70. The Prince Who Created Miracles in the Treatment Center, and the Deceased of the Ancient Ruins Who Called For Blood.
The Undead could not be negotiated with. Lower-rank Undead were given commands by a superior being, and that was all. Perhaps those who had become the Undead after dying as human soldiers had bitter resentment too. In the end, when faced with such an enemy, the only thing that was left to do was a bloody battle.
The Undead were marching toward the Pallan Empire’s capital, constantly threatening the mountain fortresses along the way. They were not going to stop until they all died or their true commander, which gathered and controlled them, was gone.
Knowing that for a fact, the allied kingdoms immediately made their way to the fortresses after their meeting and deciding their course of action. The proud-looking soldiers stood as sharp as knives, and they stared at each other with great hostility as if wanting to rip each other into shreds. However, they showed restraint and kept in line.
Davey found it quite amusing that the soldiers here were so hostile with each other when their true enemy was elsewhere.
It was natural for the soldiers to act in such a manner; since such a large force would be able to slaughter the enemy at any time, the compensation that came later on was bound to be a sensitive topic to all the kingdoms. However…
—The problem is that the enemy out there isn’t a monster that will be easily slaughtered.
The terrifyingly cold air that Davey had felt during the meeting was definitely Death Fear, which was an ability only a high-rank necromancer would have.
Death Fear was a pheromone that necromancers used when controlling the Undead. Its range and intensity increased depending on the necromancer’s ability.
It was a problem that the Death Fear was intense enough for Davey to have felt it from a whole battlefield away. Only one level of power that Davey knew of could do such a thing. And if his speculation proved true, the troops would be the ones being slaughtered, not the Undead, as soon as they decided to unleash their potential.
“Hm…” Davey, sitting on the spire, looked down at the soldiers confidently leaving the fortress gates.
Then, feeling a gaze, Davey turned and saw a woman in an antique combat robe. She sat on a horse and was staring at him. She looked to be in her early twenties, and she was someone from the Holy Empire who could receive a stigmata. Even though she was at a distance so far that Davey couldn’t be seen, she was still silently staring his way.
“They say that jealousy makes people ugly.”
Even an idiot could tell how the woman felt about Davey. She was jealous of the fact that Davey had received God’s love. That was the only emotion that she displayed, since she cleverly hid everything else. After all, she was no idiot.
She lowered the veil to cover her face before leaving the fortress gates on a horse, no longer paying attention to Davey.
Davey turned away without hesitation once Alice and the holy knight order left with countless soldiers and knights with them.
—It feels like your warning was quite mild, considering the person that you are.
Perserque asked Davey as he stared out the window.
“Oh, I just thought I needed to change my priorities.”
—Priorities?
Davey silently activated the status window.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt—Save those in pain from the disease. 0/20,000.
A deal had arrived. The problem was…
-T… Twenty thousand? It seems like too many…
The condition Freyja, the Goddess of Wine, had proposed was a vague one about saving those who suffered from diseases. It wasn’t specific to the war. Perhaps she knew that Davey wasn’t going to just quietly adhere to her deal even if she had a strict condition for it.
Still, the deal appeared to respect Davey’s decision no matter what he decided to go with.
* * *
The ancient monster’s energy of death was said to transform and strengthen the origin of many diseases. That was besides the decomposition process of turning dead people into the Undead.
“Eehh… Ehh.”
“It hurts… It hurts.”
That was the reason why most of the groaning soldiers who were transported to the headquarters on gurneys were affected by traditional diseases rather than diseases caused by the poison.
“Hey! Bring more painkillers!!”
“We need to operate here! Is the disinfection of surgical supplies not done yet?! Hurry up and get moving!!”
“Wake up! Damn it! Please open your eyes!”
The treatment center was a different kind of warzone. It was almost like hell. Horrible odors that Davey had never smelled before surrounded the entire place, and the center was full of soldiers complaining about their symptoms. There seemed to be hundreds of civilians and soldiers that suffered from various diseases.
“Hey! Stop blanking out and get a move on!! Do you want to die?!”
“S… Sorry!”
The treatment center, where rough language was exchanged, had painful moans and groans drowning out urgent shouts.
—Treatment centers are always so horrendous.
“In some sense, this is also a warzone.”
This was not a war about how many one could kill. For a doctor, this was a war against time to save as many dying patients as possible.
Davey estimated that there were about two hundred patients; however, there were people who succumbed to the diseases and were taken out on gurneys as cold bodies.
—That uniform is definitely…the Coalition for Disease Control.
—But you don’t really trust them.
Perserque chuckled and gave Davey a reality check.
Davey and Perserque had once seen the unbelievable acts that Count Lington had done in the past. There was a saying that one slip-up could ruin hundreds of good deeds; there were people like Baron Gorneo in the coalition as well, but even his dedication did not sway their opinions by much. That was because Lington had caused great and almost irreversible damage. Perhaps that was why Davey had little faith in the Coalition for Disease Control.
