Chapter 94: Placebo

============================================================================

On the third day of the journey by carriage, we finally got out of the forest we have been traveling in, and fields began to spread out on both sides of the road.

A small village could be seen in the distance.

We had been doing the journey easily and take it slow. I had done training, remodeled the wagon, and enjoyed camping in the forest, and it had been a while since we had been in a place where people lived. If possible, I would like to restock on things, but I wonder if there will be any stores there.

…

After continuing for awhile, we saw people doing farm work. The first villager that we met was a strong-looking female farmer.

“Hello!”

Miina, who was sitting on the driver’s box, greeted her cheerfully. I also poked my head out from between the hoods of the carriage and said hello.

“Could it be that you are the group of the saint and his entourage?”

Surprisingly, the villager seemed to know who we were.

“Yes, but how do you know that?” Miina quickly answers without denying her.

No, no, I’m not a saint, you know.

“We heard the soldiers talking about a saint who healed the amesles plague and seems to be heading this way.”

It must have been the soldiers who surrounded the port village who spread the news.

“If you really are the saint, then I can’t just be loitering here. I need to inform this to the village chief immediately!”

The woman then quickly ran toward the village.

“I wonder what that was all about…”

“Probably, they are going to ask you to heal the injured and sickly people, Shirou.”

“Is that so…”

“Shirou, if you don’t want to, we can just ignore them and take a detour…” Cecily said while carefully watching my expression.

“That’s alright, it’s not like I don’t want to. If someone is in trouble, I want to help them.”

Cecily laughed when I said that.

“Yeah, I knew Shirou would say so.”

We have some various medicines, so we should be able to manage. Before I know it, Rouge had taken out the saint costume from the wardrobe.

“If that’s what you’ve decided, then you have to change quickly. After all, first impression is important.”

Yeah, there may be a placebo effect in the saint cosplay. If the villagers are in awe of the costume, the medicine will work even better, right?

“I guess so. I’m going to change, so turn around.”

“Got it.”

“…”

“…”

“Rouge, I said I’m going to change now. Don’t look.”

“…”

Aaand she completely ignores me and keep staring.

…

Cecily tried to make her stop looking, but she even used barrier magic to resist… It’s rather embarrassing to see someone go that far.

However, what I have is not just a tendency for being an exhibitionist. It’s rather an obsession. I know that if I regularly show myself changing clothes, eventually the excitement would wear off and finally will be gone. If I had to give an example, it would be like a middle-aged couple who had been doing it every day until eventually they would reach a point of boredom.

“That’s enough… Just give me a break already.”

…

I finally draped a thin sheet as a cover and lit the magic lantern inside with the maximum amount of light. At first, Rouge and Cecily were jittery, but when I continued changing they fell silent. I’m sure that those two must be really enjoying the silhouette of me changing clothes. [1]

Just thinking about it makes me a little excited.

I stretched my legs out coyly and slowly pulling down my undies while shaking my butt.

Now that I think about it, I was being really stupid.

————————————————————————————————————————-

When we arrived at the village, we were greeted by the village chief and many other villagers who lined up to greet us.

“Esteemed saint, we bid you welcome to the Roppeli village!”

“I’m neither a saint nor someone of great stature. I am just a traveler with knowledge of medicine.”

For now, let’s refuse to acknowledge anything about being a saint, since it would be troublesome if they asked for help for various unreasonable problems. I could still help if it’s about treatment of sickness and injuries, that’s why I claim myself as someone who is good with medicine.

“O, saint-sama, please save the villagers with your blessed ability.”

Look, didn’t I just tell you that I’m not a saint? But then again, maybe people are inclined to ignore facts that they don’t want to believe. For me, it’s a nuisance though.

We were then led to the village chief’s house, and we immediately set about treating the sick. Since Rouge had been assisting me during the treatment of amesels, she has become an excellent nurse.

…should I make a nurse uniform for Rouge? Perhaps? Maybe? Frankly speaking, it’s more for my sake than hers. But then again, Rouge looks plain with freckles on her face, so I think she would look good in the farmer’s outfit that was worn by the aunty from earlier.

