The Quack Lady - Chapter 7

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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 7

The wound where the knife had been embedded was quite deep, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to have penetrated to the deeper layers of the skin.

Most importantly, it appeared to have missed the crucial femoral artery*.

A large artery located on the inner thigh. If torn or injured, arterial rupture would cause an emergency situation.

“It doesn’t look like it went in too deep. It seems to have ended at the level of minor muscle damage.”

Still, I couldn’t be at ease.

If bacterial inflammation occurred through the torn muscle, it could lead to necrosis of muscle tissue and even systemic infection.

“This will sting a little.”

Without delay, I immediately poured the boiled and cooled water I had prepared to wash out the wound. Then I began disinfecting the wound by pouring high-proof alcohol from nearby.

“Aaaahhh!”

“Just a moment! We’re almost done.”

Meanwhile, after thoroughly disinfecting my hands, I began threading the needle.

After that.

“Haaahh!”

I began bending the needle into a hook shape.

Performing a strength show at dawn was exhausting me, but I couldn’t use such a straight needle for suturing.

Needles used for suturing are typically hook-shaped.

After quickly threading it and tying an elegant knot, I immediately grabbed the needle with small scissors and brought it close to the skin.

“Now I’ll begin the suturing.”

The patient was on the verge of fainting from blood loss, and I was also on the verge of going crazy trying to solve this somehow.

First, I need to save the person.

With that thought, I was about to plunge the needle deep into the epidermis* of the skin.

A part of the skin tissue.

‘Wow, what is this.’

Strangely, I began to feel a more sensitive sensation at my fingertips than in my previous life.

I was momentarily surprised by the unfamiliar sensation but quickly shook my head.

‘No, I need to focus on suturing first.’

Feeling the skin tissue at my fingertips, I began suturing carefully, stitch by stitch.

“Sob… sob…”

Even in this situation, the patient was too busy crying to notice the needle entering her body.

‘If anything, that’s fortunate.’

Thanks to that, anesthesia wouldn’t be necessary, but I was still worried about the patient’s mental state, so I proceeded with the suturing faster than usual.

Finally, I cleaned the wound area with alcohol and finished by wrapping it with bandages.

Click.

“All done.”

After the war-like ordeal, the patient looked at me with surprised eyes, as if she had just come to her senses upon hearing that it was finished.

“What…? Sob…! All done… what do you mean…”

“Ah, I’ve finished the suturing. If you just change the bandage in a week, it shouldn’t get infected badly. These are Arenote and Selmarte, so chew one strand three times a day.”

Perhaps due to the smooth prescription, her previously wary gaze softened a little.

It was when her gaze slowly turned toward her own thigh.

“Huh…? What is this…”

As if she had just discovered the wound, she tried to place her hand on the bandage tied around her thigh…

“Don’t touch it!”

At my urgent cry, her hand stopped abruptly in mid-air, having lost its way.

“I’ve finished disinfecting everything. If you touch it carelessly and the wound gets infected, the muscle could necrotize… I mean, you might not be able to use your leg.”

“What? Can I use my leg?”

“What?”

What kind of nonsense is this after I went through all the trouble to treat her?

When I remained still with a face that showed I didn’t understand, she asked cautiously.

“Don’t you have to cut off the leg soon after being stabbed by a knife…? Huh? Come to think of it, the pain…”

The patient began muttering things like ‘it was supposed to hurt terribly’ and ‘huh? why doesn’t this hurt?’

Of course, since I had finished suturing, there was no reason for it to hurt much.

It seemed she had gotten scared in advance, probably because this was a world where people survived by luck even when they couldn’t properly treat small wounds.

‘How should I make her understand this…’

While I was fumbling for words, the girl looked up at me with sparkling eyes.

“Could you be… a saint?”

“What? Me? Why?”

When I pointed to myself with my index finger and asked, the maid’s eyes welled up with tears once again.

