The main room inside the ship seemed more like an infirmary than a banquet hall. The center long table where meals would be served was now being used to hold medical supplies such as potions, herbs and neatly organized bandages.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow.” Luka winced in pain as one of the chirurgeons was attempting to remove the bullet lodged inside his lower abdomen with a pair of tweezers. “Hey, careful there, I think you might have nicked my stomach or something.”

“If you stopped struggling so much I would’ve finished this a long time ago Mister Luka.” The burly man had a white cloth mask covering his mouth as he, despite his physique, was maneuvering the tweezers in the bullet wound in order to remove the projectile. “I still have to treat Sir Percival after this so do your best to stay still.”

Luka grumbled in discomfort. Leona, who was sitting across from the soldiers being treated, marveled how they would efficiently treat the wounds based on severity and how fast they were able to set up a place that would be able to provide swift relief for those in more need.

“You seem pleased.” Charlotte approached her with a tired expression on her face as she took a seat on the soft fluffy pelt couch. “Mind sharing your thoughts?”

“I never been on the frontlines so I didn’t know what the soldier’s plight was like after a battle was fought.” Leona’s gaze was upon everyone who was currently being treated. “Truly, their selfless sacrifice is something impossible to measure.”

“What do you mean ‘their sacrifice’?” Cecile had a smirk on her face. “If you hadn’t blasted that witch the moment you did we wouldn’t be alive in the first place.”

She took a sip from a healing potion that was handed to her. Its color seemed a bit different from what Leona was used to seeing, as opposed to the vibrant red it was much duller as if it had been diluted in water.

“Is the city struggling with supplying potions as well?” The tactician asked Charlotte. “I couldn’t help but notice how they looked… different.”

“Ah no, not at all.” The burly chirurgeon stood up after treating Luka and moved over to the table where the medical supplies were. He explained while he cleaned the tweezers with a transparent liquid. “For each normal potion we are able to make ten of these and while they have diminished potency than the original, we can manage to treat a higher number of wounds if they aren’t life threatening. Of course, most of the healing is done by the patient’s body, but that can also be thought of as training against further injuries.”

Leona’s eyes widened a bit as she brought her left hand to her chin. It was certainly an interesting way to use healing potions and that could extend their own supplies by quite a margin if the wounds weren’t too serious.

“Interesting… who came up with that idea?”

“A chirurgeon from Nara.” He explained. “As the only one of the healing team who can handle voyages without getting seasick, I was assigned to travel with Lady Charlotte’s crew in case they needed healing, but you see, the chirurgeons from Nara have a much more sophisticated outlook in almost every aspect of our craft. It was most enlightening to travel there.”

“Was Nara always so advanced like this?” Leona asked Charlotte with a raised eyebrow. “I read books about the eastern kingdom but those were old ones from like ten to twenty years ago.”

“Hmmm…” The captain scratched the side of her head. “I’m not that smart to figure out something outside the trade of goods, but they have been coming up with innovations in the recent years mostly to ease the burden on the common folk. For example, there is this thing called ‘shower’, invented by some nameless inventor and placed in almost every residence in the city that allows you to take a hot bath without using firewood or magic. It was a delightful experience.”

While deep down Leona was worried about what awaited them in Nara, merely hearing about new inventions made her feel a sense of excitement as she muttered.

“Taking a hot bath without firewood or magic…? How is that even possible?”

“What is so new about taking hot baths?” Phoebe came from the deck through the main staircase to their left side which prompted most, aside from the chirurgeons, to look at her as she took a seat two couches away from them. “It’s common to bathe everyday there.”

That made Leona look at Charlotte with an inquisitive expression causing the captain to speak up.

“Yeah, it’s common to bathe there everyday. I still take baths every two days here because water is a problem, but it doesn’t seem to be the case there.”

That made Leona conscious of her own smell as she discreetly brought her left wrist to scratch her nose against. Her clothes didn’t smell like anything in particular and were more akin to a damp cloth scent probably thanks to the seawater, her hair on the other hand did smell like fat from the lack of cleaning.

‘I should take care of this later…’

“Ah Leona, I forgot to mention because of what happened earlier.” Charlotte had a faint smile on her face. “Thank you for buying those raisins from the shop. I’m sure Lucina was thrilled.”

“Oh don’t need to thank me. She was very welcoming, that's why I bought the jar in the first place. Speaking of which, why don’t we eat some right now?”

“Should I go get it?”

Luka was about to stand up, but Charlotte swiftly raised her hand as she headed to her office that was on the opposite side of the staircase that led to the banquet hall.

“You stay there, you still need to recover, I’ll go get the jar and we’ll have some together.”

