Chapter 48
“A New Alliance” Part 4
Ettokalr son of Arandh and current king of Elenium, listened carefully to what his guards were saying about the Saintess as he went back to his room and waited for the report about the situation of the soldiers still fighting in the north while wishing they could quickly end the subjugation of monsters and thus take care of the ones that now roamed the city. But he had to first send his older brother, Caranthir, to eliminate the monsters still roaming the city after the latter swore to him that he would not do anything crazy, such as trying to take on the Cuoekqle alone.
But despite Caranthir’s promises, Ettokalr could not help but be nervous.
Moreover, the unexpected timing of the attacks a couple of hours before the arrival of the saintess indicated that the attack had been planned. And not only that, the massive arrival of nearly two hundred elves from other kingdoms to be healed showed a leak in the information.
And Ettokalr doubted that his sister, the only elf outside of his trusted advisors and elves to whom he had warned of the coming of the saintess, was the source.
Which meant there was a spy among his own.
Apart from Jaesia and his siblings, he decided to distrust the rest, which was why he gave Jaesia the mission of escorting the saintess, fearing that she was the real target. Because if so, what this invisible enemy was looking for was that in case they managed to survive the monsters, the fairies would destroy them after losing the saintess.
So, while she was thinking about how to unmask his enemies, Ettokalr looked for a way to distract himself.
And after asking one of the guards about the Saintess, the latter had elaborated, giving him a long explanation of the care and precautions to be taken so as not to become infected. Moved by curiosity, when Ettokalr returned to his temporary room, he took off his shoes and checked his feet very carefully, as the guard had told him to do.
And his face paled as he found black spots between his toes.
****
The next hour and a half that Kalysto spent nursing the sick felt like torture. She wanted to sit down and take some time for herself while she explored that mysterious and enticing window. She had work to do, though, and the faster she finished healing them, the faster she could get the hell out of here and go investigate.
But a slight glance to her left where the window was still open, without her daring to close it for fear that the opportunity would never present itself again, called to her like a siren’s song to a sailor lost at sea.
No, no! I must be strong and wait! I must find out what all my options are first! However, the image of that giant ice spear piercing through monsters over two floors tall made it painfully difficult.
So she had to force herself to focus.
Come on, Kalysto concentrate! Stay focused! She scolded herself.
And at that moment, two other windows appeared, hiding her tempting siren.
[The passive ability Mental Defense has been activated.]
And immediately the cold familiar seized her, allowing her to focus on finishing healing the sick in that room.
“Would any of you like me to help you sleep?” She asked, seeing their faces full of fear and uncertainty as the fear of what was happening outside the shelter caught up with them now that the plague was no longer a sentence hanging over their heads.
Most of them accepted, so Kalysto took the opportunity to level up that skill as well.
And as soon as she was done, she spent the next three hours healing those who were supposed to be more serious, but none of them were in as bad shape as Artemis was, in fact, apart from a couple of scabs, most of them were just covered by large patches of black spots.
By the time she was done with the last of them, she was absolutely exhausted and starving. Still, she didn’t hesitate to ask again.
“Would any of you like me to help you sleep?” And to her luck, more than half of them said yes.
Once she finished, she approached the guards that had been protecting her and after giving them several rounds of healing, she frowned as she saw that Jhil Ezhil’s golden light kept shining again and again on Jaesia’s body.
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“Are you sure you are not sick or injured anywhere?” she asked her.
“Not that I know of, Saintess," the elf replied, feeling increasingly nervous.
“Is there a bathroom nearby that we can use?” The elf nodded and took her to the farthest one, which was empty and while the other woman undressed and checked every corner of her body, Kalysto took the opportunity to eat one of the delicious breads made by Alynn, and took another sip of low quality holy water. Feeling a slight tingling through her body and inside her skull.
So prolonged use of magic on humans does cause damage to the body. She thought, recognizing the familiar tingling she felt the first time she drank a potion of holy water and her broken foot healed along with the rest of her wounds. I’ll have to learn to create holy water fast or I’ll end up killing myself with these intensive work schedules.
And Kalysto let out a long sigh as her to-do list seemed to get longer and longer.
And to pass the time, she checked two of the skills she had acquired that she hadn’t had time to check before, and that she was curious about seeing how the scabs caused by the plague reacted to them. After opening her skill window, she clicked on the name Dispel and Dispel Ezhil.
