The Healer Who Blamed the Bear's Spirit
A healer? More like a shaman, honestly.
People hurried back into their homes, while a few others rushed urgently outside clutching baskets, as if searching for something.
"Are they going to look for herbs?"
"Probably, given the situation."
Apparently some of these herbs were meant to be used fresh, not dried?
There was quite a lot of blood... The wound must be pretty serious. Bigger wounds do respond better to the rebound effect, but I'd still rather it be a minor one.
Because when someone bleeds that much, the problem is that they can't recover at all...
"Onontio! Snap out of it!"
"Ughhh..."
Peeking in from outside, I could see that the man struck by the arrow looked in bad shape. They hadn't pulled the arrow out yet, which meant they knew yanking it out would only make things worse.
Well, so they do have basic medical knowledge?
"Miss? That man looks far too dangerous to approach."
"Yeah... If we leave him like that, whatever medicine they use, he'll probably die."
He'd lost a lot of blood and was already unconscious. This was heading for disaster.
"What do we do? Should we just pull it out?"
"If you do, he'll bleed out!"
That's the whole problem without proper suturing. Leaving it in is bad, but pulling it out without being able to stop the bleeding kills him on the spot.
"May I take a look?"
In the end, unable to watch any longer, I shoved past the crowd and stepped forward.
"Guest? You must not! This is a matter for the tribe!"
"Dithering like that is how he dies!"
What an infuriating man. He's hesitating himself, and yet?
"..."
"Just leave it to me. Any later and there really won't be a chance left!"
"..."
This was no time for this kind of back-and-forth. Such a frustrating fellow.
Flutter, glug-glug-glug.
He was still standing there like an idiot, so I just shoved him aside and soaked a cloth thoroughly with Holy Water.
I needed to stop the bleeding too, which meant pressing down hard on the wound.
"Move!"
"Ah! Ahh!"
It may have looked like a light tap, but that was telekinesis pushing him — and leaving the hapless native crumpled in a heap behind me, I knelt before the man with the arrow.
"Mose! Come here and pull this out!"
"Yes, Haneul-nim!"
Squelch. Gulp, gulp.
That's a woman with real backbone for you. Mose pulled the arrow out without a flicker of hesitation, and blood immediately began gushing from the wound in time with his heartbeat.
Did he nick an artery or something? How is there this much blood?!
"You're going to live, so bear the pain!"
He was unconscious, but pressing down hard to stop the bleeding might jolt him awake. I could only hope he heard me.
Pressss.
"Mose, press with me! We have to push hard!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Mose and I pressed the Holy Water-soaked cloth against his wound with merciless force.
"Uuurgh!"
See? Told you he'd wake up. Thankfully, all that blood loss left him too weak to thrash around much.
"Let go now, and pour out the rest of the Holy Water!"
Then, just to be safe, I poured Holy Water generously over the spot we'd been pressing. We'd come this far — might as well save him, right?
Shff. Shff.
"Is he asleep?"
"He's breathing."
Thankfully he hadn't died — the native young man had stopped thrashing and drifted back to sleep. He'd probably pull through.
"The bleeding seems to have stopped too."
"Whew... What a mess."
Both of us were soaked in blood. What a sight we were.
"Thank goodness for the Holy Water."
"In the old days, good enough medical technology could do the same without it."
"Even for wounds this severe?"
"Yep."
Professional surgery really is something else...
"Anyway, what about the others?"
"Uh... um..."
"The others are injured too, aren't they? Where are they!"
What are you um-ing about? You're really getting on my nerves.
"Ah! Next door!"
"Then let's hurry."
"Yes!"
The next room over was another sight entirely. I'd thought the wounds there weren't serious, but there was a man whose arm was practically split in half.
"What is this! Move!"
Unbelievable. The bone was jutting out at a crooked angle, and instead of setting it, they were slathering on some herb and burning incense while praying?
Prayer-based healing? Really?
"I think the bone is broken."
"Will it heal?"
"I'm not a specialist, so I don't know for sure, but we have to try."
No idea what that herb was — probably something to numb the pain or disinfect at best.
It must hurt like hell, and yet the injured fool was just lying there dazed.
