'If I make a mistake here, I'm done.'
Boom. Boom.
His heart beat like crazy.
A tension that would have been a wobbly miss if not for the sensory stat that rose to 33 took over his entire body.
[Heart of Steel is expressing!]
[Heart of Steel is beating!]
A succession of messages came to mind telling him to get a grip.
Raymond gritted his teeth.
And eventually.
Tuk.
The small intestine, which had been confined to the large intestine, returned to its original position.
The conquest was over!
Fortunately, no complications have occurred.
"Is it over?"
Lyndon, who was watching from the side, asked in a trembling voice.
He was in a state of great shock at the first surgery in his life.
'My God, there's a cure like this!'
Lyndon was a junior healer, but he was a smart boy.
So he could realize.
The greatness of medicine.
Medicine was a miraculous treatment that destroyed all existing paradigms.
'You would have to use a lot of healing power to heal. I can't believe there's such a simple cure.'
Compared to the medical arts, the conventional treatment of healing unnecessarily was nothing short of barbaric and ignorant.
Lyndon had a hunch.
Medical science would one day hit the continent hard.
"Amazing...!"
"I'm not finished yet."
Raymond spoke in a heavy voice.
"What?"
"I have to decide whether to cut the intestines."
Raymond examined the swollen blue intestines with downcast eyes.
'Fortunately, I succeeded in moving the intestines, but they were not in good condition. It may be rotting on the inside. That would be the end of it.'
There was only one solution.
He had to cut the intestine before it rotted.
The problem was that he didn't know if this intestine would rot or not.
'Damn it, on modern earth you could predict this in advance with all kinds of tests.'
Raymond clenched his lips.
Blaming the environment for the delay wouldn't change things.
He had to figure out a way to accomplish this now.
'How can I do this?'
Instantly, one of the skills he had seen at the market the other day popped into his head.
Come to think of it, there was something.
Magic would be just the thing for his current situation.
'Browse the market! Buy skill!'
[You have purchased the "Eagle Eye" magic skill!]
[150 skill points are depleted!]
150 skill points consumed!
It was expensive because it was such a high-level skill.
[Eagle Eye]
[Classification: Auxiliary (magic) Skill
Magic Rank: Standard (Basic Applied Magic)
Proficiency: D
Light-attribute applied magic.
- It allows you to examine a small area in detail!
- The higher the proficiency, the wider and finer the observation!]
'Use Eagle Eye!'
Then something amazing happened.
His field of vision became dark.
Suddenly it was as if a blackout curtain had been drawn.
Instead, only the target area was clearly visible.
'It doesn't simply appear magnified. It looks very three-dimensional.'
Raymond spat.
The contours, the changes in tints, etc., were emphasized and visible to the eye.
[The magic level is high compared to the amount of mana you have!]
[Caution: mana drains at a fast rate!]
A message floated up as if to warn him.
The mana began to drain at a fast rate as if it were applied magic.
It looked like he wouldn't be able to use it for more than a few seconds.
'Concentrate as much as you can! I need to see if there is any sign of intestinal rot!'
Raymond bit his lips and examined the swollen intestine.
Badump.
Badump.
The sound of his heart beating with nervousness spread like a second hand.
In no time.
[Caution: Mana is used up!]
[The magic of "Eagle Eye" will be released!]
With the message, Raymond got an answer.
'The necrosis is already starting faintly!'
The tip of the intestine.
He was able to discover a black rotten area, like a mole.
At that moment, the magic ended and his vision flashed in the darkness.
"Senior?"
Hanson asked worriedly, and Raymond shook his head.
Raymond shook his head.
"I'll keep going."
Raymond held a hand knife, a scalpel of his own making.
'I've identified signs of intestinal rot, and I'm going to have to cut it out.'
If left untreated, he would have died of severe sepsis.
Still, it was a good thing he checked beforehand.
If he had closed the stomach without knowing, this child would have died for sure.
Jjiik.
The scalpel split the bowels.
The sound of the scalpel moving echoed through the quiet room.
Meanwhile, Lyndon, newly arrived as an apprentice, was again astonished to see the ensuing surgery.
Cutting off the intestines and putting them back together.
'... Can I learn such an amazing treatment?'
Lyndon swallowed his saliva.
He didn't dare to follow him.
'How can he do this without hesitation?'
Lyndon's eyes were filled with wonder when he saw Raymond continuing the surgery.
'You're about to fall for it, too. For the greatness of the master.'
Lyndon had to agree.
With respect to such competence, thinking only of the patient.
How could you not fall for that?
As Lyndon's eyes grew envious,
Raymond said,
"I'm going to finish the surgery."
It was a voice announcing the success of the surgery.
And so the child was brought back to life.
[Quest accomplished!]
[Bonus level up!]
[Bonus level up!]
[You gain 20 skill points!]
[Bonus: Unexpected Luck!]
***
"You handled it perfectly, didn't you?"
