Chapter 340 – Treatment and the Future
While Grande and I were relaxing, Bella came to call us after her bath, and we both enjoyed a relaxing bath together.
“It was a nice bath, wasn’t it?”
“It really was.”
It was a long bath, probably because of the many things that had happened today. After all, a bath is good. I feel as if my worries and mental fatigue melt away in hot water. Grande is also a long-bath kind of girl, so when the two of us take a bath together, it’s always like this.
“Next is a meal. Master, I’m hungry.”
“Me too.”
My appetite has been revived. That means I’m feeling a little better, I guess. I have destroyed the bandits with a firm will this time, but that doesn’t mean that I am no longer mentally fatigued from the battle. Whether the opponent is a bandit or not, killing people is still an act that causes a great deal of stress, at least for me.
But that didn’t mean I had much choice but not to kill them. Even if I brought them back alive, they would probably just be hung out on the city wall or in the middle of town. Even if we went through the trouble of capturing them and bringing them back, if they were going to die anyway, let’s do it the quickest way possible. But there was also the simple fact that I wanted to kill the bastards when I saw the terrible scars from the raid. I was being short-sighted, wasn’t I?
After Grande and I finished eating, I decided to talk to Shumel and the others and meet with the victims we had rescued. We need to talk about the future, and if there is something wrong with their bodies, I want to heal them as much as I can.
“I called them.”
“Thank you. Please have a seat.”
The victims who heard my words took their seats. They are all young women of various races. I thought the woman I met earlier was a wolf-type or a dog-type, but it seems that she was a fox-type beastman.
“Let me first introduce myself. My name is Kosuke. You may not believe it if I’m suddenly told this, but I’m the partner of Her Majesty Queen Sylphiel of the Merinard Kingdom―in other words, I’m the prince consort.
The women who heard my self-introduction were all puzzled. Well, that’s to be expected. When they thought they were rescued from the bandits, it made little sense that it was His Highness Prince Consort who was in command of the rescue. Even if I were in the opposite position, I would think, “What is this person talking about?”
“Well, that’s not important. What position I am in and whether it is true or not are trivial matters. Anyway, I’m Kosuke. I’m the boss of all the women here, including Shumel and the others, except for you. Okay?”
Each of the women nodded in confusion. I’m glad they nodded for now!
“I want you to take a good rest today and tomorrow. First of all, I want you to regain enough strength to endure the travel, and mentally, I think you need at least one whole day to calm down. So, I think there are people who are worried about their future life. If that is not resolved first, there will be nothing to calm down about.”
“I guess so.”
“Yes. First of all, I will take you into my custody for the time being. You don’t have to worry about your life while I’m taking you into custody. However, if you have a place to return to and you want to go home immediately, I promise to send you there as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will have to come with us to Merinesburg. If you like, I will arrange a place for you to live there.”
All work here was finished for the day anyway. I’d like to go back to Merinesburg and relax a little and see how Ellen, Amalie-san, and the harpies are doing. After that, I’ll probably have to go on another business trip.
“Um, why would you go that far?”
The fox-eared woman asked with a frightened look on her face. Why, why, you ask?
“There is no particular reason. I just don’t feel comfortable leaving you here.”
“Just for that reason…?”
“Yes, just for that reason. For that reason, this guy is going to kill dozens of bandits, save you, and even take care of you afterward, okay?”
“Hey.”
“Well, he’s a bit too much of a softy, isn’t he?”
“He’s a good man, which you don’t see too often these days.”
“No, I can’t be a good guy after killing dozens of people, can I…?”
“No. You killed all the bandits. It’s normal. It’s common sense.”
“Oh, yes.”
I was a little worried about it, but then I just said, “Oh, yes.” It seems that in this world, a bandit’s life is lighter than a speck of dust.
“Anyway, there is nothing to worry about. For Kosuke, it’s nothing if the number of people he has to feed increases from 300 to 3,000 or from 3,000 to 30,000. There is no problem if there are eight more people to take care of.”
“I’m not going to take care of three hundred people, am I?”
The number of my wives has been gradually increasing, despite my intentions, but not three hundred.
“What are you talking about? When we left the Black Forest, our number was something like that, right? After that, the number of people in the Liberation Army kept growing, but you fed them all, didn’t you?”
“If you put it that way, that’s true.”
That’s certainly true in that direction. In addition, the current budget of the Merinard kingdom is so large that it’s unthinkable. I’m the one who supplies the vast amount of gems, ores, metals, magic sparkling stones, food, and other things that make up the budget.
“Uh, what was it again…? Well, anyway, I don’t have any ulterior motives or anything like that. I’m not going to sell you off somewhere or hurt you or anything like that after this, so I want you to rest assured.”
“He’s so rich that he doesn’t need to do that. He is probably the richest man in the world.”
“Isn’t that a bit much?”
“I mean, you could just swing your pickaxe on a rock, and there’d be gold, silver, and jewels everywhere.”
“That’s true, but…”
The women who were rescued looked at us strangely when they saw our exchange. Well, I don’t know what’s going on. It’s no use getting too excited about personal stuff.
“Well, that’s enough of this talk. Anyway, I want you to be at ease. First of all, I want you to calm down and let me treat you if you have any injuries. Or rather, let’s treat you.”
Some of the faces of the eight women had scars on them from being beaten, and all of them probably had injuries of some magnitude or another.
So, I took out life potions and cure disease potions from my inventory and my usual set of splints and decided to treat them.
“…Our legs.”
“Is this something those dead people have done?”
As it turned out, all of the girls had had the tendons in either their left or right legs severed. I thought there was something unnatural about the way they all walked, but that’s how it was. I see. How could they go to such lengths?
“Don’t worry, I can fix it.”
If it’s not a loss, I can fix it with my set of splints. I put the splints on the women’s legs and bandaged them, and lo and behold, the severed tendons will be restored, and they will be able to walk normally. And while I’m at it, I’ll give them a life potion and a cure-disease potion, respectively, to treat both their injuries and their illnesses. I’m especially afraid of diseases.
“The rest, ah… well, it’s a delicate subject.”
“Well, we’ll take care of that.”
“Please do so. I’m ready to take care of whatever comes out of it.”
It is too late to talk about how the girls were treated, but there are some practical things that come with that. I was simply grateful for Shumel’s offer since it was a bit sensitive for me, a man, to hear about those things. I don’t think there are any convenient medicines for that in this world.
“Well, now that the treatment is over, you can get some sleep today. Tomorrow, I want you to take it easy for the rest of the day. I’ll have some clothes and stuff ready for you.”
From the looks of it, all of them are human-like in appearance – in other words, the only animal elements are their ears and tails. If there is a tail hole, there seems to be no problem, so I will make some clothes tonight. I should also make hair brushes for all of them and other such details.
“U-um…!”
“Yes.”
“Thank you very much.”
The fox-eared woman bowed her head to me. The other women began to bow to me as well, thanking me in various ways.
“Yes. Anyway, first of all, rest your body and mind.”
Thus, the women’s treatment was over. The rest is, well, yes. After I returned to Merinesburg, I would have to go around and ask for help, and I would be able to find work for about eight of them. And even if I can’t manage it, I can have them work for me as my personal maids at the castle.
Yeah, no problem. Alright.
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