Villainess in Love

Chapter 5

* * *

It was the next day.

Maybe it was because of the mana crystal and the ointment that Ishid had sent her, but Yunifer felt a lot better. Most importantly, the pain she felt every time she walked had subsided.

She thought about pretending to be unwell for one more day, but in the end, she decided to go to work—half-disgruntled, half-happy.

She was greeted by a fellow mage, Martha.

“Hello, Mage Yunifer.”

Yunifer headed towards her seat.

“Nothing special happened yesterday, right?” she asked.

“Seems like the Fates knew you weren’t here,” Martha replied. “We didn’t have a single critical patient. I was manning the emergency communication line with the eastern clinic but ended up not having anything to do all day. While I’m glad it was quiet, I have to say that I was a little disappointed.”

Yunifer was a healer.

Out of the four elemental mages, water mages were the weakest but they had access to the most diverse magic. Since they could learn a wide variety of magical arts, including healing spells, most water mages chose to work as healers.

Yunifer never imagined that she would become a healer, but it was the job that fit the nature of her magic best, so here she was.

As a healer, she’d dealt with a variety of hardships for the past year whilst simultaneously gaining experience at treating many different kinds of wounds. She’d come across countless amputees and even had to treat a person who’d had their abdomen partially torn out by an evil beast. By the time she had stopped throwing up and shying away from the horrible wounds she needed to treat, she’d been working as a healer for around a year.

If nothing else, the place she worked at now wasn’t so bad. The clinic had been established to increase capital security by attending to the health needs of average citizens, so it felt more like community service work. Anyone vying for any power would never want to work there.

Since they usually interacted with ordinary people with ordinary jobs, they didn’t often come across as many gruesome cases as, say, a water mage working at a watch post deep in the forest surrounded by evil beasts. The very worst wounds Yunifer had come across during her career had all been wounds inflicted by evil creatures.

“Still, that’s good news,” Yunifer responded. Her voice dropped into a low whisper, as if she were telling a scary story. “Remember that accident where a wagon was flipped upside down? Both of us had to work overtime, helping with surgery after surgery until the early morning. It was a miracle neither of us fainted.”

There had been too many people to save back then. She had foregone sleep so that she could help just a few more patients.

Yunifer had never pulled an all-nighter as a student, so thinking back she thought the fact she had stayed up over 40 hours straight was nothing short of a miracle.

Remembering the incident, Martha paled and shook her head.

“I take back what I said. It never stays this quiet for long...”

Martha shuddered before leaving.

Sorting through a pile of documents that seemed to have doubled in size during her absence, Yunifer felt a chill run down her spine. Maybe it was because of what Martha had said, but she could feel goosebumps rising on her arms.

“It’s probably nothing, right...?” Yunifer murmured.

She had been on edge all day because of that comment, but the hours had passed uneventfully. There were only a few patients that day—it was almost as if they knew Yunifer wasn’t at her best. Of the ones that did show up, most had only minor wounds or easy-to-identify illnesses.

“You need to be more careful next time,” she chided; the young child in front of her had broken his shin after falling from a high place.

Finding it endearing the way the child eagerly nodded, Yunifer was handing him a piece of candy when the door suddenly flew open. Two soldiers supporting an unconscious man between them walked into the clinic.

Yunifer quickly made sure that the child found his way back to his mother before hurrying over to the men.

“What happened?”

All three men’s faces were flushed, including the unconscious man in the middle.

Yunifer walked closer and took stock of the situation. She could feel the heat radiating off the men; they’d all clearly been sweating profusely.

“How long has he been like this?” she asked, reaching out toward the unconscious man.

“He started saying he wasn’t feeling well after lunch and collapsed just a while ago!” one of the soldiers responded.

The unconscious man had the remains of dried vomit around the corners of his mouth.

Yunifer gently touched the back of the man’s neck and checked his temperature.

“His temperature is too high...” she muttered. “Martha! I need some help over here! This patient has heatstroke!”

Heatstroke was more serious than even sunstroke. Severe cases could result in long-term damage and could even be life-threatening, so heatstroke patients needed to be treated immediately.

Yunifer laid the patient down on a cot and summoned her magic. Her cold water mana began seeping into the patient’s body.

Martha removed the man’s clothes and placed cold compresses directly onto his skin.

Just as they finished treating the soldier, they heard a scream.

“Kyaaah!”

