Chapter 272 (1/2)

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Road to Recovery

『Who's this masked guy? He looks shady.』

『Can we really let a man like this see the king?』

The clan leaders were suspicious of Hikaru, and for good reason. No one could possibly simply trust someone wearing a black hood low over their eyes. He expected that, of course. Hikaru and the girls quickly entered the room. The soldiers standing guard tried to stop them in a hurry, but Grucel shook his head as though telling them to stop.

Doriachi, down on his bed, turned his face to Hikaru. There were bags under his eyes, but the light in them still burned bright. Yet when Hikaru came to his side, he could feel that the king already had one foot in the grave.

「Let's get to it right away. Ready?」Hikaru asked Paula.

「Y-Yes!」she answered with a nervous tone.

「Give it all you've got.」Hikaru whispered in her ears.

She nodded.「O' G.o.d who art in heaven, in thy name I ask for a miracle. In thy right hand thou offer the gift of life, in thy left the blessing of death. Give us grace so we can survive. I offer thee my mana—」

It was a very basic spell to increase vitality, except Paula had a whopping eight points on Healing Magic.

Okay. Let's see how effective it is.

Yellow light enveloped her body. Doriachi's body glowed as well.

『Ah… I feel warmth in my body.』

『Your Majesty!』

The leaders stirred, but Hikaru was focused on something else. Paula's expression was dark.

「I'm done casting the spell. But it feels like the root cause hasn't been healed, like something's hindering me.」

「Something's hindering you, huh…」

Hikaru looked at Doriachi. The king was delighted about his body feeling so light. But going by Paula's words, his recovery would most likely just be temporary.

He looks yellowish and thin… but his stomach is big?

Hikaru suddenly remembered what Duinkler said to him.

One cup enough to make me feel good.

「Duinkler, I have a question.」Hikaru said.「How do you produce alcohol? Distillation or fermentation?」

「Distill…? There is other method, besides ferment?」

Suddenly everything made sense.

「Forget that, Silver Face. Thank you for healing His Majesty. He says to give reward.」

「No, we're not done yet.」

「What?」

「Show his belly right now. We need to cut it open.」

『Duinkler! You're saying to trust this man who doesn't even show his face?! Cutting His Majesty's belly open and surgically removing it is no joke!』

『Indeed. His condition is already better thanks to the Healing magic. How can he not be healed when the magic clearly worked? Hmm?』

The leaders were having a heated argument in the next room. It was Hikaru's words that triggered it all, of course.

『Silver Face says he might be fine now, but his condition will deteriorate later on. If the root of his illness has not been cured, then it's our job as his va.s.sals to fix that.』

『Is this Silver Face guy a doctor?』

『No. He says he's an adventurer.』

『His Majesty's attending physician diagnosed him as having Yellow Belly disease. It can only be healed naturally, so as long as he has the stamina, he'll recover on his own. In other words, this is more than enough.』

Hikaru and the girls watched the scene from a seat in the corner.

「These snacks and dried fruits are quite good.」Lavia said.「They're sweet, so there's no need to put sugar in the tea.」

「Do they manufacture sugar? Sounds difficult with how small the population is.」Hikaru replied.

「I think they can. They seemed to have optimized manufacturing.」

「I doubt they can handle production of luxury items like sugar and tobacco.」

「Y-You two are too calm!」Paula cut in.「How can you be so relaxed?!」

「Well, they're the ones who'll make the decision. There was nothing wrong with your magic. No need to feel so down.」

「I'm fine…」