“Shinichi!!”
“Shin!?”
“Nakamura-sama!”
But the voice of those around her quickly brought her back.
He had already lost consciousness, yet his eyes remained open. Stella held him in her embrace and could still feel a tinge of warmth and breath coming from him, but to everyone else, already, he looked no different from a corpse.
Just how long had he been subsisting on willpower alone?
Did he keep fighting while in this state?
Did he mess around just to break the enemy while in this state?
Was he that angry seeing them hurt?
“────Calm down. You’re in the presence of a gravely ill patient,” Stella said.
The moment she felt a heat different from that of burning anger, she sternly commanded those around her in her usual voice as the head maid.
Immediately, she cast spells to stop the bleeding and treat the boy, then she gave out orders one after another.
“Hannah, Cattleya, erect a sterilized barrier,” Stella said.
“Huh? Ah, yes!” Hannah said.
“Right away!” Cattleya said.
“Pile up some clean sheets and maintain a Formation of Vitality. It’s too dangerous to move him, so we’ll be treating him right here,” Stella said.
“Understood!”
“Frau, talk to the count, but inform him only of the necessary details,” Stella said.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t bother us!” Frau said.
“Clara, take Kite-sama with you and bring anything that might be useful from the manor… What we have on us might not be sufficient.” [Stella]
“Understood, but Kite-sama is…” Frau said.
“It’s fine. My wounds have healed already, so just give the word, and I’ll carry anything!” Kite said.
“Lilisha-sama, please lend us your remaining mana. That shouldn’t burden you too much. Miya, Kaya, support me,” Stella said.
“But of course. Use my mana as much as you want!” Lilisha said.
“Leave it to us!” Miya and Kaya said.
“I’ll be focusing on the deepest wound. It’s worse than expected, so I likely won’t be able to divide my attention. Louise you’ll be in charge of the fractures, the surface wounds, as well as stopping any bleeding that might occur. He can’t lose any more blood than this. Alisa, you’re responsible for the other organs that I haven’t touched. Not a single one should be left with any damage. Robelia, you’re responsible for supporting everyone and administering treatment with magical potions. We’re all exhausted and have bled a lot today, but we’re counting on you,” Stella said.
“Yes!” Louise said.
“I’ll do my best!” Alisa said.
“Leave it to me!” Robelia said.
“Don’t even think of holding back. If you need to, use all the resources we have. Be it your strength, mana, tools, medicines, or even the hidden treasures of the royal family. Use everything! —That is fine, right?” Stella said.
“Yes, I give you permission under the name of Lilisha Earthgant,” Lilisha said.
Despite the rapid succession of instructions, each of them moved immediately upon receiving their respective orders.
With the approval of the princess, the count’s mansion, which had already been turned into ruins, was transformed into a treatment room that surpassed any makeshift hospital; thus, Shinichi’s treatment began.
Some moved frantically, some focused on maintaining the environment, and some poured their heart and soul into administering the treatment.
Of those, the one with the grimmest face was none other than Stella.
To an onlooker, it appeared as though she had simply exposed his abdomen by cutting his clothes and was touching it, but by applying healing magic, she could feel his body inside, allowing her to assess the boy’s overall condition.
It was a bit late on her part, but no wonder Johann was so shocked.
Wounds severe enough to be called grave. Moreover, 11 persons’ worth. All of that was gathered onto a single person. Indeed, it begged the question, just how was he still alive?
She had skilfully dispersed the wounds, avoiding anything lethal, but there were hardly any organs left unscathed, at best, only the heart and lungs, but even those were far from unharmed. There were multiple internal bleedings, and the boy’s internals were marred with wounds. Unnatural cracks could also be seen on his bones all over.
Evidently, his wounds had reached even to his bones. Shinichi was able to move unfazed by preserving himself with magic, but what was really ridiculous was that exerted so much effort over something so misguided.
That frustrated her so much that she wanted to yell at him.
The boy was on the verge of death, or should be according to the wealth of medical experience that she possessed.
His whole body was in such a terrible state that she actually found herself at a loss where to start.
Still, she meticulously and accurately closed the wounds as she saw fit. Something had to be done, yet one step wrong was sure to put more burden on the boy’s body.
This was a delicate task akin to walking on a tightrope woven from spider silk; hence, it was not something that could be entrusted to others.
