The soldier was stabbed with a sword in the upper right ribcage.
Wounds in the same area can vary in severity depending on how deeply they penetrate.
Some wounds pierce the lungs and bronchi, others the heart and major blood vessels.
In that case, Raymond's current skills would never save him.
'No, he wouldn't be alive if it did. The blood vessels around his lungs are most likely damaged.'
"Hanson, put in the chest expansion tool."
"Yes!"
A surgical tool he commissioned from a dwarf.
It widened the space between the ribs to make room for the operation.
A view of the inside of the rib cage was revealed, but it was filled with blood.
"Hanson, sterilized cloths!"
"Yes!"
Raymond gritted his teeth and wiped away the blood.
Fortunately, it hadn't cut a major blood vessel, and the blood was slow to return.
Once he'd wiped the blood from inside and had a clear view, Raymond swallowed hard.
'The upper lung has been stabbed by a sword. I'll have to cut it out.'
It was more than a simple stitch.
'Can I do it?'
A lung is not an organ that can be sliced open with a scalpel.
You have to find all the blood vessels that supply it, dissect them, and close off the hidden (bronchi).
In addition, the cross-section of the lung must be sutured tightly to prevent air from leaking out.
Each step of the process is not easy.
But it had to be done.
'First, I have to tie off the veins.'
The vessels that supply blood to the lungs are hidden deep in the chest.
He needed to find them and tie them off.
"Hanson, press down on the lung with this long iron stick."
"Yes, Master!"
The lungs pushed back and he saw a blur of space.
The hilum.
It was the center of the lung.
Deep in there, he must find the vessels that lead to the upper lungs and tie them off.
'Which one is the upwardly directed vessel? If I tie the other one, I'm doomed.'
There was a large main blood vessel in a narrow space, and branches branching off from it into the territory of each lung.
If he ties the wrong one, he was done.
That lung would rot away.
'It's hard to see with all the blood coming out.'
Raymond bit his lip hard.
What's more, the veins aren't sticking out in plain sight.
They were wrapped in the pulmonary membrane that surrounds the lungs, and he had to peel them away with iron tools.
The problem is that the branching vessels are very fragile and can tear if the membrane is peeled off incorrectly.
This would make the surgery very difficult.
Espionage in action.
But he couldn't take a calm and relaxed approach.
"Master, his blood pressure is dropping again!"
"Give him epinephrine!"
The patient's condition was already at the limit.
He had to be fast and precise.
His heart was pounding, his hands were shaky, and he felt overwhelmed.
He felt overly nervous.
'Oh, shit.'
Then, as if to steady him, a series of messages popped up.
[The Heart of Steel is manifesting!]
[The Heart of Steel is manifesting!]
A skill that had always helped him in times of crisis.
A sense of resolve and determination enveloped his heart.
Raymond sighed heavily.
'I can do this, trust me.'
He was only a resident, but he had worked on so many patients.
Many he hadn't been able to cure because of his lack of skill, but far too many have been restored to happiness at his hands.
It was time to put his hard work to work.
Raymond moved his dwarven iron tool.
Jjiik, jjiik.
He heard the faint sound of tearing soft tissue.
The oozing blood obscured his vision, but he kept moving, wiping at it with a cloth.
Finally, a branching vein came into view,
"Forceps."
Poof!
The iron forceps gripped the vein firmly, cutting off the blood flow.
'Next, the artery.'
After cutting through the vein with the scalpel, he found the artery.
The artery was behind the vein.
Snip. Dab.
Once again, he was ripping through the lung membrane that surrounded the artery.
Pour.
Blood poured out!
The iron tool had torn an artery!
'Oh no!'
It was a lot of blood, not even close.
He wiped it away with a cloth, but he couldn't see a thing.
"Master, his blood pressure is dropping again! Let's give him more fluids!"
Raymond gritted his teeth.
'I have to stop the bleeding somehow.'
There was no way.
He could only try to staunch the bleeding in an invisible space.
"Iron forceps."
"Yes, Master!"
Raymond took a deep breath and, relying on the sensation in his fingertips, slid the iron forceps precisely where the artery had been earlier, and with a snap, ligated it.
"The blood has stopped, Master."
Hanson said in surprise, and Raymond patted his chest.
'Ugh... This is going to take ten years. After all this trouble, I'm going to save him!'
Next up was the windpipe (bronchus), which supplies air to the lungs.
Fortunately, after tying off the veins and arteries, there was no major danger.
With the bronchus tied, the scalpel cut along the gap between the lungs.
Slice.
The top of the torn lung was cut away with the scalpel.
'Now for the final step. I need to suture the severed section of the lung to keep the air out.'
Raymond picked up the surgical thread and began stitching up the section of the lung, which was like a sponge, not the outer skin, so it took a delicate touch.
