Chapter 108

Even before arriving at the military staging ground, my Dog’s Nose skill had already picked up the distinct scent of blood.

I had been told that soldiers wounded on the front lines were gathered there.

Transporting those wounded soldiers back to the Royal Capital was also a duty of our supply unit.

From the direction of Romanburg, the thunderous booms of magitech cannons echoed intermittently.

A fort constructed near a small village served as the staging ground.

I had arbitrarily imagined a place resembling a modern logistics center, but the reality was vastly different.

The provisions were securely stored inside the fort, while the personnel who couldn’t fit inside were left living in tents outdoors.

Even so, the soldiers outside were promptly deployed to Romanburg as soon as their numbers reached a certain scale.

Lady Clara went to report our arrival to the base commander, Emma oversaw the unloading of the cargo, and I headed to see the military physician to check on the condition of the wounded soldiers we were supposed to transport.

The closer I drew to the medical tent, the thicker the stench of blood became, and the louder the groans of the wounded echoed.

“Excuse me. I am Corporal Hinoharu of the Dresden First Supply Unit. I have come to inquire about the wounded soldiers to be transported back to Dresden.”

“Yeah, hold on a minute!”

A white-haired old army doctor yelled without turning around, focusing entirely on his patient.

Looking closely, the patient—who was being held down by two assistants—was missing his right arm.

The wound appeared to be tightly bound with bandages, but the gushing blood refused to stop.

The soldier was forced to bite down on a piece of wood.

“Grit your teeth.”

The military doctor pressed a glowing, red-hot cauterizing iron directly against the stump of the soldier’s right arm.

Though I instinctively averted my eyes, the sound of sizzling flesh and the soldier’s muffled, agonizing screams forced their way into my ears regardless.

“Did you bring the medical supplies? …Hey! I’m asking you, Corporal!”

I had been rendered completely speechless by the horrific sight.

Cauterization—I had only ever read about that kind of primitive hemostasis in stories.

“M-My apologies. We have brought two carriages worth of rubbing alcohol, bandages, wound medicine, laudanum, and other supplies.”

“Sounds like we can manage for now, then. Clean the wound.”

After barking instructions to his assistants, the doctor finally turned to face me.

I couldn’t help but look at the patient with deep concern.

While that method might stop the bleeding, I felt certain he would contract a fatal infection from the severe burns.

“I have to examine the next casualty, so let’s keep this brief. The number of wounded soldiers to be transported stands at 236 as of right now. How many carriages do you have?”

“Thirty.”

The doctor’s face twisted into a bitter expression.

We were significantly over capacity.

Transporting 150 people would be stretching our limits.

“We have four spare horses, so if there are extra carts available, we could accommodate a few more…”

“A mere drop in the bucket.”

At best, we could carry maybe ten more people.

“The Second Supply Unit is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.”

“We have no choice but to wait for them, then. Though by tomorrow, a fresh batch of casualties will be hauled in.”

The old doctor shook his head with a look of sheer helplessness.

“Are there no priests who can use recovery magic?”

“Those hypocrites are all at the absolute front lines. Besides, they almost exclusively treat the high-ranking officers, and given their mana capacity, treating five people a day is about their absolute limit, you know?”

So that was how it worked.

Yoshioka had been tossing around recovery magic left and right for the villagers back in Ebba-berg.

Because of that, I had mistakenly assumed everyone could use it to that extent.

Perhaps both Yoshioka and I possessed an unusually massive reservoir of mana.

Come to think of it, neither of us had ever experienced mana depletion.

I didn’t even know the exact limits of my own mana.

“We will re-evaluate the casualties here, but you will be transporting at least 180 people. If the able-bodied soldiers in your unit walk, you should be able to manage that much.”

If we walked, our movement speed would slow down, but we could transport that many more casualties.

But as a practical matter, would they even survive the trip back to the Royal Capital?

The roads in this world were atrocious, and the quality of the carriages was abysmal.

Jolting around like that would undoubtedly aggravate their wounds.

I needed to re-evaluate my stance.

I had previously thought that using recovery magic wouldn’t be doing the returning soldiers any favors.

I had assumed it would be terrible to interfere when they finally had a chance to get away from the battlefield.

However, the soldiers permitted to return to Dresden were strictly the ones with critical injuries.

To put it bluntly, the vast majority of them would likely die along the way.

It would be far better to treat them right here…

But if I openly used recovery magic, I might be permanently bound to the battlefield.

If things went poorly, there was a chance I’d be stationed here until the war ended.

If that happened, I would be separated from Lady Clara, who commanded the supply unit.

I hated that idea, but to look at people suffering right in front of me when I possessed the power to save them felt entirely wrong.

If I had only heard about it, I could have closed my eyes and covered my ears, but they were right here, writhing in agony and screaming from the pain.