It came from the patient seated closest to the doorway.

Yunifer whipped around to see what was wrong and immediately paled.

A person covered head-to-toe in blood was being carried in on a stretcher. A piece of iron—crescent-shaped and covered in barbs—had pierced his stomach.

“Nnngh... AAAH!”

Regaining consciousness just as he was being moved, the new patient let out a scream and hunched over his wounded stomach.

The people carrying him attempted to hold him down, but it was no use. Luckily, he seemed otherwise stable, but if left as he was, he could still die from shock.

Yunifer rushed over.

“I’m going to cast a sleeping spell!”

“Nnngh...”

Yunifer’s blue mana surrounded the man’s head, and after a few moments, the once-struggling patient calmed down and fell asleep.

It was good that the patient was no longer moving around, but there remained another problem.

“Both ends of the iron are hook-shaped!” Martha exclaimed. “How do we remove it?”

How is it possible something like this pierced through a body?

The iron was sharp on both sides and had ripped through the man’s flesh. Taking it out would be impossible unless they could somehow cut the ends off.

If they tried to pull it out, the man would surely die...

“Ignoring the iron for a moment, we need to focus on preventing more blood loss from his open wounds,” Yunifer assessed. “He can’t afford to lose any more blood. Can we call for an air mage to cut through the iron? If not, then can we find some equipment to cut through it ourselves?”

“The closest mage will still take a few minutes to get here,” Martha replied. “And we don’t have any equip—ah! Mage Yunifer!”

The patient had started vomiting blood. Despite being unconscious, his hands and feet were trembling.

He was going into shock.

Even if the equipment were available, he wouldn’t last long enough for it to arrive.

If they didn’t find a solution within the next few minutes, the man was going to die.

“I... I’ll try to save him!” Yunifer stammered.

She couldn’t just stand still and do nothing while there was a patient on the brink of death in front of her.

Yunifer clenched her shaking hands and gritted her teeth as she thought about what she needed to do.

She remembered learning how to cut through things using water. If she could manage to conjure a string of water as thin as a blade, she would be able to cut through the iron.

Theoretically, it was possible. The only problem was that she had never attempted it before.

During her school days, Yunifer had never scored lower than an A when it came to controlling her mana, so even with only a little bit of time, conjuring a water knife seemed possible.

Usually, she didn’t use her hands to employ her mana, but this time she placed her hands near the iron, hoping it would aid her concentration.

She imagined herself conjuring a thin blade of water and using it to cut through the iron.

A darker-than-usual glow of mana began to flicker at Yunifer’s fingertips.

Suddenly a streak of blue mana flashed like a light and shot out of her hands.

Clang!

A thin strand of water cut through the iron, a hairsbreadth from the patient’s back. Yunifer’s grasp on the magic loosened at the last moment causing a crack in the floor to appear, but no one took any issue with that.

“Alright... now we can start the healing process,” she said.

Wiping the cold sweat from her brow and feeling much more relaxed, Yunifer began to treat the man’s wound.

Unlike modern medical practices, which would have required performing surgery and being extremely careful so as not to disturb the injury, the healing magic of this world was much more simple.

“Ohm sebere,” murmured Yunifer.

It was an incantation in an ancient language that meant “God’s mercy.”

Blue mana coalesced into the shape of a cross before enveloping the patient’s whole body. The injured organs and torn skin returned to their original states. Rather than healing, this type of magic was closer to restoration. At last, Yunifer let out a long sigh.

“Great work, Mage Yunifer,” Martha said.

“Aah... You, too, Martha.”

After finishing up with that patient, the rest of the day passed without incident.

Yunifer couldn't help but think that if someone had shown up to carry her off to bed, she would have kissed their feet in thanks. She was genuinely that exhausted.

At last, it was time to head home!

The thought of going home to rest brought a smile to Yunifer’s face. All she needed to do now was just get out of the clinic. Soon, she would be riding in her carriage toward her mansion at the center of the capital.

“Excuse me, Mage Yunifer.”

Martha interrupted her thoughts with a pitying look.

“Please don’t tell me there’s more work to do,” Yunifer pleaded.

“You know the Yudagastar Dam, right? It’s about 10 minutes away from here. Well... A few days ago, the monsoon rains caused the reservoir to nearly overflow, and it seems that the water mage in charge of the dam still has yet to remove the water,” Martha explained. “No one can seem to get in touch with him, and if the water level issue isn’t solved soon, the dam will break... What should we do?”

