The next day all three of us had our necklaces on as we channeled the energy from it into physical enhancement spells. I was already at over five pressure. Five point two according to the scale the necklaces used. But using more mana could still increase my capacity. We could use healing spells, but without actual injuries we wouldn’t really know if we were casting it properly. So we used Physical Boost and the trait specific variants on ourselves, which would give us feedback on if we were improving.
We continued like this for several months, mixing in various physical feats and contests to keep it interesting, until the wedding. It was hosted at the palace, with every noble in the city from knights up and many of the city’s richest people being invited. Thankfully Father, as the ruler of the city, was the highest ranking noble, so I wouldn’t have to pretend to get along with higher ranked nobles like when the Duke came to visit us that one time.
The main problem was that, as Tanya and Marya couldn’t be expected to clean and prepare the dishes for Tanya’s own wedding, we wouldn’t have enough servants. Furthermore, with this many nobles in the palace at the same time, we would be expected to greatly increase the security as well. And we couldn’t ask proper knights to work security as they were on the guest list.
Mother was put in charge of handling the servant shortage, while father would handle the security personnel. Thankfully one of mother’s business investments was a fancy restaurant here in town where the rich and nobles ate from time to time, so she went to talk to her manager. He got the restaurant to shut down for the day and all of the employees to come in to help prepare the wedding banquet and serve the guests. Mother would have to pay them more than their normal wages, but that was a minor issue.
The security staff wasn’t solved so easily. Normal city guards wouldn’t be enough for the event. He needed people who knew how to properly handle nobles and the rich, and most of the guards simply couldn’t do that. He pulled a dozen or so men and women, mostly officers, to lead the security that he managed to recruit, but still needed at least two dozen more to have enough. As he was unsure where to go to get more, I suggested we go to the Adventurer’s guild. When hiring people for a job where a specific skill or personality was required, the guild allowed you to interview any of the people they found who might fit the bill and was willing to interview.
A week before the wedding Father and I traveled to the Adventurer’s guild to meet the people we had requested. While most of the people that were in the main lobby were the kind that you might hire if you just needed muscle or wanted a specific monster killed, we needed people with class. The receptionist lead us to the back where around fifty people were waiting for a group interview. I was surprised to see several goblinoids and even a Minotaur, though it appeared he belonged to the Dwarf beside him. Adventurer’s sure were a diverse group, but I wasn’t sure mother would allow a two and a half meter tall bull man in the palace. If we hired him and his master, he would no doubt be watching the grounds instead of the guests inside.
Father explained the job once again just in case they had misunderstood the first time. They would be responsible for keeping the grounds and the guests inside safe from the time they crossed the gates onto palace grounds until the stepped back off of palace grounds. They would need to conduct themselves in a manner appropriate for the servants of nobility, though they would have some leeway when addressing those who were violent or belligerent. They would be paid five silver for the night.
I was surprised to find that several of the adventurers in the group were also nobles or ex nobles, with the later generally being people who failed to get the proper certifications or those that chose to not be part of noble society. The nobles technically could visit as guests, but as they knew no one involved they had chosen not to.
Father did hire one Baronet to attend the party as if he were a guest, as it would allow the guards to keep a closer eye on the guests than would otherwise be possible. He also hired the dwarf and his Minotaur, to guard the entrance, as both of their races would project strength to those entering the grounds, making the guests weary of causing trouble. After all, both Dwarves and Minotaurs were known for their incredible strength, though Dwarves were also known as excellent craftspeople.
To my surprise, Thomas was also there. I had personally seen how well he handled the rich and powerful while he worked at his father’s book store, and suggested that we hire him. He was hired along with four mages specializing in detection magic, and would be providing medical aid to the guests should they require it, as he was a certified intermediate healer now.
We padded out the rest of the guards with another dozen men and women that looked like they could hold their own in a fight, and one stealth specialist who was responsible for working with the detection mages to make sure no one snuck in. The man looked a bit like an assassin from the way he was currently dressed, but we would provide him with a proper outfit so that he could pass as just a member of the city guard. If it was really necessary, he would be allowed to pass himself off as an undercover operative.
The day of the wedding Father and I must have greeted a hundred carriages worth of people as they arrived. It was father’s duty to do this, as it was his manor and his retainer’s marriage, but I wished I could be doing anything else. At this point I would be willing to help Chef, Persy, and the restaurant crew in the kitchen. I briefly considered it when I got a telepathic message from one of the detection mages. Someone was currently climbing over the western wall.
I excused myself and went over there. When I arrived the assassin had him pinned on the ground. I ran a detection thread into his brain and set it to tell me if he was lying. “Who are you?” I asked.
