Crown Prince Sells Medicine

Kiiing-!

The activation of the Asrahan Core Technique sent the circle spinning vigorously. Raciel’s senses sharpened, allowing him to perceive intricate details within his body. The thumping of his heartbeat, the movement of saliva down the throat, the subtle tremors of the bronchi and diaphragm—all became perceptible to him.

‘I have qi circulating in my body too.’

Qi, the life force, circulated throughout the body, encompassing every organ, limb, muscle, bone, hair, and cell. It permeated, resided, flowed, and pulsed wherever life functioned.

Through the Asrahan Core Technique, Raciel sensed this mana and employed it to examine his own body. At first, he doubted the possibility, but to his surprise, it worked to some extent.

‘It’s like I’ve become an X-ray using mana instead of X-rays.’

Or perhaps he felt akin to an MRI scanning the body using mana instead of magnetic resonance.

‘Can I examine other people’s bodies in the same way?’

Raciel extended his hand and cautiously touched the shoulder of a child named George. He gradually increased the rotation of the mana circle.

Kiiing-!

The circle surrounding George’s heart spun even more vigorously, heightening Raciel’s sensitivity to mana. With a calm mind, he closed his eyes.

Gradually, he began to perceive.

‘I can see it.’

Behind closed eyelids, Raciel witnessed another realm—a pitch-black world revealed by the Asrahan Core Technique. Within it, he observed flowing lights, the streams of mana circulating within George’s body.

The luminous mana strands marked their paths, resembling a view of cities and inhabited areas illuminated by electricity on a satellite photograph taken at night in South Korea.

‘But as expected… the flow is chaotic.’

Suppressing a sigh, Raciel acknowledged the disarray in the mana circulation within the child’s body. It wasn’t just abnormal—it was catastrophic. The mana flowed indiscriminately, devoid of any prescribed pattern.

Ordinarily, the circulation of qi should adhere to the principles of Yin and Yang, as well as the Five Elements. Like the air moving through the respiratory system when a person breathes, or the blood flowing from the heart through arteries, reaching the extremities, and returning via veins when the heart beats—there should be a designated pathway for all flows within the body.

But in George’s body?

Raciel couldn’t discern a set path. The mana ran wild, even more distressing was its excessive intensity. It was akin to a raging rapid obliterating valleys and embankments in a haphazard manner.

‘So, this is what epilepsy looks like…’

Observing the actual flow of qi intensified the heartache. A sense of compassion surged within Raciel, yet he refused to let emotions consume him. This was a critical moment that demanded unwavering rationality. He was uncertain how long he could maintain such heightened sensitivity to mana.

Hence, he needed to make the most of this opportunity.

‘Focus,’ Raciel urged himself, his eyes gleaming.

He scrutinized the unruly mana flow within the child. He traced each strand, retraced them, and conducted analysis.

‘I must identify the flow causing epilepsy.’

Amidst the overwhelming brain waves, he searched for a thread that could guide him. Through the spinal nerves, he explored numerous nerve strands, observing, categorizing, and reanalyzing the entangled and twisted mana flow. He made inferences, tracked its course.

And at last, he discovered it.

‘I found it.’

His focus zeroed in on the side of the child’s neck, where a nerve stem emerged from the medulla through the jugular foramen outside the skull. It was the vagus nerve, one of the twelve cranial nerves extending from the brain. However, the mana signals flowing along that nerve were incredibly abnormal—violent, even.

Zap, zap!

Neural signals surged erratically, resembling sparks flying and meteors crashing down, incinerating everything in their path. The peripheral nerves convulsed under the strain of the disharmonious neural signals.

Soon, a chain reaction of chaotic qi followed, rippling like a pebble thrown into a pond or a tsunami triggered by a falling meteor in the sea. The twisted and devastating surge of qi spread from the peripheral nerves to the child’s medulla, overthrowing the vagus nerve nucleus.

The waves propagated throughout the entire brain, causing a rampage of catastrophic neural signals that affected the child’s entire body.

‘This is it,’ Raciel finally understood.

He had discovered the root cause.

