Chapter 135.4

Chapter 135.4

[Part 4/6]

"Five more seconds."

"Oh, Buddha. Are you still sleeping?"

Given an unexpected time limit, I offered a heartfelt prayer.

...Well then. As for the events that immediately followed, I'm hesitant to describe them in detail for personal reasons, so unfortunately, I'll explain them using onomatopoeia below.

Haa... Haa... Pow!! Ka-pow!! Splat!!

* * *

A now-extinct branch family of the Yakushiji clan, the Dokusawa family, once visited the Onitsuki family to spread their knowledge of pharmacology. Due to the literal disappearance of their main family, this branch family has become subservient to the Onitsuki family for generations.

Since then, four generations have passed. Considering the history of the Yakushiji branch family as well, it spans seven generations. Dokusawa Yakuko, the daughter of seventh-generation head of the Dokusawa family and a member of the medic group, is currently unwrapping the bandages wound around my body. Just like her father, the medic group's Yun-shoku, she belongs to medic group, and she's the one tending to me.

"Your progress is going well. Well, you are a spiritual energy user after all. Even if you weren't capable of using spiritual arts, you'd still be better off than those untrained laborers who'd try to inflict punishment."

"That's true."

At the very least, this swelling from the direct punch to my face should subside much quicker. Did it make a weird sound when it connected?

"Um, umm, are you okay?" This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

"Do you think he's okay?"

"I-I'm sorry!"

"..."

"Please stop. I'm not bullying her."

Yakuko, the familiar face who serves as the senior in this field, answers Hisame's question and then glares at me with a stern expression. While it's true that I don't deny my slightly malicious tendencies, isn't Hisame's tendency to react to everything more or less the same?

"I'm trying to make sure it doesn't go that way. ...Bullying is just embarrassing."

"I know. It's just humiliating to do it."

I express my sincere feelings from the bottom of my heart to Yakuko, the familiar face who plays the role of an older sister figure. While they say you should throw a stone at a drowning dog and that the world is full of demons, there's no need for me to follow suit.

I don't want to follow suit.

"..."

"Tomobe-san?"

While commanding Hisame, Yakuko wraps the bandages around my body, pulling tightly.

"Alright, we're done here. I've seen the injury marks. For added assurance, you should continue this for the next four or five days."

"Is it necessary for that long? Training?"

"For minor injuries, it's fine, but stop if it's something major. Do you intend to smear dirt on my face?"

"But..."

I can't help but make a bitter expression at Yakuko's diagnosis. If I follow her advice, I'd need to rest until the grind, which is a problem. Quite a problem.

"I don't know why you're in such a hurry. Even if you cram all night at the last moment... well, it won't make much of a difference if you give it your all now, right?"

"Even if I give my all normally, it's not enough."

It's not enough. Really, it's not nearly enough. But even so, I'm struggling to improve things, even just a little. No one wants to die, after all.

"...I guess there's really no helping it."

With a sigh of exasperation that seems to go on forever, Yakuko takes out a small medicine box. She shows it to me right in front of my eyes.

"What's this?"

"I heard about it from Sarujirou. You have been moving around a lot. Well, it's all stock, but isn't it better than having nothing?"

Taking Yakuko's words to heart, I accept the medicine box. Upon inspecting the contents, I find various types of spiritual medicines. Most of them are of a common level for exorcists, but there are also relatively expensive ones mixed in. And each of them is valuable to a servant like me.

"...Thank you."

"Some of them are almost expired, so don't blame me if you get a stomachache, alright?"

With a genuine gesture of gratitude from me, the familiar face of the medic, who finished her work, shrugs and stands up.

"Are you leaving now? I can't offer you tea, but I can offer you hot water, right?"

"I'm busy here. I don't have that kind of time."

Even though she's too busy for that, she came all the way to this shed. Even after I leave, I keep my head bowed for a while...

* * *

"If possible, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't peek like that."

Exiting the hut addressed to the servant group Yun-shoku, the young medic returns to the territory of the medic group, having sensed that presence. She stops in a corner of the garden and voices a slight complaint as she points it out.

'Excuse me, but please bear with the whims of an old one... It's just a quirk of mine, you see.'

A cheerful voice filled with jest resonates from behind. When she turns around, she sees an exquisite white egret. A white egret standing alone on the gravel path. A Shikigami taking the form of a white egret.