“Just a reporter looking for a story.” he said. The strand reacted slightly. That was only a partial truth.
“What are you doing here?”
“I told you, gathering content for a story.” Another slight response.
“Search him.” I said and the assassin quickly did so. He had the normal reporter gear on him, a notepad, a visual recording stone that might be able to capture a dozen images, pencils, a small knife, and a small vial of purple liquid. The later was found under his belt. The notepad looked like it had actual notes in it of various possible new stories. The recording stone was an artificed device, not a stone, but was known by that name because the first one was carved into a stone. It had no images on it. The pencils were normal. I suppose you could stab someone with one if you had to, but the knife would likely do a better job. “What’s in the vial.”
“Medical tonic.” he said. Strong response.
“What kind of medicine.”
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“I’m not discussing my medical conditions with someone that isn’t a doctor.”
I pulled out my IDs and showed him that I was both an alchemist and healer. “I am a doctor.” I said.
“Fine, but I ‘m still not discussing my medical condition with you.”
“Is it dangerous.”
“Only if you count that not taking it at the right time and in the correct dosage could kill me.” Another strong reaction. He was definitely lying.
If this really was medicine, what I was about to seriously invaded his medical privacy, but he had already lied about it twice, so I was pretty sure it wasn’t. I sent a detection thread into it. I detected several medicinal effects. Essence of detoxification. Essence of pain relief, Essence of Revitalization. All effects you would expect for treating someone with a chronic medical condition. The last one, however, wasn’t. Essence of clotting. Why would he need that? I suppose he could be anemic, but why would it need to be so much stronger than the others? What if the other effects were to remove side effects? Pain and energy loss would be symptoms of both stroke and heart attacks. Not sure what the detoxification was for. Maybe for clearing other potions out of their system? I was going to need to play a hunch. “So, what would happen if I took this?”
“You would probably overdose. That is a two week supply.” Partially true.
“And if I only took a few drops?”
“I don’t know.” Strong lie.
“Would it kill me?”
“I don’t know!” Strong lie again.
“Is this a poison?”
“Of course not. It’s medicine. I told you already.” Strong lies for the first two, but he had told us that.
“Who were you intending to poison?”
“I’m not going to poison anyone. It’s medicine.” Both strong lies.
“In that case, we’ll need to bring you in for questioning. But before we do, I need to give you your medicine first so you are fine during the questioning.”
“Uh, I’m ok. It’s not time for that yet.” Seems like he was telling the truth.
“Nonsense. Taking it a few hour’s early isn’t going to hurt you.” I pulled out another purple potion, one which was mostly a detoxifying agent to prevent hangovers and sober up guests if they needed it. If you actually knew a thing or two about potions, it would be obvious that this was a different potion, but he started jerking and trying to break free. “Hold his mouth open.” I told the assassin holding him and he tried to pull away even harder.
I carefully pulled out a medicine dropper and drew up just enough to put a few drops in his mouth. When I got it close to his mouth he started screaming, and I squirted the whole thing in. The guard released his head and he immediately started trying to spit it out. “Oh, gods.” he said. “Why did you do that to me? I was worth more alive.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, “You won’t die. It was just medicine.”
“You don’t understand. It wasn’t. I was told that if I wanted to see my son again I needed to put that in the punch bowl. I don’t know who they were after, and now I’m going to die.” All of that was true, as far as he knew. I guess he wanted to die with a clear conscience.
“No,” I responded, “You don’t understand. That really was medicine. I switched the vials. All I gave you was something to treat intoxication and hangovers. Good for parties where they’ll be a lot of drinking.” I called over one of the officers from the city guards. “Please take this man down to the jail for questioning. He may be the victim of a kidnapping or death threat as well, so look into that as well. If they do have his son, I’m authorizing you to go retrieve him and capture anyone involved.”
“Yes, Milord.” the guard said, then tied the man’s hands behind his back before taking him away.
The rest of the night was uneventful. I did need to use some of my sobering medicine on a few of the nobles their to keep them from making complete fools of themselves, but all in all it was a good wedding. A priest from the temple of Aranya, the goddess of fertility, performed the ceremony, and Sir Philip introduced his two children to those that were present, both his adopted daughter Marya and his future child that Tanya was carrying. I could have told them the child’s sex, as the detection magic for that was easy to do, but they didn’t want to know.
