Arm Treatment (3)
I stepped into the hospital room where my master was staying, only to find it bustling with people once again. A burst of laughter rang out—someone must have told a joke that had the whole room in stitches.
I had told him to rest quietly during his hospitalization, but from the very first day, Master had been greeting the priests and inviting them into his room for friendly conversations. By now, there probably wasn’t a single priest in the healing center who hadn’t exchanged at least a few words with him over the past three days. He knew I would scold him if he wandered around too much, so he mostly limited himself to greetings and invitations. Strangely, that only annoyed me more. It was as if he had figured out exactly how to avoid trouble, leaving me as the only one feeling anxious and twisted up inside.
The fact that he was under the watch of the heretic inquisitors didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest.
“Oh? You’re here!”
“Today’s the treatment day, right?”
“Thank goodness.”
And because today was a very special day, the moment I entered the room I became the focus of everyone’s heated attention.
“Um… but why have you all gathered here…?”
They were huddled together, eyes sparkling. It was obvious at a glance what they wanted. I understand it’s a rare event and they’d want to see it, but…
I knew what they were after, but I couldn’t demonstrate the treatment process without the patient’s consent.
“I gave permission.”
He must have noticed me glancing at him, because he offered the exact words I wanted to hear without me even asking. He’s being way too casual about giving permission.
It seemed the priests had first asked Master for his understanding before coming to me. Knowing that today’s treatment would become valuable knowledge for them, I couldn’t refuse.
“Understood. We’ll do it that way.”
“Wow! Thank you!! Priests! He said yes!!”
The moment the priest heard my answer, he dashed out of the room and shouted down the corridor. Then priests who hadn’t been visible before began flooding in.
“Really?”
“You got permission?”
“Yes!!”
“Wait…”
He had really allowed all these people to watch?
“The treatment you perform isn’t something just anyone can do, is it?”
“That’s true, but…”
“This one body is making a national sacrifice.”
“Even so, I can’t perform treatment with this many people present.”
I had assumed five at most, but clearly that wasn’t the case. As the patient’s primary healer, I had no choice but to declare it unacceptable. The priests’ growth was important, but the patient’s health mattered more.
In the end, I had to speak firmly.
“It’s not that I refuse to allow it at all, but this number of people won’t work. It would be harmful to the patient, so only a maximum of five may remain. Everyone else, please leave.”
“I’m fine with it. Are you really going to turn away these children who want to learn so badly?”
“Yes. What cannot be done cannot be done. The patient’s health comes first.”
Who knew what kinds of germs all those people might carry? Of course they were priests, so they were cleaner than ordinary folk, but rules were rules.
“We’re sorry. We didn’t think it through.”
“Even I can see now that it was too many.”
…Though they had flustered me, they weren’t bad people. The moment I showed my discomfort, the room emptied in an instant. The priests who had survived the first-come, first-served selection comforted the disappointed ones by promising to describe everything they witnessed as vividly as possible.
At last, the treatment environment was barely prepared.
“Whew~ Shall we begin in earnest now?”
“Yes. But you look happy even though you’re about to suffer quite a bit from now on?”
“The worry that’s been weighing on me is finally going to be resolved, so of course I feel good.”
In this situation, Master should have been the one looking happier than me.
“Why are you so indifferent? Are you feeling unwell?”
“Well, maybe I just haven’t fully realized it yet. I’m not sure. Losing an arm is a little regrettable, but that’s about it.”
“Still, it must have been very inconvenient. You couldn’t even wash your own hair. I’ll fix it cleanly for you. You’ll feel the difference soon enough.”
Over the three days, Master’s condition had deteriorated considerably compared to the first day of hospitalization. No matter how much I tried to prevent it, he had grown a little worse each day. Well, that was only natural. He had been deliberately refusing treatment.
The only reason he could endure it was thanks to the cheat-like power of divine energy.
Watching someone endure such pain while casually laughing and chatting with others was a rare sight. If it had been me, I absolutely couldn’t have done it. I would have been writhing in agony every single hour.
“Be honest with me. Living with only one arm was inconvenient, wasn’t it?”
“It was just a bit annoying. Troublesome, I suppose. My balance felt slightly off when I walked. The most irritating part is that I sometimes forget I’ve lost an arm. The sensation is still there, you see.”
It was a common phenomenon for people who had lost a limb. Seriously, if only he had been more careful. Of all things, why did he have to go and lose an arm?
“…In the future, you won’t get angry about things like that anymore. Because it will grow back.”
I smiled to reassure the patient. Every treatment carried risks and side effects, so I couldn’t claim one hundred percent certainty. But divine energy was a miraculous power that allowed complete confidence. Besides, I had faith in my own skill.
