This Body Refuses to Die

So it didn't kill me.

When I opened my eyes again, the familiar sting of antiseptic filled my nose.

"Ugh…!"

"Max!"

"Max Jäger!!"

"Captain Jäger!"

"Captain! Are you awake?!"

As my bleary vision swam back into focus, the first things I saw were the IV bag dangling from the ceiling and four women peering down at me.

Hanna, clutching my right arm and weeping.

Serafina, arms crossed at the foot of the bed, letting out a sigh of relief.

Erika beside her, wiping her reddened eyes while glaring at me.

And Captain Elise, holding up a chart and checking my pupils.

"…Is this heaven?"

Well, considering I was surrounded by beautiful women.

"Hic! I thought you were going to die! Captain, I'm so, so glad you're all right!"

Hanna buried her face against my chest.

"…Seems you're alive, since you still have the energy to joke."

Serafina spoke with forced coldness, but she couldn't hide the red rimming her eyes. She briefly took my hand in hers, then — suddenly mindful of the others watching — hastily let go.

"Honestly… I keep telling you, you're insane."

Erika spoke through her sniffles.

"Chasing down a fleeing enemy in that condition? Were you out of your mind trying to die or what?!"

Her usual sharp tongue, as ever.

"Thank you for worrying about me, Erika. I gratefully accept the sentiment."

"Wh-what?! Who said I was worried?!"

Erika flushed crimson and turned her head away.

Serafina stepped forward to bring order to the room.

"All right, that's enough. Now that the patient is awake, the examination comes first."

She took Erika by the shoulders.

"Come along, Captain Erika. Having us here will only get in the way. Sergeant Hanna and Captain Elise — please take good care of Max."

"Y-yes, ma'am. …Hmph. Take better care of yourself, Jäger."

Erika kept glancing back over her shoulder as she left the room. Once the two of them were gone, a strange stillness settled over the sickbay.

"Now, step aside, please. I need to examine him."

Elise moved. After gently pulling Hanna back, she lifted my shirt up over my chest.

"Mm…."

The cold stethoscope touched my chest, and a moan escaped me reflexively.

Hanna's eyes narrowed as she stood at the bedside — like a quarantine inspector, determined not to let a single one of Elise's fingertips escape her notice.

"How does it feel? Any pain?"

"Just a little… sore."

"I highly doubt it's just a little."

Elise's brow furrowed. She flipped back my eyelids to check my pupillary response, then pressed her fingers to the pulse in my wrist. Earnest, but standing awfully close.

Her gaze swept over the scars scattered across my upper body. Marks from the orcs in the Ashen Forest, shrapnel wounds from the recent battle of attrition, and the skin that had turned blackish-red from frostbite.

"…This is impossible."

Elise murmured under her breath.

Her hand slid slowly down my torso.

"Doctor? The examination seems… rather long."

Hanna couldn't hold back, snapping at her. But Elise, lost in concentration, paid her no mind whatsoever. Her expression was gradually flooding with disbelief.

Status Analysis.

A patchwork doll? Was it really that bad?

This time, I used Status Analysis on myself.

…Yeah, that tracks.

Elise swallowed hard. Her face said she had a hundred questions for me, but she was mindful of Hanna standing beside her.

"…Sergeant Hanna."

"Yes?"

"Go to the supply depot and bring back painkillers and an IV kit. Right now."

"Well…"

"There's no one else available at the moment. And the Captain's condition is critical — he needs special medication. Quickly, please."

At the words critical condition, Hanna's face went rigid. She shot me one worried look, bit her lip, and turned away.

"…I'll be right back, Captain."

Once Hanna was gone, silence filled the room.

"…Captain Jäger."

"Yes."

"Tell me the truth."

Her hand came up over my chest.

"You… you're as good as dead right now. Your muscles are torn to shreds, and your nervous system is on the verge of burning out from overload. Medically speaking… your heart could stop this very instant and no one would find it strange."

Elise asked without flinching away from my eyes.

"And yet you lie there calmly, opening your eyes, cracking jokes, and even…"

Her gaze flicked briefly downward, then returned to my face.

"How is your pulse this steady? This isn't… this is beyond anything painkillers or sheer willpower could manage."

