Dawn arrived.
The previous day’s stroll had been far from pleasant, for Yang Xi remained deeply bothered by Lin Yu’s concealment of her magical abilities.
He had even, at one point, questioned her loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor.
If she could shirk her duties as a medic, meant to heal and save lives, for personal reasons today, would she not, tomorrow, betray the loyalty a Diacla soldier owed to their Emperor?
Ah, so that peculiar tone in his voice when they met after she awoke had stemmed from this very issue.
He had almost hit upon the truth.
Lin Yu harbored virtually no fondness for her nominal Emperor, let alone any inclination to die for His Majesty.
Yet, Lin Yu’s facade of loyal patriotism ultimately prevailed.
Through numerous examples and elaborate metaphors, she expended considerable effort, eventually convincing Yang Xi that she, too, had her own justifiable reasons for her actions.
Stretching awake from her sickbed, Lin Yu recalled the previous day’s conversation, and a sudden pang of guilt struck her, as if she had been toying with a fool.
To exploit his pure, unadulterated sense of loyalty and patriotism, to deceive him, to ambush him… She felt a faint prick of remorse.
Ahem, only a faint one, though.
Bringing her hands back to her front, she belatedly realized that her left arm could now move normally.
She clenched and unclenched her fist, twisted it left and right, delighting in the newfound mobility.
It was akin to a long-rusted machine being freshly oiled, and the sudden, fluid motion left her slightly disoriented.
Such rapid recovery…
Still, it paled in comparison to ‘that guy’.
She wouldn’t forget that, while she lay feverish and uncertain of survival on a cot, her wounds infected, a certain individual had already recovered completely, bouncing around as if nothing had ever happened.
Perhaps he had sustained so many injuries that he’d developed a resistance, recovering so swiftly even from severe wounds…
It was almost inhuman, certainly not typical of a person.
Rest assured, it wasn’t disdain; rather, it was admiration for his innate talent.
If everyone possessed such miraculous self-healing abilities, the casualty rate on the battlefield could likely plummet by another fifty percent.
Conversely, the more lives saved, the greater the workload for the medics.
Fallen soldiers would become wounded, requiring medical resources for treatment, thus increasing the workload… Well, perhaps it was best not to propagate such a talent.
One perpetually injured individual, Yang Xi, was quite enough.
Lin Yu threw back the covers and rose from the bed.
A water glass sat beside the bed, filled with the cool water a caregiver had poured for her the previous night.
She drank deeply, “Gulp… gulp… Mm…”
The overnight boiled water flowed down her throat and into her body, spreading a wave of coolness through her stomach.
It felt wonderfully refreshing.
To wake from a dream and have such a glass of water to drink, was surely the third happiest thing in the world.
The second and first, respectively, were hot tea, and hot tea after a hot bath.
Especially if it were the tea from Commander Yang’s residence… When she had still been able to meet with the senior medics, why hadn’t she asked its name?
A slight regret twinged within her.
Setting down the glass, she turned to gaze out the window behind her.
The west-facing window, untouched by sunlight, cast a somewhat desolate atmosphere.
A sliver of morning sun pierced through the gap in the ward door, pointing towards the direction she was about to take.
“Nurse? Doctor? Is anyone here?”
By seven in the morning, the hospital was already bustling.
No one seemed to be concerned with an already recovered patient like herself.
Thus, she had no choice but to don her slippers, step out of bed, and wander through the corridors in search of the cafeteria.
‘Lost, having never explored the hospital’s interior? No matter, she could simply follow the aroma. No meal ticket or loose change? No problem. Her patient gown served as her dining voucher.’
Even the hospital’s communal cafeteria was superior to the cooking of the mess hall soldiers on the trench front.
‘Hmph, still couldn’t compare to her.’
Despite a night of hunger, Lin Yu still believed that the ‘stewed goose’ she had prepared earlier, imbued with a magic recovery buff, was the true delicacy of the human world.
The warm breakfast failed to capture the heart of the recently recovered young woman.
Having eaten her fill, she patted her stomach, and found a nurse to arrange her discharge procedures.
****
“Oh? So soon?” Nangong lifted her head from her book, surprised by Lin Yu’s sudden appearance before her.
“I thought you’d need a couple more days of rest for a full recovery…”
“I’m perfectly fine now,” Lin Yu declared, flexing her left arm and showcasing her barely-there muscles, to demonstrate her complete recovery.
Though her shoulder still ached faintly with larger movements, it was significantly more comfortable and functional than when she had first woken up yesterday.
“Alright, stop that. What if you injure yourself again? Go report to the commander quickly; we’ve both been assigned to new units.”
Nangong carefully placed a bookmark and closed the pages of the bulky tome, then picked it up and set it on a nearby small table.
“Come with me, won’t you? You probably haven’t asked where the new commander’s office is, have you?”
“Indeed… Say, Nangong, is that book perhaps…”
Just as Nangong was about to take Lin Yu’s hand to leave, Lin Yu sidestepped her and went straight to the small table.
“Is this the book you were reading in the tent before?”
Nangong smiled and nodded at Lin Yu.
“It is the same book, and yet it isn’t.”
It was remarkably strange.
The current Nangong made no move to stop Lin Yu from opening the cover.
Had this been weeks ago, back in the medical tent, her current action would undoubtedly have been met with Nangong’s stern halt and a triple flick to the forehead.
No matter how many times Lin Yu had asked Nangong, she had never been able to glimpse the true contents of that weighty tome.
She didn’t even know its subject matter.
‘Was it a reference work? A literary piece? Or something else entirely?’
All Lin Yu knew was that it was incredibly thick, surpassing even the anatomy books that had once made her head spin with exhaustion.
Now she understood; it bore a foreign title.
It appeared to be a Western book… Oh, and beneath that, a line of gilded Diacla script.
“The Magical Principles of Natural Philosophy.”
Lin Yu was utterly dumbfounded.
‘Huh? This book actually exists? It wasn’t something I just made up?’
Nangong noticed Lin Yu’s astonishment, though she didn’t quite grasp its origin.
“Well, what do you think? I’m actually a half-scholar of magic myself, though I’ve only mastered a single healing spell so far.”
Standing behind Lin Yu, Nangong gently patted her shoulder, and began to explain the book’s origins.
“It’s from the Rolman Empire… which was merely a duchy at the time, a work by the great ‘Magic Mentor,’ Mister Klichivka.”
“Incidentally, ‘Magic Mentor’ is an honorific Western mages bestow upon those who have made outstanding contributions to the study of magic.”
Nangong recounted a history that Lin Yu had never before encountered.
“This book chronicles the past development of magic and offers a vision for its future prospects.
Though penned decades ago, much of its content remains remarkably forward-thinking even today.”
Withdrawing her hand from the book’s cover, Lin Yu turned to meet Nangong’s gaze, asking with curiosity, “This book… you used to say I couldn’t look at it, no matter what. Why now, then…”
She abruptly trailed off, having noticed that beneath Nangong’s gentle smile, a profound sorrow lay buried.
“As I just said, this is the same book you saw before, and yet it isn’t.
Their contents are identical, both being the first edition from the Business Press in Year 140, but this isn’t *the* one that holds significant meaning for me.”
Nangong reached out tenderly, her fingertips tracing the cover, slowly brushing over the indented Rolman letters.
“So, lending it to you to supplement your knowledge of magic isn’t a bad idea, since I’ve already read it countless times.”