Chapter 141
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Melissa, the daughter of Annabel Machiavelli, a lower-class nobleman, is somewhat famous in high society as a sheltered young lady.
Her graceful, cute, and beautiful smile makes those who see her want to protect her. In fact, many who spot her at balls immediately inquire, 「How about her for our family?」
The Machiavelli family, though lower-class nobility, is financially well-off enough that there’s no need to rush their daughter into marriage for political reasons. They politely decline many offers.
Melissa herself shows little interest in such matters. She values spending time at home with her family and occasionally hosting tea parties with close friends.
Even at fourteen, Melissa is still childlike, hugging her mother with cries of 「Mother!」 and jumping on her father’s back exclaiming 「Father!」 The Machiavelli couple is content with this. Though they know it’s unrealistic, they wish these days could continue forever.
However, their modest wish is shattered by Melissa’s illness.
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The establishment Annabel Machiavelli visits, invited by a friend to ease his worries, is quite upscale. Even for Annabel, it’s not a place he can frequent regularly. He reluctantly agrees to come after his friend’s repeated invitations to treat him to drinks as encouragement.
The place is more refined than extravagant, better suited for quiet conversation than rowdy drinking.
Despite this, there’s a particularly noisy group that the staff seems to be struggling to manage. Unfortunately, the only available table is next to this group, leaving Annabel and his friend with the choice to either sit there or leave. Having come all this way, they decide to sit at the table with wry smiles.
This is precisely where fate intervenes.
To be honest, Annabel doesn’t care about the seating arrangement.
His mind is preoccupied with thoughts of his bedridden daughter. However, out of consideration for his friend who invited him, he reluctantly sips his drink.
But Annabel, naturally weak to alcohol, quickly becomes intoxicated. In this state, he begins to pour out the anxieties and sorrows he’d been hiding deep in his heart to his friend.
His worries are about his beloved daughter, Melissa. She’s afflicted with an incurable disease.
Melissa is the treasure of the Machiavelli couple.
Her bubbly laughter is adorable, and her smile, like a blooming bud, brings happiness to everyone in the Machiavelli household.
As her condition worsens day by day, eventually leaving her bedridden, Annabel rushes around desperately seeking a cure for Melissa. His efforts prove futile, and he keenly feels his own powerlessness. Unable to get his daughter out of his mind, Annabel’s face, after countless sleepless nights, bears a resemblance to death itself.
「Why must my daughter alone suffer like this?」
Annabel cries, his shoulders shaking.
His old friend silently nods, pats his shoulder, and continues to listen. As an appropriate amount of time passes and he sees Annabel sobbing before him, he smiles wryly and is about to suggest they leave when,
「Well, I’ve heard your story.」
A voice, quite out of place in this setting, calls out.
This is the fateful encounter between Annabel Machiavelli and Ryūgūin Ouji.
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He laments that the Arcana Kingdom, where he’s been summoned, is completely underdeveloped compared to Japan, and its citizens are all uncultured barbarians.
He often sighs inwardly, thinking it might be the duty of a superior being like himself to educate and guide these people who are far inferior in culture and civilization – not even on the same level – whenever he feels like it.
Ryūgūin is a person with such perceptions, so naturally, he has absolute confidence in his own knowledge. At the same time, he has a great arrogance born from his contempt for the people of this world, believing that even if he’s wrong, it doesn’t matter.
From the countless blunders Ryūgūin has made, a few anecdotes have been told, stemming from his pathological need for approval, which led him to showcase and impose his half-baked knowledge.
Knowledge must be accurate.
Even if it’s not entirely accurate, one must be aware that they might be mistaken.
Otherwise, knowledge, far from bringing wealth, can cause great harm. Ryūgūin should have had many opportunities to learn this. He should have.
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Annabel rejects the Hero’s offer of 「Let me handle this.」 It’s truly a wise decision.
However, the Hero hints at his 「Hero’s reputation」 and his connections.
Whether it would actually work or not, Ryūgūin claims to be close to the royal family, on good terms with the church’s Saint, and in an unusual relationship with the daughter of Duke Honest.
Annabel is already internally drenched in cold sweat.
His mind is filled with thoughts of how the Machiavelli family, and especially his daughter, can survive.
As if to drive Annabel further into a corner, Hero Ryūgūin says,
「I don’t mean to do this, but you’ve embarrassed me, the Hero. Of course, I don’t intend to, but would my sympathizers forgive a lower-class nobleman who could be blown away by a breeze? You’re in no position to be out drinking anymore. Be very careful when walking the streets at night.」 He throws out these words that border on threats, and further adds,
「As someone from another world, I have knowledge that surpasses this world’s existing medical technology. Diseases considered incurable in this world were commonly treated on Earth.」
It’s a perfect carrot and stick approach. In a normal exchange of this level, a nobleman should have easily noticed Ryūgūin’s intentions, but Annabel, shaken by thoughts of his daughter, finds it difficult to maintain his composure.
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And so, Annabel tells Ryūgūin about his daughter’s condition.
Melissa is suffering from 「Excessive Mana Production Organ Failure Disease.」 To explain simply, it’s a disease where organs produce more mana than they should, causing them to stop functioning normally.
Initially, it starts with the mutation of a single cell, which then spreads its abnormal qualities to neighboring cells, expanding the affected area and worsening the symptoms.
This disease also has a unique difficulty compared to others—
「I see, metastasis… huh? It’s like cancer on Earth, I suppose?」
Ryūgūin mutters with a pompous expression after hearing the explanation.
「In that case, there’s only one treatment option. Leave it to me!!」
Ryūgūin flashes a handsome smile and speaks in his hot guy voice.
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If Ryūgūin’s actions this time had only involved them, they wouldn’t have caught the eye of Gilbert Rasmus, the cardinal, to such an extent.
Ryūgūin isn’t unfortunate. It’s simply that his usual behavior has come back to haunt him.
There are people who were forcibly involved in the modern medical treatment that Ryūgūin claimed to provide – the treatment of Melissa Machiavelli – to satisfy his need for self-validation.
One is a girl loved by those around her as a devout sister of the Crater Church and as a young girl herself. Her name is Halo.
And another is a young man named Riku, who works as a practitioner in the town of Lemone.
Not only the Machiavelli family but these two are the ones caught up in the tragedy caused by Ryūgūin.
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