Chapter 78: Peace Treaty

"You have done enough. You should wash up and take a rest. I heard your party traveled for days in the wilderness. It must have been tough on your old bones," said the Head  Royal Physician to Erich Winfield after he checked on the condition of Slayer that looked satisfactory to him. 

Erich Winfield was that type of physician—once his services were needed, he would tirelessly attend to his patient, not even caring for himself. Though he was stubborn and unfriendly to most people, the Head Royal Physician, Heath Leuven, knew how much this old man cared for his patients.

Erich Winfield sighed deeply and stood up. "I am sure I can trust your ability to treat him." He then moved away from the bed. 

Sir Berolt gestured to him. "The servant will guide your way."

Erich Winfield and his two apprentices followed the servant out of the bedchamber.

Once the Head Royal Physician was done checking on Slayer, he went to the king to update him about his condition. 

Drayce, Arlan, and Cian listened in to his explanation as well since getting an appropriate, and satisfying answer from the stubborn old physician named Erich Winfield was next to impossible. 

"Your Majesty King Armen, Your Majesty King Drayce, the good news is Commander Calhoun Sanders is already out of danger as the treatment given to him managed to pull him away from death. His body is full of vitality, and we have enough medicine to ensure steady treatment. Therefore, healing would not be an issue to his internal and external injuries, though it would take at least several weeks and at most a month for him to be able to move around normally. Now, we just have to wait for him to wake up," he informed. 

Drayce stepped ahead and asked in his normal dominating and authoritative voice, "How long?" 

"That, we can't assure at the moment. But the way he responded to the treatment, it shouldn't take long. However, the bad news is, as one of his legs was severely fractured, the possibility of him being able to use it to walk like before would be slim. We will have to wait for him to wake up to undergo more tests in that regard. Alas, he is already fortunate to come across the man who gave him initial treatment. If not for that man's life-saving actions, never mind his broken legs, Commander Calhoun Sanders would not have lasted this long."

"Do you know him, Head Physician Heath?" Cian asked while glancing at his father. King Armen remained silent the whole time.

"He is Erich Winfield, a renowned physician who is known to have an ability to bring a dead person to life," the Head  Royal Physician replied. "However, he prefers to travel around to save people and did not stay in any one place for a long time, making him relatively unknown to those outside the circle of medicinal practitioners."

After listening to the Head Royal Physician's explanation, King Armen left with Sir Berolt. Cian also left, leaving Drayce and Arlan in the company of the royal physicians who would be staying in the room to look after Slayer.

As Drayce stared at his unconscious friend, he could only hope for his faster recovery. However, the conclusion spoken by the Head Royal Physician rang in his mind. As much as he wanted for Slayer to wake up soon, he could not bear the thought of seeing Slayer hurt by the fact he might not be able to walk like before. The man who always preferred to be on the battlefield while making his enemies run away from him, how could he ever bear the fact that his leg might stop him from doing so.

There was no way Drayce would allow this strong mountain to collapse like this. There had to be a way to fix his broken legs, and he would do anything to get it.

Night had arrived, but still, Seren was yet to regain her consciousness. There was no way any of those concerned about her situation could sleep peacefully until they saw her completely fine. It was bound to be another restless night, especially for her father, King Armen.

Leaving her in the care of two female apprentices of the Head Royal Physician, King Armen and Cian busied themselves in handling official duties and other important matters, especially the plan to deal with the royal court when they will raise Seren's issue again in the upcoming days. 

Being the crown prince of one of the kingdoms warring against the joined forces of Thevailes and Hatha, Arlan too had many things to take care of, such as reporting back to his kingdom and handling matters such as dispatching and allocating the army under his name in the battlefield.

Though Drayce was away from his kingdom and handed over some of his responsibilities related to state affairs to his most trusted people, he had to take care of the things for Megaris too. 

A messenger from Megaris arrived at the capital of Abetha to inform his king about the situation at the Thevailes-Megaris border. 

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" The messenger bowed upon entering his chamber.

Drayce nodded lightly to his greetings. 

"Your Majesty, we have successfully claimed several cities of Thevailes, winning over their territory miles inside their eastern border. As for the casualty of war, our army only lost several battalions, while Thevailes had lost two of their armies and we have taken their generals as prisoners of war."

As expected, for the young King, the outcome was satisfactory. A battalion was a military unit of about 500 people, while an army was composed of at least 100,000 soldiers. Thousands of lives were lost with each battle, but Megaris had always had overwhelming victories whenever they fought. War was cruel for the losers.

"Thevailes had asked for a peace treaty after things went out of their hands."

"Agree to it," Drayce responded. "Have our diplomats pull up a long list to get a hefty compensation from them. Not only gold, get rights to their land and resources. Include allowing us to have our army build fortresses in the conquered cities…"