Chapter 3 “Disturbing News”
At the moment, I’m very regretful that I have to say that I am feeling rather…Impatient? Angry? Annoyed? I am quite puzzled about it even if it is my own feeling. Maybe I can just say that my emotion contains at least those three at the moment.
“I-I-I’m sorry, Master!”
And the one that made me feel those emotions stood in front of me is repeatedly bowing his head at me with a very panicky voice. His movement was so fast that the air in front of me turned into a slightly pleasant breeze against my skin.
“You too! Apologize to him!” The same voice from before uttered a command to the person next to him.
“E-Eh? Y-Yes! Sorry, Master!” And with that, in front of me stood two bowing machine, making me felt more and more annoyed. As I kept tapping my finger on to the desk, I let out a rather loud sigh. This simple action made the two flinched. It was so clear that even a blind man like me was able to notice their action just by the sound and noise they made. I don’t even need to rely on my sensitive ear much to know that.
“Sit down and calm down.” I said to them while trying to use the calmest voice I could muster, which I must say was not very convincing as their heart beat still beats too fast. Both of them were fidgeting, probably unsure of what to do. “…I said sit down. Now.” It is very hard to calm one’s anger. I have to admit that I am not one who had perfect control of it even until now. As a result, my previous request for them came out all cold and unforgiving, making the two in front of me immediately sat down onto the cold wooden floor with a rather loud ‘thud’ sound. Hearing that, I shook my head.
“M-Master, I, w-we, didn’t mean–“
“Enough.” I stopped the boy’s incoherent rambling. “The two of you didn’t mean that. Just…clean up and prepare a new batch. That will be for now.” A few seconds passed and the two in front of me didn’t make any reaction to my sentence. “Did you not hear me or are you deaf now after inhaling that smoke?”
“Y-Yes, Master!” They replied at the same time.
“Then start moving!” I hit the desk with my hand as I said that, making a loud noise that made the two of them jumped in surprise.
“Y-Yes, Sir!!” And with that, the two left running all around the place and finally doing the task I asked.
Once again, I shook my head while hearing the noise my two assistants made. I turned my chair toward the desk and continue my work for today, which is making medicinal compound and preparing bandage. As the company current apothecary, it is my job to treat any injury of the soldiers.
According to Eryell, the number of injury of the company is not that high. But it still happened every now and then, making it quite necessary to have an apothecary ready to treat in case of emergency. In the big city, they usually employed physician and surgeon that charged quite a high fee for their service. Although quite a few handfuls of them reside in the town, their service is not what the company could really afford on a daily basis. With that in mind, my service as an apothecary is quite needed. Since my service could treat minor injury up to performing simple surgery and also relatively cheaper than those two previous professions, it is very fitting for the situation. Although the higher official has agreed to it, there are some that didn’t believe my ability since I’m blind.
And that is where my two assistants, Rago and Gire, come in. Both of them are war orphan that has been adopted by the company as a permanent helper. The two of them used to be slaves that were going to be smuggled into our town. As the town managed to track and capture the smugglers, they also took the smuggled goods in custody. Among those goods were these two, chained and malnourished to the point where they said that their bones were showing through their skin. Actually, there were more than a dozen slaves that were going to be smuggled. Sadly, only Rago and Gire were still alive after the bloody battle between the town militia and the heavily armed smugglers. After that traumatic event, the two were hired to become the company errand boys. With nowhere to live and no choice, they took the offer right away. Although, isn’t that a form of slavery too? I guess not since they are paid and they are treated quite nicely. At least that is what the boys had told me. And thankfully, I didn’t sense any lies from them at that time.
From what I heard, before I came into the company, these two have already experienced handling minor injuries suffered by the soldiers. But with their minimal understanding of human anatomy and medical knowledge, the quality of their treatment is at the same level of any normal soldier on the battlefield could give. It is very understandable since the one that taught them were the soldiers in the company that has no medical knowledge whatsoever.
