Chapter 207: East, Ishay (2)
Ishay, one of the five nations of the East, this nation is closest to the West, and therefore has the most contact with it.
It is said that in the past, they were a tribal nation, a federation of large tribes that lived in harmony with nature, and as such, their capital city was designed to be as touched by nature as possible.
Still, they’re better than elves in the sense that they’ve embraced technological advances.
I noticed dark-haired people on the streets like never before but I didn’t feel particularly familiar or like I was back home.
The only good thing was that people didn’t pay much attention to me.
“Is this…”
“The hills.”
Sheddie, in my arms in the darkness of nothingness, answers my mutterings.
What does he know?
There’s a stirring in the room.
The aura itself is very faint, but I can tell from the thick magick that she is the comatose Princess of Ishay and the two outside must be her bodyguards.
After organizing the information I had gleaned from my intuition, I cautiously stuck my face into the room.
It was a spacious and magnificent room, the kind of room you’d expect the owner to be of great status.
The next thing I know, my nose is filled with a sweet scent. Scented candles were burning as if to calm the mind and body.
[Disciple, is this…?]
Sierra, who had peeked out of the shadows with me, asked as we scanned the room.
“This is the Heavenly Sea Palace, the residence of the King of Ishay, or more accurately, an outbuilding of the Heavenly Sea Palace. In the outbuilding is the current Princess of Ishay, Kimei.”
[Princess…? You mean the girl lying on the bed over there is the Princess of Ishay? ]
“I suppose so.”
[Why did you break into the palace without permission…?]
Sierra gasped, as if she couldn’t understand my nonchalant voice.
“Trespassing? I’m only here to treat a girl who has been eroded by magick.”
Her jet-black hair fell across the red bed.
Kimei hadn’t reacted to my voice as I chatted with Sierra.
[If we were to be found out…]
Of course, it would be a great sin for an outsider to enter the palace.
If I were to be found in Kimei’s room, which is already in bad shape, I would probably be decapitated.
Even so, this wasn’t the normal way to solve the quest, so this was the only way to get past the hassle.
Normally, you wouldn’t even have to meet Kimei in person. You’ll meet her bodyguard, Kamaru, outside the room and deliver the medicine that will cure her, and you’ll be rewarded by a lucid Kimei.
Of course, I didn’t have to do that, I took the easier, more intuitive route. I wanted to take the time to enjoy my vacation.
“Hmm…Can’t we just say we’re lost and move on?”
[Sounds ridiculous…]
Somehow, I got lost and ended up at the outbuilding where the comatose princess of Ishay resided.
It seemed like a good excuse.
Anyway, Kimei was the only one in the room.
It would be better to take care of this quickly and leave before anyone came to check on her.
Grrrr…
I stepped out of the shadows completely and cautiously approached Kimei.
Faint breathing, an unsteady pulse and black veins dotted across her pure white skin.
She could hardly be called comfortably asleep. As expected, the erosion caused by magick was quite advanced.
If left unchecked, she would soon be transformed into something terrible, neither human nor demon. Something akin to a ‘youkai’ that has been completely consumed by yogi.
[This dark magick…what the hell has happened to her, she’s a princess of a country after all, she shouldn’t be exposed to magick so easily.]
“Actually, that’s the problem.”
I replied, my finger on Kimei’s pulse.
“Chop-chop…”
Sheddie had jumped on the bed and was licking Kimei’s face.
[Sheddie, the princess is not meant to be eaten… ]
Seeing this, Sierra immediately picked Sheddie up, but his licking made Kimei, who hadn’t gotten up in a while, let out an uncomfortable moan.
“Mmm…”
Sheddie was a spirit and she shouldn’t have sensed any energy from his touch, but maybe Kimei had a spirit affinity.
“Kamaru… Is that you…?”
Kimei’s eyelids lifted haphazardly as she searched for her escort but her pupils dilated as she sees me.
“…Who are you…?”
“I’m not Kamaru, for starters, Princess Kimei.”
“Blind… and now you come to me… My life… Oh… Are you here to take it…?”
Kimei’s gaze naturally landed on the ‘Sierra’ at my waist, and her eyes immediately widened, reflecting her hostile attitude towards me.
It should be normal for a princess to be unaccustomed to encountering assassins, but unfortunately for her, she had been subjected to various assassination attempts since she was a child, so she seemed to be more accustomed to assuming that someone she didn’t recognize was an assassin.
Perhaps her current magick erosion could be considered an assassination attempt.
“The fact that my head hasn’t fallen off yet means you have something you want from me… I have no answer for you and nothing to give.”
Kimei, who had managed to pull herself to her feet, made no attempt to move away from me, nor did she call for her escorts outside; she simply stroked her own neck and observed me.
