"Beware puppets interfering in worldly affairs," growled the poisoned man, remembering words from the dragon. "I do not trust Kuch. This sounds far too convenient."

  "Father, it is the only hope for a cure for you," Teodor argued. "I agree it sounds suspect and shouldn't be trusted wholly. But what better option do we have?"

  "It could be a trick, something to weaken us further-"

  "Even more than what we've already gone through?" Petula pointed out with with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not quite following you there father, especially when it seems to be made with the hopes of being friends."

  Gregori growled and struggled to rise up from where he laid. He settled for a heated glare at his two children instead. "House Cordis cannot afford to be weak and swayed by such fancies," he barked, but it sounded weak. Like he was trying to convince himself more than any other. "Even if it should result in my death, we cannot fail our eternal vigilance-!"

  "Brother." His older sister's words cut right though his and he looked to see her looming there. Though she hardly looked much better with how exhausted she was, the way she squinted with narrowed eyes was so much like their own father, his predecessor. "You are being stubborn again. They are offering to help, and haven't even asked for anything in exchange."

  That...was true, he could begrudgingly admit. But all the more reason to be suspicious, the vampire lord would argue. "There is no such thing as free gifts-"

  "Then just ask for whatever they want in exchange," she exasperatedly told, looking just about ready to whack him over his head with her staff to drag him into the woods. "Will that settle your mind and ease your heart?"

  "It surely cannot be that easy-"

  "Kuch," Vio asked, raising her voice without hesitation. "If you manage to save the duke's life, what would you like in exchange? A title? A bag of gold? Just anything to get through to this blockhead brother of mine."

  The puppet blinked and frowned before giving a single nod. "Would a story suffice? I wish to know the story of Lighthouse."

  "Ah, that I can do. I've studied the epic," the Magia acolyte promised. "However, only after he is cured and whole again. Would that be an acceptable arrangement?"

  "Sure."

  That easily and cheaply? Gregori wanted to protest, but the health potion's numbing relief had worn off now and he gritted his teeth when the pain returned. He looked at his family so determined to save him and closed his eyes, exhaling. He could almost hear his late wife too, yelling at him to already get going and go for treatment, though maybe that was a hallucination of the mind from the poison in his blood.

  "Very well," he finally surrendered, but not before at least making arrangements. "Teodor. You must stay here in Gabion and rule. Guide our people through the chaos ahead- you are duke until I return, if at all."

  His son flinched, but recomposed himself swiftly enough. "I will do you proud, father."

  "Sister, stay and guide him through these days."

  "But of course, my lord."

  "Petula-"

  "I'm going to come with you," she fiercely declared, not even waiting for his order. "You need somebody to protect you, just in case. Your bodyguards would better here, helping to protect Teodor and secure the the city now that we have a shortage of soldiers. The adventurers will handle everything else that I can't."

  Why did she trust them so much? Sure, it wasn't her first encounter with them, but for her to openly speak so warmly of them already, it made his chest hurt. Though maybe again, that could just be the poison in his blood. Seeing that her mind was made and knowing better than the argue with the child of his wife, he sighed. "Very well. Arrange for horses."

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  "The woods gets a bit most clustered deeper in, so you won't be able to just gallop right on it," Kuch mentioned through their helmet while adding another layer over the duke and his daughter to shield them from the sun. "But it's best your body itself doesn't have to do much. Stay on horseback and let them do the work for you."

  The newly accepted patient faintly nodded, which had to have taken tremendous effort. It was honestly quiet impressive that he was still conscious despite the clear pain he was in. Most would have passed out by now, to just find relief in blissful unknowing. But it was good he was staying awake and alert- it let them know how much time was left before it was too late.

  When the mounts at Kuch's back abruptly panicked and reared up when somebody landed among them, the oathbreaker turned with hand on sword hilt before catching sight of who it was. "Mordred- you're covered in blood! Are you okay?!"

