As a magician with thirty times the mental power, although Dick's physical strength is only at the level of a junior high school student due to slow development, he can lift boulders weighing several tons and lift a person with ease by relying on telekinesis.
"Don't worry about your sister. My doctors will do their best to treat her. As for you, hurry back to the barracks and take some time to rest. Your sled team will be very busy for the next period of time!"
It's only November, officially the beginning of winter, and the first case of cold syndrome has already appeared.
In previous years, this would only appear during the coldest period in the middle of winter, which means that this year's super cold winter is more severe than expected, and the ice element will be more violent.
But circumstances changed, and Dick's plans had to be adjusted accordingly.
The sled team will then travel back and forth between the villages regularly, picking up patients with colds and bringing them to the castle, where they will be gathered together for treatment.
After sending Robert away, Dick turned around and came to the bedside. Several young nurses looked a little scared, and they were afraid to touch the patient.
However, Natasha and Shizuka Marikawa showed the professional qualities that a doctor should have.
Especially Marikawa Shizuka, Natasha was calm and composed, and he didn't think there was anything wrong with her. She had seen a lot of storms. Marikawa Shizuka, on the other hand, seemed like a different person, with a serious look in her eyes and a calm performance that showed the intellectual brilliance of a mature woman.
This naturally cute female school doctor is actually quite damn charming at this moment!
Dick had to admit that he loved this type of big sister.
Dick was so engrossed in watching for a moment that when he came to his senses he realized that he had lost his composure. Fortunately, the two female doctors were focusing on the patients at the moment and did not notice him.
"How is the patient doing?"
"It matches the description of the early symptoms of cold syndrome in the data. It's a very strange symptom."
"The body temperature was degrees Celsius, the child was lethargic, weak, and confused, which was considered moderate hypothermia. However, the child was in an unusually peaceful state, and his body was not shaking violently."
Looking at the thermometer in her hand, Shizuka Marikawa frowned.
The medical equipment in the clinic was purchased by Dick with the money from his own treasury before he left the Imperial City. Some of them were even second-hand equipment obtained from the "Imperial City Science Hospital (a hospital staffed by Earth doctors)" with the help of the Duke's family. They were good things that could not be bought normally.
This world has been influenced by Earth's technology for so long. Although the nobles have no intention of promoting technology, they can still spend some time and effort on matters that concern themselves.
In order to ensure that the summoned Earth doctors would not be unable to use their professional abilities, the nobles found local magicians and alchemists to assist the Earth doctors, and they also made a lot of Earth-like medical equipment. The performance of some instruments is even far ahead of similar products on Earth with the help of magic!
Doctor Shizuka shook the thermometer and tried to hand it to the nurse beside her, but the nurse's hand was trembling as she took the thermometer, and she lost her grip and the thermometer slipped out of her hand.
The young nurse was immediately frightened. This thermometer was not cheap. Just when she thought it was about to break, the thermometer floated up and flew into Dick's hand.
Seeing that it was the Governor who came to help, the little nurse was filled with shame, but she couldn't help but look up and steal a glance at Dick's handsome face, and she unconsciously became a little infatuated with him.
But Dick frowned and blamed him bluntly.
"You're so clumsy. Why were you shivering just now? Are you afraid of getting infected?"
"I……"
The nurse didn't expect that the seemingly gentle governor would be against her. She felt a little aggrieved. She was not a native of Laguge, but a new immigrant who just came this year. But she had heard of the horror legend of cold syndrome.
Rumor has it that anyone infected with this elemental disease will die, and it is also contagious.
So when she saw Dr. Shizuka handing her the thermometer that had just been used to measure the patient's temperature, she was suddenly frightened and her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
But in fact, this is just a rumor!
The spread of cold syndrome is different from that of influenza. It does not spread from person to person. It is an "elemental disease" caused by the elements running rampant and invading the human body.
Similar diseases include "self-immolation" caused by the fire element and "wet drowning" caused by the water element.
It is worth mentioning that elemental diseases are ineffective against magicians and warriors above the intermediate level, so they are also jokingly called "diseases of the weak."
