“We do not save lives because we desire payment or for bolstering our worthless egos. We save lives in order to make the world a better place, even if only by an infinitesimally small bit more.” - Nolan Asclepius the IVth, famed healer and grandson of the Medical Sage Asclepius, one of the historically confirmed founders of the Healers for a Better Life movement, circa 289 VA.

“All right now, Madam Edelstein, these should take care of those wounds,” said the old healer as he skillfully tied a knot and snipped off the excess of the thread he used to sew shut the wound over Elfriede’s torso. The old man was one of the veteran healers in Andrea Utghwes’ employment, a skilled veteran healer of the nature affinity. His mortality affinity counterpart was tending to Cassie, whose injuries were far more life threatening. Elfriede’s could be considered a mere flesh wound in comparison, so the healer with more direct healing capabilities looked after Cassie instead of her.

Most of the healers under the employ of the border duchies were adherents to the Healers for a Better Life movement, a teaching that encouraged healers to regularly trade their knowledge around to help each other improve rather than guard it closely. The movement also encouraged the healers to heal people as much as they could, just to help make the world a slightly better place, since they had the power to do so.

Those healers also rarely demanded fees, though they would not refuse donations from the well-to-do to help support their own living. All they asked from the poor on the other hand were a few words of gratitude, and a promise to maybe help relay the kindness to others when they could in the future. The healers themselves often lived rather frugal lives, though they were never really hard up on living either, as people who sold food or ran eateries often let them eat for free out of gratitude.

Elfriede winced a bit as she raised herself up. She was naturally unable to see the work the healer had done, and given his nature affinity, there would be no immediate effects either. She sensed however that the healer had not only made certain that the bleeding stopped entirely, but had also sewn up the large cut neatly, even if she still felt the pain as she moved and inadvertently stretched the injured muscles.

“Now, now, please do not exert yourself, Madam. I would prescribe you at least one full week of bed rest to allow those injuries to heal properly. No exertion for that period, lest you wish for the wound to reopen,” said the old man as he kindly shook his head. “On top of that, I would recommend that you eat heartily during this period of rest. Ideally red meats and bone marrow if you have some, as your body would need nutrients to reproduce the blood you had lost.”

Elfriede nodded at the old man’s warning and advice as she gingerly put on a fresh tunic. Since the healer was of nature affinity, what he had done was to spur up and accelerate her own body’s natural healing, to such an extent that a gruesome wound that would have normally taken weeks if not months to heal properly and would likely leave lasting side effects could be healed within one week while leaving no sequelae behind.

“You’re done already, old fart?” asked the mortality affinity healer as she walked by from a bit further in the room. They were all sequestered in the fort’s medical room, which the healers had taken over and turned into a field hospital where they worked on the worst injuries, while leaving the lighter injuries to the more mundane healers.

Elfriede and the other returning mercenaries with heavy injuries were beelined directly to the place when they reached the fort, apparently on the young Duchess’ orders. The young Duchess and the other nobles themselves were still at the frontlines, and the last time Elfriede heard about them was just before they reached the fort, when Reinhardt told her that the battle was won and the enemy were in the middle of a rout.

“Are my people all right?” she asked with some trepidation to the old female healer. She had been in charge of those with the worst injuries - injuries worse than Elfriede’s own - since Elfriede had outright asked her to prioritize those with the worst condition rather than get herself treated first. There were three of them with worse injuries, including Cassie, while the other two were also already dealt with by the old man before he worked on Elfriede herself.

“They’ll live,” said the old woman with a nod. Although Elfriede could not see, from her senses she detected the overall fatigue of the old woman, and guessed that she must have been busy at work all day long. A similar sense of fatigue was noticeable on the old man as well. “I fixed them up as best I could. Can’t do much about missing teeth, but I’ve reconnected the jaw that was torn off, so that man would be able to eat solid food again in a few days. The other only had a deflated lung, so that was easy as well. As for the foul-mouthed girl, all I can say was that she had been very lucky indeed.”

“Oh? How so?” asked Elfriede with some curiosity.

“The blade cut deep into her abdomen, but the injury to her organs were relatively minimal. Most of the damage had been to her appendix, so I took the liberty to get rid of it altogether,” said the old woman with a shake of her head. “She had some slight inflammations on it, too, so removing it now just saved her the trouble of dealing with a burst appendix later on. Other than that, she should not consume anything solid for a couple days, and she’ll be fine otherwise.”

“Oh, thank the deities for that,” said Elfriede as she exhaled in relief. “And thanks to both of you too. We owe you our lives.”

“Think nothing of it, madam,” replied the male healer. “We’re just doing what we can, our little part in this world of ours. If our efforts can help save a life, all’s good.”

“I’m not as philanthropic as this guy, but eh, you lot did well out there, probably helped finish this battle sooner. The sooner this battle ends, the less people will have to die,” said the old woman in turn with a shake of her head. “I’m old, and I know that life’s better under the border dukes. I just wish that defending that way of life doesn’t mean I have to keep watching as youngsters young enough to be my grandkids give their lives on the battlefield day after day.”

“I guess we just fight in our respective ways,” said Elfriede as she nodded to the old woman’s words.