According to the explanation I received, the hospital's policy was for patients to recover at home and patients were only allowed to stay in hospital for a few days at most, and in the first place, those with mild symptoms could not be admitted. However, since this was just a five-day selection process, different measures than usual were being taken.
There were three hospital rooms available. Patients were assigned rooms according to the severity of their illness, which were classified as mild, moderate, or severe.
Since there were apparently 12 sick people in each room and considering that there were 12 Saints participating in the selection committee, it might have been expected that each Saint would treat one patient with mild, one with moderate, and one with severe symptoms.
"Hmm, I wonder how the evaluation points work. Is it better to heal more of those with mild injuries, or should I try to heal more of those with severe injuries even if I can't heal them completely?" Anna muttered, looking troubled, so I spoke up the thought that had just occurred to me, "What if we treated one patient each with mild, moderate, and severe symptoms? The number of patients in each category would match the number of Saints, so I think that's what we're counting on."
Anna frowned and said, "That's exactly what the Selection Committee wants. If everyone does the same thing, it will be easier for the organizers to rank them. I don't want the Saints to be judged by such average abilities."
Huh? I wonder if Anna is telling us to focus on the individual abilities of each Saint and see their strengths. That's a very nice thing to say, isn't it!
"In the first place, there is no almighty saint who can do such a thing. There are habits and characteristics in how recovery magic is cast, so there should be some who are good at healing those with minor injuries and others who are good at healing those with serious injuries, and each person should have different areas of expertise," Melody stated a very reasonable opinion, to which I nodded vigorously. "Melody is right!"
I completely agreed with her opinion, and finally, Katie made a strong suggestion, "Since we have been given five days for the review period, shouldn't we focus on treating those with mild symptoms first? Then, if that seems possible, how about trying to treat the more seriously ill patients? First of all, let's go and take a look at the hospital rooms."
I nodded and headed to the room where the patients with minor injuries were being treated along with Anna, Melody, and Katie, who had been with me in the carriage.
At the entrance, each person was given a medical record and had it read through.
"Wow, this is the first time I've seen a doctor's chart, but it's really detailed."
"Yes, since the problem areas have been identified, it would be helpful if I could focus my magic on those areas."
"Now that I think of it, the government issued a notice saying that ‘Saints should cooperate with doctors and endeavor to heal the sick’. The bishop of the church was outraged, saying that it was a way to lower the authority of the Saints, and didn’t take it seriously."
The three of them looked at the medical records and exclaimed in admiration. I suddenly remembered something and stopped.
Come to think of it, Duke Alcott, Lloyd, said something similar before, "It is recommended that the Saint and the doctor work together and cast healing magic on the suspicious areas that the doctor has previously examined, but the Saint does not like this method."
If pairing saints with doctors is the national policy to resolve the shortage of saints, I wonder if they are taking advantage of the selection committee to have the saints try out this method.
The people who participated in the selection committee were the top Saints in the country, so if they recognized that teaming up with doctors was a good method and started adopting it, then it should naturally spread throughout the country. Well, that was a good idea.
I was impressed as I looked over the medical record, and sure enough, the main symptoms and findings were recorded in detail. "Ah, as you three said, this is very convenient, right?!"
As I stood in the doorway, I looked up from my chart and glance around at the patients in the room. "Hmm?" I blurted.
As I blurted out, Anna next to me nodded as if she understood, "I know, the patient is healthier than I thought. They look healthy and talk to their wife. Looking at the chart, I see symptoms like 'uncontrollable cough' and 'hoarseness' written there, so it looks like some technique is needed to cure him, but the patient's condition isn't bad."
As Anna stared thoughtfully at the chart, I replied hesitantly, "Ah, no, I wasn't surprised because the patient in this room was healthier than I expected..."
I stopped mid-sentence and gazed silently at the three Saints. However, when they looked back at me with a puzzled expression, I shook my head and said it was nothing.
At that moment, an irritated voice rang out, "Don't block the door!"
"Oh, sorry," I apologized and quickly moved to the side and saw Priscilla standing there. She didn't seem to have anything in her hands, so I handed him the medical chart. "Please, it might be helpful."
However, Priscilla waved her hand as if to say it was unnecessary, "That's fine! It's just a minor injury, and I can manage even if I don't know what part is injured."
"I guess so," I replied.
I thought that Priscilla might have forgotten to get her medical records, but it turned out she decided those weren't necessary. It seemed as if she was going to heal the patients in this room, but after glancing around at them, she quickly turned around and left through the door she had come in through.
