Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

Despite half an hour having passed since Brynjar and Ezekiel's departure, there was no change in Aurelia's behavior.

She continued treating Illyan as if he was truly on the brink of death.

It was not like Illyan could just let his wounds regenerate despite fooling these guys.

They would probably observe him for some time, so he needed to let the wounds regenerate naturally.

'Did I ever do something like that?' Illyan wondered as he almost groaned in pain.

He didn't remember a time when his injury had to heal without relying on his ability. Sometimes, he purposefully stopped his regeneration, but that would only be temporary.

Never did he stop his ability for long enough to heal on its own.

'Maybe I can learn something from it—ugh…' Suddenly, he felt as if the poison infiltrated deeper into his body, where the blood energy seeped in as his eyes rolled back while drool flowed from his mouth.

He trembled a bit, but he still endured as he gritted his teeth.

Aurelia, who was working on making a nutritious liquid to feed him, cast a side-eye at him as she looked a bit concerned.

She knew that Illyan had quite monstrous pain tolerance after getting injured in front of her many times.

But this poison was something that was used in her clan as the worst type of punishment, thanks to the immense pain it could bring.

Even she was hesitant when they made this backup plan back then.

But seeing that he continued his act like this, she looked at him with a mixture of relief and concern.

Fortunately or unfortunately, his keeping up the act paid off as an uninvited guest intruded upon the tent without any warning.

"Where is he?!" Vanda, who came in a hurry after hearing the searching team had finally returned, was huffing as she was short of breath from running here.

Her face and body were covered by a dark cloak as she stood there, watching Illyan's 'unconscious' body.

The moment she received the letter, she immediately went after the searching team.

Unfortunately, when she arrived, Illyan had already been taken away.

When she asked, she was met with hesitant eyes. Only once she glared at them with anger did one of them tell her the whereabouts, and she immediately sprinted in that direction.

She went through a detour as she avoided as many people as possible. After all, she was pretending to be dead.

It was a hassle, but it was not like she went among people often. In a year or so, they would forget her face…

But until then, she needed to hide.

However, that was not the thing that bugged her at this very moment.

'Hmph, that bitch…' Vanda thought as her eyes darkened.

Despite the fact that Aurelia was the one saving his life at this moment, it didn't sit well with Vanda. At all.

And so, when she entered the tent and saw her touching his half-naked chest, she felt inexplicable anger.

Of course, she didn't lash out since she wasn't a fool. His life was in her hands.

That fool Ezekiel had abilities that would be capable of making someone the King of Life, but he was just using them to make one abomination after another while his medical theory was nonexistent.

"How is he?" And so, she took a deep breath and calmed her heart as she feigned calmness.

Aurelia lifted her head and looked into her eyes.

"He will live. No permanent damage, too. The recovery will take time, though," she said with no emotion behind her words.

This irked Vanda a bit.

'Why is she acting so high and mighty? His life is much more valuable than an unneeded child like you.' Vanda scoffed at this little arrogant brat.

"How long?"

"At best, half a year, and at most, a year and a half," Aurelia said calmly, not minding Vanda's scowl.

"What?! So long?" Vanda exclaimed as she came closer to Illyan's body.

She almost pushed Aurelia away but didn't do so in the end as she examined his body.

He was lying there with a pained expression, but his brows were relaxed as if he was out of the worst.

There were all kinds of bruises all over him, with some body parts being red after having frostbite, his fingers and toes in the worst condition.

Fortunately, it wasn't to the point of amputation, but it wasn't far off.

Just as Vanda took a small knife and put it on Illyan's finger, she heard Aurelia's words.

"You also want to taste his blood or something? How peculiar…" Aurelia muttered in a voice loud enough for Vanda to hear.

Hearing this, Vanda stopped and turned around.

"Someone tasted his blood?" Vanda asked as her eyes dilated. In the end, giving someone with magical abilities blood was a dangerous endeavor.

"Yes, some physician apprentice my father brought. He left after confirming something and let me do my job. Funny, isn't it?" Aurelia chuckled as if thinking the entire thing was hilarious.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Vanda, who heard this, put her knife away.

'So Ezekiel was already here. That makes it easier.'

"Do you know who he is and where he went?" she asked.

"No. I heard his name is Jamal, and my father went after him, so there is a chance they are together." Aurelia shrugged her shoulders.

Vanda looked at Aurelia intently before she looked back at Illyan with a smile.

Once she caressed his cheek, her expression was that of longing.

Aurelia, who saw this, almost got goosebumps at this revolting sight.

The tent turned silent as Vanda stood there unmoved.

With a look of pity directed at Illyan, Aurelia sighed.

"There is a chance that some of his bones were broken off and need to be connected back or, in the worst case, removed completely." Her cold voice disrupted the silence as she looked at Vanda, who woke up from her reverie.

"I need to prepare for the possible operation."

Vanda looked into her eyes as they stared at each other for a second.

Then she turned around and muttered to herself.

"Yeah, that would be for the best," she said as she left.

"Don't mess this up, girl."

With these words trailing after her, she finally left.

'Sigh… I really hope there won't be more visitors.'

As she said this, she looked at Illyan with a stink eye.

'That whore sure likes him. What did he do to her that night that made her so clingy?'

Her head naturally turned around as she looked at Illyan's lower body, where a certain bulge couldn't be hidden.

'He is definitely bigger than—'

Just as she had these strange thoughts, she shook her head heavily, trying to expel them from her mind while her neck turned a slight hue of crimson.

'I need to focus,' she thought as she prepared her scalpel, since the operation would be real…

……..

Two days later, at dawn.

"Set off!"

"Finally! I fucking hate this shitty place!"

"Hey, did you hear? We were delayed by a day because they found that cursed bandits' camp!"

