The Doctor Cured The Villainess And Ran Away-Chapter 31: Drug Abuse (2)

I grabbed both of the commander’s biceps and stretched them straight out.

“Aaargh!”

I pushed his head down and stretched all the way down his back, and he let out a shriek completely unsuited for his size.

“See? This is what happens when you skip exercise and stretching—your whole body locks up. Pull all the way through.”

“Gaaah! My arms are coming off!”

The strength enhancer was highly effective.

Even a commander who looked like he could split an ogre in half couldn’t move an inch once I got ahold of him.

I reached around from behind /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ and pulled his arms over his head in one smooth motion.

I think this was a wrestling move... was it a cobra twist?

“Don’t forget to open up your lats!”

“Uwaaah! W-wait a second, Professor!”

The commander slapped my knee desperately as his whole body quivered.

He tried to wriggle out of my grasp, but once my muscle-boosted grip locked onto its prey, it wasn’t letting go.

Incredible effect. How much did it boost me by?

―――――――――――

Strength: 41 (+30)

Stamina: 12

Magic Power: 1

Mana: 18

Divine Power: 22

Faith: 100

―――――――――――

A thirty-point increase—even if temporary.

That was the equivalent of ten years of training.

Almost one minute now.

I released the commander, and he tumbled to the ground in a pathetic heap, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

Once he gathered himself and stood up again, he stared at me in utter fear.

“H-how does someone with such a thin frame have that kind of strength...?”

I popped a candy in my mouth and answered.

“First time seeing someone from the North? This is normal back home. Right, Captain Tanya?”

“Young Master’s frailty is a real concern.”

“H-he’s considered frail...? Do you even need an escort, Professor?”

“Could you last three seconds in a spar with Tanya? I can’t even land a single hit.” ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

When I gestured to Tanya, the commander and guards turned to look at her, their mouths gaping.

“I-if that’s the case... then it makes perfect sense our knights all lost.”

“C-commander, what should we do?”

The commander instantly smacked the back of the babbling guard’s head.

“You fools! You were rude to the Professor—why haven’t you apologized yet?!”

The guards finally got the message and bowed low in front of me.

“We’re sorry!”

“Our deepest apologies!”

The commander scratched the back of his head and bowed, too.

“I’ll make sure to discipline these men properly. The knights haven’t been in great condition lately—that’s probably why they acted out. Please... I hope today’s events won’t be shared outside...”

If word got out that the Imperial Knights were humiliated by a royal physician and his escort, they’d be disgraced.

Whether it was the North or the Imperial Palace, knights always had similarly simple minds.

The whole situation struck me as pretty amusing, so I decided to let it end here.

“All right. Just be careful next time. And make sure to keep up with that stretching, yeah?”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, Tanya and I left the barracks.

***

“So you’re saying they weren’t sincerely sparring but actually picking a fight with me?”

Tanya clenched her teeth after hearing my explanation later on.

“Even if I can overlook what they did to me, I won’t forgive the insult to you. Allow me to go back and retaliate immediately.”

“It’s fine. I already punished them. And besides—we got some good information out of it.”

“Information?”

This incident had been unexpectedly useful.

First off, I got to test the strength enhancer.

I’d been worried I might turn into a green monster with shredded clothes, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Another thing—

“Asella’s faction... is still weak inside the palace.”

The atmosphere had made it clear they were seen as underlings of the Second Prince’s camp.

If even a lowly guard felt bold enough to challenge the Princess’s physician, that said it all.

“Where do Princess Asella’s knights stay?”

“Her Highness’s knights, Bruno, and I all reside in Moonlight Palace. There are no dedicated training facilities, so we usually train in the rear courtyard.”

“That’s rough. The southern barracks seemed pretty well-equipped.”

“Yes. Compared to our marquess family’s facilities, there’s no comparison. It truly felt like the imperial standard.”

“I’m jealous.”

“Of the barracks?”

“That too. But more than anything, of the power behind a strong faction.”

Someday, Asella would become the most powerful among the contenders for succession.

She would be Empress, after all.

But as long as I was here, the timeline would keep shifting little by little.

I’d already managed to eliminate one of the bad endings—and just recently, Asella and the Consort’s faction had effectively split.

In the original timeline, that wouldn’t have happened until much later.

More precisely, the Consort’s faction had simply vanished.

“I don’t have the patience to just wait and see when she’ll grow stronger.”

“You’re planning to get involved in imperial politics?”

“No way. Why would I jump headfirst into a firepit?”

If I stuck my neck out too far, I’d probably get a blade to the throat.

Get too entangled, and I’d be assassinated while trying to leave the palace.

“Then what?”

“It’s easier to use the people already in place—like those guys in the southern barracks.”

Knights are simple.

The Imperial Knights weren’t officially part of any faction, but unofficially, it was clear which claimant had sway over which barracks.

So all I had to do was get them to like Asella.

“Their skills weren’t bad. The imperial style of swordsmanship is efficient.”

“They still all lost to you.”

“Well, I am strong.”

“You might want to work on that humility.”

“A subordinate learns posture from their liege.”

Now she was blaming me.

