To Adam Hazard: Well... kinda float. I don't think it's even sailed yet.
To guest: Good theory, that's all I could say to avoid spoilers.
To Exodus12345: Interesting comparison. I don't actually watch the anime of the first character so no comments, but I think Wisdom is closer to EMIYA Archer Alter than the OG Shirou Emiya.
A deadly silence moment happens.
No one expected this ending to happen.
After hearing the reason why the madam of the Valliere wanted to fight Louise's familiar, the others thought that it was just a normal 'training' battle.
Instead, what they saw could be described as a full-on fight between two high-level mage knights. Not only that the familiar seemed to be able to stand his ground against the strongest Manticore Knight of Tristain, but also surpass her speed which is her strong point. They have thought that was a dead-or-alive fight if they didn't know the context. Even Centurion had to admit that Wisdom could surpass him easily.
But then…
…
"You… purposely missed the strike."
"If I didn't change the course, I could have killed you."
The two fighters stop dead in front of each other, with their weapons struck the last attacks. Derf's blade narrowly gaze next to Karin's head, cutting down a few strands of hair.
His opponent hits the mark… and her sword has gone through his heart. A clean hit.
"…You could have dodged my attack as well."
"It's not how a personal servant works. The servant only dodges if the master is not behind him or her. If the master is within the danger zone, it's the servant's job to protect, even if they have to block a deadly strike."
Looking down, Karin watches the blood dripping out of the stab wound and falling down to the ground. "…I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I can heal, and that's why I don't hesitate." His voice shows no pain, no short of breaths, which indicates that Wisdom is used to these kinds of pain. Lowering Derf down, he starts pulling himself out of the weapon that stabbed him, and in about a few seconds, the wandsword is fully out, with his blood tainting the blade. "I hope you can trust my mistress to me after this."
"…Now that raises a different story." A dying person would NEVER act this calm. "You are not human, are you?" Karin asks the question while using her armor glove to wipe the blood out of her sword.
"That… is a question I'm still seeking for answers." Gathering magic into his left hand, Wisdom places the magic orb into the stab wound, letting it heal the damage. "Am I, or am I not? It still bothers me to this day."
After a few moment watching him healing himself, Karin sheathes her sword and walks away. "I can't fully trust you yet. However… I approve for your dedication to protect my youngest daughter. There is still one thing…"
"It's about your second daughter."
"…Correct." With that, Karin leaves to replace her armor with her usual clothes.
After the fight ends, the audience quickly rushes to the battlefield, with Centurion heading to his wife while his daughters aim to her opponent. He worriedly asks her: "What happened, dear? Why did you stab him like that?"
"…We will talk about it later. However, I can tell that: he's a lost lamb, controlled by a demon, under that emotionless expression."
"Wisdom! Why did you let yourself get hit like that!?" Meanwhile, the master of the familiar asks/shouts in fear as she sees the dried blood on the ground and on Wisdom's chest as the armor disappears.
"My apology. I need to prove madam Valliere a point." Once the healing is done, Wisdom retracts his hand, and the daughters see no more wounds or blood. "That aside, I believe that madam Valliere won't bring this matter up again. She is now agreed for me to continue serving my mistress."
"That…" Louise is planning to say that she won't allow him to leave, but she remembers that she couldn't actually stop him leaving if he seriously wants to, so she stops right there. Instead, she asks: "Do you need to rest like when we returned from Albion?"
"…I won't collapse, so don't worry my mistress." He then turns his attention to Cattleya. "I'm more concerned of your older sister's situation."
The lady is a bit surprised at his statement and asks back: "My situation? Did my mother tell you about my sickness?"
"…No. It's because of your life sign is weaker than average people, let alone a Noble with magic sustaining it." The girl's answer accidentally confirms his suspicion.
"If you are okay then we can talk inside." Eleonore points her thumb towards the mansion. "Standing around here would make Cattleya feel uncomfortable."
"Then let me head in first." After saying that the familiar starts heading in first…
"Wait, why?"
"Preparation, my mistress."
Moments later
"Madam Valliere implied you to check on Lady Cattleya?" Siesta asks in surprise as the two walk to the main living room, with Wisdom now carrying a black bag in his left hand. "I heard that a Water mage was already called here. I think she arrived while you were fighting madam Valliere."
"…Probably another test from her." That's his simple response. "However, she did confirm about my suspicion of her daughter's situation, so maybe it's something else."
"Hm… but still, I don't see anything strange from Lady Cattleya."
"Because her 'sickness' could possibly be a 'subtle' type."