After I came into the company, they became my assistants. One could say that they have become my hands and eyes. They have also improved as they studied very diligently. Along the way there were a few problems, but I could still say that I’m very grateful for their work.
But before I could explain the previous event, I need to explain the story behind it first. Besides preparing medicinal material and other stuff, I also want to teach the boys proper medical knowledge. My goal is that in my time of absence in the future due to any kind of unforeseen reason, they could treat the soldiers, even saving their life if possible. It is also my hope that I could at least equip the two former slaves something that could support their life in the future. It was just on my own whim and certainly no one is forcing me to do it. Well, I might hope that as they continue their study, they would lighten my load slightly. I guess that’s the most I could get from my good deed, although I’m starting to regret my decision.
Not long ago, I asked each of them to prepare a salve that could be used to treat burn injury. Usually I didn’t even bother asking them to make more since I could make enough by myself. Unfortunately, the amount in order is quite large due to the recent daily inspection done by the militia that led to a very nasty encounter against a group of smuggler. The smuggler apparently had hired a few mage that adept in summoning and controlling Arcane Puppet. With them on the opposing side, the usually normal inspection had become a small battlefield that resulted in few burn injuries cause by the powerful fire claw of the Arcane Puppet. Fortunately, there are no casualties, at least on the local militia side. The smuggler side, on the other hand, has been ruthlessly taken care of, leaving only the ring leader alive, barely. After that event, I was summoned that day and I had to dispense a lot of salve to the guards which have depleted the whole stock. Seeing that the stock for that particular medicine is empty, I have to refill that real soon before a similar event happened.
And the trouble came when they were busy making my order. One of them, probably because of being too rough in handling the pestle and mortar, knocked down one of the candle placed near them. Fortunately, since I can’t see, there is no candle placed near my work area. Unfortunately, because of that the candles were placed near the pile of dried herbal leaf. It seemed that one of them moved it there so it would make it easier for them to grab more ingredients to put in their mortar as soon as they are done with their current batch. As a result, the fire immediately licked the easy to lit dried leaf, producing smoke right away. In their panic, the two failed to give a proper reaction, opting to panic while shouting. But at least the fire could be put down quickly after I threw a wet cloth over it as soon as the smell of burning reached my sensitive nose. I’m glad that the worst disaster could be avoided, although that small mistake has made a few of the ingredient burnt and become unusable. And because of that, the number of ingredient for the order decreased slightly. After all of that event, I started to think that my two assistants are still far away from being able to be left on their own. At that thought, I shook my head.
“What is it, Nerva? Something’s bothering you there?” I stopped my hand after hearing that familiar voice. It seemed that I was concentrating too much on my work that I failed to realize that someone was coming into the room. It was either that or I was feeling to frustrated after the accident. “You’ve been sighing a lot for quite some time.”
“Please bear it no mind as it is a mere minor setback that was caused by my lack of supervision.” I turned around to face the voice. “So how can I be of service today, Lady Constie?”
“My, your ability to recognize a person just by the voice never failed you, Chief Apothecary Nerva.”
“I did not think a humble ability such as that deserves such praise. But I am grateful for your compliment, milady.” I let out a smile as I said that to my guest.
“Such ability does deserve praise. Do not take light of your own ability, Nerva.”
“I will gladly keep that in mind, milady.” And with that I gave a bow while still on my chair. Usually I would stand immediately and gave a much more polite greeting as I get her a seat to sit on, but the woman in front of me has asked me to refrain from doing that whenever we’re not in public. Strange as it may sound, I have decided to respect that wish of hers.
The one I called Lady Constie is none other than another lady from the Reystone clan. She is Eryell’s older sister to be exact. From what I’ve known, Eryell has about three older brothers, one older sister, and one younger sister. Among the three sisters, no, among all of those six siblings, Lady Constie is considered the wisest of them all. Lady Constie Reystone, just like her little sisters, is a very famous individual in this town. Known for her vast knowledge and wise mind, she took the role of strategist and also chief administrator for the whole town. In the company of local militia, she is also my direct supervisor.
