She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

LED BY THE YOUNG MAN, Mira descended the fortress’s hidden staircase. They arrived in an underground room filled with more hunters. 

Although the space was clearly lived in, it was by no means lively. Some people wept, others sat in quiet resolve, and others still hid their fear and tried to rally their comrades. However they showed it, all despaired.

There were around twenty people present, including the injured and the people attending them. Almost no one reacted to Mira’s entrance; they simply kept their eyes down. The dim firelight worsened the gloomy mood.

The air feels so heavy in here.

One hunter looked up at Mira. His eyes were like a dead man’s as he muttered something and slumped back down. Mira surveyed the room again, in all its eeriness, and forced a smile.

“How’s Melissa doing, Old Dran?” the young man asked an older fellow looking after a few injured folks in the corner of the room.

“Is that you, Latry?” the man asked. “She isn’t well… How are the walls? Are the repairs done?” As the old man turned, Mira saw that fatigue was heavy on his face. No doubt he had taken on the role of caregiver due to some meager amount of medical knowledge.

“Not yet. Anyway, this girl—er, Mira—wants to see how Melissa is doing. Show her, please.” The younger man, Latry, backed off to let Mira step forward. She took his place and bowed slightly to the old man.

“Aren’t you a pretty young lady? What are you doing in a place like this, and now, of all times?” Dran smiled vaguely at Mira, but it didn’t reach his pained eyes. He could tell that she had come from outside the fortress. With the monsters patrolling, she would have no way to escape now, so Dran had the grim realization that she was just as doomed as the rest of them.

Mira had a different outlook.

“Mira flew in by way of Pegasus. She’ll be able to fly away from here.” Latry was facing death too—but unlike the others in the fortress, he had hope in his eyes. His words stirred some of the despondent people for the first time since he and Mira had entered the room. “I’ve explained everything to her. We’re going to have her carry Melissa out. If Mira can get her to the Medical Guild, they’re sure to save her.”

Latry circled around Dran and took the hand of a woman—evidently Melissa—who lay on the floor.

“Maybe so, but…” Dran hesitated, his pain evident. Even someone with no medical experience could tell that Melissa was in bad shape. One might wonder if she would even survive the night.

“This is worse than I expected,” Mira said. She wanted to look away, but she crouched next to Melissa and confirmed that the woman was still breathing.

“Please take her. Even if you don’t make it in time…at least her family could see her again.” Latry bowed deeply, still holding Melissa’s hand.

Just then, a large man walked over to Mira. His arm seemed to be injured, since it was covered in a blood-soaked cloth. He was pale, but there was still life in his eyes.

“Hey, you. I hear you can fly,” the man said and knelt. “I’d like to ask you to help her too. Melissa acted as bait while the rest of us got away. We owe her our lives.”

The deep wound Melissa had suffered required rare, expensive medicine to heal. Though Dran and the other hunters had some other medicine, none was powerful enough to help Melissa. Her injuries remained potentially fatal.

The man glared at an empty vial lying in the corner. Then he bowed his head and added, “If we’re all going to die, that is the least we can do to repay her bravery.”

There was a murmur of disagreement among the others, and one of them spoke up.

“Bard, I understand how you feel,” the slender man said carefully. “But if we want to honor Melissa’s sacrifice, shouldn’t we do whatever guarantees the most survivors? We have a way to fly now. I think we need to get everyone who can still move out of those monsters’ detection range before they come for us tonight.” His voice was grief-stricken, despite being that of the silent majority.

“How could you?!” Bard glowered at the others furiously before swallowing his rage. If they bet on taking Melissa to the closest village, nighttime would come before Mira’s return. Instead of rescuing Melissa, who might not even live, one might say it would be wiser to have Mira do whatever it took to ensure the other hunters survived. Bard couldn’t blame them for thinking pragmatically, even if his heart wished otherwise.

“Hrmm. The medicine didn’t work well, you say?” Mira’s eyes were fixed on Melissa, whose breathing was so feeble that it seemed ready to stop at any moment. Bard had explained the medicine situation, and something about it stuck out in her mind.

When this had all been a game, players could use cheap medicine to rally back to full health. The changes to the gameplay Mira was used to never seemed to stop coming. Still, she opened her Item Box and checked how much medicine she had on hand.

Hrmm. Come to think of it… A grin spread across her face. Oh ho ho! Looks like I’ve still got a small fortune here! Only just got it all too.

In Mira’s Item Box were nearly a thousand panaceas of either the highest, or nearly the highest, quality. Many years ago, she’d ordered this heaping helping of medicine from a friend who had styled themself a master of alchemy.

