The three personal guards were startled by Alz's collapse, but they didn't lose their composure unlike with the princess.
"Check on him." the squad captain spoke to Layla before and carefully examined the princess multiple times before revealing an expression of relief.
"Lily, lift the princess. " she spoke to Lily who also had relief painted over her faces, gently cradling the princess in her arms like before.
Now that the princess was out of danger, she didn't plan on leaving her here as they needed to bring her back to the palace as soon as possible so that she could rest and recover properly without needing to worry about her safety.
Thinking of returning to the palace, the female squad captain's body shuddered as she imagined the Queen's fury when she learns of this matter later, but this was an unavoidable responsibility she needed to face, a duty that came with her role.
"How is he?" she shifted her thoughts back to the present, direction her attention towards the final issue they needed to resolve before they could return.
"His injuries are horrible... I don't know how he even lasted until now." Layla replied, her voice mixed with amazement and shame from her defeat earlier when she was caught off-guard.
"Lay him on the bed." she said.
Layla carefully lifted the unconscious Alz and gently laid him down on the bed, trying her best to avoid applying pressure directly to his injuries.
After Layla set him down, the squad captain began stripping him without warning, dropped his clothes by the side while Layla and Lily hurriedly looked away with a rosy blush on their cheeks.
However, she was unconcerned by their reactions as she began to examine Alz's wounds closely, her eyes resting the longest on the wound at his left leg in particular, the wound that had been bleeding the entire time he was leading the way earlier as was still continuing to bleed.
There were multiple bruises and lacerations all over his body, with bones that seemed to be broken at various locations.
With the state of his injuries, the only thing good news they had was that he was still breathing, although that too probably wouldn't last for much longer if these injuries remained untreated.
"His injuries were this bad?"
She unconsciously began to frown the more she examined his body, realising that his treatment was going to be more troublesome than she had initially thought.
Just as she was fretting about how she should go about treating him, her eyes suddenly zoomed in on the bag laying by the side, containing the powder he used to treat the princess with earlier.
Without a moment's hesitation, she reached for the sack and sniffed its contents, wanting to see if she could recognise what was inside.
Her expression immediately lit up as she sniffed it, looking at the sack with an expression of disbelief as she lowered it from her nose. She immediately proceeded to pinch some power between her fingertips and began to observe it closer, confirming her suspicions.
It was not because it had contained things she didn't recognise that shocked her, but rather that she could pick out and recognise all of the scents that left her in disbelief, not knowing that many of these common herbs had properties that could be used in medicine.
Whether it was the capital or the tribes, there was a list of herbs with their uses and properties that was publicly available, forming an essential part of the basic education for all the elves that lived in the forest, regardless of where they were lived.
This was an integral part of the wisdom passed down from the previous generations, knowledge accrued over the long elven history that allowed for later generations to flourish, learning more about the way of survival in the forest.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Most of the scents she picked out from the mixture came from plants that were not labelled with any form of medicinal properties, but she had already witnessed its incredible healing properties earlier, which could only mean that this was a new discovery by Alz's tribe, or possibly even himself.
"I need to report this to the Queen."
She made a decision inwardly as she started to apply the medicine all over his injuries starting from his left leg, bandaging each injury with quick, experienced motions that reflected the long years of experience she spent on the field.
---
Meanwhile, Lily and Layla were quietly whispering to each other with their backs facing Alz, their cheeks still slightly reddened from the captain's sudden action.
"Actually... did we really need to let him treat the princess? Couldn't we have..." Layla carefully asked, occasionally peeking towards the princess in Lily's arms.
"Shh... Don't let the captain hear you, what if she suddenly decides to kill him!?" Lily frantically interrupted her, looking back cautiously at the captain before she spoke as her cheeks reddened even more.
"But...I mean... how do we tell this to Aura?" Layla asked with a look of turmoil, a rosy blush also coating her cheeks as she recalled the intimate treatment Alz gave the princess earlier.
"That's Princess Aurelia! We're no longer kids! And... let's just see how it goes." Lily corrected her immediately before letting out a bitter smile as she replied with a tone of uncertainty.
"What's the matter if It's only the two of us, and Aura was the one who told us to call her that!" Layla replied with a slight pout on her face as the two continued their conversation, not mentioning a single word on the previous topic in the words that followed.
All four of them were so caught up in the moment earlier that none of them realised, that all Alz needed to do was provide the medicine and either of the three of them could have administered the treatment.
In other words, there was absolutely no need for Alz to view Princess Aurelia's unclothed top, not to mention the intimate physical contact when he was cutting apart the sash at her chest and when he applied the medicine and bandaged her after, none of it actually required his presence.
This was something that Layla had caught on to only after the relief from princess Aurelia's recovery, and clearly Lily had realised as well, leaving the two girls unsure on how to explain themselves before her in future.
---
"He should be fine now."
The female squad captain let out a satisfied smile as her eyes scanned through Alz's injuries, confirming that everything was well treated. Following this, she picked up the tattered clothes he was wearing previously and quickly put it back on for him.
She stared deeply at Alz's right hand for several seconds before letting out a deep sigh as she turned around to face the two elves chatting by the side.
"Layla, stay here and look after him, you can return when he wakes up." she said while heading over to the shelf with the leather sacks, casually grabbing one of them and placing it in her own storage bag.
"Lily, let's go." she then called for Lily as she led the way along the path they came from, heading back towards the field.
Lily waved towards Layla before hastily following behind the captain while Layla stood still with a dazed expression, unable to follow the captain's words for a moment.
Seconds later, her body suddenly jolted as though a shock ran through it while her head turned to look at Alz, finally comprehending the captain's words.
"Why do I have to protect this shameless elf!?... but at least I don't have to meet the Queen after this."
She felt some unwillingness at first as part of the princess's personal guard, but she quickly changed her mindset and got over it, sitting with her back against one of the nearby trees as she vigilantly kept watch over the surroundings.
---
"Captain, we've gathered all the bodies, there were nine elves wearing the southern guard uniform apart from the young chieftain of the North, all of them are dead now." the seven personal guards who remained at the field immediately noticed when their captain returned and one of them quickly went up to update her on the situation.
"Also, three of them seemed to have been dead before we arrived, and... we found some unusual objects stuck in their bodies." the elf made an unusual pause in the middle of the sentence before carrying on, presenting two green tipped arrows and a knife with green shards on its edge to the female squad captain.
The female squad captain lifted an eyebrow when she heard that three were already dead but quickly thought back to Alz's brief suppression of Layla earlier and didn't think too much about the matter.
However, the objects presented to her quickly caught her eyes, looking at the green shards curiously.
"Captain, be careful, these are sharp." the elf saw the captain trying to touch it and hastily retracted the items, giving a warning to the captain.
A look of surprise flashed across the captain's face, moving her fingers to feel out the shards more cautiously this time.
After a minute passed, she realised that she still couldn't figure out what those were and none of those present were of any help, deciding not to waste more time on it for now.
"Bring those objects and drag him along as well, we're heading back to the palace." she announced, heading out of the field.
With Lily still carrying the princess in her arms while the two who captured Cruz dragged him along as well, the rest of the unit quickly followed behind the captain, heading back to the heart of the capital, the royal palace.