Mr. Magical Girl

Chapter 35. 23:59:45 (1)

After the pointless meeting ended, I headed to the Association’s lodging to meet my disciples.

Maybe it was because they were my students, but despite being called up, those two received private rooms. Considering that the other younglings were probably eating dirt with gravel in it in front of the walls under construction, the resources were treated a bit differently.

Thud. Thud.

“Why won’t this fit?”

Well, it’s because this isn’t stairs but an escalator. If left alone, they’ll somehow shove it in and figure it out, so let’s just leave it be.

Whether it’s an escalator or a wheelchair, it’s not like I’ll have to pay for the damages. From the perspective of the students, getting a private room isn’t a bad thing. Someone has to use the empty private room, and if that makes someone they know comfortable, that’s good.

However, if the invasion from the Otherworld intensifies, they’ll probably roll around on the battlefield a lot, and if they get too used to nice beds, the shock could hit them hard.

Clink.

Those thoughts came to a halt with the sound of metal breaking.

“I think the wheelchair wheel just came off. What a mess.”

“I can carry the wheelchair, so don’t worry about it.”

It’s not like she’s dragging the wheelchair; it’s the medic carrying it.

“Why not just take off the restraint?”

Gray belts tightly bound around her limbs, syringes stuck all over her body. Even now, various unknown drugs are flowing into her body from the syringes stuck all over.

It’s not that hard to break free from the restraints if I put in the effort, but then that crazy healer will come chasing after me with her Thwack.

“I’m guessing you’d think of wandering around under the pretext of exercising if I left you alone.”

“I wouldn’t be wandering around with a smashed left hand and an empty right eye. I’m just trying to walk on my own.”

I’m not currently planning to barge in swinging a hammer or anything.

“Just rest like this. I’ll fix everything by the day of the battle.”

It’s not that I doubt her healing abilities. It’s just that the restraints are a bit excessive.

“Thanks, I’ll rely on you.”

I didn’t think that stubborn one would listen to me anyway. But since I brought it up, well…

Crash.

It feels like a door and a wheel just flew off.

“Oh, I’ll just carry you and run.”

Bang. Crash.

Throwing the wheelchair, now a pile of scrap metal, against the wall of the Association’s corridor, she effortlessly lifted me up.

Thanks to that, someone’s room just got invaded by a wheelchair, but the Association will compensate for that.

“Ha-ha!”

With one arm wrapped around me and her other hand skillfully managing a syringe, with a syringe stuck in her right shoulder, a green liquid from who-knows-where flows into her.

“Okay.”

If that’s how it’s going to be, why bother bringing a wheelchair at all? Did she want to create a hospital atmosphere? Well, with this gal’s personality, nothing I say will matter.

I looked into her face hidden behind the gas mask.

The filter ripped off, and the mask has cracks in it, rendering it utterly useless.

She’s the simplest person imaginable, yet with that simplicity, she has saved countless heroes; our medic’s face is visible.

“Oxymoron. Have you thought about accepting our younglings as your students?”

“Why the sudden interest in disciples?”

“It’s not formal, just temporary. One of my students has healing abilities, but the effect isn’t that great. I thought you might know something.”

No matter how hard it is to expel mana, it’s concerning that her self-recovery is also slow.

There are personality and treatment method issues, but in terms of saving lives, there’s no one better than her, making her perfect as a teacher for my students.

“While the Association has requested a few times for disciples, they always run away.”

Well, if you’re dissecting a monster’s corpse and saying, ‘This is its weak point,’ they’d definitely take off running.

Even if that’s a hero’s ability, seeing combat methods that leave me covered in blood beyond what I can handle would drive anyone insane.

“Leave out combat; let’s just stick to healing. If we mess with combat, I can’t keep my teaching consistent.”

Well, let’s give it a shot. The more capable medics there are, the more heroes will survive.

Right. Even if arms get blown off and faces melt away, as long as we can save and transport them to the rear, it’s doable.