Pushing the door open, the two enter the room and see the whole family already sitting there, with a middle-aged mage joining them with some sheets before her. Louise notices the two and gestures them to head to her seat. Once they stand behind her, she introduces the strange woman to them: "She's one of the Water mages we hired once every three months to check on my sister's health. We tried finding out a way to cure her illness, but so far we haven't found that out."
"…I see. Miss, may I see one of the sheets?" Nodding to his mistress' speech, Wisdom then asks the Water mage.
"Oh? Can you understand these?" Raising one up, the mage asks in surprise.
"I can manage. Thanks." Receiving the sheet, he starts looking through the data…
"Madam Valliere, about your daughter's illness…" The Water mage returns her attention to Karin. "We can't find anything to fully cure it. We can only prevent her symptoms to get worse."
"Can't we improve her physical health? We can at least do so, right?" Centurion asks, a bit worried about his daughter's future.
"About that…"
"Magic poisoning." Everyone immediately turns to Wisdom. "Her physical health alone is not the problem here. We need to also check how her mana system works."
"Magic poisoning?" Alarmed by the statement, Eleonore draws her wand out and points it towards the Water mage. "How dare you harm Cattleya! I will not let you…"
"That's not their faults, yet." The familiar quickly defuses the situation before Water mage could even defend herself. "My mistress, can you check on her Core?"
"Her Core? I thought that…"
"Everyone has a Core. Yours is just different." Wisdom interrupts before Louise could let out her affinity.
The girl looks at her elder sister, and she receives a happy smile. "If you can help me, then I'm very happy Louise."
"…Of course I will help!" Louise says with a proud tone, then changes her seat and holds Cattleya's hands. She closes her eyes and starts finding said Core.
…About a minute of silence, she opens her eyes and says to Wisdom: "It… something is covering her Core. It's like… some sort of Wind and Earth blocking its light…"
"…Earth is miss Cattleya and sir Valliere's affinity, isn't it?" Siesta remembers about the conversations between the servants here. "And Wind is…"
"Madam Valliere and Wardes' affinity." Wisdom's grip on the sheet tightens a bit, then relaxes since the sheet does nothing to him.
"…You are assuming that either he or I harmed her."
"No." Wisdom shoots down Karin's statement. "You have no reasons to harm her. Wardes' spells, while he's strong, won't work that far away. The only reason it might happen… is heritage."
"Heritage?" Everyone asks again.
"It's only a plausible theory." Putting the sheet down on the table, he then starts searching for something in the black bag he has. "I need to get a better information by checking her thoroughly again." Seeing the girls of the Noble house blush up, he adds: "I won't ask her to undress because what I want to know doesn't need to go that far."
"How far would you…"
"Surgery." That makes the head of the Valliere shut up instantly.
"You believe you can heal her?"
"No, madam Valliere. But I can at least diagnose… measure how severe her illness is." Pulling out a Y-shaped object and a sheet of paper, Wisdom writes something in it then asks: "From the data re… the questions and answers in here, there was no one else but Lady Cattleya got this sickness, correct?"
He earns nods from the others.
"Further extension, anyone in the past, including your grandparents and great-grandparents."
Heads shaking this time.
"…My mistress, what was the color of Lady Cattleya's Core?"
"Yellow-ish?"
"…What time would the 'illness' appear, Lady Cattleya?"
"Um… when I use too much magic… or when the weather suddenly changes."
"…Those conditions don't mix." Putting the pen down, Wisdom puts the two arms of the Y-shaped object in his ears and holds the other with his right hand. "I need to check your heart beat. Calmly and deeply breathe and no sudden movements."
Taking a nearby chair, Wisdom sits down and places the other end of the object on Cattleya's heart area. The foreign feeling causes the girl to slightly stiff up a bit, but relaxes quickly and follows the familiar's request. The others watch the progress, as the girl's parents are ready to hit him with any spells in their mind if Wisdom dares do anything indecent. However, so far, his eyes are closed as his hand only moves at the area above Cattleya's left breast, not once touching it directly.
"…Nothing strange." Retracting the object, Wisdom pulls out the…
"Can I borrow that?" The Water mage suddenly asks, curiosity written on her face. "And what's that called?"
"…Stethoscope." Giving the object to the mage, the familiar starts finding something else in the bag. "The heart beat sounds normal, albeit it's a bit slower than healthy people. Which I expected."
"What do you expect? She's ill."
"Sick people could get their heart beat be faster, Lady Eleonore. It depends on which illness a person catches." Pulling out six tubes filled with some sorts of liquid, Wisdom starts writing the Valliere names and Siesta on them, then asks: "I need a strand of hair from each of you, excluding the Water mage."
"Hey, why rule me out?" The mage doesn't sound happy being left out.
"The priority is to heal Lady Cattleya. I need to see how my mistress' genetic system works, while comparing them to a non-magic user like Siesta."