Finally, when he was done, he said.
"Close"
The surgery was a success.
***
Fortunately, the patient recovered without any problems after the surgery.
"T-thank you."
The conscious patient said with tears in his eyes.
"Y-you're the reason I'm alive, and I'm not separated from Mary, whom I married not long ago."
Raymond smiled.
It was always nice to hear a patient's gratitude.
'Of course, in this case, there is more to it than mere gratitude.'
He cured a penetrating wound to the chest!
He'd done enough to convince the soldiers of the greatness of medicine.
'Hmph. Now that's the beginning of merit!'
Of course, he hid his snobbery and said charitably.
"I'm glad you're feeling better, too."
"How can I repay this favor..."
The patient said with a contrite face.
"Favor? I'm a healer. I did what I was supposed to do, so don't mind me."
"Ah...!"
The patient's eyes watered with emotion.
'There's someone like that in the world. You mean all those stories my friends from the capital told me were true?'
Raymond continued with an angelic face.
"Don't worry about anything, just think about getting well, because that's the least you can do for me."
"Great. T-thank you!"
Of course, the snobbish Raymond had an agenda when he talked like this.
'This way, he'll be even more impressed and spread the word.'
Now that he had cured a difficult patient, Raymond was going to pull a mulberry (?).
He planned to create an inspiring anecdote and spread the word around the barracks!
And he was right on target.
"The man who was stabbed in the chest was cured by Baron Penin."
"Really?"
The soldiers asked in amazement.
A stab wound to the chest, a death sentence?
"No. Are you saying that his healing skills are no better than Class A healing? How did he treat a patient who was stabbed in the chest?"
"I don't know. Maybe my friends in the capital weren't lying. They said he was better than heals. You know what's even more amazing?"
"What?"
"The healer took care of the soldier warmly."
"...!"
The soldiers were even more astonished.
The healer was warm?
"No way. There's no way such a healer exists. I'd rather believe you saw a legendary dragon."
"It's true, I heard it from the source. He was in tears and said he would never forget the favor he received."
"Huh. I don't believe it."
The soldiers were awed.
And Raymond seized this golden opportunity.
'I need to take advantage of this time to put down roots!'
He personally went to the soldiers and healed them!
"Baron Penin came and healed you in person?"
"Yes, indeed. I was wounded in the leg by an arrow, and somehow he found me and healed me."
"Me too. Look at this arm. Baron Penin healed it."
The soldiers roared.
What's more, Raymond didn't just heal them.
He was as friendly and warm as possible.
'If I'm friendly and warm, I'll get more patients!'
There were other reasons, too.
'They've been wounded in battle, and they must be hurting. As a healer, I should be able to comfort them.
Raymond thought to himself.
On the battlefield, soldiers are just numbers.
No one cares about them as individuals.
Sick and wounded, they suffer in vain.
No one comforts the wounded.
'Let's treat them, let's do the best we can.'
That's how Raymond saw his patients, and he did his best.
At the very least, he tried not to feel sorry for the wounded and sick, and his efforts caused a stir in the barracks.
"We've been misled. I can't believe I didn't trust him."
"He's not like the other healers."
"Didn't I tell you, the prince is great?"
"Prince? What?"
As the other soldiers exchanged puzzled looks, the one from the capital city spoke up.
"Didn't you know, that's the Shadow Prince!"
"...!"
"He's the one who uncovered all of the plots of the Droton Kingdom's bastards!"
Another wave of astonishment spread among the soldiers.
"Really, that's him?"
It was a slow time for rumors, so the soldiers from the provinces didn't know exactly who Raymond was.
All they knew was that there was an outstanding prince who thwarted the plots of the Drotonians, and that was Raymond!
"Then he... was the one who saved the people of the capital slums?"
"That's right, it's all him! It's not just the slums, he's helped us commoners so much too!"
Shouts of praise for Raymond broke out here and there, as if the water in the dike had burst.
"Ha, somehow, he kept my hand warm."
One soldier said in a trembling voice.
"He was telling me to be careful. To not get sick."
The soldier's excitement drained from his voice, and his listeners fell silent.
"I've never heard anyone talk so warmly to me since I left the battlefield. Oh, shit. Why is it that his warm words remind me of my family and bring tears to my eyes? I think I'm going to get teary-eyed again now. I guess I'm a man of principle."
Similar stories spread throughout the barracks.
"I heard that from him, too. He was so worried about me that he wanted me to get well soon, but I just cried like a baby."
"I've never met a healer like that either, I don't think there's another one in the world."
The soldiers talking were all teary-eyed.
No one knows how much terror, fear, and pain soldiers on the battlefield feel unless they are there.
Raymond's warmth comforted them.