Lily rushed to the side of the injured watcher, dropping to her knees with urgency. She assessed the wound with an analytical eye, 'health sense' alerting her to the underlying issue of minor earth poisoning – a nasty gift from the slain monster. After a quick evaluation, she realized her lack of proper tools to treat such an injury. That's when she remembered the mendicar student trailing her. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted him, rooted in place, seemingly awaiting instructions. Had he hesitated to offer his assistance earlier? His training likely surpassed hers, yet there he was, paralyzed.

Observing him more closely, Lily noticed his trembling hands. He was just as petrified as she had been. Perhaps neither of them was used to following a group to battle. But Lily had quickly overcome her initial shock, stepping naturally into the role that perhaps she was meant to play. The mendicar mantle felt heavy on her shoulders, but she couldn't afford to dwell on her doubts.

"Hand me the disinfectant, and get started on a basic air-aligned counter," she instructed the student, her voice steady despite the chaos of her thoughts. Taking the bottle from him, she carefully applied the liquid around and into the wound, using a sterilized cloth to cleanse the area gently.

Meanwhile, the student, his hands still quivering, mixed the concoction under Lily's watchful eye. As the patient averted her gaze, she covertly slid her hand beneath the cloth. With a whispered invocation, she traced the purity pattern in the air with life mana, murmuring the ancient for ‘clean’ under her breath. A soft glow of green energy, visible only to her, swirled around the wound, then disappeared with a faint shimmer – her spell had worked, unnoticed.

This stealthy success was the result of Lily's relentless training. Like the ‘clear’ spell, she had devised methods to keep this spell discreet, concealing the cast and effects under mundane actions.

In the field, away from the controlled environment of a mendicar's store, treatments were inherently improvised, cleanliness and precise medicine preparation often compromised. To counteract this, mendicars packed disinfected tools and pre-mixed basic concoctions – essential for dealing with mana poisoning, promoting healing, alleviating pain, and sterilizing wounds. These preparations, though limited to simpler treatments, were crucial for their battle against the unpredictable.

With the initial wound properly cleaned, Lily's confidence grew, her 'health sense' skill reassuring her that the earth-aligned poison affecting the watcher was aggressive but contained. She just contemplated urging the student to quicken his pace when he handed her the finished medicine. She administered a portion directly into the wound and instructed the woman to ingest the remainder, ensuring a comprehensive approach to neutralization.

Lily deemed stitches unnecessary, opting instead for a 'minor healing’ salve application followed by a dressing. The urgency of their situation pressed on her; fifteen minutes was a tight frame, far from sufficient for thorough treatment. The image of similar crises unfolding throughout the town appeared in her mind; the envoy wasn’t that wrong by hurrying them.

Approaching the elderly man, Lily was met with alarming signs; his condition had severely worsened, glowing ominously with the red that indicated advanced injury. A rapid assessment of the nine remaining wounded led her to categorize them based on urgency and survivability. Two appeared stable enough to endure transportation back to the tower, five required immediate medical intervention to ensure survival yet could briefly hold on, and the final two were deteriorating rapidly. With a heavy heart, she acknowledged the grim reality: time would only permit her to aid a select few. She could treat two or three patients, perhaps stretching to four if she expedited her actions.

Directing a watcher to transport two individuals back to the tower, Lily steeled herself against the harsh choices ahead. Abandoning the elderly man with a pained heart, she moved to a young man in dire condition, his arm severely fractured and bleeding profusely.

She instructed the student to prepare 'minor pain relief' and 'minor vitality' concoctions – it was expensive but necessary. Without waiting for the pain relief, Lily firmly grasped the injured arm to clean it, her actions eliciting screams from the young man. The urgency of the situation forbade delay, as every moment was critical for survival.

Lily inhaled deeply, focusing her energy on casting the 'clean' spell on and around the wound. She was cautious, mindful of her mana reserves to avoid the debilitating effects of overcasting. The patient's cries and thrashing provided a grim cover for her magic, but she knew she needed him still for the delicate steps ahead.

"Watcher," she called firmly to the nearest one. "Please, hold him down while I attend to his injury." Her command left no room for doubt or delay; lives hung in the balance, and hesitation could mean death.

As the watcher secured the young man, the student handed her the 'minor pain relief' concoction. It was a race against time, the potion's effects too slow for their urgent needs, yet it offered a momentary relief for the patient, even if his screams resumed as soon as Lily began realigning his fractured bone.

The procedure was rudimentary, governed by necessity rather than precision. After aligning the bones as best as she could, she applied the healing salve, aware of the compromises made and their potential long-term consequences.

Requesting the needle and the alchemically enhanced sutures, Lily began stitching the wound. The task demanded a steadiness she felt slipping away, pressured by the situation and the haunting sight of so much blood. To regain her focus, she paused, casting 'clear' once more as the student assisted the patient with the 'minor vitality' concoction. Despite the watcher's presence complicating the concealment of her spell, she managed.

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With renewed concentration, Lily finished the stitches hastily, prioritizing speed over perfection. She couldn't afford the luxury of meticulousness, not with lives in the balance.

Turning to the next victim, her hands ached from the relentless pace. She instructed the student to prepare a stronger air-aligned counter, specifying the herbal components based on her best judgment. She planned to administer it carefully, guided by 'health sense' to prevent exacerbating the patient's condition through well-intentioned but over-applied medicine. In this dire situation, every decision was a gamble, every action a delicate balance between haste and harm.

