Chapter 11 - Healing Magic
In the mornings and afternoons, I devoted myself to swordsmanship and Void training, occasionally showing my face in Void Town, and at night I holed up in the Forbidden Archive to accumulate knowledge.
Before I knew it, those hectic days had carried me to my birthday, and I turned twelve.
My height had finally surpassed 150 centimeters.
Hopefully, I would just keep on growing at this pace.
And right now, the thing I was most fervently focusing on—was healing magic.
In Ronzolkia, healing magic was an extremely rare skill. It was said that once you mastered it, you would never have to worry about making a living for the rest of your life.
Hmm... I see. This isn’t so much “magic” as it is a “technique.”
Its mechanics were completely different from those in games.
In the original Ronzolkia, the flow was simple: activate healing magic → consume mana to restore HP.
But in this world, it was: use mana to regenerate cells → reconnect torn tissues.
In other words, to successfully perform healing magic, you needed three things—advanced mana control, an understanding of human anatomy, and deep medical knowledge.
Honestly, it was a huge pain.
No wonder healing magic was considered so rare.
Still, if I can master it, my survival rate will shoot way up.
I had already learned Void Possession, so my defenses were quite solid.
If I could add healing magic on top of that, my defenses would become completely unshakable.
With that in mind, I had been devouring every medical text I could get my hands on lately.
...Alright, I think I’m good on theory for now.
I had a grasp on the basics.
Now all I needed was—no, not experiments... test subje—no, not that either. Let’s call it a “volunteer.”
The next day, just past noon, I headed straight for the town in the Heisenberg domain.
After strolling along the main street for a while—
Yeah, this place will do.
I turned toward a clinic that happened to catch my eye.
I raised my right hand to knock on the door... and stopped just short.
I was supposed to be the lazy, arrogant, villainous noble. Polite manners were not part of the act.
“—I’m coming in.”
I kicked the door open with force, making my entrance as dynamic as possible.
“What the—?!”
“What’s all the commo—whoa?!”
“You’re... Lord Hollow?!”
Shockwaves ran through the clinic.
It was no surprise—within the Heisenberg domain, I was considered a “forbidden” existence.
The original Hollow relentlessly hounded anything he disliked.
Once you angered him, living in this town became impossible.
Normally, my father, the domain lord, should have reined me in...
but he was too busy traveling the country, searching for a way to lift my mother’s curse. He had no time to oversee my upbringing.
As a result, the foolish son’s arrogance had been allowed to spiral out of control.
Given that background, it was only natural the people of Heisenberg feared me deeply.
Amidst the suffocating tension in the clinic, a middle-aged man—likely the head doctor—hurried over.
He dropped to one knee before me, seeking my will.
“L-Lord Hollow, to what do we owe this visit...?”
“Nothing much. Just came to look around.”
I said that casually, taking a seat in a random chair.
“What are you standing around for? Get back to work. Don’t waste my time.”
“Y-Yes, my lord!”
The head doctor snapped into motion, and the other physicians resumed their tasks.
Hmm... they look really uncomfortable working like this.
Whether it was my gaze that unnerved them or something else, their movements were stiff and awkward.
I was truly sorry—just for today, please bear with it.
Apologizing silently in my head, I observed their work from a distance.
...I see...
Indeed, seeing it once was worth hearing it a hundred times.
I had crammed a ton of medical knowledge from the Forbidden Archive into my head, but witnessing it with my own eyes was something else entirely.
And likewise, seeing a hundred times was no substitute for experiencing once.
I had now watched plenty of healing spells, but actually trying it myself would surely feel completely different.
...I’m starting to want to test this on someone...
Wasn’t there an ideal injured person somewhere?
Suppressing my restless excitement, I casually scanned the surroundings—when suddenly, the clinic’s door was flung open. Two adventurers rushed inside.
“Hah... hah...! Please, help our comrade...!”
