Chapter 6: Fluvia Begins to Cheat

“We wouldn’t have to tell Healer Martin, I could just –“

“A no is a no, Milady.”

Mary smiled sweetly as I tried to persuade her to help me out of bed.

Mou~!

If I stay in bed any longer, my body will rot!

Wasn’t YabuKoi’s Fluvia sickly because these tyrannical healers and attendants refused to let her move around!?

I! Want! Down!

Even if I’m still feeling a little sickly, I want to move my body!

There’s no doubt that my muscles have atrophied! My bones are rusting!

Haa…

I pout and fall back on my pillow.

Even though I’m making a fuss, I’m an adult who understands that following what the doctor says is the best option.

But-! Even so-! Unpleasant things are unpleasant!

I’ve now recovered to the point that I’m now more awake than I’m asleep, but even with learning my letters and eavesdropping, as well as the occasional visit from a Lord Minister who has way too much time on his hands, I AM BORED.

Well, more like I’m feeling restless.

Aaah… fine.

“At least, some books would be nice.”

I finally whined.

“Hm? What’s going on?”

Healer Martin walked into the room.

Before Mary could say anything, I quickly said,

“Healer Martin, I understand I’ve been very ill, but if we keep me from doing anything any longer, I won’t be able to catch up to other kids my age!”

I’ve long since dropped the childish act with Mary and Healer Martin.

I really only keep it up with my family to avoid worrying them for now.

I wonder when I should start to phase that out.

But more importantly-!

I stared earnestly at Healer Martin with big, innocent (I think) eyes.

The good Doctor, I mean Healer, has a soft personality, but he’s not exactly a pushover.

Go, all my feminine wiles!

Not.

Since I’m 5.

Healer Martin chuckles.

“Even if you say so, Milady, it’s best to avoid strenuous movements, and although I’d like to think you’d act more sedately, accidents can always occur.”

So you’re saying that it’s because I’m a child.

Well, I do understand the concern, but I won’t run or act recklessly – I’d like to think.

“You can’t expect me to get better simply by staying in bed.”

“But we can make sure you won’t get worse.”

Cheh.

“Isn’t there at least something else I can do, even if I have to stay in bed?”

“I think you’re already doing considerably a lot.”

Healer Martin looked over at the bedside table, which was littered with ink-blotted cloth and paper, as well as the bed-top tray that has begun to show up in the patients’ rooms more recently.

I had requested a board with legs to substitute as an in-bed table, which was taken rather well among the healers and attendants in the House of Healing, and even though I requested quite literally a board with two pieces of wood on each end to act as the table legs, something a lot more polished and beautiful made it to my room.

Apparently there’s a carpenter who became overzealous when he heard that it was going to be used by a noble, but I was actually saved with that, since there was no objection towards me using a strange new item coming from Mother when she saw a nice, polished piece of furniture for my use.

In fact, after seeing me using it, the attendants immediately recognized its convenience and made a fuss for the Head Healer to put in more orders for them, although a little less ornate than my cherry wood, pearl-inlaid ‘lap desk’.

Seriously… overkill. Although it’s certainly beautiful, and I think I will probably use it as long as it lasts throughout my life.

The ones for the House of Healing are simple walnut, well-made but with almost no ornaments.

I’m not aware of how much the one I had made for me cost, but the walnut bed tables are only around 200Valin, while a simple, full-sized table is usually around 500+Valin.

A normal commoner’s daily income is 30Valin, by the way.

I suddenly experienced the giant gap of income between the nobility and the laymen.

When I turned white after I heard the commoners’ wage, Mary laughed and said that bartering is still a huge way that goods and services are traded among commoners, so as long as enough money was being circulated for them to pay taxes and to buy daily goods, larger items like furniture are traded for other goods or services.

Even so, I was still too afraid to hear what my bed-table cost and just quietly let Mother foot the bill, which she was all too happy to do.

There is no doubt that Fedor and Fluvia were spoiled ROTTEN in Yabukoi, but in this case I will gratefully accept…

Or more like, I didn’t know how to reject it when the carpenter put in so much effort.

