Chapter 94

94 The problematic cure

“What happened to Xavier?” Asked Henry, and he tried to ask Anne as calmly as possible.

“You’re back?” Said a voice from the upper stairs. Henry and Anne look up and saw Vale. He orders the two of them to go to the highest floor. “Let’s go. We talk about everything upstairs.”

After collecting every book that fell into the floor, the two of them then followed Vale from behind, Henry’s wondered about something else, “I thought this place has an invention called lift?” Henry was complaining non-stop, he was tired from the long journey from Gaftan.

“The lift got a scheduled maintenance, it will be operatable tomorrow.” Said Anne. She could see how tired Henry was. “I’ll give you my tonic so that you can replenish some of your energy.”

Henry gave her a grateful smile. “That would be helpful. Thank you, Anne.”

After like forever, the three of them arrived at the highest floor where Justice, Bernard, and chief Amaris were waiting in the lounge room. Justice saw Henry and immediately a grin appeared on his face.

“What took you so long?” Said Justice, welcoming Henry.

“Sorry, I was looking for the dark and mischievous road, and look what I found.” Henry put the bag on the table. Vale opens the bag and was glad to see the mandragora.

“Thanks, Henry,” Vale patted Henry’s back and handed the mandragora to chief Amaris, “We can finally brew the cure.”

.....

“I’ll make it into four portions.” Said chief Amaris, she then excused herself from the floor, “I will focus on your cure, best of luck for the... other matter.”

Henry, Justice, and Anne said their gratefulness to chief Amaris, and once again there was a deafening silence in the room. Henry took a seat and asked them.

“Alright, what happened here? I thought we still need the dragon’s eggshells from Xavier?” Asked Henry to everyone in the room.

“We got the eggshells. That’s why chief Amaris could proceed to make the cure.” Said Justice with a gloomy voice.

“Where’s Xavier? He was in charge of founding the dragon eggshells, right?” Henry look around the floor, hoping to see Xavier.

Suddenly, another person came from the stairs, a man with shortcut red hair, he got a piercing eye with a faint scar on his left cheek. He looked at all of them and was almost out of breath ascending the stairs. Henry knew the man. It was Junjin, a subordinate of Xavier. He saw Henry and nodded his head.

“Captain Henry, so nice to meet you here.” Said Junjin full of formality.

“Oh, Junjin,” Henry handed him water and asked him to sit on the sofa, “Where’s Xavier? He goes with you to search for the dragon eggshells, right?”

Junjin finished the water in one gulp. Even Anne was impressed by how fast he drank the water. He put the cup on the table and sighed. “I lost my captain when we retrieved the eggshells from the nest.”

Henry’s mouth gaped open. He muttered while trying to make sense of the situation, “What? how was that possible? Xavier is one of the top huntsman captains out there. You know he also can...”

“Henry! Watch your mouth.” Justice warned him from another end of the sofa, while Anne look confused by the warning.

“When we took the eggshells, the captain sensed there was another person nearby. He asked me to go back to the inn first.” Junjin explained the situation once more to Henry, since the others already heard it, “I tried to go along, but he shouted at me and said that he was the only one that can handle the person.”

“The person? That was weird, and he never come back to the inn after?” Asked Henry again.

Junjin nodded his head, “Yes, I tried to search for him, but I thought you need the eggshells first and probably wanted to know about Xavier,” Said Junjin to everyone, he then added, “Don’t worry, I put a note at the inn if he in fact wasn’t missing and I was just overreacting.”

Looking at Justice, Henry wanted to know his opinion. “What do you think?”

Justice massaged his temple. “I think we need to go there and check. I hate this situation.”

“Yes, the cure will need to be brewed for four days anyway, so it will be plenty of time to go.” Said Vale, agreeing with Justice.

However, henry can feel there’s something wrong with Justice and Vale. They rarely talk to one another, and even their body language is stiff to one another. Not to mention Anne felt like she was trapped between the two of them. Henry doesn’t like this. He slaps his hand, making everyone on the floor surprised by his sudden act.

