The other guards walked to the side, letting the wagon go through the gate and towards the half-circle where other wagons were already parked, servants helping unpack as items were brought into the building.
“Thanks for the help,” Elijah said, getting a nod from Harper in response. “I didn’t think you would be so far away from the Princess so early in the morning.”
“This barely counts as morning, and Her Highness had already predicted that some… difficulties would appear during your first official entry into the castle,” Harper replied. “The attitudes of guards have shifted in recent months, becoming rather unrefined when compared to what is expected of them.”
“They’re asses who like to push others down as much as they can get away with,” Aleksi concluded, getting looks from every other person in the wagon in reply. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re not, though I advise you not to say such things when guards are within earshot,” she countered. “While they will not act outside of what they’re allowed, they can still try and trick you into being hostile and then promptly arrest you. If such a thing happens, it will be a rather frustrating ordeal to have you cleared of the crimes.”
Her words implied that they would go through the steps necessary to have that done. Elijah was impressed by that fact, not expecting such a level of favoritism to be shown off for him and Aleksi, though that might’ve been done in an attempt to make them consider staying within the castle for more than those initial six months.
Or, in the words of the wise, it could’ve been a simple attempt at trying to create a bond of trust.
“Here we are,” the servant by the name of Isaac announced, as the wagon slowed down right at the front of the stairs up to the castle. “I would show where your rooms are located, but I believe you will be taking over in my stead, ma’am?”
“You would be correct,” Harper confirmed, the servant nodding before stepping out to help them off-load everything from the wagon. That the stairs were here so early made it a frustrating endeavor, but the strength of Aleksi allowed them to get most of the items out and into the castle in a single go. A smaller pulley was likewise attained further inside where the ground was flat, allowing them not to break their backs as they moved through the giant halls. “Please place your items here.”
As they moved into one of the smaller hallways, they came across a rather strange room, one with a large stone square in the middle that was three shades lighter than the rest of the floor. A lever was likewise placed in the floor next to it, though Harper warned them not to touch it along with also not stepping onto the lighter stone themselves.
Once everything heavy had been placed onto it, which was most of the items brought along, she pulled twice on the lever before the stone began to shudder for a moment and then… levitate upwards.
“That’s not something you see every day,” Aleksi commented, as a square opening appeared in the ceiling, one just large enough for the floating platform to move through untouched. “Do you have a lot of stuff like this here?”
“We have many, though not all commonly used or known to most who walk the halls,” Harper replied, standing in place until the ceiling closed itself once again before moving out of the room and towards the stairs nearby. “The items have been brought to the right floor, but the rest of the moving will have to be done with our own hands.”
Not a problem, seeing as Aleksi had been brought along, but the four flights of stairs that they had walked up still caused some minor issues with Elijah. His legs were not fans of this amount of physical exercise, and certainly not so soon after a relatively deep dive into the Dungeon during the night.
Regardless, they were able to retrieve the items and move along once more, the trio moving down through the halls until they were on the eastern side of the castle. There, the doors began to grow sparse, each room having a much larger space inside.
“This is the section of the castle that you will have jurisdiction over,” Harper said as they moved into the final area, showing off the thirty-meter-long hallway which contained only four large doors and one smaller one at the very end. “The first two rooms are resting facilities for the injured, equipped with enchanted beds that can alert you about any complications in the patients that need to be attended to. The third is your main examination room, where you will have the usual tools to inspect any patients coming in. In emergencies, it can also act as an operating room, though it is rarely used for such.”
“Not in the business of cutting people open often, no,” Elijah replied, not stopping his in stride as Harper continued with her explanation.
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“The fourth room is for all alchemical purposes,” Harper said, opening the door to let them inside and actually inspect the room themselves. “I apologize for the clutter, but the assistants haven’t returned to clean the area yet.”
… If this was cluttered, Elijah was confident that the people working here before would get a heart attack looking at his own laboratory.
