Stigma Effect

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

Raphlet advised Yuriel to not enter his room while he was away. The princess said she wouldn't hurt Yuriel, but it was to prevent her from doing anything unsavory.

“… Why are you crying?”

Raphlet, who had finished preparing to be dispatched with his knights, looked back at Yuriel for the last time and was bewildered. He left his knights and went to Yuriel.

After he told them to wait a moment, Raphlet took Yuriel out of their sight, and quietly said,

“It won’t take long. I will be back soon.”

“That, though…. I'm afraid you won't come back again....”

“I didn't tell you to wait this time. It's not too far away, so you can come if you want. The dangerous area is the Alchemist Tower. You can meet me around the Alchemist Tower.”

Seeing Raphlet getting ready to leave, she remembered the time he left the Mogris Estate. Unlike then, she knew he was close, but she couldn't help but be upset.

“I will contact you after moving the monster cores to a safe place. You can come then.”

She could see Raphlet was worried as she was depressed. When they were outside, Raphlet, who always spoke coldly, wiped away her tears.

Yuriel, who barely stopped crying, nodded. Raphlet sighed and said,

“When you come, you must be accompanied by another knight.”

"Yes, I will."

Raphlet, who had soothed Yuriel, gave that final request.

＊＊＊

When Raphlet left, Yuriel became very bored. She was told not to enter his room, so she had nothing to do.

Yuriel, who was sneaking around Baraha's room, confirmed that he wasn't there and left the building. Yuriel was so bored that she even went to the East Building used by Helio, but she soon left after not seeing a familiar face.

Occasionally, the knights she encountered greeted her, but they passed by without talking. The knights seemed a little uncomfortable with Yuriel.

In Mogris, there was a building used by the servants, so it was crowded....

Here, Yuriel was neither a servant nor a knight, but in an ambiguous position, she hardly had a chance to talk with people she encountered.

The servants thought of Yuriel as a member of the knighthood and treated her as a superior, and the knights she frequently encountered seemed to have no idea how to treat her.

The only people who treated her normally were Baraha, whom she had known before, and Helio, the 2nd commander.

After completing physical training and shooting in the training ground alone, Yuriel stared blankly at the sky and thought of a place she had not yet gone.

The place that came to mind was the medical office. West Building. This is the medical office in the medical unit commanded by the 3rd commander who she had not met yet.

There was a person she knew there. He was the person she talked with a lot during her hospitalization.

Yuriel was about to run to that place right away, but after checking her condition, she headed to her room.

Her body was a mess from training. It was clear that if she entered the infirmary in this state, she would be kicked out without being able to speak.

After returning to her room and taking a shower, Yuriel went to the West Building, carefully checking for any dirt.

“No, Miss Yuriel. I told you never to come again, so why did you come? Is your body okay?”

The medical officer who had taken care of her, greeted her with a surprised face.

Yuriel opened the door slightly and looked inside. When she saw the medical office inside, she opened the door wide with a smile. If there were any other medical officers other than him, she would go back.

"Long time no see!"

“What, I was surprised because I thought that you were sick. Why are you here?”

The medical officer who was sitting at his desk writing in a journal, opened his eyes wide in surprise. As he was about to get up from the chair, he saw Yuriel's smiling face and sat back down in despair.

Yuriel had a bright face with no pain anywhere he looked.

“I came here because I was bored.”

“The infirmary is not a place to come when you are bored.”

“Can I help you with anything?”

As Yuriel approached with a smirk, the medical officer narrowed his eyes and gave a seat next to him.

“You won’t be kicked out because there are no patients, but…. There is nothing good about coming to the infirmary so often.”

“That’s right. But what were you writing?”

“Oh, it’s a duty.”

"May I help you?"

"No. This is a document that cannot be read by non-medical personnel.... Miss Yuriel! Don’t stare at me like that.”

“No, there was a familiar name, so…. sorry.'

Yuriel looked at the documents unknowingly and bowed her head. She had to sit through a long lecture about how medical records could only be read by patients, medical officers, and commanders before she had an opportunity to open her mouth again.

