V. O, Glory of the Tournament! (22)
V. O, Glory of the Tournament! (22)
The next day, Keldric asked Niccolò, who was going to perform the bloodletting, to let him come along.
"What exactly is bloodletting?"
"It is a method of balancing the four humors that make up the body."
According to Niccolò, four humors flowed through the human body: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.
The four humors had to remain in balance for a person to stay healthy. An imbalance supposedly caused most ailments and diseases—even minor headaches or mental illnesses such as depression.
"Blood is the humor of an optimistic, energetic temperament. It comes from the heart, supplies the body with warmth and vitality, and nourishes life. It is also the humor of spring."
"...Spring?"
"Yes. Of the four seasons, blood governs spring. If the body lacks blood, medicine that strengthens the influence of spring is particularly effective."
Keldric felt a little dizzy, but quickly collected himself.
He could not imagine what blood flowing through the veins had to do with the seasons, but the existence of magic made no sense in the first place.
"I did not know that either. I should remember it."
Even Alisa, who had been trotting along behind Keldric, nodded in admiration. Keldric decided he might as well believe Niccolò.
Believing him or not changed little. Keldric knew only the most basic medical common sense and could do nothing himself.
"Phlegm comes from the brain and lungs, yellow bile from the liver, and black bile from the spleen. For the humors to remain balanced, the organs must work together in harmony."
Niccolò's secret to a long, healthy life was nothing extraordinary. If all the organs worked smoothly without anything going wrong, a person could live a long life without constant illness.
"Then which humor do you intend to bleed out of Sir Ortvin?"
"At first I suspected excessive black bile, but the discovery of Erosion Larvae changes matters."
Blood was the humor governed by the heart.
When Keldric met Count Bogenberg the previous night, he had reported every abnormal symptom Ortvin had shown. Niccolò therefore attributed the chest pain and difficulty breathing to blood and phlegm, respectively.
But Erosion Larvae fed on blood, so Niccolò's treatment was to draw that blood out.
In other words, he was simply going to drain some of Ortvin's blood.
Come to think of it, Niccolò had been carrying a large wooden bucket. It was obvious what would soon fill it.
"I see. So it's an excess of blood?"
"What? No, that is not it."
"Hmm? Did you not say an imbalance of the humors was the cause?"
"That would be true in an ordinary case, but Erosion Larvae require a different reason for bloodletting. I intend to draw out the larvae burrowed into his body along with the blood tainted by their poison."
Keldric nodded silently. Even to him, the treatment sounded plausible.
It was hardly grand enough to call a cure—just a straightforward way to remove the cause—but Keldric could think of nothing more certain.
The Erosion Larvae produced the poison, burrowed into the body, and fed on blood. If they could be removed together with the poisoned blood, no better method came to mind.
The question was how Niccolò intended to do it.
"I have a suitable method."
Niccolò confidently declared that he would use a treatment he had studied professionally at Avalonchene Academia.
Keldric readily nodded. There was no time for a detailed lecture on the method, and this was not a lesson to begin with.
"This is a rare opportunity—the chance to see medicine taught at Avalonchene Academia firsthand."
"Oh..."
With even Alisa reacting that way, Keldric began looking forward to Niccolò's medical skill rather than doubting it.
Ortvin's life was hanging by a thread, so anticipation might have been inappropriate, but Keldric could not suppress his curiosity.
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"This way."
After following Niccolò for some time, Keldric and Alisa were led to a room at the outer edge of the castle.
The sickroom for an honored guest like Ortvin stood at the farthest edge of Bogenberg's inner castle because the patient might be carrying an infectious disease.
Ortvin did not have an infectious disease, but Alisa had warned that Erosion Larvae sometimes spread to other people, making the precaution sensible.
"Ahem."
"Ugh..."
The moment they entered, Keldric and Alisa instinctively pinched their noses and groaned.
The sour stench filling the room was overpowering.
Ortvin lay limp as a corpse on a bed in one corner. His right arm hung over the side, immersed in something resembling a brass washbasin.
The stench came from there.
Even with his nose pinched shut, the sour odor stabbed into Keldric's nostrils until tears sprang to his eyes. It felt as though he had swallowed a spoonful of hot mustard.
"Why does it smell like this?"
"I don't know eiver..."
Alisa mumbled through her tightly pinched nose. She seemed determined to hold her breath, so Keldric first moved to open the window.
"You mustn't, Sir Keldric."
"Why not? The stench is unbearable."
"The medicinal vapors would escape. It's better to air the room after the bloodletting."
Keldric looked at the basin Niccolò indicated. Sure enough...
The brass basin contained strangely colored liquid mixed with various herbs, and Ortvin's right arm was submerged in it.
Niccolò moved through the stench without the slightest concern.
He sat beside Ortvin, then gently gestured Keldric and Alisa toward a pair of chairs.
"Please sit. Standing throughout the procedure will be uncomfortable."
Niccolò truly intended to show them the entire treatment.
Remembering Alisa's claim that this was a rare opportunity, Keldric quickly took the chair beside Niccolò. Alisa sat beside him with her nose still pinched and her face tightly drawn.
The herbs that seemed to have gone into the basin had been arranged beside it by type. Niccolò pointed to each one as he began his explanation.
"This is mugwort. It kills parasites, treats infection, and also helps warm the body."
"I see."
"The herb beside it is rue. It helps neutralize poison from insects and drives away evil influences."
"And this one?"
