Episode 81 – Hospital (2)

Hospital (2)

I asked cautiously.

“…Will this remain confidential?”

If it becomes known that I am a patient with Cancer of the Magic’s Core, my market value will plummet. Therefore, for me, Libra Medical Center is a gamble.

I need to become the core of Libra, and if my secret leaks out from Libra, it would be a disaster.

Then, Yu Hains made a face like a merchant refusing to haggle.

“Why ask the obvious? Even if the direct line of Libra, the current head, no, the Chairman comes, we do not disclose patient information.”

“…Hmm.”

Knowing his future self, I found him quite trustworthy. Not only that, but as soon as I heard the news that a pig with Cancer of the Magic’s Core had become completely cured, I looked up all the information related to this professor.

“So then-”

“Currently, there are two methods for Cancer of the Magic’s Core. First is chemotherapy to slow the progression of Cancer of the Magic’s Core. The second is surgery to completely remove the Magic Core.”

“If the Magic Core is removed, I heard you can’t live more than 5 years.”

“However, the expected life span of Cancer of the Magic’s Core is at most 6 months. Living for 5 years is a miracle… Have you tried to learn the Magic Body?”

The professor asked about the Magic Body.

“No. I haven’t learned One Belt, Four Lines.”

“Did you not pierce the ‘belt’?”

“Yes. Can’t you see that?”

“I don’t have the eyes to see magic. It’s fortunate in misfortune.”

The biggest problem with Cancer of the Magic’s Core is indeed the ‘belt’ of One Belt, Four Lines.

After all, Cancer of the Magic’s Core is a disease that is extremely distant from ordinary people. It’s an incurable disease that only the very unlucky ones get when humans who handle some degree of magic stimulate the Magic Core excessively or when the Magic Core is injured by external factors.

“If a person who has completed One Belt, Four Lines gets Cancer of the Magic’s Core, whether they are human or monster, their life expectancy is terribly short. Even the strongest-looking knight in the world dies within 3 months of diagnosis, their whole body becoming a lump of cancer.”

In other words, I’m the luckiest among the unluckiest.

How delightful.

“There is no complicated treatment for Cancer of the Magic’s Core. If you want drug treatment, I will inject ‘Mapuneia’, and if you want surgery, I will remove the Magic Core.”

Up to this point, I knew about the treatment, but he is the one who treated a pig with Cancer of the Magic’s Core. Whether it’s a pig or a human, he must certainly know some method.

“Is there another way? A better… way?”

Of course, removing the Magic Core is out of the question.

Drug treatment is problematic due to side effects. If I take the drug, it will be incredibly difficult when I take the college board exam.

“…”

Then, Yu Hains looked at me for a long time and pushed up his glasses. The light in his eyes behind the lenses sparkled. He answered as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“There’s something called a Mana Quark Therapy.”

“Mana Quark?”

“It’s a treatment method that accelerates only the ‘quarks’ among the components of mana to 60% of the speed of light to destroy the cancer tissues in the patient’s body. Even patients with a survival rate of 3% in the terminal stage have been cured.”

Mana Quark.

I didn’t understand the principle, but it was in my Memory. It was the same as the pig treatment method.

“How much is that? I want to do it right away-”

“You can’t receive it.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because it doesn’t exist in Edsilla. The machine itself only exists in the Kingdom of Salon, and the kingdom does not permit treatment of foreigners.”

“Oh, what. So can’t I use it at all? The Mana Quark thing?”

Yu Hains shook his head. His bob-like hair swayed from side to side.

“We are currently making it. To be precise, ‘I’ am.”

“……!”

That’s right.

Yes.

This is why I came to find you.

This guy eventually makes it.

I don’t know what he’s making, but anyway, he succeeds and completely cures a pig with Cancer of the Magic’s Core.

Moreover, he does it with his own efforts, without any investment or help from anyone.

“Will it take about 10 years?”

“It’s already completed.”

“What? Where-”

“In my hospital.”

“…Isn’t this your hospital?”

“I’m a visiting professor. I run a private hospital separately.”

That makes sense. He’s always been a famous doctor.

Doctor.

No, Professor.

“If I receive that treatment from Professor Yu Hains, what is the cold-hearted complete cure rate?”

“Less than 1%.”

Yu Hains spoke honestly.

“Cancer of the Magic’s Core patients can’t live forever like ordinary people. As long as you use magic, Cancer of the Magic’s Core will continue to proliferate.”

I agreed with that.

It’s much better than meaningless hope torture. 1%, or even 0% is okay. I don’t plan to live long.

“But you can significantly delay the progression of Cancer of the Magic’s Core, right?”

Of course, there are stages to Cancer of the Magic’s Core. Why, just like other cancers have early, middle, and late stages.

My last three years were stage 4 of Cancer of the Magic’s Core. I felt dizzy when I moved violently, and I fell into a coma the day after I used magic and worked.

“That’s right. You can delay the progression. And the side effects will be significantly reduced.”

Without such symptoms, if I can just stay alive until Libra collapses.

If I can bring them down with my own hands.

“Okay. I don’t need drug treatment, I want to receive quark therapy. How much does it cost?”

“It’s impossible.”

“Oh, why again.”

“I haven’t received permission from the council yet.”

Yu Hains looked into my eyes. There was a different meaning in his gaze than his words. Of course, I caught it.

“I’ve considered all of that. Have you ever seen a cancer patient waiting for permission?”

As soon as you start drug treatment, it interferes with the College Board.

So, rather than wasting money on drugs-

“It’s 200,000 Ren per session.”

