Namgung Se-ga, the warrior, was reincarnated in Romance

In this week’s Artifact class, we learned about medical artifacts.

When Professor Kaiser gestured, his teaching assistant, Hershey Milton, walked around distributing three artifacts to each student.

Professor Jurgen Kaiser opened the class by saying that bills would be sent to the names of the families of the students, and if anyone wanted to check the amounts, they could go to the academic office for more details.

The small ones were just thumb-sized rods, the medium-sized ones were round pendants, and the large ones resembled bandages about the width of a palm. Being unfamiliar with these objects, I could barely recognize them as artifacts, only because of the gemstones embedded in them.

Professor Kaiser held a white chalk artifact in his right hand and a small medical artifact in his left, slowly surveying the students. Despite his small frame, his gaze was sharp.

“Of course, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the use of various artifacts, but for medical artifacts—especially those used in trauma care—you must practice enough so you can use them quickly and immediately,” he said.

He absentmindedly tapped the chalk and began writing on the board, creating a loud scratching sound.

It was a fascinating object, no matter how many times I saw it. On the board, next to a poorly drawn human figure, there were notes about how quickly certain injuries needed to be treated.

I copied these notes into my own notebook.

As expected, there was little difference from what we had in the central plains.

When the head was injured, it needed to be treated within three hours, and if limbs were injured, treatment could be done within a day, assuming no infection had set in.

What startled me was what the professor said next.

“And if a body part is severed, it must be treated within twelve hours in order for it to be reattached.”

“…Reattached?”

“For fingers or ears, you need to use a type-2 body reattachment artifact within twelve hours. For limbs above joints, like elbows or knees, you need to use a type-3 reattachment artifact within four hours for full healing. However, if a thigh is severed, special care must be taken…”

I had thought that the medical technology here had reached a heavenly level when it treated twisted energy meridians with recovery techniques. But to reattach an already severed arm or leg? I couldn’t understand what the professor was saying.

I thought it was something only a legendary god or someone like Hua Tuo could do.

The idea that such a small artifact could turn a grave wound into nothing was mind-boggling.

Of the three artifacts I received, the smallest one was the type-2 body reattachment artifact.

The same shaped one with an additional gemstone was the type-3, which was more expensive, and since its usage was the same as the type-2, it wasn’t used during class.

The pendant-shaped one was a type-3 comprehensive recovery artifact, which had effects like overall hemostasis and accelerated healing. The one resembling a bandage was a type-2 skin restoration artifact, which was used for treating burns and skin lacerations.

As the professor continued to explain that wounds should first be cleaned with either clean water or high-proof alcohol to remove infection before using the artifacts, I struggled to keep my expression in check.

How I wished these kinds of things had existed in the central plains.

No, wait. I hastily pushed away the terrible image that came to mind.

If I had brought such miraculous devices to that land, thieves eager to steal the fortune would have caused me nothing but trouble. The men from the Namgung family, especially, would have had no strength to protect such precious things.

All three artifacts could only be activated after removing a safety pin and pressing the buttons in the correct order.

When the professor instructed us to practice without the pins, all the students seriously followed the steps and pressed the buttons in sequence. The button to press varied depending on the injury, but there was a set pattern, so once memorized, the same technique could be applied to multiple artifacts, which was convenient.

The professor mentioned that in urgent situations, if you panic, you might fail to activate the artifact properly, so it was important to train yourself to operate them with your eyes closed. We all nodded obediently.

After the children practiced the operation a few times, Hershey Milton pushed a cart to the front of the room.

On the cart was a doll-shaped figure dressed in a white shirt and navy pants.

There were gaps in the head, chest, abdomen, and limbs, and a viscous blue liquid had been spread over the doll in place of blood. Its appearance was grotesque, causing me to furrow my brow.

“What you see before you is a training golem. I’ve used preservation magic to heal the wounds, but I’ve set it up so that the same wounds will reappear in the same places. Now, starting with the student in the front left row, please come up one by one and use the artifacts you received today.”

Mage Boulder, who studied my mental techniques every Tuesday, had also explained golems to me.

Boulder had said golems were like humanoid figures made of clay and stone, but what I was looking at now resembled a human more closely.

Though its eyes were glassy and its skin was made of animal hide, it looked much more like a human.