The male swordsman’s face was stricken with desperation as he carried a female mage, her body drenched in blood.
Looks like claw marks... probably a monster attack.
The heavy scent of blood filled the air as the nurses moved swiftly into action.
“Th-This is terrible...! Prepare for an immediate transfusion!”
“Bring every potion we have, now!”
The female mage was laid out on the examination table.
The male swordsman stayed by her side, gripping her hand tightly as he spoke words of encouragement.
“You’re safe now! We’ve made it to the hospital in the Heisenberg domain! There are plenty of skilled doctors here!”
“...Yeah... thank... you...”
In no time, three doctors had gathered, and healing magic was immediately invoked.
However—
“It’s no good, she’s lost too much blood...!”
“We can’t keep up with the regeneration or the suturing...!”
“This... it’s already hopeless...”
Despite their desperate efforts, the female mage’s condition only worsened, her mana growing ever weaker.
With the last embers of her life flickering out, she forced her trembling voice to speak.
“...I’m... sorry... I’ve... caused you trouble... again...”
“N-No, that’s wrong... none of this is your fault! This happened because I wasn’t strong enough!”
“Looks like... I can’t... make it... I won’t be able... to keep... our promise...”
“Hey, don’t say that—don’t you dare say that! Stop it, please, I’m begging you! Please... just answer me...!”
No matter how many times the male swordsman called out to her, the female mage gave no response.
As the heavy air settled over the room, the doctors exchanged glances—and stopped treatment.
Healing magic demanded an enormous amount of mana.
To save as many injured as possible, they would not waste precious resources on patients with no hope of recovery.
Cruel, yes—but rational.
Well, today’s my lucky day. An ideal subject just came to me.
If that life was about to be lost anyway, then I might as well make good use of it.
“Let me have a look at her.”
I moved to step toward the female mage—but the male swordsman blocked my path.
“...You’re the heir to the Heisenberg family, aren’t you?”
“What of it?”
“You just said you’d ‘have a look’—can you even use healing magic?”
“No. I’m still learning. But a perfect practice subject just rolled in, and I intend to make use of her.”
“...Practice... subject...? You bastard...!”
The enraged swordsman grabbed me by the collar.
The clinic trembled with tension in an instant.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Idiot, stop it! That’s Lord Hollow you’re grabbing!”
“You’ll get yourself killed if you keep this up!”
The doctors and nurses were pale, frantically urging him to calm down—but his fury did not subside.
“You’re no doctor—don’t you dare touch her! My precious comrade is not some noble’s plaything!”
With tears streaming down his face, he hurled his emotions at me.
To seize the heir by the collar and shout insults at him—that was unforgivable.
And yet... that pure anger for a comrade’s sake... that kind of passionate heart—I rather liked it.
But right now, it was just getting in my way.
“—Filth. Take your filthy hands off me.”
I tightened my right fist and gave him a light punch to the solar plexus.
“Gah—?!”
He sank to his knees, collapsing forward and twitching on the floor.
...Oops. Might’ve hit a little too well there.
Still, having him thrash about right now would be a nuisance—so I’d leave him there for a while.
Turning from him, I faced the dying female mage.
Alright... here we go.
My first healing spell ever, and the patient was a woman on death’s door.
From the outside, it probably looked like reckless madness.
But I was confident.
Hollow von Heisenberg, the prodigy—someone like me could heal wounds of this level.
I was sure of it.
“Huu...”
I exhaled softly, holding my hand over her body.
Then—I broke my mana down into particles and let them seep into her flesh.
(Skull fracture, cerebral contusion, broken sternum, right lung damage, shattered ribs, ruptured spleen... and numerous other critical injuries.)
She’d been torn apart—practically a corpse already.
Alright, let’s begin.
I closed my eyes in silence and activated the healing magic.
First—regeneration.
I transformed my mana into hers, creating new cells, organs, and bones to replace what had been lost.
Next—suturing.