Haven’t I returned alive in this sorry state myself?

“So, where are my disciples?”

…Aren’t you supposed to know?

Then, where the heck did they go?

Where am I even?

It seems this gal shouldn’t be trusted with anything other than her healing skills.

“So, this girl will teach you both the know-how for healing.”

She leaned me against the wall and waved her hand.

Since a huge training ground isn’t required to teach healing skills, my disciples gathered in my quarters.

“That guy’s name is Oxymoron and she’s a superhuman healer. She’s not that well-known due to circumstances, but I can guarantee her skills.”

Skills, indeed.

“This is Oxymoron, everyone. Please treat her well.”

Even after my incomparable senior bowed their head, my two disciples merely stared blankly in my direction.

“I told you, I said to release the limiter!”

“You came back alive, didn’t you?”

Unho patted my head while sitting on top of it, but the reason for their gaze wasn’t that.

“Senior, may I ask one question…?”

“Go ahead.”

“How did you get so injured?”

That makes sense. My disciples must be wondering why I’m in this state, not just a minor injury, but seriously wounded.

“You all heard, my enemy appeared.”

“That’s not—”

The public designation sidestepped the question and redirected the conversation.

Baek Sihyeon quietly looking at me is a bit worrisome, but she must also be considering her own goals.

“Master, may I ask one question?”

Unlike usual, Baek Sihyeon raised her hand with a serious expression.

“Speak.”

“The fact that you’re so hurt means that the current invaders are quite strong, right?”

“But the broadcast said they could easily be stopped…”

Han Abin looked surprised when she said that, but it seems both have caught on already.

“Han Abin, forget the regular deployment. With that mindset, the corpse rolling around will be you.”

The infiltration unit is breaching beyond the walls, while the others are launching long-range attacks from above as part of the maintenance operation.

It’s a hell where soldiers and heroes go through as expendables to maintain the front line.

“At your age, are you wobbly? Remember your childhood. What kind of faces did parents make when the siren wailed?”

“That’s—”

Before the Association was established, the entire humanity was in an atmosphere of war; back when one siren meant discussing human casualties.

Those dark times have returned.

“Forget about the propaganda battles from the broadcasts. The enemy will be aiming for our necks, and if we break, civilians will be slaughtered. That’s the kind of war.”

As I tore away the belts restraining my body, I raised the bandages wrapped around my head.

The hollow right eye socket.

Baek Sihyeon’s face turned pale, shocked, while Han Abin turned ashen.

“So, keep your wits about you and listen…”

Bang.

A punch struck my head with pain. Once again, I was bound by the restraints, my body tied down.

Did I ignore Oxymoron’s words and tear off the restraints? The remaining legs got restrained by the belts.

“I told you it’s absolute stability! You’ll get infected! How many more times do I have to say this?”

Oh right, that girl was next to me.

“Am I even capable of being infected? Bacteria would flee upon seeing me.”

“I’m the law when it comes to patients!”

In an instant, Oxymoron’s demeanor flipped.

The medic who was usually well-behaved turned into a maniac pounding on the patients.

Usually, she’s calm, but if you question her skills, she turns like this.

Could that chaotic scene lighten the atmosphere?

An eerie smile appeared on my disciple’s faces, which had gone pale.

“You have an opponent who weakens too.”

Even if one has strength, they shouldn’t swing it recklessly, Han Abin. You also need to know how to maintain balance.

“Anyway, take this opportunity to learn some healing from her. Whether a medic is present or not in the battlefield can be crucial. Not just for you two, but for those around you too.”

The voices of the two disciples overlapped.

I’ve never seen Baek Sihyeon use recovery magic properly, but she can’t be worse than Han Abin.

“Can I teach as I please?”

“I know absolutely nothing about healing. Do as you please.”

“Alright.”

Bound tightly like a notebook, I was thrown onto the bed while the two disciples sat down. As their gazes turned toward Oxymoron, her lecture began.