I mean, if I sent it back… not only will the carpenter’s reputation be at stake, but he will also be out quite a bit of money, since he hired an engraver and inlayer to help him make it.

You can’t just reject something like that, right?!

I mean, I get that it was my fault for being vague with my description of ‘something like a miniature table that I can use in bed,’ but is it normal to go so over-the-top?!

Ah. That’s the way this country works, isn’t it?

ANYWAY.

I wasn’t risking straining my back anymore, with this bed table that rests fairly well above my lap, but even so, Mary and Healer Martin still stopped me from writing more than half an hour at a time.

So really, see, it’s not like I write all that much.

I am honestly just sitting here with nothing to do for most of the day.

Even though I explained it in great detail, Healer Martin just gently smiled.

No good.

That smile means he’s completely made up his mind.

Healer Martin’s the type who acts sweetly, but is impossible to move once he’s made up his mind.

I groaned in defeat and flopped back onto my pillows.

“If only there were wheelchairs, I could at least change the scenery a little.”

I muttered that in a low voice, but Healer Martin still caught it.

“Hm? Have you heard about that?”

Healer Martin glanced at Mary, who shook her head quickly.

He sighed and said,

“Well, no matter how you heard about it, but although we have been investigating wheeled chairs, it’s no good. It’s too dangerous to use for real.”

Oh?

So wheelchairs weren’t completely unheard of.

“Then the House of Healing has them!”

I ignore the ‘dangerous to use’ part and insist they show it to me.

“They aren’t for use, so I wonder if there’s any point.”

“It might make for a good diversion to show it to her, even if we don’t use it.”

Thank you Mary!

“Alright, alright. But you aren’t to use it.”

Healer Martin gave a sigh and shook his head.

Yes! Healer Martin gave in!

Even if its mechanics aren’t the best, I still want to see it, if there’s any sort of possibility that I can get out of this bed!

—

It took about an hour for the chair to be sent over from wherever they had stored it, and Healer Martin had finished checking up on me and we were just discussing the benefits of physical therapy and moderate exercise when there was a knock at the door.

When Mary opened the door, the thing that was wheeled into the room by a man, who looked and was dressed like someone used to heavy labor, was astonishing.

Th-that’s not a wheelchair.

No, certainly it’s a chair, and certainly it had wheels, but rather than a wheelchair, it’s a wheelbarrow that’s a chair.

“Healer, yer not going to actually let the lass in this, are ya? I didn’t think I was ta bring it into a patient’s room!”

The rough-but-kind looking man looked in my direction in surprise.

Healer Martin chuckled as he watched my dumbfounded face.

“You see? It’s too dangerous to use.”

“Ah…”

Indeed, I see a future where I’d fall out and hit my head if I used such a thing.

“Well, it’s just something I and my carpenter friend were playing around with. It’s unfortunate that neither of us have enough extra time to work on it. Just like you said, just being able to change scenery could help patients recover their spirits, at least, and for those who are unable to walk, this type of thing could end up being very useful.”

“Right, right. It’s just too sad fer the old soldiers ta whither away in bed.”

Eh?

So, like, invalids nowadays usually just stay in bed all day? Every day?

What is that horrible neglect play?

“Th-the bucket – I mean, the chair seems rather small and delicate…”

Like, it looks like it would break easily if you were rough with it.

It also seems REALLY uncomfortable.

“Ah, yes…”

“Gahaha-! The lass is right, but we’re in the middle o’ testing stuffs, so if we kin get it to work, we’ll throw cushions and stuff in there.”

“No, if it’s for convalescents, it’s better to keep comfort in mind from the very beginning? At least in regards to bruising, or structural security!”

The gruffer man seems to be a ‘function first’ kind of guy.

Healer Martin, on the other hand, coughs a bit and seems embarrassed.

“It’s still in its early stages, so… I mean we did think about that, but making the chair more sturdy and comfortable would make it harder to push…”

With this design, rather than ‘pushing’, it would be more like ‘carting’ someone around.