"Oh… What's genetic system?" Now that she understands the reason, the Water mage unfortunately doesn't know the term.
"You will see."
After getting what he needs (earning him small sounds of whining from the daughters because he has to take the hair out to the root), he puts the hairs into the tubes, shakes them up a bit, then puts them into a small rack to hold them up (taken out mid-process). He pulls this phone out again and starts doing something on it with the others watch in confusion.
After ten minutes of total silence, except the sounds the Water mage is making with the stethoscope…
"…No normal healing methods can cure her." Wisdom concludes. "There is nothing a Water mage can do to help Lady Cattleya."
"Then… that means…" Centurion asks in worry.
"The good thing is that, this sickness is nowhere near life-threatening." That makes everyone sigh in relief. "This is just a conflict of genetic and power between her own magic and her… ancestor."
"…I see." Karin nods, understanding what he's implying at the last word. "What about Eleonore and Louise? And shouldn't Centurion be affected?"
"Lady Eleonore and Sir Valliere don't have the problem, but they do not gain the advantages. My mistress has the rare gene that enables her to do what the others can't do… and the opposite situation happened at the same time."
The daughters tilt their heads in confusion at how he words the statement. At least they understand that Louise is special, in a sense.
"To deal with this… I have a few solutions." The familiar measures the methods in his mind before voicing them out. "Surgery to cut off that gene, but with the risk that it would get rid of her link to her mana to perform magic. Modify the gene with magic, but only my mistress could do so, and it will take a lot of time. Suspend the gene's functions so she won't be in pain after using magic, but conditions like weather change still affects her the same. Or last… let the nature run its course."
"We're not going to let the last one happen." Centurion sternly replies. "We're not giving up on giving her a better life."
"I only offer the choices. You can choose a different way if you feel it fits better for your suit." Wisdom calmly adds.
"But, I know nothing of what you just said." Louise says uncertainly. "I think you want me to change something on my sister, but…"
"I can guide you, but I can't use my own magic to fix her up. I have no guarantee of safety in using foreign magic, which I mean about family relationships, to heal someone down to genetic level."
"Um, mister Wisdom, can you say it in a different way so everyone can understand?" Cattleya doesn't catch the conversation, apart from the fact that the familiar can't be sure of himself directly healing her.
"My apology, but I'm not an expert in medical treatments. What I told you comes from experiences of my learnings in the past."
"…In short, you have the answer, but you don't trust yourself to do it properly, and we don't have proper level of knowledge to do it either." Karin summaries the situation.
"It's more that I believe you haven't trusted me enough to entrust your daughter to me, madam Valliere."
"That's true, I won't deny." She then turns to her husband and asks: "What do you think?"
"Well…" He plans to say something, but then he remembers his conversation with Karin, so he rethinks for a moment before continuing: "So far, he hasn't done anything harmful to our daughters, especially Louise. I say we give him a chance."
Silence occurs as nobody dares saying anything, except the sound of Wisdom looking through something in his black bag again…
"Very well." Stopping his work a bit, the familiar turns his head to the Manticore knight. "If Louise trusted you, then I will give you a chance. The moment you harm her…"
"I have zero reasons to do so. However, in any steps that could inflict pain, I will warn you first." He continues searching after finishing his statement. Then, he pulls out a few bottles with different colors and puts them on the table, gaining the Water mage's attention. "Hm… no specific cures in these potions. One Panacea in the mix, but I'm not sure if it would work."
"Shouldn't a Panacea work all the times?" The Water mage questions, having heard of the name from the other doctors. "I mean, it's in the name."
"There is no perfection. We can aim for it, but we will never reach it." Wisdom shakes his head. "This only cures sudden sickness like poison or mind-paralyzed, brain-frozen and so on. Some others would help attaching limbs back if detached, except head."
"Nothing can survive a decapitation." Eleonore deadpans.
"Cockroaches can, unfortunately."
"W… how and why do you know that?" Louise asks in a disgusted way.
"Science requires all creatures to cooperate. Quoted a few… mad scientists." Wisdom shakes his head, remembering some of their 'nonsense but somehow logical rants'. "And thanks to them that I know a bit of how to make a clinical examination."
"Back to the matter. Do you believe these can help my daughter?" Karin re-directs the conversation back before it goes too far.
"…No. Not directly, at least." Throwing them back into the bag…
"Why do you need a bag if you can pull everything out of thin air?" Louise suddenly remembers that her familiar doesn't actually need anything to hold his stuffs.
"I don't believe anyone is used to that fact yet, my mistress."
"And then there's me, little miss." Everyone jumps upon hearing Derf's sudden speak-up.
