Chapter 4 - King's Advisor
After a few minutes Croiz left, the same lady that greeted Rene and Croiz in front of the main entrance, came in. It didn't take long until the lady noticed Rene was in the room, as the room itself was not that big. She kept staring at her for a while, before grabbing Rene's shoulders which caused Rene to shriek in fear for a moment.
"Little girl, you don't have to be afraid of me, I at least just want to help you with something before you get sold off," she said while holding Rene.
"My name is Lisa and I'm a grade A healer, and I know three things that are happening to you right now. First, you were abducted. Second, your voice was taken away. Third, your ability was weakened, correct?" Lisa continued.
".......!" realizing Lisa was a trustable person, Rene nodded rapidly and started to cry a little.
"Oh no, please, do not cry! Listen closely, I will help you with three things, equivalent to the number of suffering you are currently experiencing," Lisa added while patting Rene's head to calm her down.
"First, I will try to influence a certain person to buy you. At the very least, he won't be using you for sexual desires. Second, I will return your voice back to you, so that you are free to speak. Third, I will break the magic that binds your ability, is that fine?"
"...!...!" Rene nodded twice in agreement.
When she received Rene's permission, Lisa opened up one of the lockers and took a very small sphere as big as a candy and then closed the locker. Handing it over to Rene, she gestured to her that she needed to swallow it. Then, Lisa took a small chair that was nearby the entrance and sat in front of Rene and directed her two palms toward Rene.
"...." reluctant at first, Rene stared at the sphere for some time before throwing it in her mouth.
"Good girl, now let me just do my job here, ok?" Lisa said.
As Lisa was focusing on Rene, Rene herself felt as if the foreign mana that had invaded her body was easily being forced out. It was easier than it should had been thanks to Rene's unique mana composition of which was inherited from Yggdrasil itself.
"This.... this mana structure... what is this... girl?" observing the unknown composition, Lisa can't help but wonder.
Lisa continued to perform some changes within Rene's body and then, she encountered a peculiar barrier within Rene. It was unusual because it wasn't in her body, but instead was located within her mind. Thinking that it might be something important, Lisa decided to leave it alone.
Rene herself on the other hand, was able to feel that her ability was slowly returning to her. If it wasn't for the device on her neck, Rene would have ran away already. Soon enough, another worker came in the room.
"Hey, Lisa what are you doing? It's time for the girl to go," grabbing Rene's hand; he started walking toward another door opposite of the entrance.
While being carried away, Rene looked back at Lisa and moved her lips, "Thank you," she said in silence.
In reply, Lisa waved her hands toward Rene and then exited the room to head toward the main hall, in order to finish her last promise. On the other hand, Rene herself was being brought to the center of the stage in front of the main hall, frozen under fear due to being under the gaze of strangers. Small chatters can be heard everywhere as she entered the hall.
After a few seconds, the auctioneer wearing a blue robe and a blue scholar hat stood on the podium located at the left of the stage. Then, he picked up a small hammer and began knocking a slab of wood on the podium.
*PAM* *PAM*
"Next up, a little girl of unknown species! She may seem normal, but in reality, she has the capability of a grade S healer! You can bring her with you on your adventures and guarantee yourself on your safety! Other than that, you may even use her for her body!" he shouted.
The hall suddenly became noisy and filled with even more voices when they heard the word 'grade S healer'. It was known that only a few excellent healers were capable of breaking through to the rank of S but this time, it was a little girl instead. Naturally, some did not believed it but most didn't care enough for the authenticity and already began planning to bid on her.
When the word 'you can even use her for her body' reached Rene, she began recalling Lisa's promise with her to refrain herself from breaking in tear due to the fear. Rolling her eyes, Rene tried to look for Lisa within the hall and soon enough located her standing behind a man with a hood covering his face. Lisa noticed her sight so she waved, and then began whispering something to the man. He only nodded as she kept talking.
*PAM* *PAM*
"The bidding price starts at 50 gold coin!" the auctioneer suddenly shouted.
Followed by his auction cry, various people started shouting their price.
"60 GOLD!"
"70!"
"75!"
"100!"
The scene filled with peoples attempting to stomp at other's price continued on and on and on, all the while not even a single voice came from the man Lisa whispered to. To be exact, he's just watching. Beginning to worry, Rene started trembling a little on the stage.
Suddenly, a loud voice could be heard from the man, "1000 GOLD COINS!"
Right on time, the man stood up and announced his bid. Other bidders shocked by the sheer amount of golds, could only afford to stare at him all the while wondering where all those gold came from. Rene herself on the other hand, released a sigh of relief as the man finally acted. After a few seconds, the hall was silent as no one was able to beat his bid.
The auctioneer looking at that situation, shouted, "1000 ONCE! 1000 TWICE! 1000 THRICE! SOLD!"
