"I have to do something about this somehow…."
The finest private room at Elancia Central Hospital.
'Proposal for the Establishment of a Joint Administrative Body for the Santa Barbara Colony.'
I was lost in thought, reading a Foreign Ministry report resting on my lap. The thick stack of papers, voluminous enough to draw sighs, was filled with difficult terminology.
"This agreement absolutely recognizes the Empire's sovereign territorial rights while simultaneously allowing the United Kingdom's effective administrative authority to coexist, limited to the maintenance of public order and economic infrastructure within the Santa Barbara Autonomous Territory…… The two nations shall establish a supranational consultative body to pursue mutual interests…."
The very agenda that Sydney and Queen Charlotte had been discussing within [Shared Vision] had officially reached me through diplomatic channels before I knew it.
"Haah…."
But I soon pressed my throbbing temples and closed the report. Even if it was to prepare for the next schedule, poring over these thick stacks of technical terms one by one was making my head hurt more and more.
Clack.
Then it happened.
"Sighs aren't good for your recovery, Lieutenant Colonel. They can cause the residual mana suppressed in your lungs to stagnate."
The hospital room door opened, and Captain Elise entered. In one hand, she carried a teacup steaming with heat and a small tray.
"I told you to lie down and rest, yet here you are doing paperwork again? You are ignoring my prescription for you to act like a proper patient."
Her voice held a light scolding. But she couldn't hide the gentle warmth rising in her eyes.
"It's because the Division Commander threw an excessive assignment at me before leaving."
As I placed the stack of documents down with a bitter smile, Elise approached my bedside and offered the teacup.
"Drink this first. It will help you get some proper rest."
A fragrant yet slightly pungent aroma lingered at the tip of my nose. When I took a sip, a deep and smooth taste spread through my veins, and I felt my stiffened muscles slowly loosening.
"The taste is excellent. It doesn't seem like an ordinary herbal tea."
"You have keen senses. It's brewed personally using a blend of special medicinal herbs that grow only on my family's Clyste estate. It's excellent for alleviating tension in the mana circuits and promoting deep sleep."
Elise sat on the stool beside the bed and smiled.
"A taste of home, then."
"Well, yes."
Feeling the warmth of the teacup, I gazed quietly at her. Elise von Clyste. A noblewoman from a prestigious count's family and the possessor of an unusual history—volunteering for a bloody frontline field hospital while leaving behind the glittering social scene of the capital.
"I've suddenly grown curious, Captain."
"About what?"
"The Clyste family is quite a prestigious noble house even in the capital, is it not? With your beauty and talent, you could have aimed for a position at a rear-echelon advanced military hospital or even the Imperial household's chief physician. I'm asking why you crawled all the way out to this harsh front line."
At the direct question, Elise's eyes wavered momentarily like ripples in a teacup.
'Status Analysis.'
[Name: Elise von Clyste]
[Status: Faint Melancholy, Recollection of the Past, Trust in Max]
[Emotion: If it's this person…… wouldn't it be alright to tell him?]
She fell silent for a moment, then soon opened her mouth with a faint smile.
"I had an older brother above me."
"That's in the past tense."
"Yes. Around the time I had just entered medical school, he enlisted as an officer in a border conflict and passed away."
Her gaze turned toward the ruined cityscape outside the window.
"It wasn't a fatal wound. He had merely been grazed by a bullet in the shoulder. But…… due to the poor medical environment in the field, tetanus and sepsis overlapped, and he lost his life futilely without even being administered a proper antibiotic once."
Her two hands clenched tightly over the pockets of her gown.
"The leadership, blinded by power struggles, always relegates frontline logistics to the back burner. Whether noble or commoner, lives that could have been saved if only there had been one more doctor, if only there had been a little more medicine, were dying in the mud…… I couldn't just sit back and watch."
"……So that's why you became a military doctor and came to the front lines."
"It may be arrogant. Even if I didn't think I could change the military medical system on my own, at the very least, I didn't want to see anyone die untreated before my eyes."
A voice filled with firm resolve. Only then could I understand Elise better. Why she had struggled so desperately, staying up day and night to treat patients; why she had despaired so deeply at the lack of medicine.
I slowly reached out and placed my hand over hers, which rested on my lap.
"Thanks to your stubbornness, Captain, countless lives in Elancia have been saved. Your older brother would be proud of you too."
