Chapter 41 That Which Was Once Lost

"AHHHH"

A scream awoke everyone in the nearby vicinity.

After hearing a scream ring out in their camp, the knights arrived at the scene in a panic.

"Did something happen?"

"Was anyone hurt?"

The knights were on full alert.

They instantly prepared for the worst.

If their young master were to come to harm due to their late response, even their heads would not be able to appease the duke.

Thus the knights sprinted towards the source of the scream in a scramble.

What they found however only served to confuse them.

One of the girls they had rescued was grabbing her tongue and holding it with her right hand.

She ran her fingers up and down her tongue as if its very existence confused her.

"Whai thoo ai thath thai thongue!?"

(Translation: Why do I have my tongue?)

This sight visibly confused the knights, they began looking in the surroundings to see if it was another girl who screamed.

Seeing their confusion one of the nearby girls stepped up.

"That girl was the one who screamed."

One of the knights threw a sideways glance at the girl clutching her tongue.

"Do you know why she screamed? Is she hurt? Also… Why is she grabbing her tongue like that?"

"What if she simply bit her tongue?" One of the nearby knights chimed in.

"I don't see any bite wounds… Could it be that it's an internal condition?"

The girl who stepped up shook her head.

"That's not it…"

The knight looked back at her with a slight trace of irritation.

What was going on? Was there a problem or not?

"Can you please explain what's going on here? We all rushed here when we heard a scream."

The girl threw a pitiful glance at the girl holding her tongue.

"This girl… She shouldn't have a tongue…"

The knight was visibly confused.

"Why shouldn't she have a tongue?"

However, the person who answered his question wasn't the girl, but instead one of his colleagues.

"If I remember right… One of the girls we saved had her tongue cut off… Apparently, she tried to kill herself to avoid being humiliated… I'm pretty sure this is the girl they spoke about."

Everyone in the vicinity was baffled.

How could one just grow a missing body part back?

This was nigh impossible!

Only healing magic of the highest order, as well as extremely costly healing potions, could help regrow body parts.

But, who had that kind of power in their group?

Due to the commotion, everyone had more or less gathered together.

"What's going on here?"

Rupert broke out from the crowd and approached the girl who was still clutching her tongue.

She seemed so fascinated by it that she completely ignored everyone else around her.

One of the nearby knights walked close up to Rupert and relayed the current situation to him

"She just regrew a tongue overnight? Are you sure this information is correct?"

"Yes commander, several people saw her bite her tongue off. Some of the knights even remember seeing her open her mouth to eat. They can personally verify that all they saw was a fleshy stub."

Rupert nodded.

"This is quite intriguing… Do we have any idea as to how this happened?"

The knight shook her head.

"No captain. We have no clue how this happened."

Rupert squinted his eyes.

"I see…"

He walked up in front of the girl who regrew her tongue.

By now she was starting to take in the massive commotion she had caused.

"Young lady, everyone claims that you regrew your lost tongue. Is this true?"

The girl snapped out of her daze and nodded her head.

"Yes sir! I bit my tongue off yesterday, but when I woke up this morning, it was perfectly healed!"

While she was confused, the girl was extremely elated at this outcome.

She was starting to worry about living life without a proper tongue, but mysteriously her tongue was healed after she slept?

Did she have some kind of latent powers?

Or did someone else help her?

"Did you do anything yesterday that may have contributed to this? Did someone use magic on you or give you a potion?"

While the odds for both options were quite low as there were only a handful of magic spells and potions that could regrow lost limbs, Rupert still felt like that was his best bet.

"No… I didn't remember anyone casting healing magic on me, however, I did consume a potion. The slave traders gave it to me," She shivered.

Just thinking about that moment made her break out a sweat in fear.

That moment left a shadow in her heart, that she might never be able to overcome.

Rupert put his hand on her shoulder in reassurance and gave the girl a warm look.

"Don't worry, your safe now. Just tell me what happened at your own pace."

The girl nodded her head.

"Mmm."

"The potion they gave you, was it a rare one?"

The girl shook her head.

"They claimed that it was a normal cheap potion. One that could only close the open wound to prevent blood loss. It was incapable of regrowing lost limbs."

Rupert put his hand to his chin and tried to figure out what had happened.

"Maybe they somehow got their hands on a high-ranking potion in a mix-up, and fed you that potion."

Uriel stepped forward.

"Commander, you know just how rare those potions are. Slave traders like them wouldn't be able to afford one even if they spent their whole lives gathering the money."

Rupert nodded his head.

"I know, but that's our best guess. If anything this is a good thing, after all, she did get her missing tongue back. Just have our healers take a look at her and make sure she's really all right."

Uriel saluted.

"Yes sir!"

Rupert nodded his head and dispersed the crowd.

"We will set out in 30 minutes! I want all of you to be ready to hit the road!"

The day's journey was quite uneventful.

No bandits decided to try their hand at robbing them when they saw the Silvercolt house flag.

After all, picking a fight with a ducal family was just asking for death!

Any beast that tried to attack their group was mercilessly killed.

It wasn't long before they finally found a paved road.

It was covered in carriage tracks, showing just how frequently it was used.

Rupert smiled and turned to look at the group following him.

"We are almost there everyone! Just a bit farther."

The sun was already starting to set, so the exhaustion was starting to kick in for many of the weaker members of the group.

Walking for a full day with minimal stops was quite tiring after all.

Luckily, it wasn't long before they saw a large wall appear on the horizon.

"We are almost there!" Zen exclaimed.

'Mother, father, big sis Angela… I'm finally back!'