Keeping Him Alive Without Letting Him Recover

Nearly a year had passed since I was assigned to the Relief Bureau.

The School of Truth-Seeking had grown tremendously over the past two years.

The number of ordinary members had steadily increased, not just the leaders among my fellow trainees.

I finished a practical lecture for the ordinary members and returned to Chris’s office.

As soon as I closed the door, Chris called out to me.

"Noah. We have another difficult request. This time... it’s diabetes."

—Diabetes, huh.

The rival factions, jealous of the healers in our school improving, regularly forced impossible requests on us.

Ordinarily, this sort of illness would be treated with ritual magic.

It wasn’t a matter of combining several people’s mana to make the effect stronger.

Ritual magic was a performance meant to convince the patient that, if they still didn’t recover after all those efforts, they had been summoned by God’s will.

Having several healers involved also blurred who was responsible—just another example of the Church’s wisdom.

"This time, it’s not harassment. This is someone we must not let die."

Chris’s voice was unusually grave.

"Lorenzo de Valois. He’s a banker in the Northern Free Cities. He holds secret accounts for several cardinals. If he dies, the cardinals will be left penniless."

—So only Lorenzo can access the money in those hidden accounts.

And now Lorenzo had been brought here. No wonder the higher-ups were panicking.

"I see. That sounds like a treatment worth doing."

I grinned.

"Yes. If we succeed, we’ll put both the cardinals and the Valois Bank deeply in our debt. If we succeed, that is."

Chris said with a sigh.

"Then it’d be better to keep him alive without letting him recover."

"Can you do that?"

Chris’s eyebrow twitched.

"Yes. He’ll be saved, but he’ll need magical treatment every day. Magic only we can use."

"Then he’ll have to stay here and keep receiving treatment. If his banking business stalls, the cardinals will withdraw their funds."

"Yes. So we’ll send someone from the school as his personal physician. Klaus, who’s skilled at handling mana, would be ideal. He won’t betray us."

"Understood. I’ll make the arrangements. You go treat him."

I took Klaus with me and headed for the sickroom.

Seeing us children, the guard and butler started to speak, but I silenced them with a glance.

"How is the patient?"

I asked, displaying my sacred stole for effect.

"It began five days ago. Ants started swarming around my master’s urine. My diagnosis is diabetes. So we had no choice but to seek the Church’s mercy, and came here."

A man who seemed to be Lorenzo’s personal physician answered.

"At first, he was well enough to walk on his own. On the way here, he became terribly thirsty and drank a great deal of water."

The physician continued.

"Around the third day, my master’s flesh began to visibly waste away."

The physician’s voice trembled slightly.

"His once-plump cheeks shriveled, the fat around his belly vanished, and his clothes grew baggy. Gradually, his answers became incoherent... and now he doesn’t even respond when called."

—Diabetes in its final stages. He needed emergency treatment.

"Understood. His condition is dangerous. I’ll begin treatment at once."

I opened the door and entered the sickroom.

A man lay on a large canopy bed, layered in pristine white linens and wrapped in luxurious embroidered nightclothes.

His lips were cracked, and his skin was so severely dehydrated that it stayed indented when pressed. A dry wheeze escaped from deep in his throat.

The skin around his neck sagged, etched with deep folds. The moment I leaned closer, a smell like rotten apples stung my nose.

"Klaus. I’m going to teach you how to treat him now. First, memorize the sound in his throat."

Klaus nodded slightly.

"The left side of his abdomen, at the lowest short rib. From there, three finger-widths toward the spine. Deep inside the abdomen."

I guided Klaus’s hand to where the pancreas was.

"This is the spot. I’ll use 'Heal' through your hand now, so memorize exactly where the mana takes effect."

I located the beta cells in the tail of the pancreas—the ones that secrete insulin—and carefully activated them.

Klaus had a serious expression, focusing his awareness on his hand.

I continued using 'Heal' while sensing the changes in his blood sugar with mana.

The moment his labored breathing settled and became deep and steady—

I stopped 'Heal.'

"Listen carefully. As soon as his breathing grows calm, stop. If you don’t, he’ll never wake up again."

—If I mistimed it, he’d become hypoglycemic instead.

His brain would be starved of energy, sending him into a coma.

Klaus nodded firmly.

"I understand. I’ve memorized the amount of mana, where to direct it, and when to stop."

"Excellent. We’ll continue the same treatment tomorrow, so I want you to try it next time. I’ll stay with you for a while, too."

Klaus smiled a little sheepishly, then gazed at me with an ardent look.

"Still, you really are amazing, Noah. I never thought you could treat diabetes."

I nodded back at him with a serious expression.

"He should wake up before long. Let’s keep an eye on him for a while."

I stepped away from the bed and focused on his breathing and the slightest movements of his muscles.

Before long, Lorenzo’s eyelids twitched.

His deathly pallor, like that of someone hovering at death’s door, gradually gave way to a faint flush.

"...Ah... ugh..."

With a faint, hoarse groan, the man’s eyes slowly opened.

Until a moment ago, they had been clouded and unfocused like glass marbles, but now they clearly reflected our figures.

"Where... am I? Am I... dead...?"

"How are you feeling? Can you drink some water?"

"...The thirst is gone. My body feels light. Priest, I’m cured, aren’t I?"

I deliberately kept my expression blank as I answered his joyous words.

"No. The flame of your life nearly went out once. Unless you continue treatment every day, you’ll soon be back in that same hell."

The color drained from the man’s face.

"...No. Then I’m..."

"Don’t worry. Klaus will stay with you. As long as he’s by your side, you can live as you have until now."

Klaus looked a little uncertain, but the man’s desperate gaze made him puff out his chest with pride.

"This child..."

"This child is the one who saved you from death’s door. We’ll continue your treatment tomorrow, so please rest."

When I opened the door, the gazes of Lorenzo’s attendants all bore down on me.

"He’s out of immediate danger."

At my words, the tension in the room gave way to relief.

The butler bowed deeply.

"...Thank you."

His voice quavered faintly.

"However, he’ll need continued treatment. I’ll come again tomorrow."

With that, we left the sickroom.

As we walked along the covered corridor, Klaus spoke up.

"Couldn’t you have cured him completely, Noah?"

"I’m not God."

I stopped and looked at Klaus.

"As long as you continue treating him, he’ll live. Isn’t that enough? That is God’s will. But—"

The shadows of the two of us wavered in the candlelight.

"If God’s will changes, I’ll let you know. There may come a time when Mr. Lorenzo needs to rest for a while."

Klaus stared at me and slowly nodded.

"Understood. I’ll be sure to."