40. The Hospital That Gives Water

Smiling brightly. Darius’s face finally relaxed at the sight of Anette’s radiant smile.

‘I let my guard down. Who would have thought a spirit could take the form of a human man.’

Wind Spirit King Sylphid. When Darius saw that blue-haired handsome man with Anette, what he felt was hostility and intense jealousy.

To think that the wind spirit always accompanying Anette wasn’t the dog-like Sylph but Sylphid watching over her.

And that Sylphid’s true form was an enchanting handsome man that any woman would fall for.

But he couldn’t honestly express such feelings to Anette.

Instead of congratulating his wife for obtaining exceptional power, to be a narrow-minded husband jealous because of a male spirit?

Darius himself, as a swordsman, knew how important it was to pursue strength as a goal.

So even while watching Sylphid conversing casually with Anette, he was angry at the rudeness but couldn’t reveal his true feelings in front of Anette.

‘My goodness, was His Grace the Grand Duke such a narrow-minded man who couldn’t even understand my one spirit?’

Our Sylphid doesn’t even eat our food.

The mere thought of Anette looking at him with disappointed eyes made him dizzy.

‘Even if Sylphid is Anette’s spirit, I’m the one who spends more time with her.’

After all, it’s just a spirit, not even a living being.

‘I just need to become a more charming husband so Anette won’t even budge.’

Right now, he is the husband who goes sightseeing outside the castle with Anette, dines with her, and sleeps with her at night.

Watching Anette counting the days to find a good time, Darius quietly made his resolution.

* * *

Schmidt’s Clinic. A traveler wearing a hood dismounted upon seeing the modest sign.

The owner of the sparkling blonde hair visible beneath the hood was none other than Rose.

“Doctor, oh my. My leg hurts so much. Give me some medicine.”

“Hahaha, you already took medicine earlier. I’ll bring you a hot compress, so please wait.”

‘It’s not a large clinic, but the patients seem highly satisfied.’

Rose scanned the ward with a keen observation that belied her age.

“What brings you here? Ah, before entering the clinic, would you please wash your hands and feet first?”

“Wash my hands and feet?”

A clinic that rarely cares about cleanliness.

Even though this was exactly the kind of doctor she was looking for, Rose pretended to be surprised and asked.

“Diseases enter from outside the body. So when you come inside, you should clean off the harmful energy from outside.”

〈Rose. Cleanliness is most important when it comes to disease. A good doctor sterilizes surgical tools in boiling water and keeps the ward clean with alcohol.〉

“What’s bothering you, patient?”

“My body feels stiff and tired. I think it’s because I’ve been riding a horse for several days.”

The doctor listened carefully to Rose’s words and then examined her fingernails and pupils. After thoroughly checking even the whites of Rose’s eyes with their bluish tint, Doctor Schmidt said:

“I don’t think you need any special treatment. You seem tired, so I’ll give you our clinic’s basic prescription.”

The doctor opened the lid of a large jar and scooped out a bowl of water, bringing it to Rose.

Gulp gulp. A salty and sweet taste. And besides that, just an ordinary bowl of water with no special flavor.

‘This is……!’

Even in her fevered, hazy memories, she remembered the bland water going down her throat.

〈You need to replenish the sweat you’ve lost. Put salt and sugar in water, just enough that you can barely taste it, and have Rose drink it!〉

It was definitely saltier and sweeter than the water she drank then.

“……Are you playing a joke on me? I came for treatment, and all I get is a bowl of water? You expect to charge for this?”

“Haha, since the raw materials don’t cost much, you can leave without paying if you wish. As you said, it’s just water with salt and sugar.”

The middle-aged doctor scratched his head awkwardly.

“But you’re currently lacking fluids in your body from sweating while riding your horse, so drinking that is the best treatment.”

“That’s absurd! I won’t be dehydrated just from sweating a little!”

“No, listen. It’s a fact many people don’t believe, but what is sweat? It’s water flowing from your body, isn’t it? So it makes sense to replenish what you’ve lost… Patient?”

Rose abruptly stood up and stared at Schmidt with intensity in her eyes.

Schmidt gulped nervously at the extraordinary aura emanating from the small body.

The water-giving clinic.

To some people, Schmidt’s Clinic was known as a waste of money.

When patients came to the hospital, instead of preparing potent medicines or performing flashy medical procedures, Schmidt’s approach of slowly examining the patient’s basic condition first didn’t suit impatient patients or guardians.

