The Quack Lady - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 17

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“Good grief, why is that Clinic Director fellow so scheming? It’s obvious without even looking. He must be a quack.”

“Hanel, stop with the harsh words. He’s still a doctor who remains at the infirmary to provide treatment out of service. There’s no need to view him so negatively.”

But Mr. Pairon also glared at the door as intently as Mr. Hanel.

However.

‘The Count’s Manor is looking for a doctor? Coming directly to the infirmary?’

The more I pondered the Clinic Director’s words, the stranger it seemed.

Most nobles go to temples to receive treatment from noble doctors.

‘Or if not that, they pile up indulgences bought from temples like mountains.’

But they requested treatment from an infirmary where mainly commoners receive care?

Moreover, giving only a week’s time meant…

‘Isn’t that extremely urgent?’

Especially since the infirmary and the Count’s Manor are at opposite ends of the Eastern Region.

The journey alone would take a full three days.

“You really should stop your medical activities. If word spreads through connections, it’ll become unmanageable. There are already people catching wind of it and rushing over.”

“What’s wrong with becoming a little famous! It helps the guild too, which is good! Kid. Mr. Pairon supports your dream. You know that, right?”

Mr. Hanel smiled while winking both eyes.

I looked at him with an incredulous expression and said.

“Know what? And it’s not a dream.”

“Then how about making it your dream starting today? You were pretty good at it.”

Instead of answering, I silently glared at him.

Then I turned my head sharply and thought.

‘Someone important enough to move the Countess…’

Surely the Countess had received treatment from various noble doctors before coming to the infirmary.

In other words, it was likely a disease that couldn’t be diagnosed in this world.

After thinking for a moment, I asked the men.

“But aren’t the only people important enough for the Countess to personally come to the infirmary to request treatment Young Baron Demian and Count Luke at the Count’s Manor?”

“Well, that could be, but it might be a relative. Did Countess Dieten have siblings?”

Mr. Hanel began slowly listing the Countess’s family tree.

Even listening casually, the names of well-known noble families came pouring out.

However.

‘Then their families should be the ones moving… It’s strange for the Countess who married out to be moving.’

That’s when it happened.

“The patient is probably Young Baron Demian. I can’t be certain, but.”

Mr. Pairon, who had already shifted his gaze to documents, said calmly.

Demian Bernov.

The sole heir of the Bernov Count Family and…

‘A nine-year-old kid.’

When Hanel and I looked at him in surprise, Mr. Pairon, sitting at his desk, shuffled through documents that had appeared from who knows where and said.

“Most of the herbs that have been flowing into the Count’s Manor recently are painkillers.”

“…Don’t tell me they can’t use other medications?”

“But I can’t give a definitive answer. Painkillers are medications that other noble families often seek too. It’s just statistically more likely.”

“…”

“…”

Hanel and I looked at each other.

“Then, this patient…”

“Then, this patient…”

We spoke simultaneously, but couldn’t finish our words.

The reason was simple. It was because of Mr. Pairon’s voice, more resolute than ever.

“Absolutely not. The Count doesn’t just dislike doctors, he abhors them. If you go and fail to treat properly, he’s the type who would fabricate any wrongdoing to banish you from the territory.”

“But a maid wouldn’t matter, would she?”

“Don’t you think he’d hate having a maid do the treatment?”

Mr. Hanel, who had just been thinking the same thing as me, immediately changed his stance and began pressuring me.

“Hey, the Bernov Count Family is a completely prestigious count family, so if a maid says she’ll treat someone, there’ll be chaos.”

“No. I think it’s the opposite. Even if a mop came to treat them, they’d probably accept it.”

“…What?”

“Think about it. If the noble Countess came personally, it must be an extremely urgent matter… From the point they sought out a commoner infirmary, it seems they’re looking for anyone who can somehow provide treatment.”

“Still, they gave a week’s time. That’s quite a long time for something urgent. As you know, depending on the patient’s condition, sometimes every moment counts, but giving as much as a week means…”

“Maybe that was the Countess’s maximum limit? And the patient’s condition might already be progressing toward chronicity. The kind of state where you keep watching and waiting for improvement.”

At my words, both men’s gazes crossed in mid-air.

Yes, just like how Mr. Pairon had been continuously managing his arm.

Wait.

Soon something flashed in my mind and I smiled.

“It’s Young Baron Demian. I’m certain.”

“What?”

“Why?”

I explained to them step by step.

“First. The people important enough for the Countess to move personally would be her birth family, the Count, or the Young Baron, but excluding the birth family since they have many ways their own family members could step forward, that leaves two people.”

I roughly drew small circles on a piece of parchment nearby.

Then I grouped them together and drew an X.

Now only two small circles remained.

“But in the Count’s case, the Butler would move instead of the Countess. Since he’s constantly by the Count’s side, it would be easier to describe the symptoms too.”

“That’s… true.”

Mr. Hanel readily nodded.

Mr. Pairon was silently listening to my explanation.

“So what remains is Young Baron Demian, and considering he’s the Countess’s only son and she was desperate enough to seek out the infirmary, it makes sense. She might have wanted to see with her own eyes.”

The caretakers I saw at the hospital – the children’s mothers and fathers – always had anxious faces.

As if they were in more pain than the patients themselves.

And this was the same expression regardless of which parent it was.

“This is speculation, but if it’s a chronically ill young child, there’s really only one option.”

“Painkillers…”

Mr. Pairon muttered.

I nodded toward him.

“That’s part of it, but I think the Clinic Director has roughly caught on to this fact too. That’s why he wants to send a doctor whose face he doesn’t know to avoid the backlash that might hit the infirmary.”

If the treatment went well, he would receive compensation for the introduction, and if the treatment went wrong, he could just draw a line and be done with it.

Since it wouldn’t be a doctor affiliated with the infirmary anyway.

“Wow, if that’s true, how despicable.”

Mr. Hanel immediately held his forehead and let out a hollow laugh.

“It’s probably right. The Lenoven I know is exceptionally clever in that regard.”

Mr. Pairon, who had been listening silently for a while, also nodded.

That’s when it happened. Mr. Hanel’s face suddenly hardened.

He slowly turned to look at me and warned.

“Hey, you’re not planning to go even knowing all this, are you?”

Facing his shocked expression, I immediately grinned and said.

“I’m not going. Absolutely not.”

Most of the nobles I’d seen at the infirmary were trash.

They were people who thought commoners became commoners because they committed great sins in their previous lives.

In other words, nothing good would come from getting involved with them.

Whether my words were comforting, Mr. Hanel let out a big sigh and patted his chest.

“Honestly, the Count’s Manor is burdensome for me too. Besides, how can I treat anyone without proper tools? It’s unfortunate, but we’ll have to pray that another doctor treats the child, or that the child’s immune system pulls through.”

“Auto… what?”

“It’s a thing. That exists.”

I snorted at Mr. Hanel who was asking again and turned around.

“That little brat is now disrespecting adults? Hey! It’s because you use strange terms, but I know a lot too… ah, never mind.”

He trailed off as if suddenly hit by reality.

‘Well, it’s not easy to argue with a twelve-year-old either.’

I decided to take the fact that I remembered my past life to my grave and kept my mouth firmly shut.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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