“Judging from the ingredient sprawled on that table of yours I assumed that you are working on resupplying the salve,” said my guest as she walked toward my desk, making a few knocking sound as her shoes made impact on the floor. Judging from the rather dampened sound, she is probably using her boot. I guess she was on her round to check each division’s progress.
“Correct, milady.” I nodded at her.
“How much longer will it took?”
“From my previous estimation, we will take about two more days. But…” I shifted my head toward the place where the previous fire incident happened. “We have a minor setback.”
“I see.” She let out a sigh after that, probably while looking at the burnt mark at the wooden floor. “Your current estimation?”
“I need another day. I will send one of them to collect more material from the town storage this day. If they are available, I will ask them to deliver it immediately.”
“Although ‘immediately’ will probably mean the soonest you will get it deliver is tomorrow evening.” She let out another sigh after saying that. “And if there are not readily available? You will ask them to collect it from the nearby forest?”
“Unfortunately, that is the plan, milady.” From her movement, I could sense a feel of impatient. She was fidgeting and her whole body language told me she was anything but calm. Although it was hardly far from noticeable, to my heightened sense it was clear as day. “Forgive me for being blunt, milady. Are milady’s feeling of impatient has something to do with the replenishment of the company’s medicinal stock? If that is true, I want to apologize for not making it sooner.”
“Hmm? Impatient?” She paused for a while. After that, a slight chuckle came from her mouth. It was a very pleasant voice although it was filled with a slight feeling of frustration. “Forgive me, Nerva, as I had somehow forgotten that you are not a man that could be fooled easily.”
“I am just a simple man, milady. Well, a simple blind man, to be exact.”
“Really now?” She let out another chuckle. “I guess there’s no hiding it from your ever seeing ‘eyes’, Nerva.” Ah, she often used that phrase at me. I guess it was inevitable since from what I’ve heard I’ve able to perceive her mood correct for a couple of times and somehow also able to guess her mind even before she say anything. I guess that is because instead of seeing the expression on her face, I was sensing her emotion by noticing her heart beats and just from my instinct. And for the part about guessing her mind, it was just a simple deduction from my part. “The truth is, we might probably need it sooner than expected.”
“And why is that, milady?” Does the smugglers from before appeared again? Or maybe a revenge from the slain mages’ comrade? I guess that is a possibility if the whole smuggling ring wasn’t eradicated completely.
“We have been notified that a guest from one of the royal families would like to visit this town.”
“A guest from the royal families?” I tilted my head to the side as I didn’t really catch the connection to out medicine problem right away.
“He is from the Grese Royal Workshop, Count Ferre Grese.” At the mention of that family name, I let out an ‘ah’ voice. “I see that you understand the reason for our problem.”
“If that Grese means the Grese family that dealt with magic artifact and the manufacturing of Arcane Puppet, then I might understand the problem, milady.”
“You’re correct. The Grese Royal Workshop has been producing a lot of them in order to supply the army with a constant supply. And,” she paused a while and then let out another sigh, “he decided that the forest near our town is the perfect place to conduct an experiment for their latest design.”
“An experiment? In the forest near our town?”
“Correct. And to make matter worse, the letter said that it will be a large scale experiment.” She let out another sigh. Even without using my ability to perceive her heartbeat and her aura, one could easily discern her state of mind. “Furthermore, the experiment will be dealing with fire based Arcane Puppet.”
“…Fire based…” As soon as she mentioned that, I put my hand on my chin. Many thought came into my mind. I could hear her snickered as I did that. For a second, a different feeling emanated from her figure. “What is it, milady?” Although I have a hunch, I still decided to ask.
