Chapter 102: CH 113

Chapter 113

Translator: Yonnee

RP: Haebaragi_syk

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The appearance of this unexpected visitor made her eyes go round.

“Why are you here, Ethan?”

Then, her pale purple eyes headed towards Ethan’s pendant, which was still emitting a constant beeping alert.

“By any chance, is this a notification sound of the pendant?”

As though he was a man caught red-handed doing a crime, Ethan was entirely frozen, and he nodded his head stiffly.

“That’s weird. When you contacted me earlier, my pendant didn’t go off like this. Is mine broken?”

As soon as this small observation was pointed out, Ethan flinched.

“Huh?”

Why was he flinching like that?

Thinking it through for a moment, Reina widened her eyes as though she had realized something.

“Don’t tell me… Only your pendant’s designed to do that?”

“…Yes.”

If that feature was already available in the first place, why did he set it for only his pendant?

But the question was soon answered. Slightly avoiding her gaze, Ethan fiddled with his right earlobe and forced himself to respond.

“Because you might be taking a nap, Reina.”

The explanation he gave was somewhat inadequate. So, when she was visibly confused by his answer, Ethan sneakily reached for Reina’s hand so he could hold it.

Naturally, however, Reina sharply stopped him from doing so.

“We’re in an infected area. Don’t hold my hand.”

“……”

While she didn’t see this, he reacted with visible regret the moment she rejected him.

However, he understood what she meant, so he continued to explain more about the pendant rather than dwelling in his disappointment.

“I didn’t set up a notification feature for your pendant because you might get woken up if you’re asleep.”

Reina blinked for a moment before she looked up at him.

“Wouldn’t that be the case for you as well?”

Then, smiling as though it was the obvious truth, he spoke while smiling brightly.

“To me, listening to your voice is more important than sleeping.”

With such an answer, Ethan stepped closer to Reina once again, perhaps trying his luck at holding her hand one more time.

However, it was a failed attempt yet again.

“Ethan. We can’t hold hands.”

“……”

“In any case, what are you doing here? You didn’t tell me you’re coming.”

Ethan slightly looked away. Meanwhile, Reina narrowed her eyes.

“Did you teleport here just to see me?”

“…I was just going to say hello and see if you’re safe and sound.”

Flinching, Ethan gently uttered his excuses.

‘He’s just going to see me for a sec, but doesn’t it take fifty mages to successfully teleport with this kind of distance?’

As the interrogator narrowed her eyes a little more, the guilty party’s eyebrows moved upward as if to show how innocent he was.

“Really, it’s the truth. And I’m here to give this to you, too.”

“What’s this?”

Quickly distracted by the heavy bundle of documents that had been handed over to her, Reina looked down at the pages.

“The report on the Bezak estate’s case.”

Despite everything, this was actually what she needed right now, and she was about to contact Ethan about it. She didn’t know he already had it ready for her.

“…Ethan. You should have had no idea about it, but how did you know?”

Reina looked up at him, her eyes expressing just how touched she was by his gesture.

“If you weren’t here now, I was about to contact you about this report. Thank you, Ethan. This’ll make this a little easier.”

She thanked him sincerely and quickly lowered her gaze back down so she could skim through the report. Meanwhile, she happened to find a small bag hidden behind Ethan’s legs.

“Huh? What’s that? It looks like luggage?”

As her eyes went wide while looking at him, Ethan turned his face slightly again as though he was troubled.

“Ethan?”

In the end, he met her gaze once more, but this time it looked like he had finally decided on something. With an ever-saccharine smile, he naturally spoke such strange words, as smooth as flowing water.

“Reina. Actually, I’m on a vacation right now.”

“A vacation? You are, Ethan?”

“Yes. I’m here for a vacation.”

Only some lunatic would willingly go on vacation to a plague-ridden village… Oh, wait a sec.

“…You didn’t take time off to be with me, did you?”

No way. The Ministry of Health was terribly busy these days, too. No way, really.

He might have read her thoughts through her bewildered gaze. Very carefully, he held the tip of one of her fingers and asked a question.

“Then… I shouldn’t?”

Perhaps because of his past failures, even easier than breathing, he held her hand with such serene peace. Reina didn’t even notice this because she was so focused on him being here on ‘vacation’.

“No, um… It’s not something to argue about, but…”

But wasn’t this kind of weird? He’s on a vacation here, in an area where the plague was rampantly spreading.

And didn’t he just say that he’s only here to see her for a quick second?

“……”

Pursing her lips for a moment, she soon shook her head.

“It’s not that. You’ll be such great help here, Ethan.”

Everyone around her had nearly zero knowledge on medical care. So, as Ethan had appeared at just the right time, more than anyone else who could have been here, Reina felt grateful for his presence.

* * *

Once Ethan joined their group, the preparations for managing the patients proceeded with lightning speed.

Of course, this was partly due to Reina’s own experience at the Thurn Village, and the knights of House Chantra’s Fourth Chivalric Order were in complete sync, everything was going swimmingly largely because of Ethan.

‘Seriously… The ‘logic of power’ is just so obvious with religions.’

Ethan’s extraordinary divine power made it so that the attitudes of the priests—including even the high priest—got flipped right then and there.  Thanks to this, Ethan dealt with Utta’s priests while Reina was able to concentrate on preparing for her job.

“I’ll say it again. Never—never—treat a patient with your bare hands. No matter what.”

“Yes, Milady.”

“Also, if you ever come into contact with any bodily fluids or blood, immediately and thoroughly wash it off with soap and water. Then, after that, disinfect the area with diluted, distilled alcohol.”

“Yes, Milady.”

“Lastly, everyone from Chantra who don’t have healing power are absolutely prohibited from entering the temple.”

“Yes, Milady.”

“Then, move out.”

Everyone dispersed at her command, and they went their own separate ways to make the necessary preparations in earnest. Tomorrow, they would finally go into the field.

Watching them, Reina let out a small exhale.

“Now, it’s time to meet the village chief.”

She hoped that they could get along well.