“I didn’t hear that Baraha stopped by the infirmary, when did he come?”

What the medical officer was writing was a paper with Baraha's name written on top. Whether it was a technical term or an abbreviation, Yuriel could not understand, it was impossible to know what it was about.

When Yuriel asked a question, the medical officer answered with a glare.

“This is something I shouldn’t say.”

“That paper, it’s about a monster core. I know.”

It was not known what it was, but it was possible to guess from the human figure on the medical record. Yuriel, seeing the fragments on the back of Baraha's hand, saw a record marked in the same place.

At Yuriel's words, the medical officer closed his eyes and nodded.

“Well, Miss Yuriel was working in the Strategy Room, right? You only chased after Commander Raphlet, so I forgot about it for a while. Of course you know... ”

“Yes, so can you tell me what it is?”

“Of course not.”

The medical officer, who blinked his eyes, firmly answered . Noticing how he sharply cut her off as if with a knife, Yuriel had no choice but to retreat a little.

Yuriel, who had retreated to the point where she could not see the medical journal, asked a question.

“Then, just this. Baraha, is he in a bad mood?"

“Yuriel, are you close with Commander Baraha? You’ve been calling him by name since earlier.”

“We’re very close.”

"Well….”

Yuriel nodded her head quickly, and the medical officer looked at her as if trying to ascertain the authenticity. He looked carefully at Yuriel's face with stern eyes and opened his mouth.

“You have a close relationship with Commander Raphlet, so I know that you are not someone who will lie about things like this.”

“We’re really close. I don’t need anything else, but can you tell me that Baraha is okay?”

Yuriel asked, clasping her hands in front of her chest.

She was genuinely worried about Baraha, but it was also a question out of concern for Raphlet, who also had a monster core.

If Baraha's condition is okay, will Lord Raphlet be okay?

The medical officer tapped his desk with a pen and slowly opened his mouth.

“Well, it would be fine if it was just to tell you about the condition… I know that Commander Baraha has implanted a monster core on the back of his hand....”

"Yes, yes."

“The thing I was just organizing was the experiment log sent to me by the Alchemist Tower. The body's strength increased to a wider area than the area where the core was implanted. So it means that he was fine and he’s gotten healthier."

"Really?"

“The information about the increase in physical strength is important, so the Alchemist Tower reported it to us immediately. If they are injured later, there is a problem such as not being able to use injections in the area....”

Yuriel listened intently to him.

“There are cases where injection into the skin is not possible or the medicine does not work properly.”

The medical officer who had been giving an explanation to Yuriel, who nodded, suddenly hardened his body without speaking.

“Well, that’s it, there are cases like that….”

“Medical Officer?”

The explanation that had continued well was suddenly cut short. The medical officer looked blankly at Yuriel and stuttered his words.

Yuriel frowned and looked behind her. There was a large mirror, in which she could see a tall man leaning against the door.

The medical officer saw the man's face and began to stutter.

Yuriel and the man's eyes met in the mirror. He was a man with glasses. It was an impressively cool face that didn't have a smile.

The man turned his gaze away from Yuriel and got up from the door. A voice full of cynicism escaped his mouth.

“Are you going to keep explaining?”

“Oh, no. Commander!”

“Why? Are you about to divulge all the secrets?”

The medical officer jumped up from his chair with a bluish face and answered.

The medical officer answered with his lips trembling enough to look pitiful, and looked at Yuriel. He looked like he was begging for help.

Yuriel caught his gaze and got up quickly.

The medical officer called that man ‘Commander’. There was only the 3rd Commander that Yuriel had not met yet.

Compared to the other commanders, he was a little skinny and could not be immediately recognized as the commander. He was a man with the impression of a scholar rather than the leader of the Knights.

She had heard the name, but it was the first time she had seen his face.

The 3rd Commander who leads the medical unit, Shudmuel.

He was a man with gray eyes and silver hair as cold as a blade. A cool glance flashed in the gray eyes that were seen through his glasses.

He was looking at Yuriel silently.