Chapter 17: Black Blood

Chapter 17: Black Blood The five shadows retrieve Dustin's body with much haste and quickly carry it with them out the room at speeds I am barely able to react to.

Out of nowhere, I feel my body starting to weaken, starting from my legs

Ah, have I used the eye of truth too many times today?

What is happening again?

Oh right, Dustin. I have to save Dustin...

My vision starts to blur while I see a humanoid figure in black run towards me.

Huh- I thought the shadows had left already. Oh- right- there was one more watching the figurehead.

Immediately when they get to me, they sweep my feet.

Ow, that's gonna hurt tomorrow-

When I fall, they catch and carry me in their arms as they start running out the door, to catch up to the other shadows.

Right before I fall unconscious, I try to open my mouth one last time to speak but it wouldn't listen to me.

Hey- I don't want to held in this position it's embarrass-

"Zzz"

I am awoken by a sudden sound of crashing. Immediately, I get up and open my eyes and see a young female maid who has dropped a plate full of herbs and medicine, now scattered across the floor.

She looks familiar.

"Lillian? Is that you? Are we in the Mint Estate Clinic?"

She leans slightly as she bows, a complete contrast to her prior clumsy behavior.

"I'm glad to see that you remember me, young master. It's both happy and saddening to see you back here so soon."

Why is she calling me young master? We're both nobles...

"Haha, there's no need to address me that way, we're friends aren't we? You can speak comfortably with me. And yes, It seems I had some trouble dealing with-"

Wait, what put me in this state? What am I forgetting?"

I begin to tremble as I try to recover my memories and the cause of my trembling.

"Arthur? Are you okay?

I don't respond and continue to think while trembling.

I feel my facial expression turns to doom as I remember the events leading up to this point.

Dustin!

I immediately jump out of bed and grab her arms tightly, as my body continues to shake, full of fear.

"Lillian! Is Dustin here as well? The Commander of the Holy Knights of Pyro?"

Her face turns into an expression of fear staring at me, before quickly turning down as she begins to shiver.

I quickly take my hands off of her.

Ah, I let my emotions take over and lost control for a second there. I shouldn't have grabbed her with that much force but I need to get to Dustin!

"I'm sorry for grabbing you like that-"

"H-he's in the room on the top floor, 401.

Poor girl, she's stuttering. I hope I didn't traumatize her. But I can't waste any more time comforting her, I need to get to Dustin immediately!

"Thank you"

I say, as I rush out the room at my fastest, using Swift Wind, without taking another glance at her.

"Sage System!"

It lights up and hovers before flying off the stand next to my bed and following me.

***

Lillian Mint continues to stand in silence with her head down.

He grabbed my arms!

Her face is completely flushed red as steam could be seen coming from her head.

***

I run past many rooms as I head for 401.

310, 307, 305, 302, 301.

I turn the corner.

I see it! Stairs going to the fourth floor!

It's awkward to call you Sage System every time, from now on, you just be Sage.

"ORDER RECEIVED. UPDATING SYSTEMS ... CHANGES COMPLETED. NEW NAME: SAGE."

I jump up the two stairways in a single swift leap and make it up to the fourth floor.

The entire floor is one giant room with several physicians working as quickly as they can to make medicine and keep his condition stable. It is loud and the shadows keep heavy watch over the physicians actions as well as keeping watch over the entrances of the estate to make sure there are no intruders.

When I rise from the stairs, a young physician immediately spots me and is furious.

"Who let a kid up here? We are working on a very important patient who is in critical condition, get out of here before I call security. There is no time for games.

He must be stressed from working on a patient in such critical condition for so long. He's a good physician, there's no need to act up

"Let me see Dustin."

"What!?!? Did you not hear what I just said? Get-"

One of the shadows from across the room interjects.

"Let him pass. Don't waste any more time on him and get back to work."

The physician becomes afraid and quickly goes back to grinding more herbs.

I bow to show my thanks. He acknowledges it by nodding before going back to monitoring the estate entrances.

I walk up to the bed he's lying on and see dark red spots and many old scars across his body.

I grab a physician walking past me.

"How long does he have left?"

"At best, he has a week left to live."

She says before brushing my arm off and walking off to her work station.

I turn to Sage. The physicians are too busy to care about my conversation.

"Sage, scan Dustin for just status abnormalities and as accurately as you can in one minute."

"ORDER RECEIVED. COMMENCING STATUS ABNORMALITIES SCAN."

It moves around his body, scanning every body part. A minute later, it flies back to me and projects a small screen in front of me.

***

STATUS ABNORMALITY DETECTED:

Parasite Curse (Black Blood)

Accuracy: 99%

***

"How do I cure it?"

"ANSWER: THERE IS NO WAY TO CURE IT AS IT IS NOT A DISEASE OR POISON."

What? Is this it then? Am I supposed to just watch as my friend dies!

