「〈Medicine King〉? As in that Medicine King (Carla Nazar)?」

「You know her?」

「Yeah, she is a character that comes out in an old heroic tale, a success story. In short, she was a hero who, by herself, managed to eradicate an unknown infectious disease」

「Ahh…」

At Marisa’s words, Merea smiled cheerfully. However, that immediately turned into a bitter smile.

「But, the Medicine King (Carla), herself, said that she had 『failed』, you know? She definitely got rid of the first disease but she wasn’t able to eradicate the epidemic that assaulted the town after that, she seemed quite frustrated with that fact. 『That was why I never ranked up from a title of King』 is what she said in a self-mocking way」

「Have you spoken to the Medicine King (Carla)?」

Since Merea spoke so confidently, even while thinking, 「impossible」, Marisa promptly questioned him. The Medicine King (Carla Nazar) in that heroic tale was someone who lived a really long time ago.

No matter how long her life was, it should not be possible to live till now.

Although, having thought till that point, she suddenly had a thought. As to where her master 『had been living till now』.

――Lindholm Sacred Mountain

「...No way」

「Well, I’ll tell you the details later. This one seems to be in quite some pain so, let’s do this quickly. ...Though it might be even more painful after this though」

Saying that, Merea once again, turned towards the land dragon.

While looking at his back, Marisa tried to guess what Merea’s 『might be even more painful』 might mean.

◆◆◆

The heroic tales of the〈Medicine King〉Carla Nazar were, in general, slightly different because of word of mouth and differences between scribes and all those stories had slight differences in them but the fundamental structure was the same.

It was a story of how Carla overcame various struggles and finally, splendidly, eradicated the infectious disease.

However, there were also a few 『Apocrypha』which told a different story from the heroic tales.

Those apocrypha, unlike the heroic tales of the Medicine King that the people preferred, did not praise the Medicine King but instead ridiculed her.

Especially, there were many descriptions describing the medicine that the Medicine King created to be 『defective』.

It was certain that the medicine that the Medicine King created was what eradicated the infectious disease but there was also the rumour that, a lot of people died from having consumed her medicine.

It seemed to have been a 『hazardous substance』.

It was written that, rather than the infectious disease, people with weak bodies instead died because of the medicine provided by the Medicine King.

Due to the rather graphic nature of those texts, it wasn’t read much by the general public but, historians on the other hand, treated it as precious research material and seemed to prefer the apocrypha instead.

A heroic image created by people is usually distorted by their own wishes and expectations, due to which, historians regarded the apocrypha, which straightforwardly ridiculed the Medicine King as something very precious.

『■■■』

While Marisa was getting her thoughts about the Medicine King in order, Merea once again, spoke in dragon tongue. In the next moment, he placed the dagger on his ring finger and quickly slid it down.

A silver flash ran down his finger.

Red blood started flowing from the wound, became small beads and with a small sound, fell down.

After having confirmed that several drops had fallen to the ground, Merea took a step towards the land dragon.

「...I don’t know how this is going to end, but, since this one showed a proper reaction to the dragon language words I spoke, so I’ll struggle till the end. If we leave it alone, it’ll die. If it can’t bear the blood of the Medicine King (Carla) then, it’ll die. At least, we should take care of it till the end. Even if it were to die, dying all alone…is just sad」

Merea spoke with a gentle tone.

Suddenly Marisa felt a strong urge to find out what kind of expression Merea was making that time and so she quietly, without making any noise, shifted her position to be able to see his profile.

「I had thought that, if we prepared ourselves for it, then we wouldn’t have much of a problem with death. But, when it actually comes time to die...there are quite the few regrets we fill ourselves with though. In my case, I had Flander with me but, if it goes on like this, then you’d be alone. The fact that we met like this, here, might be some kind of fate. Though, I don’t know if I’ll be able to do for you, what Flander did for me...but, if you’re going to die, I’ll stay by your side」

Merea had a gentle smile on his face. Marisa felt that his smile, had a strange frailty to it.

「...Marisa」

「!! Y, yes, I’m right here」

Suddenly being called out to, Marisa felt like her heart jumped into her throat. Maybe because she spent too much time paying attention to the changes in Merea’s expression but, she didn’t pay proper attention to her surroundings.

She quickly fixed herself and as much as possible, in a tidy manner, she stood waiting for Merea’s next words.