As she left the room it became quiet with only the occasional shuffling of the chirurgeons making any sounds as they were finishing treating their wounds. The burly man was surprisingly quick with his tools as he cleanly removed the bullet lodged in Percival’s arm before applying a sterilized bandage around the wound.

“There, try moving now Sir Percival.”

He did as instructed and albeit wincing in pain, he nodded while clenching his teeth.

“It’s painful, but I can move it.”

“Good, good. I’ll have a half potion ready for you later, your wounds should close within this week, same for you too Miss Cecile.” He glanced at her with the bandaged thigh before standing up and bringing his tools to the nearby wooden table where all the rest of his disinfectant were. “Now… to treat Miss Leona’s wound.”

“Huh? What do you mean I’m feeling- ack!”

She tried to stand up, but just as the chirurgeon predicted, her left leg was injured during the battle as she fell back on her seat. Unbeknownst to Leona at the time, she was hit with a ricocheted bullet that lodged itself in the upper part of her left thigh, it was thanks to her body being full of adrenaline that she managed to simply shrug off the pain for a while, however since the battle had ended and she was now more relaxed, the pain became more evident as she felt a sudden heat coming from around the wound.

“I’ll finish cleaning my tools and I’ll be right with you.”

The chirurgeon was speaking calmly as if he had done that same procedure one too many times and was already used to the process.

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“Are you alright?”

Krieg had a worried look on his face as he looked at Leona, who upon noticing his gaze, simply smiled at him.

“I’m fine. I’ve been through worse.”

“I know.”

He said in a melancholic tone while discreetly clenching his right hand into a tight fist.

‘If only I was stronger…’

His gaze was fixed on her who, despite the harsh reality of life, was still doing her best. Instead of giving in to despair she fought back at it with tooth and nail it made him feel bittersweet. That small girl he once knew had become such a capable lady.

“You’ll burn a hole through her at this rate.” Charlotte’s sudden voice coming from behind made him snap out of it as he turned around to look at her. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing, do you need help with that?”

He pointed his finger at the jar of raisins she held but instead she just smirked and shook her head.

“This is fine, it’s the least I can do.” She grabbed on the metal lid and tried to unscrew it only for it to be stuck. “Nnnngh!”

She flexed both legs and arms in order to get most of her strength into it but to no avail. Even clenching her teeth and breathing sharply did nothing to open it. That made Krieg lift his finger as if to express doubt.

“Uh…”

“No! I will open this!”

Out of stubbornness and pride she attempted a few more times until her fingers began to hurt from the excessive exertion. After a while she was out of breath.

“Stop being stubborn Captain.” Cecile adjusted on her seat while pointing out what seemed to be obvious at that point. “Though you may be fast with a gun, I think Sir Krieg is better suited for a test of strength.”

“Bah! Here, take it.”

She begrudgingly handed him the jar before crossing her arms. He adjusted it between his left biceps and forearm before grabbing on the lid with the right hand, one swift twist was all it took to open it.

It didn’t even look like he used any strength which made Charlotte even more annoyed at herself.

“Here.”

He handed the glass container back and she shook it a bit as raisins gathered at the edge of the jar.

“Open your hands.”

He did as instructed and she shook the jar a bit more until he had a handful of raisins. The small dried fruits were contrasting with his slightly shiny leather gloves which was part of the uniform he borrowed from Londria.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He chuckled a bit seeing how she was still a bit annoyed with the jar incident. She proceeded to give each one of the soldiers a handful before stopping by Leona who was about to receive treatment for the bullet lodged inside her thigh.

“You’ll feel a slight tingle now.”

The chirurgeon said as he approached her with the sterilized pair of tweezers and bandages. Leona couldn’t tear her eyes off the man’s hands as he approached her wounded thigh and she instinctively clenched her teeth. However, contrary to what she was expecting, the man started to use magic as his left hand began to glow a tint of purple.

“Wait… why are you using magic…?”

“Oh, Miss Leona can see this? It’s something I’ve learned in Nara, it’s a spell that blocks sensations in a specific area of the body so you don’t feel anything.” He gently touched about a palm above the wound with four of his fingers. “Relax your body.”

Just as he said before, a faint tingle ran through her leg as if the electrical current was going around it. The sensation was completely different from being hit by an offensive spell as it wasn’t painful. In fact it felt more similar to when she would spend too much time sitting on top of her own leg making it go numb after a while.

“Ngh…”

“It has taken effect. I ask you to avert your eyes since the spell isn’t perfect, your brain might actually be able to perceive the pain simply by seeing it.”

“Ah, I see.”