*PAM* *PAM*
.
..
...
After the auction was finished, Rene was brought to the same room she was with Lisa before. Under the order of the man that had won the auction over Rene, the iron collar that was on her neck was removed by the worker. Rene, grateful of Lisa's assistance hugged her before she was taken away with the man. However, her worry didn't end there as she still had the question of what she was supposed to do right then.
Hopping on the carriage with the man that bought her, she waved at Lisa before a servant closed the door. Then, she sat herself and looked at him as the carriage started moving. For some reason, the coachman simply began moving without even asking where to head first.
Awkward of the silence, she began talking, "Um.... thank you for saving me from those peoples.."
"Hahaha.... that was nothing, first of all, may I know your name?" he answered.
"My name is Rene," she replied.
"I see, Rene..."
After introducing herself, the man became quiet again but this time, it was as if he was thinking about something seriously. It stayed that way for a couple of minutes before he started talking again.
"Rene, can you please listen to me for a bit?" he said.
"Yes, of course!"
"Very well..."
As he continued, he began unveiling the hood that covered his face most of the time. Behind it was the face of a young man probably around 21. He wore glasses and had purple earrings that were hanging from his earlobes. Rene herself, simply stared at him while he continued to ignore it.
"My name is Thione Cronus, king's advisor for the Tarvan Kingdom."
"Oooooo.... so what did you need me for, Thione?" putting the advisor's title aside, she questioned him.
As soon as she asked him, Thione reached his left hand into his robe, which was made to disguise him. It was then, that he pulled out a document tied with a small rope that secured it and tried to hand it over to Rene. Suddenly, dark roots pierced through the floor of the carriage and its ceiling. Thanks to the sudden intrusion from the ground, the carriage was made to stop abruptly.
"Enemy attack?!" Thione shouted, trying to ask the coachman.
"N-no sir! There is no sight of any earth magicians nearby!"
"Then..?!" trying to stand up, he was suddenly stopped with multiple branches that was sharp enough to penetrate through his skins.
"Please, sit down Thione." Rene said, with closed eyes.
"R-Rene?! What's the meaning of this?!" he replied.
Slowly, Rene opened up her eyes, thus revealing her two crimson red eyes that was previously bright green. It's faint, but Thione could feel a slight hint of killing intent coming from her. Looking to her left, she was raising her hand as if manipulating the branches that surrounded Thione.
"What is your purpose? Why did you brought that document out?" pointing toward the paper within Thione's hand, she asked him.
"This is a normal document! Look, it's just a list of employees within the castle!" hastily, Thione severed the ropes, unraveling the contents within, which was harmless.
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Rene then took a look at the document, detecting no ill will hidden within it. Soon enough realizing her actions were out of place, she began calming herself down.
"Ah....i-is that so? I'm sorry..... I overreacted..." gradually, her eyes' color turned into green again.
As Rene regained her composure, the dark roots that was within the carriage vanished away just like that, as it was created by Rene's magic instead of being forcibly brought out of the ground instead. Thione himself, witnessing that situation could simply do nothing but watch as things return to normal.
The reason for Rene's sudden hostility was due to her trauma thanks to her encounter with Croiz. Thanks to that matter, she became more wary of unknown materials approaching her physically. She also became cautious of humans subconsciously, however not to the point she would kill them in an instant. For a moment, Thione walked out of the carriage to mention that everything was under control as crowds had gathered within the carriage's surroundings.
Soon enough, the carriage began moving again as Thione returned inside and sat beside Rene.
Patting on Rene's head, he said, "It's fine, meeting with the one who had sold you must have been a bad experience."
"Please, do not mention that..." while speaking, her eyes slightly became faint red before turning back green.
"Well, I guess we can postpone the discussion for now," grabbing hold of another small rope to tie the document, he was instead stopped when Rene grabbed his hands.
"No, please continue," she said.
"If you say so, very well."
Opening up his documents, he began explaining how the kingdom's castle had many layers of employees that worked in different sections. There was the agriculture section, the education section, the security section and many more, however in this conversation, Thione focused on the medical section. Naturally, Rene's gifted mind allowed her to easily understand his explanations.
Due to the constant war the kingdom experienced in order to defend the country against various attacks, many soldiers had been severely injured as a result of it. Thanks to that, the country's defense was weakening with the number of troops diminishing.
Worried of the situation, King Varus had sought for advice from Thione. Based on his calculation about the current state, he concluded that it would be the best move to gather highly skilled healers in order to assist with the contemporary disaster. Nevertheless, it didn't take long enough until yet another problem presented itself.
Most of Tarvan healers are compromised of grade C and D healers who can heal injuries at a considerably slow rate. For grade A healers that can heal heavier injuries in a shorter time and dispel certain effects, there was only a few of them. And the highest rank of them all, the grade S, counting up to practically none.