「Sorry for being selfish but, if it seems tough with just myself then, would you help out? For...pinning it down. I said so earlier but, he’ll probably rampage」

While laughing in a slightly troubled manner, he asked her. ...That was his request. It wasn’t really something that a master should have to ask his servant but the reason for that is probably that, even now Merea might be slightly overwhelmed by Marisa’s one-sided master-servant pledge.

However, for Marisa, that was the first 『request』 that Merea had properly made of her and it ended up making her heart beat much faster.

――I can finally be of use to my master.

She felt so happy that she wanted to secretly jump for joy.

「Of course. Until there is life in me, I’ll help in any way I can」

「It’s not okay to use your life for me though」

Merea, once again, laughed in a slightly troubled manner.

「Anyway, I’ll handle this alone first」

Marisa wanted to, immediately, run over next to Merea but having been told that, she kept her impatience in check.

Leaving Marisa be, Merea finally brought his bleeding ring finger towards the mouth of the land dragon.

From earlier, the land dragon had its tongue hanging out and so, Merea dripped several drops of his blood onto that tongue.

「■■」

He most probably told it to, 『drink』. At Merea’s words, the land dragon, as if putting forth a lot of effort, returned its tongue to its mouth. Its body trembled weakly but it definitely tried to drink that blood.

「Medicine King’s (Carla’s) blood has quite the immediate effect so, if we wait 2 to 3 minutes, some effect should come up. Let’s wait till then」

「As you command」

Marisa kept both her hands clasped in front of her and bowed her head slightly.

「Haha, even at such a time your bow is perfect. ...Ah that’s right, we only have a short while but, what we talked about earlier, do you mind if I hear your version?」

Merea turned back towards Marisa and while laughing slightly, spoke.

「The story of the Medicine King...right?」

「That’s right, Carla’s story. Due to some circumstances, I was able to talk to Carla but, Carla herself thought upon her contributions with self-mockery, so she wouldn’t tell me too deeply about it. Though she did tell me a few things but those might have been distorted with her humbling herself. Which is why, such a story may in fact, have more truth to it」

Hearing the first half of Merea’s words, she really wanted to retort but as a servant, she realised that it would be too rude an action.

Her master had said, 『tell me about it』. So her priority would be to fulfill that request.

They didn’t have much time either.

Thinking so, Marisa opened her mouth.

◆◆◆

When Merea heard Carla’s 『heroic tale』 from Marisa, he did not show any particular reaction. He looked like, what he had heard, was what he had expected.

However, when Marisa spoke about the 『Apocrypha』 to him,

「...I see」

He nodded strongly. As if he had just understood something.

「Historians are unexpectedly sharp huh. They accurately pointed out Carla’s regrets」

「Then that mean, then it actually…」

「Yeah, 『With this blood, I have killed my friend』, is what she said. She also said, 『A lot more died as well』」

「...」

Marisa did not know how she should respond. To Merea, who seemed to be close to Carla, should she say something that amplified Carla’s faults. Wouldn’t that just end up making him feel bad?

Several thoughts danced around Marisa’s head. But, in the end,

「However, even with that said, Carla’s achievements are pretty big」

Marisa said, as if she were giving a follow up to what Carla had done so far.

「Heee?」

Merea asked with body gestures that showed how interested he waas. He had a smile full of curiosity on his face, a smile that had no sarcasm in it.

While feeling a kind of beauty in that smile, Marisa immediately replied with the answer she had already prepared.

「One of the biggest contributions of Carla was to shift the research efforts of healing techniques, which till then had been overwhelmingly favoring 『wounds』 towards that of researching epidemics and diseases. In every age, research of healing magic was always centered around wounds that the body suffers and the subject of researching diseases and epidemics, which have different causes for each one was avoided quite a bit. For a long time now, if there are epidemics which are rampant for a long time, they do seem to have medicines which are exclusively developed to cure that disease but, if a new epidemic starts, then they seem to be prepared for at least a few generations of sacrifices」

「Seems to be the case」

Merea nodded. Marisa continued.

「The medical techniques required to cure epidemics had to be created from scratch for each new one so, healing practitioners, who were known to be excellent in their age, were in a state where they basically gave up. However, Carla alone, faced off against all those diseases. Carla collected all the medicinal techniques of the ancient and modern ages as well as from every location and over and above that, she added her own research to that and even other than techniques, she used medicinal herbs and with all of that, finally, she came up with a an almost omnipotent medicine that worked on almost every disease」

「However, at that point only...right?」

「...Yes」

Carla’s medicine was not omnipotent. At that point it may have been close to being omnipotent. However, it was not able to combat the epidemic that spread later and that is a fact that has been, undeniably, recorded in history.

