So Now We're Meddling with the Nobility
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We chatted next about less sensitive topics and learned more about the beastkin country Mismede. Two hundred years ago, in exchange for their support and the mustering of beastkin legions in the Roadmere Union revolt, they were guaranteed recognition of their nation if the many different beastkin species could unite under one leader.
Because there were many different beastkin tribes - feline, canine, lizard, bird, rabbits and deer and many more - in many ways they had to overcome more old biases than just human vs beastkin. Mismede rarely unified under one High King unless they needed a leader to unite them in war. It was only in the past twenty years that they managed to retain that unity, although it could be said Mismede was always under threat of war.
There was even an impressive tale of Exodus, beastkin from all over the continent. Mismede was not fantasy Israel however. It was actually much larger, situated along the shores of the Great Gao River that connected the left and right halves of the continent, right across and under Belfast and Regulus.
It was also built on the northern parts of the Great Sea of Trees. It was more like fantasy Brazil.
We heard knocking on the door. "May I come in?" Sue's voice came from the other side.
"Oh! Sue! Yes, come in!" the Duke answered back.
"I'm back, Father. Sorry for the wait." Sue entered, now wearing a white dress with pale pink frills and a headband with a matching pink rose.
"Did you talk with Ellen?"
"I did, yes. I kept quiet about having been attacked, however. I did not want to worry Mother."
Reim swiftly carried out more tea and set a place for her, also replacing my broken cup.
/"Ellen?"/
"Yes, that would be my wife. I am sorry she could not come out to meet you, and thank you for saving our daughter's life but Sue said that you had already been told that she is blind." The Duke let his gaze drop as he recounted the sad tale of five years ago.
Sue comfortingly laid her hand on top of his, such a sweet little girl.
"No magic could really cure it?" asked Elze. "As the brother to the king, no one could tell you no, could they?"
"I called out to practitioners of Healing magic all through the land, but it was no use. They said that if it had been caused by a physical injury, magic could have helped to some degree, but it would have no effect on the after-effects of an illness."
"Sir Zah… if you don't mind, how do you manage to see?" Sue asked.
"I am legally blind, not completely blind. My eyes are still capable of perceiving light and some very blurry vision, which Monika could correct by changing how my eyes receive light. In effect, she serves as my eyes instead. If, I think, your mother is actually completely blind… her eyes unable to perceive light at all… then this measure won't help."
"Mother can't see light, no," Sue replied softly, discouraged. "So even that won't work. Oh…! If only grandfather was still alive!"
"… Uh, how would that help?"
"My wife's father – Sue's grandfather, that is, my father-in-law, could use a very special kind of magic. He was able to cure any abnormality in the body. The reason Sue originally left on a journey was to find out more about his magic and to try and find a way to recreate it."
/"Recreate it? I thought [Null] magic was a very personal magic."/
"What is this magic?"
"It is a spell known as [Recovery]. I brought the many notes my grandfather left… but I don't know if that's enough," Sue replied.
The Duke added "Even if we could not use that magic, there was a possibility that knowing more about it we could attempt to substitute it with a spell from a different school of magic. At least, this is what the court magician told us."
"After seeing you work, Sir Zah, now I'm sure this is possible! So, could you do it? Could you cure mother?!" Sue said brightly.
"I can't make promises here. I already tried using [Cure Heal] on my eyes and it didn't work. It seems [Heal] doesn't work on degeneration over time, which only really makes sense or else no one would be dying of old age anymore."
The Duke accepted that with composure. "If that was not possible, then our only hope was that there was someone who could use the same magic as Sue's grandfather."
Sue nodded fiercely. "She said the possibility of that was very low, because no two people can use the exact same non-elemental spell as each other. But I'm sure there is a person out there who could use a similar spell!"
Linze raised her hand.
"… yes? You? Can you do it?!" Sue asked excitedly.
"No, not me. But, um, isn't that something Miss Monika already mentioned? That she is able to recreate [Null] spells for her own variations?"
