"…Lieutenant Colonel. Lieutenant Colonel Max."
The sharp stench of thick alcohol and disinfectant pierced my nose.
And a warm body heat gently pressed against my chest.
When I lifted my heavy eyelids, a pure white ceiling and Captain Elise’s worried face entered my field of vision.
"…The clinic, is it."
"Are you conscious? Honestly, you scared ten years off my life."
Elise let out a deep sigh and replaced the wet towel on my forehead.
"Sergeant Hannah found you in a remote underground warehouse. She said you were collapsed, bleeding from your nose and mouth."
"The medicine…"
"Was there, along with mountains of medical supply boxes."
She shook her head and set down the chart.
"…What happened? You said you’d find a way on your own and left the clinic, and then, only a few hours later…"
Elise gave me a suspicious look.
"Are those military supplies you brought from Soissons? Or could it be…"
[Name: Elise von Kleist]
[Status: Suspecting that Max may have resorted to an 'improper route.']
Her voice cut in sharply. It was only natural for her to be suspicious. If an enormous amount of supplies had suddenly been discovered in some remote warehouse, the most likely explanation would be embezzlement.
I let out a short sigh and opened my mouth. First, I needed to put her suspicions to rest.
"Captain. Do you know why those Republic bastards were defeated?"
"Pardon? Why bring that up all of a sudden…"
"Because they were incompetent and corrupt. In particular, the embezzlement committed by the higher-ups in charge of logistics and administration was beyond imagination."
I continued in a calm voice.
"While I was serving as acting garrison commander in Soissons, I rooted out the Republic’s corrupt capitalists and officials and turned them into my intelligence network."
That much was true.
There had been no shortage of people like Gaston, the hoarder who hid flour underground, or Pierre, who claimed to be a union representative in public while taking bribes behind the scenes.
And lies always shone brightest when mixed with the truth. I continued with a serious expression.
"In the process, I received intelligence. The Revolution Committee bastards were hiding a large stockpile of medical supplies somewhere in Elancia and intended to smuggle them out."
"Ah…! Then those supplies…!"
She seemed to believe me.
"…I was lucky. I secretly bought off the smugglers and had them store the goods somewhere inconspicuous, that’s all."
When I added, You must keep this secret, Elise obediently nodded.
A covert intelligence network, advance groundwork through slush funds, and the foresight to predict an epidemic.
An elite like Elise was easily convinced by that sort of strategic background. In a twentieth-century battlefield, shady backroom deals were more realistic than miraculous magic.
"…I’m sorry."
And after understanding the entire background, what came out of Elise’s mouth was an apology.
"…? Why are you apologizing?"
At my puzzled expression, Elise gently bit her lip and lowered her gaze. Her fingertips fidgeted with the hem of her white coat.
"I suspected you, Lieutenant Colonel. Seeing such a massive quantity of medical supplies, and exactly the ones we needed, appear all at once… I wondered if perhaps you had improperly laid hands on the Imperial Army’s military supplies or relief goods and diverted them."
Self-reproach seeped into her voice.
"But to think it was all the result of meticulous preparations you’d made in advance. I… truly feel like crawling into a hole and hiding."
'Status analysis.'
[Name: Elise von Kleist]
[Status: Deep guilt, awe, heavy sense of responsibility as a doctor]
[Emotion: Disgust and remorse toward herself for carelessly suspecting Max Jaeger without understanding his dedication.]
It seemed the excuse I had prepared had worked even better than expected. At this rate, was she seeing me as some kind of dark knight operating in the shadows?
Well. It wasn’t a bad thing. If anything, it was an extremely cost-effective misunderstanding.
I did not bother making excuses and quietly listened to her.
"Besides, when I think about your recent schedule, it’s only natural that you collapsed."
Elise flipped through my chart and continued.
"Think about it, Lieutenant Colonel. After going through that ordeal in Rosenheim and being discharged, you immediately led the Jaeger Combat Group and advanced all the way to Soissons. You spent a month serving as garrison commander, then returned straight to the imperial capital to attend the grand strategy conference, and after coming back to the front, you presided over a trilateral meeting with ministers from other countries."
As I listened quietly to her list out my schedule, it struck me all over again that I truly had been driven without a moment’s rest.
"And was that the end of it? The moment you entered Elancia without bloodshed, you rescued Her Highness Princess Aylit from terrorists, and for the past several days, you haven’t slept a wink while wiping out the remnants of the revolutionary army. And behind the scenes, you even mobilized smugglers and intelligence networks to stockpile medicine in preparation for an epidemic outbreak?"
Elise’s brown eyes trembled.
"It’s a relief you only had a nosebleed and fainted. If you were an ordinary person, that schedule would have given you a heart attack from overwork long ago!"
A truly objective analysis. If one excluded the surreal factor of cheat skills, my course of action had indeed been unrealistically harsh.