Thinking about how cruel it would be if this preservation magic was cast on a living person sent chills through my body, and I couldn’t continue speaking.

The shocking scene in front of me left me just as bewildered, as I could hear the sound of students around me gasping in surprise.

When the first student hesitated and could not step forward, Professor Jurgen Kaiser spoke firmly.

“When you actually use these artifacts, you’ll encounter even more brutal scenes. If you learn to handle them calmly without panicking, you’ll secure not only your comrades’ safety but also your own. Now, begin.”

“…Yes.”

The first student stepped forward and removed the safety pin from the pendant-shaped artifact.

I could see the tiny tremor in his fingers as he pressed the button, even from my seat at a distance. The professor, noticing this, spoke again.

“Most of you will likely leave the academy and venture far after graduation. Let me say this again—safety is something you buy with money. If there isn’t a mage skilled in healing magic, you must carry medical artifacts worth at least twice the number of people traveling with you.”

Soon, the first student successfully activated the artifact.

I watched closely and saw the golem’s wounds twitching as they healed. The edges of the injuries seemed to intertwine, and the gap in the wound was sealed.

The way the wounds healed, as well as the appearance of the process, was grotesque.

When the wound opened up again, the student nearby let out a scream and hurriedly ran back to their seat.

The professor paid little attention and called for the next student.

As the students carefully pressed the buttons in the correct order, the professor continued speaking.

“While the practice is ongoing, let me give a lecture on how to purchase artifacts at a reasonable price. Medical artifacts can be subsidized by the empire, provided their intended use and purpose are clearly defined. Before purchasing an artifact, you must submit a subsidy application and report it to the local tax office…”

As I waited for my turn, I wrote down the professor’s words in my notebook.

Every time I felt how precious human life was in the Sierun Empire, I felt a dull pain beneath my ribs. It was a phantom pain, coming from the spot where I had been stabbed in my past life.

It was a strange feeling. To think that I was foolishly dragging up a non-existent wound from a previous life into my current one.

Like the other students, I successfully healed the golem’s wounds and watched as they reopened.

For some reason, my mouth felt bitter, so I immediately brushed my teeth after the class ended.

***

During Tuesday’s advanced swordsmanship class, we continued practicing the proper forms of sword strikes.

The angles and height of the sword swings that Maelo Sanson demonstrated were strangely high. It was a form meant for fighting monsters.

When I realized this, I brought it up, and Maelo Sanson nodded with a pleased smile.

“Exactly. As you all learn advanced swordsmanship, you’ll know that once you graduate, you’ll likely end up traveling to the Unique Mountain Range at least once in your life. All the monsters in the Unique Mountain Range are taller than usual. Right now, from the position I’m in, an ogre would be swinging a club.”

It was a name I had seen in fairy tale books.

Goblin, orc, ogre, troll—those were the four monsters I knew. It still seemed hard to believe that beings with green skin and grotesque faces actually existed.

Their monstrous strength was beyond belief.

Maelo Sanson went on to explain that even within the same species, there were different tribes, each with distinct characteristics. He then demonstrated the movements of these monsters with his own body.

Imagining a tall monster, I followed Maelo Sanson’s movements closely. Watching the simple trajectory of his heavy sword swings, I could sense the vicious nature of the monsters.

During a short break, I stopped Maelo Sanson to ask about the Unique Mountain Range.

Maelo Sanson shared that after graduating, he was immediately recruited by the Imperial Knights.

Though I had heard related stories during the summer break from Ian Ventus, the vice-leader of the Magnolia Knights, it felt different hearing it directly from Maelo Sanson.

Maelo Sanson didn’t mention much about being the top graduate or being recruited by the Imperial Knights right after graduation. Instead, he smiled and said:

“Well, you know, sword wielders are all the same. They want to know how strong they are, they want to show off, and they want to get even stronger. That’s why I went to the Unique Mountain Range. The sparring with my academy classmates didn’t give me a real sense of how much stronger I had become because the skill level was pretty much the same.”

“You went right after graduation?” I asked.

“It wasn’t reckless. As you all know, the Imperial Knights are divided into two major branches: the Imperial Guard Knights who protect the Imperial Palace, and the Special Imperial Knights who participate in monster subjugation in the Unique Mountain Range.”

The students around us murmured in acknowledgment, saying they knew. Maelo Sanson crossed his thick arms, nodding as he spoke.