The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint - Chapter 83

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Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint ◈

Chapter 83: Mistaken for a Saint (1)

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Imperial Year 1049.

Spring, while winter's chill still lingered.

It was before the birth of a new saint and saintess was announced.

The Empire was not the only place thrown into turmoil by the failed subjugation season.

Spring was the best time to thin out magical beasts still drowsy from hibernation.

For that reason, countries beyond the Empire made active use of the season as well.

But this year's subjugation season had been especially harsh on humanity.

A mutated magical beast that had appeared without warning.

That single bird had brought humanity to a new turning point.

And so the continent was swallowed by a wave of mourning.

At the southwestern edge of the continent, the city-state known as the Holy Kingdom could not escape that mood either.

No, as the headquarters of the Church of the Sun, it mourned the victims in an even more solemn atmosphere.

“Let us pray today as well for those who could not return this spring.”

The priest on the altar, who appeared to be advanced in years, closed their eyes.

The archbishop bowed his head, his purple vestments hanging loosely around him.

Below the altar, the people in the square lowered their heads as well.

Memorial incense rose from censers scattered throughout the square.

Carried by the cold dawn wind, the smoke drifted beyond the cloister.

In the direction where it vanished stood a building with twelve spires.

The Apostolic Palace.

The residence of the Holy King, connected to the grand cathedral at the heart of the Holy Kingdom.

Every secular and religious decision of the Church of the Sun was made there, and its lights had been on since dawn.

Deep inside that building was a conference room.

Twelve people sat beneath banners marked with symbols such as swords and chalices.

At the highest seat, beneath a banner bearing a sword and torch, a middle-aged man rubbed between his brows.

“Cardinals, did this morning's prayers go well?”

Holy King Ferret.

At the call of the Church of the Sun's elder, the eleven cardinals nodded.

“Yes, Your Holiness. Every cardinal was in attendance.”

Cardinal Thomas, head of the Cardinals' Council, answered on their behalf.

The Holy King gave a short nod.

“Good. Then let us begin, Cardinal Thomas.”

“Yes, Your Holiness. Today's agenda concerns the miracle at the Empire's northern gate.”

The Church of the Sun had an obligation to verify every miracle.

It was to distinguish divine grace from the deception of wicked heretics, so believers would not be led astray.

“We will refer to the report sent by the capital's diocesan head regarding this incident.”

Cardinal Thomas turned a page of parchment.

“First, the center of this incident was apparently a classification system called triage. It was devised by Director Schun and finalized at the scene by Archbishop Lailic.”

“Hmm... The mortality rate fell to one-tenth merely by changing a classification system? I find it hard to believe even as I read it.”

“After receiving cross-verification from the capital's healers, no falsehood was found in the report.”

“I was not doubting it. I was simply astonished.”

A white-haired cardinal nodded.

One after another, the other cardinals joined in.

“Triage... Classifying people by color to improve visibility, and discussing only the urgency of their lives rather than worldly titles or status. It is an excellent practice even from the perspective of faith.”

“Moreover, he entrusted the finalization to the diocesan head so the standards could be adapted for the majority of clergy rather than himself. Most people would wish to claim such a great discovery for themselves.”

“Whenever I hear of Director Schun's deeds, I cannot help but feel reverent.”

Not long after the meeting had begun, the cardinals' opinions were already leaning toward divine grace.

Director Schun's past deeds had already led the cardinals to conclude that he could not possibly be a heretic.

He had created medicines and saved countless patients.

To prevent those medicines from being abused, he had made them available by prescription through healers alone.

He had even readily relinquished the authority he could have gained from vaccine patents.

There was no reason to call such a person a heretic.

“If Director Schun created it, then it is hardly surprising.”

“This report contains nothing but praise, so I have some doubts. Under this system, could treatment for heroes of high Rank be delayed, postponing their return to the front lines?”

“On the contrary, their return was quicker, and the loss of combat strength was much lower.”

That was because triage focused not on a complete cure, but on initial treatment.

“The report also mentions that. Damage... control... surgery? It says red-tagged patients received only enough healing to keep them from dying, then the divine power saved was used to fully heal injuries in descending order of Rank.”

“To stop healing after doing only enough to keep someone alive... Now that I think about it, that would be much more efficient.”

“But wouldn't that require knowing exactly where to draw the line?”

“That is why it is a technique only Director Schun can perform.”

The cardinals clicked their tongues in amazement.

Director Schun's ability in pharmaceuticals was already widely acknowledged.

However, his treatment ability had not yet been properly known, so people still regarded it with uncertainty.

That view would surely disappear after this incident.

“Could that surgery possibly be black magic?”

In a corner of the conference room, a cardinal with a thick gray beard cautiously spoke.

Cardinal Thomas shook his head with a stern expression.

“Well over several dozen healers directly assisted at his treatment site. Every one of them testified that it was not black magic, so there is no such possibility.”

“But...”

The gray-bearded cardinal looked down at the report.

