Published: August 15, 2025
Today, three chapters are posted simultaneously.
This story is the first chapter.
As the morning sun begins to rise in the dark sky, Ryoma rushes to the hospital, which is overflowing with a large crowd.
Outside the gate, a continuous line of carriages arrives, unloading injured people with various wounds. Inside the hospital grounds, near the entrance, doctors from the evacuated town have gathered to triage patients, assessing urgency and prioritizing treatment.
Among those doctors, Ryoma spots a familiar face.
"Mr. Hector! I've come to help!"
"Prepare yourself and come from the break room to the examination room! Teacher Mafral is here!"
"Understood! Mr. Eudam, please inform Mr. Fuse and the others about the matter we discussed. After that, assist as much as you can!"
"Got it!"
Following the instructions, Ryoma heads to the changing room. Along the way, there are many injured people inside the hospital.
In the waiting rooms and corridors, loud voices almost bordering on shouting echo as people endure pain anxiously, waiting for treatment, while medical staff and volunteers run ceaselessly.
Eager to join treatment as soon as possible, Ryoma runs to the changing room.
"Ugh! Ugh! Guh!"
"Hold him steady!"
"The bleeding won't stop!"
"Hurry with the healing magic!"
After changing into clean clothes and a white coat, Ryoma brings along three slime companions and enters the area where the most critically injured patients are being treated. Inside, the anguished screams of patients and doctors’ commands echo, blood drips onto the floor leaving footprints—a grim and chaotic scene.
"Ryoma-kun! Help me over here!"
Noticing Ryoma’s arrival, Master Mafral calls him over and leads him into one of the examination rooms.
"More patients will arrive soon, so use healing magic as appropriate. I will instruct you when to use it. There are so many patients; I’m counting on you."
"Understood."
"Master! Treatment is about to start! Just a little longer! Hang in there, Master!"
Seconds after Ryoma’s reply, a blood-soaked man on a stretcher is brought into the examination room. The man is unconscious even before arrival, with a deep cut on his left upper arm from a blade and an arrow embedded deeply in his right thigh, the shaft cut off for transport.
The two immediately assess the patient's condition and prepare to begin treatment.
"Wait a moment!?"
But a voice calls for a halt.
Looking down the corridor where the patient was brought in, a man accompanying the patient clings to the door of the examination room. Tears well up in his eyes, his face pale as he tries to force his way inside but is stopped just in time by staff outside.
"Let me through!"
"This area is off-limits!"
"Why is a child there!?"
Ignoring the staff, the man shouts at Ryoma.
"You're not going to let that kid treat my master, are you!? I know there are other patients! But at least let a proper doctor—someone qualified—see him! Please!"
"Ryoma-kun, don’t mind him. Start treatment on the right leg. I will hold him down."
"Understood."
Carrying out Mafral’s instructions, Ryoma picks up the tools needed for treatment. Seeing this, the man struggles even more violently.
"Wait!"
"Calm down. We are doing everything we can to treat the patient—obviously including him."
"Then why won’t you treat my master!?"
"We must stop you because you are obstructing treatment."
"Then stop that kid before me!"
"Right thigh treatment is done. Next, I’ll start on the left arm."
After the man pleads quietly to Mafral with tears in his eyes, Ryoma’s brief status report rings out from the examination room.
"Treatment is complete! …Ah."
Declared finished just seconds after beginning, the man instinctively tries to snap at them. But his eyes catch the removed arrow, the uninjured right leg of the master, and Ryoma’s hands as the deep wound on the left arm closes.
Even the staff restraining the man and the man himself understand this rapid work despite being a layperson. The man’s rage dissipates, replaced by relief, and he nearly collapses. Another staff member who came as backup catches him.