I reshaped my mana into threads, stitching muscles and nerves back together.
...I see. I’m starting to get the hang of this.
In healing magic, speed was everything.
Now that I had the rhythm of regeneration and suturing down, I sharpened my focus—and pulled the treatment together in one swift motion.
At that moment, the doctors behind me let out cries of shock.
“S-so fast?! What kind of regeneration speed is that? And his mana synchronization is flawless?!”
“What an incredibly delicate control of mana...!”
“Look at the thickness of those mana threads! You can barely see them!”
“Hey, wait a second—is he regenerating and stitching at the same time!?”
“This... this isn’t human work. This is nothing less than the ‘Hand of God’...”
I briskly regenerated this part, nimbly stitched up that part—ten seconds later, the treatment was done.
“Hmm... I suppose that’ll do.”
My very first attempt at healing magic had been a complete success.
The female mage’s complexion had returned to normal, and her breathing had settled into a steady rhythm.
She would probably regain consciousness within the hour.
Still... this was a bit too slow.
If it took ten seconds just to handle something like this, it wouldn’t do.
In actual combat, I’d need to bring full recovery down to under a second.
Well, it was my first time trying healing, so I’ll just keep training from here on.
While I was holding my own little post-mortem in my head—
“...She... she’s safe...?”
The male swordsman, now recovered from the hit to his abdomen, staggered toward the female mage.
“Of course she is. Did you really think I’d fail just because this was practice?”
“Th–thank you...! Truly, I don’t even know how to begin to repay you...!”
He bowed deeply.
“—You. What’s your name?”
“M–My name is Garius Brown, a B-rank adventurer, sir!”
“Garius, you grabbed me by the collar. You understand the gravity of that, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir... I am prepared to accept whatever punishment Lord Hollow deems fit for my disrespect.”
“A fine resolve. Then, I shall pass judgment.”
The laws of the Heisenberg territory were notorious for their severity.
Disrespect and violence toward the lord’s son were crimes that could not be forgiven.
“““...!”””
The clinic’s atmosphere turned icy; doctors, nurses, and patients alike fell silent as I pronounced his sentence.
“In the name of Hollow von Heisenberg, I command you—become stronger.”
“...Huh?”
Garius froze, looking utterly dumbfounded.
“That female mage is dear to you, isn’t she? Then become strong enough to protect her properly. Never again let such a disgraceful scene play out. Understood?”
“Y–Yes, sir! I truly am sorry for what happened... and thank you, truly!”
He poured out words of apology and gratitude, bowing again and again.
“W–Wait... wasn’t Lord Hollow supposed to be some spoiled brat?”
“Yeah... but what a righteous sentence that was...”
“That depth of character... he’s clearly the next head of the house.”
The people present began praising me one after another.
Yes, yes, the goodwill points were piling up nicely!
If the approval rating among the townsfolk ever dropped too low, it would trigger the dreaded ‘Burned-Manor Ending.’
That was why it was so important to rack up points from time to time.
And really... these adventurers have great timing.
I’d gotten to test my healing magic and naturally raise my approval rating at the same time.
Honestly, you people were the best. I almost wanted to give them a present in thanks.
While I nodded in satisfaction, an elderly man—probably the head of the clinic—spoke to me.
“My word... I never imagined Lord Hollow possessed skill in healing magic.”
“What are you talking about? Today was my first time.”
“...I beg your pardon?”
“I just watched your people work and copied them. Well? Not bad, right?”
“N–Not bad? I’d call it divine... (He mimicked that level of skill just by watching?!)”
“Heh, you exaggerate.”
With that, I turned toward the exit.
“If you get a case this clinic can’t handle, send them to my estate. If it’s only once in a while, I might treat them myself.”
“Th–Thank you very much!”
And so, with healing magic now added to my arsenal—
Now then... next stop: the ‘Garzak Underground Prison.’
—I immediately set about preparing for the next event.
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