As such, someone with Rene's healing capabilities was truly sought for.
"Well, even if your healing ability were nothing but a lie, your combative capability would prove to be useful, as well," he muttered while looking at the documents.
Staring at him in the eye, Rene stated, "I can heal, but I'd like to avoid combat, if possible."
"Putting that aside, can you explain what's that flower doing on top of your head?" Thione replied while pointing his finger at the flower.
"Hehehe... it's just an accessory given by a friend..."
Looking closely, the flower seemed to be a little weak since Rene had only absorbed sunlight during her time of travel here and had yet to absorb water. Thione on the other hand, just stared at the flower as it lied down on Rene's head, as if dead.
"It looks.... weak," he thought.
Then suddenly, he came up with another idea to observe the flower's reactions. This time yet again, he looked for something within his robe and in a matter of seconds, pulled out a canteen filled with water. It didn't take long until Rene noticed it and had her eyes glued to it ever since the moment it came into her view.
Noticing her reactions, he asked, "Want some water?"
"Yes! Yes!" Rene nodded rapidly in reply.
"Okay then, here," Thione handed over his canteen.
In a moment's whim, it was instantly snatched away by Rene as she hastily opened up the cap and began drinking it. Naturally, she could also had simply absorbed it through any part of her body but decided not to in order to keep Thione's suspicions away from her. Rene didn't realize at that moment, that he was actually observing her flower which was dancing happily once more.
"Oh.. it looks happy for some reason now. Now that if I think about it, this girl hasn't mentioned of getting hungry and just hunted for my water...... just who is this girl?" Thione wondered while looking at the oblivious Rene.
It was then that the carriage suddenly stopped as Thione was thinking. Looking outside, they were already in a completely different place from the Auction Hall as it did took some time for the carriage to reach here. Stepping outside the carriage, Thione took her hands and helped her exit it.
"Where are we?" Rene asked as she looked around.
"Within the castle's ground." Thione replied.
In front of her was a very majestic building painted in various color which was so big, that Rene wouldn't see the end of the building if she was to run for a few hours. Covering the area around it was plants of various kinds which made Rene smile as she looked at them. Additionally, there was also a fountain located behind her as she had stepped outside of the carriage.
Within it was a big pool that contained many type of fish as they kept swimming around in the water. Noticing the presence of Rene, they waved at her using their fins while no one was looking at them. Then all of a sudden, Thione dragged her along with him to enter the building forcefully.
As they entered the building which was actually a castle, the scene of maids and butlers running everywhere were laid out in front of Rene and Thione. Ignoring the waves of servants, Thione continued to drag Rene until they reached the Medical Sector of the castle which was calmer than the last one.
They kept on walking, on and on until they reached a door located at the end of the hall. Upon entering the room behind the door, Rene could see various kinds of books and documents stacked up on the two wooden shelves that placed opposite of each other on the left and right side of the room.
Taking a few more steps forward and bypassing a big desk placed in the center of the room, two more doors could be seen at each side. Curious, Rene took a peek on the left side and saw a big bathtub and toilet, all in one while on the right side was the bedroom.
Sitting on the chair behind the desk, Thione gestured Rene to sit on the sofa that was the on the opposite of the desk. While making herself comfy, she kept looking around the interior of the room as curiosity got the best of her. It didn't take long until Rene turned her attention to Thione as he began speaking,
"It's a little late considering the time we entered it, but welcome to the Medical Sector of the Tarvan Castle. I look forward to your excellent service under us at the very least, until the debt that you owe us from the auction are paid off," he said.
"Naturally, these three rooms will be your private room for you to stay in during the time you will be here, I hope you find it to your liking," he continued.
Looking around the interior of the room, she then turned her attention to Thione and asked, "Umm, this room is a little bit too big for me. Who had lived in here before?"
While snickering a little, Thione replied, "Well, it was supposed to be the room for the Medical Sector's director, but she had refused this room and it has been unoccupied since then."
"Could that director's name be Lisa?"
"Hahaha, yes you got it right! She worked in disguise at the Auction Hall in order to look for someone like you. If she is not working, she would often hang out around here, helping the other newbies healers."
"I see.... well, I'll try my best to assist with the rest of the healers. Hopefully, I'll learn some fun things here!" Rene exclaimed.
Running to the shelves, she began looking for books that she wanted to read and placed them on the desk one by one. Thione simply smiled as he observed her actions before deciding to leave her alone in the room.
With that, marks the beginning of Rene's service under the Tarvan Kingdom of her own will in order to pay back the debt she owned from Thione for saving her.
Although, Rene did not know, that Trevtas had already begun making his move in order to search for her.
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Author's Side :
Sorry for the late chapter, started becoming busy with life all of a sudden.
Anyway, thanks for reading :) ... and seriously hope all of you enjoyed the chapter unlike last time, ._. .