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Chapter 73
"How are you holding up?"
Kaiden approached and asked me.
"Not well. I need to treat him and monitor his condition closely. I have to disinfect thoroughly. He has wounds in multiple places, and the risk of infection is far too high."
I took a deep breath and examined Enoch's complexion one final time. Everyone gathered around me and Enoch.
"Was that a medical kit?"
Yuanna inspected the first aid supplies Rujeep had brought with curious ‌‌interest. Asdal, arms folded, continued to regard me with deep skepticism.
"The Young Lady is going to treat him? I understand the Young Lady is skilled at many things. But I believe this ‌‌‌is a different matter entirely. What if something goes wrong ‌with the commander? Can the Young Lady take responsibility for that?"
Asdal disregarded Enoch while ‌‌‌‌subtly showing concern for him. But I couldn't tolerate him pestering me like ‌‌this.
I fixed him with a sharp gaze and looked up at Asdal. He flinched in surprise when our eyes met.
Yuanna glanced between us both, then rebuked Asdal.
"You're equally useless anyway, so the Young Lady would be better than someone with nothing to do."
She then gestured for Asdal to move aside. After being pushed back by me, he was now pushed back by Yuanna as well, and he stood at a ‌‌‌distance with a rather pitiful expression.
"Please, sir, keep your mouth shut. That would actually be helpful."
Kaiden, sitting beside me, clicked his tongue at Asdal.
"Now, Rodban, that's harsh language."
"It seems Rodban has finally said something sensible."
Unexpectedly, Rujeep came to Kaiden's defense in response to Asdal's rebuttal. Asdal then turned to Rujeep with a wounded expression.
"Even you, bishop...."
"What matters now is treatment. Among us, only Flone Young Lady can use these medicines."
Rujeep demonstrated the audacity to cut off Asdal's words repeatedly. ‌‌Kaiden, who had been watching Rujeep quietly, laughed with amusement and provoked him.
"Hey, lackey. Just stay quiet."
"What? After ‌‌‌I actually sided with you, this filthy sorcerer...!"
Rujeep, who had been defending Kaiden moments before, erupted in anger.
"You two are quite the sight, being arrogant together."
Asdal ‌‌shook his head at Rujeep and Kaiden with the expression of a stubborn old manager.
It ‌‌‌was complete chaos.
"Could you all ‌‌please ‌‌‌be quiet and move aside? ‌‌‌Enoch is a patient right now and needs treatment and rest. He needs stability."
At my words, the three men fell silent. Diego and Yuanna sat quietly, watching what I was doing, so there was nothing to point out about them.
I sighed and looked at Enoch's uniform as he lay there. It seemed he hadn't worn his ‌‌‌jacket when he left, ‌‌so he only had a single shirt on, but it was torn to shreds and hung in tatters.
"Enoch, I need to treat your wounds, so I'll remove this shirt."
At my words, Enoch frowned slightly, then slowly nodded.
I glanced at Kaiden sitting beside me. He then helped me support Enoch's wounds and carefully removed his shirt so the wounds wouldn't open ‌‌‌‌further.
"Ugh."
Enoch let out another pained groan. The shirt that had ‌‌been stuck to his wounds left a sharp sting as it came away.
The pain seemed to transfer to me as well, so I wrinkled my nose and examined Enoch's expression.
Watching him take a shallow breath, I removed the shirt completely and examined my wounds in detail. The well-defined muscles that would normally have impressed ‌‌‌‌me were hidden beneath serious injuries and barely visible.
"My goodness, it's really severe."
Yuanna murmured, ‌‌‌covering her mouth with both hands. The wounds were indeed very deep, just as she said.
I checked the remaining disinfectant and confirmed the condition of the ointment to apply to the ‌wounds. Then, I dampened a cloth in the water Rujeep had brought and wiped away the blood and dirt.
"This will go in Enoch's mouth. It'll hurt, so he'll need something to bite down on."
I rolled up a scrap of dress fabric from the medicine kit and handed it to Rujeep, who sat across from me. He carefully placed the cloth between Enoch's teeth.
I pressed a ‌sterilized cloth against the wound, staunching the blood that still seeped from the injury.
Enoch's brows furrowed deeply. Somehow his pain became ‌‌‌my own, and I found myself wincing in sympathy.
After some time, the bleeding seemed to have slowed, so I prepared the disinfectant.
"Enoch, this will hurt."
At my words, Enoch ‌‌nodded as if to say it was fine. I immediately poured the disinfectant over his wound. ‌‌‌
"Ugh! Gah."
Enoch let out a pained groan but bore it well nonetheless.
After checking his complexion, I wrapped bandages around the disinfected areas and applied ointment to the lightly ‌‌‌‌scraped wounds.
The real problem lay with the larger wounds that required stitching. The first aid kit contained both sutures and needles for that purpose.
However, since the wound area showed signs of contamination, managing inflammation through continued disinfection had to take priority.
"For now, the deeply gaping wounds will need to be monitored until the flesh closes over them."
I finished cutting the bandage and secured it with a clip, then placed the remaining medicines back into the first aid kit. ‌
"It would be best to continue dressing changes and monitor for any signs of infection. In an environment like this, we can only rely on his natural healing ability."
Everyone gathered around Enoch and looked ‌‌‌at me.
And their gazes resembled...
