Chapter 77
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Miracle, or Fortuitous Encounter (2)
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“This is the first time I’ve seen a case like this.”
The doctor raised his head.
His face was filled with a bewildered expression.
“The heart isn’t beating at all. That should mean death is inevitable. No, he should already be dead. Yet he’s alive. Even breathing...”
“Perfectly fine, right?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd lay on the sickbed.
The doctor’s gaze upon him seemed filled with confusion beyond mere bewilderment.
It was understandable.
A stopped heart naturally meant death. No, it was a law of nature.
Yet here was an exception right before their eyes.
At first, they thought he might be undead. Or perhaps a fresh zombie made from a newly deceased corpse.
But no.
This patient was unmistakably alive!
A bitter smile crept onto the count’s lips.
“Could you explain in more detail?”
“Ah, yes.”
The doctor wiped his half-bald head with a handkerchief.
His explanation continued.
“As you know, my lord count, the heart is the organ that supplies blood throughout the body. So when it stops, the pulse stops. Death follows. But this patient right now...”
“Right now?”
“His pulse is beating. Even though his heart has stopped.”
The doctor’s words continued.
“That’s not all. He’s breathing too. He has a slight fever, but his body temperature is more or less normal. That’s why it’s even harder to understand. Has this patient received any magical treatment separately, by any chance?”
“No, nothing like that.”
The count shook his head.
The night of the disaster summoned by the Gigatitan.
Lloyd, who had collapsed that day, hadn’t received proper treatment since.
No, more accurately, there hadn’t been any suitable method to treat him.
‘No one even dared to try.’
Lloyd’s condition was truly bizarre.
His heart wasn’t beating.
Yet his pulse was fine.
His breathing continued peacefully.
Thanks to that, every doctor summoned had diagnosed him, only to panic, freak out, and be stunned.
Today was no different.
“Actually, before calling you, I summoned other doctors. You’re the eleventh.”
“......”
“They all reacted the same as you. They couldn’t identify the cause, and naturally couldn’t suggest a treatment. Are you the same?”
“I...”
“Be honest. It’s such an bizarre situation that no one would blame your skills.”
“I’m sorry.”
“As expected.”
“Yes. It’s my first time seeing a patient like this, so...”
“It’s fine. You’ve come a long way—thank you for your efforts. Go on. The chief steward will handle your travel expenses and compensation.”
“Understood. Then I’ll take my leave.”
In the end, even the eleventh doctor hastily withdrew.
Creemo Count’s expression darkened.
‘Are we unable to find a way to wake this young man like this?’
Lloyd Frontera lay on the sickbed.
He was a talent the count absolutely did not want to lose.
On the night of the disaster.
Recalling the grace he had received that day made it even more so.
‘Countless citizens owe their lives to that young man. I’m no exception. Without him, could I be unscathed like this now?’
It would have been impossible without Lloyd’s ingenuity.
The clipper he’d been on would have been caught in the Gigatitan’s attack.
He himself, and even his only daughter, would have lost their lives.
Just thinking about it was horrifying.
He shook off the chills and turned his gaze.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“I’m fine.”
The count’s gaze turned to the corner of the sickroom.
There, a silver-haired knight who had been silently keeping watch shook his head faintly.
The count’s bitter smile deepened.
“I hear you haven’t fully recovered yet either.”
“I have enough strength to protect Lord Lloyd.”
“Impressive.”
“You flatter me.”
In truth, Haviel still had a splint on his left arm.
The day he’d taken a direct hit from the Gigatitan’s foreleg.
The arm injured then hadn’t healed yet.
“I can manage fine with just my right arm.”
“But you’ve been staying up for four days straight, haven’t you?”
“I suffer from insomnia anyway.”
“Swordmaster syndrome?”
“Yes, probably.”
Haviel nodded.
He hadn’t known before. But now, thanks to Lloyd, he had some understanding of the insomnia he suffered from.
“To already have that syndrome at your age. Impressive.”
“It’s thanks to my liege lord’s deep care.”
“Baron Frontera?”
“Yes.”
“I envy him.”
“If you wish, I can relay those words to my liege.”