Faced with this, ignoring them was impossible.

“Lady Clara, I have a request.”

After agonizing over it, I decided to have Lady Clara summon me.

She would call me out as a summon, and after treating the soldiers, she would dismiss me back to my original world.

Of course, instead of being summoned as Hinoharu, I intended to disguise myself as a summon named “Hippocrates” (just a random name I threw together).

This way, my freedom would be guaranteed, and I could continue to serve as Lady Clara’s attendant.

If it went well, it could even lead to a promotion for Lady Clara.

Even if Lady Clara ended up stationed here, as long as we could stay together, that was fine by me.

Above all, I wanted to avoid any situation where I was separated from her.

Lady Clara readily agreed to the plan.

Since handling the recovery alone would take far too much time, I decided to ask Yoshioka for his cooperation just this once.

When I returned to Amida Trading via the Portal, the renovations had progressed significantly.

The doors and windows on the first floor had been replaced with large glass panes, making the interior of the shop considerably brighter.

“Senpai, what happened this time?” Yoshioka asked as he found me walking in.

I explained the situation and requested his help.

“It’s just an absolute nightmare over there, and I can’t just stand by and watch.”

“Well, if that’s the case, we have no choice. But what kind of appearance are you going to take as a summon? We have to use a disguise.”

“How about an animal onesie?”

I recalled seeing animal costumes for sale at Sancho Panza. Personally, I wanted to be an otter.

“I don’t know about that… People will just think we’re messing around.”

I guess that was out.

“Then, how about keeping it simpler? We wear balaclavas and put on Hannya masks?”

Hannya masks were also sold at Sancho Panza. They had stood out quite a bit, so they were vivid in my memory.

“From a Saxens perspective, a Hannya mask would probably have quite an impact. We’re short on time anyway, so let’s go with that…”

As someone who fixated on details, Yoshioka wanted to refine the disguise a bit more, but he managed to compromise. A mask would keep our faces completely hidden, after all.

Using the Portal, we returned to the fort and had her dismiss me back to Japan.

I immediately hailed a taxi and had the driver take us to our usual Sancho Panza.

When we walked into the store section, Yoshioka was already in the middle of browsing through the masks.

“Senpai, I’m going with this Kitsune mask.”

The one Yoshioka held was a traditional Japanese fox mask with a white face, red ears, and golden eyes.

“So I’m the Hannya and you’re the Fox? Isn’t that a bit terrifying?”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? We’re supposed to be summons anyway.”

We purchased the two masks, along with a voice changer from the toy section.

By attaching the microphone to the mouth area of the mask, we could alter our voices.

We hung the speaker units from our necks, positioning them at our chests.

We also bought out all the wound medicine and bandages available in the section. For minor injuries, this should be more than enough.

Since our shopping wrapped up smoothly, we still had about forty minutes left until the summoning time.

“Let’s buy some pizza for Gary. There was a Domino Hut down the street, right?”

“Then I’ll head over to Starbacca. Any requests?”

“While you’re at it, let’s bring back a complete set of every single Frappuccino flavor. I want to let Lady Clara choose.”

“Go explode.”

With a refreshing smile that completely contradicted his words, Yoshioka went off to do his shopping.

“Go explode” is uncalled for…

Considering he’s the one going to high-end spots and getting intimate with various girls.

Ah, though lately Miss Bianca has been living on-site, so maybe he hasn’t been frequenting those places anymore.

Inside the gap between worlds, I put on the balaclava and the mask.

For my clothing, I donned a white lab coat purchased at a uniform shop.

With this, the disguise was complete.

A Hannya wearing a white lab coat looks entirely surreal…

Before returning to Saxens, I drew a skill card.

A remarkably powerful-looking skill had appeared, but I couldn’t exactly test it out inside this small room between worlds. It would have to wait for a while.

“Are you ready?”

“All set. Shall we begin our medical operation then?”

The two of us stepped through the blue door.

“By the covenant, we are the Hippocrates Brothers, summoned to this land. O Summoner, what is it you desire of us…”

Man, it had been a while since I last recited a line like that.

Ah, Lady Clara looked utterly startled.

Don’t worry, my voice has changed due to the voice changer, but it’s me, Kota, inside.

I gave her a deep nod.

“O summoned Hippocrates Brothers, I ask that you treat the wounded soldiers gathered in this land.”

“We shall require two-thirds of your remaining mana in exchange. Do you consent?”

Of course, we weren’t actually draining her mana. I figured that by phrasing it this way, we could prevent her from summoning us too frequently in front of others.

“I consent. Please heal the wounded soldiers.”

“Very well…”

Everyone looked miserable, so let’s heal them quickly and put them at ease.

“Shall we begin, brother?”

“Right behind you, elder brother…”

And so, the field hospital of the Hannya and the Fox officially opened for business.