Chapter 75: Potions

After dealing the hit to the king, Merleen and I grabbed our party members and escaped the citadel. We barely made it out alive, since two of our members got unconscious from Merleen's light. When the king felt my sword, those soldiers averted their gazes from us and mended the crown's wounds.

That event secured our route and charged away from the castle, together with our sleeping comrades. The soldiers and mages did not have the chance against Merleen's magic. We zoomed towards the other side, using the elements Merleen conjured and passed by dozens of soldiers.

As soon as we arrived at the village, Merleen's protective spell collapsed and sent us kissing the ground. I caught Merleen's head and safeguarded her with all my life while guarding Fenrir with my other hand. Merchant landed on his bottom, so he received no complications from his body... I think.

These two women were far more important than Merchant, who I only met for a few hours.

The three of us rolled over to the other side while slamming my back over to a wall. But I would do everything that I could to protect these girls, even at the cost of my life! However, when I said that, I slightly considered myself a pervert….

After shaking my head, I inspected the two women for any injuries they might have received. Within a few seconds of looking around, I found no wounds or broken bones in their body.

Despite my hunch, Merleen groaned in pain. Her hands became all fidgety as if she had a disease of some sort. If I had to remember that part correctly, some illnesses made mages felt like this. There was no medical staff to observe her symptoms, so I grabbed her to the side and held her hands.

A rectangular screen appeared before me, telling me about something important. When my eyes read the texts, I slid the screen to the side and gazed at Merleen.

"It can't be…."

The texts I read from the system told me that Merleen overused her arcane-which could lead to futuristic problems. Her tremors and increased in perspiration were common signs for mages to feel when overusing their magic. Although that information only came from the game itself, not the actual world.

Since Magique became real, those symptoms, which the developers only described from the game, turned into reality. I did not know the cure, since I was a knight, not a mage.

But for now, all I could do was to wait for Merleen's shaking to subside. There was nothing I could do to stop that illness from taking Merleen's nerves, considering the arcane living in this world.

As soon as Merleen's tremors stopped, I turned my head to Fenrir. She did not have any wounds that I could tend to, so I did not have to worry about her.

I went to Merchant and checked if he was still alive. Well, we fell ten feet above the ground, so I was wondering if Merchant died from that plummet. It turned out that guy kept his life, since he landed flat on his butt.

And when I approached the crooked man, Merchant mumbled to himself, saying "money, money" along those lines. I dragged his body inside the shelter, together with Merleen and Fenrir.

The villagers immediately noticed our presence and helped us on our way inside. The chief also met us outside the gates and lent us a head.

"What happened? I heard something explode from the citadel?! Was that a fight? Did you battle against the king?"

The chief raised thousands of questions inside his mind, but the situation before us was far more important. All the townspeople helped us deliver the sleeping bodies on their make-shift beds and continued monitoring them. Merleen and I stayed in the lobby, planning to disclose what we did inside the citadel.

"What did you do, Arthur?! What happened there?" Those were the questions tossed at us.

But I intended to answer them in one sweep.

"Merchant invited us inside the citadel as his bodyguards. As soon as we were inside, Merchant introduced his experiment. It's a potion that could cure health points…. Or pain. The king wanted to recruit Merchant into his castle, but Merchant denied those offers. Merchant told the king that these potions were for his personal benefit. So, we clashed and escaped that prison... and ended up here."

The chief and the people listened to our story. They nodded to themselves throughout the narrative, claiming that I did the right thing. I expected these people to retort, since my actions endangered everyone else. Starting today, the king would attack its people.

A civil war would begin in the Kingdom of Caerleon. And the only way to survive was to protect these people fighting for their town.

And throughout the story, I remained Fenrir's actions hidden. She also played a part in that conflict, which escalated the battle.

Within a few seconds, I could not help myself stay quiet. I added to the story and told everyone the piece I concealed from them.

"I am so sorry about what happened. If only Fenrir did not act up against the king, maybe we could have prolonged the battle. There were a lot of things I could have done, but I made it worse…. I'm sorry."

I nearly cried when I expressed my voice to these people. It was also my first time talking in front of a crowd, and all of them lent me their ears. My hands vibrated when I placed myself in front of dozens of people.

But I knew I had to face them since I caused these occurrences. If it were not for me, this village would not suffer from the tyrant king. If I only listened to Fenrir and went on our merry way, these villagers would not face war.

As soon as I glimpsed in front of me, the chief walked to my fore and smiled at me.

"It's not your fault, Arthur. The war would happen with or without you. You did great by protecting Merchant from harm. And I was pleased that you saved him and brought him here. Have you ever wondered why Merchant wanted to sell those potions?"

"Sell?" I asked. "Because he's a merchant?"

Galehaut shook his head and invited me over to the other room. The rest of the crowd stepped away and allowed us to walk towards the door. As soon as Galehaut spun the knob, people lying on their make-shift beds welcomed my eyes.

Those blankets that those villagers used had a pint of blood covering their bodies. All of them had deadly wounds that needed intensive care. Some of them even had broken limbs and torn appendages. And I could only guess those wounds they received came from a battle.

"What is this place? Why are you showing this to me?" I asked the chief.

I continued forward and observed the entire scenery. All men and women acted like nurses and catered to all the wounded townspeople. They nursed their wounds and tried their best to ease the pain. However, these people were no doctors or healers. They could only pray for them to recover while waiting for those injured to die.

Merleen and I did not know any healing magic. I had a passive recovery ability, but I could not grant other people that skill. And if I planned on taking a healing move, I needed to traverse to an unfamiliar land that had a church. It was the only way to save these people, but that would never happen.

And then it hit me. The potion that Merchant tried selling to the king was the answer we were looking for. Red potion could regenerate the torn skin of humans, regardless of the hole. It could also grant immediate nutrients that the body needs to sustain itself. There were even circumstances where these red potions could eliminate acute illness, making it the wonder drug of this game.

However, the potency of Merchant's red drug was roughly around 40%. If I remembered it correctly, that potion could only heal wounds without eliminating the disease.

But that drug was better than having nothing at all. And since those herbs needed more time to process, Merchant gambled everything. He tried asking the king for funds and to create a factory making potions. If the king funded his work, these people could afford to buy the potions, which would have a higher potency than the first one. Since the king would grant some money to the potion, he would request further research about the drug.

Despite all those efforts, the greedy king disliked the idea. He wanted the potions for his army, not for the people.

Galehaut and Merchant wanted the best for their people. They planned to do everything in their power to help them.

I only realised that now when it was already too late…. And the only thing we could do now was to help them.