisy would probably follow their fate.
But her colleagues didn’t give up.
“There’s a nearby Count Roland’s mansion! Maybe we’ll find a solution there!”
Magician Matteo, who argued for amputation, proposed an alternative.
Matteo didn’t want to see Daisy, whom he had known for a long time, in such a state.
“…Thank you.”
Daisy thought she couldn’t fix her leg, but she was grateful to her colleagues who cared about her.
In this era, it’s common to infuse divine power into the injured area.
If that doesn’t work, they apply herbal remedies.
And if that still doesn’t work, they try all sorts of strange folk remedies and surgeries, but by this point, there’s no solution.
Daisy and her colleagues were well aware of this reality, so deep down, they had already given up.
Phoosh! Phoosh!!
The wizard Matteo launched a magical flare into the sky.
This was a signal meaning “The hero is coming!”
If the Count of Roland saw this flare, he would know that the heroes were on their way.
◈
Rumors spread that heroes were coming to the Count of Roland.
People had been spreading the word after seeing Matteo’s flare.
The Count of Roland ordered preparations for a festival, and the villagers bustled about, bringing out barrels of ale and cleaning empty houses.
It was a festival to welcome the heroes.
“Think of the heroes as wandering knights. Specially selected top-notch knights to slay demons! Truly remarkable individuals.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Kim Cheol-soo was amazed at Miss Catherine’s explanation.
He never imagined that heroes, like those who popped up as fixed guest characters in fantasy novels, actually existed here.
Kim Cheol-soo had never seen a hero before, of course.
“Isn’t it not much different from what comes out in novels?”
Well, maybe I shouldn’t think about UNICEF’s work done without compensation.
I heard heroes defeat monsters without asking for anything in return.
“But still, when heroes come, we must provide them with food and a place to rest implicitly. Well, it’s just basic courtesy, right?”
“That’s true too.”
If you don’t offer meals and a place to sleep for free to those risking their lives to rid the world of monsters, you’re no better than a beast in human form.
Kim Cheol-soo nodded and pointed at himself.
“What should I do?”
Since he had become the exclusive healer of a fiefdom, should he hang up a welcoming banner for the heroes coming?
Kim Cheol-soo was in a dilemma.
“Heroes are very strong people, so what can a healer like Cheol-soo do?”
Since the signal flare that the hero party set off didn’t mean “Daisy’s leg wound is urgent,” Catherine didn’t know that the hero party was injured.
Snap!
Kim Cheol-soo felt relieved at the news that there was nothing to prepare.
The key figures of the Count of Roland gathered as if welcoming a president.
Count Roland, Lady Helen, Priest James of the Temple, Miss Emma, the Knight Commander LeVay, and so on.
The gathering in front of the castle gate was to welcome the heroes.
Honestly, Kim Cheol-soo thought it was an excessive welcome, but the followers of the main god Ur were all proactive in showing kindness to others without hesitation.
“Haha! Is this our exclusive healer Kim Cheol-soo meeting an external guest for the first time?”
“Haha, that’s right, my lord.”
“Heroes are exceptional individuals, so why not recognize each other’s talents, Kim Cheol-soo?”
“Haha…”
Kim Cheol-soo felt burdened by the Count of Roland’s excessive kindness.
“Well, Miss Catherine said I have nothing to do.”
It should be fine.
Kim Cheol-soo relaxed his mind.
Roughly, when the heroes come, oh my! Like a celebrity! Shaking hands as if in showbiz, laughing, and leaving the scene at the right time would be inappropriate.
When Kim Chul-soo lived in Korea, he was the best at avoiding drinking parties.
“Oh! You’re here just in time.”
Five distinctive heroes appeared in the direction pointed by Count Roland, rustling through the bushes.
Kim Chul-soo, who turned his gaze towards the heroes, wondering if he should look at their faces, sensed something unusual.
“Priest! Is there a temple priest here? We have a critical patient!”
It was the voice of the wizard Matteo.
His comrades were carrying Daisy, and her legs were in tatters.
The bandages wrapped around her legs were soaked in blood, and blood was already dripping outside the bandages.
Emergency treatment was needed immediately!
Everyone looked at the district priest James and Kim Chul-soo.
The district priest James shouted with a serious face.
“Kim Chul-soo, the wandering healer, come here!”
“Oh no.”
Kim Chul-soo’s joy disappeared!
“There was no mention of a critical patient!”
***
A critical patient always comes without any notice.
Predicting diseases is a task even fortune-tellers can’t do.
So you always have to be prepared, but this is something you do at hospitals or the like.
I never thought it would turn out like this!
“Emma! Bring warm water and soap! Make the oral saline solution recipe you told me last time! Also, bring lots of clean bandages!”
“Yes!”
I asked Emma for the necessary items and rushed to the patient.
The female hero named Daisy was in such a critical condition that she couldn’t be moved anywhere and had to lie on the ground with a cloth spread out.
Her complexion was pale, probably because she had lost a lot of blood.
It seemed that her leg was cut by something sharp, and the wound was deep.
“Oh… this needs to be stitched up.”
Stitching wounds is the domain of doctors!
As a nurse, I have never done it before, and I couldn’t do it either!
In Korea, nurses are legally prohibited from performing surgery.
Of course, this is Roland Viscount, so even if I perform the surgery, it doesn’t matter.
My head turned white.
“Can I do it?”
I have seen stitching surgeries on YouTube out of curiosity.
But I have never practiced stitching surgery.
Just thinking about medical students practicing on silicone models, it’s really unthinkable for me to perform the surgery.
I felt a sense of crisis.
The patient could die at any moment.
The wound is deep, so even among stitching surgeries, it is extremely difficult.
Beside me, the priest of the congregation poured out sacred power while dripping with cold sweat, but he was of no help.
The sacred power I grasped has the effects of sterilization and detoxification.
It’s ineffective for stitching wounds.
I started with what I could do first.
“Comrades! How long has the patient been bleeding!?”
“Yesterday… around this time… my leg got injured… ugh!”
Surprisingly, the patient answered when I asked the other patients.
“Oh, you got injured yesterday, and you’re still conscious?”
If one has been bleeding for a whole day, it wouldn’t be strange if they were already dead.
But they’re conscious.
Is this a hero!
“Patient! Can you recognize me? Is there something you feel most strongly right now!?”
“Cough… Aren’t you the healer? My leg hurts so much it feels like it’s about to snap.”
“Do you feel dizzy or weak in the body?”
“I feel a bit of both… I think I can move to some extent.”
I felt admiration and hope as the patient spoke with a furrowed brow.
If the patient can hold on for a while, I might be able to perform a slow, makeshift stitching surgery.
The powerful vitality of a hero, different from that of an ordinary person!
“Can you… fix my leg? If I don’t have my leg, I won’t be able to do anything but die…”
The patient spoke with great effort.
The earnest wish of the patient.
As a medical professional, my sense of duty burned within me.
“I will try!”
There is no fleeing for a healer in front of a dying patient!