Mmmm… A naughty farmer lady… Oh this is bad, I think I can just imagine a perfect tantalizing play scenario: She grabbed me in the potato field and took me into the barn… And I’m unable to resist her… And just like that I was then pushed straight down into a pile of straw, and I could only vaguely look at the pitchfork while we were…

 And while I was immersed in my idiotic fantasy, patients kept coming in.

The medical treatment service started with someone with an arm injury and oozing out a lot of pus, I saw people with skin diseases and an old lady with back pain. I gave the old lady a life potion and a poultice, but I also gave her a massage as a service.

“I am so glad to be alive at my age. To have such a wonderful saint to massage my back.”

You don’t have to cry, you know. On top of that, she has a slightly sultry sigh…

To make matters worse, all the women in the village who were watching the massage suddenly demand the same treatment too.

Do they all want a massage that badly?　

I checked with the [Repair] magic, and only a few of them really had back pain.

“No faking sickness. The people who really had back pain are only you, you, the lady over there, and that one standing near the door. The rest of you may not request back massage.”

When I identified the people who really had back pain, I felt that the respect of the villagers became even stronger.

———————————————————————————————————————————–

After a while, a young woman was brought in.

She was the granddaughter of the village deputy (assistant to the village chief, which is number two in the village) and was 24 years old. The granddaughter’s name was Clarice.

She has been unable to walk for the past six years and has been sleeping and sitting all the time. She showed me her legs, which were very thin because her muscles had atrophied due to lack of use. I immediately used [Repair] for doing the medical examination, but the result came out that there was nothing wrong with her.

This is a problem. Could the reason why she couldn’t walk is because of a psychological problem? If it is an injury or illness, I can give her medicine accordingly, but if it is mentally related, there is nothing I can do. I can make antidepressants or something similar, but it doesn’t seem to be the cause.

“I’m going to massage your feet a little.”

I gently stroked and rubbed her feet. Clarice is a lovely person, and I would normally be pleased to do this, but since I was dealing with a sick person, I didn’t feel the slightest bit excited.

I might be lecherous, but I’m a sensible person too, you know!

“Does it hurt?”

“No, actually, it feels good…”

Again, the other people around me are looking with such envious eyes! Look, ladies, could you please not mope around here?!

Anyway, her legs, which felt a little cold, began to warm up gradually as I massaged them.

“While I’m doing the massage, please put this medicine in your mouth. Don’t chew or swallow it, but just let it to slowly dissolve in your mouth.”

“I understand. But, what is this anyway?”

“It’s a special medicine.”

Actually it’s not a medicine, but just a lemon candy filled with vitamins. It’s not a disease, so there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t believe I really end up relying on a placebo.

“Saint-sama, will my granddaughter’s disease be cured?” The deputy’s face was full of worried expressions.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, her leg is already healed.”

“Really?!”

Well, to begin with, there wasn’t anything wrong with her leg, you see. So the real question now is just whether she would believe her leg is fine or not.

“However, since her legs hasn’t been used for many years, I think she would need some leg training therapy to walk properly.”

Hmmm… It might be a good idea to make her a device for walking training like parallel bars.

“Now, I think that’s about it for the massage…”

When I let go of my hand, Clarice looked really disappointed. Maybe she was hoping I would continue more?

“It’s fine, your leg is perfectly healed already. All that remains is for you to trust me and yourself. Now, shall we practice standing up together?”

I took Clarice’s hand with both of mine.

“But…”

“Don’t worry. I will properly support you.”

I pulled her hand towards me, and Clarice was shaking and trying to move her body. I’m sure she’ll be fine as long as she puts her effort into doing it.

“That’s good, keep it up.”

I put my hands around her waist and helped her to stand up. She was swaying, but she was holding on to me before finally standing on her own two feet.

“That’s really great! Well then, would you like to walk a little? Three steps, just three steps is good enough.”

While holding on to me, Clarice nodded vigorously and began to waddle away.

“It’s a miracle… a miracle from the saint-sama…”

Tears streamed down the deputy’s wrinkled cheeks.

================================================================

1 I remember watching a Japanese channel of a young man getting excited over looking at a silhouette of a woman slowly undressing herself. Unbeknownst to him, the person inside was actually a man.

Frankly, I couldn’t get the idea of getting excited over a silhouette. Not yet, at least.