The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint - Chapter 72

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Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint ◈

Chapter 72: I Want to Become a Hero (4)

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* * *

At the same time.

Right after the prince and I finished our call.

Even after the light of the communications device went out, I continued staring at the crystal ball for a while.

‘There’s a mountain of work to do.’

The moment the prince offered me a professorship, I accepted without hesitation.

Because of the prestige and power?

Of course, those were reasons too.

But the biggest reason was that I was tempted by the title of professor.

Professor.

What a sweet sound.

In my previous life, I had dreamed of becoming a professor.

It was not as though I had some grand ambition.

It was hard for surgeons to open a private practice after working at a university hospital, so I simply stayed at the school.

Before I knew it, I had earned double board certification and completed an advanced trauma surgery program.

After studying that much, it felt like a waste not to get the title of professor, so I had pursued a professorship.

‘Death from overwork. Death from overwork in my thirties.’

I must have pushed myself too hard.

I had collapsed when the goal was practically within reach.

Of course, that regret was nearly twenty years old now.

I was not particularly attached to the title in this life.

But still.

“What do I need to do to train, then?”

“What do you mean?”

“To become a professor, shouldn’t I first train under another professor?”

“I was wondering what you meant. You’ll be the first professor of this course, Lord Julian. Under whom do you intend to train?”

The moment I heard the prince say that, I accepted the professorship as if possessed.

A professorship!

And I could become one immediately, without graduate school or residency!

Anyone who had gone through graduate school would understand my choice.

I could skip all that suffering and immediately enjoy the rewards.

Even knowing it was a poisoned chalice, plenty of people would have picked it up.

I was one of them.

Of course, I had other calculations as well.

‘Even if I refuse, they’ll put a leash on me eventually.’

A hallmark of misunderstanding stories.

No matter how much you twist and struggle to escape, you end up on a leash anyway.

So if I was going to be dragged along regardless, I thought it would look better, and I would be treated better, if I went on my own feet.

Volunteers were always treated better than conscripts.

Still, there was one thing bothering me.

‘Black Magic Defense...’

The name was a serious concern.

I would have preferred something like Black Magic Countermeasures.

It sounded like the sort of course whose professor would be replaced before the first year was over because of an unfortunate incident.

I did bring it up to the prince carefully.

But he did not seem willing to change it.

‘What can I do? I’ll just have to prepare thoroughly.’

The prince had promised that he would use every resource at his disposal to protect me and those around me.

Still, one could never be too prepared.

‘First... I should meet Master tomorrow and talk this over.’

Tomorrow was the day I was scheduled to meet my master.

It seemed we needed to discuss several matters related to this.

The wisdom of someone who had kept secrets for a thousand years would be useful in many ways.

I opened the notebook on my desk.

Picking up my fountain pen, I began organizing the matters I wanted to discuss with Master tomorrow.

I was in the middle of doing so when,

Knock, knock.

My hand stopped at the sound of someone knocking.

I set down my fountain pen and looked toward the door.

“Who is it? Eri?”

She was the most likely person to visit at this hour.

Sometimes, she came to ask me to make her a late-night snack.

“...”

But the silence beyond the door told me it was not Eri.

Then a thin voice came from the other side.

“...Brother. I can’t sleep. Could we talk for a while?”

I opened the door.

Freya stood beneath the dim light in the hallway.

She was in her pajamas, barefoot except for a pair of slippers.

Her hair was mussed, as though she had tossed and turned beneath the covers for a long time before she could no longer bear it.

“Th-thank you.”

As she spoke, her gaze quickly swept over the space behind me.

Her fingers gripped the hem of her pajamas so tightly that they had gone white.

The moment I saw her, a sigh rose to my throat.

‘An acute stress reaction.’

She had not said anything, but I had already noticed it in her everyday behavior.

Ever since she had returned home yesterday.

She was constantly tense, as though she were still trapped in that place.

There were mild depressive symptoms. She startled at small sounds.

And now, sleep disturbance as well.

It was a typical acute stress reaction.

You could think of it as something similar to PTSD.

Despite knowing little about psychiatry, this was the one psychiatric condition I could diagnose nearly as well as a professor of psychiatry.

It was a common symptom among trauma surgery patients and their guardians.

I had needed to request psychiatric consultations far too often.

