How to Fit a Brown Bear into a Jewelry Box

"The situation is as follows: we need to make a small incision in her abdomen to return her intestines to their proper position. Don't worry, though; she won't feel a thing during the process. My Family Secret Medicine will keep her asleep for an entire day, or perhaps even longer."

Kraft drew a rough sketch of the intestinal path within the abdominal cavity on a piece of paper, circling the area that needed repositioning for Gris to see.

The father twisted his hands together. Such a thing was unheard of to him, and he had no experience or common sense to judge the procedure by.

"The process is actually just three simple steps: make a small incision, about this long," Kraft gestured with his hand, "then we can reach that small section of intestine, reposition it, and finally, quickly stitch the small opening shut."

"We will finish all of this very quickly. There might be symptoms like fever or wound suppuration afterward, but at the very least, she won't die soon from the intestinal issue."

"Okay, okay, thank you." Gris was moved by this explanation, perhaps because it sounded simple, or perhaps because the honest description of both the pros and cons felt more sincere than the priests or clinic doctors who would just guarantee success with holy water or herbs. "She is my only family, even if I have to sell the tavern..."

"I will do my best." Kraft took his hand. "Don't worry about the consultation fee; we can discuss that after Lis recovers."

He turned and walked into the observation classroom, the same place where he had first performed a shoulder reduction. Lucius and Liston were already waiting inside, and Lis was lying on her side on the carefully cleaned stone table, her body curled into a ball.

It wasn't that he didn't want to find another place, but this classroom, designed for demonstrating treatments and anatomy, had a structure naturally suited for surgery.

With all the windows open, the classroom was well-lit, the space around the stone table was clear, and the height was perfect for working. Liston had already thoroughly cleaned it with lime and rinsed it with boiled water.

"Ready." Kraft nodded to Lucius, who helped lift Lis's upper body so Kraft could feed her the diluted Black Fluid.

This was the first time Kraft had witnessed the effects of the diluted liquid.

Within five seconds of drinking it, the expression of pain on Lis's face vanished as if a computer had been shut down. It was as if an invisible force had descended, smoothing out her tense facial muscles and stripping away all emotion and sensation from her body, leaving only a calm shell.

Her limbs relaxed rapidly, her hand clutching her stomach fell away, and her spine softened as she tilted backward, lying flat with Lucius's help, pressing against the table without any resistance.

Kraft had never seen an orally administered, digestive-tract-absorbed drug that acted so quickly and effectively.

Across from him, Liston reached out in surprise to feel Lis's breathing and checked her pulse; it was steady and regular, only slightly slowed.

"A secret medicine passed down in your family?"

"Yes, a Family Secret Medicine, the last of it. Never mind that, go wash your hands."

It was a classic surgical scrub, but given the limited conditions, Lucius had to act as a smart faucet, holding a pitcher and pouring water slowly from top to bottom—first lime water, then rinsed clean with cooled boiled water.

"Like this: palms, backs of hands, between fingers, then cup your hands to scrub, and finally the fingertips and thumbs. You must wash your wrists and your entire forearms."

Kraft tossed his black robe and sword aside, rolled up his sleeves, and demonstrated the less-than-standard procedure to Liston. Ideally, there should be scrubbing brushes and soaking, but those things simply didn't exist here.

"Lucius, would you mind wiping down her entire abdomen? Not just the part where we'll be cutting, but everything, including the sides of her body, from the inside out."

"Also, don't touch the instrument tray—I mean the one where I put the knives and needles—otherwise I'll have to throw them into boiling water and fish them out all over again..."

"One last confirmation: everyone knows what they are supposed to do, right? Lucius, you are responsible for everything outside this table; help hold the mirror to shine light here. Just don't touch anything else."

"Liston, we are the ones who will be in contact with the wound. Do not let your hands touch anything other than the abdomen and the instruments; don't let them drop below your waist, and don't raise them above your shoulders. We need to be as 'clean' as possible. I can't explain it now, but we will have the chance later."

