章 52: Chapter 20 - Healing
Sure enough, the door opened to show Daisy with a doctor walking behind her. The same doctor who had treated Lilly after she fainted during the attack.
Walking past Daisy as she held the door open, he made his way to where Lilly was stationed by her desk. With a respectful bow, he introduced himself, "Head Doctor Haunt, at your service, My Lady."
Lilly greeted him with a warm smile. "Good to see you again, Doctor Haunt. Though, I must admit, your name does seem a tad ominous for a physician."
A grin spread across Doctor Haunt's face as he replied, "It's part of the reason I became a doctor, actually, out of spite. Perhaps you feel the same, considering you swapped from baking?"
Lilly paused to consider his words briefly. "... There might be something to that. And spite is a mighty motivator. So you have some experience with magical healing, then?"
He seemed far from confident as he bobbed his head to the side and shrugged his shoulders. "More than most, but still not much. I have only seen some weak versions in action, but I know some of the theory at least."
"That's good to hear! Please have a seat, I'm very interested to hear what you know."
Settling into a chair across from Lilly's desk, Doctor Haunt took a deep breath. "The most important part is that you can never use it on patients with cancer. That will cause it to spread rapidly. If any bones are broken, they need to be set perfectly before using the healing magic, and any flesh wounds need to be correctly aligned."
Lilly listened intently, back in learning mode again. "So it only speeds up the natural healing process of the body, and is not a magic fix to all wounds?"
"Precisely," he affirmed. "It supplies energy through mana to the wounds and causes rapid regrowth, depending on the power of the enchantment. One of the goals of medicinal research has long been to create a spell that can replicate the effect, but we simply don't understand the process well enough."
"I see. Does the process leave any scars? And how much faster can we expect the healing to be?" Lilly asked, eager to learn more.
"If the natural healing process would leave scars, it does. They might be lessened by the rapid process, but they will still form. And as for the speed, it could be several times faster than normal healing," he explained.
"Very good then! Would you be willing to oversee a demonstration in case something goes wrong?" Lilly asked, excited about letting Selene heal so much faster than originally planned.
Doctor Haunt looked a bit apprehensive. "Demonstration, Lady Lilly? Do you have an item capable of healing?"
Lilly lifted the staff so he could see it properly while smiling proudly. "I sure do! Recently discovered by me and my trusted guardian here, this wondrous artifact is capable of many things. Elly, could you hand me your dagger?"
"Oh, apologies, My Lady. It appears I've inadvertently injured myself."
Lilly turned to look at her in surprise, followed by exasperation. "Elly! Why can't you let me do the testing for once?"
Eolande had blood dripping from her palm, and a small cut across the middle. "It was an accident, I swear," she said in a monotonous voice, clearly being facetious.
"But we don't know if you have cancer! And I don't feel like checking," Lilly complained, having had enough of studying people so thoroughly.
Doctor Haunt chimed in from the front, sounding more intrigued than surprised. "Elves actually can't get cancer, so that's not a problem."
Lilly looked back at Eolande, who was smiling smugly now, clearly feeling like she had won. "Oh, would you please use your healing powers on me, My Lady?"
"... Fine. Hold your hand out, then," Lilly mumbled, feeling resigned.
Eolande did as she was asked, looking unfazed by the pain and the blood dripping on the floor. Lilly held the staff out over her hand and took a deep breath, steadying herself. With her concentration fixed on the staff and the injury, Lilly mentally urged, 'heal.'
The staff responded by emitting a soft, red glow, and a stream of faint light moved toward Eolande's hand. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but it was hard to see anything due to the blood. Lilly felt relieved that it seemed to be working, at least.
"Ah, it tickles!" Eolande exclaimed with her other hand squirming.
"Bear with it. You're the one 'accidentally' cutting yourself," Lilly said in a sour tone.
"I'll admit it wasn't the best place to do it. The back of the hand would have been better. But it was an accident, so…"
Doctor Haunt, having stood up to get a better view, chimed in. "The wound should have stopped bleeding now, so you can wash away the blood to get a better view."
