Chapter 109

The summoned Hippocrates Brothers—Yoshioka and I—decided to start treating patients beginning with the most critically injured.

Even so, the sheer sheer numbers were overwhelming.

The number of wounded soldiers exceeded three hundred.

Every single room inside the fort was packed to the brim with casualties.

It was no wonder the military doctor had been so desperate to have us transport as many as possible back to Dresden.

“Elder brother, let us treat them room by room using area-of-effect magic, nary.”¹

“Understood, my good sir. You shall heal their general wounds first. Afterward, I shall inspect each of them individually, de gozaru.”²

It was incredibly embarrassing, but we had agreed to stick to this manner of speaking to fit the cover identity Yoshioka had cooked up.

He claimed it was to prevent people from seeing through our identities based on our speech patterns.

I wonder if that’s true…

Personally, I couldn’t help but feel like Yoshioka was just messing with me.

“On korokoro sendari matougi sowaka…”

As Yoshioka muttered something under his breath, a faint green light poured from his hands and enveloped the room.

Right before our eyes, the patients’ wounds began to close up.

What on earth was that incantation?

The mantra of Bhaisajyaguru, the Medicine Buddha?

Why the Medicine Buddha?

Just because it sounded cool?

I see…

As usual, he possessed the most bizarre trivia knowledge.

“On abiraunken sowaka…”

As a matter of courtesy, I decided to play along with him…

The female soldier whose hand I was holding looked at me with a terrified expression.

I suppose the Hannya mask was frightening, but there was no need for her to worry so much.

I was going to properly grow back the missing thumb on her hand, after all.

Activating my God Finger skill, I regenerated the missing body part while simultaneously soothing her mental trauma.

Staring at her newly grown thumb, tears began to stream down the soldier’s face.

She had probably been riddled with anxiety when thinking about her future.

“You should wash the blood from your face. It will surely make you feel refreshed… de gozaru.”

The soldier nodded happily and stepped outside.

Before she left, she unexpectedly kissed the hem of my garment.

Apparently, this was an act used to show deep reverence toward high-ranking clergy.

Even so, it was a completely surreal, chaotic, and utterly bizarre sight.

Just imagine it.

Inside a medieval-style Western fort, a pair of individuals wearing a Japanese Hannya and a Fox mask were chanting Buddhist mantras while healing Westerners with magic.

It was an absolute mess.

However, the onlookers were growing incredibly rowdy.

People who had been given up for dead were being pulled back from the brink of the grave one after another.

Comrades embraced each other, officers wept uncharacteristic tears of relief, and lovers dared to dream once more of a future they had nearly abandoned.

Magda’s sutler shop was undoubtedly turning a massive profit.

From somewhere in the distance, the voices of people raising celebratory toasts and the scent of alcohol drifted over.

It took us three hours to treat every single wounded soldier.

Naturally, I felt pushed to the absolute limits of my physical and mental stamina.

The same went for Yoshioka.

He looked as though he was on the verge of total mana depletion.

Once we were dismissed us, we would take a proper break inside the small gap room between worlds.

We’d have some beer and take a nice nap for a while.

“You have my deepest gratitude, Hippocrates Brothers.”

“Umu. May you remain in excellent health until we meet again, Clara Ansbach. We bestow these upon you.”

I handed over the antiseptics and wound medicines I had purchased at Sancho Panza.

Earth-made pharmaceuticals worked with dramatic efficacy in this world, so they would undoubtedly be of great use.

“Farewell, nary!”

“Until next time… de gozaru.”

As everyone in the castle crowded around to catch a final glimpse of their life-savers, the Hippocrates Brothers were dismissed back to their original world amidst the glowing light of a magic circle.

The people whose lives had been saved continued to offer prayers of gratitude to the two summoned spirits long after they were gone.

According to later accounts, a custom developed in this region where people would rub a bruised or injured area while chanting nursery rhyme charms like “Hipocra Koro-Koro” or “Hipocra Sowaka.”

Returning to the small gap room between worlds, Yoshioka and I collapsed onto our perma-futons.

“I am so exhausted…”

“Senpai, please pass me a beer…”

Forcing my sluggish body to move, I pulled some canned beers out of my Spatial Storage.

“Cheers,” I called out, but neither of us had the energy left to actually clink our cans together.