After Kraft finished giving all the instructions he could think of, he held his hands suspended in front of his chest, waiting for Lucius and Liston to give him an affirmative answer. But it seemed the rapid-fire instructions had startled them; both were visibly nervous, their faces clearly saying, "That's not what you said was so simple when we were outside the door."

This sight brought back memories of Kraft's first time on an operating table. Back then, he had repeated the process several times in a simulation training room, and he could fluently recite the entire procedure from surgical scrubbing to entering the room, putting on a gown, and draping the patient.

But in reality, he had been shaking the moment he put his hands under the faucet, pressing the soap dispenser several times, his mind a complete blank, terrified that he hadn't washed something thoroughly enough.

Putting himself in their shoes, Lucius and Liston had never experienced such a process, and his sudden serious attitude had made them too tense. He felt he should tell an old joke to lighten the mood.

"Do you know how to put a brown bear into a jewelry box?" Since there were no elephants or refrigerators here, the joke needed some local adjustments.

"Huh?"

"Open the jewelry box, put the brown bear inside, and close the jewelry box."

"..." The joke wasn't very successful. Lucius and Liston looked at each other, stunned for a few seconds before realizing Kraft was telling a joke.

Lucius offered an awkward but polite smile, while Liston looked even more nervous. This joke reminded him of how Kraft had described the surgery—"make an incision, reposition the intestine, then stitch it up." In reality, it definitely wasn't that simple; they were facing an operation that had no precedent in this world.

"Deep breaths, my friends, it will make you feel better, then hand me that knife. It's a rare opportunity, just treat it as a special lesson, alright? We might even have a chance to explain things in detail." Realizing his attempt to liven the mood had failed, Kraft tried to salvage the situation, hoping Liston would treat this as a long-overdue practical teaching session.

"We'll choose a right-sided rectus abdominis incision; if it were a small infant, we could also use an upper abdominal transverse incision..."

The blade sliced through the skin, and blood seeped from the incision. The knife was the one kindly provided by Liston—thin and long, but the material was good; it lived up to the standards of a knife customized for an anatomy lecturer.

Although it wasn't as sharp as a surgical scalpel, the feel was decent, much better than the crude hacking he had feared.

"Clean linen cloth, Liston. Lucius, change your position and let the light shine from the opposite side."

Because there was no proper gauze, they had to make do with the linen cloth commonly used in this era. The one in his hand was already a product of fine craftsmanship, but even so, Kraft didn't dare use it to wipe; he could only rely on its natural absorbency to soak up the blood and keep his field of vision clear.

Lucius moved to the other side of the table and raised the metal mirror, directing the spot of light onto the incision. This mirror could barely reflect a person's silhouette, but it was enough to serve as a light source.

A retractor was handed to Kraft. Thanks to the needs of anatomy, this tool could be found in the academy rather than having to find a makeshift substitute.

"I hope this one hasn't been used."

"Of course, just like the knife, it's a new set; I haven't found a chance to use it yet." Liston handed over another one. They needed these two curved metal strips to pull open enough space to see what was inside.

"I can't see anything, Lucius, adjust it again." The field of vision created by the light spot in the abdominal cavity was quite narrow—wriggling shadows and pink intestines blurred together in the limited view.

Kraft was certain his incision point was correct; now he just needed to find the location of the intussusception as quickly as possible. This wasn't a sterile operating room; the longer the wound was exposed, the higher the chance of infection.

As the light moved, a yellow fatty protrusion appeared in his field of vision. "Stop, right there."

Kraft caught the marker; it was an epiploic appendage, distributed along the taenia coli. Following the taenia coli all the way down, one could find the appendix where the three bands converged; above that was the cecum, and the ileocolic intussusception he was looking for was right next to it.

He reached his finger into the abdominal cavity, touched the crux of the problem, and gently pulled on that section of the intestine. "Light, over here."