At the time, Danblf had been planning to solo-clear quests meant for parties. But then Danblf became Mira, and thirty years passed by before that plan could be realized.

Mira returned her attention to Melissa. She had a hunch about why the hunters’ medicines had not healed her. She decided to check the stricken woman’s status with her player-exclusive capability to make sure.

Upon checking the status window that appeared, she saw that her instinct was correct. “I thought as much. But why?” This raised another question: how come Melissa was afflicted with the crippling poison condition?

“Hm? What’ve you figured out?” Latry asked, unnerved by Mira’s mumbled musings.

Silence fell upon the underground chamber as the rest of the group listened to Mira offer a quick explanation.

“It seems that Melissa is suffering from crippling poison,” she said. When one was afflicted with crippling poison, it dramatically reduced all the healing they received, including natural recovery. Even high-quality restorative medicine had barely any effect, so healing Melissa would require specialized medicine or magic. Mira wrapped up her lecture by noting the strangest factor of all. “But…there shouldn’t be any carriers of crippling poison on this continent.”

A strait separated the enormous continent of Ark to the far west from their home continent of Earth. Players often called Ark “the frontier continent,” and many player-made nations had expanded there. Some monsters in Ark carried crippling poison, but for them to spawn in the Forest of the Devout was unthinkable under normal conditions.

“What do we do about it?” Landry demanded in astonishment and grief. He clenched Melissa’s hand in prayer.

Would the Medical Guild even have the antidote necessary to cure a condition not found on this continent? Would they have a mage who knew how to treat it? The more Mira thought about it, the more hopeless it all seemed.

Dran was lost for words, and Bard looked down sadly. Even the slender man, who should have had even more reason to abandon her, stood wordlessly.

Nobody dared object to Mira’s diagnosis; it fit Melissa’s condition perfectly. Furthermore, the monster that had attacked Melissa clearly was not indigenous to the Forest of the Devout, and the hunters knew nothing of its abilities. Nobody could refute Mira’s claim, since the arrival of a monster from Ark was plausible, if unexpected.

A new gloom spread through the assembled hunters as their tiny ember of hope began to fade.

“Well, now that we know the cause, Melissa’s condition is much easier to treat,” Mira said casually, ignorant of the hunters’ swirling despair.

That much was obvious to her. Latry had explained that the Medical Guild didn’t just use medicine; they used healing magic. And if Mira knew anything, she knew magic. That was why she had come to check on the girl, after all—at no point had she planned to put a heavily wounded person on Pegasus’s back.

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Latry sputtered in surprise and anger.

Mira formed a rosary summoning circle on the floor. “Observe,” she said to the flabbergasted hunter, smiling, as the magic circle floated.

From your coil come,

Pure-white healer.

[Evocation: Asclepius]

Following Mira’s short incantation, the summoning magic activated. Imbued with her mana, the magic circle glowed dimly and formed a ball of white light that uncoiled into a glowing white snake.

The meter-long serpent, known as Asclepius, undulated its way up Mira’s body and wrapped around her arm. Even though it assumed a strange avatar, Asclepius was a reliable ally with eminent prowess in all the healing magics. It raised its head slightly and looked Melissa up and down.

“Forgive Asclepius’s bedside manner,” Mira grumbled. Despite not having seen Mira in thirty years, the snake ignored all pleasantries and simply examined the patient.

“Goodness. Summoning magic?” Seeing the snake emerge from the magic circle, the older hunter gawked in surprise. He had seen summoning magic a long, long time ago.

The younger hunters simply frowned and whispered to each other. Many sounded disappointed that the poorly regarded discipline of summoning held their friend’s life in its hands. Just what could a single white snake do?

At least Alfail appreciated my magic. This is just sad. Mira sighed and refocused on improving the situation.

“Er, you said Melissa is ‘much easier to treat’ now. Mind telling us what you mean by that?” Latry asked, keeping a wary eye on Asclepius as it drew closer to Melissa. His voice had a pleading edge.

“Ah, apologies,” Mira replied. “It’s simple; all we have to do is extract the poison and heal her.”

“Heal her? With a snake?” Latry gazed at Asclepius timidly. The snake had completed its diagnosis and turned to face Mira, awaiting her orders.

“The snake is a fantastic doctor. Just stay calm and watch.” Mira decided showing was faster than telling and directed Asclepius to treat Melissa. The snake glowed with white light, then struck. Its fangs sank into Melissa’s neck.

“Hey!” Latry shouted, lunging at the serpent. However, Dran was faster and seized his wrist. Bard and the other hunters shouted, unable to see what was going on.

“Don’t you want to save her?!” Dran shouted as he pulled Latry back. His voice echoed through the underground chamber, causing the younger folk to quiet down. “This will do the trick. Don’t worry.”

