"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
…
"First those three days of rain halted the plague, now the savior cures us. We had good forces working for us."
Naofumi stopped mid-step. Teal nearly fell in fright. It only took the others a moment to understand why his statement mattered.
There had been rain and with it, the poison was washed away for three days. Poison directly from Gaelion's corpse was mixed with rain water.
Where did that water naturally flow to!?
...
Naofumi and the rest of the party entered the cart frantically as Naofumi switched to his [Map Shield] to use his [World Map]. He collected maps whenever he could and nearly all of Melromarc was fully mapped. Everything except the northern mountains, but they were currently in the east.
Raphtalia found Mirso Village and used it to get a rough placement of Gaelion's rest, then Teal began following the valleys created by the neighboring hills of the area. The rain could of carried the poison three ways, but all lead back to one another. One town could of been affected further down the river. After which, it continued to the ocean without passing another town..
"Windingbrook... It's far enough away. The poison may have become diluted enough..., But we must verify." Naofumi said.
Having decided their course of action, the family took their respective positions. The only difference was Monti on egg duty instead of scouting. He didn't mind. If Monti had nothing to replace his scouting with, he'd feel like he was contributing too little.
Teal focused on growing the ingredients that Naofumi would need if more victims were found. Filo ran at an increased pace. Raphtalia headed the cart and even though her motion sickness had improved a lot, the increased pace left her to sip on a potion to maintain herself. Finally Naofumi made a few antidotes, but didn't want to make to many. Because if he did and there was no need of them, that'd be more money down the drain.
At one point they broke for food, but It was a quick meal. Thin cut meat to cook faster and diced and cooked vegetables, then wrapped in the meat. He had some sauces to make it better. It was very low end by their standards at this point, but still tasted great due to Naofumi's bonuses.
As the went to return to the cart Monti caught Filo with a large rock that she had been trying to use her claws and wind magic to make it look similar to Gaelion's egg. Her plan was to swap them out at some point, but her plan was foiled.
Naofumi and Raphtalia wanted to take this opportunity to correct Filo's behavior. In their mind her hating a dragon that wasn't even born yet was just as racist as this countries treatment of demi humans. They didn't have the time though. They had to get back to moving. That talk could wait until they knew no one's life was on the line.
...
Windingbrook
...
When they finally reached the town they saw the meaning of it's name. It was a town built on both sides of the narrow river that winded left and right as it went. At the town's center a stone keep that doubled as a large bridge married the two sides and also seemed to house dozens of waterwheels. The place looked almost idyllic and the whole of the family took in the view for a moment, before they moved forward down the road.
There were several guards standing at the entrance to the town, though there was no wall or gate. It made Naofumi wonder why there even were guards actively stationed by the road if they didn't want a wall.
"Halt! A question. Have you seen or heard of the lord's return?" One guard shouted before Filo came to a stop.
"No. Nothing of the sort we came here to-" Raphtalia spoke, but was interrupted.
"Ah, a demi huh? It was rather foolish for you to travel so openly. We could simply take you and your goods a-" The guard began to threaten.
"I swear the next person to insult her is loosing a damned limb!" Monti yelled as Naofumi made it towards the front.
"You threaten us? Do you wish to die!?"
Naofumi looked at them a moment.
"I'm sure my son meant it as a promise, not a threat... Now move aside. We need to see if the townspeople are okay."
One guard went to say something to the first remark, but another guard responded to the second remark first.
"So you know the situation?"
"Dammit, I hate being right... Listen up. A plague hit Mirso Village and many died. I cured them, but it seemed the rain carried some of it this way. The river will be contaminated for at least another week, I'd assume two."
"Cured a whole village..."
"Came to our aid?"
"And that filolial... Would you be the apothecary they call the savior of the heavenly fowl?"
"Yes. So if you're done threatening my woman, make way." He had more than a hint of anger in his voice.
The guards began to move out of their way as he spoke.
"Sorry for our rudeness. Many people here are a bit sick, but most will recover... please make it to the lord's keep. Those three are in grave danger. That's why we're waiting on their fathers return. It seemed right for him to be here if his kids were to pass..."
Naofumi said nothing as the cart began moving again, it shot down the road and made it's way straight to the bridged keep.
Once they hit the bridge, Naofumi made them stop.
"I'll treat this supposedly serious cases, I'm taking Teal with me. The rest of you setup shop and let everyone know we have a cure."
Raphtalia was once again upset she was to stay behind, but she understood the reasons why. To watch over Filo and Monti, to avoid entering the lord's keep if the guards are already acting the way they are, etc. She understood them, but it still frustrated her.
