「The Crusaders, the Crusaders…」
Wrapped in my blanket, I trembled in fear that the church would come to condemn me.
After that dreadful meeting, I fell ill. I spent two days feverish and bedridden, and only on the third day did my symptoms finally begin to ease.
But the fear of condemnation never faded, and I continued to shiver beneath the covers.
「Onii-chan, are you okay?」
「Hii!?」
Startled by the sudden voice, I nearly leapt out of bed.
Turning my eyes toward the sound, I saw Ralina-chan sitting there, watching me with worry.
…She really startled me. For a moment, I thought the Crusaders had come to storm my room.
And as always, Ralina-chan had somehow managed to sneak into my room without me noticing…
「Onii-chan?」
「Eh? Ah, yeah. I’m fine, Ralina-chan. My fever seems to have gone down quite a bit.」
I still felt feverish and weak, but there was no need to make Ralina-chan worry unnecessarily.
「I heard father did something troublesome…」
「Ah… no, Ralina papa isn’t to blame. It was me, I was at fault.」
「Onii-chan isn’t at fault at all. I know you’re not the kind of person to do bad things. So don’t worry, okay? I’m here for you.」
「…Thank you, Ralina-chan.」
Ralina-chan was gently encouraging me…
What a terrible person I am. To think I once feared this kind girl and even considered stuffing a Shounen G◯ngan down my stomach for protection—
「Since I’m here now, you don’t need to worry about anything anymore. I’ll stay by your side, onii-chan.」
「That’s right, Ralina-chan.」
「If I’m here, you don’t need anything else. Nothing at all. Isn’t that right, onii-chan?」
「Y-yeah… right…?」
I was pathetic. Even though Ralina-chan was doing her best to cheer me up, I couldn’t stop trembling. I felt chills. …If anything, I felt worse. Why was that?
「But, Ralina-chan… could you tell your papa that I was planning to apologize too?」
I intended to apologize myself later. That day, none of us had been thinking straight…
「Really? I heard that he troubled you, so I scolded him quite harshly.」
「Y-yeah… but actually I’m the one who troubled him. So, if possible, I’d like you to be gentle with him…」
Infinite Reversi hell, the fabricated World Tree incident, and now harsh scolding from his beloved daughter Ralina-chan… poor Ralina papa’s stomach was surely on the verge of giving out.
「By the way, onii-chan, have you eaten yet? If not, I can feed you.」
「Eh? Ah, thank you. But I already ate.」
I already ate, something like boiled wheat. …If I hadn’t, I would’ve been fed an 『aahn』 by a seven-year-old girl.
「I see. Then, is there anything else you want me to do for you? You can rely on me for anything, okay? After all, we’re the only two childhood friends.」
Anything, she says… No, let’s set that aside for now. But why does Ralina-chan look so cheerful, almost excited? Is it just my imagination?
Is she trying to take advantage of my weakened state to make me dependent on her? …Maybe that’s just my imagination too.
Also, wasn’t there another childhood friend? Or am I imagining that as well?
「Th-thank you. But really, I’m fine. I feel much better already. And besides, Jisrare-san should be back in the village tomorrow.」
Jisrare-san—the doctor who lives in this village. She’s an extremely skilled physician. An extremely skilled ‘and beautiful’ physician.
TN: ジスレア(jisurea). Yeah, her name wasn’t even that close with Jisrare but let’s use the official one.
…Well, she’s an elf, so really everyone gets labeled as either a 『beautiful』 or 『handsome』 something. Even a shut-in is a 『handsome NEET』, and someone helping with chores is a 『beautiful house helper』.
Jisrare-san is currently away, providing medical care in another village. Unfortunately, I happened to fall ill during her absence.
She should be back tomorrow, so if I’m not fully recovered by then, I plan to have her take a look at me.
Although, since my illness is most likely psychological, I doubt there’s much she can do about it…
Jisrare-san says, 『I can’t cure diseases of the heart.』 …Actually, she often does so. …Ralina-chan gets told that a lot too.
「Jisrare-san…?」
For some reason, Ralina-chan’s voice suddenly sounded stiff.
「Y-yeah. Laudette-san can use healing magic, but it doesn’t work on illnesses…」
Laudette-san, despite appearances, is still a cleric and can use healing magic.
But it only works for treating injuries, not diseases. On top of that, her fees are ridiculously high.
Well, even if Laudette-san could cure illnesses with magic, and even if her fees were cheap, there’s no way I’d want to go to the church right now…
「Laudette-san…」
Ralina-chan lowered her gaze, lost in thought.
Uhh… surely she wouldn’t get furious just from me mentioning her name, right…?
「Hey, onii-chan.」
「What is it?」
「I heard you don’t remember father’s name. Is that true?」
「…Ralina papa told you that?」
「Yeah.」
What are you grumbling to your daughter about, Ralina papa…?
「No, it’s not like I don’t remember, you know? Of course I remember…」
「No. That’s fine.」
…It’s fine?
「Then why is it that you don’t remember father’s name, but you do remember Jisrare-san and Laudette-san’s names?」
「…………」
And there it is, Ralina-chan turned Noh masked again…
Never in my wildest dreams did I think she’d go Noh masked over something like this. Even with my eyes, I couldn’t see that one coming…
「Even if you say that… I-I mean, I do remember Ralina papa’s name, you know?」
「Then say it.」
「Uh…」
I mean, I ‘am’ still a patient here… Could you not interrogate me so hard…?
「S-saying Ralina papa’s name right now would be easy! Because I do remember it!」
「…………」
「But to me, Ralina papa is ‘Ralina papa’. The focus is always on you, Ralina-chan… So in my mind, the part that stands out most(shutai) is 『Ralina-chan’s papa』.」
Oh, that actually sounded like a decent excuse.
…But why does Ralina-chan still look so grim?
「Onii-chan, what does ‘shutai’ mean?」
「Eh? Ah, well… It’s like 『the core of something』 or 『the important part』, 『the main thing』, that kind of meaning.」
「So in other words… Onii-chan is saying I’m what’s important? That you can’t do without me? And father is just the extra that comes with the important me, which is why you call him 『Ralina papa』?」
That wording though!
…Well, I guess that is more or less what I just said. Not quite “extra”, but still.
「Of course, I’m grateful to Ralina papa and I appreciate everything he’s done for me, okay? But in the end, what matters most is you, Ralina-chan. After all, you and I are… the only two childhood friends.」
「Onii-chan…!」
Sorry… the other childhood friend who definitely existed…
But thanks to the noble sacrifice of that forgotten comrade, Ralina-chan has returned to being her usual self.
Good. Dealing with Noh-mask-na-chan while stuck in bed was rough…
――After that, Ralina-chan continued to nurse me.
She swapped out the towel on my forehead, brought me water, and every so often encouraged me with words like 『I’m here for you』 and 『Hang in there, onii-chan』.
She also added a few other “encouragements” like 『Onii-chan can’t do without me』, 『As long as you have me, you don’t need anyone else』, and 『If you leave me, misfortune will find you』.
Thanks to Ralina-chan’s devoted care, my days of nursing continued――but my condition didn’t improve.
In the end, I had to go see Jisrare-san for an examination.
Actually… I think I’ve gotten worse. Why is that…?
next chapter: Beautiful Doctor Jisrare
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