410 A Doctors Charm (1/2)
Zero got to work immediately and removed the rags from the girl's body, cleaning her with the towel after adding some disinfecting herbs into the water. Dwayne didn't flinch as bloodied fur was revealed. Zero took a pair of scissors and started to trim the fur that was hiding the bad wounds. Dwayne helped to change the first basin of water and Zero worked swiftly.
By the time Dwayne returned with a clean basin of water, Zero was already done with trimming all her fur. The wounds were giving off a foul smell and Dwayne grimaced. Zero didn't look affected by the gory sight of blackened flesh and signs of worms in them. It wasn't the worst that Dwayne had seen in his life but for a young child, this was cruel.
Zero's hands moved lightly and so quickly with a precision that not even Dwayne claimed to have. With dexterous hands, Zero cut and cleaned the infected wounds with Dwayne passing him an assortment of surgical tools when the young doctor requested them. Dwayne had to learn quickly how to differentiate the different tools that Zero wanted because when the boy worked, he didn't fool around and he wasn't forgiving with slip-ups.
The innkeeper quickly learned that there were two sides of Zero. The nice side of Zero that Brutus talked about and that he saw earlier was the front side of the boy. Behind that smile was a very serious doctor committed to saving lives. He didn't tolerate mistakes and ever since Dwayne became an S rank adventurer, he had never been scolded by anyone without retaliating until moments ago.
”I said tweezer!” Zero barked when Dwayne made a mistake and gave him a needle. ”The pronged one! Remember it right!”
Even when Zero snapped at him with a glare, Dwayne found himself unable to rebuke. He doubted that Zero would change his attitude even if he met someone stronger than himself. When a patient was before him, the timid boy transformed into a fearsome doctor not to be messed with. Against someone with expert knowledge of anatomy and his weapon of choice in his hands, not even Dwayne wanted to try his luck.
They didn't have a tray or anything that Zero could use to dispose of the worms that he picked out of the wound so Zero threw them on top of the pile of fur and rotten flesh.
”Keep an eye on those critters. I don't want them going anywhere and infecting anything else. It's too messy to kill them right now, find something to contain them and burn the rest. When you're done, come back with a washed cloth and a new basin of hot water. We're going to start suturing once I'm done.”
Dwayne returned quickly and watched as Zero stitched the wounds shut. He grimaced at the slightly messy needlework but didn't point it out because he wouldn't fare any better. Still, he wondered what the elf would do about the more serious sting wounds and poison. They might have removed the stingers and saved the rotting wounds from further infection but this girl's life was still in danger. Without proper antidote for the poison, she would develop a fever, grow weak and die.
This time, Zero didn't give his assistant much to do. Instead, Dwayne stood around and only helped to clean the wound with the hot water soaked with disinfecting herbs. He wasn't an expert on herb knowledge so many of the plants in the medicinal pack were unfamiliar to him. However, Dwayne had a nagging suspicion that some of these herbs weren't common.
”We're almost done with the second part,” Zero told Dwayne and smiled at him from behind the mask. Although the innkeeper couldn't see it, he could hear it and see traces of it in Zero's eyes. The bubbly doctor was back for a brief moment as he tied and cut the last stitch. Dwayne couldn't help but he handed Zero a cup of water just in case the elf needed a short break.
Zero accepted it gratefully and emptied the cup in one go as Dwayne wiped the girl down again with the warm water. She looked a lot better but Dwayne was still curious about what Zero would do next. He said that this was only the second stage which meant that he wasn't done.