Chapter 498 - 492 : Arnhaunt Family

While Sato was interested in saving the young lady's life, he didn't plan on endangering his own by roaming outside for too long. Luckily for him, Sato didn't take long to find the necessary herbs to complete the drug. The missing herbs were extremely low-level and not so special so it wouldn't be an issue finding them. There was also the fact that the ecosystem here was quite impressive, giving birth to such herbs as if they were weeds. Hence, it didn't take long after Sato had left the cave before he found them.

"I hope this works.'

After returning to the cave, Sato began mixing the herbs in the right proportion as Fudo has stated to form a paste and a syrup. Mixing it wasn't that difficult and didn't require one to be a specialist at that, so it wasn't a problem for Sato. He then applied the paste in the prescribed directions onto the girl's forehead and chest. Applying on the forehead wasn't a problem but since it has to be done directly on the skin, it became a problem when Sato reached her chest. After all was said and done, Sato was still a young man in the prime of his youth.

'Have a clear mind, have a clear mind. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...'

Taking on the task that looked greater than anything else, Sato had to distract himself from having any side thoughts. Even though this was an NPC, the realism involved was a lot that she looked no different from a human being. If that wasn't enough, then IR's realism was a problem of its own. The game didn't explicitly ban sexual content so players could involve themselves in such acts. That means that all the reproductive organs as well as their 'abilities' were replicated; this included the legendary boner experience.

By the time Sato was done, a small camp had risen from beneath his trousers but calming his heart down with a few mantra, Sato easily recovered from that disgrace. He couldn't be blamed; ever since he was born, Sato never had such a relationship with the opposite sex. He had never dated any girl much less seen a girl naked so his reaction was natural.

'Friggin' game.' Sato cursed.

Apart from applying the paste on her, Sato didn't forget to feed her the potion as he opened the girl's mouth and emptied be the vial's content in. He then covered her nose, making it difficult for the girl to breathe as her body automatically responded as she tried breathing through her mouth. The coma the young lady was in, wasn't so serious, hence the reason why Sato could even treat it in the first place.

When he was done with all of that, Sato then sat by the side and waited. There was nothing else he could do but what for her to recover. As for going out and levelling up? The monsters in the cavern were no joke; they weren't something Sato could take on. Unless he wanted to die without knowing how, it would be best to reduce his movements outside of this cave.

"Mmm."

About 4 hours or so later, light sounds came from beside Sato and the young girl seemed to murmur in her sleep before opening her eye lids.

"Where, where am I?" She feebly asked.

"You're safe, at least." 

Sato walked up to the girl. Milo had already returned to the ring so it was only Sato and the girl that was left.

"You, who are you? Where are my guards?" The girl widened her eyes in shock as she stared at Sato with a frightened appearance.

Sato inwardly sighed, partially disappointed. He has originally thought that the owner of the carriage would be one of great strength to have dared move around in Maldora Canyon but it seemed that it was a character who was ignorant or maybe forced to such circumstances.

'I will need to gain her trust first then question her then.'

"Your guards are all dead. You were the only one with a breath still left so I saved you." Sato replied.

"De, dead?" The girl was stunned before her expression broke down. Her eyes became listless as he head faced the floor.

"It's, it's all my fault. We could have used the normal route, but the family, they needed help. I just wanted to be of use so I decided to take the risk. I thought we would make it out. I can't believe they're all dead, and I'm alive." The girl seemed to be talking to herself as she murmured those words with a heartbreaking expression.

Sato didn't need to question her that much as her soliloquy had already helped him get the gist of the matter.

The girl's family must have encountered some danger that required outside help. She was then sent to find that help but doubting that she would make it in time if she took the normal route, the girl probably made the decision of passing through Maldora Canyon. She probably thought that with the strength of her guards, while it might not be a walk in the park, they would still make it out safely. However, reality was heartless as everyone apart from herself had died. Never did she expect for such events to take place.

'She's probably a greenhorn. A little flower raised in a greenhouse with no true knowledge of the outside world.' Sato sighed.

'It's quite possible that her family sent her away not to get help but to retreat. However, she couldn't even figure that out.'

Sato didn't know what event had taken place for the family to go to such dire straits but he wasn't interested. Not only was he a player, but he was still weak. Trying to interfere with events relating to the noble families in the Fallen Heart Kingdom with his meagre strength was akin to courting death.

'Heck, this is already courting death. If her enemies knew I saved her, I would be in for it.' 

"Here." Sato passed her a piece of dried meat out of pity.

"You have been knocked out for a while now. You're body needs some nutrients."

"Th, thank you." The girl accepted without any hesitation. She was aware that she indeed needed food so she didn't stand on ceremony.

After she has a ate a bit, Sato decided to start questioning her.

"Who are you?"

"Me?" The girl paused.

"Cecilia, Cecilia Arnhaunt from the noble family of Arnhaunt." There seemed to be a slight tone of pride in her voice as she said this, but later she became a bit downcasted as she recalled all that had happened.

'Arnhuant family...' Sato recalled the information he had bought a while ago on the forums. 

Since his knowledge of nobles were lacking, Sato decided to fill up that gap and with the aid of information hunters, it wasn't a difficult task. Sadly, he could only find information pertaining to big families and not the small ones. Luckily, the Arnhaunt family was covered under this.

From the report, Sato was sure that she was telling the truth since data he bought had also contained an image of the emblems of some noble families and the Arnhaunt's emblem of an Eagle resting on a golden halberd was present; exactly the same as the one Sato had seen on the carriage and the uniforms of the guards.

According to the report, the Arnhaunt family wasn't exactly a big family. Though they were not a great family, they had ties with one; to be specific, with the Duke of Black Rock Province. The Arnhaunt family was a middle ranked family in a province two provinces away, however due to a marriage alliance, their ties with the family of the Duke of Black Rock Province was created and further strengthened. Relying on this, they were able to bring themselves from their original rank as a small noble family to a mid-level noble family. However, it was inevitable that this rise would bring them to the attention of ages other families as well as create more enemies for them. 

With the fact that their great benefactor was two provinces away, it would be hard for them to have much influence in their region. As long as a great family dealt with them quickly and silently, even the Duke would be hard-pressed to do anything.

'It looks like their enemies couldn't bear to see them rise anymore and hard struck at them.' Sato presumed.

While it looked like the Fallen Heart Kingdom was quite peaceful from the players' perspectives, it was anything but that for the NPCs. Infinite Realm could be seen as a different world and the activities of the world would continue to move forward irrelevant to the players' existence but not completely. So while players could interfere in it, they couldn't stop it.

Since Infinite Realm was meant to mimic the basics of reality, plots and schemes amongst the hierarchy of the kingdom's nobility was inevitable.. The Arnhaunt family was just one family that had fallen to this but not the only one.