The Doctor Cured The Villainess And Ran Away-Chapter 47: Head Nurse (2)

Imperial Clinic.

The clinic was staffed by 22 court physicians assigned to the royal family and about 400 assistant healers. It was the gathering place for the Empire’s most elite practitioners.

As befitted a great power, the skill level of Imperial Clinic healers was on par with the Holy Nation of Law, where religion and healing magic had first originated.

The primary duty of court physicians was to care for their assigned royals, but depending on their patron’s interests, they also treated high-ranking nobles.

Lesser-ranked healers affiliated with noble factions often took on both assistant duties and general treatment of commoners to improve their skill.

That’s why the clinic was located on the wall bordering the Imperial Palace grounds and the main plaza of the capital.

Inside the wall were offices; outside, an open treatment area for citizens.

A welfare policy designed to boost loyalty by letting the people “benefit from the Emperor’s grace.”

Of course, it wasn’t free.

And so, the lowest-ranking healers were worked into the ground.

Chloe, a fifth-year in the clinic, was one of those overworked healers.

“Healer, come on now, can’t you do a better job? What’s taking so long? I’m a western noble! A baron, I tell you!”

“Uuh... J-just a moment, please...”

Flustered, Chloe poured more divine power into the healing. Her ghostly long bangs flopped down to cover her face.

The patient she was treating—a sour-faced middle-aged man—grumbled loudly.

“Hmph! What a letdown. I came to the Imperial Clinic expecting miracles! I should’ve gone to my personal physician!”

Naturally, anyone who had a personal physician wouldn’t have to come here.

Nobles like him, so casually rude, were usually those who’d bought their titles—newly rich men who’d turned money into rank.

Such people were almost always coarse.

Though, to be fair, problem patients came in all stripes.

“U-Um...”

“What?”

Chloe timidly closed her scripture.

“The treatment’s done, but... um, these days, there’s a new kind of medicine at the palace...”

The man perked up.

“Medicine? I’ve heard the rumors. Something called ‘aspirin’ that’s good against the plague or something. Can’t find the stuff anywhere. You got some?”

“Eep! N-No, I don’t!”

“Then why are you wasting my time?”

“It’s not aspirin... b-but...”

Chloe pulled out a small cloth pouch from her robes. Inside were a few round, dried herbal pellets.

“What the hell is that?”

“It’s supposed to prevent reinfection after you get sick... it might cause a little stomachache though...”

The man sniffed it—and recoiled.

“Ugh, what is this garbage?”

He hurled the pellet away.

“This is moldy bread!”

Chloe scrambled to pick it up, then opened a large book.

“It-it’s just not properly cultured... but it still works! It’s in this ancient text, see...?”

“Are you insane?”

He cursed her out and stormed out of the clinic.

Clutching the weathered, unmarked tome to her chest, Chloe puffed her lips.

“Hey, Healer Chloe. You didn’t try one of your weird experiments on a patient again, did you?”

A passing colleague scolded her.

Chloe hung her head and shook it hard, her curtain of hair whipping around.

“Seriously. You know better. If the bishop hears you’re using that ‘folk medicine’ stuff again, he won’t let it slide.”

“Y-Yes...”

Chloe was under Bishop Alberich, the court physician to First Princess Heike.

Heike’s faction was strong in the palace, and Alberich wielded great influence in the clinic.

He was a hardline traditionalist from the Holy Nation—a stickler who insisted on strict adherence to scripture.

According to that doctrine, flesh and blood were divine gifts from the Goddess, and when lost to injury, prayer must come first to restore them.

Ignoring faith and resorting to heresy would only worsen the wound.

But Chloe thought a little differently.

Folk remedies can heal, too...

While formal prayer was the norm, folk medicine still circulated among commoners who couldn’t reach healers.

Most of them are fake, but...

Chloe had been searching ancient texts from before the founding of the Holy Nation, hunting for real remnants of traditional medicine.

The moldy herbal pellets she carried were reproductions from those texts.

Aspirin is real.

Curing infectious disease with a single small pellet wasn’t just a rumor.

Everyone at the tournament had seen how vigorous the Moonlight Palace knights looked after taking aspirin and wearing masks.

I wonder what Doctor Gotberg is like.

As a low-ranking healer, Chloe couldn’t even dream of speaking to a court physician like him.

Most of the time, she only caught fleeting glimpses of him from a distance while running errands.

“N-Next patient, plea—”

“Oh, Healer!”

An elderly couple greeted her cheerfully.

“A-Ah, hello!”

“Heh heh, back again. Thank you for last time—my wife’s gotten so much better. You really are the best healer!”

“I-I was just doing my job...”

Flushed and flustered by the praise, Chloe squirmed awkwardly.

For a commoner to get into the Imperial Clinic, they had to wait months on a reservation list.

Knowing this couple had waited all that time just to see her made Chloe genuinely grateful.

She cast the spell with full sincerity.

When she finished, smiles bloomed on their faces.