"Lady Monika?!"
/"Yes, that is true. That is the reason why we're trying to learn as much about magic after all.
/"But even I have limits. For instance, [Aports] doesn't work because I don't have hands to receive the teleported items and it's going to take me examining a different kind of [Transportation] or [Teleport] spell to be able to create my own personal version. I was able to copy Elze's [Boost] into my [Amplify], so... I don't know?/
"It may be vaguely possible, but I can't guarantee anything either. We might actually need to speak to this court magician of yours."
"If nothing else, we won't lose anything by performing a non-invasive [Diagnosis] to figure out what's really wrong with Sue's mother's body, right?"
"Is that true?!" the Duke leaned forward excitedly. "Non elemental-magic is deeply personal, but human limits might not apply to spirits! Lady Monika, Sir von Chara!"
Sue clung to my arm. "Please! Don't leave without even trying!"
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"Oh my? Do we have guests?"
The lady sitting on the bed strongly resembled Sue when all grown up. The only difference was that she had light brown hair instead of the bright corn-yellow of her daughter. She looked towards the sound of the door and her husband's voice, but her gray-blue eyes stared off into nothing. She was beautiful and almost doll-like.
"Dear, these are some friends of Sue. They looked out for Sue while she was on her journey. One of them, on hearing of your eyes, has said that he would like to see what he could do to figure out the truth of your ailment."
"The truth of my ailment?"
"Hello, Duchess Ellen. I am Zah Playa, and my companion –"
/"Monika please, pleased to meet you,"/ Monika said gently.
"… well, we have some ability in healing. But more than that, we have a unique spell called [Diagnosis], which is much much more informative about problems in the body. This won't take long and it won't hurt a bit."
"Mother, please relax for a moment," Sue urged, and clasped her little hands against hers.
I looked to the Duke for approval, and he nodded at me to approach. I went over and laid my hand in front of Duchess Ellen's face.
"Come forth, Wind, subtle resonance, [Ultrasound]."
/"[Diagnosis]"/
After a few seconds, we pulled away. "Huh," murmured. "Well that explains things…"
"What's wrong?! What did you learn?" Sue cried out.
"Well odd as it may sound, there's actually nothing wrong with your eyes, Duchess. No wonder all attempts at healing it have failed." I turned around to butler Reim. "Could we darken this room a bit again? We need to project something."
And after a while, Monika projected an image onto a blank wall. I stood in front of the slide and began to point things out like a lecturer.
"This is the human brain. It is divided into three main parts – the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain or brain stem.
"The forebrain is the largest part of the brain, responsible for your memories, your thinking, your conscious perceptions. Here, in this lower part near the back is the midbrain, responsible for your sense of balance, your vision and hearing, and your muscle control. Then here, the lowest part of the brain connected to your spinal cord, is responsible for all automatic functions in your body… your breathing, your heartbeat, your response to changing temperatures or rush of emotion, like that."
"Oooh…" Linze and Sue stared attentively.
Monika switched the slide and I continued "And this here are the eyes. As you can see, it is connected only to the brain by this optic nerve." The slides switched again to a view of how the eye worked and I pointed at the cutaway diagram. "Light enters the lenses here and stimulates the optic nerves here, and the brain translates those stimuli into vision."
I waved and Monika flicked the display back to the larger brain view. "And the part of the brain responsible for vision is here – at the back. Now when talking about blindness usually the problems are with the eyes. That's my problem, my eyeballs and lenses had already deformed so far and putting pressure on my optic nerve.
"Since Duchess Ellen's eyes are fine, that narrows down our problems to two other areas. Here – the transmission of signals from the eyes to the brain through the optic nerve – or here, the area responsible for processing said stimuli and turning it into recognizable information by the thinking areas of the brain."
"… really?! That's how that works?!" Sue gasped out. "That's… is that really it? I thought, well, what about the soul? They teach that it's our soul that makes us alive, and animal souls are different from human souls."