At that moment, Anna let out the breath she had been holding, "Phew, I'm glad she left! Saint Priscilla is a bit pretentious, so maybe she doesn't want to use healing magic in front of other Saints." Hearing Anna's words, I tilted my head.
"That didn't seem to be the case. Maybe the patient in this room was healthy, so she was trying to save the one who was suffering more." (Fia)
"Well, I don't think Saint Priscilla is that kind of devoted type!" (Anna)
But other than that, I didn't understand why she left the room so quickly. It would take a little longer to see if they could be cured. I wonder how severe the symptoms are for someone to be considered seriously ill. If there are people who are suffering, I think it would be best to heal them first.
"Fia, what's wrong?"
"No, if the seriously ill are suffering, I think it would be better to treat them first." (Fia)
"Ah, well, I understand how you feel, but... this is a selection meeting after all. We said a lot of things in the carriage, but we are also carrying the expectations of the local church on our shoulders, so we want to get a good ranking. As for the seriously injured... I was told that once you start healing a patient, you become the saint in charge, and you cannot heal other patients until they are fully healed. It's difficult to just casually get involved,"Katie continued speaking with a troubled look on her face, so I nodded, "Well, yeah."
Even though I nodded obediently, Anna and Melody looked at me suspiciously.
"Well, Fia isn't convinced at all." (Anna)
"It shows on your face." (Melody)
Huh? I wonder where my poker face, honed by the Knights, went. Holding my face tightly with both hands, I spoke what was on my mind, "Well, I just thought that it probably doesn't matter to those who are suffering that we're having a selection meeting right now."
Hearing what I said, the three groaned and lowered their eyebrows.
"Ugh, the saints recommended by the king are so innocent because they are far removed from the shady intentions of the church. I'm starting to feel ashamed of myself for only thinking about getting a good ranking in the selection meeting."
"Yes, it's true. I wonder if I was sparkling like this when I first became a Saint. ...Well, I guess I'll just look at it then."
"Well, let's check all the rooms first, then we'll decide which patients to treat!"
The three of them agreed with my request and offered to take me round to visit the rooms of patients with moderate and severe symptoms. What nice people.
First, we went to the hospital room of a patient with moderate symptoms and received their medical records. This room housed patients who were deemed unlikely to recover through medical efforts. The medical records list symptoms such as "Having suffered from a headache for six months" and "Coughing up blood and unable to get out of bed," and everyone was lying in bed with a pale complexion.
The atmosphere of the patients was different from that of the ward for those with mild symptoms, and they seemed to be suffering from their illness. There were other Saints in the hospital room besides us, and they all had serious looks on their faces as they slowly examined each person.
Finally, when I went to the seriously ill patient's ward, I found that all the patients there had been suffering from stable symptoms for more than three years. Although the first screening was for sick people, it seemed that in this room, patients with old injuries were also included. Looking over the medical records, it said things like "Deformity of the bone in the leg due to a fracture three years ago" and "Numbness and pain in the right arm that remains from an illness four years ago."
Anna whispered quietly so the patient couldn't hear, "This is difficult. Whether it's an old injury or a serious illness, if the cause disappeared years ago and only the symptoms remain, it's almost impossible to heal."
Melody also nodded with a serious look on her face, "Yes, it can be mitigated, but it has almost no magical effect."
Katie looked down at the medical record, "The lord of the area complained of pain from wounds from the past, so they tried to treat it, but it didn't improve much. Wounds from the past are not so easy to deal with... Looking at the medical records, there are some that date back 10 years."
I also spoke in a low voice like they did, "When healing an old wound, momentum is important. If we have momentum, I think we can do something."
Even in my previous life, there were saints who were not good at healing old wounds, but they had little magical power output. In the case of old injuries, they needed to be healed all at once, so unless the output was greater than usual, it wouldn't work.
After checking all the rooms, I, together with the three Saints, pondered what to do.
Author's Note
Thank you for always reading!
We are pleased to announce that the comic adaptation of Great Saint ZERO (a story set 300 years ago) has begun.
Sirius and Serafina, her spirits.
It's very interesting, so please check it out if you're interested.
Comicalization page
https://www.comic-earthstar.jp/detail/daiseijozero/
Also, I'm very sorry, but updates will be irregular for the next 1-2 months.
I'm having trouble deciding what to do next, so please give me a little time.
Thank you in advance.
Translation Note
At this time (2025-03-23), there are 40 raw chapters left (but still ongoing), and this arc has over 20 parts.
Just for info, this series is getting an anime version. https://daiseijo-anime.com/