If nothing unexpected happened, Jasmine must have been to a special area where the elements were rampaging before and was infected with the cold. She was just an ordinary person and could not see the restless magical elements in the air, so she could not detect it.
Dick put the thermometer back into the storage box and put two fingers between the girl's eyebrows. The touch of his fingertips was slightly cool, indicating that her body temperature was lower than the normal body temperature.
In addition to the temperature, Dick could also feel a trace of magic flowing in Jasmine's body.
For a magician, this is nothing, as they can use their mental power to effectively guide it, but Jasmine is just an ordinary person. She has no such ability at all. She can only let the runaway ice element flow through her body, completely consuming her body temperature and life.
At this moment, Dick remembered that in the research materials Hughie gave him, he mentioned a treatment method that could alleviate the patient's symptoms. That was for the magician to try to use his mental power to guide out the magical elements that were raging in the patient's body.
But this requires an extremely high level of mental strength from the magician and is only a temporary solution, not a permanent one.
Because magic elements have a gathering effect, it doesn't mean that there will be only as much as you are infected. Once a magic vortex is formed in the patient's body, the same type of elements will gather faster.
Dick thought that with his thirty times mental strength, the effect should be stronger than that of an ordinary magician. The key was to alleviate Jasmine's symptoms first, let her regain consciousness, and find out whether she had been anywhere alone before.
Otherwise, it doesn't make sense that there are more than 300 people in Kevin Village, but she is the only one who suffered misfortune when she didn't go out.
Taking a deep breath, Dick began to strike at the mind, his mental power drilling into his little girl's body like invisible tentacles.
This sounds simple and even a little erotic, but it is a high-end and delicate job.
Because Jasmine is a living person, and living people have self-awareness, and will not allow another consciousness to invade. Dick's mental strength is thirty times that of an ordinary person, which is absolutely overwhelming for Jasmine. If Dick is slightly weak, he can destroy her self-awareness and turn her into a fool or a vegetable.
Fortunately, Dick had the basic skills as a magician. He had lived in the Duke's Mansion since he was a child, a place with only the appearance of a family but actually full of palace intrigues. Ever since he knew that he had a talent for magic, and it was not low, Dick had been working hard in his practice.
Under his precise control, a portion of the restless ice magic elements were guided out, but they flowed directly into Dick's body along the mental link.
In just a few minutes, Dick felt his entire arm getting cold.
Jasmine's complexion visibly regained some color, and her body temperature also rose slightly.
So Dick quickly stopped, shook his stiff right arm, and began to use his mental power to tame and stabilize the runaway elements that had entered his body.
"It turns out that some of Hughie's treatment plans are too presumptuous. I have thirty times the mental strength, and it's hard enough to extract the runaway magic elements. If a low-level magician comes here, I'm afraid he'll kill himself."
It took Dick nearly a quarter of an hour to calm the restless magic in his body, while he complained about the unreliability of his academic friend.
Natasha took out a medicine from her waist bag and carefully injected one-third of it into Jasmine's arm. She pushed the needle very slowly and kept observing the patient's reaction.
The potion Natasha used was brought from Beloberg when she traveled through time. She was still studying the flora and fauna of this world, so there were some things she didn't dare to use rashly.
This medicine can effectively improve the patient's physical functions and raise body temperature. It is a commonly used medicine for hypothermia by Beloberg, and it utilizes part of the research results of her late brother-in-law.
Under the dual treatment of Dick and Natasha, Jasmine, who had been unconscious before, finally slowly opened her eyes. As soon as she opened her mouth, Dick was speechless.
"Little brother, where is this place?"
"..."
Dick, who was actually eighteen years old, was called "little brother" by a twelve-year-old girl. Dick frowned fiercely, then tried to smooth out his wrinkles, and silently comforted himself in his heart not to be angry with a patient.
Dick straightened his expression slightly and asked Jasmine softly.
"I am Dick Best, Governor of Laguge. Little sister Jasmine, I have to tell you some unfortunate news. You have caught a cold, but don't worry, we will do our best to treat you. I need to ask you some very important questions now, which also concerns the safety of your family. I hope to know if you have been to any strange places alone in the past period of time?"
