After rescuing everyone from the factory, Jeanne looked at the survivors' expressions of relief and gratitude.
Instead of feeling happy, however, she was overwhelmed with guilt.
Back then, she had wanted to distinguish herself, so she had accepted Cao Cao's invitation and joined the Hero Faction without hesitation.
But now, seeing how many people in the world were suffering while she had been off playing at being a hero, the guilt in her heart only grew heavier.
"Have you ever heard the saying, 'A prodigal who returns is worth more than gold'?"
Rod saw what she was thinking and smiled.
"You hadn't done anything irredeemable when you joined the Hero Faction, so there's no need to feel this guilty. Besides, aren't all these people grateful to you?"
"But wrong is still wrong. If God knew what I had done, would He forgive me?"
Jeanne still could not get past that hurdle in her heart.
"As the saying goes, 'Meat and wine may pass through the stomach, but God remains in the heart.' He won't mind."
"?"
A huge question mark seemed to appear over Jeanne's head.
Wasn't that saying originally Buddhist?
Still, Rod did have a point, so Jeanne quickly recovered and prepared to accompany him in destroying the remaining blood factories.
"Right. The local government is also connected to the vampires. We'll need to deal with them first. Otherwise, even if we call the police, these people still won't be rescued."
Rod said.
"They're already dead. The mayor too."
"Huh? When did that happen?"
"On the rooftop."
"Oh. I thought they were just ordinary blood slaves."
With the problem completely resolved, Rod and Jeanne decided to set out immediately.
Before leaving, Rod deliberately called the police and every major news outlet in the city. He also used the phone of one of the vampires he had killed to start a livestream.
Naturally, neither he nor Jeanne showed their faces.
By the time the building was surrounded by police officers, reporters, and enthusiastic onlookers eager to see what was happening, the two of them had already left the city.
While driving toward the next city, Rod also received the reward for his completed mission.
[Item: Universal Medicine Maker]
[Insert different materials into the machine to produce specialized medicine for different illnesses.]
[Note: For a cold, grind a handheld fan into medicine to "blow away" the fever and illness. For cavities, grind a butterfly net into medicine to "catch" the tooth bugs. There is no illness this device cannot cure. The only limit is your imagination.]
"Holy fuck, this is a genuine divine artifact!"
Sitting in the passenger seat, even Rod could not help being shocked when he saw his reward.
The Universal Medicine Maker came from the world of Doraemon.
There was no need to explain how extraordinary any gadget pulled out by that robotic cat would be.
Since he had some free time, Rod immediately took it out of his storage space to admire it.
At first glance, it looked like a crudely constructed miniature machine.
It resembled the small grinders Rod's grandparents had used back in his rural hometown before he transmigrated, the sort used to grind corn cobs and other crops into powder.
It was even manually operated!
...
"Hm? Mr. Rod, what is that?"
Jeanne, who was practically leaning over the steering wheel, instinctively asked when she saw the machine in his hands.
"Just a medicine maker. By the way, do you have any health problems? I'll treat you."
Rod asked.
"Uh... no."
"Think carefully, anything counts. A cold, fever, back pain, aching legs, cramps, menstrual pain, infertility, whatever."
Jeanne's expression nearly collapsed when she heard the list.
She was about to shake her head when she remembered that she did, in fact, suffer from menstrual cramps.
It was not unbearable, but it could still be quite uncomfortable.
"It can even cure menstrual cramps?"
"Of course. Just wait."
Rod answered confidently before falling into thought.
But how should he treat menstrual cramps?
They were usually caused by abnormal positioning of the uterus, leading to spasmodic contractions.
If it's a spasm, maybe a massage hammer would work?
Rod immediately took a wooden massage hammer from his storage space and stuffed it into the machine's intake.
He turned the handle, causing the machine to vibrate and rumble.
Then he pressed the red button.
A few seconds later, the machine spat out a packet of yellow powder with a faint, mysterious glow.
Rod handed the packet to Jeanne.
"Take this, it should cure you."
Jeanne, however, was extremely suspicious of Rod's bizarre method and the way the medicine had been produced.
He had pulled out a random massage hammer, thrown it into what looked like an old grinder, and ground it into powder.
And now that powder was supposed to be medicine?
Jeanne strongly suspected Rod was making fun of her.
Menstrual pain might not be an incurable disease, but treating it like this was far too ridiculous.
Still, after Rod repeatedly urged her, and because she trusted him to some extent, Jeanne swallowed the powder with some water.
The moment the medicine entered her stomach, a miracle occurred.
The pain in her abdomen disappeared instantly, leaving her body feeling more comfortable than ever before.
The heaviness and cramping in her lower abdomen vanished completely.
"H-How is this possible?"
Jeanne had only tried it with the mindset that the worst possible outcome would be an upset stomach.
Now she was completely stunned.
She had taken medicine for the condition before, but none of it had ever been particularly effective.
Yet the powder Rod gave her had cured the problem immediately.
"I didn't expect it to actually work."
Rod now completely believed in the Universal Medicine Maker's capabilities.
It offered no help in battle, but its ability to cure any illness would certainly prove useful one day.
"Mr. Rod, what exactly is that machine?"
"My amazing little gadget. It can cure any illness. Pretty useful, right?"
Jeanne nodded.
If it could cure every illness, calling it merely "pretty useful" was a massive understatement!
It could revolutionize the entire medical world!
"If you used it to create medicine capable of curing cancer, wouldn't that mean no one in the world would ever have to suffer from cancer again?"
Jeanne became visibly excited at the thought.
"Possibly, but I don't plan on doing anything that troublesome."
Jeanne froze slightly.
Of course.
This belonged to Rod. How could she make decisions about it on behalf of other people?
Besides, shouldn't matters like this be handled by the various mythological factions?
Why should Rod alone be responsible for everything?
"When we have time in the future, you can think up the treatments for me. There are too many diseases, and coming up with a cure for every single one would give me a headache."
Jeanne fell silent for several seconds before answering with delight,
"Yes!"
Before long, the two of them arrived in another city containing a blood factory and successfully destroyed it.
Afterward, Jeanne seemed to remember something.
"With only the two of us, this is going too slowly. I'll contact some of the other Hero Faction members and see whether I can persuade them to join us."
Rod looked at her in surprise.
However, he did not stop her.
The mission had already been triggered. As long as he took part in completing it, that was enough.
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