...guardians listening to a doctor's report on a patient's condition in an emergency room.
Entertaining such an absurd thought, I examined Enoch's complexion. I stroked his hair and added softly:
"There will be scarring and it will take considerable time, but I'll be here to care for him."
"I will assist as well. Healing is my specialty, after all. I've memorized all the types of medicines just as the Young Lady taught me."
Rujeep spoke to me ‌‌with ‌a calm expression.
"Thank you."
"But this is truly strange. I can't make out what's written on it at all."
Yuanna examined the medicine kit and asked me about it.
"That's true. I've been to the Eastern Continent myself, but I've never seen ‌‌a language like this."
As Kaiden added his comment, I panicked and studied his expression carefully. Then I quickly came up with an excuse.
"Ah, well... ‌there's a minority ethnic group called Korea on the Eastern Continent. Most people wouldn't know about them."
Those who heard my words exchanged confused glances, asking each other where Korea was.
Once I escape this Island, I'm definitely going to be exposed.
Deliberately ignoring their stares, I placed my hand on Enoch's cheek as he slept peacefully, checking his temperature.
The dress ‌‌pocket stirred, and Silver Earthworm, who had been quietly ‌hiding, gently poked her head out.
"Ahhh!"
Rujeep ‌‌jumped back in surprise.
Startled by his ‌‌scream, Silver Earthworm spun in circles and climbed back onto my lap.
I gently stroked her body to reassure her.
"Young Lady, is that a Monster?"
Rujeep asked me, his face drained of color, unable to tear his eyes from Silver Earthworm.
"It seems to be an Anaconda Monster..."
Before I could finish speaking, Diego drew his sword. Kaiden immediately drew his dagger, and Rujeep rushed in front of me, positioning himself protectively. ‌‌
"What on earth are you doing?!"
Rujeep shouted with a furious expression.
I'd seen him irritable and annoyed plenty of times, but this was the first time I'd witnessed Rujeep lose his temper like this.
"You said it was a monster. It's dangerous."
Diego responded without any sign of agitation, his sword still pointed at Silver Earthworm.
Silver Earthworm trembled violently as it crawled up my body and settled on my shoulder, hiding its face among my hair.
The creature's trembling on my shoulder caused my entire body to vibrate slightly. I stroked Silver Earthworm's body while glaring at Diego.
"You scared our baby!"
As I raised my voice, an abrupt, chilling silence fell over the group.
The anger that had been welling up inside me subsided at this unexpected reaction. Why was everyone staring at ‌me like that?
"What? Why?"
I asked in confusion, scanning the surroundings, and Diego—who had been pointing his sword at me—lowered it with an expression of resignation.
Yuanna spoke to me with a look of surprise.
"I... I've never seen ‌‌‌Flone Young Lady get genuinely angry like that before."
"For ‌‌‌‌‌the ‌‌first time, I actually envied that snake bastard."
"Isn't ‌‌it a monster? Anyone watching would think it was ‌‌‌a pet snake."
Yuanna, Kaiden, and Asdal spoke in succession, with Diego delivering the final blow.
"Could you please explain what's going on here?"
"I was explaining. I don't think you're in a position to ask for explanations when you're the ‌‌‌one who drew your sword without warning, Diego."
I made no effort to hide my anger as I spoke to him. That woodcutter had shown no hesitation in pointing his blade at me.
"I apologize."
Diego finally apologized ‌‌‌to me.
I accepted his apology with a ‌‌displeased expression and proceeded to explain everything ‌‌‌that had happened.
Of course, I deliberately omitted the part about Kaiden's distrust of me.
First, how Kaiden and I had ventured to the cliff before being attacked by a monster and falling, and how I'd discovered an egg upon awakening. Then, how the egg that had been following me hatched, and Silver Earthworm ‌was born.
After explaining even the circumstances suggesting that Silver Earthworm had imprinted on me, everyone looked at Silver Earthworm on my shoulder with expressions of wonder.
"I've never heard of a ‌‌monster imprinting on a human before."
Rujeep murmured with fascination. When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, he explained carefully to me.
"Typically, they imprint on apex predators, but ‌‌monsters don't recognize humans as apex predators."
Ah, I exclaimed, and Kaiden, who had been lost in thought, continued.
"If it's an Anaconda, it's already an apex predator itself, so it wouldn't have been easy to find another imprinting ‌‌target. But if it encountered you, there's certainly a ‌‌‌‌‌possibility it could imprint—assuming, of course, that you possess ‌‌‌‌magical power."
He poked Silver Earthworm, which was still lying on my shoulder with its face hidden among my hair, with his finger.
The assumption that I possessed magical power, then.
"The ‌‌‌‌Young Lady does ‌possess an extraordinary amount of magical power."
Suddenly, Asdal made a point of ‌‌‌‌‌acknowledging my magical reserves.
What he said was true. In the past, Margaret's magic instructor had said, "You possess a considerable amount of magical power; you only need to build your physical stamina."
But regardless, Kaiden must have possessed more magical power than I did, so why would Silver Earthworm choose to imprint on me instead?
And besides, we couldn't use magic on this Island anyway.
I tilted my head in confusion before narrowing my brows and asking Asdal.
"But how did you ‌‌know about my ‌‌‌magical reserves?"
He shrugged casually, then tapped his eye sockets with his fingers and laughed.
"I have eyes that can see such things."

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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