Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 632

18　King Klein’s Treatment Arc

19-19　Medical Examination

They boarded the blimp at Hourai Island and headed straight to the Klein Kingdom via transfer machine.

Of course, it would be too suspicious to simply appear over Alban’s sky all of a sudden, so they instead teleported above Lake Cedroria, which was on the border with the Celuroa Kingdom. The sky was cloudy.

From there, they headed north to Alban. The local time was 2:00 PM by the time Jin and the others were in the sky above Alban.

“That hot air balloon over there is the one I gave them.”

A hot air balloon was floating above the royal castle. Jin could clearly see that it was the one he had given them in the past.

Unlike the Shouro Empire, it seemed that their mass production had not yet been completed.

Jin’s blimp now bore his own family crest, the “two lines across a circle” and it was safe to assume that this had already been notified to each country.

And true enough, the soldier on the hot air balloon saluted in the Klein Kingdom style – the elbow of the right arm is bent upwards and stretched sideways at shoulder height, the fingers of the hand are extended, and the palm is turned toward the receiver – expressing that he recognized Jin.

The soldier then piloted the hot air balloon so as to follow Jin’s blimp, flying slowly downwards before landing in the square in front of the royal castle almost at the same time as him.

Jin felt that even though the Klein Kingdom still hadn’t been able to mass-produce the hot air balloons, this soldier was quite proficient at piloting it.

“Welcome, Magi Craft Master Lord Jin, and Reichsarzt Miss Elsa.”

The Third Princess Lieschen and Chancellor Powell were there to welcome them. And there were some faces that Jin had never seen before.

After the blimp was moored with many ropes to prevent it from being blown away by the strong winds, Jin turned to face everyone.

“Welcome, Lord Jin.”

Chancellor Powell took Jin’s hand and welcomed him. He then took Elsa’s hand,

“And Reichsarzt Miss Elsa, thank you for coming all the way here as well. I am truly indebted to you.”

He lowered his head as he said that in a polite tone. And the Third Princess Lieschen seemed to be delighted to be reunited with Hanna.

“Welcome, Hanna. How have you been? You look a little taller, don’t you?”

“Hello, Milady. It’s been a while.”

Hanna had become accustomed to picking up her skirt and bowing.

Then, Jin and Elsa exchanged greetings with the princess in turn.

“Hmph, they sent a fairly young healer. “Reichsarzt”, was it? That’s a big-sounding title.”

The person who said those words was a young man in his mid-twenties. He had blond hair and gray eyes. His eyes somewhat resemble Lieschen.

“Brother, that’s a bit rude. The Reichsarzt is the healer sent in by the Shouro Empire. And she is the younger sister of the Magi Craft Meister Lord Jin.”

“Hmph, you are too good of a person, Arthur. That country has no obligations to our own. Maybe that’s why they sent us inexperienced people with nothing more than a literal diplomatic appointment.”

“Brother!”

However, the man whom Arthur called his brother turned away and did not concern himself with him any further.

“Please allow me to apologize for my brother Edmond’s behavior.My name is Arthur. I am the Second Prince of this country. My brother Edmond is the First Prince.”

Arthur, who introduced himself as the Second Prince, apologized for his brother Edmond’s disrespectful demeanor before turning to Elsa.

“Miss Elsa, please don’t take offense. Our father has been examined by dozens of healers so far, but none of them have been able to find the cause of his illness, let alone cure him. So my brother is having a hard time trusting healers.”

Arthur bowed his head after saying that. He had dark brown hair and gray eyes. His hair color was very similar to Lieschen.

“Well, let’s get started, Miss Elsa, can I ask you to examine the king?”

The chancellor intervened, and Elsa silently nodded.

“…I apologize, but I would like to have the king’s examination done in the presence of Prince Edmond and Prince Arthur.”

“Understood.”

Elsa nodded. Jin then took this chance to turn towards the chancellor.

“I have brought a free sample of desiccant from the Shouro Empire. Please have someone carry it.”

“Oh, oh, is that so! Well then… Ivan, take it to the Minister of Industry.”

“Yes!”

By order of the chancellor, a soldier called Ivan took the three bags containing 20kg of desiccant and carried them away with ease.

“Jin, please come with us. You too, Hanna.”

Lieschen, who had been talking with Hanna, called out to Jin with a sorry look on her face.

“Only healers can go see Father right now.”

Elsa, who had started walking, stopped and looked back at Jin.

“I’ll be back in a moment, Brother Jin. Don’t worry about me.”