“He saved someone whose jaw had been destroyed. He cut out the organs of someone impaled through the abdomen by a stake, and another whose pelvis had been crushed by a magical beast. He even hammered nails into someone whose head had been half destroyed, and they survived. Are you truly saying that is not black magic?”

“...It probably is not.”

Honestly, even Cardinal Thomas was not entirely sure.

By what principle could a person survive after their organs were cut out? What technique allowed someone to wake perfectly fine after their head was opened? What kind of magic made a jawbone out of ribs?

Most striking of all was the patient whose entire body had been charred by lightning, yet opened their eyes after two days.

Not as a ghoul or undead, but as a living, breathing person.

If that was not black magic, it was almost more frightening.

“...Probably... Yes. It probably is not.”

But the healers had testified that they sensed no magical power during the process.

And they had directly treated the patients with their own divine power during the surgeries.

There was no choice but to see it as an extension of divine magic.

“Then may we conclude that this miracle can sufficiently be explained through divine magic?”

“For now, I believe we must see it that way, Cardinal Thomas.”

Bang, bang.

The council head struck the table with a gavel.

The Holy King pressed his seal onto the report.

With that, the Church's official position was established: this miracle was not the deception of heretics.

After several more agenda items were discussed, a brief break was granted.

The cardinals drank tea during the break.

Naturally, the first agenda item was the topic that accompanied the warm tea.

“My heavens...”

Cardinal Wendres Rister of Healing.

The cardinal with a head as round as the moon covered his mouth with both hands, unable to contain his swelling emotion.

“If what was reported in the first agenda item is true, then... has Director Schun reached the truth of amputation?”

Cardinal Wendres was an absolute devotee of amputation.

Healing arts included a technique where an afflicted area was swiftly cut away, then regenerated with divine magic.

There was the minor side effect that patients had about a thirty percent chance of dying because they could not endure the pain and blood loss.

Still, the history of healing arts had progressed by making that amputation process less painful and faster.

The cardinal himself was a healer who had spent his whole life refining that technique.

But amputation had a limitation.

“Then does that mean he can perform amputations on areas other than the limbs? Even on the head?”

Amputation could not be performed on anything other than limbs.

It was only natural.

No one could survive after having their torso cut apart.

But the Director Schun in the report had done precisely that.

He had cut out organs and opened heads, saving patients.

To Cardinal Wendres, Director Schun almost seemed like a prophet who had glimpsed a fragment of truth.

“...Ah. I wish to go to him immediately and learn his secret firsthand. This is the first time I have so deeply regretted being a cardinal who cannot leave the Holy City.”

Cardinal Wendres murmured as he looked toward the ceiling.

The cardinals who had once been healers nodded as if they agreed with him.

Another cardinal, who had been watching, pressed hard at their brow as though suffering a headache.

“I hear healing institutes throughout the Empire are already struggling with that very matter.”

“Why? What has happened?”

“Other healers who heard the accounts of those who returned after observing Director Schun's healing arts are leaving their institutes one after another.”

“Oh dear... Have they lost confidence in themselves?”

“That is not it.”

The cardinal rubbing their brow shook their head.

“The healers who returned after observing can explain what they saw, but even they do not understand how it was done, so they cannot teach it properly. Hearing only the accounts leaves other healers frustrated, and they are applying to Director Schun's clinic to learn those techniques in detail.”

Director Schun certainly was not stingy about teaching his skills.

If the situation was not urgent, he taught everything, including the principles.

The problem was that those were not skills one could master by seeing them once.

In the end, the healers who had observed him could only return to their own bases and truthfully describe what they had seen.

“I am telling you, he opened someone's abdomen on the first day, then made a new anus for them after the old one had disappeared on the second day.”

“How?”

“I don't know.”

They did not know the principles, but they kept hearing about the results.

To healers, it felt like watching a highlight reel of madness.

In the end, those incomplete explanations set the healers' hearts ablaze.

“I hear the Merkuer Clinic has especially fierce competition, since unlike other healing institutes, it does not restrict which denomination applicants may belong to.”

“...”

“Cardinal Wendres. A cardinal's position is for life. Didn't you sign the papers? Even if you submit a resignation, they will not accept it.”

“...What a shame.”

In a corner of the conference room, beneath a banner marked with a compass and book, a bearded old man pushed up his round glasses and scanned the report.

His eyes stopped at a particular passage.

“This miracle is remarkable, but I have a question. The report says clinics belonging to the Merkuer Trading Company had notably lower mortality rates than other clinics. Were those not the clinics primarily caring for red-tagged patients?”

“Yes. We have obtained testimony from other healers regarding that as well.”

The head cardinal continued.

“The Merkuer Trading Company apparently uses a substance called bleach as a catalyst.”

“Bleach?”

“Clinics belonging to the trading company regularly spray the substance throughout their buildings. They say using divine magic after spraying that bleach consumes less divine power. It may be a catalyst like holy water.”

“Hmm... It would be a grave discourtesy to ask Director Schun directly about the ingredients of that substance, would it not?”

“It would.”

Taking the method for making a catalyst discovered or developed by a spellcaster or healer was a grave discourtesy.

It was comparable to stealing a grimoire.