“No, never mind.”
The count waved his hand.
“What a stiff fellow you are. If you said that, the baron would be shocked. I’m not the type to covet a subordinate’s retainer. I don’t want any misunderstandings like that. However—”
A meaningful glint appeared in the count’s eyes.
“No matter how this resolves, you might find yourself a bit busier soon.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her Majesty the Queen.”
The count continued.
“I have to report this incident to Her Majesty anyway. All land in this country falls under her grace, after all. So naturally, your group’s story can’t be omitted.”
“......”
Haviel’s head nodded faintly.
It was only natural, in fact.
He had stepped forward to hold back the Gigatitan’s legs.
Then Lloyd had followed up and finished it off.
It was a fact impossible to hide.
“Her Majesty will likely take great interest in you all. In any case, what we can hope for now is that this fellow wakes up unscathed. Even Her Majesty wouldn’t want a talent like him to close his eyes like this.”
“I agree.”
“Well, I’ve prattled on too long. I’ll take my leave. Tomorrow at this time, I’ll bring another doctor.”
“Understood.”
“If you get tired, call someone. My knights can guard him well too.”
“Understood.”
“That fellow’s so rigid.”
“Thank you.”
The count chuckled heartily.
With one last worried glance at Lloyd on the sickbed, he left the room.
Now, only Lloyd and Haviel remained in the sickroom.
“Haa.”
Only then did the suppressed sigh escape.
He cast a complicated gaze, hidden until now, toward the sickbed.
‘Are you alright, Lord Lloyd?’
Lloyd lay on the sickbed as if asleep.
Haviel’s blue eyes grew troubled as he looked at him.
Suddenly, yesterday’s events came to mind.
After the tenth doctor had left.
Just like the others, that doctor hadn’t been able to grasp Lloyd’s condition.
Watching had felt suffocating.
That’s why.
In the time alone with Lloyd.
He’d checked Lloyd’s condition in secret, away from others.
Unlike the doctors, using mana—his own method.
Yet what he’d discerned was truly shocking.
‘He’d reached the triple circle stage.’
He’d felt it the moment he input mana for diagnosis.
Three circles enveloped Lloyd’s heart.
Until recently, Lloyd had been at the double circle stage, but in the time he’d collapsed against the Gigatitan, he’d formed a triple circle.
The astonishment didn’t end there.
‘Those three circles were rotating at an insane speed.’
A speed beyond common sense.
Approaching the limit of the Asrahan Heart Method’s rotation.
Thanks to that, a powerful mana field enveloped the heart entirely.
He couldn’t peer inside the circles. Couldn’t glimpse the heart’s state. Couldn’t even guess what was happening.
That wasn’t the only bizarre thing.
‘Two days ago, when I examined the Gigatitan’s corpse... it was even worse.’
He could still vividly recall it.
The Gigatitan’s massive corpse collapsed on the coastal rock cliff.
He’d participated in the inspection team examining the body.
Thanks to that, he’d clearly seen the fatal wounds carved into the monster’s body.
Between armor plate 11 and 12.
The weak point Lloyd had mentioned.
A massive hole had been blasted there.
He knew at once.
Traces of blasting.
That made it even harder to understand.
‘The scale and power of that blast... it was nothing like what I knew.’
A scale beyond reason.
Power at a deranged level.
Torch and candle.
Cannonball and marble.
Comparing that blast to his own felt like that level of difference.
The more he examined, the more shocked he became.
But one fact was certain.
The one who’d unleashed that deranged blast was Lloyd.
‘How on earth...’
There seemed to be some connection between that insane blast and Lloyd’s current state.
But the details remained unknown.
‘What exactly happened that day, Lord Lloyd?’
Haviel cast a gaze filled with deep doubt and worry.
But Lloyd on the sickbed gave no answer. His steady breathing was his only response.
As Haviel watched, the winter sunlight silently slanted across the quiet sickroom.
Of course, Haviel had no idea.
At this very moment he watched.
An unprecedented miracle-like fortuitous encounter was budding within Lloyd.
♣
Thump. Thump.
Lloyd’s heart beat.
No, mana beat.
His heart remained stopped.