「In an age long before Carla, there used to be a 『Demon Lord』 known as〈Medicine Emperor〉and, Carla is the one who was said to have gotten the closest to the abilities of that Medicine Emperor」

「A Demon Lord with the title of Emperor? If it was before Carla then that would mean…」

「Yes, it’s the so called, genuine Demon Lord who was actually 『evil』. ...No, whether he was genuine or not, is something that is based on the age they lived in so, that way of saying it is rather misleading. ...Anyway, he had participated in quite a lot of conduct that would be considered evil from the general public’s point of view」

「What did that Medicine Emperor do?」

「He created the prototype of the healing technique that was known to be the ultimate healing technique,〈Omnipotent Technique (Raftere)〉. ...Although he used a large number of sacrifices for that though」

「〈Omnipotent Technique (Raftere)〉...」

「Even then, the〈Omnipotent Technique〉of the Medicine Emperor, was in the end, still incomplete. After all the research was accumulated, since it was the closest to the ideal dream Omnipotent Technique, it was called as〈Prototype Omnipotent Technique (Pario Raftere)〉」

「Some people come up with really amazing things huh…」

Merea spoke with a shocked expression.

「By the way, the completed form of that omnipotent technique still does not exist right?」

「Yes, it does not exist. That is why, it has been said since long ago that, the person who finally completes the omnipotent technique would be given the title of〈Medicine God〉. Since the time that such a thing was decided, not once has anyone managed to attain that title」

「Carla was…」

「Carla achieved her title of Medicine King by creating a multi-drug that could work on various epidemics, as well as further developing the〈Prototype Omnipotent Technique (Pario Raftere)〉of the Medicine Emperor. The prototype omnipotent technique of the Medicine Emperor, although omnipotent when it came to wounds, was surprisingly useless when it came to diseases」

Having spoken that far, Merea breathed a sigh of satisfaction. The reason he stopped the conversation at that point, was probably because he noticed the land dragon, which was still lying down near his feet, slightly swung its tail around.

Marisa is really knowledgeable huh. I’m glad I could listen to Carla’s story. ...Thank you」

Merea said to Marisa with a truly happy look. Being complimented and thanked so straightforwardly, Marisa spoke with a red face,

「N, no, I’m grateful」

Looking embarrassed, Marisa looked down. It seemed like she felt too embarrassed to even look Merea in the eyes.

「Well, since that is how Carla’s blood is, I’m not entirely sure if it will work on the dragon」

「Medicines that humans make are generally only targeted towards diseases that humans are bound to get.

「Yup. The sky dragon who taught me dragon tongue once said, rather unreasonably, to Carla, 『Make a medical technique that will work on dragons now』. However, Carla came back with, 『Don’t be stupid, I’m not even able to save humans properly and you think I’m capable of saving dragons?!』 and was extremely angry after」

「S, sounds like a rather violent scene…」

「Pretty much. Also, the guy who gave me the dragon’s vocal cords joined in with, 『Carla! Dragons are amazing! Let’s save them!』 and tried to help out the sky dragon in that conversation. He was quite the idiot so his follow-up was fatally lacking in words though」

「By the way, what was Carla’s reply to that?」

「...『I no longer have a physical body, ask Merea instead. I have never tried the medicine on a dragon, but the fundamental medicinal effect of reacting to a plague is widely accepted, so it may just be effective』, she said...and ended up completely dumping it onto me」

Marisa no longer knew what exactly he was talking about, but seeing Merea shrug his shoulders, she found it slightly funny. So she covered her mouth and quietly laughed. Noticing that, Merea laughed as wel.

「Ahh, sorry, you probably have no clue what I’m on about huh. I’ll explain it all properly in time」, he said.

While Marisa was feeling slightly happy at his words, finally, the land dragon near Merea’s feet stirred.

◆◆◆

Marisa immediately put up her guard.

If Carla’s blood really is highly toxic, then the land dragon will, without a doubt, rampage.

Pain often acts to remove the limiter on the power of living beings.

It could be the body’s rage stemming from its fundamental urge to live or it could be a 『death dance』 that uses up and burns away the last of a creature’s life.

Anyhow, the land dragon will definitely rampage.

Merea had already indicated at that and Marisa did not doubt him at all.

That was why, no matter what happened next, she had to first ensure Merea’s safety. Marisa, once again, resolved herself.

And then,

「...!!!」

That came.

It was a roar that felt like it would pierce the ground and cause an earthquake.