'These bastards. Ugh. What the hell.'
The intent of the letter was clear. The Healing Tower would no longer monitor Raymond's progress. Raymond's heart thudded in his chest. But he didn't give in and clenched his fists.
'I'm not going to lie down just to see the Healing Tower!'
He was honestly shaking.
He was a coward.
He didn't have the pulpit or the power to take on an organization like the Tower of Healing.
But he had come this far, and he couldn't stop just because the Tower of Healing wanted him to.
"I'll give you my answer: I'm just working for the patients."
The other frowned.
"Foolish, I hope you don't regret that decision."
As the other man walked away, Raymond sighed heavily.
'We have to do something! We can't let them eat us like this!'
But before he could think of a plan, a dark cloud rolled in.
The Orange Zone.
A patient with a life-threatening condition had been brought in from a nobleman's residence.
***
In the center of the capital, next to the royal castle, in the Orange Quarter, stood a gleaming, shining mansion.
It was the Raul Healing Center, one of the three major healing centers, and the only one that treated nobles.
The number of healers was not as large as one might expect.
Less than ten?
But they were all splendid.
At least B-level.
There were a whopping three A-ranked healers.
In particular, Viscount Rand, the director, was an A+, the highest-ranked healer in the entire kingdom, ranking in the top ten.
Aside from Count Helien, who was a "triple-A" healer, he was the best healer in the kingdom!
It was a great place to be a healer, but something was off today.
"I'm sorry, sir. I've done my best, but I think you should prepare yourself, Baron."
A middle-aged noblewoman was dying!
A nobleman, who appeared to be her husband, clung to her with a desperate face.
"Is there no way, please, I'll pay any price, but please save her life!"
The healers looked at each other in confusion.
'It's already wrong. She's in no condition to be saved with a heals.'
The lady was already unconscious.
Her face was like a corpse, and her breathing was pale and thin.
The experienced healers had already realized that she was beyond their reach.
"As I told you before, she has a serious infection in the green fluid sac. We've been treating it, but it's gotten worse, and we can't use our hands anymore."
Green fluid sac was another way of saying gallbladder.
'Most of them can be treated with a Class A heal, but this one has an infection that's gone too far.'
Smyden, the nobleman, made a face of despair.
"Ah...!"
He grabbed his wife's hand and burst into tears.
'No. I can't let her go like this.'
Not all nobles were well off.
Smyden was from a downfallen family.
He'd spent a lifetime struggling to make ends meet, and his wife had stood by his side, devotedly supporting him.
Now that he could finally afford to smile, this was happening to him?
He would never let her die.
"Viscount Rand?! Viscount Rand can't treat her?"
"I'm sorry, sir. He's out of town treating a local lord's illness."
"Well, then, can't you contact Count Helien?"
"He's a count or higher, and he only treats royalty."
The healer was crisp and tidy.
Count Helien, the best healer in the kingdom, didn't bat an eyelid when a patient died in front of him unless the patient was a high-ranking noble.
'One who uses heals only for the noble.'
Baron Smyden bit his lip hard as he asked in a determined voice.
"Then, if it's Baronet Penin, can he cure my wife?"
"...!"
The healers' faces stiffened at the unexpected name.
Raymond, the one who had been most annoying to the healers lately.
"I've heard that Baronet Penin has cured some very bad patients with some very strange tricks. Isn't it possible that he could save my wife?"
The healers raised their eyebrows.
"Well, it's hard to imagine that a serious infection like this could be cured by anything other than a heals."
"Still, just in case..."
Baron Smyden asked again in a wistful voice, and the head healer spoke in a strong voice.
"If you go, you'll only regret it."
The chief healer said admonishingly.
"I understand, of course, that your judgment has been clouded by what has suddenly befallen your wife. However, I believe it is unbecoming of a nobleman to show such a lack of resolve. Please prepare for your wife's death."
At those words, Baron Smyden's eyebrows waggled.
There was nothing more to look forward to here.
'I'll go to the Penin Healing Center. Maybe a miracle will happen.'
It was wishful thinking, of course. But there was nowhere else to turn but to that straw man's hope.
'Let's hurry.'
Every minute counted.
So Baron Smyden hurried to the Penin Healing Center.
'Please. Please. May a miracle happen.'
Baron Smyden thought desperately in his carriage.
He would pay any reward to Baronet Penin if he could save his wife's life, including all the "honor" he had earned throughout his life.
***
"Blood pressure 50/30, pulse 170!"
Raymond swallowed hard as he listened to Hanson's vital signs.
'She's in severe shock!'
In medicine, there was a term called 'general appearance'.
It referred to a patient's overall condition as seen by a doctor, sometimes more important than any objective numbers.