Naturally.
Days ago, his heart had taken a massive shock.
Exposed to the blast’s impact without circle protection.
Not even an ordinary blast, but one from three colliding circles.
The ferocious collision’s force had struck the heart directly.
If it had been Haviel or another knight, it would have been instant death—an immense damage.
But Lloyd was different.
He didn’t die.
His heart didn’t burst.
The Mana Heart within didn’t explode.
The reason was simple.
He had no Mana Heart.
Thump, thump...
Lloyd still hadn’t formed a Mana Heart.
It had been that way since preparing for his duel with Sir Neumann.
He had no Mana Heart.
To be precise, he hadn’t had time to form one.
Mana Hearts weren’t something anyone could easily create.
Forming one required immense time and effort.
Even geniuses of the century needed at least six months.
Prodigies called “talents” took about two years.
Ordinary people, even more so.
Fastest around five years.
Those lacking aptitude, over ten.
Naturally, Lloyd wasn’t a genius or prodigy.
He’d simply learned the Asrahan cultivation method hastily for the duel with Sir Neumann.
After mastering it, he’d felt that was sufficient.
He hadn’t obsessed over forming a Mana Heart.
So he had none.
Unlike the flashy array of mana circles grandly encircling his heart, its interior was just like an ordinary person’s—perfectly normal.
That fact had saved him.
The mana circles had protected his life from the collision they caused.
Thud... Thud...
Mana Hearts weren’t natural in the human body to begin with.
They were concentrations of mana far exceeding natural amounts, forcibly packed into the heart through artificial training for greater power—that was their essence.
But Lloyd had none.
In mana terms, his heart was nearly empty space.
No Mana Heart to burst.
Just empty space.
Instead, the blast’s shock filled that space.
Explosive power filled and compressed it.
In compressing, it generated a core, a nucleus of unique properties.
Mana storms reconfigured around that nucleus, taking root inside the heart.
Slowly.
Languidly.
But surely.
Thud...! Boom!
Within the three fiercely rotating circles, a new, unprecedented form of Mana Heart was being born.
♣
Days passed.
In that time, the trading city of Creemo had settled down considerably.
Everyone worked to recover from the disaster’s aftermath.
Repairs to the destroyed central plaza were complete.
Collapsed and ruined buildings and bell towers had been roughly cleared.
Outpost 23, blasted away, had been rebuilt, and most of the injured had risen from their beds.
Various rumors circulated in the city during that time.
Some said a person had rescued those from the shattered clipper sunk by the Gigatitan’s attack. Others claimed one man had summoned a beast to extinguish the fires spreading near the plaza.
And some said a man had fought the Gigatitan. Another rumor held that the man had repelled it at the fight’s end, falling into a coma as a result.
Rumors spread like that.
Spreading, they pieced together like a puzzle.
Naturally, the truth emerged bit by bit.
The one who saved those from the sea and the one who quelled the fires were the same. The fire quencher and the Gigatitan fighter were one. He’d slain the Gigatitan and now lay between life and death.
At last, everyone knew.
Lloyd Frontera.
He had done it.
Thanks to him, all were safe.
From the day they learned that.
One by one, citizens gathered in the city plaza.
Their purpose was one.
Their wish was one.
“Why gather in this freezing weather? Obviously. Lloyd Frontera saved my life. We want him to live.”
And so they gathered.
Undeterred by the harsh midwinter winds.
The citizens’ fervent wish for Lloyd’s recovery burned hotter than the biting gale.
They prayed and sang as one.
They saw it as repayment to the man who sacrificed for the city.
Another ten days passed like that.
The last day of the year dawned.
On that day of unusually cold winds.
At last, as all wished, Lloyd opened his eyes.
[You have saved countless people from disaster through sacrifice, courage, and leading by example. The citizens of the trading city Creemo are deeply moved by your noble deeds.]
[A massive bonus is granted for this great social achievement.]
[To view bonus details, select ‘here’.]
[You have survived the triple blast’s impact. Through this unique experience, you have acquired a Mana Heart of unique properties.]
[Mana Heart skill has awakened.]
[To view skill details, select ‘here’.]