Chapter 9.4

Chapter 9.4

What are you doing?」

When Layotte walked into the grounds of the workshop, Hiroshi was taking apart some sort of large monster. Judging by the dark hide hanging beside him, it appeared to be a reptile.

「Howdy, Lay. That was fast.」

Hiroshi responded, without looking up from his work. It didn’t look like something he could detach himself from at the moment.

「…I can’t think of anyone else who would speak so candidly with us, with or without permission.」

「Ain’t a problem, is it? Let’s leave our titles at the door, here.」

Elena, still in Layotte’s arms, couldn’t believe her ears as she heard her brother nicknamed “Lay.” Not only did this man address royalty in such a crude manner, he jumped and scurried away from her as soon as he had turned around. A very disrespectful man, indeed. Elena was aware that she wasn’t much more than skin and bones at the moment, and knew that she would be hard to look at, but this wasn’t an acceptable attitude towards any stranger. Still, the fact that Hiroshi acted this way knowing that they were royalty showed respectable gusto. Elena couldn’t help but acknowledge that despite her groggy mind.

「So, what were you working on?」

「Huh? Oh. Makoto-san’s party took down a Wyvern, so I’d been taken it apart. Haruna-san’ll be back with food pretty soon, so I had to get the venom out of the meat. ‘Course, we gotta let it mature for a bit, so it ain’t like we can eat it today or anythin’.」

「A… Wyvern? A black Wyvern? Where did it appear? Have they told you?」

「’Round the foothills of Spirit Spire Mountain. It looks like this one’s a little more afflicted than normal.」

The prince and princess froze at this ominous revelation. Disregarding them, Hiroshi continued:

「So, she’s the Second Crown Princesses?」

「…Yes. My sister, Elena.」

「Alrighty. Well, we got a room for her. It ain’t fancy, though. You mind bringin’ her there?」

「After you.」

Hiroshi navigated them to a room that was in no way extravagant, but not filthy, either. The room was large enough to take care of at least one patient, adorned with well-made furniture, which were arranged tastefully. A single, elegant flower in a vase on the windowsill welcomed Elena.

「Alrighty. Mio’ll be back soon, so we’ll take a good look at her, then.」

「You won’t look at her now?」

「…And lay a hand on her? You wanna torture me?」

This response confirmed something within Elena, who had noted his previous reaction. She timidly asked:

「This may be a little personal, since we just met, but are you…?」

「Afraid of women? Yeah. Enough so that I’d be happy if I never come near one for the rest of my life.」

「…I’m sorry to be such a burden.」

「Nah, don’t sweat it. We gotta help each other. Right, let’s do formal introductions, shall we? I’m Hiroshi Azuma. I’m the one who makes stuff. If ya need somethin’, I can make it. Except for underwear and such. Just let me know.」

Elena responded to the belated introduction with a light bow.

「That reminds me, I heard that Ernest… Or Rayna, rather… Offended you terribly…」

Layotte started.

「It’s all over now, don’t worry ‘bout it. Don’t look like she’ll do somethin’ like that again.」

「However…」

「You’re short-staffed, ain’t ya? And she seems like the stoic type to beat herself up more when we’re just nice to her, instead of blamin’ her for nothin’. She fakes it well durin’ meals and all, but she looks mighty uncomfortable durin’ the day. She’s been punished enough.」

At this time, Rayna didn’t seem to trust herself around Hiroshi. She would barely speak to him other than to ask if there was something she could do, and telling or asking him for any information that needed to be communicated between them. On the other hand, she never complained once to any request from Hiroshi. She went so far as to volunteer for unpopular chores, like cleaning bathrooms and taking care of sewage.

If this was anyone else, people would think that she might be faking it, but Rayna was worse at deceit than Hiroshi. Even Haruna, who was unsure of the situation for the first few days, now proactively tried to make everyone forget the whole thing happened. Rayna Northstone was a girl who acted upon her honest emotions, for better or for worse.

「In any case, Doul would rip her a new one if he thinks she hadn’t learned her lesson. I don’t plan on sayin’ nothin’ ‘bout that.」

「I see. Then I’ll speak to Ernest, soon.」

「It’s your prerogative.」

With a swift end to the conversation, Hiroshi contemplated something as he prepared some tools. He began to explain what was going to happen next. While the prince and princess still felt remorse, they decided to take advantage of Hiroshi wanting to move on, and prepared to observe information regarding the treatment.

「Well, we’ll do a former examination later, but let me ask ya some questions, now. Oh, by the way, Lay.」

「Yes?」

「I could use some of your sister’s blood to look into the venom. Can ya handle it? She can take an unclassified potion to heal once it’s done.」

「…I’ll give it a try. What should I do?」

「So…」

While Layotte had never “taken blood”, he could locate veins. He followed Hiroshi’s instructions to poke a needle in his sister’s vein, before extracting some blood and handing it over. Dipping some sort of substance he took out from his pouch, Hiroshi continued with his questions:

「It’s like Elle said, for the most part.」

「Elle?」

「An alias for Princess Aearis. We can’t go callin’ our refugee by her real name, can we?」

Elena nodded in agreement.

「In any case, you seem to have become very close with my siblings. They both let you call them by such strange nicknames.」

「Well, we did save Elle’s life, albeit by chance. As for Lay… I got a feelin’ it’s ‘cause we’re one in the same, in a sense.」

「One in the same, you say? I see.」

「One in the same.」

Hearing Hiroshi’s explanation and Layotte’s grinning response, Elena couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. While she felt bad for Hiroshi, it was a serious issue for the royal bloodline that Layotte was one in the same as Hiroshi. While Layotte’s wasn’t as severe as Hiroshi’s (to the point where he could go his whole life without any female interaction) he still had pretty severe trust issues and distaste for anyone of the opposite sex, outside of the family.

