In the kitchen, I put the needle into a pot of water and lit the fire. While waiting, I spread one of the sheets over the table in the living room. The girl was still lying unconscious on her side where I left her. I carried her into the cabin and laid her down on the table, then latched the door so I wouldn’t be disturbed by any visitors, though it wasn’t likely anyway.
I removed her bow, quiver, and wrist guards—they looked like archer’s gloves—and set them aside. I also removed her armor...well, it was really just a breastplate. Her shirt was wet and sticky with blood, so I cut it down the middle and took it off.
First, I checked to make sure she had no serious wounds other than the one on her side. It was hard to tell if her hands and feet were injured because of the fur. Although, if I could’ve seen a wound even through the fur, then it would’ve been a serious gash. I took the lack of visible trauma as a good sign. She had cuts and scrapes all over her body, but only the oozing opening in her side needed immediate attention. Fresh blood welled up at the site of injury. She didn’t seem conscious, but her face had been screwed tight with pain this entire time.
The water had come to a boil. I cut out a piece of the extra sheet and placed it in the water to disinfect. After a while, I took it out and brought it to the table, along with the needle and thread.
“The data really comes in handy at times like this,” I said. So far, everything I’d done had been informed by some knowledge from my previous life, alongside the helpful data. However, for the next steps, I had no real-world experience—only the data could see me through.
I wiped down the wound with the disinfected sheet. The young woman grunted and her face tightened with pain, but she was still unconscious. Blood was welling up again, so I had to stitch the wound quickly. And since I didn’t have any anesthetic, this was going to hurt her. Every time the needle passed through her skin, her jaw clenched. My chest tightened with guilt, but I had to keep going for her sake.
At last, I was able to suture the wound closed. It was nowhere near as neat as a surgeon’s stitching, but since my installation had come with some basic survival skills, it had come out all right. The job may have been ugly, but at least it would prevent the gash from getting worse. If she complained about its appearance later, I’d take it in stride and apologize.
Again, I soaked the sheet I’d used to clean the wound and then used it to wipe down the rest of her body, double-checking for any serious injuries. It was awkward to say the least because she was completely naked. Fortunately, both my mind and body understood the severity of the situation, so I finished without embarrassing myself.
I extinguished the fire and filled a wooden bowl halfway with the hot water, then soaked some of the fever-relieving herbs I’d gathered earlier. After a while, the brew started to give off a crisp, minty scent. I fed the girl the medicine after making sure it was cool enough to drink. When I spooned the liquid into her mouth, she drank it down herself. It was lucky that she wasn’t completely unresponsive. The bowl was soon empty, and since the herb was a fever-reducer, I hoped that it would have some pain-relieving effects as well.
She didn’t miraculously recover, but after an hour her breathing evened out. I tried moving her because the table was no place for a patient. I carried her princess-style, this time into the bedroom, and laid her down on the bed. Of course, I made sure to cover her with a kakebuton (or a blanket, I should say, to match with this world’s Western-style culture). She was sleeping soundly. I hadn’t noticed before now, but on her head, a stylish green hair ornament glittered in the light.
I sighed deeply, feeling completely drained. The first aid itself had been exhausting, but more than that, maintaining that level of concentration had really done me in. Between scouting my surroundings earlier and rescuing the girl, it had been a long day. I decided that I should eat dinner, but I needed a break first, so I sat down on the stool by the nightstand.
“Tomorrow, I’ll go replenish my water supply and then try my hand at smithing. I’ll also need to check in on her once in a while,” I said.
Thinking had made me sleepy and sitting down had only made my tiredness more pronounced. My head drooped, and I jerked it back up. This was a familiar feeling from my old world—I was starting to nod off.
“No...I have to...make dinner...” I mumbled, but it was no use. I slipped off into the welcoming darkness.
I was stirred from sleep by a strange feeling around my neck. How long had I been unconscious? And how was the girl doing? I opened my eyes, still out of it, to the sight of her—she was hovering over me and gripping my throat with one hand.
“Well, I thought it might turn out this way,” I said as calmly as I could manage. Her grasp was light, but it didn’t escape me that she could’ve easily ended my second life while I’d been asleep and before I’d spent even a full day here.
“How are your injuries?” I asked.
She stared at me. Her eyes were a beautiful golden color, just like a tiger’s. At first, she looked confused by my question, but she soon schooled her features into impassivity. “They hurt,” she responded, “but they’re healing.”
“That’s good,” I said, smiling with genuine relief. My efforts to save her hadn’t been in vain.