"Actually, this works out well. I need to set the bone, roughly at least, and it's going to hurt a lot!"
"Haaaah..."
"Honestly, the less he's aware, the better. Mose! Get over here, quick!"
You're the only one I can count on. Who else would I drag into this?
"Give me the Holy Water and cloth. I'm going to set the bone back in place. The moment I say so, wrap it and pour the Holy Water on!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
Ah. So she hasn't seen this kind of thing much either? I thought she had a strong constitution, but turns out she was only acting tough.
Still, I'm grateful she's keeping it together.
Focus, now. Surely I can reconnect the bone with telekinesis.
"Mmm..."
Crack-k-k, grind.
Sensing the bone fragments and linking them back together with telekinesis was no easy task. Still, it was a simple fracture, so it was possible. Some flesh had torn away too, but the Holy Water would take care of that now.
"Now!"
"Yes!"
Swoosh — glug-glug-glug.
Mose really does have a good head on her shoulders, doesn't she? She'd pre-soaked the cloth with a bit of Holy Water so it would go on easily, wrapped it fast, and finished with a generous pour.
Zzzt, zzzt.
I could feel the bone slowly knitting back together. Even so, I couldn't just leave it like this, could I?
"Go find me two straight sticks or flat boards!"
Even with the treatment done, I'd better make a splint and brace it properly.
Tap, tap.
"What are you doing with those?"
"A splint. The bone's broken, so I'm temporarily fixing it in place to keep it from moving."
With two wooden boards braced against it, I bound the leg of the dazed fool — who apparently had no idea he'd almost become an invalid — nice and tight with cloth.
"The rest are just wounds, so soaking cloth in Holy Water and wrapping them should do it."
"Phewww..."
There were no more critical patients. I was making my calm rounds, finishing up the treatments, when—
"Move aside! Let me through, quick!"
Someone barged through the crowd and rushed in, loaded down with armfuls of herbs. So this was their healer.
"Oh my?"
Why are you surprised? And what have you been doing all this time? If we'd just left things, they'd all have been dead before you ever arrived!
"What is the meaning of this!"
Why are you freaking out?
"Who dared treat them like this without leave!"
As long as they're alive, who cares? Why show up late and carry on like this?
"I did."
"Who are you!"
"I'm called Haneul. And you are?"
"I am the priest and healer of this village!"
So someone was praying over there earlier, and this man must be of the same stripe?
But everyone's alive and well, aren't they? What could possibly be the problem?
"Yes? And is there some problem?"
"You have defiled their souls! What will you do about it!"
Wow. That's a novel one, actually. I can't see souls, so I can't exactly argue the point.
"Has something bad happened?"
"They will soon waste away in torment and die! What will you do then!"
Is he talking about tetanus or sepsis or something?
Well, to be fair, without antibiotics, plenty of people do waste away and die from wounds like these.
"No one is going to die."
And on that point, I can make an absolute guarantee. Nothing on earth beats Holy Water for fighting infection.
"How can you guarantee such a thing!?"
"They have been treated with water carrying the grace of God. Their souls and bodies will suffer no defilement."
It's a bit much to say with my own mouth, but back in Daehan this stuff is commonly called Holy Water anyway, so this much should be fine?
Mose's lips were flapping furiously beside me, but hey — only I have to be a little embarrassed, right?
"What? Absurd! Nonsense!"
"They have received God's grace. They will be fine."
"Ha!"
So this is what a priest is like? And here I thought this village didn't invoke gods.
"Just watch. Every one of them will rise up healthy."
"Hmph! I shall watch with my own eyes, then!"
And so the so-called healer stationed himself to one side and began watching over the patients.
Hah. What a stubborn man. I half-feared he'd try something strange, so I stayed awake too — and the man didn't sleep a wink, holding out all the way to the next day.
Was he afraid I'd steal his spot or something?
"Nnngggh."
"Ugh."
One by one, they began to regain consciousness, and just to be safe, I fed each of them a little Holy Water.
"Now that you're awake, drink some water too. It's water filled with grace — it'll help your wounds."
"Thank you."
By the next day, they were all faintly coming to their senses. Even the last patient — the man struck by the arrow — finally stirred.
He'd taken longer than I expected, but he woke up sooner than I thought?
