Volume 5 - CH 25.2

Chapter 5-25 : Collecting Information Ⅱ (part 2)

Madison-san’s squad has twelve members. Three people are unharmed including Madison-san, and nine people are injured.

Among the injured people, five of them can still walk and four others can only lie down.

Those who still can move set up tents for those who cannot and let them lie down on warm fur mats. However, we can’t stay here for too long since the weather might change at any time.

「Alright, I’ll examine your friends but don’t ever think of attacking me while I’m doing it. I may look weak, but I can kill Hellfire Grizzlies barehanded. If you make any suspicious movementsー」(Sarasa)

「ーI know, I know. We won’t do anything to you. You can trust us.」(Madison)

Since their families are still being held hostage by Baronet Kirk they still have a reason to kill us. That’s why I still don’t trust them completely.

I don’t want them to think that they might be able to win against me while I’m not holding my sword.

Honestly, I really don’t want to kill them. They’re not bad people. They are only being manipulated by their lord. Therefore, I warned them just in case.

「There’s no way I would mess with her after watching her fight that giant monster…」

「Right? And I don’t think she was lying about killing Hellfire Grizzlies barehanded…」

「Seriously… So there’s a monster inside that cute girl, huh?」

「There’s a sayingー Every rose has its thorns. I think that’s perfect for her.」(Madison’s subordinates)

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not. All of them seem to be afraid of me…

They started whispering with each other, talking about me, but… I can still hear them!

They called a cute, delicate girl like me a monster! That’s very rude! But… I think it’s better if they think of me that way in this situation…

◇　　　　◇　　　　◇

After examining these people for a while, I found that there are two people with relatively minor injuries such as bruises and broken fingers, three people with broken arms, three people with broken legs, and one person, who has the most serious injuries, with both thighbones, one arm, and several ribs broken.

Honestly, I’m surprised that they all survived. They may be commoners who can’t fight before they joined the army not long ago, but Madison-san seems to have trained them pretty well.

Even a team of strong Collectors might have a few deaths if they fight a Giant Snow Centipede.

Well, Madison-san’s squad didn’t actually fight the centipede. They were just luring it to us, so that’s probably why they survived.

Still, dodging fatal attacks from the centipede while running on the snow needs a lot of stamina and good fighting skills.

「This guy is the vice-captain, Lloyd… Do you think he will survive another day with all those injuries?」(Madison)

While looking worriedly at the unconscious man with the most injuries, Madison-san asked me.

However, before I could answer, one of his men kneeled on the ground and bowed to me.

「Miss Alchemist, please save him! It was my fault! Vice Captain… He got attacked because he protected me!」(soldier B)

It seems that the most seriously injured person, who’s called Llyod, is the vice-captain of this unit, and he was hurt badly protecting his subordinate.

His injuries look bad. Both of his legs are crooked because of the broken thighbones. He won’t be able to walk for a while for sure.

Fortunately, none of his broken ribs pierced his internal organs, so his heart and lungs are safe.

It doesn’t seem to be life-threatening injuries, so he won’t die anytime soon.

His subordinate, whose life was saved by him, is begging me to save him.

He looks young. Perhaps he’s the same age as me.

He is bowing down to me but I can see tears dropping from his eyes. It seems that he deeply regrets what happened to his vice-captain.

Even though he also has a broken leg, it seems that he can’t forgive himself because his vice-captain almost died due to his own mistake.

「Please, Miss Alchemist! He saved my life! I will pay no matter how expensive the treatment is!」(soldier B)

「Oi, Patrick, calm down! I’ve known this guy for a long time. He is too kind… He saved you because he wanted to save you. That’s it. So stop blaming yourself!」(Madison)

Seeing the soldier, who is called Patrick, keeps begging me, Madison-san put his hand on his shoulder and tried to calm him down.

「But, Captain…!」(Patrick)

「Don’t worry. His life is not in danger. The injuries look bad but they’re not life-threatening.」(Sarasa)

「Re, Really!? Thank god…!」(Patrick)

「If you understand, then stop yelling and let him sleep for now.」(Sarasa)

「A, Alright. I’m sorry…」(Patrick)

「Please forgive him, Miss Alchemist. So, what’s your plan?」(Madison)

「Hmm, I think I will deal with those with broken limbs first. We want as many men who can move as possible.」(Sarasa)

Honestly, I really want to heal the vice-captain first, but because we lack supplies and there is the possibility that the weather suddenly changes, I decided to prioritize increasing the number of people who can walk.

「I see. That’s a wise decision.」(Madison)

「However, I don’t think our supplies of medicines will be enough. I can use healing magic, but it won’t be that simple…」(Sarasa)

「Sarasa-san, you’re really good at magic. You can heal broken bones easily, right?」(Lorea)

「Not ‘easily’, but I can, yes. Ah, come to think of it, Lorea-chan, I haven’t explained about healing magic to you, have I? I can certainly heal injuries with healing magic, but at the same time, it drains the patient’s physical strength.」(Sarasa)

The treatment using healing potions also drains the user’s physical strength, but it’s not as intense as the treatment using healing magic.

The higher the quality of the healing potions, the less physical strength is drained.

This theory also applies to the treatment using healing magic. The better you are at using healing magic, the less physical strength will be drained from your patients.

「I’m good at magic, but I’m an alchemist, not a magician. Besides, healing magic is not my best type of magic. If I push my limit, I can probably fix one person’s broken arm or leg, but I can’t guarantee that person will be strong enough to move after that.」(Sarasa)

I can heal someone but they might need to rest for a few days to regain their strength.

It wouldn’t be a problem if we were in a safe place, but we are in a snow field. There’s nothing but snow here.

If we sleep in a place like this we might freeze to death.

I brought a few potions for restoring physical strength from home just in case, but we used almost all of them. It won’t be enough for all of the injured people here.

Besides, I was planning to save those potions in case we had to fight strong monsters on the way home.

「I see… So, even if you can heal someone with serious injuries, they’ll have to rest for a while.」(Lorea)

「Yup. Do you remember what happened to Iris-san after I fixed her severed arm?」(Sarasa)

「Now that you mention it, she had to rest a few days even though you always gave her potions for regaining stamina. I see… So there’s no instant way to heal people, huh?」(Lorea)

「Actually, there are some ways to instantly heal people. However, if you force someone with heavy injuries to recover in a short period of time, they might end up with bad aftereffects. These kinds of methods won’t be used unless there’s someone in a critical condition who will die soon if they don’t recover immediately. 」(Sarasa)