The author says:
Author's words: There will be no additional updates during the seven-day National Day holiday, and the word count for each update will increase from 4000+ to 5000+.
022. There is something in the woods
After re-measuring with a thermometer, Jasmine's temperature rose from to . Although it still fell into the category of hypothermia, at least her consciousness was restored and she was able to answer some questions.
Dick now urgently needs to know where she caught the cold?
There are very few people in the magic world who study cold syndrome. Hughie is interested in all elemental diseases, so he studies cold syndrome. In places where elemental diseases can be contracted, there is a high probability that there is an elemental vortex composed of active ice elements, and this vortex will still move.
Ordinary people cannot see the elemental vortex with the naked eye. At most, they will suddenly feel a chill, and then depending on the individual's physical condition, it will take some time for the symptoms of cold syndrome to appear.
Because many characteristics of elemental diseases are similar to those of chronic diseases. They are caused by the erosion of elements invading the body. Some people are young and strong and can resist for a while before they feel something is wrong.
Young children like Jasmine will show symptoms earlier.
This is also what Dick is worried about. The actual number of people infected in Kevin Village may not be just Jasmine. Some people just haven't started to get sick yet.
Dick needs to roughly determine the location of the magic vortex, then find it and neutralize it.
This is also one of the "fundamental solutions" provided in Hughie's materials, which directly eliminates the magic vortex that causes the spread of cold disease from the root.
This plan sounds simple, but when it comes to its implementation, the difficulty is probably as difficult as "getting rid of Tang Seng and his disciples."
The magical elements in this world are like the wind, they are everywhere, and their activity level is like the wind speed level. Winds below level four blowing on people will make people feel very comfortable, but if the wind exceeds level ten and starts to spin, it can be a natural disaster that can take lives!
The same goes for magic elements. The more active they are, the more destructive they are. Some high-level magicians have even developed a kind of magic that intentionally induces magic vortexes to blow towards the enemy's head.
Eliminating the magic vortex should be considered a technical job.
As it stands, Dick may be the only one in the entire Laguge who has this ability.
"Governor, this is too dangerous. You can't take the risk!"
At the military meeting, when they learned that Dick was going to go to Kevin Village to find the magic vortex and then destroy it in a dangerous way comparable to "throwing firecrackers into a methane pool", Knight John, the training instructor for the new recruits, was the first to stand up and object.
This man was a model of honest character, so after an observation period, Dick pulled him into the second core team as a "local with potential for development."
The first core team is naturally the beautiful girls summoned by Dick.
As an (apprentice) knight, although John swore allegiance to the Best family, the specific person was naturally Dick, who gave him the title.
So for the sake of his lord's safety, he was the first to stand up and oppose Dick's risking his life.
But Dick also had his own reasons. He didn't want to be a hero, nor did he simply hope to further win over the hearts of the people.
But it's really true that he is the only one who can do this damn job. There are only seventeen registered magicians in the whole of Laguge, and most of them are mediocre. There are only four of intermediate level, and the worst one has not even been rated and is at the level of a self-taught apprentice.
Therefore, in the entire Laguge, at least among the magicians who are currently in the open, Dick is the strongest in the region.
Although the certificate issued by the Magicians Association was only at the beginner level, he did that in order to hide his abilities and deliberately did not go to the association to take the test to update his certificate.
So the matter was decided. The entourage consisted of fifty people drawn from the private army, and the four most skilled magicians living in the town were conscripted. The "attendants" included Rita, Kasumi, Ayane, Black and White Gun Dai and Natasha, and the rest stayed at the castle.
After they set off, they boarded twenty dog sleds.
The dog pulling the cart is a local unique breed, the Laguger Snow Wolf Dog, a hybrid bred by the locals from a large dog and a snow wolf. It is as tall as a pony and is not only very cold-resistant, but also has top-notch endurance and running speed.