"Of course I did. Now that guy will be crushed into a stone that has already killed a patient and will be scared to death."
Pierre continued to speak confidently.
"I've focused the public's attention on the Penin Clinic. Now if a patient dies, word will spread quickly."
"You are my right-hand man after all! Ha ha!"
Baron Canton burst out laughing pleasantly.
<Raymond the fraud! Killing a poor child with shoddy treatment!>
Soon, these rumors would spread throughout the Lyme area.
"Good. Good. I'm looking forward to it."
"Yes, hold on a second. I'll be hearing from them soon."
Pierre continued with an evil look.
"I'm going to spread the rumor by highlighting his fault as much as possible. I'll make him the one to kill, so you can look forward to it."
Baron Canton looked dependable.
"You are too wicked for your own good, aren't you?"
"What do you mean by wicked? I'm cleaning up a fraud for the sake of a brighter future for the healing world. It's rather righteous, isn't it, kuku?"
They faced each other and laughed in an ugly manner.
Just then, the informant they had sent to the Penin Treatment Center came running toward them.
"Baron! Mr. Pierre!"
They smiled at the tense look on their informant's face.
"Looks like the good news we've been waiting for, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it's show time now, so look forward to it."
Soon an informant arrived in front of them. He shouted heartbreakingly,
"The child has lived!"
"Huh?"
"... pardon?"
Baron Canton and Pierre, for a moment unsure of the meaning of the words, asked blankly,
What did you just say?
"He's recovering from the treatment of Baronet Penin!"
"..."
Baron Canton opened his mouth.
It was the moment when "Showtime" started.
Quite contrary to their intentions, of course, it was show time for Raymond.
***
<Baronet Penin rescued a child in danger of dying with a medical procedure!>
These rumors hit the Lyme area hard.
Originally, the rumor would not have spread so quickly after treating one patient.
However, the problem was that Pierre had warmed up the undercurrent beforehand.
Many eyes were on the Penin clinic, and the rumors spread like wildfire across a wide-open field.
"Prevent the rumor from spreading! Now!"
Baron Canton shouted to Pierre.
"Quickly!
"T-That's... what I've been trying to do, but to no avail."
Pierre stammered as usual.
"The patient's father was a bard."
"... What?"
Baron Canton asked back vaguely.
A bard?
A bard who plays among the people and spreads rumors?
Pierre answered with a pale face.
"H-He was a pretty famous bard around here. He's been walking around and talking about this. So word of this is spreading fast."
Baron Canton's face turned white.
He had failed.
Thus the quest perks and the "Unexpected Luck" began to work.
***
Joseph, the father of the child.
His profession was none other than a bard.
Ugly and poor, but a bard who knew romance.
Even if he was not an outstanding musician, the people in the Lyme area liked him a lot.
'I thought I'd never touch this instrument again.'
Joseph stroked the harp with faint eyes.
He sold this to cover the cost of his child's treatment.
However, there was already a reason why he was able to get the harp back.
"I will not accept the money for the treatment."
"B-Baronet?"
Raymond.
That angelic one who seemed to have descended from the sky refused to pay for the treatment.
"You can't do that! It's not enough grace to give you all my property!"
He offered Raymond 230 pence he had prepared by selling the harp.
"Sigh."
Raymond swallowed his spit unconsciously as he looked at the money.
'I worked hard, should I get half of it?'
He was already in a tight spot, so when he saw a lot of money, he was greedy. But soon he shook his head.
'If I take this money, his whole family will starve to death. I hear the health of the children's mother is not so good either. I will soon be the richest man in the world, so I will give it to him. Such money is a pittance to me in the future.'
Raymond thought, deliberately generous. Instead, Raymond decided to get a "more valuable" price.
"Of course, that doesn't mean you're getting free treatment."
"Please tell me! I would give my life to repay you!"
"Please spread good word about me."
"... Word?"
Raymond felt a little embarrassed when he attempted to make such a request himself.
But he did not give in and demanded it.
'I need to gain fame. To do that, I must manipulate public opinion!'
Just as Joseph's profession was that of a bard.
The perfect profession to manipulate and deceive public opinion!
Of course, Raymond did not ask him to appear too shy.
He went through a thorough image-making process.
"Many people seem to view me with prejudice for a variety of reasons. I'm just there for my patients."
"Ah!"
Raymond pointed to his forehead with the palm of his hand.
It was a look of earnestness and sadness for the patient for all to see.
"I would like to help more people, but the wall of prejudice seems to be blocking me. I hope you can help clear up some of their misconceptions."
No wonder the innocent Joseph fell in love with that perfect facial expression performance!
"Don't worry about that. I've been thinking about it anyway."
"Hmm?"
Joseph's eyes blazed furiously with determination.
'I swore to heaven that I would live the rest of my life doing good if you would save my child.'
Now it was time to live up to that vow.
For the rest of his life.
He decided that he would become a bard, singing for Raymond.
"... this is what I've been through this time."