"Souls make us alive, but it's the brain that makes us think. I don't know how ghosts function, but for living beings I am perfectly sure about this. It's proven. People survive sometimes being hit in the brain, and then they just... change afterwards."
"This is true," the Duke put in. "This happens sometimes on battlefield or after accidents. People can sometimes be 'struck dumb' after being hit in the head… but now that I hear this, it makes sense."
"So what's wrong with mother?!" Sue asked loudly.
"I think a stroke, high blood pressure or a blood clot during her illness caused a pinch to either these two areas, destroying the connection between nerves. Inflammation and fever could also have damaged the lobes directly, and no one could cure it BECAUSE THEY KEPT FOCUSING ON HER EYES."
"So, now that you know, could you do it?! Could you make mother see again?!"
I slowly lowed my hand and shook my head sadly. "… no, because we have already gathered that [Cure Heal] doesn't work on long-term damage. But now that we know about it, if we find a superior [Heal] spell, or re-engineer your grandfather's magic, it is more than possible."
"But won't you at least try?!"
/"Of course we will, dear."/ Monika appeared on the projected screen and addressed Duke Ortlinde. /"We will need to talk to that court magician about this later though."/
I paused and suddenly asked "Wait, how many people could even have known that Sue would set off to her grandmother's estate? How much do you trust this court magician?"
"Miss Charlotte is beyond reproach!" the Duke answered. "She even apprenticed under the Fairies of Mismede in order to learn all she could about the different elemental magics. She is strongly progressive, she is surely an ally!"
"Did you hear that mother?! You could see again! I'm not going to wait for healers – Sir Zah, Lady Monika! Please, try! And please teach me how to [Heal!]"
Past them and closer to the door, I could see Elze, Linze, and Yae, nod approvingly. They looked so proud of Sue. Butler Reim was almost close to crying.
"All right."
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So, a little while later, I raised my hand and pointed them to just over Duchess Ellen's cheekbones. "Come forth, Light! Soothing comfort, [Cure Heal!]"
A soft glow issued forth from under my fingers and into her eyes.
After a while, I pulled back.
"Anything?"
She blinked, and the shook her head. Sue clenched her fists and her whole body shook in anxious energy.
Then I pressed my fingers to the nape of her neck and said again "Come forth, Light! Soothing comfort, [Cure Heal!]"
"Oh!" the Duchess gasped.
Sue hurriedly moved in front of her mother's face. "Mother? Mother! Can you see me now?"
"… I'm sorry. But… there was this tightness in my head that I didn't even realize that's now gone. And…" she began blinking repeatedly. "I can't see you, my dear child…" she reached over and touched Sue's cheeks, "but I can see light. I can see your shadow, at least."
"Mother!" Sue hugged her.
"Ellen!" The Duke rushed forward as well.
/"It could still be nerve degradation,"/ Monika had to say. /"Healing this doesn't require power, it requires precision. I'm sorry, this is about as much as we can do for now…"/
"Still, thank you!" the Duke whispered. "You have given us at least hope that things can get better."
Sue stood up straight and bowed at me. "I'll do it! Please teach me that spell!"
"Actually… Monika, what do you think? If Sue were to actually try to cure her mother every day, gradually, would that work better than just me hideously overpowering the spell?"
/"[Cure Heal] won't do that, but at least it can prevent further damage. And I think, relaxing the pressure on her brain might actually allow her body to start repairing its own damage. But… at the same time…"/ she shrugged, /"It's actually brain surgery, you know? I really don't think it's wise to let untrained practitioners loose."/
Turning to Sue, she said /"Can you really forgive yourself if by trying to help you made things worse?"/
Sue gasped and recoiled. "Oh! That's… that's right… like Grampy Reim…"
"Sue? What are you talking about?" Ellen asked.
"Um. Nothing. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so ignorant."
"Monika, don't discourage Sue. If she has the heart and the will to become a doctor, then why not? To save lives… it's a nobler cause."
