Another week has passed, and Rotsard found himself in front of the hospital wing. Again.
This time, though. He didn't require immediate help but was, instead, summoned.
"Student Rotsard, you're already here. Good. With me, please."
"..."
Upon entering, he was immediately intercepted by nurse Lila, who walked in front of a nurse closest to the door and pulled the bleached-blond-haired boy into a separate room, locking the door the moment they were alone.
"Make yourself comfortable. and we'll start the check-up."
She then added a bit louder than necessary, pointing at the bed.
Rotsard raised his brow but followed the instructions and waited.
"How are you feeling? Any pain? Would you say that there's been an improvement? Your hand, please."
The woman kept talking, causing Rotsard's expression to turn more suspicious with each word that came out of her mouth.
"Private check-up! The past week has been rough, but I think I've finally got a lead…!"
"...pardon…?"
Lila grabbed Rotsard's wrist, pressed a magic crystal against his skin, and activated the spell within, only to lean in and start whispering while looking around cautiously, making the boy lean away and ask, taken aback.
"Don't worry, I'm fine, just a bit tired. Thanks for the assist, by the way. By acting up and stirring trouble left and right, you created a perfect excuse for me to ask around about you without being suspicious~!"
The nurse waved her hand, completely missing the point, and winked at the baffled student.
"And… eh…? Wait… why does your internal injury look worse than before…?!"
Suddenly, Lila's expression froze up and changed into one of shock as her spell showed its results.
"About that, I did find completing the pattern of the Joy of First Snow becoming more difficult. The speed of my mana circulation started dropping out of nowhere just the other day, and I've been coughing up blood each time."
"!!!"
With the subject switching back to what Rotsard thought it would be, he explained, while watching the nurse's face turn pale.
"WHAT?! I didn't know you were still coughing up blood! Why in the world would you keep practicing magic if it makes you cough up blood!? Are you insane?!"
The woman called out, flabbergasted, switching her priorities in an instant.
"Vallhall family is known to experience growth in a harsh environment. Cold environment, to be precise. Since I'm already attempting to train my body in the cold room, I also work on magic in there. Try to, at least."
Rotsard shrugged his shoulders and said casually.
"What do you mean, you're training your body in the cold room…? Isn't the whole cold room thing just you practicing your spells in the vacant wing of the Academy…?"
"No? Of course not."
Nurse Lila backed away with her hands raised defensively and inquired in disbelief, but Rotsard simply tilted his head and denied her guess.
"Cold room is an enclosed space kept at a temperature below freezing with glyphs encrypted into magic circles, so there's no need for any interaction from inside or outside once it's set up."
"...!"
Rotsard let out a bothered sigh and explained, while Lila's eyes turned wider and wider by the second.
"STUDENT ROTSARD! STOP! STOP DOING THAT!"
"Wh-wha…!?"
All of a sudden, the nurse launched herself at the unprepared boy and grabbed his shoulders, pushing him onto the bed while calling out at the top of her lungs.
"Because of your injury, your natural mana barrier doesn't work! The cold created by magic from those glyphs sips uninterrupted DIRECTLY into your body! That is EXTREMELY dangerous! No wonder your internal injury keeps getting worse, and you cough up blood! And you're circulating mana in that condition!? You're leading more cold straight into your core! That's not practicing, that's a suicide attempt!"
*THUMP*
"Lila! Is everything all…!? EH!?"
Lila continued scolding the stunned boy, shaking his shoulders and making him bounce together with the mattress, when three other nurses burst into the room, alarmed by Lila's original scream, only to freeze up upon noticing that her colleague was on top of the student and not the other way around as they all assumed…
"NOT NOW, CHLOE! I'M SCOLDING AN IDIOT!"
Lila only glanced at her colleagues briefly before scoffing and pointing them right back at the door.
"...p-pardon the intrusion…"
The same nurse who was the first to barge in and call out, blushed and started backing off, pushing the other two with her and doing her best to close the door with the lock broken by her charge.
"...I had no idea the two of them were like THAT…!"
"...did you notice how proactive Lila was? I guess she decided on a hands-on approach to fix his attitude towards the peasants…"
"Shush…! Don't we have enough work? Break is over!"
The nurses didn't leave immediately, and it was possible to hear their hushed voices filled with excitement, at least until the apologetic one didn't chase them away.
"..."
"..."
Rotsard and Lila stayed frozen in place for a few moments, looking at each other in their rather unquestionably compromising position…
"...umm… Miss Commoner, don't you think that it would be best to keep an appropriate distance…?"
The bleached-blond-haired boy was the first to break the silence, pointing out hesitantly while rubbing his head against the mattress and looking at it meaningfully.
"I'm almost in my thirties already, you know? Don't get the wrong idea...! I'm not backing off before you promise to quit it with the cold room! Stop training like that! It is not training! Not for you! Not in that state!"
Nurse Lila flinched but didn't back off, instead turning serious and speaking in an almost upset voice.
"What is so dangerous about continuing?"
"Are… are you seriously asking that?"
Rotsard furrowed his brows and inquired, causing Lila to gasp in disbelief.
"..."
"Any foreign mana is dangerous. That's why humans and most monsters have the natural mana barrier for! Foreign mana entering a body is basically poison. And by allowing that poison to enter your core, you allow it to spread through your entire body! Think for just a second! That cold room training is a common method within your family, isn't it? How many of your relatives are staying there while they're injured? Do they even enter it if they ran out of mana and their natural barrier is gone?"
But after the boy stayed silent, staring at her stubbornly, the woman took a deep breath and declared, doing her best to make her point clear.
"...!"
"How many of them do that?"
And she clearly did, as Rotsard flinched and his eyes widened in realization, which gave Lila the reason to push forward with the question.
"...n-none of them… to my knowledge…"
"SEE?!"
The boy admitted, looking away, causing the woman to call out forcefully.
"Student Rotsard, don't think that I missed that you said that you ATTEMPT to train your body, which means that it didn't work until now. You have to stop. If you don't properly rest, you will hurt yourself beyond repair. Unless you tell me yourself, I won't figure out why you would want to push yourself so far…"
Lila breathed out and leaned back, looking at the boy with worry as she spoke.