“You saved my life when I might have died soon.”

She even said that such medical skills could only be used by someone like a saint.

“Ah, that was because it was such an emergency… no, because it was so urgent…”

Honestly, when a young child is bleeding and screaming while covered in tears…

‘How could I just pass by…’

While I was struggling, unable to do this or that, the maid grabbed my hands with a moved expression.

“Ah! Let me introduce myself first! My name is Liv! I’ve been working here for 5 years! I’m thirteen years old!”

After that, she began rattling off a self-conducted background check that no one had asked for.

“I remembered a maid who was injured by a knife before and eventually had to have her leg amputated, so I couldn’t stop crying. I’m sorry.”

The maid who had come to her senses began chattering about this and that quite cleverly.

However.

‘How long do I have to listen to this.’

After finishing the emergency suturing, my hunger had reached its peak.

It was when I was slowly lowering my head toward the ground due to the belated hunger.

“I was really surprised. I thought I had dropped an onion in my sleep and tried to catch it with my leg, but it was a knife…”

Grrrrowwwwwl!

The sound from my stomach, rumbling almost as loudly as a drum, silenced her chattering mouth.

She silently and carefully lowered my hands that she had been holding.

…I’m hungry.

* * *

Dawn snacks, regardless of type, were as sweet as if honey had been sprinkled on them.

When I had eaten about three of the appetizing bread loaves in front of me, the maid smiled and set down another small plate.

It was some ripe red cherries and a bit of boiled meat.

“This is my portion for tomorrow, but if you don’t mind, please have some more.”

“…”

Looking at the food, I briefly thought that people working at Mr. Pairon’s place ate well, but then I wondered why she was doing this.

“You don’t need to go this far…”

“Please don’t refuse. I don’t have much I can offer you.”

The child shyly offered everything she had. Her heart was so touching that I nodded slightly and expressed my gratitude.

“By the way, you work at the infirmary? Then you must have seen our master a lot!”

“Uh… yes. That’s right. I didn’t know he was a merchant leader though.”

“Well, our master doesn’t really show off. But when he wears expensive clothes, he looks quite neat…”

Of course, I knew that well too. Objectively speaking, Mr. Pairon was quite a well-built and handsome man.

If I had to describe him, I’d say he was a handsome man with a story?

However, I could sense that I shouldn’t ask about or take interest in that story.

‘I’m not interested in going that far anyway.’

It was when I was taking a big bite of bread.

“It’s all because of that ‘incident’. Our master changed after that day. He suddenly refused food and for a while… oops.”

The maid seemed to have belatedly realized something and quickly wiped her mouth.

It was one of the common habits commoners had when they made a slip of the tongue.

“That incident?”

But it wouldn’t be polite not to bite on the bait that was dropped. When I showed interest with a slightly intrigued tone, the maid quickly rolled her eyes around.

After confirming no one else was nearby, she covered her mouth with one hand and whispered in my ear.

“Not only did he lose his daughter in an accident, but he also sustained an arm injury. So the Saint took good care of….”

“Then the arm injury is related to the merchant guild master’s daughter….”

It was at that moment.

“What are you doing here?”

Through the crack of the open door, a woman in nightclothes revealed herself.

She immediately bowed her head upon seeing me, and only then did I realize she was the maid who had guided me to my room.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I got hungry from sleeping all night….”

“If you had rung the bell, a nearby maid would have brought you food. You don’t need to trouble yourself by coming all the way here in the future.”

She spoke in a very polite tone, but.

‘She’s displeased, isn’t she.’

I understood. I too may have looked like a child just over ten years old on the outside, but inside was an office worker worn down by corporate life.

I showed her an innocent smile.

“Yes. I’ll do that from now on.”

After bowing in greeting, I picked up the last remaining piece of bread from the plate.

Then I took a bite with a crunching sound and headed back to the room I had been shown to.

Not knowing what I had missed while I was there.

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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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