The Doctor Cured the Villainess and Ran Away

47 – 47. Nurse (2)

Medical center.

A place where the Empire’s top healers gather, consisting of twenty-two chief physicians responsible for the Huangga clan’s healing and about four hundred assistant healers.

As an influential empire, the level of the healers in the medical center is as high as the nation where religion and healing arts first originated.

The physicians’ primary task is to manage the lord, but depending on the lord’s relationships, they also heal high-ranking nobles.

To enhance their skills, lower-ranking healers affiliated with factions carry out assistant duties and general healing tasks for imperial citizens.

The reason the clinic is located on the boundary between the palace grounds and the central square is also because of this.

Based on the city walls, the inner side is an office space, while the outer side is an open area for receiving patients.

It is a kind of welfare policy aimed at bestowing the emperor’s virtue upon the people and strengthening their loyalty.

Of course, money must be paid.

Due to excessive workload, the healers on the frontlines often become overwhelmed.

Claude, who had been working in the clinic for five years, was one of the healers who constantly faced this.

“Healer, please hurry up. Why is it taking so long? I’m a noble from the western region. A marquis, you know?”

“Uh, wait, just a moment…”

Claude anxiously infused more divine power, causing her long bangs to cover her face like a ghost.

The patient receiving healing from her complained, an unpleasant-looking middle-aged man.

“Oh, how frustrating! I expected more from this clinic, but it’s nothing special! I’d be better off entrusting myself to my personal physician!”

Naturally, if there were a personal physician available, there would be no reason to come here.

Normally, rude nobles like this would be a newly ennobled, nouveau-riche case.

Such nobles usually had rough attitudes.

Of course, there were also a plethora of malicious patients.

“Um, excuse me.”

“What do you want?”

Claude fidgeted and closed the scriptures.

“The healing is done… but recently, there’s a rumor about a medicine in the royal palace…”

The man perked up his ears.

“A medicine? I’ve heard rumors. They say something like aspirin is very effective against infectious diseases. But there’s no way to obtain it. Do you happen to have any left?”

“Ugh, no!”

“Then why bother summoning busy people?”

“It’s not aspirin, it’s something different…”

Claude took a small bundle from her pocket. Inside, there were several small round dumplings.

“What is this?”

“It’s, um, a substance that prevents falling ill again after getting sick… Ah, it might cause an upset stomach…”

The man sniffed the dumplings, trying to catch their scent.

“Ah, what is this!”

He was a man who simply threw the pastry.

“It’s rotten bread!”

Claudia hurriedly picked up the pastry and extended a large book.

“The fermentation didn’t go well… but it still has an effect… It’s also mentioned in the ancient texts here, right?”

“Have you ever seen such a crazy woman?”

The nobleman spat out curses and confidently walked into the infirmary.

Claudia held an unrecognizable ancient tome without its cover and pursed her lips.

“Hey, Claudia the healer. Did you do some strange experiment on a patient again?”

A passing colleague healer reprimanded her.

Claudia hung her head low and waved her hands frantically, causing her long hair to flutter like curtains and cover her face.

“I don’t know why someone who should know does this. If they catch you using ‘folk remedies’ or something, the bishop won’t let it pass.”

“Yes, yes…”

Claudia was a healer under Bishop Alberich, the personal physician of Princess Heike.

As influential as Heike’s faction was in the royal court, Alberich’s influence within the infirmary was quite strong.

He was a mainstream healer from the ranks of the bishopric. He always emphasized strictly adhering to the sentences written in the scriptures.

The scriptures stated that our flesh and blood were given by the goddess, so even when injured, one should pray to regain them.

Blinding pain and disregarding faith to use illicit methods only worsened the injuries, it said.

But Claudia’s thoughts were slightly different.

“You can heal with folk remedies…”

Usually, prayer came first, but folk remedies had unknowingly spread among ordinary people who couldn’t afford to visit healers.

“There are many fakes, though…”

Claudia had been searching for traces of genuine folk remedies in ancient texts written before the establishment of the kingdom.

The moldy pastry she had was an item she recreated based on the contents of those texts.

“Aspirin is the real deal.”

The rumor that a simple pastry, called an “aspirin,” could cure infectious diseases was not unfounded.

In fact, many people witnessed the formidable strength of the Moonlight Palace knights who took aspirin and wore masks in martial arts competitions.

“I wonder who Professor Gotthberg is.”

Even within the infirmary, as a low-ranking healer, she couldn’t even speak to the heavenly chief physician.

Throughout the day, amidst tasks and errands, all she could catch glimpses of were distant figures.

“Yes, next patient…”

“Oh my, Master Healer.”

An elderly couple visited Chloe and showed a delighted attitude.

“Oh, hello there.”

“hehehe, we’ve come to see you again. We were thankful last time. Thanks to you, our illnesses improved a lot. Your healing skills are truly the best!”

“Well, it’s just my job…”

Chloe felt embarrassed by the praise and fidgeted awkwardly.

For ordinary people to visit her clinic, they had to make reservations and wait for several months.

Chloe was grateful to the elderly patients who had waited for her for such a long time.

She cast spells with all her sincerity for them.

When the healing was complete, smiles bloomed on the faces of the elderly couple.