“Safety-wise, though…”

“We were thinking about installing a Magic Barrier, since it would be lighter weight if it was magic, but…”

But using magic barriers… I have an image of a golf cart with bullet-proof glass flash through my head for an instant, but exactly what would the price be for that kind of magical thing?

And the price is the biggest issue that Healer Martin has with the idea, I would imagine.

While magic is normal in this world, there is a difference between magic resources and Magic Designs.

Although I don’t know the details very well, when I asked, Healer Martin taught me that commoners can easily afford fire ore to heat their homes and fuel their stoves, but something like a Magic Barrier is much more expensive.

In the first place, the Magic Design itself is expensive since there are a relatively limited amount of people trained in Magic Engraving, as well as the limitations on Magic Plate manufacturing.

On top of that, you must purchase a Magic Source, like fire ore or light stones, as fuel for the Magic Design.

Un, I don’t get it very well, but I get that using a Magic Barrier to keep someone in the bucket-chair would be rather expensive.

And on top of that, with this type of wheelbarrow design you’d have to have someone to wheel you around.

No, well, I had expected that I at least would probably be required to have an attendant pushing the wheelchair, but this… rather than an attendant, wouldn’t you need to specially hire a day-labourer with some suitable muscles?

I don’t know much about the manufacturing of this wheelchair, but I know in my gut that normal people wouldn’t be able to afford having one.

I can’t imagine the soldiers in this country get any form of decent severance pay, let alone the financial abilities of a commoner who has become unable to work.

Wait.

I started thinking on the lines of manufacturing already, but rather than the price… isn’t the stability more of an issue?!

I watched as the gruff man, introduced to me quite belatedly as Herman, played around with the chair by lifting the handle and rocking it back and forth.

“My I ask … um… why didn’t you put 4 wheels on it?”

Healer Martin, who had been my go-between for the carpenter when it came to my lap desk, instantly sat forward with some expectations.

“… 4 wheels, is it? Certainly we had thought of it, but putting 4 wheels under a chair’s leg was also quite unstable, so we thought to make this design, where you could set it down and it won’t roll off.”

I understand the idea, but rocking back and forth like that is – at least put a suitable stand on it!

“You don’t have to put the wheels directly under the chair? It can be on the outside of the chair, like a wagon?”

I don’t really know for sure, though.

Most of the wagons and carts I remember seeing in this world had the wheels directly under them.

With my memories of another world, now I can’t help but think them as comical, with the wagons raised so high that you needed steps to get in and out of them.

The wheels are also all rather small.

I had Mary help me set up the heavy lap desk and ripped a piece of paper out of my journal.

I don’t remember how wheelchairs were exactly…

Two big wheels with the chair directly between them? And then two small, swively wheels at the feet?

A friend in college had a temporary wheelchair after she fell down the stairs and broke a leg and sprained her wrist, so I have confidence that I remember the basic parts of the wheelchair, even though her’s was the flimsy, foldable type that wasn’t really that comfortable.

As young students, I wonder how many times we took turns pushing each other around in that thing, a little more recklessly than we probably should have.

All of us had a sudden interest in wheelchairs for a few weeks.

Well, we were all design students, and even if I was into fashion instead of goods, it was still interesting.

Anyway, for now, aside from the placement of the wheels, I just drew the chair and feet rest part very vaguely since I’m not confident in the details.

Besides, I’d like to see how the people in this world would make up their own details based on this basic idea.

I showed Healer Martin and Herman my sketch with the ink still wet.

“Something like this? With the two wheels in the back being bigger, so you could push yourself.”

“Hoh-! The lass kin draw well, can’t she?”

“Oh. Certainly this seems interesting…. hm? Push yourself?”

Herman is amazed at the wrong part, but even Healer Martin’s reaction surprised me a little.

“Y-yes, if you put rims here, couldn’t someone rotate the wheels themselves?”

“That’s… it seems dangerous, but it is certainly interesting.”