"Gasp... Is this heaven? So I've died. Snnrk... Huh? It hurts? Am I... alive?"
"What, did you expect to be dead?"
This guy starts spouting nonsense the moment he wakes up?
Crying one moment, laughing the next?
"Here, drink this. It's water filled with grace, so it'll help heal what's left of your wounds."
"Thank you."
Now that everyone was awake, I walked boldly up to the healer.
"Hey there. They all lived, didn't they?"
"..."
Why pick a fight if you're just going to hang your head without a word? Judging by the looks of him, he must have gone foraging for herbs in a panic because everyone seemed about to die.
No doubt he'd gone off with every excuse under the sun as a way to slip out of the situation. After all, not many of the herbs he brought back were still alive.
"Well done. Let's head back to our room too."
"Yes. My bones are aching all over, Miss."
"You worked hard, didn't you?"
Mose had worn herself out playing nurse. The people here, for whatever reason, kept their distance as if something scared them.
Apparently they treated injuries half through superstition. That must be why they were praying when we first arrived.
When we stepped outside, the villagers watched us and shuffled out of the way — and somehow the air around them felt... afraid?
The people of the Seneca tribe watched the two women treat the wounded, and shock swept through them.
"The healer said you must pray earnestly to the spirit of the bear?"
"Why aren't they using herbs?"
"Aren't they all going to die?"
"Someone stop them! Anyone!"
All the people could do was stamp their feet in helpless anxiety.
By their ways, wounds were to be treated with the proper herbs and prayers to the spirit of the bear — but these two were grinding the wounds down and scrubbing them clean as if that were the cure.
"Someone go fetch the healer! This will end in disaster!"
"He said the herbs were running short and rushed into the forest?"
"What?"
So the healer had abandoned treatment and gone into the woods because the herbs ran low?
"Well... there must have been a reason, then..."
"Still, what will become of those two?"
"Please, let them live."
They prayed that the two strangers would survive, even as the patients' flesh blackened and festered. Time and again, the ones most likely to die from a wound were those who burned with fever until it consumed them.
And whenever that happened, the healer would say it was because they had failed to receive purification from the spirit of the bear.
The villagers didn't really understand — the truth was that infection was killing them — but with no true cause known, they clung to supernatural explanations.
"Oh! There's the healer!"
"Damn it all, what good is arriving this late!"
"It's too late! Those young men are as good as dead!"
The villagers had lifted no hand to stop Haneul and Mose from treating the wounded, yet now they heaped blame upon the healer.
Charity begins at home, as they say — the healer was born of the same village, and seemed to be taking sides.
How do I save those men?
The healer sprinting toward the longhouse was drowning in worry. Two of the wounded looked certain to die even if he prayed to the spirit of the bear, which was why he'd gone into the forest to gather herbs.
Frankly, I'd have rather found them already dead...
The truth was, the healer didn't know how to heal anything — all he could do was slap on herbs and wait. And when he'd rushed in to find two strangers treating the wounded, he'd flown into a rage, but deep down he'd felt relief. Now there was someone else to blame.
But the next day, the young men began waking up, one by one. And they woke cleansed — without a trace of fever.
"They can be healed without praying to the spirit of the bear?"
"With wounds like those, you'd be lucky for even one or two to survive the fever!"
"I heard them say it earlier — water filled with the grace of God?"
"Could the god they serve be mightier than the spirit of the bear!?"
As the villagers watched the two women returning to their lodgings, the murmuring began.
"I'm worried we may have committed some offense against them."
"Surely we'll be fine?"
"They didn't do anything to us in particular, did they?"
Then the people turned, one and all, to stare silently at their healer. For there he stood, trembling like a leaf, frozen in terror.
Don't tell me punishment will fall upon me? I must flee somewhere unseen — anywhere but here!
That night, without a sound or a whisper, the healer vanished from the village. The people murmured that he must have run away in fear of divine retribution — and that was all.
Not that it mattered much. The village had other healers, after all.
"Who do you suppose their god is?"
"Something mightier than the spirit of the bear, surely?"
"Someone should go and ask them, one of these days."
"Shall we try to make friends with them first?"
The murmuring among the people was growing louder by the hour.