As I dazedly gazed outside the window at the brightening dawn, a young girl entered the room.
“Good morning.”
It was the same girl who had been checking up on me all through the night. From her attire, she appeared to be an attendant. So she was a servant of the house, after all.
Hm? This girl is strong.
There was not a single defensive opening in her movements, and she had a strong core. This girl was likely very aware that not putting on too much muscle was best for her medium build. Though from my point of view, she might have been a little too thin. I almost wanted to tell her to eat more meat.
But the flaws of a body’s weight or muscle mass could often be made up in large part with training or through wielding a weapon. She did seem like the kind to use a weapon to fill in for what her body lacked. In fact, I was fairly sure she was hiding a weapon under her skirt.
Honestly, though? Even in my current body, I’m sure I could take her down in my sleep. She isn’t much of a threat.
“How do you feel today, Young Mistress?”
Young Mistress.
That was me.
Which meant Nia really was the daughter of a rich family.
I, of all people, am now the young lady of a well-off family... It admittedly felt a little uncomfortable to consider, but if I intended to live as Nia, I would simply have to get used to it. Still, how should I answer? The silence stretched as I considered my response. Just what kind of girl was Nia? What kind of relationship had she held with her attendant?
Before I could think of a reply, though, the attendant was already wrapping her arms around my back and helping me sit up. If she knew to go ahead with taking care of me even with no response, perhaps Nia wasn’t the most talkative girl.
I could hardly blame her. She was so weak she could barely even walk. Such conditions would be tough even for an adult. Trying to find the energy to be happy would no doubt have been challenging.
“It is time for your meal now.”
Oh my, it was time for food.
In truth, I completely lacked an appetite, and I had no confidence my stomach would even accept whatever entered it. But people could not live without sustenance. Part of the reason this body was so weak was that it hadn’t been receiving even the bare minimum food it required.
Even looking at my hands, they were so small and thin, they were practically skin and bones. They were so pale I almost worried there was no blood flowing through them at all. I had yet to see myself properly, but I could tell just by the state of my hands that this body was even more emaciated than I had imagined.
Seeing what horrible condition I was in, I most definitely needed to replenish nutrients. Without it, there was a limit to what I could do with this body’s chi. The source of chi, the source of one’s life force, was food. A body couldn’t do without its nourishment. Chi could heal disease, but this energy could not be born from nothing.
So for now, I had to eat—especially if I wanted to cultivate more chi.
I was stuffed.
A gentle porridge, and vegetables boiled so soft they fell apart in my mouth—this was the quintessential meal for one who was ill: easy to digest and not too strong in flavor.
Not quite enough for me, but with Nia’s body in the state it is, I’m sure it would struggle to keep down much else. One day, I would love to eat the juiciest meat just dripping with blood... No, no! If I thought of such heavy foods right then, I would definitely vomit. Solids were already hard enough, but even the thought of greasy foods made me nauseous.
“Oh my! You ate all of it?!”
All I’d done was forcefully shove the food down my throat, and here the attendant was both surprised and overjoyed. Though I was most certainly feeling the consequences.
My body was attempting to reject the simple meal, but every time it threatened to rise, I would cover my mouth with my hand and force it to stay down. Digest it. Hurry up. I didn’t care how many times this body tried to reject the food, I would keep it down.
“Have you taken your medicine?”
Knowing there was no way I could keep down the food and take the medicine, I shook my head with my hand still clamped over my mouth, and the attendant thankfully understood my predicament.
“Ah. I see.”
Given her surprise, I had likely shown an appetite very unlike Nia. Not that I’m sure you could call it an appetite given I had simply shoved it down out of necessity.
Oh well, I suppose I’ll be continuing my life like this for a while yet. What a bother.
My time doing nothing but fighting against the disease continued for about a week.
Because I had made sure to force down all the food given to me each meal, the amount I was given was also silently increased over time. Pretending I hadn’t noticed, I continued the motions of taking the food and forcefully swallowing.
