Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Acupuncture (2)

At the Medical Technology Exchange Group, one could learn skills like “medicine,” “acupuncture,” or “first aid,” which were skills usable by those without divine power to treat people, rather than holy magic that used divine power, such as “Heal.”

Naturally, its effects were weaker than holy magic.

However, it had the merit of being usable even if one had no divine power, and above all, when the treatment target was in a “state where divine power did not work,” it could show greater effect than magic.

And so, to join the Medical Technology Exchange Group, I went to the infirmary.

Yuri, who had kindly guided me while saying she would show me the way to the infirmary, went off to her own exchange group, and Eisel disappeared somewhere as soon as class ended.

It was very Eisel-like behavior.

—Knock, knock.

I politely knocked on the infirmary door.

“Come in~.”

Permission came, and I opened the door and entered.

“Where are you hurt...”

She said that, confirmed my face, and her words cut off. Then her eyes turned upward for a moment, as if she were retracing her memory.

Perhaps because the memory came to her, she clapped once and opened her mouth with a bright face.

“Ah! You’re that blind guy?”

“What do you mean, ‘that blind guy’?”

I asked as I entered the infirmary.

The infirmary felt like an ordinary nurse’s office.

There were several beds for laying patients down, and her desk as the medical officer.

Perhaps because it was the start of the semester, there were no separate patients, so only she and I were in the infirmary.

“I heard from Reina. I’ve been her drinking buddy for ages. She said there was a blind new student who dispelled with a sword... From what I heard, she seemed to like you.”

“Ah.”

“That bracelet of yours, Reina treasures it a lot.”

“...I see.”

I knew the bracelet was something Reina treasured. It was Epic-grade, after all, so that made sense.

Even if it was a reward, lending it to me had seemed strange.

She rose from her chair, ran a finger over the desk, and asked me.

“So? Our blind man, who can find his way around just fine, doesn’t seem to be hurt anywhere. What brings you here?”

“I want to join the exchange group. The Medical Technology Exchange Group.”

Perhaps surprised by my answer, her eyes widened. Was the Medical Technology Exchange Group set up as unpopular?

After a brief silence, she opened her mouth.

“...I’m Priscilla.”

“I’m Zeto.”

“Right. Zeto... Zeto...”

Priscilla narrowed her eyes and repeated my name.

“May I ask why you want to enter the exchange group?”

“There is a technique I want to learn.”

“What technique?”

“You teach acupuncture too, don’t you?”

“I do teach it, but... acupuncture, huh. That’s unique. No one has ever entered to learn acupuncture... Though in the first place, there aren’t many members.”

Priscilla soon nodded and sat back down.

Priscilla, unusually, possessed divine power but also had knowledge of other medical techniques. That was also the reason she was the medical officer of this academy.

“Interesting. Very interesting.”

Priscilla, resting her chin on her hand as she looked at me, said that.

“As you can see, my eyes are inconvenient. Would that make teaching me difficult?”

“There’s nothing difficult about it. Didn’t you know? The person who first created acupuncture was a blind man from somewhere in the East. Oh, are you from the East too? Your hair is black.”

“I’m not too sure where I’m from myself... My master took me in when I was young, but I’ve never asked where that was.”

“Hee... A master, huh.”

Perhaps because Priscilla liked me, she invited me to sit on the bed beside her desk.

Priscilla had many questions after that.

Questions like how I walked around so well, or from whom I learned swordsmanship, questions I had already received countless times, but since she was a medical officer, I spoke carefully.

She nodded as if she understood the explanation about perception too.

It was a relief that it passed smoothly.

As a result, Priscilla believed me.

It did not seem she had suspected me in the first place.

It was simply her curiosity.

Then again, from other people’s perspectives, reaching the thought that I could see when my eyes were covered was difficult in itself.

There was no particular reason for them to do so either.

She did not even go as far as asking me to show the condition of my eyes.

She said there were too many different reasons eyes could go blind, and even if she examined their condition, she would not know what it was.

She said eyes that had already gone blind could not be fixed even if that famous Saintess were brought.

“Hmm... A blind man wants to learn acupuncture... Since you’re blind, it would be less burdensome for patients receiving acupuncture, so that’s good.”

Priscilla stopped asking questions and organized the situation. Soon, she smiled brightly and said.

“I like it.”

After saying that, she rose from her seat and suddenly locked the infirmary door.

—Click.

“Ah...? What are you doing right now?”

I asked that at Priscilla’s sudden action.

“You said you’re learning acupuncture, right? Then you have to learn the acupuncture points first.”

“Acupuncture points... I heard the door lock. Do you have to lock the door to learn that? We’re learning it right here, right now?”

My questions poured toward Priscilla.

I knew Priscilla had a great ability to act, but I had questions about that action.

“Why? Are you busy? Since you’re blind, you’ll only know where the acupuncture points are if you touch them yourself. But you can’t place needles through clothes, can you?”

Priscilla said that and removed her clothes.

Layer by layer.

The clothes covering her bare skin came off.

—Rustle.

Soon, even her skirt slipped down.

“...”

Her alluring figure, clad only in underwear, was revealed clearly.

Priscilla, wearing only underwear, slowly approached me and lay down on the bed where I was sitting.

“Would it be fine if we quickly go over each point once? You said you had good memory when it came to the senses.”