After saying that, she quickly started walking again. It seemed that only Edgar was allowed to accompany her. Steward had stayed behind to guard the blimp.

Jin then took Reiko and followed Lieschen. The place they headed for was the royal villa, the residence of Lieschen where Jin had stayed the last time he came to the Klein Kingdom.

“…I’m sorry.”

As soon as he entered the room, Lieschen apologized to Jin.

“Huh?”

Jin was taken aback by this, since he didn’t remember that Lieschen had to apologize for anything.

“…Just a moment ago, my brother Edmond said some rude things to Elsa, no? And I didn’t say anything to stop him, so… I’m sorry.”

“No, you did nothing wrong, Liese.”

Hearing Jin say that, Lieschen finally felt a bit relieved.

“I’m glad you can still call me that. …I may be the Third Princess, but my older brothers still shun me.”

Jin had heard something regarding that during his last visit, so he simply nodded so that Lieschen didn’t feel like she needed to bring that up again.

“Hehe, you’re as kind as ever, Jin.”

Lieschen offered Jin and Hanna a chair each. Once the three of them had had a seat, the Automata Tia – who had been designed to be exactly like Ann – brought in some tea.

“Welcome, Master Jin, Miss Hanna.”

“Hey Tia, how have you been?”

“This body that you repaired is in excellent condition. Thanks to you, I can continue to serve the princess with all of my devotion.”

Tia was literally Lieschen’s nanny and tutor. Jin had repaired her after she became unable to function any longer due to her long age.

The tea was a mix of herbs. It smelled like a mix of roses and strawberries, and was quite delicious.

After drinking a couple of sips of tea, the princess resumed her tale.

“A year ago…Yes, since around last autumn, my father has been unwell. He had been complaining about getting tired too easily.”

Lieschen explained the king’s condition to Jin.

“But since this summer, his condition has suddenly gotten much worse. He can no longer handle government affairs properly.”

Jin had presented the Klein Kingdom with a hot air balloon by late July. According to Lieschen, the king was already bedridden at that time.

“His face is turning yellow, and his belly seems to be swollen… I’m very worried.”

Hanna tapped Lieschen – who had cast her eyes downward – in a comforting way.

“It’s okay, princess. Big Sis Elsa is amazing. I’m sure she can cure him.”

Lieschen faced Hanna and managed to produce a weak smile.

“Hehe, you’re very kind, Hanna. I see, so Elsa is just that incredible, isn’t she?”

“Yes!”

Seeing Hanna’s bright smile, Lieschen felt her heavy heart getting a little lighter.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

“…This is……”

Meanwhile, in the deepest part of the royal castle, Elsa was examining Alois III, King of the Klein Kingdom.

His eyes were yellowed. His skin, more than being just yellow, had actually become darker. Those symptoms, together with the fact that the color of his nail was also yellowish, were clear indicators of jaundice. It turned out that the king had a bad liver.

“Excuse me.”

Elsa folded up the bedsheets in order to take a look at the king’s abdomen.

“…!”

His abdomen was clearly bloated, which further supported Elsa’s theory that the cause of the king’s illness was his liver.

“…I’ll use Magic to examine you. ‘Diagnose’.”

Elsa cast her spell with a single word.

“…I knew it, so it was the liver after all.”

As a result, it turned out that the king had cirrhosis of the liver.

“The liver?”

“His liver, huh? Is that what’s causing these symptoms?”

They also seemed to know that there is a large organ called “liver” in the abdomen, but they didn’t know how it worked. Though this limited knowledge wasn’t exclusive to just them.

“The liver is one of the most important organs in the human body. I’m afraid to say that His Majesty’s liver is in serious trouble.”

Elsa gave an easy-to-understand explanation to both the chancellor and the prince.

“What’s the reason…?”

It was said that Alois III was quite sensitive to alcohol, so he would only drink during ceremonies. And as far as the other foods in his usual diet were concerned, according to the maid who served him his meals, his eating habits didn’t seem to be the cause either.

“It doesn’t seem like arsenic has been accumulating in the liver either.”

Unlike Marquis Theoderic, the king’s cirrhosis didn’t seem to be caused by accumulation of arsenic in the liver.

“…?”

As long as the cause of the disease remained unknown, even if Elsa were to cure the king with her Magic, his disease would soon recur. So Elsa used her “Diagnose” spell many times in an attempt to discover the cause.

However, the cause was still unclear.

“…It seems it’s no use after all.”

Prince Edmond stared at the troubled Elsa with cold eyes.