/"Well, I do have your volumes on medical literature here. But we shouldn't presume that all we know is correct and superior, there might be other advances here that we're not aware of. Sue… you'll have to wait for a bit. You'll have to study."/
"Un! I can do that!"
/"So determined. So cute!"/ Monika gushed.
Ellen laughed and pulled her daughter closer. Mother and daughter began to rub their faces together. Like cats. Nnggh. So cute.
The Duke just looked so damn satisfied.
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"I am greatly indebted to you, really, you have no idea what this means to me," said the Duke. "Not only have you saved my daughter, but now you've given us the first glimmer of hope in so many years!"
Sue was still in Duchess Ellen's room, and we had returned to the parlor where we sat in luxurious chairs facing the Duke.
"Don't mention it. Sue is safe, and while your wife is not cured, it might not exactly us who would finally restore her vision. We only pointed you to a likely path."
"But Sue still really wants to learn from you, you know? What do you think? Would you care to come to my employ and take Sue as your apprentice?"
I shook my head sadly. That would not be possible, because we were not actually trained doctors.
Also that would make us far too visible and embroiled quickly in their politics. Instead I offered to share my knowledge instead in the form of books and other materials, and to assist other doctors and the court magician.
"In turn I would like to request from you books about medicine and magic as known here in Belfast. We cannot carry them now, but if they could be sent to the Silver Moon Inn in Reflet?"
"That would not be a problem, I'd be overjoyed to help you with that!"
"Great. We'll come back to check on Sue once Monika and I have transcribed some of our medical books."
The Duke looked at us oddly. "That's… that's all you really care about, is it? You and your companions, were you really just going to leave just like that?"
"Um… yes? Why wouldn't we? Sue is fine now. We certainly couldn't impose to stay here, and we far prefer the freedom of an inn anyway. We still have the job we originally set out to do here in the capital, then we have to return to Reflet to complete our mission."
"How much even would… no, no, it's the principle of the thing," the Duke muttered. "No. I cannot possible just leave it as that. I really must show you the appropriate level of gratitude to all that you have done for this family. Reim, bring it over."
"Of course, sir." Reim brought over a silver tray with several bags on it.
"First, take this. This is my reward for saving my daughter and escorting her home safely." The Duke gestured for Reim to hand over a soft leather bag. "You should find forty platinum coins inside."
"Eeeeh?!" Linze and Elze shrieked while Yae made a confused "Huh?"
I reached into the bag and took out a silvery coin. Hm. "Monika, is this really platinum?"
/"Hmm. I don't have a general [Identify] spell yet, Player. But… [Evaluate] -
/"This is platinum-iridum, an alloy of the two noble precious metals. Given how nonreactive the platinum group of elements, you're looking at a coin that is practically invulnerable to scratching and will never tarnish. I can't be sure about the specific alloying proportions, but yes."/
I put the coin back inside. "Platinum is ridiculously rarer compared to gold and silver, I'm actually surprised you use it as currency. Well I suppose [Earth] magic has loads of utility in mining," I told the Duke.
Then I poked Elze sitting beside me. "What's the exchange rate between gold and platinum?"
"Eek! It's the next level of currency! A single platinum equals ten… ten gold coins! And there's forty of that in there?!"
"Hmm..."
"Why are you so caaaaalmn?!"
"I still find it ridiculous. I'd have expected a White Gold alloy of platinum and gold, actually."
/"Platinum-Gold adds durability to gold, but really few beats platinum-iridium for sheer lasting value. Pure platinum has a hardness of 56 Vickers hardness while up to 50% platinum-iridium has a hardness of up to 500. This is a precious coin that would serve for centuries if needs be."/
And then we heard laughter. The Duke was laughing. He slapped at his thighs and grinned. "Really, how novel. This is the first time I've ever seen someone care more for the properties of the metal than its value! A warrior-scholar indeed! I will tell you this though, Lady Monika is right – platinum is valuable because it is so lasting.
Some of the most prized platinum coins date all the way back to the Ancient Civilization of five thousand years ago. We use platinum as currency because they used platinum as a currency. If you want to know more, you will just have to return as ask Miss Charlotte about these – she is also the foremost expert in the Ancient lore."