Still, Freya did not have PTSD yet. She was two stages before that.

A stage where rest could help her recover.

If this lasted longer, an acute stress reaction could become acute stress disorder.

If it continued for more than a month, then it became PTSD.

Naturally, I had no intention of letting my little sister reach that point.

“Can’t sleep?”

“Yes...”

“Come in.”

I had seen many patients like this.

I also knew how to help keep their condition from worsening into PTSD.

Perhaps I should call that fortunate. Patients in this state could recover quickly with just a little psychological first aid.

‘Thankfully, Freya came to me first.’

Then all I could do was help keep her from getting worse.

First, their bodies were still trapped in the place where the trauma happened.

So I lowered my voice and made my movements as slow as possible.

Loud sounds, quick movements, unexpected contact.

Sudden stimuli like those could trigger hyperarousal in such patients.

More than anything, it was important to give their brains time to accept that this place was safe.

Freya crossed the threshold.

Cautiously stepping into my room, she did not lean back even when she sat down.

That was another typical symptom.

I had her sit in the chair nearest the door.

“It’s a little warm in here.”

I did not close the door.

Small considerations like this reassured her that she could leave this place whenever she wanted.

“Would you like some tea?”

“...Please.”

Again, sudden stimuli were forbidden.

Even ordinary actions needed to be done with the patient’s permission.

It was to help her adjust to this space.

‘For tea...’

Chamomile tea with linden honey would be good.

It would greatly help calm her overexcited sympathetic nervous system.

It was not a miracle cure, but it was far better than nothing.

I rose and steeped flower tea in two cups.

“It’s hot, so drink slowly.”

I placed one cup in Freya’s hands.

She held the cup with trembling fingers.

Quietly, I waited for her to speak.

I did not even ask, “What happened?”

Even that question could be dangerous for a patient.

It could unintentionally force them back into the past.

You simply had to wait until they brought up that past voluntarily.

I waited until Freya’s breathing grew longer.

Eventually, she spoke on her own.

“...When I close my eyes, I go back there.”

“...”

“I keep seeing my friends... the friends who trusted me and followed me... being hurt by those people.”

A typical flashback.

It was a natural reaction.

Ordinary protagonists could experience something terrible and shake it off easily.

I had managed to move on quickly after my clinic was attacked as well.

But that was not normal.

Freya’s reaction was far more normal.

She had been kidnapped at seventeen.

Not many girls could stay composed after something like that.

Especially not a girl unlike Eri, who had endured hardship since childhood.

There were three important elements at times like this.

These simple initial measures could influence the rest of someone’s life.

“...Brother.”

“Yes.”

“Were you all worried because of me? I keep thinking that I made everyone worry, you and Mother and Father, because I went looking for my friends.”

“It only means we love you that much. We’re all right. So if things get too difficult, you can talk to Mother and Father. And if that feels too hard, talk to me.”

First, let them know that people who loved them and whom they could trust were nearby.

Simply giving patients more options helped them feel that they had control, which reassured them.

“But what if those people come back...?”

“I told you, they will never threaten you again. Father said so too. And I guarantee it.”

Second, constantly remind them that this place was safe.

“Still, Kal was hurt. I was the one who said we should leave the prison... If we had just stayed still, you and Eri would have come to save us eventually.”

“Freya.”

And third, most importantly.

“If you had not acted that day, we would have had to search every part of that hideout to find you. And if you had not resisted, your friends would have been in even more danger.”

“...”

“It wasn’t your fault. You were the one who saved your friends.”

Emphasize again and again that it was not their fault.

That part was the most important.

Guilt was what destroyed people most deeply in PTSD.

So I said to Freya,

“Did you know, Freya? I once dreamed of becoming a hero.”

“...”

Though I had chosen the path of a doctor, I had sometimes admired paramedics and firefighters.

There was only one reason.

“Doctors, no, healers, can only do something after someone has already been hurt. By the time a doctor acts, the outcome has already been decided. All I can do is keep things from becoming the worst possible result.”

Freya held her breath as she listened.

“But this world needs people who act before someone gets hurt, before things become the worst they can be.”

That was why I had admired paramedics and firefighters.

They saved people before they were hurt, or before the situation became irreversible.

When it came to saving lives, I believed their contribution was even greater than mine.

