“Welcome”
“Assistant.”
Ex-con, current assistant.
Yorta, whose main job was that of assistant, was waiting for me and welcomed me with a stern face.
“I heard from Mr.
Dale about you, Miss Anne.
He said you wanted to see my master.”
"Yes."
Then Yorta's face revealed a troubled expression.
“But he's not feeling well to see you now.”
“I heard he was sick.”
“You already knew that, then...”
“I am a healer.”
“……!”
At that moment, Yorta's eyes widened.
He pushed his glasses up.
“So, is it possible that the reason you are here today is to check on my master?”
Yorta's eyes lit up with undisguised hope.
The main building of the Lord's Palace was very old, even from the inside.
It had not been cleaned in a long time, and there were many neglected areas.
“But we don't have the money, you see.”
Yorta lowered his voice weakly.
“Offering the house to you was also a plan to get a fee from the broker for maintaining the lord’s mansion.”
“I won't take the money now.”
Then a look of doubt crossed Yorta's face.
“Why?”
“I'll get paid for my work, of course, but not now, not until the lord gets better.”
“We have no land or buildings in Grunwald to give up.”
“That's not my intention.”
He stared at me as if trying to read my intentions.
“The only chance is now.”
“I have researched and tried many methods so far, but none of them have shown any improvement.”
He said determinedly.
“Then it's worth trying with one last hope…….”
I smiled at his comment.
“You have a talent for gambling.”
We went up the spiral staircase.
'The smell of illness is getting stronger.'
I gasped.
The smell from the birthday party was a strange smell.
It was like the smell of earth after rain mixed with black smoke from a fire.
I held my breath.
Yurta opened the tightly closed door for me.
There the Lord was lying motionless.
“How long has he been like this?”
I leaned closer and looked at the lord who was groaning with effort, as if in a daze.
“He has not always been in good health, he has had a long history of illness, and it has been about three months since he collapsed.”
"Three months.
This is not a good time to treat him."
I thought if it had been three months, I must have missed the right time for treatment.
Then the assistant and the woman next to him, Sophia, turned pale.
"but."
I took out the vial I had prepared.
“Luckily, I have a medication that I think will work well.”
The scent of the Lord.
It was worth trying to remember the last time I smelled him.
I had smelled it before.
Now that I smelled it again, I was even more certain.
(For your information from the previous chapters, you can smell the smell of illness)
Yorta looked at the bottle I was holding anxiously.
“Is this medication really the answer?”
“Well, if you don't like it, I can't help you.”
I put the bottle back in my bag.
“I'll be back later.”
When I was about to close my bag, I made eye contact with Yurta.
He put his hand in my bag and prevented me from closing it.
Yorta tried to smile.
"It was a question I asked without knowing anything.
I'm sorry, but can I repeat it again?"
I interrupted him.
I shook my head, feigning a slow sigh.
“I don’t know anything, except the treatment, which is to give him this medicine.”
“It's not that I don't believe you, Miss Anne, I'm sorry, but we're in a situation where we only have one sure way out of this predicament.”
Yorta said in a desperate voice.
But I know what this disease is.
“My grandmother had the same disease a long time ago.”
“……!”
“Wasn’t he suddenly hallucinating, talking nonsense, becoming forgetful, and developing eczema on his arms and the soles of his feet?”
“How do you know?”
Assistant Yorta's eyes widened.
“His pupils are cloudy, he says he wants to go for a walk all the time, especially at night, and it's hard to tell if it's mental or physical.”
Yurta and Sofia exchanged surprised looks.
“Suddenly all these symptoms appeared at once.”
“I'll pay you as much as you want!”
Just then a small hand grabbed mine.
It was Sophia, the Lord's granddaughter.
“Miss”
“Please treat my grandfather, he is my only family!”
“Okay, let me ask you a question: Do you have a flower called ‘coose flower’?”
“I don’t think I have that…….I’ve run out of most of the medicine I have in stock.”
Perhaps they had run out of the best stored herbs to treat Lord's disease.
“Can you ask Kidland for help?
Adeline Kidland lives here, so I'm sure you can ask her.”
“……But Adeline hasn’t left her locked room for days.”
Sophia whispered, avoiding my eyes.
I could tell by the look on Yurta's face.
But as long as it didn't come out on its own, I was happy.
“Then bring me some of these herbs instead of the kosi flower.”
I handed over the paper and lowered my voice.
“Can you grab the Lord’s arms and legs?”
“Yes, I understand!
How else are you going to treat him…….”
Paw!
I pushed the vial into the lord's mouth.
“Khhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
“Here, grandfather!”
“It's okay, hold his arms and legs for me.”
It was very painful, although it worked very quickly.
“Are you sure this is okay?
Ha, grandpa is in a lot of pain!”
“Miss Anne, what is this?”
“Holy water, an expensive product from the temple.”
"holy water……!"
Seeing the temple symbol on the vial, Yorta and Sophia pressed hard on the lord's limbs.
Holy water is expensive.
“That's it.”
I drained the holy water to the last drop and fed it to the Lord.
“But if it was the holy water…did my grandfather fall seriously ill?
Did he really see a ghost?”
"no."
This is not the disease that my grandmother had long ago.
“He was poisoned.”
* * *
I counted the money I received.
“Did you go to the bank?”
Dale, who had come home late at night, came in looking surprised.
He sat next to me and tilted his head like a puppy.
“Dale, your face is so bright I can't concentrate.”
"……Sorry."
Dale covered his reddened cheeks with his hands.
But he didn't leave my side.
“Is this money from Count Grunwald, by the way?”
He looked at me, shuddering slightly.
"Why?
Do you think I have drained every penny of his poor estate?"
"…… no."
His denial was too late.
But I do not covet other people's money for no reason.
I have recovered the remainder of the broker's fees collected by Assistant Yorta.
“This is the first batch.”
I said, pointing to the money bag on the table.
“Yes.
I got a job, Dale.”
“You got a job?”
Dale's eyes narrowed.
“I will travel to and from the palace and take care of his health, for now.”
She agreed to work as a healer, going to and from the palace every now and then to help take care of the lord's health.
When the Emperor issued his orders, who was the first to receive the news?
District master.
If the Emperor starts looking for me in earnest one day, the Lord will be the first to hear about it.
Therefore, by being in the provincial capital, I could be quickly informed if the Emperor found me or if something happened.
There was also a fixed monthly salary.
It was barely enough to cover my expenses, but having a regular source of income, even if small, kept the family stable.
Yorta, who was now working in the lord's place, promised me an additional salary.
“He agreed to give me a garden in the forest behind the palace.”