Chapter 113 - Treatment
"...It appears that your young lady has contracted tuberculosis."
The doctor delivers those words to me.
What is this? It's a disease whose name I know all too well, yet somehow, the meaning of those words refuses to sink in.
"And perhaps because she has been breathing polluted air in the factory all this time... the disease also seems to be progressing remarkably quickly..."
"Yes... And so, um... how long will it take...?"
"Normally, it would be around six months to a year... but given your young lady's physical condition and how rapidly the disease is progressing, I would estimate one to two months..."
I asked how long it would take for her to recover, didn't I?
Why would it happen so much sooner just because my young lady has less stamina than an ordinary person?
"It is not a disease she can recover from. Please... prepare yourself for the worst."
Prepare myself? What does that even mean? One to two months...? How can this be happening?!
I can't make sense of anything anymore. I know the name of the disease, tuberculosis. I know its symptoms... and I know how it ends. But my mind refuses to accept it.
"That's a lie! It's a lie! That can't be true!!"
Even when I lost control and raised my voice, the doctor merely remained silent, his expression grave.
The following evening, I went to see my young lady in person.
I had to do my best to maintain a gentle smile, keeping my anxiety off my face as much as possible.
Her face was deathly pale, with a reddish flush, and she was breathing with obvious difficulty.
"Cough... Vihi...ta..."
"Please don't speak, my lady. I've brought some fruit gathered from the No-Hunger Dungeon. Please eat something nutritious and get some rest."
"Why... just when something interesting was about to... happen... cough..."
"My lady! You must rest...!"
"I don't want to, Vihita. I still... I don't want to die."
I wanted to tell her that she wasn't going to die, but the moment I saw blood mixed in with her cough, something inside me broke, too.
There was no way I could maintain that fake smile any longer. Besides, my young lady possessed such a vast wealth of knowledge that there was no way she could fail to understand that her condition was a fatal one.
The carefully composed expression I had put on to hide the truth crumbled away, and great, heavy tears began streaming down my face without end.
"My lady! You can be saved! I'll save you! Let's head to the eighteenth floor of the Hot Spring Dungeon right now!"
My young lady looked at me as if to say, What?
"You can't be saved because you lack stamina, right? And you can't heal because the disease keeps draining your strength, right? Then, if you stay somewhere that continually restores your stamina without limit, eventually your body's natural healing abilities should be able to overcome the disease, shouldn't they?! I'm going to get Her Majesty Yuzha's permission right now!"
That's right! If conventional medicine cannot cure her, then we have no choice but to turn to supernatural phenomena beyond the reach of medicine!
At the very least, those hot springs can solve the problem of my young lady's lack of stamina!
There have been cases of people recovering from tuberculosis, even if they were left with some lingering aftereffects! It isn't as though no one has ever recovered!
Then, if she has an unlimited supply of stamina, surely her chances of recovery will be much higher!
Every second counts, so I rushed out of the room and made straight for Her Majesty Yuzha without even waiting for my young lady's reply!
When I explained the situation, Her Majesty Yuzha readily granted her permission.
Her Majesty declared, "After she'd gone and turned this kingdom upside down however she pleased, there's no way I'm letting her just die on me! I'll make her take responsibility for all of this, so hurry up and get her treated!"
Her Majesty Yuzha may put it that way, but deep down, she must be genuinely worried about Lady Auf's condition.
...It isn't simply because her disappearance would plunge the entire research operation into utter chaos, is it? No, wait... the research teams have already lost their coordination, and the whole place is in disarray...
Thank you, Your Majesty Yuzha. I am grateful for your generous heart. I shall choose to believe that is the reason.
I immediately gathered a large number of my subordinates, placed my young lady on a large stretcher lined with a soft mattress, and set off for the Hot Spring Dungeon.
We had barely set out toward the Hot Spring Dungeon when Captain Touji came running after us from behind.
"Hey, Vihita. We’re coming along, too. That's final."