Lucius, having gradually mastered the technique, tilted the mirror, moving the light spot to Kraft's fingertip and illuminating that intestinal segment. It was the best-case scenario; judging by the color, the intestine hadn't necrotized yet, otherwise, Kraft would have had to consider how to excise the necrotic segment and then anastomose the two ends.

Next came the procedures that would make most people feel a sense of dread.

"Watch, this is the intussuscepted part, and now I'm going to push it backward," Kraft relaxed slightly, explaining to Liston, who was holding the retractor, exactly what he was doing. "Don't lean your head in too close."

After reducing it to a certain position, he pulled the intestinal segment outward, using his thumb and index finger to gently push toward the proximal end; even Lucius, holding the mirror a few steps away, could see the red, swollen mass in his hands.

This scene made even Liston, who had experienced dissections, feel somewhat uncomfortable; the sensation of operating calmly on a living person was completely different from working on the dead. He glanced at Lis's face; the child was still sleeping soundly, completely unaware that someone had just smoothed out a section of her intestines.

Precision and brutality coexisted; years of sword training had forged the stability of these hands, and a mind from another world controlled them, bit by bit, squeezing the intussuscepted ileum out of the colon.

"Don't shake, just hold it a little longer."

The light spot flickered; it was Lucius's arms trembling, though it was unclear if it was due to exhaustion or fear of the slippery, pink, tubular object in the surgeon's hands—something that could not be overcome no matter how many times one practiced on the dead, and could only be adapted to through real practice.

He tightened his grip on the mirror and recalibrated the light, as the surgery in the illuminated area was nearing its end.

The "putting the brown bear into the box" phase was basically over; Kraft had successfully completely reduced the ileum. The intestinal tract that had been prolapsed looked quite normal in his field of vision, with no ruptures or the like, and the appendix was neither congested nor edematous.

This was truly a blessing from the gods; Gris had discovered it in time, and the priest hadn't wasted time by offering another dose of holy water. If they had come in the afternoon or evening, the outcome might not have been this ideal.

"Needle, thread."

Liston handed him the curved needle and silk thread.

The needle was made by bending a sewing needle, and the thread was the toughest he could find, provided by a student whose family sold textiles; it was said to be made of some kind of spider silk and was claimed to be able to replace the iron rings used to connect armor parts, usually sold by the strand. The student had given Kraft a whole bundle.

After this was over, it would be best to find time to pay a visit and thank him, and incidentally pay for it, so that the student wouldn't have a hard time explaining things if his mother discovered the "theft."

Full-layer continuous suturing was the only choice in the absence of absorbable sutures; a scar on the little girl's belly was unavoidable. However, children grow quickly, so hopefully, it would fade over time.

Fortunately, the climate in the north of the Norse Kingdom didn't favor crop tops, so the child wouldn't have to complain about the doctor's limited skills when picking out clothes in the future.

The suturing process was quite smooth; this was the part Kraft liked best. The evenly spaced needle entries and exits, pulling the opening back into place, gave his minor obsessive-compulsive tendencies a subtle sense of satisfaction.

He finished the last stitch, his fingers nimbly tying three surgical knots in a row, wiped away the residual blood, and covered the wound with four layers of fine linen.

"Tape." Kraft reached out habitually, but didn't get what he wanted, and looked up to see Liston looking at him with a blank expression. "Uh, I meant a long strip of linen; we need to wrap it around her waist twice to secure the dressing."

"Lucius, you can put the mirror down now; go take a rest."

Liston and Lucius watched as Kraft finished wrapping the linen strips around Lis's waist, tied an extra pretty bow, smoothed it out, and covered her back up with her clothes.

With the help of the Family Secret Medicine, the surgery, which "only held true based on Human Anatomy," was completed without a hitch. The person who had made history reached out to wipe the sweat from his brow, completely unaware of the feat, and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air with no regard for his image.

"So, did we really put the brown bear into the jewelry box?"