Cruising at one hundred kilometers per hour, they arrived at Fan Village after a flight of about twenty minutes.
"Does it look intact from here?"
As far as they could tell from the air, no buildings appeared destroyed or burned.
"Perhaps the human toll was severe?"
"Maybe. Let's land and check. Where would be best?"
"Let's see. The villagers might be on edge, so landing on the outskirts would probably be wise."
"Agreed."
Jin brought the Eagle Unit 1 down in an open clearing to the west of Fan Village.
Once everyone disembarked, Reiko and Enju 3 shouldered their medical kits.
Jin furrowed his brow slightly. "Hmm, unlike Taji Village, I feel a bit uneasy leaving the craft unattended here." He turned to Reiko. "Can Mini Reiko pilot it?"
"Yes, she can. She will have no trouble if she is merely hovering and maneuvering at low speed."
"Good. Then let's have her hold position in the air and wait."
"Understood."
Still erring on the side of caution, Jin had Reiko relay instructions to Laojun as well.
"Laojun, this is from Father. Please keep watch over the Eagle Unit 1 with a Peeper. If bandits attempt to seize it by any chance, you have full discretion to handle the situation."
"Understood. Please convey my warmest regards to My Lord."
With that, their concerns regarding the Eagle Unit 1 were put to rest.
Led by Kachea, Jin and the others made their way through the woods toward Fan Village.
Beyond the trees stood a wooden fence marking the village perimeter.
"Come to think of it, Kachea, do you know anyone here?"
"I've visited a few times with my aunt, so there are a few people whose faces I recognize, but that's about it."
Exchanging quiet remarks, Jin and his companions stepped into the settlement.
"It feels eerily quiet."
Though nothing had seemed amiss from the sky, now that they were inside, not a single person was walking about. A heavy silence hung over the village.
"Jin-san, let's head to the village chief's house first to assess the situation."
"Right, let's do that."
Following Kachea's lead, they made their way toward the chief's residence in the center of the village.
The homes along the way had their doors and shutters bolted tight, showing just how shaken the inhabitants were in the wake of the raid.
Every so often, Jin caught glimpses of watchful eyes peering out through the slats of the boarded-up windows.
"This is worse than I thought."
Jin couldn't help but wonder if the situation warranted contacting the World Security Guard.
Before long, they arrived at the village chief's residence.
Kachea rapped the door knocker.
"Who is it?"
The door swung open almost immediately, revealing the village chief, his left arm wrapped in bandages.
"Ah, you're from the neighboring village..."
"I'm Kachea."
"Right, Kachea. What brings you here today?"
"We heard from the administrator that your village was attacked by bandits..."
"Aye, that's true enough," the village chief replied, nodding grimly.
"We heard someone was critically injured, so I brought someone who has an assistant automata with them."
"Oh, truly?! Would it be this gentleman?"
"Yes. This is Jin-san, who is affiliated with Avalon."
Knowing that an affiliation with Avalon carried far more weight and recognition around here than introducing him as a Magi Craft Meister, Kachea presented him accordingly.
"Ah... haven't we met once before?"
"Yes, thank you for your hospitality back then."
Jin had previously spent a night here alongside Jed Alamold, secretary to Paerova Sondvik, the regional administrator of the Mercana Principality.
The village chief seemed to recall that visit.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Jin Nidou. I was sorry to hear about your misfortune. We happened to be in the next village over, and after hearing what happened from the administrator, we came right away."
"That is a true blessing."
The village chief opened the door wide and welcomed Jin's group inside.
The injured had been gathered in the great hall of the residence.
"...These are the minor casualties?"
Though they were referred to as lightly injured, it quickly became apparent that merely meant their wounds weren't life-threatening. The injuries themselves were quite severe.
However, Jin needed to check on the critical patient first.
"In that case, right this way."
The man had been isolated in a separate room.
The village chief led them inside.
The moment the door opened, the sharp metallic stench of blood hit the air.
"This is bad..."
Lying on the bed was a middle-aged man.
He had clearly fought the bandits head-on.
Bandages were wrapped tightly around both arms and his midsection, but the dressings on his abdomen were already soaked crimson, showing that the bleeding had yet to stop.
"Enju 3, you're up."
"Yes."
Seeing at a glance that every second counted, Jin dispensed with any unnecessary talk and ordered her to begin treatment immediately.
Enju 3 started by casting Sterilization across the entire room.
"Sterilization."
Next, she applied a light healing spell along with a painkiller and anesthesia.
"Healing. Schmerzmittel. Narkose."
Enju 3 waited until she confirmed the patient had fully succumbed to the effects of the Narkose before carefully unraveling the bandages.
She avoided casting powerful healing magic right away because the full extent of his trauma remained unknown.
Using high-level healing magic without proper assessment could leave lasting complications. For example, if a fracture were magically healed without proper reduction, the bone would fuse crookedly.
"Sword wounds—both lacerations and puncture wounds....Diagnose. Analyze."
Enju 3 methodically examined the injuries.
"The puncture wounds are far more severe than the cuts. They penetrate all the way into the internal organs."
"...Can you save him?" the village chief asked, his voice trembling with worry.
"Yes, he will be fine," Enju 3 replied with a steady, confident nod.
Her calm composure immediately helped ease the tension and reassure those watching.
"Reiko Big Sister, could you please assist me?"
"Of course."
Jin had come specifically to save this man's life. Knowing that, Reiko would never refuse.
"Thank you. I will widen the wound for just an instant, so please extract the wood fragment lodged in his spleen."
It seemed a foreign object had remained trapped inside the wound.
If the flesh were closed without removing it, the splinter would cause chronic agony or, worse, tear through internal organs.
"Understood."
With that, Enju 3 and Reiko teamed up to begin the critical procedure.
"Please lock onto the position of the foreign object."
"Ready."
"Opening the wound now. Three... two... one... zero!"
For roughly a tenth of a second, the wound was held open.
In that fleeting fraction of time, Reiko flawlessly extracted the wood fragment buried deep within the spleen.