Chapter 272

Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes

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’ God 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 vassals 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…」

Deena appeared . It looked like Grucel called for her .

「Lord Silver Face, the leaders want to know more . Can you talk to them?」

Duinkler and Grucel couldn’t explain well what Hikaru said as they only had basic knowledge of the language .

「Fine . Oh, just so you know, Doriachi is not exactly sick . It’s not caused by a virus . A part of his body is not functioning well . 」

Deena explained what Hikaru said to the leaders . It looked like they understood, but at the same time, didn’t .

「Going by his symptoms and this place’s diet, Doriachi most likely has cirrhosis of the liver . 」

The people here produced alcohol using a primitive method: fermentation, resulting in lower alcohol content . Yet Duinkler said one cup was enough to make him drunk . They were extremely weak to alcohol . Hikaru could then guess that their livers’ ability to break down alcohol was feeble .

Furthermore, the city was located near the sea, which meant they used salt a lot in their diet . Eating salty food and drinking alcohol would be more than enough to cause cirrhosis .

『H-His Majesty indeed loves alcohol…』one leader muttered .

Deena translated for both parties .

「Cirrhosis means the cells are dying . Which is why Healing magic can’t cure him . The only option is to cut his belly open and removed the dead part of his liver . 」

『It’s not that easy! How can he even live if we cut his organs?!』

「He’ll be fine as long as we finish it quickly . Thirty minutes… No, ten minutes shouldn’t be a problem . Healing magic is extremely effective against wounds . With her power, growing back a severed arm is easy . All we have to do is remove the dead tissues and regenerate them back from the remaining ones . 」

『That’s impossible!』

「But it is . 」

『Then show us . I’ll cut your arm off myself!』

One man was fuming with rage, while Hikaru showed no concern at all .

「Why should I get hurt? If you don’t trust me, then so be it . I don’t care . You’re free to watch Doriachi as his health declines . 」

「See?! He’s not even sure it’ll work! Yet he dares suggest to hurt His Majesty! Arrest this crook!」

The soldiers moved .

『Stop . 』Duinkler intervened .

The perilous atmosphere remained . Hikaru was relaxed as usual, however, nibbling on dried fruits . Lavia was sipping on her tea, and Paula was freaking out .

『Calm down, everyone . Such disgraceful behavior in front of our guests who came from a distant land is unacceptable . 』

Doriachi entered the room . He was walking on his own two feet, supported by soldiers on both sides .

『Y-Your Majesty! You can walk?!』

The leaders swarmed the King . Hikaru could see genuine concern in their eyes .

『Yes . It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good . This all thanks to that man . I didn’t know magic was this incredible . 』

Doriachi was smiling, but Hikaru knew with his Mana Detection . The man was outside all this time, listening to the conversation in the room and waited for the perfect timing to enter . Clever guy, Hikaru thought . He liked people like him .

『I know the risks . I will overcome this illness using Silver Face’s suggestion . 』

『What?!』

『Are you serious, Your Majesty?! It’s not guaranteed to be safe!』

『Silver Face says he’ll fix me . There’s no other option . I can’t die just yet . 』

『Your Majesty…』

『Rather than clinging to what little life I have left, I want to take my chances with magic . 』

All the leaders, except one, kneeled down as though struck by the King’s majesty—no, his resolve . Grucel remained standing, however .

『Grucel?』

『Your Majesty, I will ascertain the procedure’s safety . 』

The commander drew the sword from his waist .

『Silver Face . You said you can grow back a severed arm . 』

「Yeah . 」

『Then show it to me . 』

Grucel swung his sword down on his left arm . He specialized more in spears rather than swords, but still twelve points on Strength was no joke . As the blade sank just above his elbow, his arm was cut clean off .