Even if my only strength is water magic, having modern knowledge should be sufficient, right?

Episode 36: Physical and Mental Wounds.

(Return to Frim’s Perspective)

“Huh?”

There was a loud noise, and I thought something glittered, but this wasn’t a dream.
It’s dark. I light up with a borrowed magical tool and see a terrible scene. As I sit up, I see two dead men on the floor. This is too cruel for a wake-up prank. This is like something you’d see on a blooper reel!!

The severed head person collapsed as if sitting. When the blurry darkness fades away, I can see his head and neck down below… and he has a severe wound on his leg. His hair is golden, but this face is that of the suspicious person from that time. He’s alive!

“W-Where is this? In the palace… where, exactly?”

He clearly looks unwell. And with the bleeding from three people, it’s very bloody.
I don’t know what’s going on, but I can tell it’s a life-threatening situation. For both me and this person.

“I-I don’t know! I just did what I could in my job! Are you okay!?”

“P-Poison… Poison. H-Here, it’s… visible… right?”

“This is just a shed where no one can see! No way! Is it poison?! Can you see this?! Drink some water!!”

There are no tourist maps like in modern times, and I don’t know the layout of the palace, so I don’t know our location.

I quickly pour water into a cup, but he can’t drink while lying down. No, that’s not it. I shouldn’t be doing that!

His legs, stained red with blood, are cut, and if it’s poison, it’s better to let the blood flow. I’ve seen first aid on TV. Huh? Is water coming out on its own? Well, whatever, for now, I use Bursa’s dagger to cut open the pajamas of the blonde man with black eyes and black hair.

“Ugh…”

It’s quite a wound. I use water manipulation to wash around the bloody wound, and then–

“It’ll hurt! Bite on this!”

“Mmph…”

I make him bite down on several handkerchiefs, then with trembling hands, I slap both cheeks to gather my courage… and move the water around the wound on his leg, as if scraping the surface.

“Aargh!!!?”

“Don’t cover it with your hand! It hurts, doesn’t it?! I’m reducing the poison!!”

I’m not torturing him.

When I was young, I once got injured with a rusty old nail. A cluster of such bacteria, it’s nothing good for the body. The bitter memory of scrubbing it with antiseptic and a toothbrush at the hospital is unforgettable. If the poison remains on the surface of the wound, it will be absorbed and worsen. It hurt a lot for me too, but I endured it with the explanation that if I got a bacterial infection or tetanus– Even though I feel sorry for the suffering man, I have to do it.—I’ve already decided to help this man.

I want to call a doctor, but this suspicious person came here fighting someone. Moreover, there’s a smell of fire outside. Even if I call a doctor, I don’t know if they’ll come quickly, and there might be more people fighting outside. The two who were just killed by this man, one of them was clearly wearing a tidy maid’s outfit… they don’t seem very normal.

In my mind, thoughts like “Maybe it’s better not to help this dying youth” and “Maybe he’s an escaped criminal in the midst of execution” come up, but the possibility isn’t zero.
—Should I just abandon him? The option of abandoning him comes to mind and… even though I find that disgusting, I’ve already decided.

Hydrogen peroxide that I can use might be able to disinfect, but… I hesitated, not knowing the concentration or effectiveness, and I thought it would be better to use water than to worsen the condition of someone who’s on the verge of death like a human experiment.

I washed the wound with quite a lot of water. I lift his leg and prop it up, tear the unused nobleman’s clothes and apply them to the wound. They’re cleanest cloth available here.

“Sorry…”

“Please press down firmly with this. I can’t stop the bleeding with my strength alone. And please drink plenty of water.”

It’s the most expensive clothing, reserved for when it’s crucial. I use it for bandages, wrapping it around and finally letting him press it down on the wound himself. He’s a young man who moves slowly with a pale face, but to survive, he has to do it. I want to do it myself, but I can’t stop the bleeding with my strength alone.

I fill a cup with water and offer it to him.

“Why…?”

“If you drank poison, it’s better to wash out your stomach too. Drink, vomit, and drink again and again.”

I also pour water into a soup bowl and add some finely shaved rock salt that the head chef gave me. When you eat something spoiled, it’s better to drink salted tea and vomit. There’s a procedure called gastric lavage even in hospitals… huh? But if the poison is on the cut surface then isn’t this treatment meaningless? Or did I just hurt his leg by washing it with water as if I was trying to do some human experimentation? Guilt wells up inside me, and I feel like crying a little.

The man obediently drank the water—then he stopped moving without vomiting. It seems like he fainted.

I can’t do any more than this. In my panicked state, I can’t handle anything more.

“I-I’ll go call someone!”

“…”

Wearing a cloak over my nightclothes, I step outside. As I open the door, a blast of hot air brushes against my cheek.

“It’s hot!!?”

The burning wasn’t in front of the building or somewhere in the castle, but in this shed??

“Kid? What happened to the man who came in?”

“Is he another pervert!!? No, wait, ”

The man is clearly not from the area, dressed all in black except for his eyes. I don’t know how much is burning, but I can feel the heat from outside even inside the shed.

“I’m sorry! Are you perhaps from the palace!? I’m just a maid named Frim who was cleaning! Please help extinguish the fire, and call a doctor!!”

Maybe he’s from the country… what? Maybe a ninja? Or maybe someone from the fire department or a special police force. After all, he’s wearing a mask covering his mouth, and he’s holding a staff.

The boss said that staffs are very expensive. Even children of nobles can’t buy them easily. In other words, there’s a possibility that this person is a proper noble despite appearances.

