Chapter 243: I Raised An Angel

Mika stared at Cecilia—at her blazing eyes, her aggressive posture, her finger pointed at his face like a sword—and he could only sigh.

This woman...

This woman was dangerous.

Not in a physical sense.

No, in the headache sense.

He leaned closer to Fauna, cupped his hand around her ear, and whispered with a voice full of exhausted disbelief:

"Fauna...are you sure that’s the doctor you’re so fond of? Because right now, she looks more like a patient who escaped from the mental asylum ward and stole a doctor’s coat on her way out."

Fauna immediately slapped his chest lightly in protest.

"Mikaaaa! Don’t say that about her!"

He blinked innocently.

"What? It’s a reasonable question. She’s pointing at me like she’s about to exorcise a demon."

Fauna shook her head, sighing but smiling at the same time.

"No, Mika, she’s not an escaped patient. Cecilia just...has a very headstrong personality. She’s bold, doesn’t hold back, and always speaks her mind." She said this with clear affection. "That’s what makes her so amazing. That’s why I believe she’ll be an incredible doctor."

"That boldness might kill someone one day." Mika raised an eyebrow.

Fauna giggled before saying, "Actually, patients like her! Really! Even when she talks like this—even when she shouts at them—they find her sincerity refreshing."

"Sincerity?" Mika repeated, deadpan.

"Yes!" She said with a proud nod. "Rather than having some boring doctor solemnly whisper ’you have cancer’ in a sad voice, you’d much rather have someone like Cecilia burst into the room yelling, ’YOU HAVE CANCER!’ with full spirit and passion!"

"That’s not comforting!" Mika choked.

Fauna shrugged innocently.

"It’s entertaining. And it’s obviously said with passion. Patients like knowing their doctor is energetic and fighting for them."

Mika rubbed his temples. "...I think we need stricter hiring practices in this hospital."

Fauna just smiled, leaning affectionately against him.

Cecilia, meanwhile, was tapping her foot, visibly annoyed at being ignored.

"HELLO?! Are you two done gossiping?! I asked you questions!"

Mika sighed deeply, finally looking back at her.

"Look, Cecilia...I’m on holiday today. I’m not even in school right now. Why are you interrogating me like a professor giving surprise exam questions?"

Cecilia narrowed her eyes sharply and jabbed a finger at him again.

"It’s to test your knowledge." She said without hesitation. "Lady Fauna praises you endlessly. If you truly have the caliber she claims, then answering a few questions should be easy. If you cannot answer them—"

She pushed her glasses up, glaring.

"—then I will not accept you as someone worthy of her respect."

Mika blinked slowly.

"...Is this a job interview?"

"No. This is a judgment." Cecilia declared.

"Now. Tell me. Answer the questions I asked. All of them."

Behind her, the other three doctors whispered among themselves:

"He’s going to die."

"There’s no way he can answer those..."

"Oh, poor boy..."

"He looks too young to even spell ’tri-phospho conduit.’"

Cecilia crossed her arms triumphantly.

She clearly believed she had boxed him into a corner.

After all, she had fired off extremely advanced, specialized, clinically dense questions at rapid speed.

Half the fully licensed doctors she knew couldn’t have answered even two of them.

And Mika?

He wasn’t even a medical student.

He was still in college. Barely an adult.

There was no way he could answer them.

Or so she thought.

Mika exhaled. Scratched the back of his neck.

Then shrugged lightly.

"...Fine, fine. If it makes you happy, I’ll answer them."

Then, he opened his mouth.

And calmly, without hesitation, he—

—answered every single question. One after another. Perfectly.

"One. Acute mana poisoning?"

He answered immediately.

"The body overclocks—mana channels surge, metabolism spikes, crystals form in the arteries. You suppress the mana, stabilize the channels, slow the metabolic rate, extract the crystals, and keep electrolytes flowing. Delay that and they die from mana collapse."

Silence.

"Two. Tri-phospho conduits?"

He continued without blinking.

"Dual channels can only siphon and refill. A tri-phospho adds a pressure-control line. It prevents regeneration overflow and stops crystallization from reforming. Without that third channel, you risk rupturing the veins."

A clipboard slipped out of someone’s hands.

"Three. Multi-layer mana fractures?"

"Micro-channel redirection." Mika said simply.

"It reroutes healthy mana through artificial paths. Heals twice as fast, no pressure buildup, no secondary ruptures."

One of the doctors actually gasped.

"Four. Fever, mana reflux, arterial crystallization?"

"That’s just stage-two mana infection."

"To deal with it you have to suppress, cool, cleanse, support with a sygmo-bar. If the crystals reach the heart vein, she’s got forty minutes. Otherwise she’s fine."

He concluded and then leaned back, almost bored.

And in response, three doctors stared at him like he’d just rewritten medical law.

Meanwhile, Cecilia’s smug expression froze.

Then cracked.

Then shattered.

Her glasses fogged slightly.

She stood there, stiff as a board, staring at Mika like the floor had vanished beneath her.

When he finished the last answer, Mika scratched his chin casually.

"There...Satisfied?"

Cecilia sputtered.

"S-S-Satisfied?! W-W-WAIT—NO! Y-YOU—You actually—?! You answered them—?!"

Mika snorted.

"Cecilia, you asked questions. I answered them. That’s how questions work."

She stood there in pure, trembling disbelief.

