When I came to my senses, I had already brought this child back home.
The lawn in the courtyard had been trampled into a mess. I wonder what kind of expressions the adventurers had when they discovered I wasn't home today? It's a bit regrettable that I couldn't see it.
"Not having electric lights is really inconvenient..."
I gently placed the loli I had brought home onto the bed and lit the illumination lamp in the bedroom. The nighttime lighting tools used by the common folk were consistent with medieval times—oil lamps and candles, with torches used outdoors. Those with a bit of magical talent were qualified to use more convenient lighting tools. You just had to inject soul energy—no, inject fire elements into the base of the illumination lamp, and it could maintain brightness for an entire night.
Healing in the game world was much more convenient than in reality, but not every injury could be casually treated. I envied the adventurers—everything was fine as long as they kept their HP (Health Points) at maximum.
The girl was draped in a tattered piece of black cloth. I carefully lifted a corner and found that the clothes underneath were also severely damaged, reduced to just a few scraps of fabric for modesty.
There was no sign of age restriction protection being triggered. Was it because we were both NPCs? Or perhaps examining wounds when injured didn't have age restriction switch protection? Either way, it wasn't the important point to focus on. After removing the girl's outer clothing, I discovered her injuries were much more severe than I had imagined. Her petite body was covered in wounds, with the most serious areas being a bloody mess.
The thought of whether I should avoid impropriety flashed through my mind. Having thoroughly examined my own body, I knew my own depths, but now I was facing someone else's body after all...
"This isn't the time to worry about distinctions between men and women, is it?"
Just for this moment, I'll consider myself a woman. If I keep worrying about these trivial matters, she could be in mortal danger.
While avoiding touching the wounds, I removed the few scraps of cloth hanging on the girl's body. Thank goodness no restriction warnings were triggered.
By the light of the illumination lamp, I quickly completed cleaning the wounds and bandaged the girl. Her frail body had almost become a bloody mess. The debuff wasn't [Bleeding] or the more advanced [Hemorrhaging], but had already reached [Severe Blood Loss], just one step away from death. If I could see the girl's health bar, I believed her life value would definitely be in the red danger zone.
My [Medicine] level was Lv. Max. Thanks to my maxed medical skill, the [Resurrection] effect was triggered: when my target's health drops below 5%, their health won't decrease during the medical treatment period until their health exceeds 20%. This skill cannot be used during combat.
Wrapping with gauze immediately stopped bleeding and came with a blood-locking effect. Any skill becomes quite magical when maxed out.
What I could do currently was only temporarily preserve this child's life. The medical supplies at home were down to just bandages—I'd have to run to the pharmacist first thing tomorrow morning to buy some medical supplies.
The girl had a wide variety of negative statuses: [Severe Blood Loss], [Fractures], [Severe Fatigue], [Starving], [Dehydration]... Such a diverse collection of debuffs would be rare even on battle-hardened mercenaries, let alone a young girl.
I prepared the most comfortable bedding possible for her. With more rest, severe fatigue could be eliminated. For fractures, there was a skill in the [Medicine] branch called "bone setting," specifically used to treat fractures. Even compound fractures could be perfectly healed.
The effectiveness of bone setting was determined by probability based on the degree of fracture and skill level. Failed attempts would cause aftereffects—for example, failed leg bone setting would result in limping when walking. The cure was also very simple: break that leg again, reset the bone, and if the attempt succeeded, it would return to normal. Magical medical arts—truly terrifying.
This child not only had severe external injuries but also had quite a few fractures. This wasn't damage caused by wild beast attacks—I believed it was man-made.
"Who would do this to such a small child..."
I remembered that players who maliciously attacked innocent NPCs would be punished, with even more severe punishments for attacking the elderly, children, pregnant women, and other NPCs. The injuries on the girl were completely intended to kill her.
If someone without maxed medical skills like me hadn't found her, she would definitely have died from blood loss.
The person who tried to kill her might come looking if they discovered she was still alive, which could bring a lot of trouble.
But I didn't regret saving this child. Although I didn't know the inside story and couldn't jump to conclusions, I'd try asking what happened after she woke up.
I used the remaining slime meat at home to make some slime soup, feeding it to the girl spoonful by spoonful. Slime soup couldn't provide satiation, but it could at least slow the rate of the starving debuff, and the dehydration negative status was easily resolved. Once she awakened, she could consume regular food. Incidentally, soup made from slime meat was similar to white fungus soup from the real world, with surprisingly excellent texture.
"Alright, next... though this isn't my intention..."
I had hoped I would never need to use the [Bedside Service] skill... Let me be clear first—it's absolutely not that I have thoughts of sharing a bed with a blonde loli. It's just that seeing the painful struggling expression on her tender young face, I couldn't just sit by and watch.
What could she have experienced to remain tense even in a state of severe fatigue, to the point of being tormented by nightmares?
I bent down and gently kissed the girl's forehead.
Good night.
There will be no one here to harm you. Rest peacefully, and have sweet dreams.