HBWnovel Chapter 211 : Chapter 211
Chapter 211 : Chapter 211
"Please stand in line—!"I was startled while taking a pulse. It was the shout of the attendant controlling the family members at the door. It seemed he was secretly enjoying himself, thinking this was his moment.
I returned my head to its original position.
In front of me sat an old woman with a very petite physique. There was no focus in her cloudy pupils.
"H-how does it look to you?"
I looked at the middle-aged woman standing next to her. She was looking at me with a nervous expression, her two hands tightly clasped.
I feel it once again. If I had to pick just one crucial quality for a physician, it is undoubtedly eloquence.
"......Unreasonable treatment is rather a poison. It will only place a burden on an old and weak body."
"Do you mean……."
"It means that staying by her side like you are doing now is the best."
"Ah……."
She soon wiped away her tears.
The old woman was the fourth aunt of the current Head, and the middle-aged woman was her daughter-in-law.
"Since some time ago, she couldn't speak at all……. The following year she became unable to hear, and now even her eyes……."
The end of her sentence trembled.
"Now, I don't know when she will pass away…… and that is so scary……."
"……."
It was a truly unfortunate story. She said that she had been solely in charge of nursing her old mother-in-law until now, after being bereaved of her husband in the very year she married and entered the Springeus family.
This damn hereditary disease was now trying to take away even her one remaining, sole family member.
As for the next patient,
"It is a shameful thing to say, but lately my mornings begin with calming my lower half that heats up on its own. During the day, I am on the verge of exhaustion from suppressing wicked urges that suddenly flare up. The nights— phew, what is the point of speaking about them. It is like the lustful devil inside me is thrashing around. The day before yesterday, suddenly in my dream, my youngest aunt—"
"Ah, stop. That is enough."
This guy was a second cousin of the former Head, so it was hard to see that the blood of Springeus was thickly mixed in him.
For reference, he was fourteen years old. I wondered if it was just a common worry experienced during a period of stormy adolescence—
'His yang energy is excessive.'
I had to see it as a type of Nine Yang Severed Meridians. Not to the extent of Nine Yang, but about Three Yang.
'Does it mean the severity and the degree of kinship are unrelated?'
Anyway, this guy was also on the lucky side. With my accomplishment in the Frost Sword, it had become possible to handle cold energy itself to some extent, moving beyond merely wrapping a sword in cold energy.
'I can sufficiently cool and control a yang energy rampage of this level just with the Correction of pulses and points loaded with cold energy.'
After that, all kinds of symptoms continued endlessly, from light muscle pain to a person complaining about chills every night due to their Qi and blood being full of yin energy, to a person suffering from a terrible burning pain due to the excessive accumulation of yang energy.
Of course, there were also many who were standing at the edge of their lives…….
Among them, there were many cases where they did not notice that fact at all with very perfectly fine faces, so, how should I put it, I had to endure a difficult ordeal.
"Haa, being a physician isn't something just anyone can do."
As I stretched, the muscles all over my body let out angry screams.
It was already the middle of the night. The moonlight was heartlessly bright.
"You have truly worked hard, Sir. Those who could not receive treatment today have decided to come back tomorrow morning."
My eyes could not help but widen. No, by whose permission, again tomorrow? As I turned my gaze just like that, the attendant made a secretly proud expression.
"You may not have seen it, Sir, but the competition was very fierce. Shouting at each other to get treated first was basic, and it was even to the point where duels were breaking out, so what use is seniority."
The attendant shook his head as if it was dizzying just thinking about it again.
"At the end, those people of high status said they would not even mind sleeping outdoors in the yard, so as for me, thinking that a real disaster would happen at this rate, I barely managed to dissuade them and succeeded in sending them back."
He smiled goofily. I thought my karma would only increase if I uselessly said a word to someone who came back after going through the ordeal of a lifetime, so I just shut my mouth.
"Shall I prepare the meal right away?"
"I want to rest a bit for now. A little later—"
Knock, knock.
At the sound of the knock, the attendant looked disgusted and shook his head.
"Truly, in the middle of this night……. It has been over ten years since I served here, but today I am seeing the bottom of this family."
"……."
"Please rest. I will just go and give them a very sharp warning."
The attendant rolled up his sleeves and went out huffing.
I closed my eyes for a moment after seeing that, but…….
"C-could you please wake up for a moment, Sir……?"
The attendant, who had returned in the meantime, was making a nervous expression. His face was even pale like a person who had seen some ghost.
Before I could ask back, as he hurriedly stepped aside, two people who were behind him became visible. Both were wearing long robes, but one person was familiar.
'Richardson.'
The woman next to him slowly took off her hood. She was a lady in about her mid-to-late twenties.
"This is the current Head's eldest daughter, Lady Chloe."
Richardson took on the introduction instead. Soon, when Chloe pulled back the hem of the robe she was clutching at her chest, a newborn baby held tightly in her arms was revealed.
Richardson spoke again.
"I am sorry, Cult Leader. I know you are exhausted, but could you please take a look at this child? The Head strictly ordered that the direct descendants at least should not approach you, so we had no choice but to bring her to you secretly like this."
It was an earnest tone close to pleading. By the way, actually being called Cult Leader made me feel strange.
"What sin could a newborn baby have? Please take a look just once, Cult Leader."
Chloe took a step closer. Her bloodshot eyes were damply wet. It was a trace of countless worries and conflicts. I could guess how much courage she needed to come here.
'Let's put away the idle thoughts…….'
I stood in front of Chloe and looked down at the baby she was holding. My eyelids were sinking, but I swear this was not because I was tired.
Of course, if it were another ordinary physician, they would have long since dropped out and then some. Because circulating Innate True Qi all day to correct others' Qi and blood is absolutely not as easy a task as it sounds.
