Guiding the Male Lead out of His Trauma

The fact that he pays such careful attention to impurities and hygiene, and keeps his monocle tucked away, means…

‘His eyesight isn’t bad, but he needs it for work.’

He goes out of his way to make his own soap, which is already a hassle, and Brondearn keeps him as a member of the household.

‘And if the Duchess sent him because she thought I’d need him right now—’

He’s definitely not a physician. The answer was clear.

“These days, do pharmacists give checkups, too?”

“You’re very quick. Can you still smell any medicine on me?”

“No, you actually smell nice.”

Belled, sniffing his own sleeve, gave an embarrassed smile and finally stepped into the room.

“Dr. Algraim, our current physician, is away at a seminar. I’m not exactly a substitute, but I do have some medical knowledge, so I came to check on you.”

Strange. I felt like I was being tested or something.

Belled asked for my understanding, then told me to sit and examined my complexion.

“Isn’t this illegal?”

“Well, if it’s a problem, I’ll just get a medical license.”

“That’s what you’re supposed to do beforehand. Normally, people call someone like you ‘unlicensed’.”

“But I’m different from the usual Estra pharmacists, a much higher grade, so I hope you’ll let it slide.”

What shameless confidence. He’s not an easy person, that’s for sure.

Even when I openly looked at him with suspicion, he didn’t seem to care at all.

He took a couple of medicine bottles from the bag he’d brought.

“These will help restore your lost stamina. You can take them right now if you’d like.”

“What about the other one?”

“That’s for headaches, just in case you have any lingering aftereffects from guiding. Keep it on hand and take it if you need it.”

I stared at the small pills he handed me, then swallowed them with water.

It’s not like I’d die from it, right?

“So Brondearn is wealthy enough to have its own dedicated pharmacist?”

“It helps that the royal family approved it. This is, after all, the cradle of Transcendents.”

The cradle of Transcendents.

Ugh, what a creepy nickname.

In these times of war, when Transcendents are especially valued, pharmacists and doctors are treated as precious resources, almost on par with high-ranking Guides.

Pharmacists, in particular, play a crucial role.

It’s not just that they handle all kinds of medicines, care for the injured, and prescribe treatments.

Transcendent-exclusive mana.

Pharmacists can refine that mana into pill form, enabling Guides to handle Transcendent mana, too.

In other words, they allow Guides to use mana that would normally be impossible for them to wield.

It’s the most revolutionary, unbelievable miracle of the age.

The only reason I was able to hit back at Lorraine with unauthorized mana use, despite having not a shred of mana myself, was thanks to those pills—Nexium.

To make Nexium, you need a Transcendent’s mana, so the royal family allowing Brondearn to keep a pharmacist must be for that very reason.

‘But it does have its drawbacks.’

Taking Nexium means ingesting someone else’s mana.

No matter how intangible it is, Transcendents perceive the circulation of their mana almost as a part of their own bodies.

In other words, you’re ingesting what someone else thinks of as part of themselves.

‘No… let’s not dwell on it. The more I think about it, the creepier it gets.’

Anyway, pharmacists are essential to this era, as they make it possible to use mana in ways that would otherwise be impossible.

Ordinary pharmacists may be common, but there are probably fewer than thirty people in the entire country capable of making Nexium.

And one of them was standing in front of me.

“Wouldn’t it have been faster just to tell me who you are instead of making me guess?”

“Well, you’re right.”

He admitted it easily, his curiosity openly on display.

“They said a Guide who got in trouble after taking Nexium recklessly attempted another dangerous guiding just a day later, and even collapsed from guiding someone above her grade. Isn’t it only natural to be curious?”

He gave me a subtle, teasing smile as he said it.

To think he was curious about someone foolish enough to cause two messes in a row…

It’s an odd honor, honestly.