"Lieutenant Colonel……."
Elise's cheeks flushed red. Far from avoiding my touch, she interlaced her fingers with mine, sharing warmth.
'Status Analysis.'
[Name: Elise von Clyste]
[Status: Deep Gratitude, Affection, Resolution]
[Emotion: For now, this is all I can express, but…….]
[Hidden Desire: Wants to use her position as a doctor as a pretext to grow closer to him. Doesn't want to fall behind the other women.]
'This is….'
Elise's status window had advanced dramatically in an instant.
But Elise maintained her rational composure as a medical officer. At least outwardly.
"……The personal talk has gone on too long. We should begin the examination now."
Elise cleared her throat to shift the mood. She lightly patted my hand, then stood up and picked up the clipboard.
"I'll inform you of the detailed examination results from the past few days."
First of all….
"Your mana circuits are completely different from ordinary Awakeners. The circuits are ruptured into a complete mess, yet the purity of the mana itself is extremely high."
Elise's explanation continued.
"Because of such an unstable state, it's possible that unknown efficacies may continue to appear as they did before."
However, it wasn't that precise of an analysis. It was merely speculation at best. It was still far from grasping the authority of the system I possessed.
Soon, Elise hugged the clipboard to her chest, reddening to the tips of her ears.
"A-Also, there is one problem."
Slightly quickened breathing.
"What is it?"
"This basic approach alone is insufficient to fundamentally treat your mana hyperemia, Lieutenant Colonel, or to grasp the nature of your circuits. One-time extractions like a few days ago are insufficient for data."
That was the main point.
"Does that mean you need more samples and more diverse and stable methods of examination?"
"Y-Yes."
Elise swallowed dryly.
"And…… if something goes out, something must come in."
"……?"
I tilted my head.
"As a medical officer, I have been researching a new procedure on my own…… one that minimizes the patient's physical burden while most efficiently alleviating mana hyperemia."
'Status Analysis.'
[Name: Elise von Clyste]
[Status: Tremendous Courage, Shame, Thorough Preparation]
[Emotion: Can I do it as I saw in the book? I have to provide perfect service so I won't lose to Staff Sergeant Hanna or Major Seraphina.]
Aha.
I could more or less guess the situation. It seemed this proper medical officer had made some obscene preparations.
Click.
Elise stood up from her seat, walked straight to the hospital room door, and slid the bolt lock shut. Then she lowered the window blinds as well.
The hospital room in broad daylight was transformed into a secret chamber in an instant.
"……Localized massage using the hands or oral procedures involving direct mucosal contact had the drawback of excessively stimulating the patient's pleasure, raising blood pressure."
A medical briefing that sounded like an excuse.
"Therefore, the method I will attempt this time is one that fully transmits body heat while lessening the burden on the circulatory system through gentle pressure…… the 'Thoracic Pressure Discharge Method.'"
"'Thoracic Pressure Discharge Method,' you say."
"Yes. It's a highly difficult procedure targeting both frictional heat and localized lymph node stimulation simultaneously. Please remain still, Lieutenant Colonel. This is, after all, an extension of medical treatment."
Rustle.
Elise's white fingers began undoing the buttons of her gown.
The white gown flowed down to the floor, followed by the buttons of her uniform shirt popping undone one by one.
Her defensive wall, always fastened neatly up to her neck. Inside it lay a breathtakingly glamorous nude body.
"Haah…."
A bare chest without even a bra.
Golden hair the color of honey flowed down her white shoulders, half-covering two enormous breasts swollen as if about to burst. The pink nipples protruding at their tips already stood erect, touched by the cool air.
The sight of the usually intellectually composed medical officer stripping her clothes and baring her chest of her own accord, solely for me, was visual violence in itself.
[Skill 'Potent Vigor (Lv.1)' is now active.]
"I-I will begin the treatment. Please remove your, your lower garments."
She climbed onto the bed and knelt between my legs.
When I undid the buckle and lowered my pants, my already fully erect member raised its head toward the ceiling.
[Name: Elise von Clyste]
[Emotion: No matter how many times I see it… I can't get used to this hideous sight….]
"…Please excuse me."
Elise carefully leaned her upper body forward. Her two breasts, sagging heavily under gravity, warmly enveloped my member.
Soft squish-.