“Thank you, as always. Guess we’ll see you again in four months—if we’re still alive, haha! ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Got any of those folk remedies like last time?”

The old man’s question made Chloe’s eyes sparkle.

She immediately thrust her face forward and opened her book.

“Y-Yes! For the current plague, it says chicken soup helps. A-And have you seen people wearing masks in the streets? That’s not fashion. They were developed by Doctor Gotberg—he’s a court physician! They reduce the chance of infection!”

She spoke like a machine gun, hardly pausing for breath.

Still fired up, she bent down to pull out the herbal pellets again. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

“A-And! It says here if you take this, you won’t catch other illnesses. I tried it myself and only had a bit of a stomachache—!”

Grinning brightly, Chloe raised her head—

Only to find a brilliant white clerical robe blocking her vision.

She looked up slowly into a stern, disapproving face.

“Did a healer of the Imperial Clinic just say the words ‘folk remedy’?”

“Ghk.”

Chloe instantly knew she was doomed and dropped her pellets.

The man standing before her was none other than Bishop Alberich, her faction leader.

He wrinkled his nose at the stench of mold.

“This is why inspections are necessary. What a mess. You’re fired. Get her out.”

“Hiieeek...! W-Wait—!”

Before she could even make excuses, other healers grabbed her by the arms and dragged her away.

“Waaaaah... huuuu...”

Tears like chicken droppings ran down Chloe’s cheeks as she carried a box of her things out of the clinic.

“I’m amazed she lasted this long.”

“She was at the bottom for five years. No wonder she got kicked.”

“Now that there’s a vacancy in the bishop’s faction, maybe I’ll apply.”

Chloe ignored the jeers.

She was sad that she wouldn’t be able to treat patients anymore.

Getting fired from the Imperial Clinic—a place with guaranteed future prospects—meant she was utterly finished. No one would accept treatment from her now. Maybe desperate adventurers, at best.

“What’s so wrong with folk remedies...”

They were all some people had.

Chloe glanced at the ancient book in her box.

It was borrowed from the Imperial Library. That place was full of strange old texts.

The librarians were so lazy, no one had asked for it back, even though it was long overdue.

Or maybe the librarians had gotten fired too.

If she was banished from the palace, where could she even go?

As Chloe wandered aimlessly, lost in thought—

Step.

Another shadow fell across her vision. This time, it wore a white coat.

Her mom always told her to hold her head high. She almost bumped into him.

“Pick your head up, or you’ll end up with a hunched neck.”

The tone was casual. Chloe looked up slightly to see who had spoken.

“Ghk.”

She inhaled without realizing.

A noble figure, one she’d only ever seen walking proudly through the clinic surrounded by guards.

“L-Lord Gorbachev...!”

“Who the hell is that?”

She’d just committed a massive faux pas.

In her panic, she bit her tongue.

Las Gotberg picked a book out of her box.

“This was on the library list but I couldn’t find it. You’ve got it, huh?”

“U-Uh... I-I’m sorry.”

Then Las picked up one of her herbal pellets and examined it.

“Penicillin, huh?”

“Ghk. Y-You know what it is?”

“Hm.”

Las leaned in without warning.

Chloe froze when she saw his face. Her breath—and her heart—stopped.

He made her an offer.

“You. Be my nurse.”

***

“You. Be my nurse.”

“U-uuh... ah-buh-buh...”

At my offer, Chloe’s legs gave out and she collapsed in a fit.

I decided to wait until she stabilized.

I’d tracked her down after seeing her name on the Imperial Library’s loan list.

There were probably a dozen Chloes in the palace.

No ID cards, so I had to go through every personnel roster in every building to find her.

The book she had was one of the few remaining on folk medicine.

Even if healing magic was the standard now, folk methods still existed.

The problem was most were inaccurate and eroded trust in real medicine.

Like how pricking your finger was said to help with indigestion.

No, you need antacids for that.

Because folk medicine couldn’t foster real medical thinking, people just ended up relying on healing spells again.

“Nu-nurse... But what is a nurse?”

“Put simply, you’ll be my direct assistant.”

“D-direct—!”

Chloe immediately fell to her knees in a deep bow.

“Th-thank you f-for reh-hiring me...!”

Was that a sneeze in the middle?

Maybe I picked the wrong person.

She’d borrowed the folk medicine text and even tried culturing blue mold—

The source of the first antibiotic: penicillin.

That alone earned her points, so I figured I’d try using her as a nurse.

Technically, she’d be older than me.

But maybe she’d be useful once trained.

“All right, Chloe. Let’s start with your training.”

“T-Training?”

“Yeah. I’ll show you how to draw blood from Her Highness when I’m not around.”

Chloe’s mouth formed a perfect O like a fish.

“...Princess Asella?”

“Yep. Her Highness Princess Asella.”

“D-Draw her blood?”

“Yup. Sliiide it out.”

She looked like she might cry from joy.

Honestly, made me proud too.