Her voice cracked.

"B-But those questions! Even my professors struggled with those questions! A-And you—you’re, you’re not even a doctor yet!"

Fauna giggled softly behind him, hugging Mika’s waist as she beamed proudly.

"I told you, Cecilia~" She chimed happily. "My Mika is amazing~"

Cecilia’s mouth flapped open and shut like a fish.

Her brain visibly short-circuited.

"YOU—YOU—YOU—!!"

Mika raised an eyebrow.

"Me...?"

Cecilia pointed at him aggressively.

"You!!! You have officially made me acknowledge you as my rival!!!" She declared dramatically.

Mika groaned into his hands.

"Fauna." He whispered. "I changed my mind. She definitely escaped from the mental ward."

But Cecilia’s shock lasted only three seconds.

She thenstraightened her back. Pushed up her glasses.

And smirked. A very dangerous smirk.

"Hmmph. Fine." She declared boldly, hands on her hips. "So you answered those questions. Impressive...But those were nothing special."

Mika blinked. "...Nothing special?"

The other doctors stared at her like she’d lost her mind, as she was going against her earlier words.

Cecilia continued smugly,

"These are all questions I can answer too. Every one of them. And since I want to see just how smart you actually are, Mika Archiviste—"

She jabbed her finger at him.

"I am declaring ROUND TWO."

Mika’s eyes widened. "Round—wait, wait, hold up—"

But Cecilia steamrolled right over his voice.

"And not just from me!" She spun around dramatically, pointing at the other doctors like a general commanding troops. "You three! Bombard him with the hardest questions you know!"

The three doctors froze.

"Eh?"

"W-We’re...asking too?"

"Cecilia, are you out of your mind—?"

Mika also raised both hands like a man trying to halt an incoming stampede.

"NO. HOLD ON. I didn’t agree to this—"

But Cecilia was already firing away.

"One! List every known catalyst that destabilizes a mana-gravimetric healing seal!"

Seeing that she had no other choice since she knew Cecilia would pout later for not helping her out, another doctor stepped up immediately.

"How do you treat a patient whose arterial flow is obstructed by mana frost build-up in the thoracic region?!"

Another:

"What’s the best method of resetting a mana alignment matrix?!"

And another:

"How do you diagnose multistage hex poisoning when symptoms mimic somatic crystal formation?!"

Mika stared. Then stared harder.

Then slowly turned to Fauna and whispered, deadpan:

"...They’re trying to kill me."

Fauna giggled, patting his shoulder.

"Go on, Mika~ show them your brilliance!"

"Fauna, this is is too much!"

But the barrage continued.

Questions—more questions—impossible questions—questions so advanced even senior doctors would struggle to recall the specifics.

But seeing that there was no escape, Mika inhaled.

He then closed his eyes, exhaled and then opened his eyes.

"...Fine. You want answers? Let’s do this."

He rolled his shoulders.

Then, calmly without stuttering even once—

—answered everything.

The first doctor: "But what about—"

Mika: "The mana obstruction clears only if you regulate the heat differential—next?"

Another doctor: "What if symptoms present atypically—"

Mika: "Then you rotate the sequence and check for delayed resonance...next?"

Cecilia jumped back in, rapid-fire:

"What is the primary—"

"Mana realignment through stabilization rings...Next?"

"If the patient has a mana allergy—?"

"Use a coagilent of Velva beast to suppress the effects...Next?"

"What if they—"

"Use the Hosch-Femder method instead...Next?"

Cecilia was in disbelief.

The other three doctors’ jaws hung open.

But they didn’t give up—they were doctors trained under Fauna, after all.

They fired more questions. Harder ones. Trick questions. Situational puzzles.

Mika answered them all.

Effortlessly.

Fluidly.

Like he was reciting the alphabet.

He even corrected two of the questions mid-way with:

"No, no, that condition was reclassified last year. The updated guidelines say—"

Cecilia twitched.

One doctor stumbled over.

Another whispered. "He’s not human..."

A third muttered. "Impossible...impossible..."

Fauna?

She was clasping her hands together with sparkling eyes, full of motherly pride as she watched her baby boy demolish four fully trained doctors like it was a game show.

"My baby is so smart..." She sighed dreamily.

Meanwhile, Cecilia clenched her fists.

Sweat beaded on her forehead.

Her breathing turned sharp.

And finally—

Finally—

After what felt like twenty straight minutes of nonstop questioning—

The three doctors collapsed to their knees dramatically.

"I-Impossible..."

"He answered everything..."

"Everything..."

"No way...no way...no way..."

They slumped onto the floor, mentally destroyed.

Cecilia stood last.

Barely standing.

Barely breathing.

Glasses slipping.

She stared at Mika as though she were staring at a monster.

An actual monster.

Her voice was a whisper of despair.

"You...aren’t human..."

Her fingers trembled as she pointed at him again.

"No medical student, no doctor could answer that many questions...that fast...with such accuracy..."

Mika shrugged casually.

"I told you. I didn’t want to do a quiz."

Cecilia swayed.

Then slowly...

...very slowly...

...fell to her knees like her soul was leaving her body.

"Lady...Fauna..." She whispered in defeat.

"You...You raised a demon..."

Fauna happily hugged Mika’s arm.

"No, Cecilia. I raised an angel~"

Cecilia let out a dying croak.

"An...angel...of death..."