Yunifer had started working at this clinic because she felt it would be a shame to do nothing with her intelligence and she didn’t want to spend her days wasting the money she’d inherited.

But in moments like this... she wished she’d just chosen the life of a layabout.

A stinking rich layabout.

It’s not like she needed the money... Maybe she should just quit.

“How could the person in charge of that dam have neglected it so much that it’s nearly bursting?! Well... I guess I have no choice but to go...” Yunifer sighed.

Even if she were to quit, she would have to do so after fixing the dam. If she didn’t go, thousands of people could end up losing their lives just because she was feeling a little tired.

It annoyed her that she had become a complete pushover though.

Seriously, who was that irresponsible water mage?! If she ever ran into them, she would have a hard time not firing a water cannon straight at their face.

“Ahhh! Everyone, move! Get out of the way!”

The coachman sent by the warden of the dam dashed through the streets in a frenzy. Generally, one would drive more carefully in the dark of night, but now wasn’t the time for following safety rules.

Yunifer felt the need to shield both herself and the coachmen with protective magic just in case the carriage overturned.

“Am I going to die here?” she wondered.

The carriage rattled on as the coachman kept up the punishing pace. It felt like riding a rollercoaster.

Yunifer began tearing up when the lingering ache in her tailbone resurfaced. She would have to start sleeping with her hips elevated if she was going to continue meeting with Ishid.

“Mage Yunifer! We’ve arrived!” the coachman called out.

The coach had not yet come to a halt, however. The carriage wheels had slowed somewhat but had not stopped—it was still rumbling over the ground like an earthquake.

She was a little clumsy with air magic, but Yunifer was still a mage so she was able to do enough to briefly levitate her body. Instead of being gently lifted, however, she felt like someone had picked her up by her collar, and it wasn’t long before the carriage stopped—and her air magic along with it—making her feel like she’d been thrown to the floor.

“Ack!”

A man opened the carriage door.

“I’m sorry, but this is urgent business,” the warden of the dam insisted without any preamble. “Please hurry!”

“I’m coming!”

Having no time to tend to her sore ankles, Yunifer was led toward the dam; it was dangerously full with water. Perhaps the rushing was indeed warranted.

Streams of water were starting to spill over the top of the dam. It really was about to burst!

She had been skeptical, but the situation was far more dire than she’d expected. Without a moment to catch her breath, Yunifer got to work.

“I’ll... haah... I’ll start absorbing the water now!”

Imagining herself as a water tank, she began to take in the water as quickly as possible. However, the effort involved with trying to use her human body as a water tank had Yunifer on the edge of hyperventilating.

The water level began to lower in the presence of Yunifer’s blue mana; it was being absorbed by Yunifer’s heart. Well, by the mana that enveloped her heart, to be more precise.

Yunifer really didn’t like this type of job.

It felt like she was plunging her heart into a tank of cold water. Not even joking, she briefly worried whether her heart would stop from the cold.

The reservoir had almost reached a safe level. It was a relief that she arrived before it had burst. If she hadn’t, they might have needed to order an emergency evacuation.

Yunifer was certain that not every person in the village below would have made it out.

Right when she thought her heart might explode and she couldn’t take the cold anymore, she pulled back her magic. Her insides felt like she had swallowed 10 scoops of ice cream, one right after the other.

Feeling like she might throw up, Yunifer covered her mouth and swayed from side to side.

“Where can I move this water to?” she managed to ask.

“Oh! Follow me!”

The warden spoke casually, as if to imply that it wasn’t that far away, but to Yunifer, those few steps felt like miles.

Her mana reserves were empty, and her body was wracked with pain and fatigue.

By the time they had arrived at their destination, Yunifer’s complexion had taken on a bluish tinge.

She collapsed against the nearest tree and began expelling the water from her body; Yunifer could hear the sound of hurried footsteps, followed by the sound of a female voice.

”I’m really sorry!”

There! That woman must be the irresponsible mage!

Though she felt like she was going to die, Yunifer still had just enough energy in her to fire a water cannon. She expelled the last of the water she’d absorbed and finally turned around.

Yunifer wanted to get a good look at this mage before she pummeled her to the ground. She paused as she took in the water mage before her.

“Yunifer?”

The irresponsible water mage was none other than Raelle, Yunifer’s best friend whom she hadn’t seen in a year.