I picked up Man’ya in my arms, then set off for the mansion as fast as I could. For a child, she was quite a load to carry. But she was completely limp; she didn’t move a muscle.
“I wonder what could be wrong with her...” Minori-san said, looking down at Man’ya where she lay on my bedroom floor.
In addition to my bodyguard, Myusel, Elvia, and Hikaru-san were all packed into my room—in other words, everyone in the house except Brooke and Cerise.
It was Minori-san who had helped make Man’ya comfortable when I brought her in, and Myusel who had brought the damp towel now resting on the child’s forehead. We had put her on the bed at first, but Hikaru-san had hit on the idea that if she had a fever, the floor might be better, since warm air rises. And it was true that Brooke’s little house didn’t have anything like a sofa or bed, just rush mats on the floor. Maybe direct contact with the ground or the earth was best for lizardmen.
But now we had done all we could. Man’ya was a lizardman, a very different kind of creature from any of the rest of us. Even Elvia, as a fellow mammal, was probably more like us humans than Man’ya was. We couldn’t even begin to guess how to care for her. We didn’t know what kind of medicine might work on a lizardman, or for that matter, if human medicines were even safe for them—especially for one not even a month old.
“What do elves and werewolves do when they get a fever?” Minori-san asked.
“Same thing as humans,” Elvia said, looking worried. “Sleep it off...”
Well, that made sense.
“But lizardmen... I’m sorry, I just don’t know,” Myusel said. “They were attached to a different unit in the army, so I didn’t serve with them...”
Before Myusel had become a maid, she had served in the army in order to earn her citizenship in the Empire. Thanks to her training, she knew basic first aid, and even, I was told, a magic spell for simple healing. The lizardmen, though, had been in a different unit—only natural, considering their distinctive physical capabilities—and I’m sure she had never encountered one with a fever.
Brooke and Cerise wouldn’t be back until the next morning.
“I’ll try contacting the garrison. Maybe they can work the lizardman network,” Minori-san said, and left the room. Obviously, Brooke wasn’t the only lizardman in the imperial capital of Marinos. If we could get in touch with the others, they might be able to tell us what was wrong, or even what to do about it.
“I’m going to go try to catch a few winks,” Hikaru-san said, also making to leave. “I’m sure you’ll need someone to take over nursing duties later.”
“I’ll go see if I can’t find a lizardman around, too!” Elvia exclaimed, and rushed out.
It was probably the right thing to do; neither of them could do much good just standing around here. Finally, even Myusel left to go get more cold water. Man’ya and I were alone in the room.
I gazed at the child. She looked so small lying there on the floor. Of course she did—she was small. A lizardman she might be, but she was still a child. A newborn.
“This sucks...”
This tiny child was suffering, and there was nothing I could do. I slid down beside Man’ya on the floor and just looked at her. She was breathing, but her eyes were still closed. At this point, I almost would have been happy for her to jump up and bite me, I was so desperate to see her move.
I was just letting out a sigh when I heard a hesitant squeak of the door opening.
“Shinichi-sama, it’s Myusel. I’m coming in.”
I sat up as Myusel entered the room, using the backup key she carried to get past the magical lock. She had a small bucket in one hand.
“I brought water. We should probably refresh the towel once in a while.”
“Good idea. Thanks.”
Myusel came over beside me and set the bucket down. “Man’ya-chan, is she...?”
“Not looking any better. It looks so hard on her.”
“Oh...” Myusel looked down mournfully at Man’ya, who was breathing painfully. “Um, ahem, Shinichi-sama?”
“Yeah?”
“I can look after Man’ya-chan, so you...” She seemed to want to tell me to go to another room and get some rest.
“Thanks... But it’s all right. I’ll keep an eye on her.” I smiled sadly.
“......u...?”
Man’ya’s eyes, shut tight until that moment, drifted open a little.
“Man’ya?” I got down on my hands and knees to look in her face. She seemed to be regaining consciousness; her head turned lazily to look at me. The towel on her forehead slid off. I reflexively reached out to grab it—
“Hrgh?!”
—and Man’ya clamped onto my hand.
“Shinichi-sama?!” Almost on instinct, Myusel tried to break in between me and the child, but I waved my free hand to say, No, it’s all right.
“Shinichi-sama...”
“It doesn’t hurt,” I said, not to Myusel so much as to Man’ya.
Maybe it was the fever, but her bite was awfully weak. It wasn’t like it didn’t hurt at all, but it was totally bearable. In fact, I was almost overjoyed to see her chomp on my hand.
Man’ya looked up at me, her jaws still locked around my fingers.
“That’s right,” I said softly. “It doesn’t hurt at all.” With my other hand, I patted her on the head.
She didn’t make a sound, just let go of me. I felt the tiny teeth release my fingers, but Man’ya didn’t spit my hand out of her mouth. Instead, she licked it gently with her ribbon of a tongue.
I wondered what I tasted like.
After a while, Man’ya simply fell asleep, my hand still resting between her jaws. I turned to Myusel. “I know you’ve got a lot to do, Myusel,” I said. “I’ll shout if