She turned her face to the right and noticed Krieg staring at the chirurgeon doing the procedure. In reality, she was curious as to how the spell really worked and wanted to look but the thought of removing something from inside of her body made her uneasy as she didn’t handle pain very well, at least not the physical kind.

She wished to have a vague idea of what was happening but Krieg’s expression wasn’t exactly helpful in that regard as his face continued stoic. A few seconds passed and she felt a slight movement inside her thigh, it was surreal. Despite the chirurgeon going through her flesh in order to remove the bullet lodged inside her body all she could feel was a strange tingling sensation around her thigh similar to numbness.

She had previously seared her own wound which was tremendously painful. However what she felt could only be described as unsettling. Despite being aware of the chirurgeon’s movements with the tweezers, she just didn’t feel anything, pain, heat, cold, nothing.

“There we go.” The chirurgeon sounded satisfied. “You can look now, Miss Leona.”

She did as instructed and the moment she looked at him, her eyes drifted to his right hand that held the tweezers.

“That thing was inside my leg?”

The deformed bullet about two centimeters tall loosely resembled a flower, albeit a crimson red metallic one. She looked down at the wound and there was blood coming out of it. He quickly staunch the bleeding with bandages while also applying a quarter dose of a vibrant red potion he had in his belt satchel through cloth.

“It sure was.” He tossed the object inside a wooden cup. “I’ll make sure to dispose of it later. In the meantime make sure to get some rest, the anesthetic spell will wear off in a few minutes so you’ll start feeling the pain again.”

His words made Leona shift her attention entirely towards him as he bandaged the wound.

“Wait what did you say?”

“The pain, it’ll come back in a few minutes.”

“No, no, the word before that. Anes- aneste-”

“Anesthetic?”

“Yes! That. What is that?”

Her sudden enthusiasm surprised him.

“Huh? Oh, it’s a form of nullifying pain with lightning magic.” He explained as he was finishing tying the bandage around her thigh. “It’s another trick I’ve learned while studying under one very knowledgeable chirurgeon.”

“Really?! I’d like to-” She wanted to stand up but her leg throbbed from pain the moment she attempted to move. “Ack!”

A sharp shock hit her brain which caused her to involuntarily fall back on the couch.

“Ah Miss Leona! You shouldn’t move like that, the potion I administered needs time to work.”

She showed a bit of her clenched teeth as air hissed between them from the sharp pain she felt.

“Nnngh…”

“Please take some time to rest, I have a few things to dispose of before we leave.” He bowed politely. “Excuse me.”

“Ah but-!”

Before she could protest, the chirurgeon was gone. Charlotte approached and sat beside her while seemingly holding a laugh.

“I’m sorry, Sylas lives in his own world at times. Please forgive him.”

“Oh, no I was just-” She winced a bit as the pain subsided when she stopped moving. “Too curious about the spell he was talking about. I’ve never heard about using the lightning element for pain relieving purposes.”

“Well I’m no expert in the matters of magic, but I do know how to enjoy a break after an arduous fight.” She shook the jar a bit as raisins gathered by the edge of it. “Want some?”

“Certainly! I’ve had grapes before but not like this…” Charlotte filled Leona’s hand with raisins by vigorously shaking the jar back and forth, resulting in a few falling on the wooden floor. “Ah.”

“I’ll clean it later, don't worry.”

Leona awkwardly shifted her left hand horizontally in order to accommodate the raisins, but unfortunately some ended up falling on her lap regardless. She picked the ones on her lap and clumped them all together before sending it down her mouth.

“?!”

Upon biting down on it she felt a delicate balance between faintly sweet and slightly tart fill her mouth. As she continued chewing, her teeth crunched the dried seeds that had a bit of a bitter aftertaste which didn’t feel bad for her. Her eyes widened a bit and her mouth curled in a slight smile.

“Oh, I like that expression.” Charlotte chuckled. “What do you think?”

“Mmm.” She swallowed after chewing some more and then nodded to her. “This is quite delicious. I bet it would be even better with chocolate.”

“Chocolate? What’s that?”

That picked the Captain’s interest. What surprised Leona even more was the fact that someone that traveled a lot like her didn’t know about chocolate.

“It’s a Zenithian delicacy.” She explained while passing the tip of her tongue between her lips as if vividly remembering the taste. “It has a dark color, tough texture on the outside, soft insides and it’s very sweet.”

Hearing the mention of sweets from another land made Cecile become interested as she joined the conversation.

Seeing Leona enjoy herself with small talk was enough to make Krieg feel at peace, but his faint smile was short-lived as he knew this was just the beginning.

‘I can’t let anybody else harm her.’