Marquis of Wenselm, Harold Wenselm. His name was renowned far and wide, to the point that his achievements were famous even in the Kashan Empire. From the subjugation of the Irkia Fortress to the expansion of the Sahhan Empire, Harold was famous as the brightest that had ever appeared in the house of Wenselm.
He was a close confidant of the emperor of the Sahhan Empire and was someone whose words weighed as heavy as the dukes of the Sahhan Empire.
His wit and love for his populace brought about the prosperity of his people. It was said that there wasn't a single night where Harold Wenselm's name wasn't taken in people's prayer for longevity and prosperity.
Everything was going perfect until his daughter, Ena, was born. She was the daughter that he had with his second wife, who was a fairy. Not only was the daughter as beautiful as the moons and stars, but she was also blessed with the power of the forest goddess, making her a saintess from birth.
The birth of his daughter was the last brick to the absolute prosperity of Duke Wenselm. Not only did his name become more famous, the combined contribution from him and his daughter made the house rank up from a Marquis household to a Duke household.
They were offered a land as big as the kingdoms of the Kashan Empire and hence started the ever-growing name of Harold and his daughter, the saintess Ena.
On her 20th birthday, Ena suddenly started showing signs of poisoning, her beautiful white skin turning pale and lifeless. From time to time, she would receive torturous attacks, making her shrike and wince in pain. Harold, who couldn't bear to see his daughter's condition, invited famous doctors, physicians and alchemists from all over the continent but to no avail.
His daughter was hailed as the saintess who had cured thousands of people throughout the continent, yet right now, she was wincing in pain from a poison that couldn't even be diagnosed.
Since no one was able to give out an exact cure for her, the Duke made his resolve. There was nothing more important than his daughter's life, and he offered enormous rewards and his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever is able to cure her.
This brought about a wild surge of people in Wenselm's territory from all over the continent. There were times when some ugly old bastards would come here lusting after his pure and chaste daughter's body. Then there were times when there would be greedy bastards that had their eyes on his dukedom.
But he bore with them, all of them. As long as they could save his withering petal-like daughter, he would pay any price. His priorities were getting twisted with every passing day as he started prioritising his daughter more than the whole dukedom.
His first wife was unable to give birth to anyone, and his second wife, the mother of Ena, had already passed away. He loved his daughter so much that he was willing to sacrifice the fame that he had built up throughout his life.
That man, not the famous duke of the Sahhan Empire, but the worried, sleepless and haggard father of a sickly and dying daughter was standing right in front of me.
I couldn't believe the guy in front of me was the famous duke of Wenselm Dukedom. He looked extremely thin, his cheek was going inside his face, his eyes had large eyebags under them and there was an air of worry around him that made it seem like he would die just from worrying.
"I'll try my best, sir. Please do not worry. I have a cure with me."
"Then let us not waste any more time, please follow me. I am extremely sorry for not showing proper hospitality, but my daughter's life is on the line."
Harold said in a voice that seemed to have become coarse from sadness.
"No, no, no. Please take me to the princess. We must not delay."
I immediately replied as he walked and we followed behind him. Just because I was a legend, I was able to bring some hope to him, no matter how inhuman I looked.
[*NPCs will easily recognize you.]
I guess the effect from the legend title was doing its job properly. Walking up two floors from wide stairs, we were escorted towards a big and luxurious room. It looked like the typical princess room, except it was filled with people and an aura of death.
There were many people standing beside the queen-sized bed, talking among themselves. Some of them could be recognised as doctors and alchemists and some were just adventurers who had brought many types of antidotes.
After sweeping a glance through the people standing in the room, I could see a beautiful middle-aged woman sitting by the bed, lovingly caressing the face of the person lying on the bed.
I tried to adjust my position a bit to see the face of the person, supposedly the princess.
—-Haaaah!
'Beautiful…'
A slow breath escaped my lips as I saw the girl lying on the bed. Long light blonde hair similar to Harold resting on her shoulders. Beautiful eyes with long eyelashes resting peacefully. A small nose accompanied by beautiful, yet pale lips. Her face had lost any resemblance to human skin colour, but her beauty was so striking that I could just stare at her for a second without moving.
"Sir, this way please."
"Huh? Ah! Y-yes."
I had lost my bearings for a second there. The person in front of me looked like a goddess taking her last breaths.
'Fucking hormones. At least leave me alone in the game.'
I couldn't help but curse inwardly. That's how beautiful the princess was. No matter how sick or pale she looked right now, her beauty transcended everything I knew about the word 'beauty'. Her face carried an extraordinarily peaceful bearing, and even though she had been suffering for months, her eyes were shut so peacefully that it seemed like she was just taking a nap after a day's worth of hard work.
Walking near her, I stared at her face. I had come so fast that I didn't have a chance to make the potion in the city, and this was going to be my first potion creation at that!
If I messed up, I might end up becoming the reason behind the princess' hastened death. The Duke had royal doctors placed around the princess and till now, not a single medicine from any one of the quest takers had entered the princess's mouth, due to the strict supervision and standard of the doctors.
The only medicine that the princess had was the medicine that maintained her blood pressure and made sure she was breathing properly.
"Sir….how is it? Please take a closer look. Can you save her?"
Harold asked anxiously. He had been calm for months but he couldn't be calm anymore when his daughter was turning paler and paler every moment and even the medicines that helped her stabilise were losing effect. A saintess who treated others was sick, even though she had powers bestowed by a god, that was enough to make many people give up on trying to cure her.
"Who's he? He looks…odd."
"That skin colour, those horns and tails….ah, I think I have heard of him."
"Who? Do you know who he is?"
"No. I don't personally know him, but as far as I know, he's the successor to the previous legend known as Dulwak."
"Oh, so you are saying he is that famous new legend? But what can he do related to the princess' health ...."
"I have no idea. Legends are mysterious and are said to have multiple abilities that go beyond a normal person. Let us just wait and see."
I could hear the NPC doctors and alchemist's talking among themselves. But the problem was, I had never even diagnosed a person… How should I convince them about the fake god story?
Without thinking much, I tried using the Night Alchemist's appraisal on the princess. Since Alchemist was a multipurpose job, one of its parts was curing people too. Surely, there would be something that can help me diagnose the princess, right?
[Night Alchemist's Appraisal has been used on a living target.]
[The target's current physical and soul conditions will be revealed.]
[Ena Wenselm
Current status: Physical Exhaustion (Extreme), Life Depletion (Strong), Divinity Corruption- Curse of the Forest Goddess (Ultimate)]
Although it was vague, it was enough to make me feel goosebumps all over. She was basically dying at this point and if she wasn't saved soon, I doubt that her own divinity will last any longer to keep her from dying.
"She isn't poisoned. She is cursed by the forest goddess."
"What blasphemy!"
A priest from the church of Aphrodite who was standing near the princess roared out. To the priest, no matter the god, a mere mortal trying to frame them would be seen as blasphemy.
"Calm down, priest. The god I am talking about isn't aphrodite, but the forest goddess. She isn't a god, she's just a formation of people's wishes who had gained sentience. Currently, she is jealous of the person she blessed her powers to."
"Princess Ena was supposed to cure people and increase her fame and hence her powers, but instead of that, the princess herself was starting to gain the reverence of the people. Of course, the goddess wouldn't like that. She's not even a goddess, she's just a spirit's manifestation born from people's belief."
I started explaining what I had heard from Lucas, although most of them had unbelievable expressions on their faces, Harold's face spoke a different story.
"Duke, you always knew it would come to this one day, didn't you?"
I asked, and Harold let out a long sigh as he put his hands on his head.
...
//DreamNote//
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