[Content Warning: Gore] This chapter contains descriptions of injuries, limb loss, and cauterization.
“Ouch.”
Today wasn’t one of our usual cooking class days, but I felt like helping out in the cafeteria anyway. The menu was already set, so I was cutting ingredients accordingly. I accidentally nicked my finger along with the vegetables. It doesn’t seem too deep, but blood is slowly seeping out. I glance around discreetly; the cooks are busy preparing lunch and aren’t looking my way right now.
“‘Heal.’”
I cast a recovery spell in a quiet voice so no one hears, and the cut on my finger heals in an instant. Magic is amazing. After borrowing that book from the palace library the other day, I studied how to use magic. Since I’d feel uneasy relying only on theory in a pinch, I’ve been actively practicing whenever I get the chance. It’s practice, basically. Trying it out for real was the right call; at first, I couldn’t get the magic to work properly. After fumbling with the book in hand, I finally got the hang of it, so I’m calling it a win for now.
The handover of potions to the Second and Third Knight Corps is done, and they’ve set off for Gauche Forest west of the capital as planned. Prep time was short, but I powered through with my MP and managed to make all the ordered potions within the deadline. Now I just pray they return safely.
Lately, some of the Third Knight Corps guys have been using the institute’s cafeteria, so with them gone, it feels emptier than usual. Though, that’s not the only reason it’s quiet…
“I’d heard the food here was good, but I didn’t expect this.”
The man in front of me says this with shining eyes as he elegantly eats today’s special. It’s herb-roasted chicken with a hearty vegetable soup and bread on the side. The cafeteria being quiet and the bread being fancier than usual are probably because of him.
“You’re not eating much. Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, I’m fine, but…”
Why are you here? I want to grill you for an hour, Your Majesty. Sure, he’s dressed in slightly plainer colors than last time, but that dazzling aura isn’t fooling anyone. With a charismatic king leaking charm right in front of me, plus a knight and attendant staring from behind him, my nerves aren’t thick enough to eat comfortably in this situation.
“Um… why are you here?”
I’d finished helping in the cafeteria and came to eat lunch myself when the king nabbed me. He only brought one guard knight and someone who looks like an attendant, probably cutting back on people out of consideration for me. But the king being here at all makes everyone else tiptoe around us. Thanks to that, the tables around where we’re sitting are completely empty. I’m proud of myself for picking a table in the corner; if I’d chosen one in the middle, they might’ve shut down the whole cafeteria. That’d feel bad for the cooks who made today’s lunch.
“I wanted to talk with you a bit.”
“I see.”
He said he wanted to talk, but it didn’t seem like he had anything specific in mind—just casual chit-chat, really. Mostly, it was about how I’ve been spending my time since coming to this kingdom. When he asked what I do on my days off and I said I’m usually at the institute or the palace library, he predictably worried if that counts as a break. I explained that my hobbies back home were growing herbs, aromatherapy, and cooking, so my days off aren’t much different. He seemed convinced enough. After we talked and finished eating, he left with a “I’ll come again” that I didn’t exactly appreciate, then returned to the palace.
A few days later, the subjugation in Gauche Forest west of the capital wrapped up successfully, and the Second and Third Knight Corps returned to the capital. It’s a bit farther from the capital than the Eastern and Southern Forests, so including travel, it took about two weeks from departure to return. A week ago, I was relieved to hear the potions did their job and no one died in this subjugation. Still, while there were no deaths, there were quite a few injuries. Some people were admitted to what’s basically a hospital after returning to the capital. The Knight Commander told me they’re busy with post-mission stuff right after a subjugation, so I decided to visit the hospital a few days later. I heard some of the Third Knight Corps guys I’ve gotten friendly with are hospitalized too. For the visit, I baked my usual cookies to bring along.
“Hello~”
“Oh, it’s Sei!”
“How are you feeling?”
“Fit as a fiddle, as you can see.”
“What’re you saying? You looked half-dead when we got back.”
“Shut up.”