[Dispel: skill that is normally acquired at level 17, but has currently been unlocked by the admin. It is used to disperse miasma on an object the user has contact with and stop its advance, helping to cure magic-type illnesses. When dispersing the mana of a magic circuit, it will break. Can break or deactivate the mana of a magic barrier or magic symbol, but must be touched to break it.]
[Dispel Ezhil: Unlike the dispel ability, the user no longer needs to touch the target to dispel the mana or deactivate the magic circuit in which it is contained, hence its usefulness for use in conjunction with the Ezhil Purification ability to eliminate miasma. The radius of action will increase as the skill levels up. Current radius: 10 meters. Expends 15 MP per use.]
Kalysto frowned as she read that and took the last bite of the thel she was eating as she analyzed the situation. She had already suspected that there was something odd about the plague. I understand that it decreases HP since it’s petrifying their organs, but why is it also consuming the MP of a sick one? It doesn’t make sense, even if it’s a magical disease... unless....
But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Jaesia’s trembling voice address her.
“Saintess?”
“Yes?”
“I think...I think I found what the problem is.”
“Would you like me to go over there and look at it?”
“.. Please?” Her voice sounded small and frightened, so she wasn’t surprised to see the black spot on her lower back when she opened the door and let her in. And Kalysto spent the next twenty minutes healing her.
As soon as she was done, Kalysto gave her a pair of gloves and a face mask, one of the ones Galatea had given her and that she herself had been wearing another pair since she started tending to the sick.
“As a precaution," she said.
“Thank you, Saintess.”
Then, wishing to finish quickly here so she could return to her room and see how Tsuki, whom she had left sleeping on her bed, had been doing. She headed towards the room where the travelers were.
“Hello again. I would like to know when you arrived here and when you contracted the disease,” She asked them as soon as she arrived.
One of the elves inside, the mother of an infected girl, spoke first.
“I am from the kingdom of Ylusium, and word spread there that the king of this city had made a deal with the fairies to cure his people of the plague. That is why so many of us traveled here” and as she looked around, several of them nodded their heads in agreement, “we arrived half an hour before the attacks began.”
And their words confirmed what Kalysto had already suspected. So after thanking the woman for the information, she turned to one of the guards guarding her.
“Take me to your king,” the young elf warrior blinked in confusion, and after a last glance at the room full of sick people, he took her to the room where the king was staying.
“The Saintess of the fairies, requests an audience with the king," announced the guard as he knocked on the door of the royal room.
“.. Come in," said a voice that was not that of the king. However, when the doors opened, Kalysto saw Ettokalr was sitting in a comfortable chair and next to him, there was another elf dressed in fine robes. The unknown elf, instead of retreating, stood up, standing to the right of the king.
“What is the matter?” Ettokalr asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“I need a rest and regain strength, as my mana capacity is small. Also, it came to my attention that the king did something that was not within the deal we made."
Ettokalr clenched his jaw and let out a long sigh.
“Of course, a fairy would find a way to twist a deal.”
“Sorry to disagree, but when the deal was made with my boss, it was made with only people who lived in this city in mind and not travelers coming from other lands. So I am under no obligation to heal them.”
Ettokalr frowned and stood up in annoyance.
“My sister and my niece are among those travelers, as you call them! And you are going to heal them!” He accused her, pointing his finger at her.
“As I said before, that is not among the terms of the contract that was made with my boss, so I have no obligation to cure them. Besides, I’ve already finished healing everyone in the sick room. I even cured your guards, so technically, I’ve already finished my part of the deal.” Anger shone in Ettokal’s eyes.
“You’re not leaving this place until you finish healing every last one of them along with every elf in this damned castle!” And the guards she herself had healed a few minutes ago now moved to surround her.
A note about the plague: when a monster wounds someone and spreads it, that person usually does that same day or the next day, as it spreads quickly through the body. With a lot of luck, he will last three days at the most alive. When the person becomes infected because they breathed in miasma, the speed at which the disease spreads through their body varies depending on how much miasma they breathed in. It can range from a week to almost a month. And in these cases, it usually takes at least a week for the spots to appear, or they appear in places that people do not check regularly, so they usually notice it when it is too late.