Six Months to Live

By the time Eren hurriedly arrived at the building housing Doctor Rosalin’s clinic, noon had already passed.

“Eren Lloyd, correct?
Come in and wait a moment.”

A person presumed to be the secretary guided Eren to the waiting room.
Perching on the edge of the long sofa, Eren looked around the tidy interior.
Seeing the walls covered with medals and plaques of appreciation, he realized one thing.

“Doctor Rosalin was a military doctor….”

Why, of all the doctors, had the Imperial physician recommended someone with a military medical background?

The unease that had been lodged in a corner of his heart felt like it was growing, taking shape.
Still, he tried to think as positively as possible until he heard the expert’s diagnosis.

“You may go in now.”

Just then, the secretary’s dry voice snapped Eren out of his daze.
Fidgeting with Harold’s letter of recommendation, he entered the consultation room.

The interior, smaller than expected, was filled with bookshelves, a desk, a small bed, and chairs.
Among it all, the messily strewn papers on the desk and the nameplate reading ‘Doctor Rosalin’ caught his eye.

“Hello.”

A woman who had been rubbing her tired eyes looked up at Eren’s greeting.
Her sharp, meticulous impression made Eren involuntarily swallow.

“Would you have a seat on the chair in front?”

Without any particular greeting, Doctor Rosalin indifferently gestured toward a backless chair.
Eren took out the letter of recommendation and perched lightly on the chair.

“I have a letter of recommendation from His Highness the Crown Prince….”

“I’ve already heard.
Leave it on the desk.”

According to what Harold had told him, bringing the recommendation would ensure better care.
But judging by Rosalin’s indifferent attitude, that didn’t seem likely.
She looked at Eren with a bland expression, then pulled a large crystal ball from her desk drawer.

“Oh, that’s….”

“You’ve seen it before, right?
It’s a crystal ball for testing mana sensitivity, used in the military.”

When Eren had enlisted, he first had to test his mana sensitivity with this very crystal ball.
He was slightly frightened, not knowing why she was bringing it out now.

“You know how to do it, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

Though it had been a while, the memory was so intense that he remembered how to use it.

Eren quietly reached out and placed his palm on the crystal ball.
He felt its cold, smooth surface.
As Eren closed his eyes and concentrated, mana emanated from his hand and seeped into the crystal.

A reddish light appeared in the opaque crystal, and liquid began to ripple within as if blood were pooling.
Before long, the light faded.

“Hmm….
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a magic-related case, so just a moment.”

Rosalin, wearing a serious expression, turned and rummaged through the bookshelf.
She finally pulled out a thick book and spread it open on the desk.

“Now, do you see this?”

The page she opened to showed an illustration of a round crystal ball.
Eren looked back and forth between the subtly changed crystal ball and the one in the picture.

“It looks the same.”

“Yes, it looks exactly the same.
What this means is that there isn’t much mana left in your body.”

Eren already understood what she was saying.
But understanding and accepting were vastly different things.
So he stammered, asking for confirmation.

“Wh-what does that mean?”

“Probably… well, at most six months.
Within six months, all your remaining mana will be depleted.”

Only one word surfaced in Eren’s mind.

‘Why?’

Why did misfortune like this keep happening only to him?
No matter how much he tried to understand, he simply couldn’t accept it.

“You’ve been using an excessive amount of magical power recently, haven’t you?”

Eren furrowed his brow, trying to recall.
No matter how much he thought about it, that wasn’t the case.

“I used magical power, but not to the point of straining my body.”

Rosalin sent an indifferent glance over her monocle.
If there had been even a hint of pity in her eyes, would it have felt more real?

“Then the cause is likely that you’ve been continuously using magical power while your body was weakened.”

He couldn’t deny that.
Eren had been consuming mana continuously while neglecting his health.

But from today onward, he had planned to get a grip and truly live a new life.
He had reflected a lot while talking with Jayden.
Now, however, it meant he might not even get that chance.

“Then, then is there no way to cure it at all?”

“With modern medicine, it’s impossible.
Your body’s lifespan has already run out.
On the surface, you seem fine, but you’re like firewood where the flame has gone out, leaving only embers.”

Why was it that he never heard good news from doctors?
He had heard warnings that something serious would happen hundreds of times, but he had always thought it was a distant future problem.

“When I said six months, I didn’t mean you have that much time left to walk around normally.”

The more Rosalin explained, the grimmer Eren’s expression became.

“If you want to extend the time you can even breathe somewhat normally, you must stop using mana from now on and devote all your efforts to health management.”

Faced with Rosalin’s definitive death sentence, which seemed to crush any hope, Eren could only bite his lip, unable to answer.

“…I see.”

At Eren’s despondent reply, even Rosalin’s hitherto composed face momentarily flickered with pity.

“After six months, what will happen to me?”

Hearing the tremor in Eren’s voice, Rosalin let out a long, deep sigh.
Even that reaction alone was enough to guess he was about to hear something unpleasant.

“Mana depletion will soon set in.
You’ve likely seen such people in the military before.
Necrosis will progress from your fingertips and toes, and eventually, your heart will harden and stop moving.”

Eren remembered, too.
The screams of soldiers whose bodies were rotting away, writhing in agony, were still vivid.
Their pain was so intense they begged to be killed every night.

That such a future awaited him now.
Even imagining it was horrifying, and strength filled the fist he had clenched.

“If you continue using magical power in your current state, it could be shortened to three months.”

Three months.
Six months was already impossibly short, but three months was so fleeting it took his breath away.

“You work, don’t you?
I’ll write a medical certificate for you to submit to your superiors.
I’ll state that you need to refrain from using mana and reduce your working hours, so report it.”

Reverting to her indifferent expression, Rosalin took a sheet of paper from the drawer.
Eren, dazedly watching her pick up a pen, waved his hand.

“No, you needn’t go to that trouble.”

He had no intention of telling anyone this fact anyway.
Especially Kazen, absolutely not.
He didn’t want to burden him with his own problems.

“Whether you submit it or not is up to you, but just in case, keep a copy.
Life is a series of unpredictable events.”

A series of unpredictable events.
Right now, Eren seemed to be right in the middle of such a situation.

Just this morning, he hadn’t expected to receive such shocking news.
So, as she suggested, he decided to accept the medical certificate.

“Then, I’ll ask you to write it.”

As if expecting this, Rosalin dipped her pen in ink and began to write lightly.
Glancing at the paper, Eren inwardly marveled at her terrible handwriting.

“You’re still young, but I’d say this isn’t the worst-case scenario.”

Rosalin said calmly as she scrawled messily on the certificate.
Eren’s expression unconsciously contorted at her words.

How could she see this as not the worst-case scenario?
For a moment, he wondered if she was mocking him.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you have a six-month grace period, you can prepare yourself mentally.
If it were me, I’d spend my remaining life splendidly, doing everything I’d ever wanted to do.”

Rosalin handed the paper to Eren before the ink had even dried.
This consolation, as brief as her assessment, didn’t comfort Eren much.

“Splendidly….”

Eren murmured flatly.
He didn’t know how to live life splendidly.
He’d never thought about it.

“I’m sorry to ask, but could I request one more favor?”

Eren spoke cautiously to Rosalin, who was diligently filling out some unknown document after the certificate.

“What is it?”

“I’d like you to keep this fact a secret from others.
I don’t want to worry them.”