“Then it is unfortunate, but...”

“As for that, I have heard something. The trading company freely sells that substance called bleach.”

“Truly?”

“Yes. Apparently, they had sold it for a long time, but no one ever bought it.”

“Then it seems wise to have healing institutes purchase it from now on.”

To make a catalyst, something akin to a spellcaster's life's work, available for anyone to purchase.

The clergy in the conference room were awed by the breadth of Director Schun's generosity.

As the cardinals continued eagerly discussing Director Schun,

Ding, ding.

A bell rang.

“Then we shall resume the meeting.”

At the declaration from the head cardinal, the cardinals covered their cooled teacups and fell silent.

“This is the final agenda item. It is also the most important. The matter was raised by...”

The head cardinal's gaze paused briefly on the Holy King.

The Holy King nodded calmly.

“Proceed.”

“Understood. This agenda item concerns the canonization of Director Schun and his disciple.”

The conference room filled with murmurs.

The head cardinal lightly tapped the table to quiet the commotion, then continued.

“In particular, I believe we must settle Director Schun's canonization here first.”

The instant he finished speaking, a sharp-eyed cardinal raised his hand.

“Please speak, Cardinal Stuma.”

“Had we not already concluded that he does not meet the requirements for canonization?”

No one in the room looked at Cardinal Stuma with displeasure.

That was his role.

He was the cardinal responsible for checking doctrine, tradition, and religious law.

Whether people liked it or not, his duty was to raise objections first.

Cardinal Thomas understood that well and merely nodded calmly.

“That is true. By Church law, Director Schun does not meet even one condition to become a saint.”

When the Church of the Sun canonized saints and saintesses, there were five strict conditions that had to be met.

First, they must never have contracted an infectious disease.

Second, they must have been born with a sacred symbol on their body.

Third, they must possess at least twenty times the divine power of an average high-grade healer.

Fourth, they must be able to use a supreme divine miracle, one rarely recorded in history.

Fifth, their divine power must recover on its own even without prayer.

The titles of saint and saintess were a guarantee issued by the Church that marked someone as one of the finest healers of the age, above even high-grade healers.

It did not matter how many existed in an era, but because the Church's prestige was at stake, canonization had to be approached carefully.

Achievements were merely a matter for reference in the canonization process, not a condition.

That was why Director Schun had never been canonized as a saint.

“As you know, Director Schun meets not a single one of the five conditions. Is that not why we have instead consecrated the medicines he has created?”

Yet they could not simply ignore such great accomplishments.

Thus, the Church had circumvented the issue by consecrating Director Schun's medicines in his place.

But at this very moment, the Holy King was proposing that they break that long-standing custom.

“Your Holiness, have I overlooked a passage in scripture?”

Cardinal Stuma's strict gaze turned toward the Holy King.

The Holy King slowly shook his head.

“Scripture contains no passage on this matter.”

“Then why are you suddenly proposing this?”

“Because we can no longer delay it.”

Holy King Ferret's weary voice resounded through the conference room.

“Without using divine power at all, Director Schun performed divine miracles. On a scale that would require dozens of supreme healers. He even accomplished resuscitation, something impossible even for supreme healers. Does divine power truly matter so much? Were those five conditions not standards meant to determine one's ability?”

The conference room fell quiet.

No words of rebuttal came.

In this age, there were already three saints and three saintesses.

Yet not one of them could perform miracles on the scale of those Director Schun had achieved, as described in the report.

“...”

Cardinal Stuma let out a low groan.

Cardinal Wendres brought his clasped hands to his forehead, then lowered them.

“I have no objection to Your Holiness's words.”

One cardinal spoke calmly.

“Neither do I.”

Then another.

One agreement after another followed.

But the approvals had not yet reached a majority.

Director Schun was undeniably an extraordinary person.

Still, changing rules upheld for a thousand years was not easy.

Once they made an exception, they would face countless arguments in the future.

They could not help being cautious with their choice.

However, as the cardinals who had not yet agreed deliberated, the Holy King spoke.

“We have received information that the Empire is preparing to grant Director Schun a noble title.”

The air in the conference room froze.

“A noble title...?”

“That is correct.”

The cardinals' expressions stiffened all at once.

Originally, someone with a noble title could not become a priest, and someone who had become a priest could not receive a noble title.

This resulted from the Empire's principle of separating religion and state, combined with the doctrine that the eldest son who served God must not pledge loyalty to the Emperor.

Thus, the Empire avoided granting titles to those who had proven their abilities through divine magic.

After all, they knew the Church would take them in.

Yet the Empire was breaking that unspoken rule.

“Director Schun is to receive a title...?”

The cardinals' minds went blank.

Even if Director Schun became an Imperial noble, the authority of healing arts would not shift toward the Empire.

Director Schun had always been favorable toward the Church.

But that was not the issue.

The true issue was that the Church could lose him completely.

At that moment, the cardinals realized that they had already begun to see Director Schun as one of the Church's own.

“...That must not happen.”

“If it does, we will become a Cardinals' Council remembered throughout Church history as a disgrace.”