The food impressed everyone and the band Mother had hired was quite good at their job. The next day, Father was supposed to take the payment for the job down to the adventurers guild, but he had too much of a hangover to go. I handed him the bottle of detoxification and the medicine dropper. “Don’t take more than three drops or you won’t be able to stop urinating for the next hour. I also suggest you give some to mother. I saw her drinking as well, but that isn’t good for the baby.” Technically any developmental issues that caused could be fixed with healing magic, but I didn’t want to risk it. “Feel free to use the rest of it on the servants. I hear Chef went a little overboard on that Elven Wine you imported from the East.”
With that I went down to the Guild and gave them their payment. In fact, they had done such a good job that I gave everyone seven silvers, with ten each going to the detection mage that notified me and the assassin that caught the true assassin.
I could have registered for my Magic Swordsman certification, but I already had so many certifications at the age of thirteen that I decided to wait. Besides, I was studying from the Mage’s Guild’s manual, and should register there if I wanted to take the test.
Over the course of the next year Persy and I trained Marya in healing magic and before her fourteenth birthday she had received the basic healer certification. The next month all three of us went in to get our Combat Healer certification.
Mine and Marya’s baby sisters were also becoming friends, though their age difference was a bit more than mine and Marya’s, so they weren’t currently near the same development stage. Still, I’m sure they would grow up to be good friends. Technically, Tanya and Marya still worked in the castle, but as they were now nobility Tanya worked for mother’s company and was studying to earn her merchant certification. Marya worked with her new father, healing the troops that got injured during training and helping him with the paperwork. Mother hired two other mages to fill their roles.
I spent the next year teaching Marya the basics of combat magic, but wasn’t sure she could earn that certification as well by her birthday. Having Combat Healer certification was good enough to become a knight, but Combat Mage would be even better.
On my fifteenth birthday we had a massive party, though this time we only invited the people I knew. At the end of it I informed them of my latest project. For the last several months Persy and I had been setting up a new business, a clinic. It would be divided into three areas with three different levels of cost and care, a slave/livestock entrance, a standard entrance, and a rich/noble entrance. Persy would work the slave/livestock area, I would work the Rich/noble entrance, and I had hired two people from the Healer’s Union to work the standard entrance, a sixteen year old healer woman and her fourteen year old apothecary brother.
I had secretly offered Marya a job working the standard entrance, so she already knew about the clinic, but she had turned me down, not wanting to work as a healer her whole life. She had watched the new guards training at the barracks and thought she wanted to join the guard. This idea totally had nothing to do with the fact that she had fallen for one of the knight’s sons that I trained with.
I showed everyone around the two story building I had built for the purpose. Technically, the healer’s union also had a clinic in town for trainees, but they only dealt with serious injuries unless you could pay well, so I shouldn’t clash with them too much.
The next morning we went to the clinic and found that there was already someone waiting at the livestock entrance. Apparently, he had heard we were opening today, so when his cow looked sick this morning he brought her over. After opening up, I let him in and he lead in a very sick looking cow. Thankfully I had seen the type of poisonous plant the cow had accidentally eaten before and sold him the antidote at cost for three coppers. I wouldn’t be making a profit in this section, but it would bring in people who needed help and would serve as good advertisement.
We had a few customers in the standard and slave sections over the next few days. The dwarf we hired at the palace for the wedding even brought his Minotaur by. The bull man had taken a bad blow when fighting bandits outside of town, and had several broken ribs and multiple cuts. We charged him four coppers for Persy to reset and heal the ribs and stab wounds and for a pain killing salve she applied. The Dwarf also had some injuries, and I convinced him to visit the Standard entrance for treatment. He spent a silver for his treatment, and actually got a pain killing potion for that amount, which worked better than the salve.
A few days later we got our first two people in the slave/livestock section looking for healing, slaves not legally counting as people. The farmer was back, only this time he had food poisoning from eating meat that sat out too long. There was also an Orc blacksmith that had dropped an anvil on his foot. He couldn’t afford to go to a proper healer, and the Union clinic would only set the bone enough for him to limp around for the next few weeks. So he had decided to give us a try. With nothing better to do, I had him hold some of the painkilling salve in his mouth and reset the bones in his foot. I could tell he was in pain, but Orcish pain tolerance was legendary. If nothing else, it was the only way he hadn’t passed out when his foot was turned into a flatcake.
After thirty minutes I managed to complete the forty six piece bone puzzle in his foot and started healing. This was more uncomfortable than painful, but by this point he wasn’t feeling pain anymore. Maybe I should cut back on the narcotic ingredients in the salve. They were a cheap way to make pain killers, but I didn’t want my patient’s getting high. It took ten minutes of healing to finish with his foot, and I charged him three copper. He was surprised at the low cost, but I informed him that we had waved the cost of the spells as it was good practice for me and the necklace meant I hadn’t actually used any mana. I was sure he would be a repeat customer.