Dangerous, huh?

Come to think of it, was there a way to make it so the wheelchair couldn’t move?

I feel like there should be, but I don’t really know.

“Actually, ain’t this something? By puttin’ the wheels on the outside, ya kin make them bigger without raisin’ the thing, can’t ya? The cartwrights have been piddlin’ about with the large wheels an’ height of the carts, but like this, forgit about wheeled chairs, wouldn’t ya be able to make carriages and stuff bigger without worryin’ about them fallin’ over?!”

That scared me!

Herman trembled, like an opened bottle of soda just before it gushed out after being shaken, then started going off on his own!

Ah!

He really went off on his own!

“M-mister Herman! At least take the wheeled chair back with you-! No good. I can’t see him already.”

Mary sighed as the footsteps of Herman thundered off into the distance.

“It’s alright, Mary. This room is big enough, as long as he comes back for it before Mother comes visiting again.”

I soothe the surprisingly short-tempered Mary as she glowers and closes the door that Herman left open.

“Even so, this is not the proper behavior when you’re within the House of Healing. Healer Martin, properly scold him!”

“Hahaha…”

Healer Martin laughed dryly, but his eyes were riveted to my sketch, so I don’t think he’s much better, Mary.

In fact,

“Let’s leave the matter of how we would make these small wheels in front be able to freely rotate in all directions. Why would we do so?”

See? He’s also too interested in this design to pay attention to your scolding, Mary.

Hm… why ARE those two wheels swively?

Although I properly described how a modern wheelchair in my former world was, I don’t really know why the front two wheels were swively.

For that matter, how big are wheelchairs normally? Like, how big are the big wheels, and how small are the small wheels?

Does it matter depending on how wide and big the chair part is?

I have no idea.

Maa, that matter is something I will leave to people with a little more ability than a naive woman with a vague memory, though.

I manage to deflect Healer Martin with a vague, “I thought it would be better like that,” and he nodded and murmured to himself while he stared at my sketch.

Then, with my sketch in hand, he stood up suddenly, said,

“I will need to catch Herman before he goes too far,”

And walked very quickly towards the door.

As soon as the door to my room closed behind him,

Dadadada-!

The sound of running feet went off in the same direction that Herman went.

Um…

My attendant, Mary, sighed in frustration and walked around the wheelbarrow-chair, over to a tassel that was attached to a wire that ran along the ceiling.

When she pulled it, I could hear the clanging ring of a bell in the distance, and a little bit afterwards there were steps coming down the hall before another attendant entered.

“It seems Healer Martin will skip the rest of his rounds this afternoon if someone doesn’t go get him. He probably went off to the carpenter, Herman’s.”

Mary said to her.

“Understood. I will send Bartholomew after him.”

After the attendant ran off, I timidly say,

“S-sorry if I said some unnecessary things…”

Mary smiled and stroked my hair a little as she re-arranged the pillows.

“Not at all. If you are able to help develop this ‘wheeled chair’, it would be wonderful for invalids, and if you help Healer Martin get away from that deathtrap, it would be wonderful for the testers of the chairs.”

I see that Mary didn’t think too highly of the wheelbarrow-chair.

Well, it’s that kind of rickety prototype, so I guess it can’t be helped.

As Mary tidied up the bed-table and cleaned my hands of the ink, she muttered,

“My goodness. The imaginations of children cannot be underestimated.”

Sorry, Mary, it’s not my own abilities.

But I don’t really feel bad about taking advantage of my memories.

I think if it comes to making things easier for the sick, I won’t hesitate to take every bit of random knowledge I might have for that.

If the alternative is that deathtrap… no, certainly it might not take too long until Healer Martin and Herman hit on the idea that the 4-wheeled, cart-type wheelchair would be better in the end, but how long would it take for them to make it, well, not dangerous?

In this world, like in my previous one, there are more people who need special tools to live their every day life than one realizes, and if we’re going to make one, we might as well do it quickly.

I hope no one will hold a grudge over me for forcing a wheelchair, at least, into existence.