“I’m glad.” She let out another chuckle and then continued to explain her reason. “I can be sure that I’m not the only to think that there is something wrong.”
“The only one? Pardon me, milady, but have you present that particular letter to someone else?” She gave a nod. “Then surely they responded the same was as I did, right?”
“Unfortunately that is not the case, my dear apothecary.” At that, I raised one of my eyebrows. They didn’t feel the same? No one questioned the possibility of a connection among those two events? “They all just said that it is just mere coincidence. The reason for their full trust is probably because of the Count’s very clean and honorable reputation.”
“Just because of that?” I know that the Count is known to be a very honorable person. It is even widely known that he had put a considerable amount of money for charity purposes. In fact, there is almost no negative rumor about that particular nobleman. For me, that lack of negative aspect had become a sole reason for me to suspect him more than anything. “Surely there’s something else that made them thought like that.”
“If there is something else, it is probably because they are too scared of him. After all, the Grese family holds a very important and powerful role in the royal military as a sole producer of their Arcane Puppet.”
“That is a very troublesome problem we have, milady.” I let out a wry smile as I said that. “Then is there something I can do for you to prepare ourselves for that particular event, milady?”
“For now you can concentrate on your task, Nerva. Although…” She paused for a while. Her posture suggested that she was thinking about something.
“What is it, milady?”
“Hmm…could you help me think a few things that might become the reason for his sudden visit? I know that we shouldn’t accuse him without any concrete evidence. But we couldn’t afford to be careless either.”
“I understand, milady.” As expected of the wisest one of the three sisters. She had thought to that extent. I’m honestly impressed. “I presumed that the Count will probably come this week, correct?”
“Correct. It is written on the letter that he is on his way riding his fastest Arcane Puppet built especially for swift travelling.”
“I see. He sounded in quite a rush.” I gave her my opinion after hearing another part of the letter. “Then I will report you this night at the latest. Is that acceptable, milady?”
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“I was honestly expecting it to be sooner than that, but then again you have your task first.” She crossed her arms and tilted her head from one side to the other, probably pondering about my previous reply. “I suppose that would be acceptable. Just don’t be late.”
“Understood, milady.” I gave a slight bow as I answer her.
“Good.” She nodded. “I have high hope that you will give me a useful answer.”
“Milady, I will do my best to answer your expectation.” Once again, I bowed toward my superior.
“I certainly hope so.” She then turned around, ready to leave the room. But before I could turn around to resume my job, I notice that her footsteps has ceased. After that, the footsteps continued, but its direction was aimed toward me once again. “I almost forgot, Nerva.”
“What is it, milady?”
“How’s your situation with my little sister?” Although it was a question delivered with a gentle tone, I could feel anything but that from it. In fact, I feel her aura has gone cold and unforgiving. “I hope you didn’t hurt her.” That reminded that Lady Constie Reystone loved her little sisters so much that she would gladly turn into a ferocious dragon whenever her sister is involved. And from her view, the one who could hurt her little sister is not the bandit around our town, but the one who is closest to her. And that very person is me.
“I wouldn’t even dream it, milady.” I wore my usual calm expression while giving her an honest answer. Although I seemed to have gotten into Eryell’s bad side at that time, I have apologized immediately. I hope that doesn’t count as hurting her. Besides, Eryell is far stronger than what she thought, both physically and mentally. “And I hope to continue to avoid hurting her in the future too.”
“Ah, how many times have I heard that line of yours, my dear apothecary?” She then approached me closer. “But I don’t know the reason for this slight feeling of anxiety that surfaced in the back of my mind each time I heard that honest answer of yours.” Her hand gently moved toward my chin and with that she forced my head to turn upward facing her face. I could feel her breath hitting my face as our face getting closer. “Is it because I couldn’t see your eyes? As eyes are the window to one’s heart and mind, it is as if the blind you have barricaded your own window, preventing anyone to see into you. Each time I approached you, you become much and much more unpredictable.” She paused and put her face closer again, making it a bit too uncomfortable for me, especially since she was still gripping my chin with a slight force. While keeping my face on place, she threw another question. “Do you have anything to say about that, my dear apothecary?”
