Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Incurable Wound (2)
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As soon as I entered the hospital building, a nurse waiting at the entrance took hold of my wheelchair and headed toward the ICU.
Theodore followed me for a few steps before being stopped by another nurse.
“……”
“The ICU does not allow visitors.”
“It’s the ICU?”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Theodore.”
I waved to Theodore, who stood frozen in the entrance with a bewildered expression on his face.
Theodore remained rooted to the spot, his eyes tracking me until I disappeared down the hallway.
‘Sure, it doesn’t look like I need the ICU anymore.’
But what could I do if that was the hospital’s procedure?
It wasn’t entirely without its oddities, but even Sir Reynolds, who was practically my guardian on Hazard Island, hadn’t approved my discharge. I wasn’t sure if someone who left students to their own devices like this and ignored every request could truly be called a guardian.
“Executor—”
Ms. Collette called me Executor without hesitation inside the hospital.
She was bustling back and forth in the ICU, pulling a cart loaded with medical tools, when she parked it to one side of the hallway and took over my wheelchair.
“You just missed each other by a hair. Cadet Shirley Spencer came to visit, but you didn’t get to see her, did you?”
“Oh, Shirley…”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Shirley since the day before the Full Moon Festival.
Now that I could go out, I could visit her myself, but Theodore’s situation was so urgent that I hadn’t had the time.
“Well, there’ll be plenty of chances. Father’s on his way. Shall we go into the room and wait?”
“Understood.”
No other cadets were admitted to the ICU besides me, so every time we moved, the empty space echoed hollowly.
That made sense—usually, if someone fell that gravely ill, a dispatched priest from the mainland would arrive for immediate treatment, or they’d return to the mainland without waiting.
Opportunities to be admitted to the ICU were rare, and even then, multiple people weren’t admitted at the same time.
“I hope this time there’s real progress.”
Ms. Collette whispered as she helped me onto the bed.
“I agree. It doesn’t sit right with me to keep burdening others any longer.”
“Burdening us?”
Had I said something wrong?
Ms. Collette fell silent at my words, not responding right away.
After an awkward pause, she finally spoke again.
“……Helping you is our honor.”
“…Our?”
“Ah, well, of course—”
Ms. Collette was slowly pulling the blanket up to my chest and opening her mouth to explain when—
*Knock knock knock.*
“Oh, looks like he’s here.”
The door opened to reveal a dispatched priest dressed in a white cassock with a red cincture, carrying a ritual kit in one hand.
A visitor I should have been glad to see had turned into an unwelcome intruder.
My chance to question Ms. Collette about everything had slipped away pointlessly.
‘She doesn’t seem inclined to revisit that conversation.’
Until now, Ms. Collette had never referred to herself as part of a group.
She had probably let it slip because I, whom she believed without doubt to be a saint, had spoken of burdening them.
Oblivious to my thoughts, the priest gazed at me with a kindly expression.
“Cadet Arma Cruise?”
“Hello. I’m Arma Cruise.”
“May grace be upon you.”
“……”
As always, I responded to the priest’s courteous greeting by deeply bowing my head.
“Then, let’s take a look.”
At the priest’s words, Ms. Collette removed the bandages from my feet.
They revealed skin hideously peeled away, exposing pink flesh beneath.
The priest laid out his tools from the ritual kit on a velvet cloth he had brought and lit a beeswax candle.
“Healing with divine power has had no effect at all?”
“Not entirely, but for now, yes. At least in Black Lily Class, no cadet could heal Cadet Arma Cruise.”
“Even with Cadet Makina Christie there, no improvement?”
“That’s right. As you can see, it only helped restore some vitality.”
“I see. Let’s have a look.”
The priest began ringing a small baptismal bell.
It was a soothing sound that somehow made me drowsy.
I forced my heavy eyelids open and focused on the priest’s words.
“Believing that the Lord watches over us… .”
Of course, the result was failure.
“The Lord—”
Unable to accept it, the priest repeated the same actions several times.
‘As expected, no good.’
Even if this priest wasn’t the best at handling divine power, over a dozen cadets had tried treating me.
It didn’t seem likely that treatments they had all failed at would succeed now.
Just as in the days when magic use was banned at the academy, I’d have to rely on my own healing rather than divine power.
“This can’t be.”
No matter what I was thinking, the priest, focused on the treatment, let out a small sigh.
Sweat was now beading on his forehead.
It started to feel wrong to exhaust an elderly man in his sixties like this.
Feeling guilty, I rolled only my eyes around and happened to glance at my hand resting on my lap.
‘Hm…’
In that moment, I discovered something astonishing.