Lily's next challenge was a middle-aged woman, grievously wounded by the monster's attack. Had the envoy been a few seconds late, she would have been lost to the monster. The laceration was severe, but it was the rapidly spreading poison within her body that posed an immediate threat to her life. This was a situation Master Orion would have referred to a more experienced mendicar, one skilled in the delicate art of poison extraction rather than just countering.

Without the specialized crystal used by Master Orion for drawing out toxins, nor the knowledge of its application, Lily was forced to rely on her basic understanding and resources at hand. Her approach was straightforward but risky: counter the poison with as much precision and gentleness as she could muster and hope for the patient's resilience. Additionally, Lily contemplated an experimental strategy, one with uncertain prospects.

After administering a 'minor vitality' concoction from the student's prepared stock to boost the woman's chances, Lily meticulously disinfected the wound. She removed visible debris with pliers, prioritizing speed and efficiency over thoroughness due to the pressing circumstances.

Then, under the guise of cleaning the wound with a cloth, Lily started a more ambitious attempt with the 'clean' spell. Investing a significant portion of her life mana into the spell, she pushed her limits, channeling the energy to cleanse a wide area within the woman's body. The effort left her dizzy, teetering on the edge of her own endurance, but she persevered, silently invoking the magic.

Through her 'health sense,' Lily witnessed a fleeting but promising effect: the poison's advance seemed momentarily halted, encapsulated by an unseen force. The green glow within her vision signified not just the spell's reach but also a glimmer of hope that her unconventional method might offer a brief restraint against the venom coursing through the patient's veins. In the face of overwhelming odds, she leaned on her intuition and the fragmentary knowledge gleaned from her training, endeavoring to stretch the boundaries of her abilities for the sake of those under her care.

With an urgency driven by the unexpected efficacy of her spell, Lily hastily applied the air-aligned antidote directly to the wound. She had to take advantage of the constraint effects to counter the poison. Her initial hesitation in applying the concoction prior to the spell casting was born from the fear that her spell might nullify the concoction's effects. Observing the concoction's interaction with the immobilized toxins, she carefully moderated its application to prevent further complications, simultaneously administering small doses orally to cleanse the poison from areas beyond the wound's immediate vicinity.

The synergy between her magic and the medicinal concoction was an unanticipated revelation, one that puzzled Lily given its absence from the Basic Healing book. She speculated on the reasons behind such an oversight, pondering if there were unknown risks or impracticalities associated with the technique. However, the luxury of contemplation was one she couldn’t afford amidst the crisis.

After ensuring the poison was sufficiently countered, Lily applied a healing salve to the wound and secured it with bandages to stem any further bleeding. She then instructed a nearby watcher to transport the woman to the tower for continued care, emphasizing the need for thorough cleaning and debris removal from the wound. Despite the watcher's hesitance, Lily pressed on, her mind already racing to the next patient.

The toll of her mana expenditure was tangible, leaving her feeling slightly weakened and unsteady. However, the life she had potentially saved fortified her resolve, making the sacrifice seem trivial in comparison. Ignoring the grim fate of the elderly man, whom she presumed had succumbed to his injuries, Lily assessed the remaining patients with a critical eye, formulating a swift course of action for each.

Directing the student to prepare more concoctions, she moved from one patient to the next with a methodical efficiency. Disinfecting wounds, applying counters, and dressing injuries became a rhythmical sequence she performed with practiced ease. Only in the case of a severely bleeding patient did she resort to stitches, mindful of the precious minutes slipping away.

Within what felt like moments, though in reality spanned several minutes, Lily had stabilized the remaining patients to the best of her immediate ability. They were far from fully treated, requiring sutures, deeper wound cleansing, and additional care, but their immediate survival was secured. They, too, would need to be moved to the tower for further treatment, where the full scope of mendicar skills and resources could be employed to aid their recovery.

Meanwhile, the envoy's impatience was ending, his initial time allowance of fifteen minutes having stretched into nearly double that duration. Yet, amidst his frustration, he couldn't help but be taken aback by Lily's display of skill and determination. In his experience, he had witnessed seasoned hunting party and combat mendicars execute their duties with swift precision, but never had he seen such prowess in someone of Lily's age and training. Her actions defied expectations, challenging his own preconceived notions of what was possible.

His initial skepticism, particularly regarding her attempt to save the elderly man, had been rooted in pragmatic, though unprofessional, judgments based on years of witnessing brutal scenes. From his perspective, prioritizing the old man had seemed a misstep, a sentimental decision that could have jeopardized the lives of others more likely to survive. However, Lily's subsequent success in rescuing a woman on the brink of death forced him to reconsider. Perhaps, with sufficient time, she might have indeed saved the old man as well.

By his estimation, a realistic outcome would have been the salvation of seven out of the ten wounded, a harsh but common calculation in their line of work. Lily, however, had shattered these expectations by saving nine patients, defying the odds and showcasing a level of competence that contradicted her youth.

Despite his newfound respect for Lily's abilities, the envoy knew that they couldn't afford further delays. The primary mission – to control the chaos by preventing monsters' attacks and to locate the witch responsible – remained paramount. Reluctantly, he recognized that there could be no more allowances for unscheduled stops, no matter how noble the cause. The urgency of their task overshadowed all else, compelling them to press forward.