“……”

I was momentarily stunned.

“Today’s medical fee is 2,000 Ren.”

It felt like I had been hit on the back of the head with a blunt object, but belatedly, I remembered this man’s nickname.

I almost forgot.

“……Yes. Sure.”

‘The Hand of Ren’.

While most doctors are often nicknamed ‘The Hand of God’, this doctor is known as ‘The Hand of Ren’—the currency of Edsilla—because he performs as much as he is paid.

It’s understandable.

He is the top authority in the field of magical disease.

“But I have a question.”

However, there was one thing that had been bothering me.

“What is it?”

“Why have you been speaking informally to me since earlier? Even if you’re a doctor, have we met before?”

______________________________________________________________________

A bench in a park near Endex. After returning from the hospital, I’m looking at the receipt in my palm.

“……He didn’t even give me a single Ren discount.”

I muttered, clicking my tongue.

The total amount I paid today is 22,000 Ren.

The medical fee is 2,000 Ren, and 20,000 Ren is the deposit for Mana Quark Therapy a month later.

“Still.”

It feels like I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Even if the cancer doesn’t get better, if I can skip the side effects of cancer treatment itself.

If I can delay my death, the progression of the cancer, even a little……

Rustle-

Suddenly, there was a ticklish vibration in my chest.

“What’s this.”

I rummaged through my pocket and pulled out the cause. It was a shared notebook. As soon as I opened a page, a new sentence appeared.

[What are you doing there?]

“Hmm.”

The moment I read it, a cough came from somewhere.

I looked in that direction. There were many people on the park path, but my eyes only captured one person.

Soliette.

She approached with her red hair fluttering and sat on the bench opposite me. Then she wrote another line in the notebook.

[What a coincidence.]

I replied as well.

[Indeed.]

I quickly stuffed the receipt into my pocket.

“……”

“……”

The two of us just sat there.

Soliette also had a thoughtful face. Probably because of the nonsense Sherick spouted at the university today.

Suddenly, something came to mind. I picked up the shared notebook and wrote a sentence.

[You know three Sword Forms, right Soliette?]

Tomorrow is the swordsmanship class, and I don’t even know what three Sword Forms are.

I missed the class and didn’t read the textbook at all.

[Of course.]

[Can you teach me?]

I lifted my face. Among the people coming and going in the park, I looked at Soliette on the bench. Her gaze was fixed on the notebook.

“……Hmm.”

As if contemplating, she puckered her lips, wrote a line, and then got up from her seat.

I looked at the notebook without much expectation.

[Meet me by the lake at 22:00 tonight.]

An unexpected reply had come.

______________________________________________________________________

10 PM.

Soliette, armed with two wooden swords, headed to the forest behind Endex’s hill. This place, now familiar, was more comfortable and cozy than the empty apartment complex, Presidium, or the bustling Endex dormitory. The forest by the lake was beautiful.

The branches, as if someone had groomed them, embraced the lake like clouds. Thanks to this, at night, the sky was reflected in the lake. The moon and stars were embedded in the water surface like round cookies and chocolate chips, allowing one to see the sky without having to look up.

“You’re here.”

There was someone waiting for her.

He looked at her from where he sat, and Soliette threw him a wooden sword.

“Stand up. I’ll show you right away.”

“Already?”

“The swordsmanship class is tomorrow, isn’t it?”

“True.”

He reluctantly stood up. Soliette swung her sword in the air, warming up.

“The first of three Sword Forms is ‘Eclipse’. You probably know it.”

“What would I know? I don’t. It sounds fancy, though.”

“…You don’t know Eclipse? It’s the most famous sword form in the world.”

Soliette looked as if she had found someone who didn’t know what a carrot or a cucumber was.

“Ah, I didn’t go through the standard swordsmanship curriculum.”

Shion chuckled, tapping the back of his neck with his wooden sword. Soliette frowned.

“Don’t lie. What was that swordsmanship you showed in the first class?”

“Oh, that? That’s our family’s swordsmanship. My grandfather and father didn’t get a good education. Neither of them even graduated from high school. Education wasn’t so good back then, you know?”

“……”

This was a story Soliette didn’t know. It was practically non-existent in her world. She had been born into the highest nobility, the crème de la crème.

“Tell me. What’s Eclipse?”

“…Eclipse is a sword form based on the Triangle Cut.”

Basically, the Triangle Cut involves three cuts while stepping. But Eclipse involves a total of 9 to 15 cuts while stepping. This movement of the sword is likened to the moon transitioning from a waning moon to a crescent moon, hence the name Eclipse.

“You can think of it as a greatly expanded version of the Triangle Cut.”

“Okay. Show me.”

Soliette raised her wooden sword. She took the first step and made six cuts, five on the second step, and four on the third.

“This is it. Move your sword while stepping, but pay attention to the center of gravity. If you cut too much, you’ll collapse under the strain, and if you cut too little, the sword form won’t be complete.”

“……Hmm.”

He looked a bit puzzled.

“It’s called Eclipse because it’s similar to the moon rising and setting. I don’t know what’s similar, but try it.”

“Do I cut six times, five times, and four times like you?”

“Just do three times each for now. 3, 3, 3. It’ll be hard enough for a beginner.”

Eclipse is the most famous basic sword form, but if it’s your first time, even 3, 3, 3 can be quite difficult. The steps and the sword often get tangled.

“Do it as slowly as possible. There’s no need to rush.”

Soliette spoke as a swordsmanship instructor would guide their students.

“Okay. I’ll give it a try.”

Shion Ascal gripped his wooden sword.

And then…….