513

Hilmirya had escaped the Cyclone household.

After a night of conditioning, her body had gradually begun to feel like it no longer belonged to her.

She had thought that returning to the cathedral would finally calm both her body and mind.

But Lady Eumerika’s announcement brought Hilmirya an unease unlike anything she had ever felt before.

“A doctor will be coming here to take up a position today.”

“A doctor?”

“To take up a position?”

“Who is this person...?”

The nuns weren’t the only ones surprised by Eumerika’s words. Even the priests and clergy were caught off guard.

“Let me make one thing clear first. He isn’t a follower of the Water Shrine. Whether he’ll become one in the future is still unknown.”

The crowd in the cathedral began buzzing with discussion.

“I understand what everyone is thinking. This is the first time in the history of our faith that we’ve brought in a non-believing doctor to fill an important position within the church.”

To settle everyone’s doubts, Eumerika began explaining the matter in detail.

“For more than five hundred years, medical knowledge has remained trapped in a state of stagnation. Some refuse to teach others, while others lose themselves in magic.”

Hilmirya could deeply relate to the refusal to teach.

It was the very problem she had once faced in Riverbranch.

Back then, there had been a doctor in the village. No matter how Hilmirya pleaded, that person had always rejected her with one excuse after another.

Only after joining the Water Shrine had she been able to learn basic healing and treatment magic from the church’s elderly physicians.

“Everyone knows that medical knowledge should be open to all. Yet when fame, profit, and reality get in the way, very few are truly willing to share what they know.”

Eumerika wasn’t the only one nodding as she spoke. Many of the faithful agreed with her.

The older church physicians, in particular, were deeply moved.

“Of course, I’m not saying those doctors are selfish. In many cases, it’s their circumstances that force them to become that way.”

That was right. Hilmirya had only come to understand it later.

The terror of the world was beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

Compared to saving lives, medicine was an even more powerful tool for making money.

To patients who didn’t want to die, or to those seeking help to save someone they loved most, medicine was a tree of gold.

The doctor who had rejected Hilmirya had once been exploited by the wealthy.

Hilmirya didn’t dare ask for the details.

Still, whenever she thought about how that doctor could continue practicing medicine and saving lives, she sometimes felt a little comforted.

The closer people came to death, the more profitable medicine became.

And countless people wanted to take advantage of that—not necessarily doctors themselves.

Some even chose to study medicine for that very reason.

Those medical students with corrupt intentions often found themselves turned away at the door.

It wasn’t because they performed too poorly. It was because doctors had seen too much, and had grown weary of it all.

No matter the era, the value of medicine was frightening.

As for magic’s influence on medicine, Hilmirya had only come to understand that after joining the Water Shrine.

Magic truly was an excellent tool.

As long as someone could use even a little mana, they could perform the most basic forms of treatment.

Because it was so convenient, people gradually stopped striving to improve.

They simply assumed that magic could heal every wound.

That had been Hilmirya’s greatest realization after learning Water Healing.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t only true outside the Water Shrine. The same problem existed within it.

Yet after recognizing this, Hilmirya had also found herself a dream.

She wanted to use her own strength to help more people understand the importance of medicine.

That was what drove Hilmirya to study medicine so tirelessly.

As these memories surfaced in her mind, Eumerika had already delivered a lengthy announcement.

“Everyone understands this. Take the large-scale battle from last time, for example. Twelve wounded people required surgery, and seven of them had to be referred to private doctors outside the church.”

The passage of time had pushed the Water Shrine’s medical practices toward simple magical treatment.

When it came to major operations beyond the reach of magic, even the church’s elderly doctors knew what had to be done.

But their hands trembled too badly for them to perform the procedures.

“But haven’t we always been training the younger members of the faith?”

A seemingly younger elder priest raised the question.

“Too slow!”

Before Eumerika could answer, a clear boy’s voice rang out from behind the crowd.

Everyone turned around.

It was the head of the faith.

“Too slow. The world has never stopped turning, you know~ Everyone...”

The head of the faith suddenly stopped speaking as he walked toward Eumerika.

Only after reaching the front of the crowd did he turn around and raise his voice.

“Everyone, have you ever heard of a heart transplant?”