"If I turn back, I'll regret it for the rest of my life, so please clear the way. I want to save my patients."
His words struck a chord with people.
"How could he do that?
'He must be scared and afraid, to do that for his patients.
"What the hell, Raymond?
Everyone was in awe.
They were grateful before, but now they were incomparably more so.
'Not even compared to the previous princes.
"Not even an angel in heaven could be so good and wonderful.
These were all the reactions Raymond intended!
Taking advantage of the people's pause in the crucible of emotion, Raymond hurriedly entered the house.
'Use, Shield.'
Boom!
A transparent shield surrounded Raymond.
[Shield magic manifests!]
[Your stamina stat is high compared to your magic level, you can adjust your magic a bit more smoothly!]
"You're sure you got it working right?
Raymond looked slightly uneasy.
He could feel the transparent membrane, but it was unnerving.
'It shouldn't be contagious.
Raymond fixed a thick towel over his mouth and nose and approached the patients.
"Whoa, Prince?"
The children's eyes widened in terror as they stared at him.
"I'm not a prince."
"Wow, you are a prince, aren't you?"
"Um."
Raymond felt the need to clear up the title.
People kept calling him Prince, and it was embarrassing, and he didn't like it at all.
"Just call me Raymond or Brother."
"Well, that's...."
"If it's too much for you, you can call him 'Long live the handsome and wonderful Mr. Raymond'."
The kids blinked.
They couldn't tell if he was joking or serious.
For a moment, and then their big eyes filled with tears.
"Hmph. I don't want to die, please help me, ewww."
"Ugh."
"Help me. Help me."
The parents pleaded in tears.
"Please, please spare these children!"
"Please, prince, ah, no, healer!"
Raymond nodded and said.
"Let me look at them for a moment, and then lift their clothes."
The children's limbs and torsos were also covered in horrible blisters.
It was so ugly that most people were too squeamish to look at it properly.
Raymond was equally disgusted, but he looked at the blisters as dispassionately as he could.
"These types of plagues look alike, but there's a difference, and we need to be able to tell them apart.
He looked beyond the obvious: inside the mouths, under the eyes. After looking at every possible clue, Raymond had his answer.
He let out a long sigh.
"This is not the Grim Reaper."
"I, are you sure?!"
"Yes, it is, so don't worry. You won't be killed unjustly."
Raymond explained to the people outside.
"Are you sure?"
"Then what is this disease?"
Raymond replied.
"In ancient terms, it's called... variant chickenpox."
Chickenpox (Chickenpo×)!
It was the disease that most closely resembled smallpox (Smallpo×).
"It doesn't usually come on this badly, so it's less misunderstood.
Chickenpox affects most children. However, it was rarely mistaken for smallpox. This is because chickenpox has much fewer symptoms than smallpox.
However, on rare occasions, it could be so severe that it was difficult to distinguish it from smallpox.
It was a rare strain of chickenpox in Leipenthaina, and like smallpox, the vesicles were filled with pus.
At the time, even licensed healers had difficulty distinguishing between the two.
But varicella is still a type of chickenpox.
There were points in the knowledge of "conventional medicine" that made the distinction clear.
"The stages of the blisters are not the same, the palms of the hands and soles of the feet are relatively clear, and the blisters are on the surface, not deep in the skin. These are characteristics of chickenpox, not the grim reaper."
"...!"
People asked in hesitant, hesitant voices.
"Well, that's still not a sure thing, is it?"
It's not that I don't believe Raymond.
But the fear of the plague was too great.
"Then how about this: I'll take these kids to the clinic and get them cured."
"...!"
"Because if anything goes wrong, I'll be the first to go. Is that okay with you?"
People couldn't object anymore.
In fact, they were impressed.
"He's willing to take her to his clinic, even though it could be dangerous.
"How foolish and brilliant of him.
"We, the neighbors, were going to set him on fire.
Raymond's reverence for the slum dwellers grew and grew.
Some of them even began to admire him.
Then, Raymond said to them
"There's just one thing I need you to do to help these children get better."
"What is it, just say the word!"
"There is a special medicine that can cure this disease...."
Raymond said in a slightly lower voice.
"They say that meat is very good for it. I would appreciate it if you could get some meat for me."
"...meat?"
Raymond nodded vigorously.
"Yes, that's what it says in the ancient lore. Meat is good, especially beef, so please bring it."