“Let’s sleep for about two hours for now.”

“Yeah. I’ll set an alarm.”

Each of us downed a single can of beer and fell into a dead sleep like logs.

After waking up, I returned to Japan and was re-summoned thirty minutes later.

Thanks to the nap, my head felt completely clear.

“Even if it was to help people, that was incredibly draining.”

“You’re right. But after what happened today, Lady Clara might end up being deployed to the front lines as a dedicated recovery asset.”

“True. We discussed that possibility during our initial briefing. Since I absolutely refuse to have her stationed permanently on the front lines, I’ve already thought of a workaround.”

“What are you going to do?”

“We just have to ignore the summons.”

We would comply with the summons a few times to heal the wounded, but it would be best to lock in the number of times we could be called forth right from the start.

“Let’s limit the remaining summons to about five more times.”

“Sounds good. If we treat a substantial number of soldiers within that limit, I feel like the overall war situation should improve quite a bit.”

It wasn’t just a matter of our own energy; there was also the issue of Lady Clara’s mana as the summoner to consider.

This seemed like a reasonable compromise.

Before returning to Saxens, I drew a skill card.

If our summons as the Hippocrates Brothers increased, our skills were bound to shoot up rapidly as well.

Hoho… In my entire life up to this point, I had barely any experience with dancing.

“The best I’ve done is a folk dance back in middle school.”

“Huh, we didn’t have that at my school.”

Wait…

He didn’t get to experience that awkwardly blissful event?

Where you actually got to hold hands with girls?

Man, I’m really feeling a generation gap here…

When I was summoned, I found myself inside a tiny, unfamiliar private room.

Lady Clara was the only one standing inside.

“Welcome back. You both did an exceptional job.”

“We’re back. Where are we?”

“A room inside the fort. It has been assigned to me as my private quarters.”

Apparently, she was currently being allowed to rest under the pretext of having exhausted too much mana for the summoning.

“As expected, I have been ordered to deploy to the front lines.”

Thanks to the Hero Gary’s Magic Signal skill, the details of today’s event had been transmitted to the frontline command and the main headquarters, resulting in an incredibly swift issuance of her new official assignment.

Her new title was “Special Medical Unit Battalion Commander.”

As for the supply unit, Emma was appointed as the acting commander to continue the mission.

While her title was Battalion Commander, her subordinates consisted of me as her adjutant, along with a mere two squads.

Since the mission strictly involved summoning Hippocrates to heal the wounded, that setup was probably more than enough.

As we were discussing our next steps, a knock sounded at the door, and Gary walked in.

“Hinoharu, Yoshioka, where did you guys slip off to? Up until a moment ago, an incredible pair of summoned beasts was right here!”

Did he really not notice that the Hippocrates Brothers were actually us?

Since there was no telling what might happen, let’s just keep quiet about it for the time being.

“We just happened to step back to Japan for a bit. As a souvenir, I brought back some pizza from Domino Hut.”

“Whoaaa!”

“I bought six large-size pizzas, so choose whichever flavor you like.”

With the casualties gone, the entire fort apparently felt like it was in the middle of a festival.

Nobody was going to complain about us eating pizza.

Out of consideration, Gary had gone over to Magda’s shop to buy a large bottle of wine.

Drinking it straight revealed it to be a rather sour, unappetizing wine.

“Kota, could you get some cola out for me?”

Prompted by Gary, I pulled out a two-liter bottle of cola.

Instead of drinking it straight, he mixed the cola and wine in a fifty-fifty ratio.

“This is Kalimotxo! It’s delicious, so give it a try.”

While it was a simple drink that could hardly be called a proper cocktail, the flavor was actually excellent.

It was so easy to drink that one could effortlessly down it in large gulps.

Apparently, it was a drink of Spanish origin, often referred to as a “poor man’s sangria.”

In any case, we raised a toast to celebrate Lady Clara’s appointment as battalion commander.

“I’ll make sure to protect everyone. No matter who the opponent is,” Gary said, thumping his chest while stuffing his face with pizza.

With a hero staying by our side, I felt a slight sense of security.

Tomorrow, we would have to move out toward Romanburg.

We wouldn’t be able to unwind like this over there.

Following Gary’s lead, I stuffed my face with pizza and washed it down with a deep gulp of Kalimotxo.