The reason I was able to accomplish that was because it was possible only for me, who had reached the stage of a Late Peak Expert.
"She looks pretty, taking after her mother."
My gaze was still fixed on the child. I felt Chloe's gaze looking at me as if slightly surprised. Followed by a weak smile, as if she had relaxed a little.
'……Is it Nine Yin?'
I had also developed quite a knack in the meantime. Yes, throwing a joke was to hide my despairing expression.
'Right now, I have no method to control yin energy.'
It was not just this child. Even among the patients I saw today, there were plenty whose Qi and blood were ruined by cold energy coagulated like ice.
If the symptoms were light, first aid was somehow possible by pressing the meridians to scatter the yin energy. But if it was at this level, I was ultimately helpless.
'To think the absence of enlightenment regarding scorching yang energy would be regrettable in a place like this.'
I didn't need to be discouraged because of that. To be precise, it meant that I did not need to wholly feel the responsibility.
"To speak of the conclusion first, treatment is impossible right now."
Chloe soon dropped her head. I saw her body curling inward as if a boulder was placed on her chest. Richardson was also letting out a small sigh from the side, and it seemed like a disaster would happen if I left them alone any longer.
"I am not saying it can never be cured, but that it is difficult right now."
"Wh-what does that mean?"
"A newborn baby like this cannot be treated in the first place. You have to bring her after she has at least taken her first steps."
It is the truth. Because a newborn baby's meridians themselves are incomplete, touching her now would not only be meaningless, but she would also not be able to handle the Correction of pulses and points.
'I've bought some time for now.'
Not just for Chloe, the mother, but also for me as a physician.
"Then, are you saying it is still difficult to even know the symptoms……?"
I deliberately pondered and nodded my head. Lies must exist to be used at times like this.
"That is right."
I looked straight at Chloe.
"This is not the time for you to be caught up in anxiety and be terrified. Even if the child falling ill in the future is an irresistible force you can do nothing about, protecting her so she can receive treatment on time rests entirely in your hands."
I felt it all day today. Is war even appropriate for those whose attachment to life is this strong. Could there be a greater contradiction than this.
"Go even now and grab your father's trouser legs and plead. Ask him to stop the war right now, if only for his grandchild."
"……."
"If you can only do that, I will promise to somehow save your daughter."
A silence settled down heavily. I didn't want an atmosphere like this.
Come to think of it, the attendant was nowhere to be seen. It seemed he had tactfully avoided the spot early on. Richardson's face quickly became gaunt, and he roughly slumped down as if throwing his body in a visible spot.
"If grabbing his trouser legs was enough to work, my father's clothes would have already been entirely worn out because of me."
Chloe kissed the forehead of the soundly sleeping baby. Tears flowed beneath her trembling eyelashes.
"Cult Leader, the War of the Roses was destined to break out someday as long as the curse-like hereditary disease exists. It is just that the time has come now."
Richardson loosely unfastened the collar under his chin as if it was cumbersome. He was quite different from the tidy impression I received in the morning.
"What do you mean?"
"May I ask before that? Why do you want to stop this war so much? Honestly, doesn't it have nothing to do with you? If by one in ten thousand chance you are really moving for the benefit of Conwell, it would be better for a large war to break out—"
"There is no politics in my martial righteousness."
The two people stared at me at the same time. It was an expression wondering what that meant. Indeed, the word martial righteousness does not exist in the Kingdom.
"I understood chivalry not with my head but with my heart."
Only then did Richardson's brow narrow. However, it was still a gaze that had not fully comprehended what it meant.
"The world needs at least one idiot like me who takes on difficult tasks without wanting anything in return."
"……."
"Well, maybe it is because I am originally from a low-ranking martial family, so I am not as shrewd as you people."
Everything was fine, but at the end, useless words popped out due to a disgruntled feeling. Damn it, that's just how I am.
Chloe and Richardson exchanged glances with each other and then stared at me at the same time. It truly seemed like they were thinking, 'What kind of guy is this.'
Just as I was thinking that it wouldn't hurt them to look at me a little warmly, considering I was someone who couldn't even straighten his back properly while treating them.
"……Heh."
Chloe let out a faint laugh. Starting with that, Richardson, and even the attendant who had been hiding behind the closet.
Warmth was loaded in the gazes directed at me.
"I said it just now. That this war was unavoidable in the first place."
Richardson brought up the subject. It seemed he was going to tell the full story.
I focused on him.
"To put it slightly differently, you could say it is a predestined ending."
"A predestined ending?"
"Yes. The hereditary disease was born not only to us but also to Windermere. And with the exact same symptoms as our Springeus."
It meant that Windermere was also suffering from the Severed Meridians Syndrome like them. I barely hid my surprised look.
Richardson continued speaking.
"For an eternal time, the true enemy of the two families that have respectively symbolized the Sharon Faction and the Langster Faction was the hereditary disease itself. Short life and infertility, weakness, and extreme pain. All of those things slowly gnawed away at Springeus and Windermere. And what is even more terrifying is……."
Richardson's gaze headed to a distant place. It was an expression recalling the shadow that had encroached upon the family for a long time.
"The obsession and anxiety that this fact must not leak to the outside."
"……."
"That is how we have lived, holding our breaths. Us, and Windermere too."
Richardson continuously swallowed groans as if he was choked up.
I did not go out of my way to urge him to speak. Because I felt like I vaguely knew what the past years they had lived through must have been like.
"The War of the Roses is not a match betting on each other's honor. It is the final struggle of two knight families facing ruin."
The face of the mother drenched in sadness was nowhere to be seen. Only the face of a ruthless swordsman who had briefly put down her sword and held a child remained.
She asked.
"How can we stop it now?"
To me, that sounded like the desperate thrashing of a terminally ill swordsman who did not want to be forgotten by the era.