I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Whether the Chief of Staff can pull through depends entirely on his own fate.

The so-called "turn of the tide" refers to this situation.

After Nanjo Akizaburo finished speaking, the facial expressions of Aoto and the others relaxed slightly.

Although I'm still worried, I'm not so tense anymore.

Applying moldy paste to the cut finger with scissors... Qing Deng remembers this story.

In his previous life, he had read this story in the chapter on "Penicillin" in his junior high school biology textbook.

The reason why the paste with green mold can heal wounds is because the substances produced by the green mold have a bactericidal effect.

In the 20th century, this substance was discovered due to a scientist's lucky mistake.

Later, this substance was purified and made into the first antibiotic for humankind—penicillin.

According to Nanjo Akizaburo's description, his family's secret medicine should be a bactericidal drug similar to penicillin.

Of course, this drug cannot be compared to real penicillin.

If it were real penicillin, its healing effect would certainly not be limited to reducing the probability of inflammation by only 10%.

If we had penicillin, curing Yamanami Keisuke's injuries would be a piece of cake.

What a pity... Qingdeng doesn't understand medicine at all.

With his incredibly limited medical knowledge, which only included "washing hands frequently and ventilating rooms often," it's utterly absurd that he could have invented penicillin in feudal Japan in the 1860s.

After a short while, Qingdeng let out a long breath and composed himself.

He looked around and saw that Nagakura Shinpachi, Harada Sanosuke, and others all had somber faces, their cheeks filled with grief.

So he clapped his hands twice, drawing everyone's attention.

"Alright, everyone, raise your heads!"

"Don't give me that 'Yamaminami Keisuke is dead' look. He's not dead yet!"

"Although Keisuke is not out of danger, we all know that he is a physically strong and skilled swordsman!"

"What can mere injuries do to him?"

He will definitely recover!

"Since he's already asleep, let's not stand here and disturb his rest!"

"Everyone, disperse and go do whatever you were doing!"

Upon hearing what Aoto said, Nagakura Shinpachi, Harada Sanosuke, and the others exchanged glances, then nodded and dispersed.

Nanjo Akizaburo picked up his medicine box and prepared to leave.

But he had only taken two steps when Qingdeng called him back:

"Mr. Nanjo, please wait a moment."

Qing Deng caught up with Nanjo Akizaburo in three steps at a time.

"My lord, what's wrong?"

"Mr. Nanjo, could you please come and examine Tsukasa again tonight?"

Last night, Nanjo Akizaburo went to the commander's camp on the orders of Seito, but was turned away.

Left with no other option, Nanjo Akizaburo could only return to report to Aoto that "Captain Okita is resting, and we can only treat her later."

Qing Deng kept in mind Souji's persistent cough.

At this time, Souji was definitely not asleep yet, so he asked Nanjo Akizaburo to go find the other party now.

Upon hearing this, Nanjo Akizaburo immediately nodded:

"Okay, I'll change my clothes first, and then I'll go to Captain Okita's place."

……

……

Tenmayama, a mountain forest far from the main camp—

"Cough! Cough cough cough! Cough cough cough cough!!"

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, Souji coughed loudly—only when she was away from everyone did she dare to release the pain in her body.

Because she coughed so violently and forcefully, she couldn't help but bend over, landing on all fours with her face to the yellow earth.

Tick, tick, tick...

Drops of blood trickled down his lips and teeth, spilling onto the ground.

She coughed for quite a while before gradually stopping and recovering.

She took out a tissue from her waist and wiped the blood from her mouth.

Looking at the blood-stained paper, she crumpled it into a ball without any surprise and casually tossed it into the grass at her feet.

Then, she took off the bamboo tube and a paper packet she carried with her—containing grayish-brown medicinal powder—and swallowed the powder with the water in the bamboo tube in one gulp.

After taking the medicine, her complexion improved slightly.

She rested for a while, then dragged her weary steps back to the main camp and her own tent.

Before long, the light of the main formation came into view.

A little while later, her tent came into view.

Just then, she suddenly heard a loud shout:

"Captain Okita, you're finally back!"

Upon hearing this, Souji froze on the spot, staring blankly at Nanjo Akizaburo striding towards him.

"Mr. Nanjo, what are you doing here?"

Nanjo Akizaburo shook the medicine box in his hand.

"Of course I'm here to treat your illness!"

"My lord is very concerned about you and specifically instructed me to come and treat you to make up for the regret of last night."

"So, after changing my clothes, I rushed here to find you."

"I never expected it to be so unfortunate that you were out."

"Now that things have come to this, if we return empty-handed again, it would be inconvenient for me to leave with you, so I can only wait for you."

"Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long before you came back."

Souji glanced at Nanjo Akizaburo, then at the medicine box in his hand. His expression changed slightly, his eyes darted around, and his hands were tightly clasped together in front of his chest.

"Um, umm... Ummm... I'm really tired right now! I want to rest! So let's talk about the doctor later! I'm so sorry to have made you come all this way for nothing!"

Nanjo Akizaburo laughed heartily:

"Captain Okita, you don't need to worry!"

"I can see you very quickly, it won't disturb your rest!"

"Since you're in such a hurry to rest, we need to hurry so as not to disturb your rest."

Seeing that her explanation had failed to work, anxiety gradually crept onto her face.

In desperation, she could only blush and stiffen her neck:

"I'll save my doctor's appointment for later when I have time. I'm really tired now and want to go to bed to rest."

Such a lame excuse would arouse suspicion in anyone.

As expected, Nanjo Kousaburo frowned slightly upon hearing this.

After a moment of silence, he slowly said:

"...Captain Okita, I have been practicing medicine for decades and have seen countless patients."

"Patients like you who keep avoiding treatment are not uncommon."

"Generally speaking, patients who exhibit this behavior are those who are aware of their illness but are reluctant to seek medical help and therefore do not want to meet with a doctor."

The commander's eyes flickered slightly upon hearing this.

Nanjo Akizaburo continued:

"If you insist on doing so, I will have to report to the lord."

"I believe that once our lord learns of this, he will be very happy to stand up for me."

"At that time, whether you like it or not, you won't be able to escape it."

He had already said all he needed to say... and now that things had come to this, the commander was completely helpless.

"……plz follow me."

With her head drooping, she led Nanjo Akisaburo into her tent.

After lighting the candles, Nanjo Akizaburo said to Souji:

"Captain Okita, please sit down and turn your back to me."

As he spoke, he took out a homemade stethoscope from his medicine box—a small, trumpet-shaped object, wide at one end and narrow at the other.

The commander seemed to have resigned himself to his fate, no longer resisting, and sat down calmly with his back to the other person.

Nanjo Akizaburo pressed the wide end of the stethoscope against her back and placed her ear against the narrow end of the stethoscope.

"Please inhale slowly, yes, like that, inhale fully and then exhale slowly... Do it again, inhale slowly... exhale slowly..."

Inside the large tent, only the soft crackling of burning candles, Nanjo Akizaburo's instructions, and Souji's breathing could be heard.

At first, Nanjo Akizaburo looked very relaxed—he came with the intention of getting treatment for his cold.

But gradually, his expression changed.

It grew increasingly solemn and serious.

Before long, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

"...Captain Okita, your condition is already so serious, why are you forcing yourself to endure it?"