"Hmm…." Sky seemed to be in thought as he walked to where Luminar should be.
"Hey, you're Sky?" A guard asked, drawing his attention.
"Yeah I'm him."
"Oh, thank god, Miss.Nester said you would be coming here soon so I was constantly asking anyone passing by if they were Sky and they kept saying no so I was getting anxious." the soldier said, letting out a sigh of relief, "Please come in quickly, one our new recruits is in critical condition."
"Sure, lead me to him," Sky said following the man, "What's the new recruit's name?"
"It's Kael, Sir." The soldier replied, guiding Sky in the tent.
"I'm aware that the problem that people are facing or at least what Nester said was due to the water being poisoned or something like this, so I'm kinda worried if one of your soldiers is in critical condition, then others would follow, since I'm sure you guys get your food and water from the same place."
"Oh, don't worry about that sir, we had filled up our supply on water a day in advance since clean water in this city came mainly from many small taps in the open which the locals could use, thai system made it so that about thirtyish soldiers would be in one tap waiting for each turn and cooking also became a hassle since we often make stews so we had just stocked up on water every 2 days, often when the locals were asleep to not inconvenience them but Kael spilled all his water from his canteen and after doing his everyday 6 mile run carrying small luggage and armour, he was obviously tired so he decided to fill his canteen in the tap and drank a large gulp, I think he probably drank about a half or a full liter of water, hahaha…" The soldier spoke his tone at the end a bitter, probably due to the condition he was in.
Sky did notice this but decided to give the soldier some courtesy and stayed silent.
"Soilder, did you bring him?" a commander asked the soldier guiding Sky.
"Yeah, he did, I'm Sky, now lead me to the guy who is the one who is in critical condition."
"Follow me" the commander said, leading Sky to Kael immediately.
The first thing Sky noticed was his eyes.
The whites of Kael's eyes were gone, replaced by a terrifying, uniform crimson. It looked as though someone had injected red ink directly into the sockets. Then came the sweat. Beaded along Kael's hairline were droplets of perspiration, but they weren't clear. They were a pale, translucent pink.
Kael coughed—a violent, spasming heave—and a fine mist of bright arterial blood sprayed across Sky's tunic.
Seeing this, toxins and poisons began to run through Sky's mind as he tried to remember anything matching the symptoms.
After a moment of thought something came into Sky's mind.
"The monster responsible for this is probably the Hematite RavagerI or also called the Viper-Leaf. Its resins was probably what infected the river." Sky said, his eyes scanning the patient. "This boy just ran twelve miles. His heart rate is racing. His blood pressure is a gale-force wind, and then he drank the water, inviting a molecular solvent into his systems."
Sky's internal "scan" was vivid. He could see the chemistry of it: the resin was a 'Cohesion Thief.' In a healthy body, the liver uses Vitamin-K to weave the invisible threads that keep blood inside the veins. The Viper-Leaf Resin didn't attack the blood itself; it sabotaged the loom. It acted like a broken needle, forcing the liver to produce 'ghost threads'—slick, hookless proteins that couldn't clot if their lives depended on it. With the scouts' high blood pressure, the 'ghost blood' was simply being pushed through the microscopic pores of their vessel walls.
"The antidote is Sun-Crest Petals," Sky said, standing up and looking at the dozen other scouts who were now beginning to lighten up their expression.
"We don't have the Sun-Crest petals! That's a mountain herb!" the Commander shouted. "Tell me there's something else!"
Hearing this response Sky was brought back into his thoughts, 'I think Ron named this flower like thing since it would always face the sun like a sunflower but wanted to give a more fancy name, but moving from such a memory, If I can't use it, then….'
Sky's gaze darted to the gray rocks that were kept in the tent probably as a souvenir by slime of the scouts, the discarded breakfast crates near the cook-tent. "Nature is rarely unique in her recipes. If you can't find the needle, you find something that acts like one."
Lichen that grows on iron-rich rocks absorbs concentrated metallic salts. In alchemy, these salts are "Binders."
'While Vitamin-K is the ideal tool for clotting, concentrated minerals can act as a coarse substitute. They provide a chemical "grit" that encourages the ghost-proteins to clump together, even without their natural hooks.' Sky thought internally recalling his knowledge
"Commander, get the men to scrape the Iron-Strap Lichen off those rocks! All of it! And get me every Winter-Citrus rind from the kitchen scrap pile!"
"Lichen and Winter-citrus peels?" the Commander stared, incredulous. "Sky, He's dying!"
"The lichen is packed with metallic salts—heavy minerals that the Sun-Crest uses to bind blood. It's the raw material," Sky snapped, already moving toward the cook-fire. "But the body can't digest raw rock-rot. The acid in the citrus rinds will act as a catalyst, wrapping those minerals in a chemical envelope the liver can actually use. It's a crude jump-start, but it's all we have."
Within minutes, the camp was a blur of frantic activity. Sky oversaw the "Crude Synthesis." They boiled the lichen until the water was a thick, ink-black sludge, then hammered the citrus rinds into a pulp and threw them in. Finally, Sky grabbed a handful of charcoal from the fire and crushed it into the pot.
"The charcoal will trap whatever resin is still in their stomachs," Sky explained as he filled a wooden bowl with the steaming, bitter mess.
He returned to Kael. The boy was now bleeding from his tear ducts, red streaks staining his cheeks like war paint. Sky forced Kael's jaw open and poured the sludge down.
"Drink, you stubborn brat," Sky muttered. "It's going to taste like a blacksmith's floor, and your joints are going to feel like they've been filled with lead, but you are not dying in the mud today."
