Under the Oak Tree



Chapter 99: Chapter 99

Maxi needed something to do. Being idle was bringing back memories of her life in Croyso Castle, and it was making her feel depressed.

She headed to the kitchen. The least she could do was to pretend to supervise the servants as they prepared supper. She was just descending the stairs when she heard a deep voice call out to her.

“My lady!”

Maxi turned around. Sir Gabel Lachzion and Sir Remus Baldo were striding into the great hall, their faces grim.

Maxi tensed up. “W-What brings you to the castle at this hour? I-Is something wrong?”

They weaved past the servants scrubbing the floor and ran over to Maxi.

“Forgive us for the interruption, my lady, but someone has been injured. Could we ask for your assistance?”

Maxi’s eyes widened. Although she had frequently tended to the knights in the past, she had not done so after her episode of mana depletion.

The request now was so sudden that Maxi surmised that the situation must be grave.

Flustered, she hurriedly asked, “W-What about Ruth?”

“The sorcerer is currently at the construction site. We do not wish to burden you, my lady, but we cannot afford to go down to the village to search for another healer.”

The knights were visibly anxious as they led Maxi to the door without waiting for her reply. She had to scamper behind them to keep up with their long strides.

“C-Could you… tell me who got hurt?”

“One of the knights who were sent as scouts to Livadon last winter. It appears they were attacked by werewolves in Anatolium, and one of them got himself poisoned, of all things…”

Gabel clicked his tongue. Then, as if recalling something, he turned to Maxi with a worried expression. “Are you able to neutralize poison with magic, my lady?”

“I-I have studied the runes, but I have yet to try it…”

“Then you could use this opportunity to test it,” Gabel replied without a hint of hesitation before practically skidding down the stairs.

Maxi had to gather her skirt at one side and hop to avoid tumbling down.

“W-Would it… not be better to w-wait for Ruth to return?”

“If we delay and the poison spreads, the poor fellow will lose his right hand for good. It would mean the end of his life as a knight. It does not matter if you fail. Please, try.”

Sir Remus’s tone was closer to coercion than a plea.

Maxi gulped. She was uncertain whether to feel happy or troubled that the knights, who had been unwilling to have her heal even their superficial wounds at first, now relied on her in such a grave situation.

What if it was too serious for her to handle? Agitated, Maxi kept wiping her clammy palms on her skirt as she followed the knights across the garden. They strode past the gate and rushed straight to the knights’ quarters.

“This way, my lady.”

Inside, thick curtains were drawn over the windows. Maxi froze as she stepped into the dark room.

Someone lit a candle, illuminating three or four cots lined up on the floor. This room had probably been prepared to treat injuries during training sessions. The sparse infirmary also contained a shelf piled with pouches of herbs and unfamiliar medicine bottles, a faintly glowing brazier, and a boiling kettle. The eerie interior made Maxi hunch her shoulders as her eyes darted around.

A faint moan came from the other side of the room. Maxi turned toward it and saw a young knight lying on one of the cots.

She walked over to the man and frowned. “It is h-hard to see his wound in the dark. C-Could you draw the curtains back?”

“Werewolf venom makes one extremely sensitive. The sunlight would be too harsh for him,” Gabel explained. “It would heighten his pain. Here, allow me.”

Gabel lit the candle next to the cot. In the flickering light, Maxi could make out the injured knight’s bare and tanned upper body.

She cautiously inspected the wound, and her shoulders sagged with relief when she saw that it was not as bad as she had feared. Although the bite on his forearm was deep, his bones appeared to be intact. Still, he was badly poisoned. Maxi placed her hand on the young man’s forehead to check his temperature and frowned when she felt his burning skin.

“Have you tried… d-detoxicants?”

“He was given mandrago leaf right after he was bitten, but the beast that got him was a powerful monster. The detoxicant was ineffective.”

Maxi looked toward the unfamiliar voice that had chimed in. A haggard-looking young knight carrying a pail of water was making his way into the infirmary.

Sir Remus swiftly took the pail from him. “I told you to rest. Let the servants handle such tasks.”

“I’m fine. This rascal was bitten when he tried to protect me, so it’s only right that I tend to him myself,” the young knight replied stubbornly.

He snatched the pail back and walked over to the cot. After soaking a towel, he began wiping down the unconscious knight. A faint moan escaped the injured knight’s lips.

