I Stopped Simping and the Heroines Lost Their Minds

Two days later, Arthur and Chloe visited the academy infirmary after their afternoon classes.

The room smelled of clean linen and medicinal herbs. Chloe carried her expanded field kit while Arthur rested Whisperwind against the nearest treatment table.

Matron Beatrice looked up from a stack of supply lists. Her eyes moved over Arthur once before settling on Chloe and the field kit.

"You are upright, not bleeding, and nobody carried you through the door," she said. "Are you lost, Vance?"

Arthur rested one hand against the treatment table. "Chloe requested my presence. I came voluntarily, despite the damage that may do to my reputation."

Chloe placed the kit between them and admitted that Arthur had spent most of the walk complaining about Felix.

That finally drew Beatrice out of her chair. "Then the visit already has a legitimate medical purpose."

Beatrice opened the field kit and checked the contents without removing everything. She shifted a small bottle from the bottom of the bag into one of the outer loops.

"Keep the clotting draught where you can reach it first," she said. "You should not have to empty the entire bag while someone is bleeding."

Chloe moved the bottle into the outer loop and tightened the small retaining strap around it.

Arthur watched from the edge of the table. "Felix still believes half of those supplies are unnecessary."

"Felix is not the field healer," Chloe replied, continuing to reorganize the bag. "If he wants to save silver, he can avoid getting stabbed."

Beatrice gave Chloe a small approving nod. "That is a much healthier budgeting policy."

Chloe opened her notebook to the page containing the Glassjaw notes.

"Their teeth can break inside a wound," she said. "What happens if I heal it before removing every piece?"

Beatrice rested one hand on the open field kit. She explained that healing magic would close the flesh around the fragment, trapping both the crystal and the dirt carried in with it. The wound could appear healed from the outside while infection and unstable mana continued beneath the skin.

"Wash it first, remove every visible piece with the forceps, and inspect it again before using restorative magic," she said. "If the cavern is too dark to be certain, stop the bleeding and leave the wound open until you have proper light."

Chloe wrote the steps down carefully. "So keeping the patient alive matters more than closing the wound immediately."

"Exactly. A neat scar is not useful if you seal a crystal tooth underneath it."

Arthur glanced toward the infirmary door. "Emily may object to any treatment plan that delays her return to punching lizards."

Beatrice’s expression remained flat. "Then she can object while sitting still."

Arthur reached into his coat and placed a sealed glass vial beside Chloe’s notebook. Tolan had prepared the smaller sample that morning.

"He found this in a cheap mineral shipment," Arthur said. "It changed the alchemy flame and ruined an entire batch of salve."

Beatrice lifted the vial beneath the infirmary lamp. The dark powder shifted along the glass as she turned it, and her eyes narrowed slightly.

"I have seen something similar before."

Arthur pushed away from the table. "Where?"

Several years earlier, Beatrice explained, miners from an outer settlement had begun growing weak and coughing constantly. Their mana had also become unstable. When the infirmary examined their clothes and lungs, it found the same kind of dark grit.

Chloe leaned closer without touching the vial. "Did it come from a natural mineral?"

"No. Ordinary mining dust can damage the lungs, but it does not disturb mana this way." Beatrice continued examining the powder as she described what happened afterward. The academy had closed the mine and relocated the affected workers, but the official investigation blamed poor-quality ore and ended without identifying what had altered it.

Arthur had hoped Beatrice might give him a source or a name. Instead, she had confirmed that the guild’s shipment was not the first appearance of the substance.

"So it has happened before," he said. "We just don’t know why."

"That is all the report established." Beatrice returned the vial to him. "Keep it sealed. Tell Tolan not to handle the powder directly, and do not breathe it."

Arthur slipped it back into the inner pocket of his coat.

Beatrice held out one hand for Arthur’s right arm. She turned his wrist beneath the leather, checked the remaining swelling, and adjusted the upper strap.

"The support is adequate," she said. "Use Shadow Step only when necessary, and stop firing if the wrist begins shaking."

Arthur flexed his fingers while she kept hold of his arm. "I respond well to strict supervision."

Beatrice met his gaze and pulled the strap one notch tighter.

"Then following instructions should be easy."

Arthur tested the wrap again. It remained firm without limiting his hand. "You remove all the enjoyment from disobedience."

"That is generally the purpose."

Beatrice turned back to Chloe and closed the notebook with one finger.

"You are carrying the medical kit, so you decide who remains in the fight," she said. "Arthur will claim his wrist is fine until he can no longer hold the bow. Emily will take a hit that would flatten someone else and insist that it barely counted. Do not wait for either of them to admit they need help."

Chloe glanced toward Arthur. His carefully innocent expression did nothing to challenge Beatrice’s assessment.

She asked what she should expect from Felix.

A faint trace of amusement crossed Beatrice’s face. "He will ask how much the treatment costs while you are treating him. Ignore the question until he stops bleeding."

Arthur nodded. "That does sound like Felix."

Beatrice returned her attention to Chloe. "The patient does not overrule the healer simply because the patient is louder."

Beatrice closed the field kit and handed it back to Chloe. Before they left, she reminded Arthur to return the temporary wrap to the smith after the dungeon. If the wrist became worse during the contract, however, he was to report to the infirmary first.

Arthur lifted Whisperwind from beside the treatment table and settled it over his shoulder.

"And if everything goes perfectly?"

Beatrice watched him adjust the strap. "Then bring yourself and the other three back intact. I have no interest in explaining to Morwenna why one of her squads returned incomplete."

"Demanding."

"All four, Vance."

Chloe picked up the reorganized field kit. The bottle Beatrice had moved was now within easy reach beside her left hand.

Arthur gave the Matron a brief salute before following Chloe toward the door.

"I’ll make the effort."

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