"It's okay. Once we sell the medicine, we can rejoin father." Filo picked up on her emotions and tried to appease her.
"Of course..." Raphtalia appreciated the concern.
...
Lord's keep
...
Naofumi struck the door heavily as he yelled.
"I'm a healer, I was told there are sick in need of medicine."
He heard a large scrambling towards the door, frantic hands opening lock after lock before the door swung open. The one to answer the door was a older maid.
"A healer? The average apothecary can't seem to do much at all, why should I believe you could?"
"Because the sickness originates from near Mirso Village and I've already cured all of them. If you think this is a money grab then don't pay me until they're cured."
This seemed to satisfy her doubts a bit. She turned to Teal with a mix of confusion and disgust.
"And this thing is-"
"That's my daughter and the one providing the ingredients that I'm going to be using."
"Ah, sorry then... this way."
As the maid showed them the way with some haste Naofumi briefly considered a few things.
"Everywhere we go, someone threatens or insults my entire adoptive family. They'd insult and threaten me too if they knew I was the shield hero... We've done a lot of good here, but changing the minds of the people seems impossible. He might have to consider going somewhere else. Somewhere where they could just be happy. Maybe travel some, but actually have somewhere to call home..."
The maid motioned for them both to be quieter as they came up on the room.
"But I don't want to abandon the people that have been good to us. Motoyasu and Ren have shown themselves to be easily manipulated. Neither can be trusted at this point to use their power responsibly. For that reason alone, I'll stay... but if it comes down to it, the family is more important and needs him more than Melromarc."
As soon as the maid opened the door, Naofumi turned pale.
The victims in question were three children, ages nine, eight and six. They apparently played in the river against the law because their father is the lord. Due to that they were exposed to far more poison than anyone else in town and their age made them unfit to combat the poison.
The maid touched a spherical crystal in the corner of the room as soon as she entered the room, Naofumi and Teal were too fixated on the children to notice.
Naofumi used [Inspect] on the three of them, they were in bad shape. Worst of all their Hp was very low, because they were children. Meaning the [Cane of Vitality] would be a death-sentence to use.
"This is bad... Teal help me bring them together. They look worse than anyone I've cured."
The maid heard the tone of his voice and also helped more the children closer, though she didn't understand the use in doing so.
After the boys were moved closer, Naofumi began to administer his best antidote. As always they glowed a moment, so he used healing magic alongside it to not give away too much.
After both magical effects faded they made only the slightest improvement.
"This... What is this? Your medicine has never done so little." Teal asked.
"What do you mean, two of the boys already look a little better. I'd say it's working" The maid offered.
"This will be hard... We'll need to alternate between healing medicine and antidotes. We'll also need to switch between slightly different antidote formulas to try and find a better mix. I'll also have to constantly heal them between via magic."
The maid doubted that, "Is it really that bad? These boys will surely recover fro-"
"After that first antidote, they're still likely to die before sunset." Naofumi informed her.
The maid stopped, stunned by those words.
"This poison attacks every part of you. Not just one aspect like most poisons. The poison is still inside them and is going to create entirely new problems for them. Every organ and muscle section could independently be poisoned and how long it'd take to show signs... we don't have enough information to know."
"So we must keep up the healing until they show no signs at all." Teal concluded
Naofumi began casting magic while Teal began growing new raw ingredients. They'd have to mix up new medicine on the spot to achieve these new blends.
The maid saw they were both serious and already hard at work. She stood up.
"I will be down the hall if you need me, please feel free to rely on me."
With that, she exited the room and closed the door. She however didn't walk away, she stayed to listen in.
Naofumi and Teal were too focused on their tasked to notice.
"So what can we do?" Teal asked.
"I mastered the [Zombie Dragon Shield] before we arrived. With her gone, I'll switch to my [Carrier Shield] which gives nine more poison resistance for [Counter Poison] to boost the antidote. Other than that... We'll just have to try our best."
The maid heard him and she concluded that this healer was possibly the shield hero, but he was currently saving the young lords, so she'd keep her mouth shut and only tell the lord after they left. All she cared about was their sincerity to the task.
...
With the cart
...
Several hours passed. In that time Raphtalia and the others were able to sell a lot of medicine. The medicine was so good and their cases so mild that they were all, but cured within moments of drinking their antidotes. The word quickly spread around town and anyone with the spare coin seemed willing to pay.