“Healing isn’t a power directly related to combat, but in the long run, it plays a significant role. The longer the battle goes on, the greater the difference in the number of soldiers preserved.”

That’s probably not her original thought but something she read somewhere.

“Of course, if you can also use healing spells, it can greatly affect your endurance during battles. Just look at Haram over there; if she only had healing abilities, she could fight much longer.”

Why do I keep tripping over this?

“So back in the day, heroes specializing in healing were placed in every squad or platoon, but nowadays, it’s rare to see heroes even forming groups. So you’ll have to heal those around you. Even the smallest healing can mean life or death.”

At her words, the disciples nodded as if they felt something.

“Alright, then let’s jump straight into practical training!”

The moment those words ended, a doll appeared in midair, and Oxymoron caught it in her right hand.

Thump.

The sound of the doll hitting the ground. The sound of blood being drawn.

The pressure blocking the arterial flow dissipated, and the red liquid splattered all over the disciples’ faces.

“What the…?”

“Look at the magic!”

Now I understand why they ran away.

At this rate, who could endure? Even the past awakeners would all flee.

“Er… uh…”

But our side’s disciples don’t back down easily either. Even seeing this horror, Han Abin is slowly gathering pink mana in Oxymoron’s left hand.

Fsh. Fsh. Fsh.

For two to three minutes, the blood being drawn from Oxymoron’s hand did not stop, and any healing seemed non-existent.

“Enough!”

“Uh… When your healing magic is proven to be completely ineffective right in front of you, does that perhaps darken Han Abin’s face?”

“I understand why the hell this is happening.”

As Han Abin distanced herself from the situation, Oxymoron picked up her left hand and began the connection surgery.

With needles and threads swiftly ascending and descending over the roughly sewn hand, she finally wrapped the wrist with a belt, and the syringe embedded in her hand.

That took about 20 seconds.

Oxymoron finished the surgery on her left hand and showed it to Han Abin through the gap in her robe.

“Mmm. So what’s your name?”

“Han Abin.”

“Han Abin. Are you a doctor or a nurse? Or did you study medicine?”

“Yes, nursing academy.”

Oxymoron narrowed her eyes. Due to the gas mask, her mouth is hidden, but she must be smiling:

“Then forget everything. Whether it’s magic, psychic ability, or martial arts, all healing techniques transcend the laws of reality.”

As Oxymoron tore off the belt attached to her left hand, flesh appeared, already healed and connected.

Though stitching marks remained at the connection site, that’s the only noticeable thing. Oxymoron’s left hand has already completed its recovery.

“As a former nurse, how was this surgery?”

“You won’t get mad at me for saying this, right?”

…It was a mess. There was no consideration for nerves or blood vessels. In fact, there were more things to criticize.

Even after hearing such words, Oxymoron nodded and expressed joy.

“Right. But this is the healing of a hero. Erase all complex thoughts like blood vessels, nerves, and rejections from your mind.”

The highest-ranking medic. Oxymoron’s voice started to heat up.

“When imagining, there’s only the image of a complete state. Anything else has no meaning. If you use healing while visualizing it, you will see results.”

“But, Oxymoron-sensei, you also use stitches and medicines…”

Trying desperately to not lose her accumulated knowledge, Han Abin continued her words. Oxymoron’s statement was a denial of contemporary medicine accumulated over thousands of years.

“The stitches are made with my abilities, so I don’t know if they’re the same as actual stitches, but the medicines are just plain water.”

“Wait a minute, are you saying you’ve been injecting us with water all this time?”

Even I was shocked, springing up in disbelief.

“It’s for absolute stability.”

As Oxymoron waved her hand, a syringe filled with purple liquid pierced my forehead.

This is water, huh? Then why is it purple?

“The reason I injected plain water is that I think it’s necessary for healing people. The type of effect it has, whether there are side effects, does not matter. They get healed as a result.”

Simply suggestion.

That was the last thing I heard.

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