If I wanted to kill her, as she thought, I was close enough to do it.
“What an unfortunate thing to say…you are a princess…”
I whispered in a low voice and rummaged through the subspace pouch in my hand as her eyes turned murderous, hardly believable for someone who had been breathing so rapidly as if she were about to die.
“…I’m here to heal you.”
Kimei, who hadn’t let her guard down, now questions what I’ve pulled out.
“A needle…?”
“I’d like to assure you up front that I’m not a homicidal maniac with a strange taste for killing people with a well-sharpened sword.”
I said, and smiled weakly.
At this, Kimei’s guard, which had been furrowed, loosened, albeit slightly.
“It’s just that I’m a bit of a saint.”
I let the needle I pulled out rest for a moment, then moved carefully to lay Kimei back down on the bed.
“A saint… By saint, I assume you mean the one in the Holy Land, but…”
Kimei’s words trailed off as she lay back down on the bed with me in her arms.
“Well, as you know, Princess, Ishay and the Holy Land aren’t exactly on good terms right now, which is why I had to come to you so quietly.”
My presence was known on the continent through the resurrection known as the ‘Miracle of Heneryes’ or ‘Miracle of the Saint’, but she was bedridden and probably didn’t even hear about it.
So I had to show her my Templar badge, even if it was a bit of a hassle.
“…You must be a saint.”
Kimei was fortunate enough to know that the Silver Winged Knights were the Knights of the Saint.
However, she didn’t seem to know that the Knights of the Saint were an all-female order, but that was fine by her.
“More than that, how did you get here… did you see my warriors…”
“They’re doing a good job guarding the princess outside the gates, but don’t blame them, it’s not that they’re incompetent, it’s that I’m too competent.”
[I can’t believe how self-aggrandizing this situation is…]
“…So can we start the treatment?”
I asked Kimei, brushing aside Sierra’s tackle in the middle.
“……”
Kimei narrowed her eyes at my question as I picked up the needle. She seems to be trying to make sense of this sudden turn of events.
Her dry, bloodless lips open up.
“…I understand what you mean, but it won’t work.”
As the princess of a country, she must have met many famous acupuncturists and medical practitioners. She’s probably even managed to get a priest, if not the saint, to come to her somehow.
But all of them would have looked at the magick that was so deeply ingrained in her body and decided it could not be cured.
“I understand what you’re saying, but you’ll have to leave it to me. We don’t have much time, so I’ll explain as I heal.”
“…”
Kimei silently turns away from me and stares at the ceiling. It seemed like she had long since given up on her formerly normal life.
“Excuse me, but I need to remove some clothes for treatment…”
I immediately helped Kimei, who had no strength in her body, undress. Her red robe, with its oriental design and gilding, similar to Sierra’s, was removed in one fell swoop, revealing her pure white skin.
“You’re quite skilled.”
“Healing people is not something I’ve done once or twice.”
“Not that, but the dexterity of undressing a woman.”
“…That’s part of the cure, too.”
[Hmph…skillful…]
Sierra glared at me at Kimei’s answer, and I replied in a nervous voice.
Luckily, I didn’t have to strip her down to her underwear.
“Hmph…”
Kimei moaned under my touch.
Visually, I could see that her stomach was where the magick was thickest, so I ran my fingers slowly down her body, stopping at her abdomen.
I slowly placed my needle in the center of the dark spot that spread across her abdomen.
“It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
“You’re quite skilled.”
It had been a while since I’d practiced acupuncture, so I was worried that my skills might be rusty, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Does Princess Kimei know what ails her?”
“I haven’t gotten a clear answer, but I do know that it’s not something that would be good for people to know about, judging by the way Kamaru shrugs it off.”
“As for the princess, you’ve been eroded by magick.”
“Magick…?”
“Demons…that sinister force that the ‘goblins’ deal with.”
Although it is said to be far from the land of demons, demons are of course active in the East, and in the East they are called goblins.
“But I’ve never met a goblin in my life.”
“I’m sure you think so. Anyway, from now on, I’m going to transfer all the magick in the princess’s body into mine.”
“…That, if you do that, your body will become…”
“Haha, I’m fine, I have special powers even like this…”
I took off the glove I was wearing on my left hand.
“A prosthetic hand…?”
I then revealed not a normal human hand, but a prosthetic hand, made of cold metal and Kimei’s eyes widened in surprise.
The prosthetic hand immediately picked up the needles on her abdomen.
I wasn’t targeting specific acupuncture points, the needles were simply a conduit to gently receive magick.
“…”
I shut my mouth and focused on the magick inside her.
It was a considerable amount.
The absorption itself shouldn’t be a problem, but I had to concentrate to make sure that my mana didn’t come out with it.