“When entering the hospital, you wash your hands and feet thoroughly, and the first treatment isn’t bloodletting but giving water?”

“Well, if I summarize it, yes.”

“Surgical tools. Don’t tell me you boil your surgical tools too?”

“I-I’m sorry for boiling them!”

“This is exactly the talent I was looking for!”

Rose firmly grasped Schmidt’s hands.

“Found it, the talent my lady was searching for!”

“W-what?!”

Schmidt was simply bewildered and confused.

* * *

Castle Inkheart. The Grand Duke’s main hall.

The place where the Grand Duke usually held meetings with his retainers or listened to the concerns of his territory’s people was now teeming with doctors.

“Bloodletting! Bloodletting is the essence of medical technology in this era! All diseases are caused by blood, so if you purify the blood, the disease will be cured!”

“That’s why we’re hiring a new doctor because bloodletting almost killed someone!”

“You were shocked by a doctor using a razor? Of course you were! Proper bloodletting requires leeches!”

Wriggle wriggle.

One doctor excitedly took a leech out of a water tank and held it up to my face.

The well-maintained leech was showing off its plump form. It was glistening with vitality.

“Aaaaargh!”

“My lady, please look at this little one! With this tiny body, it sucks the patient’s blood so well!”

“I get it, so put that away right now!”

After the news spread widely that chief physician Owen had left Castle Inkheart after arguing with me, the Grand Duke’s wife, over Rose’s treatment….

Castle Inkheart had been receiving a constant stream of doctors aiming for the vacant chief physician position.

“Hmph, bloodletting! I can’t believe such a crazy method that kills people through excessive bleeding is certified by the medical college!”

Quack #2… No, another supposedly renowned physician who had properly graduated from the medical college in the capital brought a basin before me.

“When I heard that you had driven away that quack Owen who wasted precious lives with bloodletting, I knew justice had finally prevailed!”

The basin was filled with sloshing water. Pure, clear water with nothing else added.

“And your follow-up treatment! That’s right, what patients need above all is water. It’s absurd to draw blood from a patient who needs to replenish fluids!”

He seems to be making sense, but there’s another reason why I call this man a quack.

“Water! Water knows everything! If you always keep water close, you’ll never get sick!”

Quack #2 advised me that an effective treatment for patients was to place basins at the four corners of the bed to keep them constantly immersed in water.

For reference, mosquito larvae live in water. The likelihood of catching an epidemic disease due to mosquitoes would be higher than any humidifying effect.

What nonsense about water knowing the answers?

“Plump leeches!”

“If you drink twenty cups of water a day, you don’t need to fear any disease! Always keep water close! Water, water, water!”

You’ll die from a burst stomach drinking that much water!

Who on earth gave these guys medical college degrees! Why bother asking, that person is probably a quack too!

‘Aaaah, medieval medicine kills people!’

“Haha. Let’s all calm down. The Grand Duchess is clearly appalled.”

The third doctor, who had been sitting relatively quietly, spoke up discreetly.

“What’s with you? Are you not a talented graduate of the capital’s medical college like us?”

“I haven’t graduated from medical college, but I have plenty of experience caring for patients. Moreover, all the patients I’ve cared for have survived.”

“Ha, you look like a quack at first glance.”

A quack insulting another quack. People in the same business naturally dislike their competitors.

“Actually, I’m not a doctor like you two. Doctors and people like us are in different fields, so we don’t understand each other.”

The third doctor, or rather medical personnel, was someone who came with the recommendation of the knight order. A so-called healer who uses healing power.

Healers were rare. Not many people were born with healing power, and even those who were often lacked mentors to guide them. As a result, the injuries healers could treat were usually limited to minor external wounds.

‘They say some genius healers can save people on the verge of death right on the spot, but such people are only in the royal palace, and we’re… poor.’

Sob sob.

Healers could perform miracles of healing people on the spot without side effects, but they were rare. Medicine could be learned by anyone without special abilities.

Each had its advantages and disadvantages, and most territories could only afford to keep doctors due to financial constraints.

“Sir Dwaine of the knight order recovered completely after receiving my treatment. My secret lies in not touching the patient’s wounds.”

‘Is this an approach to minimize wound infection?’

If the idea is to prevent secondary infection, that’s sensible for someone from this era.

As expected from someone recommended by knights who risk their lives, finally a proper…

“That is, I treat not the patient’s wounds, but the object that injured the patient.”

You crazy fool, what?