A few people seemed to take offense at the idea of paying Raphtalia. They felt that as a demi human she should simply hand out the medicine and hope they leave her be. Filo and Monti were about to introduce the men to the dirt when a few guards came to break them up. Despite how the guards felt about demi humans themselves, they knew she was with the savior and that currently the savior was saving the young lords.
After that small incident early on, they had done well and everyone in town that wanted medicine had bought it. Now Raphtalia needed the guards to keep playing along with her.
"Sir. I believe no one else is in need of medicine here. I'd like to ask you to let us take our cart to the keep, Naofumi-sama may be in need of more medical supplies."
That last part was a lie, most medical supplies were inside his [Inventory], but this little lie would help.
"... Sure. Those medicines are something else. I imagine the ingredients are all quiet rare."
"Some are, but it's father that makes them so amazing." Monti said proudly.
Filo returned from being off somewhere a moment, a huge smile on her face.
"Are we heading inside yet? I wanna see if dad and Teal are okay."
Raphtalia found her absence and current mood to be suspicious.
"Filo... What did you do?"
"...Nothing"
"Monti, what did she do?"
"She stole the egg from me and probably tossed it in the river." Monti said without much concern
"Y-You found out? Then why'd you let me get away with it?" Filo was nervously
"Because this." Monti pulled the egg out from a crate. Filo had to double take at that.
"H-how!?"
"You grabbed the same rock you were trying to use to trick me... You fell for your own trap."
Filo hung her head in shame as Monti laughed a bit. It was a rare sight for him to best her at anything, but there it was, victory.
"Filo, you need to stop that. I wonder what your father will say when I tell him."
And with that Filo had no choice, but to behave for now. She marched behind Raphtalia a little sore at her loss.
...
Lord's keep
...
With the guards backing up their statement, the maid took Raphtalia's word and allowed her, Monti, and Filo to enter the keep. She had even more scrutiny for these three than she had for Naofumi and Teal. She didn't trust demi humans in the slightest, but now that she knew Naofumi was the shield hero, having a demi human ally made quite a bit of sense. It was the kids that threw her off though. She thought the only winged demi humans had red wings, but Filo had white wings. Then Monti had ears, wings and a tail... "Was he a beastmen? A hybrid?"
She quietly considered the possibilities as she approached and opened the door.
Naofumi and teal were in a bit of a frenzy, trying to do all they could. Naofumi was sweating, his hair a bit mess as medical supplies seemed strung about.
The oldest victim, a boy of nine years was finally in the clear. The next oldest had improved, but very slowly. If they let up, he'd slip back into a poorer condition. That said the more he improved the harder it'd be for him to fall back into a poor position, so they were gaining ground. Then there was the youngest one. He'd gotten just a little bit worse. Despite all the healing magic and medicine he threw at him, any improvement seen would vanish quickly.
Naofumi looked up half scared and met Raphtalia's eyes.
"H-help, nothings working." Those words didn't sound like they were coming from Naofumi. It didn't sound like him at all. It was too quiet and too uneven.
All three rushed to his aid. Seeing he was not having an easy time at healing like he usually did. They began to help the best they could.
The maid watched them a moment. Naofumi was truly trying everything to help these boys. He didn't even think to cover his shield at this point. Teal seemed about as ragged as he was, producing so many plants must be quite the drain on her. Then these three new ones went right to work. She eyed the cured son, then the one in better condition. She hoped that once the middle child was cured, they'd refocus on the youngest child and that this would save him.
In truth she had be taking care of them before now and she knew she was ill equipped for such a task. She could only hope for the best. She left them to the task, not bothering to ease drop this time.
Filo tended to the older of the two still sick, while Raphtalia tended to the youngest. Monti helped as a go-between for anything needed. They all worked like this without rest or interruption for nearing on three hours before the middle child was deemed 'in the clear'.
Everyone felt accomplished, but Naofumi didn't lapse at all, he kept working on the youngest without stopping. The others saw he was pushing himself, but it was to save the life of a young child, no one would want him to stop.
With all five of them focusing on the one child the rate of him getting worse declined. He was still getting worse ever so slightly. They were all becoming quiet frustrated at their efforts not amounting to much. Naofumi had to try something different. He tried several new blends of antidote, some seemed like a waste, but one seemed to be just what he needed. He started using that blend exclusively as the night grew longer.
Finally, while he only barely improved, the boy opened his eyes. He was awake or at least somewhat awake.
"D-dad... I can't see. What's going on?"
They were all shocked to hear that. The poison claimed his eyes, maybe the optic nerves themselves? They couldn't know.