Of course.

Maybe that was easy for me to say because I had never done those jobs.

Still, what I wanted to say was that doctors were not the only people who contributed to saving a life.

“If you had not been there, even if I arrived, it might have been too late. For you and for the other students. Everyone did their part for one another, and that gave us the best possible outcome. I merely tagged along.”

“...”

“Freya. I’m truly proud of you. Your courage saved your friends.”

I clearly remembered Freya facing those two villains when I arrived.

She had not used her arcane magic.

But she had absolutely been protecting the students there.

That was why I believed Freya, not me, had been the MVP of this incident.

“You did so well, Freya.”

For a while, I watched Freya silently.

Her shoulders trembled.

At first, only slightly. Then more strongly.

Finally, her body shook so badly that she could no longer hold the teacup cupped in both hands.

I quickly took it and set it on the table.

“...Sniff.”

Freya covered her face with both hands.

Without saying anything, I waited until her shoulders stopped trembling.

* * *

Freya returned to her room long after the night had deepened.

“Thank you, Brother.”

Before leaving, Freya looked back and said that.

Julian waved to see her off.

Leaving Julian behind, Freya walked down the hallway.

She stopped in front of her room.

A faint light leaked from beneath the door.

A light that had not gone out.

When she opened the door, a familiar sight greeted her.

“Oh, young lady.”

Erika was sitting beside Freya’s bed with bedding spread around her.

She had brought bedding from the annex and claimed half of Freya’s bed.

Erika had brought it over for Freya, who had been unable to sleep the night before after going through such a terrible ordeal.

“Come on in, young lady.”

Playing the part of a sly old man, Erika lifted the blanket.

It was Erika’s own teasing kind of consideration.

Freya gave a small laugh and sat facing Erika on the bed.

Erika spoke.

“How was it? It was good that you talked with Teacher, wasn’t it?”

Freya nodded.

Then she hugged the blanket and said nothing for a while.

Erika did not rush her.

The blanket Erika had brought covered both their shoulders.

Within that warmth, Freya spoke.

“...Big sister.”

“Yeah.”

“I have a different dream now, besides becoming a magistrate.”

Erika’s brows rose slightly.

“Out of nowhere?”

Freya silently looked down at her hands in her lap.

Julian’s words replayed in her head.

“Doctors can only do something after someone has already been hurt.”

“But this world needs people who act before someone gets hurt, before things become the worst they can be.”

“Magistrates... are people who move after an incident has already happened.”

Freya spoke.

“They are dispatched only after there is already a victim. Until a crime drags on and becomes an unsolved case, they have to remain unaware that such a crime even exists. By then, it is closer to punishing the criminal than protecting someone.”

Of course, that did not mean it was bad.

It was simply different from what Freya wanted.

“I... want to act before that.”

“How?”

“I want to act before irreversible consequences appear. I want to be someone who acts first and protects people right there.”

Erika’s smile deepened.

“Then what kind of job do you want?”

Freya looked at Erika with steady eyes.

“I want to become a hero like you, big sister.”

Heroes.

People of justice who did not merely fight magical beasts beyond the walls, but rescued people from evil demonkin and stopped the plots of black mages.

“My reason is different from yours, but... still. I want to become a hero too. If I can’t, then at least a knight...”

Erika’s eyes widened.

A beat passed.

Then the corners of Erika’s lips slowly rose.

She kicked off the blanket and rose to her feet.

“What are you talking about? You proved more than enough this time that you have what it takes to be a hero.”

“Huh?”

“You were the first to find the clues the other adults missed, and you saved your friends. Before Teacher and I even arrived. If you do not have what it takes to be a hero, then who does?”

Erika carefully wrapped both hands around Freya’s.

“I think I would feel reassured knowing I have such a dependable little sister watching my back.”

This time, Freya’s eyes widened.

“Big sister?”

“If we’re going to do that, you need to start by taking care of your health like I do.”

Erika picked up the blanket she had kicked aside and covered Freya with it.

“Let’s sleep first. Starting tomorrow, you’ll wake up early with me, and we’ll train together. You need to eat well too.”

“Big sister...”

“Go to sleep, young lady.”

With gentle pressure, Erika laid Freya down on the bed.

Freya did not resist.

Erika lay down beside her as well.