  "Oh, none of it is mine. Only thing I've got under my armor is a few tender bruises," she reported with a light shrug. "It's harder to clean it off than my lance, could you do anything about that?"

  "Not particularly, unless you're fine with being on fire at all times."

  "...I'll take the scrubbing," she grumbled before taking in sight of the duke. "Oh, hello again. You don't look good."

  "Getting shot...does little for one's health," Gregori wheezed before realizing her words. "What do you mean...'again?' Have...we met…?"

  "You met my mother and I last winter," she bluntly told before glancing at Kuch. "I'm guessing we're heading to the woods for treatment?"

  "Good, you catch on quickly," the doll told and gestured. "Mount up, we'll try to get as far as we can on horseback before the trees get too thick to ride at full gallop."

  "Got it- woah!" Mordred jerked back when the horse she was reaching for panicked again, hooves lashing out and trying to kick her away from them. "Hold on- stop you idiot!" Despite her best efforts, they absolutely refused to let her get on, earning bemused looks from those present. She tried with other horses but there was no luck there either, all of them looked ready to either fight or flee at her approach. This was despite them calming and letting others come forward to take their reins instead.

  Understanding dawned on Kuch's face and they stepped towards their companion, voice dropping an octave. "They might not realize it, but they can sense your true self. So no horse would obviously let a dragon touch them."

  "I can't ride horses?" Mordred muttered darkly before shaking her head. "Then I'll just run on foot. I'm a little tired, but I've got a more in me if this is so important."

  "Head out first, get to where we stashed our camping bags. There should be food enough for you there," Kuch suggested. "You can wait and rest there until we catch up."

  "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you then. [Serpent Speed]." She vanished and Kuch turned back to the duke, who had been watching the exchange closely. He hadn't been able to listen in, but he could piece things together from what she had mentioned to him and the strange behavior of these horses.

  "I see," Gregori simply said, relaxing minutely. "I suppose...I will place my trust in you."

  "Father, you realize this only now?" his daughter complained while climbing onto her own steed. She still was in the dark about the truth about the dragons, but she looked determined to press on regardless. "Please also stop talking. Conserve your strength the best you can." He could manifest only enough strength to bob his head minutely.

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  "Before you go," Teodor quietly mentioned, drawing Kuch's attention. "I wish to tell you something. If father does not come back alive-" he hesitated, the words catching in his mouth.

  Many other imperial nobles in his position would have probably issued a threat, something concrete to ensure that any healer would do their best, terrifying whatever charlatans there would be of failure. It was simply the norm established through the years, proven by the hard years. That had been the plan too, for him. But the young vampire couldn't bring himself to say those words, not for somebody who had taken a blow for his family and saved them even. It didn't feel right.

  So instead, he finished the request off with a heartfelt plea. "If it is beyond you, then please. Make sure he does not suffer," the heir said, no, begged. "He has suffered so much already. My father's passing...should at least be gentle."

  Kuch raised a hand and lightly patted Teodor's shoulder. "It won't come to that, because he'll survive. I'll cure him," they promised and climbed onto the sturdiest horse there was. The mount buckled and huffed, but was able to withstand the weight of the dragon bone armor. "Feel free to come visit and check on him in a week- he'll likely be complaining a lot about too much bed rest while I make sure it's out of his system."

  A faint, hopeful smile crossed his face. "Maybe I will. May the Ten Lights bless you."

  "I'd settle for their approval. Let's go!"

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  I was already in my workshop the moment the duke had agreed to my treatment. Even before they readied the horses and set out, Frie had already filled my cauldrons with water so that I could get to work. However, like I'd mentioned, this was going to be trickier than normal.

  Let's step back a bit and review the mechanics of healing in the world of Shin. [Heal] of course was the classic restorative spell that many spellcasters could use, being a basic spell to pick up like [Detect]. It was able to achieve the same potency as a half-decent health potion but also could have the same drawbacks of overloading one's body with magic. So that way, both casual alchemists and spellcasters alike were balanced against one another.