"Captain Touji?!"
"The hot spring that corrects physical deformities, the ones that repair teeth, and that skin-rejuvenating spring on the eleventh floor—any one of them might have some beneficial effect, however small.
You take Lady Auf straight to the hot spring on the eighteenth floor. We'll collect water from the more distant springs and transport it there for you.
You absolutely cannot afford to get held up struggling against monsters. Take a few of my subordinates with you as well."
"Y-Yes, ma'am! Thank you very much!"
Captain Touji will be giving us her full support as well.
Her Majesty Yuzha must have arranged this for us.
Lady Auf, that's right. You cannot possibly die here, not like this.
After all, everyone throughout the kingdom is hoping for your recovery.
"Move out! We're pushing straight through to the hot spring on the eighteenth floor today, without sleep or rest!"
We race along the cleared path at nearly full speed, taking care not to place too much strain on my young lady even as we push ourselves to the limit.
We press onward through the first floor, the second, the third...
We have her soak in the hot spring on the fifth floor, whose effects are unknown, and the one on the eighth floor that makes scars disappear. Perhaps one of them might have some effect on her illness.
In fact, the scar-removing spring seems to have helped a little. Perhaps it repaired the damage to her throat from coughing, because she tells me that breathing feels a little easier.
Let's fill an entire barrel with water from the scar-removing spring so she can use it on the eighteenth floor as well.
When we reached the expansive ninth floor, my young lady suddenly called out to me in a faint voice, asking me to stop.
"What is it, my lady?! Is the jolting too painful?"
"Hah... hah... cough... Ah, the vast ninth floor... I want to see it... Just let me look for a little while... cough, cough... wheeze..."
My young lady wants to see the ninth floor, even as she struggles with violent coughing fits.
"You can look at it as much as you like once you've recovered!!"
Ignoring my young lady's request, we press onward.
Please stop looking so sad. And don't strain yourself trying to crane your neck over the edge of the stretcher to get a look.
Please just rest! You must not put your intellectual curiosity first even in a situation like this!
"Th-The athletic area on the eleventh floor... What about that? I want to see the mirror room, too... Cough..."
"You can look at those as much as you like once you've recovered, too! Oh, and we'll have you soak in the training-enhancement hot spring on the tenth floor along the way. If it boosts your healing ability even a little, that'll be a bonus!"
And so, after rushing onward at full speed, we finally reached the hot spring on the eighteenth floor.
As long as we could get my young lady into this spring, her stamina should be sustained indefinitely.
We had been running nonstop for an entire day, so the rest of us joined her in the spring as well.
My young lady had been deathly pale, her eyes vacant, and her expression strained with suffering. But the moment she entered the hot spring, her eyes brightened with renewed vitality.
"Whoa?! Th-This is amazing! My stamina really has been completely restored... Cough! Cough, cough!"
"This spring doesn't cure illnesses, so please take it easy."
I had secretly hoped that it might cure her illness as well, but apparently, that was asking a little too much.
Even so, my young lady looked genuinely delighted to have her stamina fully restored for the first time in so long.
Her eyes sparkling brilliantly, she began examining the outlet from which the hot spring water gushed.
It seemed that the joy of finally seeing the bath she had only heard about in reports outweighed even her happiness at having her stamina restored...
"Ah, so this is it... This is the mechanism behind the Hot Spring Dungeon's gushing bath that I've dreamed of seeing! So this is how it's constructed... Cough! Cough, cough!"
I really wish she would take it easy, but it's been so long since I've seen my young lady this happy. I suppose I can overlook something this minor...
"It was hearing about this outlet that led to the completion of the steam engine, wasn't it..."
She says this while gazing affectionately at the water outlet.
I have no idea what sort of thought process could possibly lead from one to the other, but...
At any rate, my young lady has temporarily regained her vitality, at least in terms of stamina. That is a wonderful thing.
"Now that your stamina has returned, please start by eating a proper, nourishing meal."