“Alright, Junjin, thank you so much. Let us discuss this first, and get back to you,” Said Henry, while he pushed him to the stairs. “Did you have a room here? Or do you need to go back to the capital?”

Flustered by Henry’s action, all that Junjin can do was answer him properly before he descended the stairs, “I... I will spend the night with my alchemist friend here, on the tenth floor.”

Henry smiles at Junjin. He basically told him to go away, after he successfully kicks out Junjin, Bernard, and even Anne are next. He told Bernard to go take some rest, while convincing Anne to go asked chief Amaris if she need some help.

Don’t want to intrude. Anne knew Henry needs to have a conversation with the two of them. She nodded and excuse herself from the floor. Henry realized what she did and gave her a silent thank you. Finally, there were only three of them. Justice and Vale tried to speak, but Henry raised his hand.

“I’ve heard the highest floor has a terrace, let’s go there,” He smiled at the two of them and even brought an aggrus decanter with three cups.

There was nothing they could do besides follow Henry to the vast terrace near Justice room. the wind blowing a bit hard, but Vale cast a wind spell, just to calm the wind for a bit. Justice already sat on the chair while pouring the aggrus into the cup.

“Vale hit me two days ago,” Justice says directly, with no explanation.

“What?!” Shouted Vale and Henry at the same time.

“Vale, what happened?” Asked Henry.

Vale looked frustrated at Henry. “Well, you asked him, did you know he got the blood plague disease now and wanted Anne to be the only source of blood?” Said Vale, while pointing at Justice.

Henry looks at Justice and calmly asks him, “Vampirism? What happened Justice? Where did you get the disease?”

“Probably from his encounter in the Beyor cemetery. I knew it would be dangerous to go there.” Vale explained to Henry. He was in his thinking mode, eyes straight into the sky, while his right hand brushed his chin over and over.

“Don’t cry over a spilled aggrus,” Said Henry to Vale, his eyes turning to Justice once more. “and you? Why do you need Anne’s blood specifically?”

Rustling his hair, Justice glared at Henry, “It was because Anne offered it to me, alright?!”

“Oh, God! No need to be a grumpy crown prince, I was just asking.” Henry told Justice while shielding himself from the crown prince’s glared.

Surprisingly, Henry’s comical act made Justice and Vale snort and laughed, Henry is their glue to each other, and his easy-going manner and also his carefree attitude were the very opposite of Justice. for Henry, the three of them were not just friends, they are brothers in arms, and he will do anything to protect their brothers in arms.

“Gods! We could never fight against your attitude, seriously Henry,” Said Justice while wiping his tears.

Henry then smiled at the two of them, his finger pointing at Justice directly, “Good, now tell me, why did Anne offer herself as the sole blood source for you?”

“Because she was immune to the infection, and for now, because of the bewitched spell, Justice has only drawn to her.” This time it was Vale who answered his question.

“This girl was becoming more and more mysterious every day.” Chuckles Henry being amused by the story, “So, she was immune and now becoming the sole blood source for this infected b*stard? Then there’s only one thing we should do.”

Vale and Justice look at Henry. “Which is?”

“First of all, every time you need to drink Anne’s blood, one of us should accompany you two. We need to protect the girl, just in case.” Henry laid his plan on the other two.

Justice nodded his head and agreed with Henry’s term. “You’re right. We need to protect her.”

“You said first, there are more?” Asked Vale.

“Of course, the second one is we need to find the cure for vampirism. I know it must be hard since it was supposed to be extinct from our kingdom.” The other two let out a sigh, while henry looked so confused at them, “What? What happened?”

“We found the cure, well at least how to cure the vampirism.” Said, Vale.

Henry was ecstatic. “Well, what are we waiting for? Remember, we have a little time. Xavier is probably in danger.”

Justice once again shares a glance with Vale.

“It will probably be hard to find the cure for now.” Said Justice, while rustling his hair.

“Why? Why is it hard?”

Vale took a deep breath and explained to Henry, “In order for Justice to be fully cured, the source of the vampirism needs to be death.”