I get the urge to destroy something but I hold it in.

"THERE IS HOWEVER, A TREATMENT METHOD FOR REMOVING IT."

"What is it? Tell me quickly!"

"YOU MUST ABSORB THE PARASITE CURSE INTO YOUR BODY AND BURN IT FROM THE INSIDE."

That sounds dangerous.

I gulp.

"What is my survival rate for doing that in my current state?"

"CALCULATING..."

"SURVIVAL RATE: 1%"

... how low, but if it's not 0%, that's a risk I'm willing to take. How could I ignore his pain, when he was put in this situation because of me?

I begin to reach my hand out, to absorb the parasite curse, but sage suddenly appears in front of my hand and blocks the path.

"Get out of the way, I've already decided."

"I CANNOT LET THE SUCCESSOR RISK THEIR LIFE TO SUCH A LOW CHANCE."

I smack the small stone orb away and just before I make contact with Dustin's body, my body and arms are tied. I look down and see the rope tying me is made of transparent blue mana.

"LISTEN TO ME, FIRST SUCCESSOR, THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO TREAT THIS, WITHOUT HAVING TO RISK YOUR LIFE FOR A ONE PERCENT SUCCESS RATE."

"So why didn't you tell me that in the first place?"

"..."

"THE TREATMENT METHOD REQUIRES HOLY WATER FROM THE HOLY GRAIL, A PHOENIX FEATHER, AND A RED DRAGON FLOWER."

The first two ingredients have major healing properties and are easy to obtain since I can access the holy grail in the vault via the key, and phoenixes are said to be the divine beast of Pyro so the church has one tamed in the Grand Temple.

The Red Dragon Flower however, was the result of a doomed love between a dragon and a human in a myth, where it was said that a single red flower sprouted from the corpse of the dead dragon. Sёarᴄh the Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

No one thought the story was real though since a flower that matched its description never showed up before.

Come to think of it, how exactly does Luke Wolkan, a mage, know so much about poisons, diseases, and curses when he's a mage?

"AFTER HE BECAME A GREAT SAGE, HE STOPPED PROGRESSING HIS MAGIC AND INSTEAD STUDIED MAGIC ENGINEERING, ALCHEMY, AMONG MANY OTHERS.ONE OF HIS SECRET IDENTITIES WAS THE DIVINE PHYSICIAN."

He must've become a Great Sage at a young age then. Wait no, I'm getting off topic. It was never stated directly in the story, where the dragon died but it was stated that it died in it's own dungeon which is in the vast monster territories.

I have my own theory as to where it died. There is a dungeon close to the border of the monster territories and the Usagan Kingdom that has been explored and conquered thousands of times since it was managed by the Adventurer's Guild hundreds of years ago.

It is the closest dungeon in the Monster Territories to the Usagan Kingdom and the human who loved the dragon was the princess of Usagan Kingdom. Though the dungeon has been explored hundreds of thousands of times, there is something that all adventurers know. It is that there is always at least one hidden dungeon inside a dungeon.

That is why the Zidden Dungeon remains one of the most visited dungeons to this day despite being one of the easiest dungeons, as no hidden dungeon has been found yet.

After arranging my thoughts, I try to get up but remember that I am still tied by Sage.

"Okay, I won't take the risk anymore, can you untie me now?"

He retracts the chains and I immediately get up and look at it.

Weird. I hit it with all of my strength but there's not a single mark on it. What exactly is this made of?

Anyway, to enter the Monster Territories and the Zidden Dungeon, I need to register with the adventurer's guild or get permission from the Imperial Court.

Because of a law passed by the previous King, all who wish to enter the Monster Territories must either be part of an Official Knight Order or registered with the Adventurer's guild. This law was passed especially because most young noblemen are stupid and choose to wander from their escorts in almost all cases of this happening, they would lose their life.

Of course, it is widely known that I am an exception so I can just request permission from the Imperial Court. However, because of the massive trial involving my father, it would take at least a week for me to get in contact with them. By the time I get permission, Dustin will already be dead so my only option is to register with the Adventurer's Guild.

I grab Dustin's sword and begin to walk to the door. Before I leave, I turn around and clear my throat before speaking.

"Physicians, please do your beat to keep him alive. I will be back with the ingredients and save him. After he recovers, I promise, the church will reward all of you greatly."

Then, I walk out the door and head straight for the Adventurer's Guild.

Taking a carriage is too slow.

After I get out of the building, I use Swift Wind and enhance my body in aura.

Huh, I feel stronger than I felt in the dungeon or the clinic all of a sudden.

I look upwards, at the sun- high in the sky.

Could it be- because of the sun? Hmm, that argument is very plausible. So I'm stronger in the sun, I'll make sure to remember that.

I run as quickly as I can on the roof of houses, avoiding any people who may get in my way and delay me.

If I remember correctly, it was this way.