Chapter 238.4: Ryouma the Medical Resident (4/4)

Dr. Mafral’s teaching method is practical. He considers our desired future path and comes up with a curriculum that fits it.

For example, in my case, my goal is to ‘maintain health’ and ‘increase my survival rate’ as an adventurer.

To that end, I don’t need to be able to deal with all sorts of symptoms and conditions.

Of course, covering a lot of knowledge, mastering all sorts of techniques, and being able to deal with any kind of symptom isn’t a bad thing.

But piling up so much knowledge requires a considerable amount of time, unreasonable even.

That’s a level that only someone who’s decided to dedicate his whole life to medicine could cover.

My goal is just to maintain my health and improve my survival rates as an adventurer, so I don’t need all that knowledge. Becoming an excellent physician and what not, that stuff should be left to actual doctors or rather people whose main profession is being a doctor.

That’s why I manage my and my colleague’s lives, take measures in cases of emergencies, and extend lives while under the supervision of a doctor with superior knowledge and technique. That’s the kind of knowledge and techniques I’m learning.

And among all that—

“Thank you for taking care of me!” [Amos]

“Amos-san?　Didn’t you come last week too?　I’m glad to know you’re enthusiastic about your role to protect the people and I’m glad to be able to practice my skills as well, but aren’t you pushing yourself too much?” [Ryouma]

“Sigh, the captain told me that too. But I had to protect a kid this time, so I was desperate…” [Amos]

“And because of that your arm is now in a sling?” [Ryouma]

“It was beaten by a squared timber.” [Amos]

“Do you have any other wounds?　Like on your head for example?” [Ryouma]

“I was able to protect my head. As for my back, it was hit too, but I think it’s fine.” [Amos]

“I should take a look just to be safe. Please turn your back to me.” [Ryouma]

—The biggest focus are these sort of treatments. The sort that you would find during times of war.

I guess you could call it ‘Combat Casualty Care’?　Anyway, that’s my specialty.

On top of gathering experience and studying the necessary spells and medicinal ingredients, as well as how to use the medical tools and apply them, the guards that risk their bodies to protect the peace of the town are an important resource to me too. They’re also a good experience for the other residents.

Although the guards have been promised better conditions and treatment, I’m still grateful that they’re letting a beginner like me treat them. So I have to make sure to do my best when examining and treating them so as to not betray that trust.

…Based off of my examination on Amos-san’s wound and the other factors, the treatment I should give his back is ‘Heal’. As for his broken arm, I believe that a High Heal should bring it back to shape.

“There are bruises on your back, but there aren’t any problems with your spine. I’ll use Healing Magic. Is that okay?” [Ryouma]

“I’ll leave it to you, Dr. Little.” [Amos]

…Before I knew it, the patients that come here have started to call me ‘Dr. Little’.

I thought they’d just refer to me as a normal young doctor, but everyone here was young.

The four residents were all in their 20s, and while Dr. Mafral’s real age was much older than his appearance suggested, he still looked young on the eyes.

That’s why they came to call me Dr. Little to differentiate between me and them.

Dr. Mafral gave me the go sign when I mentioned my treatment method, so I went ahead and casted the healing spell on my patient.

“…?” [Ryouma]

Dr. Mafral also gave me some pointers when using healing magic.

In the past, I just visualized the wound healing whenever I used healing magic, but as it turns out, the way professionals did it, they would focus specifically on what they needed to before using healing magic.

And that requires being aware of the ‘Mana Body’.

Every living creature has another body beyond the physical body and that body is what we refer to as the mana body, a body constructed from mana. This mana body is the same ‘mana inside the body’ that one becomes aware of when casting spells, but apparently, it’s a crucial point when using healing magic.

According to Dr. Mafral, the mana body is packed with information of a person’s flesh, so when using healing magic, it’s important to sense the mana body of the target, read the complete information, and then visualize an image that attempts to get as close to the normal values as possible.

…Of course, that’s easier said than done.

Although I’m able to sense the mana body of my target while focusing, until now all I’ve really been able to feel is a lump of mana in some vague human-form, and I haven’t been able to read any information at all.

…But why is that? I do think I’m doing pretty good today, though.

I still can’t read the information, but I can sense the mana body much better today than any of my previous attempts.

As I focused on the body and mana body of my patient, and homed into the affected part, the bruise, I felt a sense of discomfort.

It was faint, but it felt as though there was a gap・・ of sort… Maybe this is what the doctor was talking about.

“‘Heal’” [Ryouma]

In the process of healing the bruise, I visualized the image and casted healing magic.

In the next moment, the bruise immediately vanished and the affected part returned to the normal color of the skin.

I thought I would have to use healing magic twice, but I did it in just one try? Has my healing magic become more effective?

After examining the patient again, I confirmed that nothing was amiss.

I moved on to his broken arm and casted High Heal on it.

I thought I would need to cast the spell thrice, but I only needed to cast the spell twice.

“Wow! I’m feeling great!　Thank you so much, Dr. Little!” [Amos]

“Take care of yourself now~” [Ryouma]

I saw Amos-san off and turned to Dr. Mafral.

“Looks like you’ve started to get a knack for sensing mana bodies.” [Dr. Mafral]

Dr. Mafral smiled.

“Was that what I felt earlier?” [Ryouma]

“I couldn’t possibly know what you felt, but based on the results, I suppose that’s the case. Being able to sense the mana body and read the information will largely affect your skill in using healing magic. The spell you used on Amos-san was clearly much more effective than your healing magic before.

But you’re only at the starting point. Once you’ve become proficient in reading mana bodies, you’ll be able to connect severed limbs and even be able to instantly see through the abnormalities of a body.” [Dr. Mafral]

What? So I can become some kind of human CT or a human x-ray?

“But of course, you’ll need a lot of effort and time to reach that level. I myself have lived as long as a human’s lifetime, and yet I still haven’t reached that level.

That’s why instead of chasing after something like that, it’s more important for you to not forget the feeling you learned just now. Go ahead and start treating your next patient.

Ah, but of course, it would be best if your next patient will need healing magic. I’ll pick one out for you, so please wait for a bit.” [Dr. Mafral]

As Dr. Mafral said that, he left the examination room and secured a patient from the guards that needed healing magic. Like that I used my healing magic on the patients over and over.

Dr. Mafral is usually calm and appropriate in his teachings, but with how practical his approach is to teaching, he might actually be the type to drive his students hard.