“Yes. Once is enough.”

After hearing my answer, she took my hand and placed it on her stomach.

In the game, when learning a skill, I remembered that time simply passed and it ended with a line like, “You have acquired the skill!”

Now that I was learning it directly, the process naturally would not be skipped, but thinking about it, this did seem like the easiest way to teach acupuncture to a blind man.

As her hand holding mine moved, my fingers gently brushed over her skin.

Before long, my hand stopped.

“Here. This is the point related to mana. Like now, slightly to the right of the navel. It’s called the mana point. And if you go a little higher...”

Even now, Priscilla was teaching earnestly without changing her expression.

The person who had spoken in a teasing tone just earlier was gone; Priscilla’s expression had become completely serious.

No matter how blind I was, I was still unmistakably a “man.”

So it would be reasonable for her to be a little embarrassed, but she was professional. Since she was teaching a technique that saved people, she seemed to be the type not to put personal feelings into important matters.

...The problem was that, because of the stimulating sight, I could not focus at all.

“Just acquire the skill.”

All I needed was to acquire it.

Even during Edward’s class, rewards had come on their own despite my lack of focus, so I hoped skill acquisition would be the same.

Priscilla’s hand, still holding mine, continued moving along her body.

Because of my overly sensitive sense of touch from Keen Senses, the sensation of her skin was impossibly smooth and soft.

“Zeto. Are you focusing?”

“...Ah, yes.”

“My hand can’t reach my back very well. Would you try moving it yourself? I’ll help you find the location.”

Priscilla said that, then lay face down on the bed with her back upward and undid the strap of her underwear.

“Now, begin.”

She urged me, and I placed my hand on her back.

“A little higher from there.”

As she said, my hand moved upward along her back.

“Stop. A little lower. Yes, there. That point is effective for people paralyzed by things like poison. The paralysis point.”

Priscilla’s explanation of the acupuncture points continued.

Acupuncture was different from the acupuncture I had known in the modern world. I did not know much about acupuncture points, but the locations of the points seemed likely to be different too.

In the game, acupuncture was effective for removing status abnormalities. Status abnormalities here referred to negative states such as fainting, paralysis, and so on.

Rather than restoring health, if used on an ally afflicted by a status abnormality, it would remove that abnormality.

It did not have a more dramatic effect than holy magic, and if used in the middle of combat, it took longer than expected, so it was a skill that was useful if one had it, but only to a modest extent.

Beyond that, I learned points for waking someone from fainting, removing poison, and so on.

Only after I had touched nearly every part of her body I could touch did the process of teaching the acupuncture points end.

Priscilla was putting her discarded clothes back on.

“Did you memorize them all?”

Watching her put on her clothes while sitting on the bed gave me a strange feeling.

When I did not answer, she came closer and roughly pointed to one part of my back.

“Here.”

“...Paralysis point.”

Fortunately, it was one I remembered.

She made a “hm” sound, then stopped testing me and sat down in her chair again.

“That’s it for today. I have to leave work now too. Tomorrow is the weekend, right? Can you come here tomorrow?”

Priscilla asked while twirling her pen.

The weekend was precious, but this was all for 500 gold and for the cursed blade.

“I have time.”

I answered Priscilla and rose from the bed.

I had not acquired the skill yet.

It seemed I would only finish acquiring it after learning how to handle the needles.

“Then see you tomorrow morning. It’ll take some time, so we can eat lunch together or something.”

“Yes. Thank you. Ah, right. What about joining the exchange group?”

“Look at me forgetting.”

Priscilla rummaged through some documents and found the application form, but after seeing the bandage over my eyes, she took the pen herself and said.

“I’ll fill this out. That’s fine, right?”

“Yes. I’m sorry for troubling you in so many ways.”

“Don’t say that. You haven’t done anything wrong. There’s no need for you to live all hunched over like that.”

At Priscilla’s warm words, I showed a bitter smile, said farewell, and left the infirmary.

“Words like that make me feel pointlessly guilty when I keep hearing them.”

***

The next day, I came to the infirmary from morning and met Priscilla to learn how to handle needles.

After explaining the types of needles, Priscilla handed me several pieces of Boar skin and many needles.

She said they were similar to human skin, so I should practice placing needles there.

She said that after needles were used a couple of times, they lost their sharpness and no longer slipped smoothly into the skin.

Since I was able to focus better than yesterday, I kept my status window open and continued placing needles until skill acquisition appeared on it.

And finally.

<​Zeto> Lv.16

Skills Owned

-Demon Swordsmanship Lv.8

-Keen Senses Lv.7

-Weakness Detection Lv.MAX - Effect of [Blindfold of Piercing Insight] currently applied

-Acupuncture Lv.1

Remaining Skill Points: 2

Items Equipped

-Blindfold of Piercing Insight [Legendary]

-Shabby-Quality Eastern Sword [Normal]

-Vibrant Silver Necklace [Rare]

-Bracelet Bearing Wishes [Epic]

Along with the message that a skill had been acquired, I successfully acquired acupuncture.

The moment the acupuncture level appeared in my status window, knowledge about acupuncture points and methods for placing needles dug into my brain and settled naturally in my mind.

My head suddenly rang, so I was startled for a moment.

“Oh. You’re placing them better now?”

Priscilla, who had been watching me place needles from the side, praised me.

The first preparation ended well.