‘I feel like I’m slowly building up my magick…’
I heard the faint sound of an engine turning in my prosthetic hand.
-KEEEEEE…
The black spot on her abdomen gradually shrank in size to match the sound.
“Ugh…”
I tried to be as gentle as possible so as not to strain Kimei’s body, but I had to get this done quickly anyway, so she couldn’t help but feel the pain, and groan.
“Let me know if it hurts too much.”
“…It hurts.”
“Just a little bit. Not much longer.”
Actually, it was halfway now.
“……”
Writhing in pain, Kimei lowered her head at a strange sensation, and when she saw the changes in her body, she fell silent.
She had decided to trust me completely.
A little more time passed, and after a series of twists and turns, Kimei’s treatment came to an end.
The end of the treatment was signaled by a notification in the status window.
[Progress is being made]
[Progress is greatly enhanced by being associated with a major character!]
[Saint – 9%]
Saint’s progress increased from 2 percent to a whopping 9 percent.
As expected, the way to increase a saint’s progress is through medical work.
From the descriptions, it seems that the greater the increase, the more likely it is to be associated with someone who is somewhat known… i.e., “Named,” rather than a commoner or nameless character.
“Alright, it’s all over, it was simpler than I thought, wasn’t it?”
The amount of magick in her body was incomparably large. It was a wonder how she had lasted this long.
“……”
As the magick that had been consuming her disappeared, Kimei, who had regained her senses, stood up and examined her body with wide eyes in amazement.
Just because the treatment was over didn’t mean she was revitalized; for now, she would have to go through a recovery period as all the magick inside her body had been removed.
“…”
Kimei’s gaze shifts, and she stops looking at me, who is smiling, and puts on her robe.
“I apologize for doubting you. I really didn’t think it would be possible for me to get cured…”
Her voice trailed off as she bowed her head to me, apologizing sincerely.
‘You don’t really need to apologize.’
Isn’t it normal to be in disbelief?
I was the one who hadn’t taken the normal route, and I felt an unnecessary pang in my chest.
“You’re not a criminal, but a lifesaver, thank you, benefactor. This grace will not be forgotten by me, Kimei, the princess of Ishay, and I will tell my father about it right now…”
“Ah, you can hold off on that, not everything is settled yet.”
I grabbed Kimei’s shoulder as she started to leave the bed in a huff.
“What do you mean…?”
“You said earlier that you hadn’t encountered any demons before, but you were eroded by magick, which means that there was a demon in your vicinity, a demon that intentionally spilled magick into your body…”
Kimei’s face darkens sharply at my meaningful words.
“He must have done it very slowly, and for a long time, so that no one around her would notice.”
“How could there be a demon by my side…?”
“The truth is, the magick erosion you were suffering from could have been solved quite simply if the Saint had come to you, but it just so happened that Ishay and Holy Land relationship had turned sour.”
“No way…”
“You must know someone who had a lot to do with it. He must have been the demon who spilled the magick into the princess’s body.”
“But my uncle… He can’t be a demon…”
“One of two things: either he’s not human anymore, or a goblin tricked him into taking over his body.”
“…The man who was so kind to me…”
Kimei couldn’t help but be shocked.
“Did you notice anything suspicious?”
“Hmm… Sometimes he doesn’t remember promises he made before, or… There were times when I’d get this weird feeling that I didn’t recognize, like… Like he became a different person…”
“It’s probably the latter, then.”
The sweet uncle she knew was no more, it was a goblin in the shape of her uncle.
“…”
Kimei hung her head, not sure if the shocking truth was sinking in.
But the answer had been given, and as Kimei slowly worked her way back through her memories, she felt that her questions were answered and that my argument had some merit.
“Maybe it’s good…? Even if ‘it’ is a ghost…. It has the appearance of my uncle, doesn’t it…?”
“I can ‘cure’ that, too, if Princess Kimei gives me permission.”
“…Really?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t use acupuncture like I do now…”
I replied, clutching the ‘Sierra’ at my waist.
“…I’ll have to use this.”
The princess’s uncle, on the surface, he’s the king’s younger brother, so he’s a tough nut to crack.
However, the process is actually quite simple.
This was a tie-in quest of sorts, and I know the full story of what’s happening to Ishay.
There’s only one reason this is so simple, the real Emperor is still alive.
Unfortunately, I can’t break the news to Kimei right away, as she’s too upset to rejoice, but he’s alive nonetheless.
The quest concludes with dealing with the demon pretending to be the king and rescuing the real king, who is imprisoned in the dungeons of his lair.
It was nice to be able to do this in peace and quiet, as it wasn’t something that was going to be overtly obvious.
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