Sir Remus had been observing the scene with a hardened expression, and he now turned to Maxi with an urgent edge to his voice. “You must hurry, my lady. His arm may be permanently damaged if the poison spreads any further.”

“I-I shall try.”

Maxi hovered the candle closer to the bite wound and carefully inspected the state of the young man’s arm. She had seen werewolf bites before, but this was different.

The two bite marks sank deep as if they had been hammered with a pike. An awful stench rose from them. The flesh of his forearm was purpled and swollen like an overstuffed sausage.

Can I really heal him?

As she positioned a trembling hand over the wound, she tried to recall the magic rune Ruth had taught her.

Although detoxification consumed less mana than healing, it involved more complex calculations. She had to make her mana flow along a diagram she was unaccustomed to. It proved more difficult to control than she had anticipated, and she ended up drawing the rune incorrectly twice.

The knights watched silently. As if sensing her struggle, their faces grew anxious.

“Do you think it will be difficult for you to heal him?”

“A-Allow me… to try again,” Maxi mumbled in a voice close to a whisper, an intense flush coloring her face.

Guilt flooded her. How nice it would have been if she had practiced detoxification magic instead of wallowing in self-pity all this time. If she lost this young man now, the knights would lose all their trust in her.

Maxi swiped at the beads of sweat on her forehead and mustered her mana for the last time. Thankfully, a haze of blue light began to rise and envelop the young knight’s arm. It spiraled and curved in intricate patterns. Flowing along the rune, Maxi’s magic poured into his body, neutralized the poison coursing through his blood, and traced the rune back out.

The magic was working. The color of the knight’s arm soon returned to normal, and the swelling gradually subsided.

Maxi sighed in relief. “I-It’s done.”

The murky energy completely disappeared from the knight’s body, and Maxi slowly pulled her hand back. Gabel leaned over with the candle to inspect the knight’s complexion. Satisfied, he proceeded to draw back the curtains. Maxi squinted into the bright light that streamed onto her face.

“He doesn’t seem bothered by the sunlight. The poison must be gone.”

“Even so, I-I think we should give him more detoxicants… since there could still be poison left in his body. Could someone boil the herbs?”

“Allow me, my lady,” said the young knight who had dragged in the water pail.

He had been fretting beside the cot throughout the healing. He now placed some mandrago leaves and other herbs into a kettle and hung it over the brazier to boil.

Maxi sat by the window to catch her breath as they waited for the tea. It had been a while since she had last used magic. She felt tired but nowhere near as dizzy as with mana depletion.

Maxi carefully gauged the remaining mana in her body and, after deciding that she still had a safe amount, cast healing magic on the injured knight.

The others looked relieved as the bite marks on the young man’s forearm disappeared.

“Thank you for accepting our arduous request, my lady. You should also have some mandrago tea. Its roots are a good mana restorative.”

“Th-Thank you.”

“It is us who should be thanking you, my lady. Thank you for saving our comrade’s life.”

Maxi’s face flushed at Gabel’s sincere sentiment. Her inner monologue had been nothing but self-deprecation recently, and his words of gratitude felt like a rainfall after a long drought.

Taking a sip of the steaming tea, Maxi shyly muttered, “I am glad… th-that I was able to help.”

“Your help was everything, my lady. He would have lost the use of his arm if we had not neutralized the poison in time. With Mage Ruth out of the castle, it was a divine blessing for this fellow that you had knowledge of such magic.”

Gabel suddenly frowned and glared at the young knight who was boiling the tea.

“You should have searched for a healer instead of returning to the castle right away.”

The young knight, dripping with perspiration as he stirred the kettle, looked aggrieved as he shot back, “We entered Anatol through the western gate, so we thought it best to head straight to the castle instead of taking the long way down the hill to the village. It was actually this rascal who insisted that we return right away. I’d wager even he didn’t know that he was this badly poisoned. But more importantly, we did not want to waste any time in delivering the latest news to the lord.”

“The latest news?” said Gabel.

The young knight seemed to think it over carefully before speaking.

“I am sure you are both aware that his lordship sent us to Livadon to gather information. We spent the last winter there investigating the migration of the monsters.”

“And were you able to learn anything?”

The young knight nodded in reply, his face grim.