"…This is the one." Pulling out a tube of transparent liquid, Wisdom raises it on his eye level to see something… that no one but him can see apparently. "Nanomachines. Nano-technology, evolution of humanity's intelligence and curiosity. Endless possibilities and capacities." He notices that literally everyone's staring at him like he's turning crazy. "There are many things Halkeginia needs to learn."
"So… All I need to do is to drink it?" Cattleya makes a guess of what she needs to do. "And… will I be cured immediately?" She doubts it, but she wants to confirm that suspicion.
"No. This is only to help me monitoring… to watch your health through the time, Lady Cattleya. These bots…" Wisdom points to the liquid. "Can observe the changes in your body through time, and conclude if you are still healthy or not. The moment you start having a symptom, or when any sudden changes in your body happens, we will know. After a period of time, we will discuss again for further treatments."
"And are you sure that… whatever in that liquid won't hurt her?" Centurion raises his right eyebrow and asks.
"The ones I have here work only as watchers. The scientists and people in R&D have developed them so they won't be marked as harmful elements in human's body… Research and Development."
"What if they are harmful to our daughters?"
"They will self-disintegrate and be released out of her body through… however it can, Madam Valliere. Like sweats or tears."
"…And I thought…"
"Yes, that way too, my mistress." That causes the girl's face to turn disgust for a second before turning back to normal. "I know it sounds a bit disturbing, but people who do researches would do and say anything with no mitigations of words." He then turns to the Water mage and bows down: "My apology for stealing your job. For the time being, Lady Cattleya would not receiving any further medicines."
"…I'm disappointed, I won't lie. But I think you have more experiences than me at this point." The mage sighs and starts gathering her stuffs. She then remembers about the stethoscope…
"You can keep it. I believe you and your companions would be happy to have some good additions for your work."
"Wow… it's generous of you." The mage is grateful. "But…"
"They are mass-produced."
"Well then, thank you very much." Done getting her things, the Water mage stands up and turns to the Nobles and bows down. "My apology for not able to help much, Sir and Madams Valliere. I wish you to get healthy soon, Lady Cattleya."
"Thank you very much." The second daughter replies with a smile.
And with that, the Water mage leaves.
"So… when would my sister take that?"
"Anytime Lady Cattleya is ready, my mistress." Using both hands, Wisdom gives the tube to the second daughter of the Valliere. "To use it, Lady Cattleya, just open the cap and drink up. The rest will solve by itself."
Receiving the item with slight hesitation, the girl follows the instruction and bottoms down the tube. The others wait in silence to see if anything changes…
And nothing. "It's just like drinking normal water. I thought it would taste weird."
"It was at first, Lady Cattleya." Returning his focus back to his phone, Wisdom watches the info results analyzed from her conditions. "…Nothing dangerous." He then gives the phone to her and says: "Lady Cattleya, you keep it with you. It's easier for you to know your own health every second."
"Um, I don't know how to use it."
"You can think of it as a small Golem with intelligence. You can order it to tell you what you want."
"What about her Core? What could cause that?" Louise asks again, suspecting the vision being dangerous.
"It might just be her own defense system to protect herself. However, prolonging it causes the symptoms as the result. It isn't a bad thing itself."
"…With my daughter's health being looked through…" Karin changes the subject. "How much do you know about your familiar, Louise?"
The question makes the girl stiffen up. "…Just a little bit."
"It is my own choice to not reveal anything, madam Valliere. You can try, but you won't get anything from me until I decide to tell you my past." Wisdom adds, trying to take the blame for his mistress.
"…You are not an Elf, that's one thing." The temperature in the room turns cold. "Not a Demon either, despite your strange power. But… you certainly have violence trait in you." That earns the woman looks of surprises from Siesta and Louise. "Do you have anything to say?"
"Um, madam Valliere… if anything, I believe that Wisdom is the calmest one in the Academy. He always…"
"My mother has a point, Siesta." Louise interrupts. She then looks at her familiar and sighs. "I do think that he has 'that side' in him, but he tried his best to hold it in order to not embarrass me in public. Maybe it showed when he… ended Mott's life, but nobody was conscious to find that out."
They then turn to the familiar and wait for his reply for the matter…
"…Maybe it's true. Maybe that's why I was chosen instead of him." That's all he says before he sighs and refuses continuing the conversation by saying: "I will tell my mistress first if I feel comfortable enough. Meanwhile, I will withhold any further speeches to avoid misinformation."
"…So be it." Knowing that she won't get anything even if she pushes further, Karin drops the matter. "Take the rest for the day. You can return back to the Academy tomorrow."
Louise is about to say that they could just return immediately, but then remembers about Wisdom's stab wound. She believes that Wisdom is still hiding the pain so she wouldn't be worried. "Yes, mother."