🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 21
What Can You Do?
Inside the carriage sat an old man. His thin hands rested on an elegant-looking cane.
“Don’t fidget around. Sit down.”
The old man tapped the seat across from him with the cane. Still too startled to collect herself, she awkwardly sat down. The carriage started to move. Rose quietly studied the man before her. His sky-blue eyes—proof of Kallon blood—and his long, flowing white beard marked him as someone often described in the original novel.
That’s obviously Savas de Kallon.
He was Tanasis’s teacher, the eldest of the royal family, and a steadfast ally of the protagonist. He had also been the mentor of the current emperor, Euclid. As long as Savas lived, every royal who grew up within the imperial palace had passed through his hands. He had taught countless Kallons the blessing of the fairies, serving as a pillar of the royal household for ages.
No one knows how old he really is, or when he was even born, right?
Even in the novel, his exact age had never been stated. He was a mysterious, eccentric old man. As a royal court apothecary, skilled in both herbal medicine and healing arts, he had been dispatched here to the relief shelter.
“Hello. I’m the Third Princess, Rose Agnes.”
“Hrmm. With all the noise lately, I expected someone sharp, but instead they send me a clueless one?”
His gruff manner of speaking was just as prickly as in the story. Even with Tanasis, he had always been strict.
“At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up as another useless patient taking up a bed. Tsk, tsk.”
The old man’s look said clearly that she would be no help at all.
“Don’t worry. I won’t collapse unless you do first, old man.”
Rose deliberately answered with a prim tone. At that, Savas half-rose and rapped her head smartly with his cane.
“Ouch!”
“You impudent child! I am not ‘old man,’ I am Savas de Kallon. You don’t even remember your own family’s names?”
“Why are you hitting me?!”
“Because you’re too scatterbrained to even notice it’s coming! You can’t even dodge the weak hand of an old man and just let yourself get smacked?”
Rose gaped at him in disbelief. Hitting people without warning—this old man clearly had terrible habits.
“Hmph. I should’ve known when that brat asked me for a favor.”
“What?”
“Tanasis said you’d be of use. I wondered why he’d say that. Now it’s clear—I’ll be the one suffering.”
“He… mentioned me?”
Savas went on to explain that he had come to this relief shelter at none other than Tanasis’s request.
What is he plotting?
Rose had noticed Tanasis’s attitude shifting since her coming-of-age ceremony. Instead of sharp glares, his eyes had turned distant, his words vague and unreadable.
There’s no way he’s actually trying to help me.
And yet, everything he’d done recently had ended up benefiting her.
“Keep your wits about you. I don’t like dragging along someone more useless than that brat.”
“And how exactly am I supposed to be better than Tanasis?”
Since possessing this body, Rose had been struggling just to survive. She had received no buffs that could outshine the genius protagonist.
“No spirit, no drive. Tsk.”
Rose pouted and turned her eyes to the window. The rain, which had come and gone, now poured down in earnest again. Mud splattered as the carriage wheels slogged through the soaked road. She quickly shut the window as raindrops began to spatter inside.
“They need a real plan for the flooding of the Kataros River. Year after year, it’s the same nonsense.”
“Was it like this last year too?”
“Not just last year. Ever since the monsoons worsened, it’s been the same. No matter what levees or embankments they built, the river kept overflowing. Other regions are fine—it’s only Kataros. Clearly something is wrong with this river itself, but no one knows what.”
During the rainy season, disasters struck only Eretria like this. Each year, it was the powerless commoners who suffered. Those in poor housing were inevitably swept away.
If it didn’t used to flood but suddenly started one day…
Rose felt she had a clue. It was a subtle change she could recognize thanks to her past experiences.
Maybe I can solve this. Once this work is done, I’ll investigate.
After a long, jolting ride, the carriage finally stopped at their destination. Rose gasped at the sight of the relief shelter.
“My goodness…”
There weren’t enough facilities to house everyone. Refugees sprawled even on the streets outside. They were filthy beyond words. The assistants rushing about looked no better—hygiene here was in ruins.
“This place looks more like a graveyard than a shelter.”
Savas clicked his tongue and struck his cane against the ground repeatedly. As they carried supplies inside, the stench struck her nose like a blow. A priestess approached.
“Welcome. I am Aer from the Temple of Petros, currently in charge here.”
“I am Savas. How many wounded?”
“Seventy serious cases, fifty with lighter injuries. We are desperately short of herbs and clean cloth for dressings.”
“For now, use what we brought. I’d like to see the wards first.”
“This way, please.”
The floor was stained with filth—whether water or blood, it was hard to tell—and even that was crowded with moaning patients.
It feels like a battlefield.