At first, I was quiet as I sensed her emotion has somewhat turned a bit onto to the fiery side. Her heartbeat has turned calm, but her body language told me the emotion that dwelt inside her has slowly reaching into a rage. Usually one would feel fear after realizing that they are being held by a creature governed by pure anger. Fortunately I am still able to calm my own emotion, thus allow me to prepare my answer with composed mind.
“One may think that the eyes are the windows to one’s heart and mind. But just by looking past the window it would not be enough to discern the real content of one’s house. The window itself might limit the whole view for them who want to know the inside of the house. It might even distort one’s way of perceiving the real content of the house. ”
“So by being blind, you are actually covering the whole window.” It was a sentence delivered with a voice filled with accusation.
“That is one way to see it. But there’s another way to see it, milady.”
“And that is?”
“I didn’t cover the whole window. In fact, there are no windows in the first place.”
“No windows?”
“Correct, milady. There is no window at all. For the one on the outside, they couldn’t look inside. But for the one in the inside, they are also the same. They couldn’t look outside.”
“What a nonsense. You can easily know the whole world around you.” Hearing her anger filled voice against my rather contradicting sentence, I only gave a slight smile and continued.
“For the one on the inside, all they can try is to guess the world outside by hearing whatever little sound came from behind the wall of their house. Be it a joyous laugh, or a saddened cry, or even a shout of anger. Even that, they couldn’t really understood right away the meant of those sound. Maybe the joyous laugh is a forced laugh to make them looked happy in front of their superior. Maybe the saddened cry is actually a cry of happiness seeing their dearly beloved one coming back from war alive. Maybe the shout of anger is not just anger, but it is a worried shout from a mother seeing their children getting too close to a blazing fire of a fireplace.”
“Are you saying that all these times you are only guessing? Are you trying to fool me?”
“Milady, I am not trying to fool you. May the heaven strike me so if I have done that to you.”
“Words are cheap, Nerva.”
“I couldn’t agree with milady more. As the one inside the house, I couldn’t agree more that words are cheap, milady.”
“Then how am I going to know the content of that house, Nerva?” At her question, I let out an honest smile. “What is it?”
“Your question has been answered by your dear sister, milady.” At the mention of her sister, my supervisor tightened her hold on my chin unconsciously– or maybe consciously, I couldn’t really tell. “Eryell Reystone has answered that question of yours, milady.”
“And the answer is?”
“Knock on the door, ask the owner to let them in and see it for yourself. Isn’t it much better than trying to peek into someone’s house from the window?”
At first, Lady Constie didn’t give any reaction to my answer. She just stood still, that’s all. I tried to sense her heartbeats and found nothing out of the ordinary.
“…as expected.” Then after that I heard a small muttering from her, which of course sounded loud enough for me to be able to discern it without a miss. “She’s done it again.”
“Excuse me, milady?” Although I did hear that, I tried to feign ignorance.
“Nothing. Never mind.” She shook her head. “I guess that’s the natural thing to do, right? Knock on the door and asked the person inside to let them in.”
“Precisely, milady. And Eryell has done that. She asked me to open it and I let her into my humble abode.”
“I hope that humble abode is suitable for my little sister.”
“For a person like her, she deserves the best.”
“Does that mean yours is not good enough?”
“It means that I will have to work harder each day of my life to make it suitable for hers, which would mean a lifetime works. And even that, in my mind, is never enough for her. She deserves the best of the best, milady.”
“So you are not suited for her?” I felt a slight ache in my heart as her question was thrown at me. I know that I might not be the best one for her. The ever dazzling Eryell surely deserves more than a blind man like me. But as I felt a surge of negative feeling attacked my mind, a new voice came.