Even in a stamina-restoring hot spring, staying immersed up to your neck for too long can make you overheat. So we had her eat while keeping only her feet submerged in the water.
After several days of recuperating in the spring on the eighteenth floor, Captain Touji brought us water from every other spring that seemed even remotely beneficial to one's health.
After bathing in the spring on the ninth floor, my young lady smiled and told us that the pain in her buttocks and lower back, caused by sitting for so long, had disappeared.
The soothing meals prepared using the cooking hot spring also helped restore some of her mental energy.
When she soaked in the spring on the eleventh floor, her pale, gaunt complexion regained its beauty. For a moment, I wondered if she had actually recovered, but it seemed that only her complexion and skin had become healthier and more radiant. Her illness remained unchanged.
Still, perhaps it was wishful thinking, but I couldn't help feeling that these small improvements were having at least some effect.
If she continued recuperating here... surely, eventually, my young lady would get better.
And then... after about ten days of recuperation.
I was consumed by despair as I watched the amount of blood coming from my young lady's mouth whenever she coughed increase noticeably.
The disease showed absolutely no signs of improving. On the contrary, her condition continued to deteriorate without pause.
At this rate, no matter how much stamina she retained, all we were doing was prolonging her
Was I truly powerless to do anything but watch my young lady grow weaker and weaker? No! I couldn't bear it! I couldn't!
"Aaaaaaaaaah!! Hot Spring Dungeon! Will of the Hot Spring Dungeon! You! You're watching us right now, aren't you?!
Please create a hot spring that cures illnesses! A spring that cures illnesses! I'm begging you!
What is your purpose?! What is it you want from us?! You want us to explore the depths of the Dungeon, don't you?!
Then I will! I'll keep exploring, whether it takes the twentieth floor or the thirtieth! Impose whatever training you want on me, whatever it takes!
So please, save my young lady! Save Lady Auf!!! I'm begging you!!!"
Even as I screamed through my tears and pounded the wall until my hands bled, desperately pleading for help, the Dungeon gave me no answer.
When my screams finally subsided, all that remained was a heavy silence. No one around me could find anything to say, and everyone stood mute.
Only the impersonal sound of water continuously gushing from the hot spring echoed hollowly through the silence.
Then, from somewhere in the distance, we heard a deep Grrrrrrrumble, like a landslide.
"...What was that?"
By the time I wondered what the sound had been, Captain Touji was already sprinting toward its source.
Within just a few minutes, Captain Touji came running back and said:
"Lady Auf, it seems a new floor has been created for us.
Vihita, transport Lady Auf together with the water from the eighteenth-floor spring. We won't let a single monster get anywhere near her."
Huh? Are we really going to carry my young lady there without even checking the location or effects of the hot spring on the nineteenth floor?!
...No. Captain Touji must already understand, too.
If the spring on the next floor wasn't one that could cure illnesses, then we would have no hope left.
And she must understand that we barely have any time left.
Even after hearing that a new floor had been created, my young lady could do nothing but clutch her chest and struggle to breathe, as though she were drowning in her own blood.
"The Dungeon has answered your promise to keep exploring, whether it's the twentieth floor or the thirtieth! You'd better keep your word, understand?!"
Captain Touji says this as she leads the way.
Is that supposed to be a joke to cheer me up?
A-All I've done is blurt out something outrageous! What was I thinking, saying something like that...? If anything, it's just given me one more reason to despair!!
Looking more closely, I realize that Captain Touji doesn't look particularly well herself.
Perhaps she's desperately trying to convince herself that the Hot Spring Dungeon has responded to my words and must be creating the kind of hot spring we're hoping for.
"...Let's go, my lady."
I hoist my young lady onto my back, along with the barrel of hot spring water, and begin walking.
Very well. If it means curing my young lady's illness, I'll go through the twentieth floor, the thirtieth floor, and as many more as it takes.
So please... You have to cure her, Hot Spring Dungeon.
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