Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 142 - Genius 2

Cliff is a genius.

He didn't lie to me about that.

He possesses a Magic Eye, apparently obtained from the Demon World Emperor, same as Aisha.

"Starting from the patient's condition. That's the most basic of basics."

With that, Cliff examined every single patient.

What he did wasn't fundamentally different from what the physician teams had already been doing, though. Using his Magic Eye on the severe cases, questioning the mild ones, cross-referencing the case notes the physician teams had written down.

Still.

The patients were afraid of Cliff's attire. Some showed open hostility.

The Milis Church had been the fiercest persecutors of the Superd Race. A lot of people hadn't forgotten that.

"Alright, answer me. Where did you first feel something was off?"

Cliff didn't let it bother him.

That matched exactly what I'd thought when I first met him. He's a man who takes his responsibilities seriously. Making friends with him was the right call.

"I see."

After he'd worked through all the patients, something clicked for him. I could tell.

I believed in him, so I kept my mouth shut the entire time. As long as I was standing beside him, the physician teams from the Ranoa Kingdom and the Asura Kingdom would listen to what Cliff had to say.

"The attending physicians. I want to speak with them."

Both stepped forward, one from the Asura Kingdom, one from the Ranoa Kingdom.

The conversation lasted 10 minutes.

10 minutes later, I heard Cliff speak in a tone of pure contempt.

"The doctors of the Asura Kingdom and the Ranoa Kingdom are genuinely incompetent."

Those words should have drawn an immediate challenge. Cliff is the next Pope of the Holy Country of Milis. The next Pope, speaking that carelessly, that should have lit a fire under both men.

But they held back. Probably because Cliff was someone I had brought here. They stayed polite.

"Then what does Lord Cliff intend to do?"

"Hah. Now we start the investigation."

The attending physicians' expressions twisted when he said that.

I'll be honest, it made me want to laugh too.

But that confidence was exactly why I still wanted to believe in him.

Not that this situation concerns me all that much. I'm doing everything I can to help, but if it fails, it fails. I won't lose sleep over it.

Orsted holds the same view. He told me that as long as Ruijerd survives, that's enough.

So strictly speaking, everything I'm doing here is for Norn.

Holding onto that thought, I stood up and walked outside the village.

Patients were everywhere. Inside the houses, outside them, lying across every available surface. Norn was moving between them in a constant loop, sweating, carrying water, delivering medicine.

The life and death of the Superd Race has nothing to do with me. But my little sister was going to wear herself out.

"Huh... Norn's really grown up."

I muttered it to myself and walked over to help.

Norn set down the basin she was carrying and looked up.

"Brother? Are you feeling better?"

"There was nothing wrong with me to begin with."

"When you collapsed earlier, I was so worried..."

"Were you?"

"Yeah... I cried, brother..."

"What? Norn actually cried for me?"

She blinked at me. Then she started fidgeting.

"Brother... I know I'm not as clingy as Aisha, but... I love you too. And..."

"And?"

"And this time... brother only came because of my stubbornness. If something had actually happened to you... just thinking about it, I..."

"I'm fine. I'm standing right here."

She really has grown up.

After that heart-to-heart we had last time, I already thought she had. But this time it's different. Even if I'd said no, even if I'd never come, Norn would have still chosen to help Ruijerd. That decision was hers. She had her own reasons, her own conviction behind it.

She just doesn't have the ability to carry full responsibility for her own choices yet.

"I'm sorry, brother..."

"You want me to forgive you?"

"Yeah..."

"Then tell me one thing honestly."

"Hm...?"

"Norn. Do you have feelings for Ruijerd? The kind between a man and a woman?"

I'd already confirmed Ruijerd has feelings in that direction. And for all that serious, composed exterior, who knows what Norn looks like in his dreams.

Well. Ruijerd is a good man.

I don't know him that deeply, but these past few years, he's kept Norn safe. Genuinely, carefully safe. Even this time, when he came asking for help, all he wanted was a map of the teleportation formation.

A responsible man. A good one.

"Bro — brother..."

Norn's face went red. All of it, instantly.

Hard to believe she's a woman in her twenties.

"What?"

"I might... have a little?"

"A little. You bullied your own brother at home over a little? You came all the way out to this desolate, dangerous place for a little?"

"Ugh... brother... will you agree to it?"

"You should be asking Father that."

"Father will agree if brother agrees, I know he will."

"Hah. If Father agrees, I'll agree."

"Ugh... I'm not arguing with you anymore. I'm going back to help."

"I'll handle it. With that arm strength, you shouldn't be carrying water anyway."

"Oh..."

------

Cliff didn't disappoint me.

I stayed out of it entirely, and he came through.

He found the cause of the illness. He produced a medicine.

The short version: the Superd Race lives too long, and the food and water sources in this land are saturated with mana. Under normal circumstances that wouldn't matter, but the Superd Race's lifespan is extraordinary. That mana had been building up inside their bodies for generations, and now it was killing them.

Not a contagion. A hundred years of accumulation, finally erupting.

That's why almost none of the children had fallen ill.

Next came the trial.

"The Milis Church... can't be trusted..."

Someone among the Superd patients on the floor said it in a low voice.

Honestly.

If Ruijerd and Norn weren't here, I would have killed that person on the spot.

You're already dying. And you're questioning the doctor trying to save you.

Just thinking about it made my blood heat.

"I... I will take it."

The clan chief. The one who had collapsed inside the house earlier.

Ruijerd was supporting him as they walked toward Cliff.

"Clan Chief! You would trust someone from the Milis Church?!"

"That's right! After the war, who drove us out the hardest? You know better than anyone!"

The Superd clansmen's outburst dragged in the attending physician teams too, the same ones Cliff had already labeled incompetent.

"Suddenly asking someone to drink something of completely unknown origin? I have never heard of this in my life!"

"Lord Cliff, did you actually study medicine?"

The physicians' unease spread outward like a ripple. The Superd members who had been quiet started adding their voices. Medicine from an unknown source. Handed over by someone wearing Milis Church robes.

People muttering in fear. People with open hostility written across their faces.

Chaos was spreading through the clinic.

Norn gripped the hem of my shirt tight.

But like I said. Cliff and I aren't exactly close. Still, I believed in his confidence.

And more than that,

What if it fails?

Whatever happens to the Superd Race has nothing to do with me. Every last one of them could die. That's fine.

As long as Ruijerd survives.

So I spoke.

"Members of the Superd Race. Do you want to die here?"

"We..."

"Your clan chief is testing the medicine for you. If he dies, then you can complain all you want. But if it fails, you won't need to. Just lie down and wait."

"You—!"

The young clansman looked ready to keep going.

The clan chief raised one hand. The young ones went quiet.

Then he lowered his head toward me.

"Benefactor of the Superd Race. I am deeply sorry for the poor impression we have made. If it fails — please, do not abandon my people entirely. I beg of you."

"Mm."

I turned to the attending physician teams.

"My friend Cliff was right. You are incompetent. Go home and figure out how to explain yourselves to your kings."

"Lord Rudeus... this medicine..."

I looked at the one who'd opened his mouth.

He didn't finish the sentence.

Cliff stood beside me, completely unbothered. He smiled, and looked at the clan chief.

"Just trust me. I'm a genius."

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