Any ordinary person would have died of shock or lapsed into a coma. But Strong Mind was forcibly blocking my brain's shutdown, and Touch of Attunement — which I had cast on my own body between every lull in combat — was splicing together a lifeline that should have already snapped.

"What is the army physician's assessment?"

"My assessment is…"

But from the perspective of someone who didn't know my cheat skills existed, there was only one possible conclusion.

Elise hesitated a moment, then drew something out of a box on the nightstand. A transparent crystal orb — the same mana-measuring crystal she had once used on Sergeant Hanna.

"…It's impossible without some extraordinary power intervening. Mana, for instance."

The hand gripping the orb rose up over my chest.

"…May I check?"

I answered obediently.

"Of course."

It was half-confirmed already, anyway. Even if I tried to hide it, I wouldn't last long. Rather than grovel to protect a secret that was guaranteed to be exposed, it was far better to win her over.

The crystal orb pressed against my chest began to glow with a faint blue light.

"Th-this is…!"

Elise's eyes wavered.

"There's a mana response… there is, but… it's so crude. No — 'crude' doesn't even begin to cover it. This is like…"

Disbelief filled her eyes.

"It's as if someone tore the flow of mana apart with brute force to punch a hole through it. No — worse than that. As if someone ripped your entire mana circuit to shreds and stitched it back together, a grotesque… patchwork of…"

Oho.

The corner of my mouth twitched upward, ever so slightly.

Doctors are all the same. Ordinary patients bore them, but put a bizarre case that survived death's doorstep in front of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them and their eyes light up like mad.

Playing the helpless patient sprawled across the bed, I reached up and caught Elise's hand as it rested over my chest.

Charming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Speechcraft.

"Captain Elise. I'd like to keep this a secret between the two of us."

"…A secret, you say."

A cold voice.

"It seems you haven't grasped the situation, so let me be clear — this is… an enormous emergency. The mana circuit inside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠your body right now… is extremely unstable."

She set down the crystal orb and jabbed a finger into my chest.

"If the mana circuit entwined with the aorta near your heart were to rupture? Instant death. No time to do anything at all."

"So you said."

"So you said?! You need to be evacuated to the Imperial Capital immediately for a full diagnostic. Only the Imperial Court's chief physician could even touch a case like this!"

Elise's diagnosis was eminently practical and perfectly sound.

An acquired mana aperture — opened not through disciplined training, but forced open mid-battle by grinding my body through the meat grinder. As far as the Imperial medical establishment was concerned, I'd be without precedent.

Which was precisely what made me so extraordinary — and so dangerous.

I shook my head and pushed back.

"You're wrong, Elise."

"What exactly am I wrong about?"

"The moment I go to the Imperial Capital for a full examination, my life is over. That's what."

I smiled bitterly as I continued.

"They won't see me as a simple… patient."

"What… do you…"

"Think about it. What happens when the Imperial medical establishment or the academy of magic learns the truth? Will they heal me? Don't be naive. They'll cage me up like a prize stud and milk me for data."

"Th-that can't be true. You're a hero of the Empire. Even His Majesty the Emperor has taken notice of—"

"You know perfectly well how filthy the Imperial court is, don't you?"

I played my trump card.

The Empire was no romantic fantasy world. On the surface, sure — railways snaked across the land, steam engines roared, and the marriage of magic and engineering promised wealth and glory like the height of a belle époque.

Beneath it, however, this was an era of rigid caste and class division, where politics rotted amid deepening inequality.

"You go in for treatment, and you spend the rest of your life stripped of your freedom — or die a convenient death for political reasons. That's my prognosis."

"Ah…"

Elise couldn't argue. She was a noble daughter herself — she knew better than anyone the dark underbelly of Imperial society.

"Even so, I can't just leave you like this. Am I supposed to stand by and watch my patient die, as a physician?"

I gave a soft chuckle and drew her captured hand deeper, toward my heart.

"Which is why I need you."

"…What?"

"Not some famous quack back in the capital. You — the one who knows my condition best, and whose skill surpasses anyone's. I want you to be my personal physician."

Gulp.

I heard the sound of Elise's throat working as she swallowed.