「Speakin’ of, it ain’t like you were roped into this weird cohabitation. Ya doin’ real good with Haruna-san and Mio, for example. Elle was real surprised.」

「Mio is a child, by all means. No one in their right mind would see her as a woman.」

「How ‘bout Haruna-san?」

「She is one of the most feminine person I know… But at the same time, she doesn’t act that way. I couldn’t be on edge around her if I tried.」

These two couldn’t see a dark side in Haruna, like they did in many women. It’s not that her actions didn’t reflect a feminine mind (she knew when to be calculating and when to be realistic) but Layotte didn’t see the dark side he often saw in women that clamored for power. He presumed that it had to do with the fact that Haruna had a very honorable code, deep down.

「In any case, both Haruna and Makoto are very respectable people. Despite my distaste for the female gender, I’m not so stupid as to keep these people away just because they are women.」

「I see what ya mean. Mm. That should be enough.」

With that Hiroshi took out this and that which he had been dipping in the blood sample, and examined it with a serious expression.

「As expected.」

「You mean…?」

「It’s poison, no doubt ‘bout it. But Emilrad…? It ain’t the easiest option, for sure.」

「Emilrad?」

Layotte asked, as serious as ever. He had never heard of such substance.

「A deadly poison. Tasteless, odorless, and colorless. It don’t even react with silver, which is rare for a poison. It’s somethin’ made only to kill. The thing is, puttin’ a lethal dose in anythin’, food or drink, would make it real obvious, since it won’t mix well. If ya did end up puttin’ it in your mouth, you’d gag it out before ya could swallow it. So, it takes some finesse.」

「What do you mean?」

「For example?」

「Lessee. The sure fire way would be to drip a drop in ya afternoon tea or somethin’. It would take about a month.」

「They could put the droplets on the tea leaves?」

「Yeah. And at that dose, no taster would catch it.」

While Hiroshi said so, he didn’t believe that the poison was administered through food or drink. Not entirely, anyway.

「The thin’ is… That would get the princess for sure, but it would also poison other people, most likely. Most likely, it was another way.」

「What are you thinking?」

「It’s absorbed through skin, too. So it could have been spread all over somethin’ that no one else uses. Small doses could have been dropped into her cosmetics and perfume, too.」

「Which means…?」

「Unless the perp’s got super-human powers, it was a group effort.」

The two members of royalty fell silent. This was the worst case scenario.

「We’re cuttin’ it close, but I can do the treatment. The thing is…」

「What is it?」

「The symptoms are pretty advanced. I think they’ll be some serious aftereffects. The other thing is, in order to take care of this poison outright, I need a material that’s hard to come by.」

「Tell me. What do you need?」

Layotte asked, frowning. What could it be?

「A fruit called Solmizen. It’s pretty common in the highlands year-round, but it’s got a mighty short shelf-life. It starts rottin’ less than a day after harvest, at best. Within two days, it’ll be completely useless. It don’t taste too good, and it needs to go through a time-consumin’ process before it can be used medicinally. To top it off, it takes serious skill just to pick it. So, for the most part, no one wants it. Wulls may be the number-one tradin’ city around, but I doubt you’ll find somethin’ this obscure at any market.」

「Year-round, you said?」

「It’s in- bloom year-round, so yeah.」

Hearing this, Layotte made a snap decision.

「Then, I’ll have someone pick some. What do they look like?」

「In that case, it’d be quicker to get our collection team on it. Still, I’ll let ya know what it looks like, so you can check the markets, just in case.」

「Absolutely. I’m entrusting you with my sister.」

「I’ll do my best. I give ya my word.」

With a nod in response to this, Layotte took down the characteristics of the Solmizen fruit, and used a transportation spell to get out of there. After watching him leave, Elena turned to Hiroshi.

「What kinds of aftereffects?」

「Feebleness, overall. Without more treatment, you won’t be able to live a healthy life like ya did before.」

「So there are some things I can do?」

「Yeah, I prepared some stuff for that.」

Hiroshi took some more trinkets from his pouch.

「This ring increases your Stamina. These earrings boost your vitality. There’s other junk to boost your vitality and whatnot. That, combined with a Stamina Potion should get you walkin’ right now. You should be able to digest some of of it.」

「…These are enchanted with powerful spells. Who in the world are you?」

「Just a craftsman.」

Of course, that wasn’t an acceptable answer for Elena. Chuckling at the sight of her, he called over Aearis, who had returned (just missing Layotte) and began to dispel the illusionary spell on her.

「Oh Elena, you look…」

Aearis, upon entering the room to see her sister, fell speechless at Elena’s obviously abysmal condition.

「I let my guard down, to be honest. I never expected anyone to try and poison me. I’m just your back up at the moment…」

「I’m so sorry…」

「Aearis, my sweet sister. Why should you apologize?」

She pulled Aearis close, holding her head and stroking her hair. While it was clear that Aearis was in no way responsible for what had happened, it was still very true that Aearis was an integral part in the incident.

「We’re gonna start with gettin’ your sister well enough to live her day-to-day life. After that, we can work on gettin’ ya back where you belong, without gettin’ you in trouble. That cool with y’all?」

「I agree. Of course, Father and the Crown Princess can handle most of that. I’m just a powerless back-up, after all.」

Elena said, matter-of-factly. All things considered, she seemed completely content with receiving treatment here.

「Alrighty. I think Haruna-san’s home. Let’s get ready for dinner.」

With that, Hiroshi descended to the kitchen, leaving Aearis behind to watch over her sister. Elena’s dinner that night was a vegetable-broth soup, with a soy sauce and dashi base, with no solids. The gentle flavors slowly seeped into her weakened stomach, beginning to heal her with every drop.