“Take the painkiller. Once it takes effect, we’ll begin.”
“Take the painkiller again? No need. Once you fix it, the pain will disappear, won’t it? I just need to endure it a little. Why take a painkiller? I’ll just bear with it.”
“Eliminating the pain is the most important thing. You will still feel pain during the treatment itself.”
“I dislike it because the side effects are too strong. I’m not a child; I can endure that much.”
I thought refusing the painkiller simply because he disliked the side effects—which could be tolerated for a short time—was pointless stubbornness.
“After the treatment I’ll detoxify you. So don’t worry about the side effects and take it.”
“It’s fine. Just do it. I’ve endured far worse injuries than this.”
“That was when you were young!!”
He was really planning to endure without painkillers? I pondered how to persuade my master’s stubbornness, then shook my head. It would be better to simply proceed with the treatment. The time spent trying to convince him could instead be used to free him from pain that much sooner.
“I’m going to remove the bandages. During treatment your arm will feel very itchy.”
“Understood.”
“If the pain or itching becomes too severe, please tell me. We can take a short break.”
“I know.”
His answers were proper, yet they didn’t inspire much trust. It seemed I wouldn’t be hearing any requests for a break midway. In the end I sighed and unwrapped the bandages. Perhaps because three days had passed, the wound had worsened despite my best efforts to manage it.
“Beginning now.”
I had never gathered this much divine power into my hands before. The energy I had steadily compressed and stored over three days had already surpassed the amount I could normally possess. As a result, its effect on the injury was overwhelmingly powerful.
“!!!”
“!!!”
The surrounding priests held their breath as they watched me work.
“You live and learn. I’ve seen all sorts of things in my time.”
Master spoke calmly while watching the wound gradually regenerate. Even though his face had gone pale and I could see his teeth were clenched, he pretended to be nonchalant—probably to reassure me that he was all right. I didn’t understand why something like this moved me so much.
“Hang in there!”
The priests must have noticed Master’s poor complexion as well, because they offered words of encouragement. I decided to concentrate harder so I could finish the treatment as quickly as possible.
“It’s incredibly fast.”
“Whoa… Even pouring out that much divine power, it keeps coming.”
Because I had poured out so much divine energy, the arm had already regenerated to the elbow. Cold sweat trickled down my forehead. My strength suddenly drained away, my hands trembled slightly, and fatigue washed over me. Still, there was a long way left to go.
“Ugh…”
It wasn’t easy for Master either. He had to endure the pain and itching, and that was no simple task. Maybe I should have made him take the painkiller. It was obvious he was thinking exactly that. See? You should have listened to your disciple.
I had deliberately stayed quiet to show him that his stubbornness would only make him suffer more, but seeing his expression, I felt glad I hadn’t said anything.
After confirming the arm had regenerated to the wrist, I nodded while gauging the remaining divine power. At this rate I would be able to finish the treatment with plenty left over. With what remained, I planned to infuse Master’s body and eliminate the lingering inflammation inside him.
“I-it grew! The arm!!”
“Wow…”
“The condition looks really good, doesn’t it?”
Regenerating fingers was something other priests occasionally performed, so they knew this wasn’t the end.
“It really grew back.”
Master gazed at his newly formed arm with a strange expression.
“How does it feel? Has the pain eased a little?”
“It doesn’t hurt at all now.”
The truly important part came next.
“Then would you try moving it?”
“Hoo…”
He seemed overwhelmed by the return of the arm he had lost.
“Don’t move it suddenly. Try one motion at a time. Start with your fingers, then lift the arm, bend it—yes, you’re doing well. Do you feel any discomfort or foreign sensation?”
“Not at all. It’s exactly like my old arm, contrary to what you were worried about.”
“I’m relieved there doesn’t seem to be any major problem with movement. Now the important part is testing its strength.”
Master suddenly stood up from his seat.
“Then I can’t do it here.”
“Where are you going?”
“You told me to use strength. I can’t do that properly in this cramped space, so I need to go outside.”
“When I said to use strength, I didn’t mean anything grand. I just meant clench your fist and apply some force.”
“That kind of thing won’t even register.”
Master grumbled that it wasn’t satisfying enough.
“I told you rehabilitation treatment is necessary. The arm has only just grown back, so the muscles won’t have developed properly yet. You need to exercise slowly and restore balance between both arms.”
“Indeed, this arm is a bit thinner.”
Only then did he seem to realize his arm wasn’t in normal condition. I coaxed my master, who kept trying to exert excessive force, and we continued the rehabilitation process one careful step at a time.