19
There are limits to the story of a game.
Especially in gacha games where multiple characters appear haphazardly.
It was realistically impossible to put in-depth stories for each character.
Therefore, game companies inevitably provide individual stories using clichés, and Rootger Rosenburg was one of those characters.
A father with a sickly illegitimate daughter. A typical cliché.
His daughter, Estelle Rosenberg, was famous within the region for her beauty until the age of 10. She was praised to become the belle representing the Albad Kingdom when she grew up.
However, that beauty was destroyed by grotesque tumors that suddenly appeared all over her body.
Rootger called upon renowned doctors to find out the cause of her illness, but no one could figure it out.
Meanwhile, a severe epidemic broke out in his region.
– That’s the cause! That’s what’s spreading the disease!
– That monster!
The people of the region pointed at Estelle as the cause of the epidemic, spreading curses on her.
Once praised to the point of being adored, they now began treating her like a monster, throwing stones at her.
Disappointed by the people of the region, Rootger relinquished his territory and title, only taking his close subordinates, and began wandering the continent to find the cause of the disease.
One of the protagonists, Alz, who had become a bandit leader later on, went to subdue Rootger’s group upon hearing about this situation and decided to help.
During this time, Alz, who had been dispatched to the northeast of the continent, coincidentally discovered the cause of the disease.
Alz went to where Rootger was with the cure, but Estelle, who didn’t want to burden her father, had already taken her own life.
Rootger, grieving the loss of his daughter, despite his efforts, was grateful to the protagonist group, especially Alz, and joined under their command.
“However… it seems there’s no one in charge.”
Rootger was nowhere to be seen. In response to my question, the polite man in charge, Ings, scratched his cheek.
“Have you noticed. Yes, as you guessed, our lord is currently in the south in search of a rare herb.”
“If that lord is?”
Ings hesitated for a moment.
“Rootger Rosenburg. Also known as the Jade Rosenburg. Are you familiar with him?”
“I have heard of it before.”
It was Rosenburg, the renowned master who served as the second general of the past Albad and the right arm of the strategist Kaien.
“Well, seems like things have taken a turn.”
It was said that it would take about a week for Rutger to return. Unable to wait until then, there was no choice but to anticipate a future meeting with Rutger.
The place Ings led them to was a mountain lodge located in a remote corner of the mountains. As they neared the lodge, a foul stench began to waft through the air.
“I must ask in advance, please refrain from screaming or making any noise. The lady may be upset.”
With those words, Ings opened the door.
Inside, there was a being so monstrous that it could only be described as ominous.
Yumir, always calm, was taken aback. If Ings hadn’t warned in advance, he might have shouted.
“It’s more serious than I thought.”
In the game, it was only depicted as a grotesque figure, so the severity was unclear, but this was truly grave.
Once, by chance, he had seen a picture of a drowned body, but Estelle’s condition was even more severe than that.
It made sense that the young lords considered Estelle the cause of the epidemic.
Sores covered her body, swollen with pus ready to burst, emitting a putrid smell from the ruptured sores.
“Ings…? Is that you?”
“Yes.”
“And my father…?”
“As I mentioned, it will take some time for Lord Rutger to return.”
With the swollen sores covering her eyes, she couldn’t see where to look or who to talk to.
However, she instinctively sensed my presence, flinching and shrinking.
“Is there… someone else here?”
“Yes, someone to assess your condition.”
“….”
Estelle, now showing a gloomy expression, no longer held any hope for the doctors.
Shrugging at Ings, who was looking for a response, I said, “Let’s do what we can.”
“Oh…! Do you have a hunch about the disease?”
“I can’t be sure.”
After all, it was a story from a game.
Moreover, they had not tried the herbs that Alsgar had brought, as Estelle had taken her own life before that.
“I miscalculated.”
He had not expected it to be this severe. Therefore, it seemed that the medicinal herbs he had prepared would be insufficient.
“That will suffice. We were completely clueless. Please proceed.”
“Then, let’s make the preparations.”
But then, it happened.
“…I, I don’t want treatment.”
Estelle spoke.
“What are you saying, my lady!”
“….”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to get better. She just couldn’t believe it.
Dozens, even hundreds of doctors who had searched for themselves had made some grand promises and deceived themselves and their fathers, she knew.
Ingse snapped her fingers! and said to me.
“Please get ready. I will convince the lady.”
“Well, let’s do that.”
I came out from the mountain hut and, with Yumir’s help, prepared the tools. I sterilized the medical knife to make an incision and crushed the herbs I had brought, mixing them with a special oil to make an ointment.
I had this knowledge of pharmacy.
It wasn’t modern knowledge. It was just that there was nothing else to study in this world.
I had my duties in Rutger and, thinking it might be useful in the future, I had been reading pharmacy books discreetly. With the help of my master, I had learned emergency treatment techniques, acquiring a certain level of medical skills.
“Yumir, do you have any idea about that disease?”
I asked just in case, and Yumir shook his head.
“It’s a symptom I’ve never seen before. More importantly, milord, it’s better not to get too close to the patient. I will handle the necessary treatment.”
“Why, afraid of contagion? It’s okay. If that were the case, everyone else would have died too.”