  A step up from that would be more specialized classes that devoted themselves to healing. Joan for example was a priestess whose divine magic had been top-class. Her [Heal] alone had been upgraded into a form that allowed it to basically be the equivalent of several health potions in one go, without the risk of overdose. That wasn't even considering [Restore], a spell her unique specialization had picked up which could bring 'knocked out' player characters back up to battle ready, something we had definitely needed for our raid battle against Harbinger. Some of the Ten Lights had their own forms of revives, but none were even half as complete as her.

  I guess one could say that as long as she could cast [Restore], Lighthouse couldn't lose.

  But I didn't need something on that level quite yet. For an alchemist, that probably would require insane crafting materials from things like endgame bosses. Not quite the ridiculousness that had been the world raid tier, but still definitely beyond the league of my dolls and I. No, for now, I was going to go for duplicating a weaker, though still advanced spell.

  [Cure] was a rather specific spell meant for easing status conditions that monsters or players could inflict. While it restored less health than [Heal], it also primarily focused on removing status conditions first and foremost, which made it powerful for any enemy who relied upon such. Hence why it was considered a more specialized acquisition for spellcasters, usually only taken by those who committed to becoming a full support or restorative build. It also, because FLOW worked that way, scaled entirely off the caster's own ability so a more powerful poison or trap could still overwhelm the spell.

  However, as I've also mentioned and performed before, an alchemist of my caliber was able to properly duplicate many feats of spellcasters. I just needed the right ingredients, of which I was fortunate to actually have available already. Or maybe I should blessed, because of a certain flower blooming from the grave of Mikel's retainer. My wild collection of restorative flowers wouldn't suffice alone, but the quality of the bloodstained hydrangea would more than suffice.

  The multicolored petals were added to the water, but I didn't stop with those. Next came the eyes from a giant spider, rolling out from the jars they were preserved in like rather morbid pearls. Once I was sure I had the right mix, I activated [Brew] to give this ingredients the needed boost of magic to go from random pieces into a singular, homogeneous mix..

  The drain on my body was a bit more intense than usual, but I could handle it with a nice sip of a mana potion while the cauldron boiled. I reduced it into a more concentrated color, then went a step further until it was a thick slurry. Ordinarily, that would be far too much and could indicate a potion failure.

  But not unless one now had finer cloth capable of straining the mix.

  My new weaves of hemp and silk acted as a perfect filter when I scooped up the sludge and laid it on top. Beneath was a glass vessel that would catch the dripping fluid, that incredibly potent liquid that was probably enough to handle whatever poison that assassin had used.

  Really though, if I was going to be a little perfectionist, then I might as well go all the way!

  Onto the distillery! The potion was now boiled again, this time so that I didn't just removed the solid impurities, but the liquid ones too. The mix evaporated completely under the continued heating, going up into various pipes and tubes of different shapes. The differences in gaseous pressure meant the lighter, impure particles would be vented out while the heavier, potent stuff would remain to condense and reform with the help of a pipe made from an ice crystal.

  Between the entire process of reduction, filtration, and distillation, what I made was barely enough to fill a small vial. It was the best I could do in this case though with what ingredients I had.

  Cure Potion (Final Grade: 532)

  The spider eyes were dragging down the mix, but my extensive process had definitely been recognized by the system and rewarded appropriately alongside Cordelia's gift. Let's see, this thing should be able to cure most things up to the midgame expansions of FLOW, and maybe even a few endgame ones. And I wouldn't be surprised if the more powerful endgame ones would be significantly curtailed and slowed by its application at least. Given the fact the duke was still alive, I doubted it was going to come to that.

  Ah, speaking of which, they were almost here, but having some of the eternal wolf issues which plagued my part of the woods. Thankfully, Frie was already moving to lend aid and provide a welcome reception.

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