“Sorry I left you there, did you make friends with Iris?” Exill poked his head upstairs once the two women had left.
“Yes… she is nice” Tsarra's lilting lisp sounded strangely subdued. A gentle voice marred by the ravages of fire.
“Great, let’s have lunch.” Exill was quietly pleased that Tsarra had joined their family. He had spent the past two months eating stall bought food because he couldn’t justify cooking for a single person.
‘Now I have a reason to level up cooking.’ He thought, while stirring the milky white broth that had reduced greatly from the night before. Some more water was added, and filled the bowl halfway for Tsarra and himself. Although he was hungry, it wouldn’t be seemly for him to have a full portion while they gradually increased the dwarf’s intake. A dash of seasoning was thrown in, and he carried the bowls to the table where Tsarra was openly salivating.
“I know it’s hard, but we’ll have half a bowl now, and another in the evening. You can eat more tomorrow.”
Exill tried to match her pace as she blew at the broth, trying to cool it so she could eat it faster. He didn’t want to be caught on the receiving end of her timid eyes once she finished her portion.
After they had finished, he examined the hole in her cheek. It was four centimetres (1.5”) wide, enough to fit three of his fingers, and was accompanied by another hole further back that was the remains of her ear.
‘That hole in the cheek will cost me half my vitality to close up fully… I wonder if it would be possible to regenerate just a thin patch of flesh to seal it temporarily.’
“Do not be alarmed, I’m going to try and close the hole in your cheek, and it will tingle slightly.”
He concentrated mana to the tip of his finger and carefully followed the circumference of the hole, taking care to move inwards as a thin layer of cheek cells regenerated. It took fifteen minutes to patch the hole, and now it looked like an angry red crater on one side of her face.
“Ah… that is much better. Let’s cover it with poultice and I think we should both rest.”
Exill was pale faced when he checked the Card. His vitality was down to 75%, and Envy would need to be fed as well. He sent Tsarra downstairs and secretly poured another two bowls of Wheyr tail soup for himself before retiring to his room.
That evening was spent boiling the glass potion vials and grinding the anticoagulant into a fine powder. The root of the Agulum plant was highly regulated in Ark and was used both as an ingredient for poison and for treating heart conditions.
‘I guess there are a few benefits to having Lady Anna as a client.’ He mused while unpacking the freshly delivered parcel. Lady Anna’s father was a rich herbalist distributor, who had personally come to seek him out after hearing news that his daughter had repeatedly ventured out from the safe confines of Inner City.
The protective father had signed a favourable supply contract in exchange for a guarantee that he would not lay a finger on his daughter, alongside advance notice on checkup visits. This allowed the doting man to prepare extra guards along the route Lady Anna travelled. The merchant understood the allure of forbidden love, and was eager to strike a deal with the intrepid Witchdoctor.
Activating Scientist’s [Measure] skill, he drained 50ml (1.7 oz) of blood into the vial. This was quickly followed by 5.5 grams of the powder, watching it dissolve while swirling it around. It now needed a bit of Envy’s blood to complete.
‘I wonder if Tsarra’s blood can be used to feed in an emergency.’ He mused softly, but quickly dismissed it. He may be unfamiliar with women, but knew that asking a damaged slave if she was a virgin was incredibly rude.
‘I hope this is worth it… the root alone costs five Denars for a single portion.’ He was shaken out of his thoughts when the front doorbell rang, indicating Envy was home. He opened the door of the treatment room to motion the grimy vampire in.
“Good timing, I was just putting the finishing touches to the potion. I need a bit of your blood.”
Envy reluctantly offered her arm, she was too tired, hungry, and battered to argue. He wiped her arm clean before dripping the required amount to the vial. Healing the cut, he activated Witchdoctor’s [Mana Infuse] skill to increase the potency of the potion. [Appraise] confirmed his success as it valued the ‘infused blood potion’ at ?? Denars.
‘Ah. I forgot to appraise it while it was a simple blood potion.’
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Exill scolded himself as he passed the potion to Envy, curious of its effect. She took a sniff, downing it in one shot.
“How was it, is it filling?” He asked apprehensively. The Vampire’s feeding habits varied depending on how she was feeling on that particular day, but if successful, it could cut consumption by up to a quarter.
“It’s alright… and I don’t want anymore.” She carefully didn’t mention it was one of the worst things she ever tasted. The clean metallic flavour of Exill’s blood was marred by a bitter aftertaste that lingered long after consumption.
“Good, I’ll make three more batches and you can have them when you’re hungry.” They were meant to be used in emergencies, but he didn’t bemoan her having the occasional one due to their short shelf-life.