“Oh my, thank you always. We’ll see you again in four months. Of course, if we’re still alive, hehehehe! By any chance, do you have any home remedies like the one you told us last time?”

Chloe’s eyes widened in response to the elderly person’s question.

She thrust her face forward and opened a book.

“Well, yes! Here it is. It says that for the recent epidemic, you should eat chicken soup. Oh, have you ever seen people wearing masks on the streets? It’s not just a fashion trend. Doctor Goldberg, a physician, developed it to reduce the chances of getting infected.”

Chloe poured out her words rapidly, as if she had been waiting to say them.

She continued without pausing and bent down to retrieve a box of rice cakes that she had put away earlier.

“And, and! The book also says that if you eat this, it will prevent other illnesses. I tried it myself, and although I had some indigestion…!”

Chloe smiled brightly, her head held high.

Suddenly, a splendid white robe blocked her view.

As she slowly raised her head, a dignified face looked down at her.

“Did the healer in my clinic just mention ‘home remedies’?”

“Oh.”

Chloe sensed that something big had happened and dropped the rice cakes she was holding.

The person standing in front of her was Archbishop Alberic, the leader of her faction.

Alberic wrinkled his face in response to the foul odor wafting through the air.

“That’s why you need to come for regular inspections. This is a mess. You’re fired. Clean up immediately.”

“Uh… Wait, just a moment!”

Chloe couldn’t even utter a single excuse and was dragged away by other healers, gripping her arms.

“Sob, sob, hoo…”

Chloe left the hospital carrying a box with tears like chicken droppings streaming down her face.

“I lasted longer than I expected. It was strange that it didn’t break earlier.”

“That’s because you’ve been in the field for five years. It’s good that you’re out. There’s a position open in Bishop’s faction. Should I apply?”

She didn’t hear the other healers teasing her.

It was sad for Chloe to think that she wouldn’t be able to see patients anymore. If she could be fired so easily from a hospital with guaranteed future, she must be at the lowest level. No one would come to her seeking healing. Maybe she would accept some adventurers with urgent needs.

“What’s wrong with folk remedies? They are extremely crucial for people who cannot afford expensive medical treatments.”

Chloe looked into the box at the ancient texts.

She had borrowed them from the royal library. There were plenty of strange books in there. Even though the deadline had passed by, the library hadn’t contacted her.

Or maybe librarians like me have already been fired.

If she was fired from the palace, where would she go?

As Chloe was lost in thought, she bumped into another shadow that appeared before her. It was a white coat this time.

She remembered her mother always telling her to keep her head up while walking. She almost collided with the person.

“Keep your head up. You’ll get a stiff neck.”

Chloe raised her gaze slightly at the rather casual tone and looked at the speaker.

“Oh my.”

She breathed in unconsciously.

There was a dignified person she had only seen from afar, walking around the hospital with his escort knights.

“Korbač, sir…!”

“Who’s that?”

She made a rude mistake at first sight and bit her tongue in surprise.

Las Gotberg picked up a book from Chloe’s luggage.

“It’s definitely on the list, but it was

“Hm, do you know what this is?”

“Hmm.”

Ras suddenly leaned his face towards Cloe.

Cloe froze upon seeing his face. It felt as though her heart had stopped along with her breath.

He made a proposal to Cloe.

“You, become a nurse.”

***

“You, become a nurse.”

“Uh, um, um, um.”

Upon hearing my proposition, Cloe’s legs gave out and she fell to the ground.

I decided to wait until she recovered.

I checked the library’s rental list for the name Cloe and searched for her.

There were only ten people in the kingdom with the name Cloe.

It was a struggle to find her as there were no identification cards, and I had to search through the registers of each palace.

The book was about a rare folk medicine method in this world.

Although it wasn’t entirely nonexistent, there was a folk medicine practice that heavily relied on healing techniques.

The problem was that there were only a few accurate ones, which actually undermined the trust in modern medicine.

For example, there was a false folk remedy that claimed slapping your hand when you have a stomachache would make it better.

When you have a stomachache, you should take antacids.

As folk remedies that could cultivate medical thinking had no effect, the cycle of relying on healing techniques repeated.

“N-Nurse… What, what is that?”

“In simple terms, my personal assistant.”

“J-Jiksook.”

Cloe immediately bowed deeply towards me.

“A-Ap… I-I’ll, I’ll become a nurse for you…!”

Did she just sneeze in the middle?

I think I chose the wrong person.

She even tried cultivating blue mold, according to the folk medicine book.

It is the ingredient for penicillin, the first antibiotic.

Because of that, I was considering giving her a high score and making her a nurse, but she turned out to be a scatterbrain.

Well, considering my age, she is probably older than me.

If I teach her, she might be useful.

“Then, Cloro, let’s start with education.”

“Education? Oh.”

“Yeah. I’ll teach you everything from how to draw the princess’s blood when I’m not around.”

Cloro’s mouth formed a perfect circle, like a goldfish.

“…Your Highness Princess Asela?”

“Yeah. Your Highness Princess Asela.”

“We draw blood?”

“We have to. Quickly.”

Oh my, she seems so happy that she could cry.

I feel proud of myself.