“But overall, I got the sense the knights weren’t performing at their best. They all seemed a little feeble.”

“Feeble?”

Now that I thought about it, the commander had said the knights weren’t in great shape.

And when I touched him earlier, his body had felt warm.

I’d dismissed it as a natural difference in base temperature.

“It is a seasonal transition right now.”

There could be a virus going around.

I immediately used Diagnosis on Tanya.

[Diagnosis activated]

[Injury State: None]

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“No reason. Just remembered that saying—‘fools don’t catch colds.’”

Could there really be a cold going around the barracks?

Colds are such an annoying illness. They hit at the worst times, make people sluggish and stupid.

It’s considered incurable because new variants keep emerging—so even if the body develops immunity, it gets breached again.

“Aspirin usually works best for most colds.”

It’s the most widely known fever reducer.

Then I should just make it. Aspirin.

“I already made willow-based painkillers. Aspirin is basically a subclass of that.”

With [Extraction], I could pull out salicylic acid from willow bark, then use [Property Change] to convert it into acetylsalicylic acid—Aspirin.

“This could be mass-produced.”

This sounded fun.

I found myself grinning uncontrollably.

But then suddenly, my legs gave out and I collapsed.

“Professor.”

Thankfully, Tanya caught me before I smashed my face into the ground.

Text popped up on my status window.

[Side Effect: Muscle paralysis for 10 minutes]

“Ah. That’s what it was.”

It was the side effect of the strength enhancer.

“I had a feeling you were overexerting yourself earlier. You used some strange technique rooted in medicine, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Just carry me to Moonlight Palace.”

“I suppose this clears my debt.”

Tanya scooped me up with ease and slung me over her shoulder.

***

Just as expected, two days later, the entire Imperial Palace was in the grip of a massive cold outbreak.

Cough, cough.

Even in the infirmary, more and more healers were walking around coughing.

Obviously, there were no masks. No concept of pathogens or contagion meant no one even followed basic hygiene like hand-washing.

Healers did use magic for those in worse condition, but it wasn’t very effective.

With colds, the virus spreads through the entire body. Healing one part doesn’t make you better. No matter how many times they cast spells, it wouldn’t fix the problem.

Even if someone recovered, they’d get reinfected by a mutated strain in no time.

And this particular strain was nasty—both potent and fast-mutating.

“The whole imperial palace is a disaster zone thanks to this virus.”

“It’s not fatal, but everyone looks drained. At this rate, I don’t even know if the martial tournament can proceed.”

“They’ll push it through no matter what. It’s an event His Majesty holds in the highest regard.”

I overheard conversations between healers as I made my rounds through the infirmary.

Everyone was focused on the tournament, now just ten days away.

Most of the infirmary’s healers were slated to participate, so it was no surprise.

“The tournament... yeah, it’s important.”

I glanced at the mountain of aspirin pills piled on my office desk.

I’d asked Neria to collect willow bark for the painkillers, and this time it got put to good use.

Compared to the painkiller, this was much easier to make—I’d churned out a massive batch in no time.

***

“Professor, it’s time for your evening rounds.”

That evening, Tanya and I headed to Moonlight Palace.

When we arrived, Asella had just finished her training schedule and was watching her knights drill in the rear courtyard.

I approached her, offered my greeting, and spoke.

“Princess, I’ll take your blood pressure before bed.”

“Later.”

Asella’s voice was sharp.

I could tell her mood now—after spending so much time with her, even her normally blank expression had subtle tells. She seemed slightly on edge right now.

Cough, cough!

The knights sparring with swords were coughing.

One of the ones on standby looked dizzy, swaying on his feet.

“The knights look drained.”

“I can see that myself. There’s a plague going around. No healers left in the infirmary, and Moonlight Palace is low priority—so none have come. And what the hell have you been...”

She finally turned to face me—and tilted her head slightly, as if caught off guard.

“Oh, this?”

I was wearing a mask.

Given the time period, I hadn’t gone full plague doctor with a bird beak. I’d just layered cloth into a modern-style mask and wore it myself.

“What is that? No wonder your voice sounded muffled...”

“It’s protective gear. Cuts infection risk by over half.”

“You’re the only one wearing it?”

“I just finished making it.”

“You made it yourself? Hmm.”

Asella looked closely at the mask with curiosity.

What’s she staring so hard for?

Oh, I see.

She wants one.

“Of course I have one for you, Princess. Your health is my top priority.”

I pulled out the one I’d prepared earlier from my coat.

I reached for her with the ear loops stretched out, but she jerked her head back.

“Wait a sec, what are you doing?”

“You should always wear it in public spaces. You don’t need it while sleeping.”

“I’ll wear it myself.”

“It’s your first time—let me help. If you wear it wrong, it’ll lose effectiveness.”

Asella pressed her lips together tightly.

Then slowly adjusted her posture and held still.

I unfolded the mask and gently placed it over her nose, hooking the loop behind her ear.

Same on the other side.

In the process, my fingers brushed lightly against her earlobe.

“...Hhk.”

Asella flinched, squinting one eye and pulling her shoulder up with a strange little noise.

...Are her ears sensitive?