Naofumi spoke in the soft voice he only used for the family, "Listen. I'm a healer. Your brothers are okay and you will be too. I just need you to cooperate, okay."
"...It hurts, everything hurts... and... there's this coldness. I'm scared." the boy began to cry.
Raphtalia held his hand as they all tried even harder to mix the medicines needed. They acted as one and did all they could.
"So... Eldreick and Dedrick are okay?" The boy asked.
"Your brothers? They are fine. they're in this room too." Raphtalia responded.
"Good... That's good." He sounded tired, but wouldn't return to sleep.
"Maybe you should save your strength." Raphtalia asked.
The boy responded by quieting down.
Naofumi saw what was happening. The kid was nearly free of the poison, but the amount of damage that was done to the boys body was too much. He had to clear the poison out, before it effected his brain, if it hadn't already. He began to have this terrible thought. Based on what he could see. He believed that the boy wouldn't make it. The idea of that was so disgusting that he tried rejecting it.
It had been night time for a while now. Everyone was looking tired and the maid was now watching them herself. The new blend of antidote seemed to of worked, but the boy was in such terrible shape that the medicine and healing did nothing at all. Even without the poison they were losing him.
They were all becoming desperate, but Naofumi even more so. He had a soft spot for kids. It was this soft spot that lead to his early treatment of Raphtalia, it was that softness that lead to him accepting Monti and Filo as his kids initially. No matter how corrupt or evil this world, the children are born into it as good. And right now he was loosing one of those innocents.
It all came to a head just after midnight. The boy awoke again and tried to reach out with his hand since he couldn't see. Naofumi grabbed his hand and squeezed.
"Glad you're awake... It might take a bit longer, but please hold on."
"... Tell them I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for, just-"
"It's my fault... I was the one that swam out, they only swam out to get me... Then I splashed them and made them wanna play with me... That's why we're sick, right? because I didn't listen to father's rules?"
"... You can tell them yourself... Please bare with it."
The boy began to cry again, "It just hurt a whole whole lot. I never thought anything could hurt like this... this... this is what dying feels like, right?"
Naofumi refused to believe that even with this damned shield, that he'd fail to save a child. It was unthinkable to him. Naofumi began to cry too.
"Y-you're gonna be okay. Just hang in there... You wanna apologies to your brothers yourself, right?"
There was a lot of emotion and zero confidence in his words. That seemed to be the nail in the coffin for the kid. He was now convinced, he'd never see the sun rise again.
He let them keep trying to save him, but internally he was just thinking about what dying meant, thinking about not existing anymore, about not seeing his father ever again, about never playing with his brothers again.
As his health reached it's lowest point, he broke into a full sob. He knew what was about to happen.
Naofumi tried to calm him down, tried to force him to lay back down, but he saw it too. His [Inspect] told him the truth he didn't want to believe. He had to accept reality. Naofumi wrapped his arms around the boy and began to rock him back and forth. Everyone there was in tears. He did his best to comfort the child. He tried to make him feel comfortable, he kept reassuring him in his soft voice. He tried, but he'd never know if it was of any comfort to him.
He failed.
...
Ten minutes passed midnight, the little boy passed on.
...
For some time afterwards, Naofumi refused to let the boy go. His family held Naofumi in turn, knowing how much this has, and will, affect him. He was so thankful for them. Dealing with this nearly broke him, he couldn't even imagine dealing with this without them.
The maid was of course sad at the loss of a child she helped raise, but she was also grateful to Naofumi for not only saving the two older child, but also being there for the youngest one's final moments. He was no substitute for the boys father, but he was surrounded by people who cared when he went. That mattered a great deal.
Eventually nearly three in the morning, the maid was able to peel Naofumi from the boy's body and offered them beds to stay in. They opted to sleep on the floor, with a large blanket. They all wanted to hold Naofumi and be there for him as he slept.
Despite what just happened, the hard work, late night, and loads of stress made it easy to fall into a deep sleep.
...
The following morning
...
Naofumi awoke surrounded by his family. He immediately remembered the night before and almost began to dry anew, but he stopped himself.
Like every time before, the members of the family were what the others needed them to be. He never felt so grateful to them. Nor had he ever felt so sincerely that this family was to last.
[fifth condition for F*m*** *r*st series has been unlocked]
He laid there a bit. He selfishly wanted to keep feeling this way. as if it was causing a bit of healing for the night he had.
After a little bit, Filo woke up and tried to sneak her hand over towards the egg that was between Raphtalia and Monti.
"Filo." Naofumi said it quietly.
She stopped. She turned to see him looking at her. She was caught again.