“He does.” At the new voice that entered the room, both of us moved our attention to the source of it, although I have a bit of difficulties as my face was still on her grip. “What are you doing here, sister?”
“Oh, Eryell dear.” My supervisor’s voice turned gentler. “I was just discussing work related matter with our chief apothecary here.”
“Ho? So does that discussion have to be done in such a way that you have your hand on his chin like that, my dear sister?” Her voice came out with a tinge of anger.
“Oh, this?” Lady Constie turned her attention toward me again and immediately released her grip on me. “This is just a symbol of our closeness.”
“Sister, may I remind you I despise lies?” The sound of her footsteps filled the room as she approached her older sister. “And I also despise someone who constantly trying to meddle with my affair.”
“Don’t be so angry, Eryell dear. I was just confirming my own opinion against our chief apothecary here.” Although Lady Constie voice was calm, I could sense a slight uneasiness as soon as Eryell entered the scene. I guess she didn’t expect to meet her while she was in the middle of … discussion with me.
“Lies, dear sister. Next time, try to tell a believable one” After she was only a few steps away from my place, she continued. “Or even better. Don’t even try to.”
For a few seconds, the atmosphere around the three of use tensed up. Even without the ability to see the two of their faces, I could sense that they seemed to shot daggers at each other. The two’s heartbeats actually seemed beats in the same pattern, as if resonating against each other. I guess that is the evidence of their closeness. Although I was supposed to be the focus of their conversation, I felt somewhat left out, which of course is not something I could complain off.
“…Okay. I understand.” While I was in the middle of evaluating those two, Lady Constie let out a heavy sigh and then muttered out something. “Don’t glare like that, Eryell dear. It ruined your beauty.”
“From the rumor I heard, it says otherwise as they mentioned my glaring is as fierce of a gallant lion, dear sister.”
“And that’s exactly why I said it ruined your beauty.” She let out another sigh after hearing her younger sister’s reply. “A woman has to remain beautiful and dignified even while angry. Didn’t I always say that?”
“Don’t worry, dear sister. Your lesson has been engraved in my heart and mind.”
“Although practicing what you learn is another different matter.” I let out a comment with a slight chuckle.
“Hey!” The two of them shouted at me as soon as they heard my comment.
“Don’t insult Eryell!” ”How dare you!” And with a simple comment, the two of them united against me in an instant. It’s a wonder how a mere comment would be able to made two opposing person forget their differences and focus on the same thing in a split second. The power of words is, as always, magnificent.
“I beg your forgiveness if my comment is seen as an insult, milady.” I bowed to the two of them. “Although I would ask you, where is the mistake in my word? Please enlighten me as I could avoid doing the same mistake again in the future.” I have to say that I couldn’t help myself to tease the two of them. A bad habit of mine that is surely hard to let go. Thankfully, I managed to avoid making a grin on my face or it might anger them further.
“…” “…”
And just as I expected, they only looked at me in silence. But then I felt a slight tugging my ears. The slight tugging then changed into a full force that pull aw my ear.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” Pain attacked my ear lobe as it was being pulled away from my face. “M-M-Milady, w-what are you doing!?”
“Nothing.” It seemed that Lady Constie is unable to find any appropriate answer to my question. But as she still felt irritated at my action, she opted to punish me.
“E-Eh!? W-Why– OOOW!” I let out another scream as my other ear joined in giving me pain as it is being pulled by Eryell. “W-Why!?”
“Nothing.” The same answer came from Eryell. She probably felt the same. Fortunately, the two let go of my poor ears after just a few seconds. It was a few seconds full of pain, I tell you. As I rub my two ears, I could feel that the two sisters have somehow cheered up. There was no trace of anger or irritation left on them. What a strange and interesting pair of sister they are.
“Well, I guess I should get back to my office,” said Lady Constie as she stretched her arms a bit. “I need to prepare our town for that particular matter.” Seconds after that, she pointed her finger at me.