When Dick saw this large, snow-white mastiff for the first time, Hei Qiangdai took the opportunity to tease him, saying that he could use this wolfdog as a mount.
This statement is somewhat negative, but it cannot be considered wrong.
The team set out in the morning and arrived at Kevin Village at noon.
When the village chief saw the Governor coming in person and bringing so many people with him, he came out to greet him tremblingly, and for a moment he was unsure what he was going to do.
As the saying goes, "People are afraid of seeing officials." In the Hessian Empire, noble lords sometimes only needed a trivial excuse to kill civilians without having to worry about anything else.
In addition, the absurd behavior of forcing young men to mine during David's administration had left a great psychological trauma on the local people. So when the people in Kevin Village saw the governor coming with so many people, they would shiver even if it was the hot summer, not to mention the freezing cold weather.
But at this moment, a timid and tightly wrapped little figure was carefully helped down from a sled by Natasha. The village chief was surprised to see that it was Jasmine who was sent to the castle by her brother for help.
The child was suspected of being infected with cold, and her hands and feet were cold and she fell into a coma. For a time, the whole village was in a panic, fearing that they would also be "infected" with the terrible cold. Therefore, when her brother said he wanted to take her away, most of the villagers agreed.
I didn’t expect that the child would come back safely, as if he had been rescued!
At this time, an old lady among the onlookers ran out in a panic, shouting Jasmine's name towards her. Jasmine also called her mother, and they hugged each other.
Seeing this touching scene, many villagers sighed.
Dick, on the other hand, exchanged a glance with Natasha silently.
Dick was going to visit Kevin Village in person, but before he left, he suddenly thought of something and insisted on taking Jasmine, who had just regained consciousness, with him. This decision was immediately strongly opposed by Natasha and Shizuka, because the child had only regained consciousness, but her body had not really recovered and was still very weak, so she should stay in the warm castle clinic to recuperate.
But Dick had his own considerations. He brought Jasmine with him to appease the people of Kevin Village.
Since the government has never carried out correct popular science and propaganda, and all kinds of sensational rumors among the people have spread quite widely, not only ordinary people believe them, but even many poorly educated nobles believe them.
Therefore, in Laguge, an area with a high incidence of cold syndrome, this is a horribly contagious "incurable disease" that makes people shudder.
The key is that there were too many incompetent governors in the past. Dick looked through the official records left by the governors and found that more than one governor had massacred a village directly because of a cold in the village in order to curb the "infection".
They also regarded this insane behavior as their own achievement of "decisiveness" and recorded it openly, thinking that they would be praised in the future.
So when Dick was about to lead his men out, he took a look at his team and suddenly realized something was wrong.
Put yourself in their shoes. If you were a villager of Kevin Village, you firmly believed the rumor that cold syndrome could be transmitted from person to person, and you had heard from your elders since childhood about the horror story of how the governor massacred the entire village in order to prevent infection.
As a result, not long ago, a little girl in your village was infected with cold and was taken to the castle by her brother and no news was heard from her. Then less than two days later, your young governor, who had just taken office for less than a month and was known to have a murderous heart, personally brought fifty soldiers to your village in the heavy snow.
What would you think in this situation?
Do you think the Governor has come to save you? Or is he here to "eliminate the source of infection"?
Therefore, in this situation, Jasmine's safe return became the key to stabilizing the hearts of the villagers in Kevin Village, lest they have wild thoughts and if a conflict really occurs, Dick can't really kill someone to establish his authority, right?
In order to make Jasmine look better, Dick helped her expel some ice elements from her body. Natasha and Shizuka also made some anti-cold ointments based on the information provided by Hughie.
Although this ointment cannot eliminate the ice element, it can increase body temperature, but the cost is a significant increase in appetite.
In order to make her look better, Dick prepared a lot of high-calorie food for her, and the little girl never stopped eating along the way.
In front of all the villagers, Dick asked Jasmine to stand on a high place together and loudly announced that he was here to help the villagers. He explained the real cause of the cold syndrome in the simplest way possible so that even illiterate people could understand it. He told everyone not to panic because the cold syndrome was not a terminal illness!
