Chapter 30

Since it's a lecture, naturally we can't gather on the playground. Captain Leon, the knight, raised his hand and courteously invited the bald bishop, who smiled and accepted the invitation, and they walked together to the conference hall of the barracks.

The priests hurriedly followed. Great took a few steps back, trailing behind, and walked alongside the young priest John. The young priest immediately leaned in and whispered urgently:

"I told the bishop!"

"About that knight?"

"Yes!" The young priest nodded quickly. Great smiled and patted his shoulder hard:

"Thanks a lot!"

The conference hall of the city guard was neither large nor small. In the middle was a long table, the tabletop clearly made from a whole tree trunk, smooth but unpainted. A large map hung on the wall opposite the door, and if everyone squeezed in, about twenty people could sit.

The bald bishop and the captain of the city guard entered first. Seven or eight priests rushed in, immediately filling half the room.

Great, flanked by four company captains, naturally followed. The squad leaders and warriors behind also tried to squeeze in, but the last company captain glared and was about to close the door.

"Wait!"

Knight Flyn stopped him in time. He glanced at Great, noticing the young man constantly looking back, and smiled, beckoning to Captain Karen, who couldn't squeeze in:

"Karen, come and listen too!"

There was a small commotion in the crowd. The warriors who didn't get permission pushed and jostled, half-jokingly complaining:

"Captain, that's not fair!"

"Captain, we want to listen too!"

"Captain, this is a matter of life and death!"

Captain Karen moved forward amidst the envy of his comrades. Great looked left and right, seeing that his friends, including Brother Raymond, were far at the entrance, unable to squeeze in. He thought for a moment and turned to the captain:

"Captain, what I'm going to talk about is very useful for everyone. It can help save lives when injured. Could we... change to a larger place?"

He gestured outward:

"A bigger place?"

Of course, the captain agreed, and the bald bishop had no objections. The group moved out of the conference hall and into the hall. Even before they arrived, the smell of hot food wafted over from the hall.

Great's stomach growled involuntarily.

...He had forgotten that the largest room in the city guard was the hall, which was used for ceremonies and as a dining room...

The warriors and priests sat down to listen, and Great confidently stepped onto the stage. Without a blackboard or chalk, he improvised, using gestures to explain on his body:

"We breathe using our lungs. When the lungs work, it's like a bellows. Pulling the bellows is inhaling, and pushing it out is exhaling. If the lungs are damaged, sometimes a one-way valve forms, causing all the air to leak into the chest cavity during inhalation, and unable to be exhaled..."

He explained as simply as possible how a tension pneumothorax occurs and how to treat it in an emergency. Before the bald bishop could ask more questions, he lowered his tone and sped up:

"On the battlefield, there are many reasons for death. But apart from being killed instantly, many are due to severe injuries that couldn't be treated in time. Now, I will explain how to provide first aid for different types of injuries."

The warriors perked up!

The squad leaders and ordinary warriors were especially excited. As noble knights, the captains and company captains were more likely to receive treatment. For the commoners, sometimes a small cut on a noble's hand was more important than their broken limbs...

Clearly, some comrades could have survived if they had received timely treatment!

"Little Great is doing well!"

Beside Captain Karen, a squad leader nudged his arm and whispered.

"Like his father." Another squad leader added.

"Right, the captain used to do the same, always trying to take care of us..."

A group of middle-aged men whispered, looking at Great with admiration and nostalgia. Great nodded to them and continued:

"There are many reasons for battlefield deaths, but the main ones can be categorized into three: excessive bleeding, cardiac arrest, and inability to breathe. Let's start with how to stop bleeding quickly on the battlefield..."

There was a commotion in the hall.

Cardiac arrest and inability to breathe, in the eyes of the warriors, were almost always fatal injuries— or almost always considered dead. In such cases, most people's first reaction was to give up.

Only bleeding. How many people have watched their comrades bleed uncontrollably, unable to stop it, until they became weaker and weaker, and finally closed their eyes forever...

Little Great is going to talk about how to stop bleeding?

Great!

"Wait!"

Suddenly, two or three voices shouted at the same time. Everyone looked in the direction of the voices and saw two company captains in the second row jump up in a hurry:

"Little Great, slow down! We need to take notes!"

The hall fell silent for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Great couldn't help but laugh. He waved to the jumping Flyn, trying to keep a straight face:

"Uncle Flyn, could you also get me two large sheets of paper and a board to hang them up? The things I'm going to talk about next, I need to draw some diagrams to make it clear—"

He drew diagrams, explained, and occasionally asked someone to come up and demonstrate bandaging. Everyone listened with rapt attention. As it was dinner time, the kitchen brought bread and cured meat, and everyone ate a quick meal with vegetable soup, then continued listening.

Just as he finished explaining how to stop bleeding on the head and arms, a loud noise came from a distance, getting closer and louder.

Great looked up at the door of the hall, and at the same moment, several knights stood up, drawing their swords and turning around.

"Who?!"

"What is it?!"

"Captain, Captain, Captain!"

Thump, thump, thump, thump, a series of footsteps. A city guard soldier rushed in, leaning against the door, panting:

"Captain, the mayor's office is here to arrest someone!"

"What?"

"What's going on?"

"How did the mayor's office come to arrest us in the city guard?!"

The hall immediately erupted into a cacophony of discussion. Over a hundred city guard soldiers whispered to each other, some in shock and anger, others in confusion. Even some couldn't understand and blurted out:

"Isn't it our job to arrest people?"

Pfft...

Great stood steadily on the stage. At this moment, the mayor's office coming to arrest someone, he could roughly guess why, and indeed—

The door burst open. A finely dressed messenger, accompanied by two guards, strutted into the hall.

"By order of the temple, I summon Great Nordmark for questioning—"