He pulled her head next to his and he whispered in her ear.
"Like it or not, that egg will hatch to be a member of this family. Your family. My family..."
Filo whispered back, "I know, but... I can't care about a dragon, dragons are the worst, they really are."
"Filo. Do you think I should treat your mother like a slave?" Naofumi met her eyes.
Filo was so confused, she said nothing.
"You want to hate dragons, because filolials hate dragons, that's what they do... But in this country humans treat demi humans as dirt, that's what they do... So should I follow your lead?"
"N-no..."
"Exactly. When this thing hatches and if tries to be mean to you, it'll get the same treatment. None of us are the same. Not one of us share blood or even species, but I've never felt so sure that we are family. So even if you hate every other dragon, you will not hate this one."
Filo said nothing, but seemed to be thinking.
"Besides, remember Gaelion? He was peaceful for generations. He died to protect a family beyond his species, just like ours, instead of flying to safety. Was he something to hate?"
"No." Filo said that with a little more certainty.
While she thought dragons were full of themselves and nowhere near as special as everyone thought they were and she did feel a more primal hate towards them... Everything she learned about Gaelion, he was admirable, and maybe even a little deserving of the praise dragons receive. This egg was his blood and was to be raised alongside her. She wasn't thrilled at the idea, but if there were a dragon she could stand not to kill, this was probably it.
"Just don't treat it better than the rest of us, dragons aren't anything special..."
He laid a hand on her head. His words reached her.
"Does that mean I can make her watch the egg a bit?" Monti revealed he was awake.
At some point Naofumi and Filo had stopped whispering and had woken the whole family, but they all pretended to be asleep to hear how Naofumi handled Filo.
"You were all awake? I'm loosing my edge." Filo was now pouting.
"We just know only father can seem to talk sense into you" Teal said with a smile.
"Let's get ready... The lord may have arrived." Raphtalia said.
They got up and got ready to face whatever the day brought them.
They all tried to ignore that terrible night at least in the here and now. They would have plenty of time to sort their feelings out on the open road while they traveled. They exited the room and came to the main open room they entered at.
The maid was there, serving the two boys they'd saved. They were both still in poor condition, but there was nothing stopping them from making a full recovery.
They looked up to their heroes. They were beyond confused. They were tired and a bit out of it, but they couldn't figure out why there were demi humans and... a plant monster in their home.
The maid spoke, "I'm glad you are awake... I've made breakfast for all of you as well... Please accept it."
She sounded far nicer than she did the day prior.
Naofumi had no reason to say 'no'. They accepted and ate the free meal. Naofumi would ask the boys a few questions about how they felt. Monti placed the egg in Filo's lap at one point and she nearly lost it. He and Teal snickered. Raphtalia took the egg from Filo, not wanting to force her.
It was as pleasant as they could have hoped for, given the circumstances. Finally the maid spoke up.
"The lord has still not returned from the capital, but I'm sure he'll be here before midday. If you wait until then, I'm sure he will handsomely reward you."
"Why was he in the capital?" Naofumi asked.
"Oh... Are you not aware? The lord of Windingbrook has long served as a close advisor to the king."
As soon as she said that, Naofumi took a closer look at the boys. They had some similar features to the advisor he always saw next to the king. Which means he'll identify him as the shield hero at a glance.
"I'm sorry, but we will be leaving before then... Please pass on my best wishes and my apology that I couldn't do more."
At the slightest mention of his failure the two boys seemed to be nearly in tears.
"I-If you leave sooner, then we can't pay you, please have patience."
She understood why he was now trying to leave, but she thought his caution was still a bit unreasonable.
"I failed. I don't want payment. We'll be leaving as soon as we finished eating. Sorry."
The maid tried to persuade him over the next 20 minutes and nothing worked. Naofumi was dead set on leaving and she had no way to force him to stay.
As promised, as soon as Filo was full, they began to leave. The two boys rose to meet them and bowed deeply.
"Thank you for saving us." the older one said.
"And thanks for being there for our little brother... to the end." The younger one said.
Naofumi acted like he didn't care and turned to exit the keep, but he was just hiding his tears from them. The feeling he felt as that little boy died in his arms was going to stay with him for some time, possibly the rest of his life.
.
[Author's Notes]
I promised sadness, did I deliver?
I feel this will serve as a turning point for the whole family. Their attitude and opinions on certain things may change.
Filo is still mad at the very existence of the egg, but will try to tolerate it, instead of plotting it's murder.
The lord was the kings advisor and he'll have a recording crystal of the whole treatment. Wonder what he'll think.
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