Chapter 77
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: A Hostile Welcome
“I don’t know what I was thinking back then. Nor do I care. But if it were me now… if I had to protect you, I think I could abandon everything and leave.”
“……”
“Wouldn’t it have been a similar feeling?”
My mouth fell slightly open.
‘Does he even know what he’s saying right now?’
Having made his declaration, my father nonchalantly turned toward where Eldest Uncle, Uncle, and Gyewon were preparing the meal.
“Ah. It seems the meal is ready. Let’s go.”
I nodded, dazed, and followed after him.
‘…Has he grown to like me that much already? Enough to run away with me?’
* * *
After driving for much longer, we safely arrived in Chemic.
Our destination.
“…Is this really a town where people live?”
Though small, Chemic was a commercial hub, a place many people passed through.
As such, it was normally friendly to outsiders, but the town we arrived in was utterly bleak.
‘…You may enter. I will inform the village chief that a physician from the Heuk family has arrived.’
The guards at the gate also had grim, hardened expressions.
However, they seemed to relax upon seeing our party and the Heuk family crest engraved on the carriage.
‘Besides, it was obvious they mistook Dad or Uncle for the physician, right?’
The Heuk family issues a physician’s pass to any physician they dispatch.
The pass indicates their rank, serving as the Heuk family’s guarantee of the physician’s identity and skill.
But even though I was the one who showed it, they seemed to naturally assume that Dad or Uncle was the physician.
Well, I suppose it can’t be helped.
The town we entered was desolate, with not a single person in sight.
I felt there was nothing strange about it.
“Hey, are you listening? Big bro. Don’t you guys feel anything?”
“Uncwe has nevew seen a town with a pwague befowe.”
“That’s true… but you talk as if you have.”
Heuk Birang frowned, looking at me as if my calm demeanor was strange.
I shrugged.
Of course I have. Many, many times.
The state of a town where a disease has spread is generally the same. Especially if it’s an unknown disease for which no cure has yet been developed.
Before long, we saw a large pit and a fence erected to keep people away from it.
We could also see mounds of freshly turned earth and large lumps covered with straw or cloth.
‘Their response is a complete mess.’
I could tell from this alone.
Not only did this town lack a proper physician…
But even if there was one, they were someone who had no consideration for hygiene and no knowledge of how to respond to an epidemic.
My father stopped walking.
“Are we going further into the town?”
“Huh? Of couwse.”
My father looked displeased.
“Now that you are here, shouldn't the village chief come out himself?”
“Your eldest uncle agrees. There are too many bodies. Little one, shall Eldest Uncle help? One bolt of lightning, and they’ll come running, crying, ‘Ouch, it stings!’”
You can’t be serious, you madman.
“It’s okay. They might be busy cweaning up.”
Soon after, we met someone who had come to greet us.
“Greetings!”
It was a physician wearing the same kind of plague doctor mask Uncle had thrown out of the carriage.
“I received word of your arrival, and I’ve received the supplies as well! I am Koma, an intermediate physician from the lord’s castle, sent by the count who governs the nearby city of Lederick! I’ve been in charge here for the past three months. It’s quite a mess, isn’t it?”
The man, who appeared to be in his late thirties, talked nonstop.
“The patients’ symptoms are so grotesque, it’s best not to even touch them. They’re filthy. You, Physician, will only need to see the ‘special’ patients we’ve carefully selected.”
…What is he talking about? Segregating patients? What’s a physician to do if they don’t diagnose all patients impartially?
Regardless, the physician’s voice was filled with an excessive sense of welcome.
“This is only the third time in my life I’ve seen a physician from the Heuk family, but they all demonstrated incredible abilities. My expectations are high!”
Since the emergence of physicians from the Eastern Continent, the entire medical and treatment system of the Western Continent had changed, and the title ‘Physician’ had been standardized.
He was therefore subtly boasting that he was a state-certified intermediate physician.
‘That bastard Peyman was an intermediate physician, too. And his skills were crap.’
This guy was just like Peyman. The town was a disaster even though he was temporarily in charge of all medical affairs here.
“It is an overwhelming honor to meet a renowned physician from the Heuk family in person. If I may ask, to whom should I report the situation?”
Just as I expected.
This physician also glanced back and forth between my father and my uncle as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
‘For one, Eldest Uncle just looks like a warrior. And his clothes are all unkempt.’
Physicians generally dressed neatly. In that sense, my father and uncle fit the image better.
“I am not a physician.”
“Pardon? Ah, I see. Of course. Then, are you the physician?”
“Hmph, nope.”
I was currently being held in my father’s arms.
For some reason, Heuk Birang, with a proud and dignified expression, took one of my hands and raised it high.
“We’re the underlings. This here is the great physician.”
The intermediate physician’s eyes turned to me.
His goggles were transparent, so I could clearly see the look in his eyes.
A look of surprise, then bewilderment, and finally, anger. I could feel his ridicule and contempt.
“Did I mishear you? Or are you trying to mock me? What I see before me is a mere baby.”
“And?”
“Excuse me?”
The physician inadvertently raised his voice at my father’s calm tone.
My father tapped the physician’s pass I was holding in one hand.
“There’s no law that says a child can’t be a physician. And what’s important is that the pass was shown to you. Which means the person you report to is her.”
“Uh…”
Koma, the intermediate physician, let out a short laugh.
I could hear the sound clearly, a measure of his disbelief. He made no effort to hide his blatant scorn.
“…Are you all insane? What do you mean, a child is a physician? If that kid is a physician, I’ll eat dog crap.”
“……”
“There were rumors the head of the Heuk family had lived too long and gone senile. I see they were true.”
The overwhelming respect he had shown in his initial greeting had vanished without a trace.
“What kind of diagnosis or treatment could that tiny thing possibly perform? The world’s gone to hell, with even the children going mad… Ugh!”
It happened in an instant. The physician was sent flying backward.
*Fwoosh!*
And a torrent of water crashed down on top of him.
The gust of wind that had sent the physician flying was my father’s, and the water was, of course, my uncle’s handiwork.
“Oh, hey. My bad, okay? Physician Heuk Biyu? I saw something dirty and just wanted to wash it off.”
Uncle scratched his neck with an expression that wasn’t the least bit apologetic.
“I simply cleaned up the filth I heard reaching your ears, Physician Heuk Biyu.”
My father retorted even more brazenly. *At least say my name right, old man.*
I scratched my cheek.
‘To be honest, I’m so used to being ignored for being young that I wasn’t even angry…’
I was smiling, feeling strangely pleased, when Eldest Uncle leaned in close. Whoa, that scared me…
“Eldest Uncle held back a little. Using my powers on someone who’s wet would hurt them a lot.”
“…Yes, you did good.”
I looked at the physician who had been sent flying.
He wasn’t unconscious, but he was staring at me with a face full of bewilderment, fear, and still, utter defiance.
‘This whole situation is a mess.’
The epidemic had grown to an unmanageable scale. And that physician was largely to blame.
Having made my judgment, I smiled brightly.
In the past, I had to do everything by myself, so I would have had to kindly persuade even a prejudiced fool like him.
But now, there was no need for that.
‘The situation is more serious than I thought.’
I clapped my hands.
“Okay, okay, my wawyors.”
Why else would I have brought three incredibly strong warriors all the way here?
I pointed at the fallen physician.
“I think we need to scawe him a wittle mowe.”
Let’s start by making him listen.