The camp fell into a deathly silence as they watched. For a minute, the only sound was the wind blowing. Then, the pink sweat on Kael's forehead began to dry. The wet rattle in his chest slowed, replaced by a heavy, labored, but clear breath. The 'ghost threads' in his blood were finally catching on the metallic grit of the lichen, forming a jagged, emergency mesh.
Sky sat back on his heels, wiping Kael's blood from his own face. The bleeding had stopped.
"He will live," Sky said confidently, "Now I would like you to go and see if we have any Sun-Crested petals and if we don't, I would like you all to mass produce this and give it to the rest of the locals and if you could, to other parts of the kingdom."
"S-Sure" the soldier replied.
Everyone in there was shocked. Sky had managed to identify the poison used and where it originated from and managed to think of the cure and when greeted with the problem of it not being in storage, he managed to improvise another cure.
But Sky ignored these looks of amazement that they were showing instead, he was preoccupied in his thoughts.
'What should I do…Should I go to Luminar right now? I already figured out how to make the cure so I should probably go to her and tell her how to do it…but the problem lies in the resources.'
[From what I know this kingdom is different from the old kingdom but shares a commonality in its main resources coming from outside, and this particular fruit grows in the edge of the Glaron-Spine Mountains. These are strange, high-altitude valleys where thermal vents in the earth keep the tree roots warm, but the air above remains at a constant, bone-chilling freeze.The fruit thrives in this thermal tug-of-war. The extreme cold forces the tree to pump massive amounts of sugars and acids into the fruit to keep the juice from freezing. They are still not difficult to carry or gather since the trees from which they grow lie pretty low in those mountains but the reason why you're worried about the total resources is probably due to the location of where the fruit is gathered because while there may be a lack of monsters in the location it's so far away from this place that an expedition to gather them probably doesn't happen often, so with the lack of resource to make the original cure and the problem of being able to only make limited cures using the substitute, you're afraid that you can't think of another alternative or something to lessen the poison, still leading to a major crisis even with a cure existing and a substitute cure created.]
'In a nutshell yeah, but I'm worried about the nature of how the poisoning happened.' Sky thought, a sigh leaving his mouth
[Well we can worry about that later, for now let's head to where luminar is before we make her wait long.]
"I'll be heading out to where Luminar is, any objections?" Sky asked the soldiers but upon receiving no response he turned away and started to walk away.
— ✦ —
"Is everything alright?" Gill asked the scouts who were packing up their bags and weaning their light armour.
"Uh….I'm sorry, but I'm pretty new here, so I haven't been taught how to wrap my hands with hand wraps…" The scout said, a bit embarrassed.
"Kid, I'll wrap it for you, come here." One of the older scouts said.
"Thank you Sir!"
"Besides that, any other problem?" Gill asked the scouts.
After a while of not receiving any answer, Gill said, "Well if you are done wrapping your hands let's go ahead since there seems to be no other problem."
"I-I'm done!" the new scout said as he carried his bag and weapons.
"Well we'll be heading out, Verrith, any objection?" Gill asked, a smile present on his face.
"No."
"Let's get moving, then." Gill said walking ahead, the scouts and Verrith following him behind.
'I hope things go well.' The new scout hoped, nervous.
'3 of the veteran scouts got replaced by a less experienced scout, a veteran knight and me, a recent recruit who happened to do better than the other beginners or new recruits. Although I'm grateful for the opportunity to earn some money while helping the kingdom, I feel bad for the veteran scouts who had to stay behind to take care of their family who drank the poisoned water.' The new scout thought, looking down at the rapier and parrying dagger on his waist.
His thoughts drifted into the words of his teacher.
「Remember, using the parry dagger and the rapier at the same time against a monster won't be able to utilise the techniques, of our old teachers in most cases, but they must still be remembered and ingrained in your body for often the main casualty of people caused directly will often not be people themself.」
The words echoed back into the mind of the new scout, as he stared at his weapons, swallowing his saliva unintentionally, worry present in him.
'A scout's gear is often the same, first we wear a thinned gambeson made of pressed felt or boiled linen. The chest and vitals are protected by Cuir Bouilli (leather boiled in wax or oil until it hardens into a plastic-like shell).The hand wraps are made from merino-style wool( products made from or designed to mimic the properties of Merino wool, which is recognized as one of the finest, softest, and most versatile types of sheep's wool. ) Then wearing a bit of armour plates on our shins, arm and a small metal helmet. The bottom of the boot is made of multiple layers of soft, flexible leather and in high-stakes stealth situations, scouts pull oversized, heavy wool socks over their boots. This creates a muffling effect that kills the sound of footsteps on stone or dry leaves.' The new scout thought, overwhelming his brain to hide the nervousness within him.
'Scouts are taught to time their footsteps to their exhalation. Since when you exhale, your muscles relax slightly, making your movement more fluid and less heavy-footed. Furthermore, they use the "Fox-Walk", instead of landing on the heel (which sends a vibration through the skeleton), they land on the outside edge of the mid-foot, rolling the weight inward. This "shushes" the impact and makes the footprint almost invisible in soft soil. But the problem is that I still haven't mastered it even after almost 3 weeks of practice.'
He kept thinking his thoughts running rapidly in his mind.
"Hey you good?" One of the veteran scouts asked.
"Oh, yeah I'm good, just got caught up on my thoughts."
"You sure there isn't anything else bothering you?"
"I'm certain."
"Ok, if you say so kiddo." The veteran said, dropping his worry.