Raymond thought to himself.
"Meat is good for all patients, heh.
Even though he was doing this purely for the sake of his patients, it was a shame to leave empty-handed.
Raymond vowed to take advantage of this opportunity to get some meat for the first time in a long time.
The heavens would be kind to him.
...Maybe.
* * *
What followed was a happy ending.
As Raymond had predicted, the children recovered without too much trouble.
"There's not much you can do about chicken pox anyway.
Raymond had reason to smile.
The slum dwellers had indeed brought him plenty of meat!
For the first time in a long time, Raymond was able to get away from the vegetable soup and eat a lot of meat.
"Hanson, meat again today! "
"Yes, I'll try to eat it."
Hanson scribbled furiously, and when I glanced at it, I saw this.
-Meat is the best medicine for the plague.
-Particularly sirloin.
Raymond made a face.
'...I was just saying that because I wanted more sirloin.
He couldn't imagine that the respectable (?) Raymond was lying because he wanted to eat meat.
'Hmm. I'll correct him later, but for now, let's eat the meat first, yum yum.'
It's been a while since I've eaten meat.
It tasted like honey.
Raymond hated vegetables the most in the world.
And meat wasn't the only thing he got out of this.
[Saving patients from unjust death!]
[Quest fulfilled!]
[You've earned the achievement: "Healer of the Patients"].
[Gained a bonus level up!]
[You get 20 bonus skill points].
[Your reputation increases!]
[Perk: You gain even greater favor with the people of the slums!]
It was a sweet message any time I heard it.
I was especially excited to hear it while eating beef.
"Okay!
Before I knew it, I was level 29.
"I can't wait to get to level 40, so I can get my novice resident ticket.
Once you reach level 40, you can "move up. I'll be able to take care of patients better than I can now.
'But this shield spell would be a great help when I see plague patients in the future. I'm limited by my lack of mana, and it only lasts for a short time.'
Raymond felt a pang of regret.
Mana!
It was the mysterious force behind all miracles, whether they were healing, magic, or Aurors.
Healers used it to power their heels, wizards used it to power their magic, and knights used it to power their mana blades and aurors.
"I have my own mana.
Raymond is a healer, so he has mana.
'I'm guessing you have a stat ... of 1.'
It was almost there, and the mana was at the same level.
'Other spells are also limited in their use due to lack of mana. If there is a way to increase my mana, it will be very helpful when I see patients. I should learn mana seniority.'
But the knights' mana seniority was not the answer. Mana stacking is a way of storing mana at the bottom of the deck.
Knights, mages, and healers all use the same mana, but they use it differently.
Knights use mana seniority to accumulate mana in the lower tandem, below the navel.
Mages, through knowledge and enlightenment, accumulate mana around their heart, called the mana heart.
Healers used their mana in the upper dantian, the mana channel.
Of the three classes, healers were by far the most difficult to build up mana.
Their mana output, and therefore their healing power, was determined by their inherent talent, which is extremely difficult to acquire.
"So no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get above an F.
As I thought about it, I had a question.
"But what kind of mana am I using for my magic?
This was a very important question that I had overlooked until now.
Top lane, mid lane, and bottom lane are not compatible with each other.
This means that healers in top lane can only use healing, mages in mid lane can only use magic, and knights in bottom lane can only use auras.
But right now, Raymond is using magic.
He doesn't even have any mana in his mana heart.
"I've always assumed it was the player's ability.
Raymond shakes his head.
He would have to think about this later.
Right now, he had more important things to do.
"Senior, the meat is done."
"Yes, let's eat. You cooked it well enough to keep it juicy, right?"
I had to eat freshly grilled meat.
It wasn't polite to let the meat cool down.
"...But now that the plague is over, do I still have to eat meat?"
"Yes, because meat is always right."
Meat was indeed always right.
Because it's delicious.
Yum.
* * *
The children all recovered, and the incident made a huge splash.
People in the Bay Area now viewed Raymond in a completely different light.
Before, people in the Bay Area had viewed Raymond with mixed feelings.
But not everyone did.
Some viewed him with suspicion.
"Isn't he just playing nice for some political advantage, like the princes who came before him?
"Isn't it hypocrisy to pretend to care about us?
But those voices were silenced.
Raymond's behavior that day was enough to shake people to their core.
He cared about his patients even though he might die of the disease.
If you weren't moved by his saintly behavior, you weren't human.