Following the meal, I would take a sedative, medicine made from magic herbs for my lungs, and some sleeping pills. I was constantly half asleep, focusing all my energy in circulating the chi around my body. And due to my efforts...
It seems the results are starting to show themselves.
Gradually, I became able to take meals without my body fighting back as much as it used to, and I reached the point of actually looking forward to them each day. They even started to be served with small fruits or desserts.
It didn’t change that I was only being served easily digestible foods which honestly weren’t quite enough for me, but I was glad for a change of flavor. The excitement I felt at the prospect of getting to eat sweet foods was immense.
The coughs that used to plague this body would always signal that feeling of death approaching, but now, they were few and far between. Appearance wise, I didn’t look much better, but I could feel the desire to move around more.
It meant that this body had found the will to live.
For so long, this body had been stuck in a perpetual lethargy, every part of it from the inside out screaming in pain, and yet it had managed to make it this far.
Given I had been consistently working with the chi within Nia’s body for so long, I had also managed to improve my control over it. With my current level of influence over her chi, I would likely even be able to take off the head of a small monster with a knifehand strike. Had I the energy, I was sure I could even conquer a simple labyrinth—perhaps even survive in a rank-four danger zone. Again, if I had the energy...
After finishing the breakfast that had once more been ever so slightly increased in volume, Nia’s attendant, Lynokis, raised the suggestion: “How about it, Young Mistress? Would you like to try and go outside?”
I had pulled out as much info as possible concerning Nia over this last week. I now knew her attendant, who was sixteen years of age, was called Lynokis.
She had been hired by the Liston family after graduating from the middle school division of Altoire Academy’s Department of Adventuring about half a year ago, and she currently resided in the Liston house as well.
Lynokis had been hired to take care of Nia specifically, after the family learned what she was capable of. Around that time, Nia—who had been a frail girl since birth—became further afflicted with disease and collapsed.
I imagined the young woman’s job had been tough.
Though it was paid work, she had been assigned to look after a young girl who was getting weaker and weaker by the day... For one who was neither cruelly unfeeling or skilled at compartmentalizing, there was no doubt that this would take a great emotional toll.
“Outside...” I muttered, gazing out the large window. The curtains were open, allowing me to see the sprawling blue sky. This room appeared to be on the second floor, though, so I could see little else.
The outside, hm?
“Would I be able to make it in time to see mother and father off?”
Those parents—who I had questioned if their love was too deep or if they were simply single-minded about their child—left every day for work. They would come see me when they came home in the evening and then once more before they slept.
They used to come in the mornings as well, but Lynokis had told me that their schedules were constantly packed, so I had asked them to stop coming to give them more time for themselves. They came the day after I had become Nia and the second morning, but after that, I had told Lynokis to inform them that wasn’t necessary.
All of our mornings were busy, including my own; I was fully occupied with fighting the disease. It was about time I tried to increase the range at which I could move beyond this room.
If Nia’s parents had spent every day worrying, then showing them their daughter in slightly better spirits could be called a form of filial piety.
“I’m afraid not... The master and mistress have already left the premises.”
Ah. I had just missed them, then.
“I guess I was right to have them stop visiting me in the morning. I must have caused them so much trouble.”
My mealtimes remained consistent, and Nia’s parents’ morning visit always coincided with my breakfast. And that early appointment meant they had very likely been making time specifically to see me. Having them stop with their morning greetings allowed them to leave a bit earlier.
“Oh, never. Your parents have always viewed you as more precious than their work.”
That may well have been the case given how intense their love felt.
“But it’s because father and mother go to work every day that I’m alive right now. I’m already causing them bother with my illness; I don’t want to give them more unnecessary burden.”
Had I really been their daughter, it might have been okay to simply accept their affections. Spoiling myself with their unconditional love and giving them a smile might have been more than enough. But my own circumstances were different.
I may have become Nia, but I wasn’t only Nia. Given I was more than just Nia alone, I couldn’t take their unconditional love without question. In which case, I wanted to live giving them as little trouble as possible.
If I wanted to do that, I had to hurry up and heal.