And realized this treatment needed to stop.
“Father.”
I called out to the priest, who was groaning over my exposed feet, focused on the wound.
But with a frustrated expression, he insisted, “Just one more time, one more time,” clinging to my feet and chanting healing spells repeatedly.
“Please don’t push yourself.”
Ms. Collette hovered nearby with a worried look at my words.
I reached out my hand to Ms. Collette, who was circling around.
Unsure what was happening, she stared at my gesture for a moment before belatedly handing me the handkerchief she was holding.
“Father, your complexion has worsened considerably.”
I said as I wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.
“J-just one more time…”
Evidently quite confident in his healing magic, the priest was reluctant to give up.
“Father.”
The thought of this elderly man possibly collapsing in front of me terrified me.
So I twisted my body, pulling my burned foot away from the bed’s edge, and grabbed the priest’s hand as it hovered in the air.
“It seems the mercy bestowed by the Lord today has gone to someone else in greater need.”
“No, in my entire life, that’s never…”
Was it pride? Or guilt over failing to heal me?
Either way, I had to end this treatment.
So I stroked the back of the priest’s hand, still pressed to my wound and channeling divine power, and said,
“The mercy that must be equal to all shouldn’t be poured solely onto me. I’m satisfied with this. Truly.”
I crafted the gentlest voice possible, and even to my own ears, the words and smile sounded convincing enough.
My mother’s special training hadn’t awakened any merchant talents in me, but as a member of the Cruise family, I could handle the basics.
“That’s— I mean…”
The priest stammered, looking at me.
His fatigued, slightly unfocused eyes and expression were pitiable.
I mustered the softest smile imaginable.
Ms. Collette, who had been watching, quickly backed me up.
“Yes, exactly. Executor, your complexion has improved so much. You’ll be better in no time.”
I seized the opportunity and desperately soothed the priest to send him away.
“With everything I’ve been through in such a short time— ah, you must have heard about my misfortunes? Yes, because of those, I’ve received too many blessings. That must be why.”
“I have heard that frequent exposure to blessings can diminish their healing effects, but even so, this…”
“Yes, precisely that case. Don’t waste Lord Aegis’s power on an unlucky soul like me. There must be divine providence in this as well.”
When I brought out “divine providence,” the priest finally nodded, seemingly agreeing with me sincerely.
Slowed by exhaustion, he sluggishly rang the bell and extinguished the lit candle.
Then he cleaned the used ritual items and packed them back into the kit one by one.
And with that, the visit ended.
“Whew… I suppose we’ll have to leave it to time now.”
“Exactly, Executor. All of this is divine providence.”
“……”
It had just been a throwaway line to defuse the situation, but Ms. Collette seemed deeply impressed.
“Father Christopher must have been moved too.”
“Hahaha… I doubt it.”
I didn’t want to influence the noble life of a devout priest in any way.
But despite my words, Ms. Collette shook her head with flushed cheeks, gazing at me steadily.
“The pain of burns is among the most intense pains one can feel while alive. Yet I’ve never heard you scream once while changing your bandages.”
“It’s because you’re so skilled.”
More like I’d grown accustomed to the pain, or gotten the knack for enduring it.
But Ms. Collette stuck to her conviction.
“A saint’s nobility comes from endurance. I know the path you walk is one of such endurance.”
“Hahaha… Whew…”
Such reverence should go to someone truly worthy.
There was nothing I could do but give a wry smile.
I asked Ms. Collette to change my bandages and then to leave me alone.
Thinking I was greatly disheartened, she offered a few words of comfort before leaving with the priest.
*Click.*
The door finally closed.
It had been afternoon when the priest arrived, but now it was growing dark outside the window.
I stared at the door for a long while, confirming no one was there, then rolled up my sleeve and looked down at my arm.
“The bracelet’s color…”
At some point, the bracelet had turned red again.
Moreover, it was even losing its luster.
Gone was the initial iridescent silver shine; now it looked rusted and faded, as if the bracelet alone had weathered the storms of time.
“Haaaah…”
I leaned back, pressing the hollow at the base of my skull against the protruding end of the bed frame.
Rubbing it like a massage eased my anxiety and fatigue somewhat.
‘Who should I consult about magical artifacts?’
Only one person came to mind.
Theodore White.
‘Am I using Theodore again?’
My heart felt complicated.
Theodore’s mind was already full with his own troubles; I worried I’d just be adding to his burdens unnecessarily.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. Am I dragging him into a trap, or are we both already trapped?”
Giving up on thinking, I fiddled with the bracelet idly until I finally drifted off to sleep.