Chapter 16 - Rembourser

The four unconscious men are laying on the floor covered in sheets as they sleep heavily after three hours of being healed from poison, as for the young boy, he wakes up after two hours and is currently eating at the table with Aurelie who seemed fond on the young boy.

Geraldine watched them from afar as she was checking on the men to see if there's still poison remaining on their bodies.

"Master, please rest for a while, you seemed tired, I'll watch over them," Alexjin jerked her head in the direction of the men. She nodded her head as she was also tired and felt like her body will shut down soon.

Going to the kitchen, the young boy immediately went silent and shivered at the gaze of Geraldine who was looking at him from top to bottom, checking for any signs of paralysis.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she sits on the chair with food ready for her.

"I- I'm fi-fi-fine.." The young boy's eyes are tightly shut and his hands are gripping on his pants while answering Geraldine.

"That's good, what is your name?"

"Mu-Mures!!!" His voice raises as he trembled in nervousness which startle Geraldine but what happened next shocked her. Mures went down from his chair and kneel in front of her with his head bowed down and hands on his lap.

"Th-thank you for sa-saving u-us!!!" Mures eyes were glossy as he fights back his tears. Geraldine's soft hands extend and caress his smooth brown hair, he jerked away at first as a reflex but calmed down after feeling her touch.

"It's fine, you don't need to be scared, now, eat more to bring back your strength," Mures face lit up as he wipes away the forming tears in his eyes and climbs up on his chair to finished his food. Aurelie who is sitting opposite of Geraldine smiled, seeing how Geraldine cared for Mures.

*I must use this opportunity to spread my name across the land as a genius healer!*

Geraldine was already thinking of how she can take advantage and used them for her upcoming plan. After all, she didn't just help them because she felt guilty or pitied them, it's because they are travelers whose job is to travel to each town in the Empire to buy and sell things. So, they are the perfect person for the job in spreading her name.

She waited for a couple more hours before the unconscious men started waking up one by one. They were groaning louder at each movement their body makes and even sitting down is a struggle for them.

Aurelie, boiled them tea to replenish their thirst and be energized. They are currently sitting in the living room, and talking about their journey to Alexjin which makes Geraldine satisfied, knowing that he'll learn more about the people in the Empire, especially the nobles.

"D*mn that nobles, they hired us to collect as many Rambootan's skins for their business but looks what we ended up to," The man named Ethaen put Mures on his lap, "My boy even got sick, my poor child."

"May I ask something Ethaen?" Geraldine put down her cup of tea and looked Ethean with serious eyes, "Did you eat the white flesh of the Rambootan?"

"Ah- Yes, it would be a waste if we throw it away, that's why I bring my friends and family to help me, we've been there for a day only, besides the payment is quite huge but I don't know what will that noble do with the skins, he's weird," Ethaen scratch his head in deep thinking, "but you saved us, Alexjin told us everything that happened since the start, d*mn those healers too for letting us die, they can't even figure out what happened to us," he added while clenching his fist, then his eyes soften and laughed awkwardly, "do you perhaps know what happened to us?" He asked as he was curious like the rest of them, they want to know the truth to prevent it from happening again.

"Hmm," Geraldine's eyes shift to the side to look at Alexjin who is also anticipating her answer. "You're all allergic to Rambootan, so I advise you not to eat nor touch it in the future." She decided not to tell them the truth that it was caused by the poison inside the flesh of the fruit because it was not known until a few decades that Rambootan is indeed poisonous, they would only look at her as if she was crazy.

"That's impossible, I've been eating it since I can remember, nothing happened to me until now," Maxim, Mures grandfather said in disbelief, he always liked Rambootan so much, so hearing her say that he was allergic to it is plain stup*d in his eyes.

"Have you consumed a huge amount of that fruit before?" She asked, assessing his body and his mana.

Maxim shook his head 'no', he only ate a small portion before because his hands would go numb hours after he ate it, he thought it was just due to his old age.

"Do you feel stomach pain, numbness, or fever, days or a month after you consumed that fruit?"

All of them raised their hands upon hearing the question, "We are travelers and that fruit can be found in the forest we entered and it's one of our food sources in our travels, it was kinda disappointing," Maxim lifted his shoulder in a half shrug.

"Then you got your answer," She sips her tea, "but I can tell that you're much weaker compared to your age, so I suggest that you must stop eating it if you wanted to live longer but if you still want to eat it, then go on," Geraldine plastered a smile on her face while looking at their trouble expression.

"Thank you for warning and treating us, if it weren't for you, we are probably dead by now," Ethaen said as he tried to chase away the awkwardness, "how can we repay you?"