"…Now that you put it that way, I suppose I did overdo it a little."
When I gave a wry smile and shrugged, Elise set down the chart and stepped right up to the bedside.
"Not a little! Besides, your body…"
Her gaze swept over my chest and lower abdomen. My most intimate secret, known only to her as my attending physician.
"Your artificially opened mana circuits haven’t even stabilized yet. Your physical limits couldn’t suppress the runaway mana, so your mucous membranes ruptured and discharged it as a nosebleed. This is not something to take lightly."
"But it was something someone had to do."
I spoke in an even voice.
"Just as you, Captain, gave up sleep to care for patients as a medical officer. I, too, simply acted as a commander to prevent losses among our troops and block an epidemic that would become a problem for the Empire. Thanks to that, I brought back the medicine, so isn’t that enough?"
"Lieutenant Colonel…"
Elise’s hands cautiously covered the back of mine. Warm body heat and a faint tremble were transmitted at the same time from her soft palms.
"…A person like you really is… The more I learn about you, the more frightening and astounding you become."
Instead of pulling my hand away, I intertwined my fingers with hers and lightly squeezed.
We were so close our breaths mingled.
"If I collapse, can’t you simply fix me, Captain? After all, I have the most capable medical officer by my side."
"Ah…"
Elise’s cheeks flushed visibly red.
[Status: Heart rate increasing]
"…Yes. I’ll keep that in mind. Your body… I will manage it thoroughly for the sake of the Empire. So from now on, do not test your limits without my diagnosis."
"I’ll keep that in mind, Captain."
I smiled inwardly.
I had secured the supplies to control the epidemic, erased suspicion regarding the source of the medicine, and deepened my relationship with Elise considerably.
Considering all it had cost me was a little blood through [Material Conversion], it was quite a profitable deal.
"Now then, it’s time for your examination, patient."
As if to change the mood, Elise cleared her throat and stood up. She put the stethoscope hanging around her neck into her ears and leaned over the bed. The glamorous valley of her chest approached through the gap in her white coat, dizzyingly close, as if it might spill out.
"I need to confirm whether the overload of your mana circuits has caused any arrhythmia. I’m going to undo your buttons."
Elise undid the buttons of my military shirt one by one and placed the cold stethoscope against my bare chest.
The distance between us naturally narrowed. Whenever her breath brushed against me, my ear tickled, but Elise’s expression was more serious than ever.
"Hm… Your heart rate is returning to the normal range. But…"
She removed the stethoscope, then carefully traced the line from my chest down to my abdomen with her bare hand.
"As expected, the forcibly opened mana circuit is not looking good. It’s running a high fever."
Elise’s brow furrowed.
"Given the extreme stress you must have been under while carrying out your schedule, it’s only natural. This… needs a proper examination."
She set down the stethoscope around her neck and picked up a thermometer.
"I’ll recheck your basic vitals first. Stay still, Lieutenant Colonel."
She placed the thermometer under my tongue, then checked the pulse at my wrist with her slender fingers.
"38.5 degrees. This isn’t a normal infectious fever, but autonomous fever caused by mana circuit overload. Your blood pressure is abnormally high as well."
Next, she took out a medical penlight and shone it into my eyes. Beyond the wavering light, I could see her serious expression.
"There’s no abnormality in the optic nerves. Your intracranial pressure seems fine for now as well. But the problem is…"
Elise put down the penlight and this time placed both hands on my bare chest.
At the touch of the doctor’s hands, I had the illusion that my skin was twitching of its own accord.
"Mana. The remnants of mana running wild as they please."
Her hands slid slowly and with great precision down along my sternum, applying pressure.
"If we don’t check properly, it could be dangerous. There’s a risk of mana runaway. I’m going to palpate you, so tell me if it hurts."
Her fingers began meticulously probing the muscles between each of my ribs. Perhaps because she was concentrating, Elise’s breathing was gradually growing rougher.
"There’s residue accumulated in the upper circuits passing through the respiratory and circulatory systems. I don’t know exactly how your circuits operate, Lieutenant Colonel, but… this is serious. It’s no different from pouring low-grade fuel into an engine without a filter and forcing the turbo to run."
The analogy was perfectly accurate. By forcibly breaking down and reassembling inorganic matter, I had quite literally ground away my mana circuits.
"…Lastly, I’ll check the circulation around your pelvis and lower abdomen."
When I nodded, Elise moved both hands to the lower abdomen below my navel.
"Take a deep breath in, then exhale slowly."
Beyond checking the condition of my organs, she intended to confirm the terminal point where the flow of mana ended. Her slender fingers moved down over my abdominal muscles and pressed inside the pelvic bone where my belt was fastened.
"Ah…"
A troubled exclamation slipped from Elise’s lips.
"I found it. The cause of the high fever."
Her hand paused over my lower abdomen.
To be precise.
Over my swollen lower body.