The tables here were cleared of nearly everything, their surface smooth and impossible to get material stuck inside. Hundreds of tools of various origins and for various use cases lined the floor, three copies of everything along with several having specialized adjacent cleaning supplies to prepare them for usage. And… Elijah could barely believe it as he walked further inside, seeing the massive shelf that was ten meters in length and nearly two meters in height, the inside filled to the brim with labeled bottles with various contents. He recognized most from a glance, rare herbs but next to common ones, each with the same amounts no matter how pricey they were.
And it was ordered alphabetically, with the ingredients of the same kind being further ordered by the newest last.
“... Should I take it that this is satisfactory?” Harper asked while Elijah mumbled to himself about the various finds on the shelves. Herbs that he hadn’t thought about for fifty years were here, herbs that he thought had been lost on this side of the continent, herbs that weren’t meant to be on this continent. They had to have been brought over by ships recently since their label had a drying date that matched the current year. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“While I will have to test a lot of these, to see if they are as effective as I hope, this is a very good store to work from,” Elijah finally answered, putting bottles back where he had found them, rotating them just a little so that their labels stuck out perfectly like the others did. “This entire collection must have cost several thousand gold to acquire.”
“Oh, you’d be shocked at how much you can save from having a temperature and humidity-controlled environment at your fingertips!”
A new voice came from where they had entered. A young one, that caused Elijah’s eyes to fly over and inspect them.
A woman with short black hair, gray eyes, a few splotches of contracture scars on their left cheek and left side of their throat, and just about matching Elijah’s hide while having the exact opposite in terms of expression. She wore a bright smile, eyes shining as she moved towards him, while he looked at her with wariness and hesitation of allowing the approach.
“Nice to meet you, sir!” the woman said, offering a hand which he shook after a moment. “I’m Mary Atwood, at your service. I was the first assistant to the late Reynold Mandel and… I suppose I’m your first assistant now!”
The scarring on her face and throat could also be seen on her right hand. Maybe her arm as well, though the longer sleeve hid most of it from view.
…
“Elijah Caede, the new Royal Healer, at your service,” he replied with a nod. “There’s supposed to be two of you, I believe?”
“Right, yeah, there is, but Oscar is currently dealing with one of the visiting Lords from the south that is having a case of… I’ll tell you later, actually,” Mary said, looking at the audience still here. Harper said nothing at the words, face impassive, while Aleksi was already chuckling while emptying box after box and placing them on the nearest table. “Oh, those are old thistle funnels. Are you not a fan of the modern ones?”
“These aren’t nearly as fragile as what you might be used to,” Elijah said, eyeing the thinner variant on one of the nearby walls. They were able to contain the same amounts and were maybe easier to clean, but one wrong hit on the side would cause it to fracture so frightfully quickly. “Are there any other boxes outside still?”
“That should be the last of them,” Aleksi replied, placing the final empty box on top of the others, before offering his hand to Mary. “Aleksi Grey, a friend of your new boss. As a word of advice to somebody who has been by his side for many years, I recommend not commenting on how he works. He’s rather… let's call it firm in his ways.”
“I’ll remember that,” Mary promised, a chuckle leaving her as Aleksi and Harper both left the room with boxes in tow. While Elijah did want to follow the giant out of the castle, it seemed there were lots of duties to go through and assess. “I can show him the last room if you’re stressed for time.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Harper replied curtly, the Mage already prepared to bring the giant out of the castle area. “The Princess will likely visit personally later today, an hour or so after dinner time. I request that you are ready to receive her then.”
Elijah acknowledged the request, giving a final farewell to the two as they left him and his new assistant alone in the room.
“How long until the other assistant gets here?” he asked.
“It should be less than five minutes, if he’s able to get through the questions the Lord keeps throwing his way,” Mary explained. “That rich man oversees the operation of some fifty villages closer to the sea, yet he doesn’t act that way out in public. Has a taste for certain activities below the belt, and doesn’t do the proper preparations for the consequences that come with such a hobby.”
Ugh.
Elijah felt some small regret at accepting this job already, the people in his area at least had some kind of intelligence in their heads.
At least it couldn’t get much worse.