He’s ashamed to admit it, but the reason Eliot is now going to the infirmary is not worry, but simple curiosity. Why, after sustaining less wounds during the battle, did Mr. Arthur fall to his knees in pain? Sir Samuel seems to know, and Eliot hopes to find out what’s going on. After all, this concerns the newest knight of the kingdom.

He reaches the infirmary in the castle’s first floor and it only takes a few questions to the people around to find out in which room Mr. Arthur is in. And just as he’s about to knock on the door, he hears the screams from the other side.

A cold sweat runs down the nape of his neck and Eliot opens the door. He sees Mr. Arthur laying on the bed, struggling, squirming and screaming in agony. Over him, Sir Samuel is holding the young man with a hand on his chest, pressing him against the bed. Eliot notices the faint signal of prana coming from Sir Samuel. Just that is enough to prevent Mr. Arthur from moving from his spot. There are two doctors and nurses around them, but they all looked baffled.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him!” One of the doctors says, scratching his head as he looks over Mr. Arthur with worry. “None of his wounds are fatal, and there wasn’t any sort of poison in his blood, either. The problem must be with his soul.”

“Like I thought.” Sir Samuel sighs. “Send a messenger to Clock Tower. Tell them to send Miss Carmen immediately. Be sure to use my name or she’ll be here tomorrow.” He clicks his tongue.

One of the nurses runs out, stopping only to apologize and bow to Eliot for her rudeness when she runs past him.

“Sir Samuel…” Eliot mutters, walking up to the vice-general.

“You Highness, please step back. This could be dangerous.” Sir Samuel says without looking back.

“Dangerous?” Eliot flinches.

“There’s a slight chance Arthur may lose control of himself. And although that chance is slim, I will do all I can to prevent it.”

He does as Sir Samuel tells him. And for a long time, there’s nothing anyone can do but look at Mr. Arthur struggle in pain as the vice-general holds him in place. It’s only after 30 minutes have passed that there’s a knock on the door.

“M-Miss Carmen is here!” The voice of one of the maids comes from behind the door.

“Let her in.” Sir Samuel orders.

The door opens and two women come into the room. One of them is wearing a dirty, white and baggy jumpsuit that almost looks like a pajama. Her clear auburn hair is messy and dirty as well. She smells… terribly. An overwhelming sour smell, like a mix of herbs, chemicals and essences emanates from her. Really, all of this completely renders the woman’s good looks pointless. Yet she enters the infirmary with an annoyed scowl on her face and arms crossed.

The second woman is someone Eliot actually knows. She’s a skilled mercenary with long, black hair that fights with two swords at the same time. She’s the one the Mercenary Guild recommended he hired for the job of inspecting caravans going into the city.

“Ms. Marina.” Eliot says, surprised to see her again so soon.

“Your Highness.” Ms. Marina says, forgetting to bow. Though it’s not like Eliot really cares about that. “I’m sorry for coming here so suddenly.”

But before they can continue their greeting, the smelly woman speaks to Sir Samuel.

Urgh. Eliot knows that’s a terribly rude way to think of someone, but he simply has to take several steps back from her and even pinch his nose.

“And why does the almighty Sir Samuel the Great call upon me when I’m in the middle of important experiments?” She says.

“May I be introduced to the lady next to you, Ms. Carmen?” Sir Samuel asks after a short sigh.

“Urgh. Fine.” The smelly wom- err… Ms. Carmen shakes her head and introduces the mercenary lady. “This is Marina. I’ve worked with her a few times and ran into her on the way here. She says she might have an idea of what’s happening to the kid you have there.”

“You do, Ms. Marina?” Eliot asks, and the woman nods as politely as she can manage, making Eliot smile wryly on the inside.

“I’m a mercenary with the Dusty Hall.” Ms. Marina’s eyes only meet Sir Samuel’s the moment she introduces herself. They then turn to look at Mr. Arthur with worry. “I was watching the tournament and saw what happened. I worked with Arthur there a few days ago. A job given to me by Prince Eliot, here. The same thing happened to him after we finished the job.”

As she says that, Ms. Carmen walks up to Mr. Arthur and puts two fingers on his neck, just below his chin as if taking his pulse. But the fact that there’s a faint light in her fingers tells Eliot that it’s not just that.

“Kid’s nearly out of prana. Not to mention that his soul is stupidly shady.” She says that, but a smirk sets on Ms. Carmen’s lips. “You found something very interesting, Sir Samuel. Why didn’t you say that first?”

“We’ll talk about later. For now, Ms. Marina,” Sir Samuel turns to the mercenary lady. “How did this stop, then? He was fine when he arrived at the city, correct?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Yes. He said that this is something that happens relatively often. He said he runs prana through his body until he runs dry, kind of like how he did during the last fight, but even more intense. He did that and passed out right after.” Ms. Marina clicks her tongue as she looks over Mr. Arthur.

Is it inappropriate for Eliot to wonder if there’s something going on between them?

“Well, he can’t very well do that if he’s already out of prana. If he tries to, he’ll die.” Ms. Carmen says casually. “Alright then. Who’s the head doctor here?”

A man raises his hand and walks up to her.

“Prepare a soup.” She orders.

“…eh?” The exclamation is echoed by everyone else in the room.