In Raymond's eyes, this patient's condition wasn't usually serious.
It looked like she wouldn't last much longer and might go into cardiac arrest.
"Give her a bolus of fluids, and put her on pressors!"
"Yes, Master!"
Pressors. A drug that raises blood pressure in shock. But it wasn't having much effect.
"She's not responding, Master!"
Raymond bit his lip hard.
'I've managed to concoct a pressor with my herbalist knowledge, but it's ineffective.'
The medicines Raymond was using now were derived from herbs.
They were not as effective as those used on Earth today.
'We need epinephrine, not herbal depressants.'
Epinephrine.
Adrenaline.
These were the most powerful hormones in the body.
On modern Earth, it was used in cases of severe shock or cardiac arrest.
'But where can I get epinephrine now?'
Unfortunately, Raymond hadn't yet implemented epinephrine.
He needed to isolate the hormone from an animal's body, and he wasn't skilled enough in the art of alchemy.
He needed to raise her blood pressure just a little bit before he could operate.
As it was, opening up the stomach would only result in table death.
Table death.
Dying during surgery.
"Increase the concentration of the pressors, and give her a more rapid infusion of fluids!"
"Yes, Master!"
But it didn't work.
Finally, Christine stepped up and unleashed her heels.
A grade B+, more like an A.
The bright heals penetrated the patient's body.
But even the B+ heals didn't help.
For a moment, her blood pressure seemed to recover, but then it dropped back down.
'Oh no. Not like this!'
Just then, the guardian, Baron Smyden, asked in a trembling voice.
"W-will it be difficult?"
Baron Smyden's voice was filled with despair.
He realized.
That it would be difficult to save his wife.
"Is there no way?
Raymond bit his lip, and then a message popped up.
[A quest has occurred!]
[Treat a Severely Ill Patient!]
(Medicine Quest)
[Medicine Rank: One Half Scalpel
Difficulty: High
Quest Description: It's a patient with severe septic shock! Do your best to keep her alive!
Clear condition: Patient's recovery
Reward: Bonus Level Up x 2, 40 Skill Points
Perks: Prestige (Healer who saved a nobleman)]
There were even messages like.
[The patient's condition is very poor!]
[The difficulty of the quest is high!]
[Magic can be purchased regardless of class rank!]
Raymond gulped when he saw the contents, what a difficult task that would require such a high-ranked skill.
'What shall I do?'
Currently, he had attracted the attention of the Healing Tower.
If he made a mistake and the patient died, he would be in trouble.
Especially if the patient was a noble, the repercussions would be even greater than if a commoner had died.
If she died during the operation, the Healing Tower would most likely use this to punish him.
The risks were too great.
'Damn it, I'm trying to get rich! Why does it always have to be this way!'
But.
"I'm sorry, wife. I have not been good to you, and I am sorry to send you away like this."
Baron Smyden took the patient in his trembling hands, tears streaming down his face. Raymond gritted his teeth.
He couldn't let go.
'Shit, damn it.'
Raymond said.
"I'll be honest with you, it's not easy, not with the condition she's in."
A moment of despair filled Baron Smedden's eyes.
Raymond spoke again.
"But I'll do my best."
"..."
Raymond turned away immediately.
There was no time to lose, he had to act now.
'If I think about it, this might be an opportunity.'
Raymond's head spun rapidly.
'If I save this patient, I'll make a name for myself. I'll have saved a patient that even Raul's Treatment Center has given up on.'
Raymond had been thinking.
How could he face the Tower of Healing?
He realized that he was powerless against the Tower of Healing.
The more he built up his reputation, the more people supported him, the harder it would be for the Tower of Healing to touch him.
In that sense, healing this patient could be an opportunity.
'The problem is, it's a story about a successful cure.'
Raymond clenched his fists tightly.
'I'll cure her!'
He decided to stop thinking about it.
For his patient's sake and his own, he would do it.
First, purchase the magic.
'Open Market!'
With a click, a list of spells appeared, many of which he hadn't seen before.
Thanks to the quest perks.
'Which ones should I buy? Which ones will help me in this situation?'
But he didn't see anything that would help.
'If I'm going to save this woman, I need to get her vital signs. What's the best spell to raise her blood pressure?'
One second, two seconds.
An eternity passed.
"Master, we're in trouble!"
"Blood pressure drops further!"
"Her pulse is also slowing down!"
Raymond's complexion hardened.
She's going into cardiac arrest, what am I going to do?'
Looking at her vitals, she had less than a minute to live; cardiac arrest would happen soon, and it would be over.
There was no chance of surgery.
'I have to stop the cardiac arrest somehow. Shit, I don't have any epinephrine, how?!'