Tenkomori: The Homecoming Club Conquers Another World

"It's been a long time, Markant."

"……Alter."

It was Markant who opened the banging door.

Like everyone else, he was speechless when he saw me. Sure, I've lost a little weight. But don't worry, Marchant. You look terrible, too.

I slap the arm of the man who looks down at me with downcast eyes and enters the hospital.

"Who was that?"

I heard a question through the open door. It seemed to be Pavel.

When he entered the room, he found not only Pavel but also "Battle Axe of Destruction" gathered there. Only Danil was napping by the wall. And for some reason, the priest Keseles was there.

They were all surprised to see me for a moment and then rushed to get up to greet me.

"Why is it Keseles-dono?"

"I asked for it."

It was Pavel who answered.

He is a priest with a somber expression. For a moment, I wondered if he hadn't made it, but if he had, Markant would have been more upset.

Once again, Keseles answers my question.

"Yesterday, Pavel-dono asked me to ease his suffering. I rushed over to help ease her suffering, even if only a little."

"I see. Thank you, Keseles-dono. And how is Valerie?"

Pavel shook his head.

"I thought it was pretty tough."

"You're still in one piece, aren't you?"

"Yes. But–"

"Then you don't have to worry anymore."

I held out the vial.

"The cure."

"What?

Markant's loud voice rises from behind me. His voice was so loud that even Danil jumped out of his skin.

I beg you, please don't make noise in my ear. The voice alone is quite loud.

Pavel stared at the vial.

"Alter-sama, is that a cure?"

"It's the real deal, the genuine article. I'll tell you where it comes from after you're cured of that disease. I probably won't believe it."

Seeing Pavel's confusion, Keseles stepped forward.

"Alter-sama, I don't mean to be rude. May I appraise you?"

I flinched for a moment at these unexpected words.

"Can you do it? You want an appraisal?"

"Yes. I have some familiarity with denatured magic."

Denatured magic? Well, that's strange that there is no appraisal magic.

Still, I confirm that my status is disguised. But if you can appraise with magic, the "Appraisal" skill should not be uncommon. Why is it so special?

Pavel and Keseles looked at me suspiciously, so I broke off my train of thought and put the vial on the table.

"Fine. Do it."

Keseles bowed to me, "Well," he said, "then," and launched his magic at the vial.

"This is ……."

He mutters a few words and releases the spell.

"I could not discern whether this was a potion or not, or even the name. I am certain that it is not an ordinary potion, though."

"The name is Potion of Sharpe, the Grass King's Liquor Potion."

Pavel shakes his head at my words.

"I've never heard that name before."

"That's enough. There is no point discussing it if you can't identify it by authenticating magic. If you insist, I'll take a sip."

"No, that's not why–"

"Then let's go. Valerie is waiting for us."

I grabbed the vial and quickly left the room.

In a hurry, Markant was ahead of me. He went to Valerie's room. Come to think of it, we hadn't seen each other since before she was admitted to the hospital. I didn't even know where her room was. I don't think Markant noticed that. I think he simply couldn't standstill.

When I entered Valerie's room, I smelled a miscellaneous odor.

It smelled of stale, foul, and dead leaves. There was vomit, hemoptysis, medicinal herbs. I don't know what medicinal herbs smell like.

I looked at the bed and saw Valerie lying there in the dim light.

Her face was earthy, and her cheeks were scrawny.

"Is she conscious?"

"I'm still fine."

Pavel stood close by, looking in on the situation and talking to her.

Soon after, Valerie's eyelids moved slightly. Then she slowly looked around the room and met my eyes. Valerie's mouth moved and she called my name in a muffled voice.

"It's been a while, Valerie. I've brought you a little something this time. You'll take the cure, won't you?"

Without waiting for a reply, I hand the vial to Pavel.

Pavel opens the lid, frowns at the liquor, and looks at me as if to confirm.

"It's medicine, but it's also an alcoholic drink."

Even after hearing my response, Pavel hesitates, as if he is still reluctant to give an unknown medicine. After a few moments, he exhaled in resignation and gave instructions to Markant.

He gently raised Valerie's upper body and she coughed, her brow furrowed in pain.

He waited until she calmed down, then Pavel transferred the remedy to a small spoonful and brought it close to Valerie's mouth. Valerie swallowed it as if it were a conditioned reflex.

Immediately, she spits out the remedy and begins coughing again.

The vial is safe, but the spoonful of liquor medicine soaks into the bed.

Markant rubs Valerie's back with a tearful look on his face.

That is not good, the spirit is too strong. Her weakened body refuses to take it. I'm in no condition to drink.

At that moment, Pavel suddenly began to act strangely.

He tilted the small bottle over Valerie.

"Wait!"

It was close. If I had realized too late, I would have wasted the cure. Even if I could make it again, there was no guarantee that the next one would arrive in time.

"That's no ordinary potion. It probably won't work even if you multiply it."

"But even healthy people have difficulty drinking this. In her current state, Valerie-dono ……"

Indeed it is. Even "defective" was deathly tight.

So what to do? The standard method in such a situation is to transfer the liquid by mouth, but it would cause reflux. It would be better if we could use a hose or something like that to pour it directly into his stomach, but he would probably spit out the hose first.

While I was thinking about this, Keseles stepped forward.

"Leave it to me."

He stands next to Valerie and activates his magic.

As a pale glow envelops Valerie, her coughing gradually subsides and her expression becomes calmer.

"This will help. Now, the medicine before she falls asleep."

Then Keseles came back to stand beside me.

"Intermediate Sacred Magic -Depth Sedation. It's why I was here. It's been a long time since I exercised it to keep her alive."

He smiled.

When he brought the cure close to her mouth again, Valerie swallowed it without changing a single expression, even though it was such a strong drink.

Everyone was relieved to see that she did not spit it out.

We wondered what will happen, but now it was all over.

The amount of the medicine was rapidly depleting. And when there was only a little left, something unusual happened.

Valerie, who had been calm, suddenly began to suffer.

Impatiently, Markant rubbed her back frantically.

Was the medicine not working?

It can't be. Then it's too late–no, this!

Valerie writhed and almost fell off the bed.

Pavel reaches out to support her.

"No, get off of me!"

Coughing violently on the floor, Valerie vomits.

What she vomits out is a swirling mass of blood.

Quickly, she throws water from a bowl on the table and covers it.

The clot of blood continued to pound the bowl, but after a moment it quieted down.

"The cloth there. I'm going to let it float a little bit so you can wrap it up."

Danil and Ose stretched the cloth taut from both sides and inserted it under the vessel.

"Okay, we'll incinerate it outside. I think it's weak, but be careful."

"Yes!"

The two men take the cloth-wrapped vessels and runoff.

I invoked "Appraisal" on Valerie.

He's still lurking.

"Mister Pavel and Keseles-san, please move away."

"That was ……."

"It's a baby of Tremble Cube. It's about a dozen days old."

I answered lightly, but their faces were rigid.

Then we burned off a bunch of clots of blood.

After a while, they stopped spitting anything out, but my "Appraisal" did not erase the word "Ash Vomiting Disease".

Leaving the rest to me, I returned to the mansion.

I needed more of the King of Grass's Liquor Potion.

That evening, when I gave her the potion of champagne again, she still vomited up a lump.

The next day, she spits out a few finger-sized lumps again. While incinerating them, I stayed at the hospital and kept an eye on her.

The next day, Valerie stopped vomiting, and the "Appraisal" confirmed that she had stopped vomiting.

It was the fourteenth day after the encounter with the Tremble Cube.