“Do I need to repeat myself? Prepare a soup, dammit! Every vegetable you can find, fruits, eggs, milk. But make it as thin and easy to drink as you can. Hell, tell a chef to do it if you’re that useless. Add a healing potion to it and then this.” From her pocket, she takes a small glass vial, smaller than her pinky finger, with a very dark liquid in it.

“W-What is this?” The doctor asks, not recognizing the substance.

“Doesn’t matter. Just do it. The kid’s suffering here.” Ms. Carmen just waves her hand dismissively and shoos the doctor away. Her attitude leaves not only Eliot, but everyone else blinking silently at her.

“Ms. Carmen…” Sir Samuel visibly suppresses a groan. “What are you going to give him?”

“I’ve been working on a prana potion.” The woman reveals proudly, thrusting her chest forward. “If I’m successful, we’ll find a way to make people recover their prana in an instant!”

“That… sounds crazy helpful…” Ms. Marina mutters, suddenly lost in thought.

“Right!? Right!?” Ms. Carmen nods enthusiastically. “Imagine being able to cast all the spells you wanted without restraint, drink a potion, and do it all over again!” She sighs contently and with a big smile. “You knights can’t criticize me for THAT experiment, right?”

Sir Samuel sighs again, holding back his frustrations admirably. “So you’re using Arthur as a test subject? And what was in the vial you gave the doctor?”

“Oh that? It was ulzer extract. Why?” She asks, tilting her head innocently.

“…”

“W-What!?” Ms. Marina exclaims. “You’re gonna give him that drug!? Wait! How did you even get ulzer!?”

“I’m not gonna give him H.U.P.” Ms. Carmen shakes her head as if it was her who’d heard something crazy. “I said ulzer extract, but to be precise, it’s a unique kind of sugar that’s found in ulzer fruits. As for where I got it, I had to buy it from one of my colleagues. Some mages in Clock Tower have a license to grow low quantities of it.” She then turns to Sir Samuel with an unamused look. “Satisfied?”

“Yes.” The knight, who had been looking at Ms. Carmen carefully this entire time, finally softens his expression. “I assume, then, that the ulzer sugar is harmless.”

“It should be,” She shrugs. “But it’s extremely potent.” She scowls. “One bit of that seems to be equal to about two whole cakes. I didn’t want to test it on myself or I’d get fat!”

There’s a silence in the room that’s only filled by Mister Arthur’s grunts of pain. No one else says another word.

When the doctor comes back with the finished product, he somehow manages to make the struggling young man drink it all. As he does, Ms. Carmen has her fingers on his neck again to check his prana.

“…Dammit. Another failure.” She sighs.

“W-What do you mean?” Eliot asks her. “Is Mr. Arthur not going to recover?”

“What? Oh no, he’ll be fine. His prana will recover a little faster. Instead of a day, it’ll probably take him a couple of hours at most. In that sense, the prana potion works.” Miss Carmen says, but she sighs and shakes her head. “But I wanted something INSTANT! That makes this a failure.” She crosses her arms and pouts.

…How old is she? She’s about as tall as Ms. Marina and by her (messy) looks, she can’t be older than 25.

“Do you hear that, Arthur?” Sir Samuel speaks to the young man. “When you start feeling like your prana is back, do what you usually do.”

It’s hard to tell if Mr. Arthur did nod or he just kept moving and squirming as before. Eliot swallows nervously. Seeing someone in that much pain is… unnerving. And this isn’t the first time it happens? Eliot can’t even imagine having to live with something like that.

He stays here in the infirmary room. Sir Samuel does, as well, keeping Mr. Arthur in place. Ms. Carmen says she’s curious, so she also stays. Ms. Marina also asks for permission to stay, and although Sir Samuel is reluctant to allow it, Eliot feels she has the right and vouches for her. It seems that they’re friends, after all.

Eventually, after almost three hours, they get the reaction they were waiting for. Arthur recovered enough prana and starts to run it wildly though his body. Sir Samuel keeps holding him down, especially so now after his body is enhanced.

And it’s impressive. Both that Mr. Arthur could have so much power within him, and that Sir Samuel isn’t struggling in the slightest to keep him pinned.

When Mr. Arthur runs his soul dry again, he calms down and falls into a deep sleep. Sir Samuel leaves the doctors to it, and tells them to call for him should anything happen. For some reason, he tells them to watch the color of his hair and eyes, but doesn’t tell them why.

Eliot says goodbye to Ms. Marina, and as he’s about to leave, he overhears a conversation between the vice-general and the mage from Clock Tower.

“Let me be the one to study him. You were already planning on having someone from the tower do it, right? I’m volunteering!” She says, standing firmly with a straight back, hands on her hips and looking up at Sir Samuel. Just now does Eliot notice she’s shorter.

Sir Samuel holds his chin as he always does when he’s thinking, then opens his eyes and looks at Ms. Carmen. “On one condition.”

“Name it!”

“Teach him magic.”

“Aaah!?” Her face twists in confusion.

“You felt it. With a soul like his, he could also become a very adept mage.”

“B-But…!”

“It’s fine if you refuse. I’ll just ask the headmaster, then.”

“No, no, no! Urgh, fine! I’ll teach him magic!” The mage reluctantly accepts, crossing her arms.

“Thank you, Ms. Carmen.” Sir Samuel Smiles and nods politely.

“Whatever. Send him to me as soon as you can, you hear me!?” With that, Ms. Carmen turns and leaves.

So Mr. Arthur is going to be learning magic as well? Eliot swallows. It seems Sir Samuel really has high hopes for him.