Their eyes were vacant, devoid of will to live. It was painful to look at them.
“Assistants, prepare boiling water. Knights, fetch clean cloth and alcohol from storage.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Anyone here knowledgeable about herbs?”
“I know a little, Sir Savas.”
It was the maid who had come with Rose.
“Then fetch thirty pouches of dried licorice powder, five bottles of castor oil, and eight bundles of mandrake.”
The maid scribbled the orders hastily. Remembering her head maid’s warning, she looked nervously at Rose.
“Your Highness should also…”
“Don’t waste time! Go quickly!”
“Y-yes!”
As the maid ran off, Savas shook his head in exasperation, then turned to Rose.
“What can you do?”
“I… I can regenerate wounds…”
Her voice trailed off. She had come to the shelter partly to practice the fairy blessing of 「Regeneration」, but the reality overwhelmed her. Here, countless people desperately needed help.
She knew nothing of medicine or herbs. She had planned to simply heal with regeneration, but faced with this harsh reality, she realized how naïve she had been.
I can’t even fully control 「Regeneration」 yet. This is bad.
“Come here and hold his leg.”
Without ceremony, Savas dragged her to sit beside a wounded man. As she reached out, he smacked her hand, pointing instead at the obsidian bracelet Arsen had given her.
“What are you thinking, wearing ornaments that could infect the wound? Take it off!”
Startled, Rose quickly removed the bracelet and tucked it deep in her inner pocket.
“When tending patients, wear no adornments. Stay completely clean.”
“Yes.”
With practiced hands, he inspected the man’s fractured leg, cutting away the blood-soaked trousers. Washing away dirt and grime revealed a bone jutting through.
“Ugh.”
The stench showed it had been left untreated for days. Rose turned her head, stomach churning.
“Don’t look away from the patient.”
“Yes.”
With a swift motion, he set the bone back in place.
“Arghhh! Ghhhk!”
The patient screamed and thrashed. Rose lost her grip on his leg.
“Hold him tight!”
Panicked, Rose grabbed again, but was shaken violently as the man convulsed. Lance hurried to help restrain him. Overcome with agony, the man rolled his eyes back and collapsed unconscious.
Savas pressed a glowing fingertip beneath the man’s nose. A faint energy seeped inside, calming the patient’s expression as his body went limp.
The fairy blessing he wielded was 「Paralysis.」 Rose’s eyes widened—this was her first time witnessing another royal’s power. With steady hands, Savas splinted and bandaged the leg.
“Do you know how to make anesthetic?”
“…No.”
“Useless.”
Rose flushed red with embarrassment.
“Follow me.”
Sweating heavily, she followed his gesture.
“Fill this pot with water. Add one bag of licorice and half a bundle of mandrake. Boil hard, then simmer for five minutes.”
“Licorice… mandrake…”
“No! The red powder is licorice!”
“Yes, sir!”
Snapping irritably, Savas then called to Lance.
“You, come with me. I saw your strength earlier. You’ll help hold patients down.”
“Me? But I’m Her Highness’s guard—”
“This is a ward! Who cares about guards when people are dying?”
He whacked Lance on the forehead with his cane. Though taller by far, Lance couldn’t protest against a royal elder. He reluctantly followed, looking back anxiously until Rose gestured that she’d be fine. Left by the fire, she crouched to tend the flames.
Sigh. I’m just a burden here.
She had assumed that transmigrating into a novel made things easy. But this was reality—a cruel world where lives teetered on the edge in an instant.
“Pull yourself together, Rose.”
She slapped her cheeks and began preparing the medicine exactly as instructed.
Then—she froze. A chilling presence loomed behind her. She turned sharply, stepping back. A man reeking of alcohol was staring at her.
“You’re a pretty one.”
His crooked yellow teeth showed in a disturbing grin. She darted her eyes around—most knights were busy hauling supplies. Security was thin.
“If you don’t want to be dragged away for insulting royalty, you’d better return to your place.”
“Well, well. Ain’t you the high and mighty princess. Heh.”
Despite her warning, the man limped closer.
“Where did you get liquor? Don’t tell me you drank the medical supplies?”
“Heh. I wanted to feel good, so I had a drink. Come on, miss, play with me.”
“You touched precious supplies while people are dying? You’ve gone mad! You should be thinking of survival, not drinking!”
At once, his drunken grin vanished into a flat expression. The sudden shift in aura made Rose’s hand reach for the dagger at her waist.
“My home’s already underwater. What’s the point of living? You royals eat warm meals in your fancy palaces while we rot. And you scold me for drinking a little?”
His face turned red and wild as his voice grew harsher.
“Better to drink and enjoy myself, then die!”
His hand lunged toward Rose.