I step back into the shed for a moment and start pouring water everywhere. I saw in videos that it’s okay to touch the fire itself for a moment, but something heated up in the space is a threat even without touching the fire itself.

I sprinkle water around the entrance from the inside, then go outside and look back—most of the shed is on fire.

“My shed!!!??”

This shed was supposed to be my paradise where I could do whatever I wanted in this world!!

“A cleaner? No, maybe a noble’s apprentice… Leave this place.”

“—Huh? Eek?!”

Water splashed behind me.

The man holds a staff in both hands and seems to be swinging it here, creating a whip of fire at the end.

I didn’t feel that much heat inside, but outside, it’s hot enough to get burned just from the heat. I immediately deploy a double water barrier and try to spray water towards the shed.

As I turn around, another whip is coming towards me.

“”

As a habit, I shoot out high-pressure water like a beam, colliding with the whip of fire.
I don’t know if this person is a decent human being. Noble or thief… either way, he was trying to target me just now. If it weren’t for the double water barrier, I would have surely been seriously injured.

“Who are you? If you hand over the man inside, I won’t do anything bad. Leave now.”

“Li—?!”

The high-pressure water hits the man’s face, and he falls. It hits him with enough force to make his neck shake… It’s scary to think that I might have killed him, but he was trying to kill me. He doesn’t move a muscle, even when I stare at him for a moment.

There’s the heat behind me and the unpleasant sound of crackling wood burning. I need to extinguish the shed quickly or the person inside will be in danger.

“”

I create water orbs larger than a person and aim them at the parts that are burning well. It’s not good if the inside of the building is burning, and I shoot a few into the shed from the entrance as well. Fires are bad, especially if there are people living inside the building…

“Ugh!!?”

I feel something hit my leg, and suddenly, the world turns upside down.

Everything in front of my eyes flashes brightly. I hit the cobblestone ground face-first.

“I-I didn’t intend to kill the kid… but… died.”

“…Ah!”

The man wasn’t dead, nor was he unconscious. The whip of retaliation pierced through the water barrier I conjured on instinct and struck my body. It hurts so much I could cry, but crying or protecting myself won’t change anything. —Because no one will come to help me.

With all my might, I release a high-pressure jet of water towards him.

My body aches from the whip strikes, but the arm hit first is excruciatingly painful. But I have to ignore the pain and keep fighting. The water I released, without any restraint or control, turned more into a firefighting hose than a focused stream.

“What the—! Uwah!?”

“Let go!! Ouch!!?”

I managed to blow the man away with my water magic, but I got dragged along by the whip that wrapped around me and ended up rolling on the ground. It seems he had not only magical whips but also regular ones.

My whole body aches from the impact. As I roll, the whip comes loose… I quickly check on the man. He’s quite far away, but I can’t let my guard down.

Ignoring the pain in my body, I stand up and face him.

“What’s your deal!? Haven’t you had enough!? Just hand over the man inside peacefully!!”

The reply is another high-pressure blast. But—

“Is this your limit!? I once had a daughter too! I don’t want to harm someone like you!!”

The range isn’t enough. I can’t shoot high-pressure water far away just by releasing it with force. It disperses quickly. Unlike the high-pressure wash I’m used to, which might reach with a firefighting hose, it’s uncertain if it can deliver enough force to knock someone down at this distance.

Even the water blades I somewhat practiced with don’t cut, only having the power to hit like water balloons.

“Why?! Because of that stupid king, this country has lost so much. How many people do you think have died because of him, even though he didn’t want the throne!? Dozens of the nobles known for water magic have died too, right?! So why are you siding with him!!?”

The man is furious, but I don’t know about such circumstances… I don’t know, but I’ve already made up my mind.

“I… I don’t know what the king has done!”

“Then hand him over! Such a villain shouldn’t be allowed to live!!”

Whether they’re a criminal or the king, no matter who they are, I’ve decided to help them as much as possible… not to abandon them.

“Whether that person is the king or a criminal! What value is there in living if you abandon them?! If there’s guilt, then live and face judgment!! I don’t want to regret abandoning anything anymore!!”

In this world, I’ve averted my eyes from various things. For ‘my own safety,’ I couldn’t say what I wanted to say, flattered, deceived, lied, couldn’t stop someone from being hit, and lived on money involved with violence. ——It protected me, but it deeply hurt my heart.

Even when eating delicious food, there’s always a sense of guilt, and I keep thinking about bad things. I hate that.

When the suspicious person was killed, I felt a little relieved, but I was tormented by terrible regret. I don’t know what kind of person he was or what kind of life he had lived. Maybe he was an extreme villain, and it might be better if he died as this man says. Even so… it’s not right to just stand by silently while this man acts. If I do that, I’ll regret it forever.

Waking up to such a situation, I wish it were just a nightmare.

My whole body is in severe pain. There’s no chance of winning. Maybe I can’t defeat this man. I might be easily killed and die in vain. This might not be a reasonable decision. Even so, if I don’t stand up here, I won’t be myself!!!

“I… no matter who that person is… I won’t abandon them!!”

The wounded human being… I can’t let them die, nor can I allow them to be killed.

“I see… Even though you’re just a kid, you’re a knight.”

For a moment, the man lowered his gaze, then pointed his staff straight towards me with his right hand.

“Sorry, but you’ll have to die. I have something to carry.”

He must have some reason too. Without giving up or stopping the fight, I could tell the fire at the tip of his hand was swelling.