Wait, if 1 Gold was equal to $10,000, and ten of that was equal to 1 Platinum or $100,000, and I was holding forty in my hand – holy shite, I was holding four million dollars!
I laid the bag back down to the table. "I am a very greedy person. But even I can say, this is far too much."
"Ahaha, don't say that! Please, just accept it. If you plan on making a living as adventurers, then I'm sure you'll reach a point where you'll need money like this. Just think of it as stashing away funds for when that day comes."
"All right. Then on behalf of all of us, I'll accept it, and please have our thanks."
/"Player, why do you look so intimidated? It's just about $40,000. Maybe double or triple depending on purchasing power, since it was rare in our times could you find $20 for a day with meals included,"/ Monika whispered privately. /"A little over $100,000."/
Oh.
Right. I am bad at the maths. Well that's a scary number anyway.
The Duke raised his palm up. "But that's not all I want to give you. In addition, I'd like you to have these."
He laid out four large silver medals on the table. Each one was about five inches across, and featured a shield in the center with a pair of lions facing each other from the side. I raised my left eyebrow in fascination, even if no one could see it they could infer it from the tilt of my head.
"I see that you understand. They are medals that feature my family crest. With these you will be able to pass through any checkpoint with relative ease, and be allowed to use facilities that are normally exclusive to nobles. Should anything happen to you, they act as a guarantee that my family will provide support to you. Do not worry, they do not imply any sort of fealty… but will serve as a form of identification, I suppose."
He explained that the platinum-silver alloy medals were normally given out to exclusive merchants and other notable figures related to the family's concerns. Each medal had our names carved into them, along with a single word that ensured no duplicates could be made.
My medal carried the word ["Generosity"].
Elze had ["Fervor"].
Linze had ["Sincerity"].
Yae had ["Tranquility"].
"Interesting."
"I really must beg your pardon, Lady Monika, for not having a medal made for you as well…"
/"It is fine. No haaaands. No point."/
"Huh. Well these could be useful. You had these made quite quickly. I presume you have some medals ready just waiting to stamp out names and words, but you're really spot on with how well these words suit us." I nodded appreciatively. "You really listened to their stories, didn't you? You even listened to the guards."
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
Oh my god, why are you such a decent noble in this country that I can just feel is ready to boil over into civil war? Could it be possibly any more obvious which side we should take?
Well, the side with Sue in it, so ehh. Already pretty obvious in the first place.
"So how long do you plan on staying in Alephis? I can send word to the palace and ask for the court magician to meet you here in my estate as soon as possible."
"Well the request-giver is a friend of ours and he's not in any particular hurry, so… two days maybe?"
He nodded happily. "Then that would be just fine. I'm sure Sue would be happy to see you again soon."
We decided it was about time to be leaving, and Sue went to see us off. She waved passionately goodbye after our wagon and shouted "Come back soon, you hear?!"
Linze waved back just as fervently, Sue's energy and enthusiasm was just infectious. Elze had a regretful little smile as we left, while Yae had a carefully placid expression on her face. Hm. The Tranquility Medal really suited her, huh? Very Zen.
And so with that done, we decided to head out to find and inn and deliver Zanac's letter first thing in the morning.
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"Eh?!" Yae yelped. "That letter you were asked to deliver was for a Viscount Sordrick, it was?!"
We all stared curiously at Yae and her odd excitement. "Do you know him?"
"Do I know him? He is the very man I mentioned before, that he is. The one who helped my father in the past and the one I traveled so far to meet, that is he!"
"Well isn't that such a coincidence!" Elze gasped.
Linze touched the medal given to her. "It's also a coincidence we just so happened to come across Miss Sushie and saved her, isn't it? Wow, it's… it's become less and less coincidence and more like… I don't know…"
Elze grimaced and looked away. "I don't want to know."
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end So Now We're Meddling with the Nobility? end