‘Erroneous neural signals originating from the vagus nerve. They stimulate the medulla and the vagus nerve nucleus, resulting in a neural rampage throughout the entire brain.’

Raciel intensified his focus, fixating on the vagus nerve. He observed the pattern of neural signals emanating from it, committing it to memory.

Meanwhile, the frenzied flow of mana within the child’s body gradually calmed down, and the symptoms of the seemingly unending tonic-clonic seizure began to subside.

‘That should be enough.’

Fortunately, he had gathered all the necessary information.

Raciel released his concentration, deactivating the Asrahan Core Technique. The spinning circle came to a halt.

Kiiiing…

The mana-revealed world inside the child’s body receded.

He opened his eyes.

The familiar outside world came into view, but something felt off. Everything seemed overlapped, as if viewed two or three times.

“……Uh.”

His legs gave out, and he collapsed involuntarily.

Taking a deep breath, Raciel noticed cold sweat trickling down his cheeks. His hand and arm, which had been in contact with the child’s shoulder, displayed the same symptoms.

“Am I exhausted?”

Unconsciously, he must have pushed the Asrahan Core Technique to its limits. Using the Core Technique for diagnosis proved to be no easy task, and he himself was still in a precarious state.

Dizziness overwhelmed him.

His stomach churned.

“……Your Highness!”

Voices echoed around him.

Raciel waved his hand to reassure them that he was fine. First, he checked the child’s condition before tending to his own well-being.

“……”

Fortunately, the child was safe, sound asleep as if he had fainted after the seizure subsided. Only after confirming this did Raciel glance around. The guard knights, Demian, the special duty soldiers, and the palace guards seemed close by, just a few steps away, yet they felt strangely distant.

He mustered a weak smile.

“Bring a blanket. Cover the child. He’s exhausted, and his muscles must be extremely tired from enduring seizures. Rest is crucial now. Let him sleep without disturbance. Don’t move him to a bed. Keep the noise down. No commotion.”

“Uh, Your Highness?”

“And I need to rest a bit myself… Bring me a pillow and a blanket as well.”

“……Your Highness!”

A voice called out, and the world began to spin. His head, chin, and the floor collided, resulting in a slightly rough sensation. The ceiling twirled, and the surroundings grew distant.

Receding.

Darkening.

Sleep enveloped him.

Soon, everything submerged into darkness.

♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

‘……Ugh, my head.’

Had he fallen into a deep sleep?

Raciel slowly opened his eyes.

The surroundings were dimly lit, with only a few flickering lights illuminating the area around the bed immersed in darkness. And next to the bed…

“Are you awake?”

Demian was there, his face unusually smooth, framed by his jet-black hair. There was a captivating aura about him.

“……”

It felt as if Raciel was encountering a protagonist he had read about and imagined in a novel. This was what it felt like to face someone and engage in conversation.

Perhaps his gaze was burdensome, as Demian furrowed his brow slightly.

“You’ve been lying down for half a day.”

“Is that so? It must be past midnight.”

“Yes. Sir Gardin was by your side until recently, but he went to rest.”

“Tsk. The attending physician falls asleep while the patient is unconscious?”

“I reassured him and sent him off.”

“You reassured him?”

“Yes. I knew you would wake up soon.”

Thinking an explanation was necessary, Demian paused briefly before continuing.

“I don’t know the details, but… well, I noticed a subtle change in your breath.”

“A change in my breath?”

“Yes. The scent was different.”

“So you knew I would wake up soon?”

“It may sound strange, but yes.”

“That is peculiar.”

A chuckle escaped Raciel.

It was indeed odd. Demian knew he would wake up soon because of the subtle change in his breath. No, even before that, he detected such a subtle difference. It was impossible for an ordinary person.

But Demian?

‘Possible.’

He was likely on the verge of becoming an advanced Sword Expert. When that day arrived, he would face the so-called ‘Sword Master Syndrome,’ where all senses in his body became overly sensitive.

‘Of course, he still needs more time.’

That issue can be addressed later, perhaps when he truly begins to suffer from the syndrome. With his thoughts sorted out, Raciel changed the subject.

“What about the child?”

“George woke up earlier, around dinnertime. He seemed very tired.”