"Yeah, I heard about it too! One of the soldiers that went scouting was my cousin. It seems there were remains of the bandits who were keeping us in the city the entire time. From what I understand, after their main force died in the city, they planned to escape but couldn't because they met a small group of trolls along the way and had to detour."

"What? So there was a fight?"

"Yes, and a one-sided one! These scum of society were slaughtered on the spot! They even caught their leader, who was allegedly one of the trusted aides of the Great Bandit. They traveled this deep into the mountains because there was some kind of scheme. Maybe someone among us paid him to do that…"

"If it was someone, then it would be those academic bastards who were crazy for relic hunting…"

"Who would think that this would be the case… I fear what will happen to our lives once we return…"

"I am honestly just happy that we are finally leaving this damn place in one piece. These stupid thieves even left us some of their horses! The Three Highest didn't forget us!"

All kinds of rumors spread throughout the city as everyone was prepared to leave.

They were supposed to leave yesterday already, but for the sake of a comfortable ride back, Brynjar made a deal with Ezekiel to sell off his remaining men so that they could use their horses.

Not only did Ezekiel gain a very good reward, but it also cost him almost nothing. These men were mostly just random hungry peasants he found as they starved. To them, he was their hero. But in truth, he was the villain who made their villages starve.

Thanks to that, the complaints of the mayor's soldiers had disappeared when they finally got the horses.

With these, they could still salvage some of the wagons that weren't broken after the full-blown battles.

The supplies that they needed on the journey back didn't have to be carried by men, and the injured could rest in the wagons.

There were even many vacant wagons that belonged to some of the richer men.

The most prominent were the merchants who came on the expedition for profit only to be met with death.

The prostitutes, the minstrels that were singing in the evenings, and even the few specialists regarding the ores and herbs in the area that they hired for the chance of finding the potential so-called 'golden mine' were also mostly dead.

But still, about a third of them survived, and they were actually the ones profiting the most from this.

While the gangs confiscated most things, they managed to scrape up the leftovers with happy smiles.

One of the few lucky ones was also Garren, who took over Ujir's wagon after offering the remaining goods on it to the authorities.

While it may look like a loss, gaining a wagon would bring him profit in the long term as long as he wasn't too shabby as a merchant.

He borrowed the two newly found horses in exchange for putting in his wagon the belongings of those who had passed away.

After all, there were many things like weapons and armor that couldn't be left behind.

But Garren was satisfied, considering that before, he had to sit in a wagon in turns with others as the overcrowded wagons smelled of sweat, vomit, and sometimes even piss and shit.

Now that he and his friends had survived the crisis, it was time to ride the wave of opportunity and live a good life!

"Although there are still some eyes on us, I don't think it will be much of a problem now. So don't worry too much, Nord, Cara, and Terren!" Garren said with boisterous laughter while riding his new wagon.

He wasn't good at it, but he was starting to get used to it.

"Yeah, since our innocence was proven, there is no way they will do something," Terren said with a smile.

"I wouldn't bet on that. With all of this happening, I don't think there is anyone worth trusting in this city," Nord said with coldness in his eyes.

"Shush! Don't say anything else! If they hear you, they can easily change their minds," Cara, who heard his words, immediately jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow as she scowled at him.

Nord sighed as he nodded.

"Well, I wouldn't be so worried. Living in society is all about connections! And we have those! Miss Aurelia effectively saved our lives thanks to our friendship with Kaoran. This isn't just something that will disappear. They will remember that she helped us. Even if she did it only because of Kaoran and isn't associated with us, they will think twice before messing with us. And most importantly… Kaoran is alive and well! Our savior and lord! Who would dare to mess with the Great Doctor's friends?" Garren said with a big grin, the great joy visible on his face.

"Yeah. It is a miracle that he survived," Nord nodded with a soft smile on his face.

"I want to see him so badly. Why aren't they allowing us to meet him?" Terren said with a bored expression.

"Stupid! He is probably still in critical condition! They even let him recover in that one carriage that belonged to the noble's son! The only one visiting him now is just Miss Aurelia," Nord said with a snort.

"Hmm, they must be close for her to take care of him like that. She even saved our lives because of him. They met each other often before, didn't they?" Cara, who was listening, suddenly said this with wonder in her eyes.

"No, she is probably just treating him like she would anyone else. They probably have a strictly professional relationship," Nord shook his head.

Meanwhile, Garren turned away from his rider's seat and made eye contact with Terren, who looked back at him as they both thought about Illyan's night affair that night.

'Haha, there is no way.' Both of them chuckled at this ludicrous thought that passed through their minds.

'Hmph, even if it really happened, it would just be great fortune for all of Kaoran's good deeds and the misfortune he went through on this stupid expedition.'

As their minds filled with stupid thoughts, in another wagon, there was another conversation about Illyan but with a slightly more serious tone.

"So he will recover?" Korin hesitantly asked Vanda, who had been in a great mood since two days ago.

"Yes! Since I will give him one healing potion, it won't take much time before he can join us again."

"Are you sure this will be alright? Won't there be any problems since Brynjar seems to not like the boy?" Neddard asked with a frown.

"That man doesn't have a say in what Miss Vanda decides," Mufa said with a sneer.

Arun, who was shocked after hearing that Illyan was still alive two days ago, was listening with rapt attention.

There was a short discussion as they decided what to do.

In the end, the conversation ended with Vanda's resolute expression.

"Since Kaoran could be said to have fulfilled his contract, I think it is time to write a new one. This time, we need to pull him in completely. He will be a great asset for our plan. Before that, don't get too close and let the man recover properly."

"Yes, madam!" All of them nodded as Vanda smiled.

'Great. In this way, he will become mine. Nobody else can break my toy except for me.' Her eyes turned into crescents as dark emotions swirled behind them…