After all, there was no one here more proficient at healing magic than her.
Failure would be tantamount to declaring Shinichi dead.
“…!”
That’s why she had been concentrating.
But perhaps it was precisely because she spurred herself on in that manner or because she believed that she shouldn’t be overly tense that she became conscious of that gaze looking at her.
She had forgotten to close the boy’s eyes in her panic, and now that she noticed them again, she found them uncomfortable.
She quickly closed those eyes with her other hand. Now, if not for his countenance, the boy would look no different from when he was sleeping.
Inadvertently, she found herself letting out a breath of relief, and she traced her fingers on the boy’s face, reminding her of that carefree smile of his before he collapsed.
────I’ll leave the rest to you.
That was a face void of all doubts.
From the bottom of his heart, the boy truly believed that she would save him, and that she wouldn’t let him die, that she wouldn’t abandon him.
But that was only a given. She was prideful enough to believe that she wasn’t completely powerless or heartless.
Moreover, the boy would never entrust something to them that they couldn’t complete before losing consciousness.
But even then, this was pushing the line.
With wounds this grave, the slightest mistake was bound to leave behind an abnormality somewhere.
Despite that he left himself at her care and this defenseless.
How selfish could a man be?
How trusting?
This man decided to entrust his life to them just like that.
Perhaps, he’d entrusted something even beyond that.
A warrior that easily transcended them, and a tormentor that made demons appear lenient in comparison.
He knew so much from the start, yet he kept his distance and did not directly intervene.
This person who laughed, got angry, sighed, became depressed, all on their behalf, now entrusted everything to her and believed that there was nothing wrong with that at all.
Whether she wanted to or not, she had no choice but to accept it – that at this very moment – she was elated.
He had given her just a few words, but those words gave her more pride than anything else in her whole life.
She wanted to meet those expectations. She wanted to succeed.
That passion urged her to move, and for a moment, she forgot that she was a maid, and she had stepped ahead of her master.
Though she had received permission to do so, to go as far as touch that which did not belong to her was clearly a breach of ethics.
Her face burned up, and she looked like she was about to burst into flames, so to vent that she started grumbling.
“Sheesh, you went off on your own, then you left everything to me and collapsed just as selfishly! Why are you so self-centered only when it comes to stuff like this? Say something weird again, and I swear I’ll send you flying even if someone tries to stop me.”
Understand? She told her unconscious partner.
She’d merely said out loud what everyone else was thinking, but even the other three girls focused on treating the boy couldn’t help but turn toward her with astonishment.
By the time Stella realized that there had been a strange tone mixed in with her grumbles, it was already too late. Her face twitched.
She’d intended to grumble in a scolding manner, but instead she ended up sounding like some sentimental woman.
“…Focus.”
“Ah, yes!”
Stella forced the matter to be ignored, and her sisters complied. Though the situation called for it, they were likely terrified of the consequences of poking at her mistake.
The maids focused on their respective tasks once again, but those with relatively easier jobs couldn’t help but gossip.
“Our big sis made an amazing face just now, didn’t she?”
“Yep, yep. She’s our older sister, and yet even I felt my heart thump.”
“That Stella… Fu fu, she actually made such a womanly face.”
Stella’s grumbles had sounded so womanly that her unintended audience couldn’t help themselves but hope for an encore.
Lilisha would come to know about her blunder a few days later and tease her endlessly for it, but for now, Stella concentrated.
After Shinichi’s condition had somewhat stabilized, and he was transported to the royal villa, Stella continued to care for him tirelessly, foregoing even her own rest, for four days and four nights.
There were several moments when his condition was at risk, but Stella dealt with everything properly. As a result, he woke up on the morning of the fifth day. He woke as though it were a normal day, and he even casually asked, “Huh, why are you in my room?” And was promptly punched in the face. Youko would later remark how masterfully executed that straight was.
Tl Note:
Title for the previous 04-84-11 was wrong. Apparently, I just copy pasted the title of the old chapter and didn’t notice.
Also, the site crashed last week, and I had to rebuild it to fix everything. Unfortunately, the old theme no longer works for some reason, so we’re going to be using this new theme instead. There’s no dark mode, and the previous-next buttons aren’t limited to their respective series. That will be fixed eventually, it will just take some time. Regardless, for now, the site is serviceable.
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