“I can imagine. He has been experiencing such seizures.”

“Yes. After giving him a hearty dinner, we allowed him to sleep again.”

“Good. Well done.”

“But, are you sure that child isn’t possessed by an evil spirit?”

“Yes.”

Raciel nodded.

“It’s not some superstitious phenomenon. It’s a neurological disorder.”

“Neurological…?”

“Yes. Fortunately, I have also discovered the cause.”

That’s right.

He found it.

Raciel reminisced about the events earlier in the day—the initial attempt at the precise diagnostic method using the Asrahan Core Technique. It was an unfamiliar and astounding experience. And the result was even more remarkable.

‘I had hoped for it, and I actually succeeded. It was as if I was peering directly into the child’s body… In any case, the cause of the seizures lies in the peripheral nerves.’

Now, there was only one treatment option.

‘Vagus Nerve Stimulation.’

It required a surgical procedure performed at the hospital.

The surgery involved inserting an electrode into the vagus nerve on the left side of the neck. And when this electrode delivered a small electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve…

‘That stimulation is transmitted to the brain, reducing epileptic seizures.’

A minor surgery with significant effects. Of course, it wouldn’t work for all epilepsy patients, but it offered the potential for continuous improvement and personalized treatment by adjusting the size of the electrical stimulation.

Furthermore, the post-treatment effects were minimal. In George’s case, it was even more suitable since the overactive vagus nerve was the cause of his epilepsy.

There was no need for drug therapy like gabapentin, valproate, carbamazepine, or the pursuit of alternative treatments such as CBD oil or a ketogenic diet. Vagus Nerve Stimulation alone would suffice.

And Raciel had already devised a way to implement Vagus Nerve Stimulation here.

‘I thought of it just before I passed out.’

He thought, pondered, considered, and deduced.

And finally, he figured it out.

‘It’s worth trying.’

There was no reason to hesitate now. Raciel rose from the bed.

“Let’s go.”

“…Yes?”

Startled by his sudden words, Demian tilted his head. Observing Raciel hurriedly dressing, Demian raised an eyebrow.

“Where are we going in the middle of the night?”

“To the palace.”

“…”

“We have something to try. Just follow me.”

“Understood.”

They left the bedroom together, departing from the Star palace and traversing the city streets after midnight, the distant sound of carriages echoing in the background.

Finally, they reached the palace.

“Thank you for your assistance in the middle of the night. Please guide us to Sir Zanetis, the Court Magician.”

“To Sir Zanetis…?”

The palace guard, taken aback by the prince’s request to be guided in the dark of night, blinked in disbelief. Raciel nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Right away.”

“Ah, understood.”

Led by the guard, they passed through several gardens, hallways, stairs, and corners.

“Here we are.”

They finally arrived at the residence of the court magician, Zanetis. Raciel opened the door and entered, causing quite a commotion inside.

“Who, who is it!”

The sudden opening of the door and the influx of people startled a bearded old man, resembling a character from “Lord of the Rings,” who was clad in sleepwear. It was Zanetis, the court magician.

Clearly startled from a deep slumber, Raciel felt a tinge of remorse witnessing his reaction.

But there was no other choice.

The idea he had conceived required trying it in the middle of the night rather than during the day when everyone was wide awake. It was a request that could only be attempted at such an hour. He had to cure the child’s epilepsy, even if it meant resorting to this unconventional approach.

‘So that successful treatment cases can spread as rumors, attracting more people to the Star Palace Oriental Medicine Clinic, and I can receive the bonus life!’

His motivation wasn’t driven by concern for the child or humanitarian reasons. It was purely for his own well-being—to ensure he could eat well, sleep well, and live a long and healthy life.

With this determination in mind, he approached the court magician, his face displaying an unyielding determination akin to a titanium steel plate.

“Sir Zanetis, I have come to ask you for a favor. Can you…”

“Yes?”

“Could you cast a lightning spell on my back, just once?”

“…Me?”

Zanetis, the court magician, who had been abruptly awakened from a deep slumber and faced with an unexpected request, found his eyes performing a chaotic tap dance of confusion and bewilderment.