“Nerva, don’t forget your task.”
“I will do as you asked, milady.” I gave her a slight bow again.
“Good.” My supervisor gave me a slight nod. “Then I’ll see you at dinner, Eryell dear.” She then left the room without waiting for her sister to reply. As the sound of footsteps gone out of the room, I shifted my attention to my recent most guests.
“What can I do for you, my dear Eryell?” I let out a smile to accompany that sentence.
“…Let me see your ears.” She said as she walked closer to me. Ah, she’s worried about me.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” I waved at her casually. “So what’s the reason for your visit?”
“Can I visit you without any reason?” At that, I felt quite surprised. But my surprise lasted only a second as she quickly continued. “Is what I was hoping to say. But the truth is far from that.” Her voice had told me that whatever reason that made her come to me is anything but pleasant. I guess that was also the reason her previous conversation with her older sister become too heated than usual.
“What is the matter?” My tone quickly grew serious without the trace of the previous relaxed manner from before. “Tell me.”
“The 3rd Rangers have found some…disturbing remains on their recent patrol on the outskirt of our forest.” The Rangers she mentioned previously is a group of seasoned soldiers that roam the forest to search for any sign of unwanted outlaw or intruders. They are numbered based on their proximity to the town. At the mention of that ‘remain’, her voice and heartbeats told me that it was not something she is comfortable with. And I could guess the reason. First is, of course, for the unknown state of the remains which is probably far from being normal as they have summoned me personally. Usually they would just bring the item in question here and I will identify it together with the other apothecary. And second is because of the code number of the Rangers which ranged from 1 to 7. The 3rd corps of the Rangers is relatively close to the town. It means that whoever or whatever responsible for that has managed to pass the detection of the other corps.
After hearing that statement, my mind immediately went into my previous conversation with Lady Constie. If this event is related, then we have at least three strange events that might relate to each other. The question is in what way do they relate? I let out a ‘tsk’ sound after forming that question inside my mind.
“Take me there.” I stood up immediately as I felt a slight uneasiness if I don’t move right away. “Tell me the detail on the way.”
“Understood.” She then faced the exit, but she didn’t move right away. I sensed something is not right, but before I could ask she opened her mouth again. “Uhm…I have to apologize for that last action, Nerva. Both for my and my sister’s action.” Ah, so that what’s bothering her? I let out a slight chuckle as my previous tense moment immediately dissipated. “What?”
“Don’t think about it. We can talk about it later in our free time. I’m sure you are also curious about what my conversation with your dear sister, right?” She nodded right away, not bothering to hide her curiosity. “Then we would have a good conversation later. For now,” I took my walking cane and my coat, “we have something much more important to do.”
“Understood,” said my dear Eryell with a nod.
“Rago! Gire!” Before I took a step, I called for my assistants. I know that all these time they were silently watching my conversation. From what I could perceive, they were a bit afraid to do anything, so they hid themselves behind the shelves and try to eavesdrop on my conversation. I don’t really know how much they heard but I know what task I need to give them before I leave. “Finish your task! And don’t say a word about anything you heard!”
“Yes, Master!”
“Good! I’ll leave for now and when I come back I want to see your task finish!” With my last order, I joined Eryell who has already stood near the door. “Let’s go.”
“As usual, you are strict with your disciple.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“It is.”
“Then thank you. I already planned to be strict with them even if anyone said otherwise.”
“Then just keep doing that. Shall we go then?”
“Lead the way, my dear Eryell.” And with that, we left the apothecary room toward our next destination.
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Author Note:
Well, this is the 3rd chapter for the story. I apologize that if the pace is quite slow. I just want to thank all of you that has read this story and I hope that you will continue to read this series. Please give me comment and opinion for this story. I also welcome any critique that you can give as I am a newbie writer.
Thank you and I hope to see you again in the future!