Envy contained her resentment while climbing the stairs, and ignored the timid dwarf who sat at the table, shrinking away as she passed. Exill had thoughtfully left out the water he had boiled the vials in, and she used the still warm basin to wash her hair and wipe down the body.
If this was any other day, she would have rested in Exill’s arm and fed while he absent mindedly stroked her hair, but things had changed between them. Confused by the shift in circumstance and the jealousy sprouting in her heart, Envy curled into a ball and tried to sleep.
***
The Clinic remained closed for the next two days as Exill triaged the worst of Tsarra’s injuries while allowing himself to recover. He caved in and increased her daily allowance to two full bowls of soup and bread; her timid gentle eyes proving too difficult to refuse.
“Um, is there anything I can help you with master?” Tsarra asked over the dinner table. It had been a week since she joined his retinue, and although the scarring remained, her cheeks had filled out nicely. Sitting opposite him, she hid her claw under the table while looking up with adoring eyes. The Dwarf was ecstatic about her recovery and couldn’t stop admiring her face in the water’s reflection.
“I’ll have to think about it… is there anything particular you want to do?”
“Um… I would like to become a healer, like you.”
“Are you able to cast Heal?”
Tsarra slowly shook her head, crestfallen, her shapely eyebrows pulled together in a frown. Exill observed the frail figure for a moment, remembering his own initial failure to cast ‘Heal’, and how it had pained him. Under the table, he slid the [Wizard Ring] off his pinkie, feeling the surplus mana absorbed into the intricate silver band.
‘Ah… I should be alright thanks to [Channel Efficiency] from level 11 Wizard.’
It was a valuable item that both increased the mana pool and EXP gain. He slid the ring on and off in indecision, and yet the image of Verill flashed in front of his eyes, gifting him the poultice pot which he carried to this day.
That small gesture of kindness symbolised everything to him. It was at a time where he owned nothing, and everything out there seemed determined to kill. It had felt like a life raft in this unending sea of cruelty and indifference. It was hope.
‘Maybe... it's my turn to give back.’
Tsarra saw him reluctantly remove an intricate silver ring from his pinkie and reach out to put it on her hand.
“Hyah!?”
She recoiled in embarrassment, but not before the adept Witchdoctor had slid the ring onto her index finger. A sudden surge of power coursed through her core.
“Try now. Project your mana outwards to use the patient’s vitality to heal. There is a 2% chance of success, but if you make it, you will feel a slight headache. It shouldn’t affect our vitality since I’m already at full health.”
Blushing and confused by the strange sensation, she focused mana in her palm and invoked ‘Heal’, suddenly feeling the onset of a migraine on top of a deep resonance in her core. Her eyes sparkled in wonder and admired the beautiful ring that had unlocked a path that had been barred from her.
“I… think I did it!”
Exill merely nodded while continuing to eat his soup. He had mixed feelings about giving up his ring, after all, his motives in purchasing her was not entirely altruistic. There was no guarantee she could have become a [Healer] but it made her that much more valuable as a future helper apprentice. More importantly, she could heal him should he ever injure himself in the Labyrinth.
However, it didn’t feel right to keep her a slave in perpetuity, especially when it cost only 700 Denars - her purchase price - to revoke the slave contract.
‘What do I do after I free her?’
Her two jobs were [Farmer] and [Forager], something he didn’t particularly care for. It also meant she would be relegated to menial low-paying employment if he ever decided to move to another country, leaving her behind. People with jobs like her were dime a dozen, especially after the war.
‘How long should I be responsible for her after she is free?’
The only real alternative was to reveal his unnatural ability to change people’s jobs, something not even Envy knew about. Unfortunately too many people knew about the vampire’s second job to change it.
Reassigning jobs via the normal route was a convoluted process. It involved a ‘donation’ to the Church, rumoured to be several thousand Denars, and praying to the original cutting of the Eld Tree in the presence of a Bishop. For commoners, the waitlist was several years long.
He had poked around for a background check of Tsarra. The public records chronicled her birth from a small mining town to the northwest, but apart from that, there were no records of crimes committed, or her assigned jobs.
‘That means I can change her job to [Healer] and [Herbalist] to better assist me in the Clinic.’
There was a minor risk associated with this plan – that there was a record in Diallo’s office reporting her jobs as [Farmer] and [Forager]. Considering clay tablets were frequently reused, this was a minor concern.
However if anyone chose to investigate, he could argue that Diallo maintained shoddy records, evidenced by his four years of neglect of Tsarra. Which reminded him, he needed to raise [Conman] by assigning it as an active job when he was training.
Resolving his mind, he stood up abruptly, startling the timid woman. He rushed to his room and returned with a low level ‘Notarized Contract’.
“I want you to keep a secret of mine to the grave… in exchange, I will give you freedom and a future.”