The building where everyone’s staying definitely feels like a hospital. The knights are in a big room with ten people to a ward. The first room I find has knights whose torso cuts and stab wounds haven’t fully healed. They tell me the Western Forest, which hadn’t been subjugated in a while, was teeming with monsters, leading to a lot of injuries. With only so many potions to go around, they managed to avoid any deaths through some clever juggling. The people in this room used potions just to stop the bleeding before returning to the capital. They’ve recovered decently over the past week, but most still need to stay on bedrest. Since quite a few are hospitalized, subjugations are on hold for a while. Those who can move are gradually getting discharged and returning to the corps. They say skipping a day of training takes twice as long to recover from. I’m pretty bad myself, but these knights are serious workaholics too.
“That sounds rough.”
“Still, coming back alive is better than nothing.”
“Yeah, thanks to your potions, Sei.”
“I’m glad they helped.”
Everyone thanks me one after another, and I feel a bit shy. Either way, it’s great there were no deaths. We chat a bit, and since there are Third Knight Corps folks in other rooms too, I say goodbye to this group and move on. Every room’s about the same with everyone thanking me so I’m glad I put effort into those potions. I was casually visiting like that for a few rooms until I got to one where I spotted a familiar knight and lost my voice.
“Hey, you came to visit?”
He greets me with his usual big grin, but his left arm is gone. I manage a nod in response, but he notices something off about me. With a troubled smile, he scratches his head with his right hand. I never thought the absence of something that was always there could hit me this hard. I can’t find the words to say anything.
“That arm…”
“Yeah, screwed up big time.”
He laughs heartily, saying a monster took it. When I ask if potions couldn’t fix it, he explains that even high-grade HP potions can only heal minor losses like fingertips but something like an arm is beyond them. In that sense, he laughs, the Knight Commander was lucky during the salamander incident.
“If potions can’t fix it, then recovery magic can, right?”
“Yeah, well, sorta…”
I bring up what I’d heard before about recovery magic being more effective than potions, but he hesitates with a complicated look.
“Is something wrong?”
“With recovery magic, fixing a missing limb is tough.”
He explains that healing a lost limb with recovery magic requires a holy-attribute magic level of at least 8. The problem is, there’s currently no one in the palace with holy-attribute magic above level 6 who can heal limb loss.
“There’s no one?”
“Even among mages, not many can use holy-attribute magic to begin with.”
Mages themselves are rare, and their attribute aptitudes vary widely. Most attributes can’t use recovery magic, and only those with holy-attribute aptitude can heal something as severe as limb loss. If aptitudes were evenly split among mages, that’d make recovery-capable mages a tiny fraction.
“Using potions to stop the bleeding was good enough. Otherwise, we’d have had to cauterize it with fire.”
That sounds painful just hearing it.
“Thanks for coming today. Glad I got to see you one last time.”
“Huh? Last time?”
“Once I can move, I’m quitting the corps and going back to my hometown. Can’t keep being a knight with this arm.”
It makes sense when he says it. I don’t want it to, though. I stare at his arm, gone from mid-bicep down. Thanks to the potion stopping the bleeding, the stump is neatly healed over, no bones visible. Just because something that was there is gone, like he said, we won’t see each other anymore. He’s a former commoner who joined the corps after graduating from the Royal Academy, I think. Once he quits, he’ll revert to commoner status and probably won’t come to the palace anymore. Thinking that, I feel really lonely. When I gently touch his arm, he flinches slightly.
“If… if your arm could be healed, would you want it to be?”
“Well…”
His ever-present smile crumples at my question. Of course. No one wants to lose an arm on purpose.
Healing a missing limb requires a holy-attribute magic level of 8. I more than meet that requirement. But if I heal him here, it’ll be hard to keep claiming I’m just an ordinary person. If he were a stranger, I might’ve pretended I didn’t see anything and walked away. No… Even if he were a stranger, once I’d seen it, I’d probably end up healing him anyway. If I walked away pretending otherwise, I’d just feel unsettled and come back. My heart would be all foggy. I’m kind of a coward, you see.
I focus my mana into the palm touching him. The amount of mana I concentrate determines how much gets healed. This time, since it’s an entire arm, I gather a lot more mana than usual. Please let it heal properly. With that prayer, I cast the spell.