Slowly, the panic subsided, and a hush fell over the room. Seconds passed. Then minutes. Everyone watched with bated breath.

After three minutes, a change finally occurred: Melissa’s pained, ragged breathing calmed, and peace found its way onto her face.

“Melissa…” Latry stroked her cheek. Some of its flush had now returned.

A few minutes later, Asclepius removed its fangs from Melissa’s neck and returned to Mira’s arm.

“Well done, friend,” Mira told Asclepius. In response, it slithered to her neck and coiled itself like a scarf, then rubbed its snout against her cheek. “I must’ve worried you too. Don’t worry; I’m not leaving again.” Mira petted the snake as she spoke.

Asclepius responded with a happy-sounding click of the throat.

While Mira cuddled her summon, the hunters gazed in worry at Melissa. Was she truly okay? Was this actually healing? Could they trust Mira? Though the situation seemed to be improving, lingering tension remained.

Then Melissa—once so wounded that she might not see tomorrow—opened her eyes and sat up.

“Melissa! A-are you okay?!” With confusion and worry etched across his face, Latry put an arm around Melissa to support her. The gathered hunters felt both anticipation and unease as they leaned forward to see. Many could not believe their eyes.

“How strange… The pain is all gone. Am I finally dying?” Melissa spoke softly as she gazed at the ceiling. A teaching of the widespread Church of the Trinity held that, in the last moments before death, all one’s pain disappeared. She lay back down and closed her eyes.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Latry asked Mira pleadingly, his voice trembling as if he was about to cry. The image of Melissa on death’s door wouldn’t leave his mind, and a wave of pent-up despair crashed over him.

“You shouldn’t have any problems now. If anything, you should remove her bandages and check her wounds,” Mira replied. She pointed at the blood-soaked bandage on the huntress’s arm as if to emphasize the point—if anyone was still in doubt, they could look for themselves.

Latry nodded and began to undo the bandages as the crowd watched in rapt silence. Melissa’s now-bare skin had not a single scar, let alone wounds. Only the bloodstains remained as a horrifying reminder of how close she had come to death. 

At a glance, Melissa still looked frail and ephemeral, but only her stamina was drained.

“No way! She’s healed!” Latry exclaimed. He undid her other bandages, revealing that the other wounds had disappeared as well.

Shock turned to joy. Following Latry’s lead, the other hunters closed in and demanded to see, scrutinizing Melissa’s skin. Her body, formerly so badly beaten that one could hardly bear to look, was whole again.

“Stop staring, boys!” shouted one of the women, causing the men to scurry away.

Latry had stripped Melissa half naked. He now sat there, crying over the bandages in his hands. The ladies didn’t dare chase him away with the other men; they simply patted his back and consoled him.

As for the men, they picked themselves up and rejoiced at Melissa’s safety. Mira side-eyed them and finally relaxed her stiff shoulders. It seemed she had reflexively tightened up, lumping herself in with the men, when the woman yelled.

I am fine. I am a cute girl, she reassured herself. Nobody would ever suspect me.

“Yes, indeedy,” she mumbled, touching Melissa’s skin under the pretense of examination—though her intentions may have been less than pure.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on, but that snake did something, right? And it saved Melissa?” Latry asked, rubbing his eyes frantically with his arm. He wanted a guarantee that Melissa was truly okay now.

Mira pulled her hand back and stood up straight. She quickly cleared her throat and explained, “Hrmm, yes. There’s nothing to worry about. This little snake has the power to heal. However, it only removed the poison and mended Melissa’s wounds. Given her blood loss, she’s still low on stamina. Allow her ample food and rest so that she recovers.”

“I-I had no idea summoning could heal people, too… Thank you so much. Melissa and I are…really close friends.” Latry gazed at Mira and Asclepius before bowing deeply. Then he collapsed in heartfelt relief, took Melissa’s hand, and repeated “Thank goodness” over and over. Next to him, Melissa slept. Her breathing sounded truly comfortable.

“It’s my first time seeing Holy Snake Asclepius, but it’s more incredible than the rumors said. Summoning isn’t a dead profession, after all.” Dran said with a big smile. There was clearly a different perception of summoning between generations. It seemed that, this time, Mira had succeeded in changing some younger hunters’ perceptions, while reminding the older folks that summoning still existed.

“But of course. Now that I am here, the future of summoning is secure!” Mira declared, proudly puffing out her chest in satisfaction. The hunters sent smiles and cheers her way. She had saved a life and shown a fortress of people the glory of summoning.

“Can’t get more confident than that,” Dran murmured to himself.