24 The Infirmary

Entering the infirmary, James saw that it was so full, that patients were even laid down on the floors, as there were not enough beds to go around. There was barely enough space for the medics to move in. The situation looked rather grim. After the first day, James also spend some time in the infirmary, however the situation back then was nowhere close to what it is now.

Walking inside, there was a chaotic rush going on. Medics did not know who to give priority to. Therefore they decided to first focus on the people based on their rankings. The knights got priority, even though some came there for just minor injuries. As for the squires and the mercenaries, they were left for second. Lastly, the serfs and other free folk were attended.

The class system was also appetent, even in The Holy City of Hermes. Seeing this, James felt disgusted by the hierarchy system. However, there was nothing he could do about it, especially in a situation like this.

Seeing one of the medics attend a minor injured knight, James walked towards him with distain in his eyes. As James walked to him, he asked, "I see that you medics are short on hands. I would like to help you. Is there anything I can do?"

Looking confused to James, wondering why he was actually here, the medic looked around a bit. After some time, he pointed to a squire that had a deep gash on his torso, "You can try to change his bandage maybe. I don't know, just leave me be! I am too busy too chit chats with you, as you can see!"

The way the medic replied made James rather angry, yet it was not the situation to lash out to him, so James tried to hold himself together. Turning around, James walked towards where the squire was located. As he was walking towards where the squire was located, James picked up a few white cloths on his way.

As James was standing on top of the injured squire, the blood stains were spilled on the bed sheets. It was clear that even though the squire was bandaged, the wounded bled so heavily that the situation of the squire looked not much better.

To replace the bandages, James first had to remove the old one. As he opened up the wound again, James clearly saw a few inch deep cut on the chest of the squire. There were even some metal pieces stuck on his body. Willing to remove these pieces, James decided not to act harshly, as his knowledge about medicine is rather limited. Instead, James replicated the way the previous bandage was wrapped.

As James finished up wrapping up the new bandage, he stood up. Having a look of pity on his face, James was sad of the state the squire was in. Turning around, there was a closed off area which was guarded. This must be the location where the prince was located. Looking a bit closer to the guards, James could see that they were knights from the inner circle of Gerald. Seeing this, James decided to move towards them, he could not help himself from being curious about the situation of Gerald.

Moving closer, the knights locked their gazes on James. To ease up the tension, James asked with care, "How is the prince doing? I hope that his health will improve soon." Hearing this, the guards' mood changed quite a bit. The strong demeanor they had softened up, as one of them spoke, "We don't know either. One of the medics just left. From what he said, the situation looks grim. The prince has lost quite some blood. The only thing we can do now is pray for his health."

After speaking these words, the guards looked back at James. Not willing to share any more information, they sent away James, "When changes happen, I am sure that everyone will know it. For now, the only thing the prince can do is to rest. Also, looking at you situation, I think that you also could use some rest."

With those words, James agreed as he turned around. Initially willing to continue helping in the infirmary, he could feel the days' exhaustion getting stronger. Thus James decided to call it a day and exited the infirmary walking towards the barracks.

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