"That is ox-knee. It has a detoxifying effect and cleanses the blood."
Once he finished explaining, Niccolò carefully lifted Ortvin's arm from the basin, then promptly poured the used medicinal bath into the wooden bucket.
Keldric and Alisa stared with wide eyes.
From the explanation, they had assumed the liquid was a painstakingly prepared decoction. They could not understand why Niccolò had thrown it away so casually.
"Its medicinal properties are spent. I must prepare a fresh batch."
Niccolò briefly left the room and returned carrying a small ceramic jar in wooden tongs.
"Boiled vinegar."
That was the source of the sour smell. Ignoring Keldric and Alisa's grimaces, Niccolò calmly poured fresh boiled vinegar into the brass basin.
The faintly steaming vinegar had cooled enough that Niccolò could dip a hand into it to check the temperature.
He added handfuls of herbs, then scraped in every bit of mugwort and juice that had been crushed in a mortar. The medicine was complete.
Keldric had heard of medicinal baths, but never one prepared this way.
"What happens now?"
"I will clean the place where I intend to bleed him with a fresh cloth."
After the old medicine had been wiped away, Niccolò carefully lifted Ortvin's right arm.
Keldric and Alisa watched in silence.
They had grown somewhat accustomed to the sour smell, making it bearable even without pinching their noses.
"Sir Keldric, I will begin the bloodletting now."
"Very well."
Bloodletting could be performed in several ways: opening a vein, applying leeches, or using cupping.
Niccolò chose to open the wrist with a small blade.
He wiped the blade with a heated cloth, then carefully cut Ortvin's right wrist.
Bright red blood streamed from the incision. Keldric frowned despite himself, wondering whether this could possibly be right.
A cut to the wrist was not necessarily fatal.
It was commonly used for suicide, but death did not come immediately.
Niccolò let the blood run for a while. Only after the medicine in the basin had turned faintly red did he lower the wrist into it.
The warm liquid rapidly deepened in color. Keldric watched uneasily.
He was not seriously doubting Niccolò at this stage. Watching an open wound being submerged in warm liquid simply made him nervous.
After carefully releasing Ortvin's arm, Niccolò picked up an olive branch from the bedside table.
Its purpose soon became clear.
"Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, smite the evil things hidden within this man's body!"
Niccolò sprang to his feet and began lashing the olive branch about like a whip.
Thwack! Thwack!
Red welts appeared on Ortvin's arm wherever the branch struck. Keldric stared in disbelief.
"Wh-what is he doing?"
"I don't know either..."
Even as Keldric and Alisa whispered in shock at Niccolò's bizarre behavior, he wiped away his sweat and kept swinging the branch.
Then something changed.
"What..."
"Uh, uh...!"
Ortvin's submerged arm began to writhe.
More precisely, red and blue veins bulged beneath the skin and twisted visibly.
Keldric and Alisa stared in horror. At the sight, Niccolò lashed the branch even harder.
As the swollen veins twisted and moved, lines of pitch-black shapes began rising beneath the skin.
Keldric recognized them as Erosion Larvae and murmured in admiration.
So Niccolò had not suddenly lost his mind. He truly had a method.
An astonishing number of Erosion Larvae appeared beneath the skin, all writhing as they traveled through the veins of Ortvin's arm.
Their destination was the wounded wrist submerged in the medicine.
Black fluid suddenly gushed from the bleeding cut. Keldric grimaced and examined it closely.
It was not black liquid at all, but blood teeming with a swarm of Erosion Larvae.
The blood carried the same bluish-green oily sheen Keldric had seen before. With masses of larvae surging through it, the mixture turned murky as filthy dishwater.
The bloodletting could not continue for long. The medicine in the brass basin soon turned pitch-black.
Keldric realized that the fresh medicine did more than draw out the larvae. It also disinfected the wound.
"Hah, haah... Hoo..."
Exhausted, Niccolò lowered the olive branch. The filth in the brass basin went straight into the wooden bucket.
"We can't do this more than once in a day... Hah... As you can see, it is exhausting... and it could also place too much strain on Sir Ortvin."
"Uh... right."
Keldric nodded silently. No one could spend all day doing that.
Still dripping with sweat, Niccolò cleaned Ortvin's wrist, wrapped it in fresh cloth, and finally opened the window. Cool, clean air rushed into the room.
As Keldric watched Niccolò cool himself by the window, a question occurred to him.
"By the way, Niccolò, is it all right to show us the procedure in such detail?"
This was medical knowledge Niccolò had studied professionally at Avalonchene Academia.
It was far more effective than Keldric had expected.
Even Keldric could tell that this was not something most physicians would reveal so freely. Others would gladly pay to watch.
Niccolò showed no such reluctance. Rather than merely letting them watch, he had explained every step in detail.
Niccolò turned toward Keldric, silently caught his breath for a moment, and then spoke.
"There is no benefit in hiding a treatment this useful."
"...I see."
"A complicated disease might be another matter, but I want everyone to know how to treat an illness that can be cured so simply."
Niccolò spoke without affect as he put the herbs away.
Keldric stared at him blankly.
"Sir Keldric, it is not my place to tell you what to do. Even so, I hope you will remember this much."
"What is it?"
"Medicine has value only when it is used to save lives."
"..."
With that, Niccolò fell silent.
Keldric quietly sank into thought.
This was an age of greed and chaos, with little that could truly be called the fruits of civilization.
Even in such an age, people like Niccolò still existed.