Eager to see the process, Lilly stopped the healing to let Eolande wash her hand. Eolande did as suggested, walking to the basin at the back of the room.
"Did that look like the process you've seen before, Doctor?" Lilly asked, curious about the different types of healing enchantments.
He shook his head. "No, that one had to have contact with the wounded person. And there was no visible light. But again, that was a weak version used over long periods of time."
While Lilly was thinking about what beasts might have weaker healing abilities, Eolande suddenly exclaimed from behind her. "It's healed already!"
Lilly turned to Eolande. "What? The wound is healed?" She could see Eolande holding her palm forward, without a scratch on it.
"Incredible…" Doctor Haunt exclaimed softly, with wide eyes. "That wasn't even a minute, meaning the rate of healing was multiplied… thousands of times."
Lilly was shocked. She had thought about healing others in hospitals and such, but considered it a waste of time if the rate of healing was only a few times faster than normal. Now she felt it might become a burden on her mind.
"How… how useful would this be for the hospital, Doctor Haunt?" Lilly asked nervously. His answer might cause her a lot of stress and guilt in the future. "I believe I'm the only person able to use the staff, so..." Her voice trailed off, struggling to articulate her mixed feelings.
Doctor Haunt, still looking mildly shocked, took a moment to seriously consider the question. "Hmm, it likely wouldn't save any lives considering we have ways to stop bleeding already. But it would reduce the time it takes people to heal enormously, of course," he acknowledged thoughtfully. "It might have some wonderful effects during surgery as well, but that would likely be very experimental."
Lilly felt relieved that lives would not be saved by her, but she still felt that taking some time to heal people with debilitating wounds would be worth her while. "Let's not think about surgeries for now. I am willing to come over to heal people who would otherwise have a hard time functioning properly."
The doctor bowed graciously. "That would be very helpful, Lady Lilly. We mostly get adventurers or soldiers with such serious wounds, but these days there aren't many of those. Lady Selene would be helped immensely, though, so I hope you'll consider healing her."
Lilly wondered if he still called Selene 'Lady' out of respect or just a force of habit, but she certainly didn't mind and offered a reassuring smile. "That's been my plan since I found the staff, Doctor, so don't worry. Please send me a message whenever the need arises, and thank you for your time."
"It was a pleasure, Lady Lilly," he replied, bowing once more before making his departure.
Once he was gone, Eolande walked over and sat on Lilly's desk. "You're going to be running this city by yourself soon enough."
Lilly looked at her with furrowed brows. She understood what she was saying, but still felt defensive. "When a few minutes of my time can prevent weeks of pain and unemployment, I obviously have to make that choice. And I'm still planning to have Selene take her job back once the king has been dealt with, so I can focus on my enchanting."
"While also healing people in the hospital every day?"
Lilly's response was filled with confidence. "Don't underestimate my enchanting ability! The hospital will have hundreds of healing artifacts once I'm done with them. I'll even give them a reasonable price as a bonus."
Eolande's face softened into a smile. "That sounds like a better idea. Apologies for doubting your intense focus on enchanting, Lilly. Speaking of, is the forge next door close to finishing by now?" She asked as she pointed to the wall, from beyond which sounds of construction could be heard from time to time.
"Just a few more days, actually. I can't wait to have Mia right here, safe and sound." Lilly thought about the future where she and Mia would be working on their craft together right next door and found the thought wonderful. 'I hope Selene won't mind letting us use it after she gets her job back. Nah, I'm sure she won't mind.'
"The next few weeks are going to be long… Even if Selene is healed today, I don't think I want the timeline to move up. I still plan to fight Grandfather in one month."
"Let's hope your enchanting doesn't progress too fast then, so he stays around. He probably would either way, but making sure doesn't hurt."
"True. Now, let's go to the quarry again. I'm excited to see what else the staff can do!"
With another clever grin, Eolande replied; "How about a race?"
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