“Rather… Is it okay not to go to Beccabia? If you delay, the time to stay in Beccabia will decrease.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
I kept Yumir at bay. It would be strange if I suddenly said I was going to meet Rutger.
“Next time then.”
I was preparing for treatment with Yumir’s help.
And then it happened.
“I’ll be fine for a moment.”
A choleric man. His name was George.
“What’s the matter? If you’re in a hurry, it’s almost done.”
“That’s fine, but I have one request.”
“A request?”
After swallowing his saliva, George speaks.
“Please, put an end to the lady’s tragedy.”
“…Oh.”
Kill Estelle. That was what George was asking for.
“Do you not want to rot away in this remote place any longer?”
“…!”
“If that patient were gone, Rutger Rosenberg would be free. In that case, you would be able to see the light of the world again.”
With a determined look, George clenched his fist.
“Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. The lady’s illness cannot be cured! No eminent doctor has succeeded in it. So let’s just choose the path that can make everyone happy! It’s better for you. Since you don’t know the truth, Lord Rutger had no choice but to resign himself to it. There will be no revenge or anything from you, so rest assured.”
“Huh, is that what you call loyalty?”
“Ugh!”
“Well, let’s stop the useless talk here. Lemyu, pack those up and follow me.”
And back at the mountain hut, Ingse was shouting loudly.
“Get yourself together, lady! Your attitude is making Lord Rutger unable to resolve his feelings! Please think about the positions of me and George, who are looking out for you! Please!”
“Sob! Sob!”
Tears streaming through the incision.
In Ingse’s eyes, there was not respect or admiration for Estelle, but rather anger and disgust were more strongly embedded.
“This is a complete mess of a household.”
Later, when they brought Roothger under control, they decided to eliminate them.
“Ah… I’ve shown you a shameful sight. The lady has convinced me. Are you ready for treatment?”
“I am. Are you really convinced?”
“Yes. So please proceed with the treatment.”
“Hmm.”
The treatment process itself was simple.
First, they had to cut the boil with a knife and squeeze out all the pus inside.
Since there was a shortage of prepared herbs, they decided to treat only the boils that were causing problems in daily life.
Sizzle! Boils bursting open with a strange sound. A golden pus flowed out from within.
‘This is…’
It wasn’t the usual pus. Pus is a healing action of white blood cells fighting bacteria.
There was no such feeling in this pus. It couldn’t be scientifically analyzed, but at least it didn’t seem to be a healing action of the body.
‘If white blood cells had worked so hard to create this many boils, the body wouldn’t have survived.’
As they squeezed the boil on the forehead, eyes appeared.
“…”
She stared into the eyes behind the mask.
Deep blue eyes. Tears were flowing from those eyes.
“Remyu, bring the ointment.”
“Yes.”
After squeezing out the pus, ointment was applied to the incised scar.
Ings inquires, “Is the treatment finished with that?”
“For now, it’s just an emergency treatment. It doesn’t address the root cause of the illness.”
After dealing with the boils near the eyes, they moved on to the boils on the back. All the prepared herbs were used up.
“At least you should be able to lie down comfortably with this.”
“I hope so.”
Ings was not optimistic about the situation.
“Some doctors have performed the same treatment on you, but the boils recurred shortly after, more severely.”
“How soon is ‘shortly after’?”
“About 4 to 5 hours.”
“In that case, let’s wait until then.”
Even I wasn’t confident about the treatment.
The herbs prepared now were the items Als had prepared in the game.
‘There was no such herbal combination in the pharmacy books I read in this world.’
Since I hadn’t actually used it, there was a possibility that Als in the game had made a mistake.
If that was the case, it might cause a delay in recruiting Roothger, but I had other plans prepared for that situation.
I decided to spend a day in the mountain lodge that Ings had prepared.
It had been 12 hours since the treatment was administered.
Thud! The sound of urgent knocking on the door of the mountain lodge could be heard.
“I’m here! It’s Ings!”
Wearing a mask, I opened the door.
“Do you have a carriage? Well, from your expression, it seems like you do.”
“Yes, I do! The relapse did not occur!”
Alright, the Alts of the game were not wrong. So, I could also guess the method of curing the disease.
“Then my role ends here. I’ll tell you how to make the ointment, so you can treat it yourself from now on.”
“What? But you said it’s not a fundamental cure for the disease.”
“Is that so?”
“Don’t you have to provide treatment?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Hah, what nonsense. I only helped because you asked me to see the patient. I never said I would take care of the treatment. To begin with, curing that disease will require a long time. Are you asking me to endure that level of sacrifice for just one patient?”
“W-We’ll pay you!”
“Not necessary. It seems like you don’t have the ability to hire me anyway. Let’s go, Yumir.”
“W-Wait!”
Ings seemed to want to grab my sleeve, but Yumir pushed him away first.
Ings sighed.
“If it’s Rootger. If Rootger returns, he’ll be able to pay. So, please at least tell us his name! Please!”
“Alright then. When Rootger returns, inform me. If you want to heal your daughter…”
This would kick off the first step of the Rootger recruitment operation.
“Bring the mercenary Wade.”