“Hey, you! Who are you and why are you here? Everyone here is working hard, so please don’t block the way and move!”
People could usually infer someone’s rank by looking at their appearance, such as uniforms and a clean face that showed they had never suffered a day in their lives.
To be fair, Davey had undergone rough training back in the Hall. However, he had been a mere soul at that time, so there were no scars left on his actual physical body.
The fact that this man could speak to Davey in such a manner despite Davey’s status as nobility or royalty meant that the coalition’s prestige wasn’t completely gone yet. If that wasn’t a reason, then he was a good doctor who had a good understanding of the urgent situation and believed that his patient was his first priority no matter who Davey was.
It seemed to be the latter. The man quickly ran off after shouting at Davey. He had a great mindset as a doctor.
The people of the coalition were so desperate to save these patients, so perhaps Lington was the odd one out. However…
“They are lacking a manual, which is the most important thing. If they keep going like this, seven out of ten patients will die.”
There were many problems, such as the failure of treatment, the worsening of the diseases, and some others. However, the most serious one of all was that the diseased patients were all suffering from a version of the disease that had been transformed by the death energy. Patients were bound to die right away if the original treatment method was used.
The Coalition for Disease Control was a large organization and as such, they had multiple medical staff with lots of experience. The problems were the amount of time required to treat one patient and that the number of soldiers being transported over kept growing. Even the most experienced medical staff could not examine dozens of people at once. That small gap kept growing and growing, steadily worsening the situation.
“Damn it!! Wake up!”
A man forcibly began CPR on a cold, stiff man whose heart had stopped. However, the deceased just remained on the bed without any movement.
“No! No, you can’t die, man!” A soldier screamed sadly at the death of his comrade.
The doctors suffered from shame. They were unable to save the patient even though it was a simple disease.
—Davey, I don’t think it’s the right time to sit back and watch.
At Perserque’s comment, Davey reminded himself of the oaths he had taken in front of Hypocria when having learned medicine from her.
Between a doctor and a patient, the triangular relationship that would emerge was an obvious one.
“N–No! You can’t die like this! Hold on a little bit longer! You can live!”
Three or four soldiers who had simply been declared dead were being carried out on gurneys.
“Move.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“Hm… Huh?!”
Not wanting to complicate the situation, Davey organized all the thoughts in his head and pushed away a doctor who was crying out to the unresponsive patient.
It was cardiac arrest: as the transformed bacteria had entered the soldier through his exposed wounds, he had failed to endure the disease that caused hemorrhage and threw off homeostasis in the body. Nobody would usually die this quickly, but the disease had been mutated by the death energy and was progressing as Davey expected.
—This incredible skill of transforming diseases is so wicked.
The doctor who Davey pushed out of the way was not a council member. He was an ordinary doctor in the coalition.
“Who are you?!” The man who was in despair suddenly shouted at Davey’s sudden actions.
The man tried to grab him by the neck, but Davey ignored him and touched the unresponsive patient with his fingertips. Then, he cast a simple magic spell after releasing his mana.
[Shock]
For a second, blue light enveloped the surroundings.
The dead man flinched and moved away from the ground. However, Davey did not stop there. He cast another shock spell.
[Shock]
Hypocria, the Goddess of Medicine, had no magic abilities, but Davey did. Her art of medicine was incredible, but with such a different situation to deal with right now, Davey had no reason to continue administering traditional treatments.
With another flash of lightning, more and more people began staring at Davey. The doctors of the coalition initially tried to stop him, but the consecutive flashes of light attracted the attention of the other doctors and conscious patients.
Davey moved his hand to the deceased man’s neck. He was changing his course of action. Davey was obviously a doctor, but he was different from his teacher.
[7th level Holy Magic]
[Sanctuary]
Getting rid of the death energy surrounding the treatment center, Davey created a huge holy space that contained an overwhelming amount of holy power. His actions had gone unnoticed by everyone else.
—Davey!! He moved!! His heart moved!
Perserque’s eyes sparkled.
Without hesitation, Davey opened his inventory and pulled out a small leather case. He hadn’t pulled this out ever since returning from the Hall. He pulled out an arm-length needle and punctured the patient’s body before anyone could stop him.
“Hey!! What are you doing?!” One of the doctors who came back to their senses ran towards Davey and roughly grabbed his collar.
Davey’s gaze was still fixed on the patient. As he put pressure on the patient’s stomach, he began counting down. “Three… Two… One…”
Then, Davey ordered the doctors quickly, “Get me some ice. Get me as much as you can. And you two over there, boil as many clothes in boiling water as possible. You, only administer painkillers to patients who exhibit the symptoms I clarify for you.”
The doctors frowned.
Davey had no choice but to abuse his power and rank for this.
Davey frowned. He aggressively pulled out the mithril pass from his chest pocket and threw it at a man near him. “What are you all doing?! Move!!”