Asepsis

After being taken to her rented room. Priscilla was laying down on the bed—her labored breathing and cold sweat made her worry.

‘I never felt this bad before…’ She could feel her face contort from the pain. ‘I… might need a healer…’

Her insides felt like they were burning up. Her body felt heavy and she could barely keep her eyes focused.

Rionara entered the room with a small bowl of soup in her hand.

“Pris, I’ve brought you some food.”

The knight glanced at her from the corner of her eye and forced herself to smile—but both her eyes were closing themselves shut from the aching pain.

“T-thank you…” Priscilla uttered under her strained voice. “I… I’ll eat as soon as I get better…”

Rionara walked on her side of the bed. The faint moonlight coming from the window was bathing the knight’s face in pale light. Even not knowing anything about medicine, it was clear that something was wrong with her.

“I… I can feed you if you need help, Pris.”

“I…” The simple act of replying was becoming a struggle as her breathing was uneven and no matter how much she inhaled, it felt like her body still needed more air. “I’m… not… feeling well…”

Hearing those words made the heat of Rionara’s body suddenly drain out. A deathly chill ran down her spine as she settled the bowl of soup aside on the nightstand before she hurriedly grabbed Priscilla’s hand.

“Is there anything I can do for you, Pris?! Anything?!”

Their eyes met. The knight couldn’t find the strength to reply, instead she shook her head and tried to utter ‘my pouch’, but no words came out. Priscilla squinted her eyes, but the more time it passed, the more Rionara’s face became blurrier.

It was amidst a forced smile and the staggering pain that she passed out.

“Pris…?”

The knight’s hand fell limp in her grasp. A dreadful sensation started to grow from the bottom of her stomach. The same foreboding sensation right before a disaster struck her mind.

‘Save her no matter what.’ It was the first instinct that took over her. ‘Save the one who saved you.’

Without wasting any time, she let go of Priscilla’s hand and dashed out of the door. With a loud bang, she rushed downstairs and sprinted outside.

“Hey! Where are you going, Lass?!”

Gerolt’s voice rang behind her but Rionara didn’t stop. She ran as fast as her legs could take her to the central square. She bumped into a man wearing a white overcoat, almost sending both of them tumbling on the ground, but after quickly recovering her footing, the young woman didn’t even stop to apologize as she kept running to the guild.

“What the…?”

Rhys looked at her back before hesitantly turning to the inn.

Rionara’s bare feet pounded against the street’s stone tiles as she was going as fast as her legs could carry her, but unlike before, she wasn’t used to this new body of hers and one misstep was enough to send her face first into the ground.

“Argh!”

She could feel a warm sensation come down from her nose. Blood dripped all the way down her chin, but that pain was nothing compared to the desperation she felt inside.

Passersby looked at her with both awe and shock. A high elf waltzing the streets in nothing but a makeshift linen dress while bleeding from her nose wasn’t a daily occurrence in Arivaul.

‘Damn you, body of mine!’ She clenched her teeth in anger as she slammed her fist against the pavement. ‘MOVE!’

She forced herself upright and kept running. Some more agile civilians managed to avoid her while some others weren’t so lucky as she kept bumping and brushing past many before she finally managed to stand in front of the closing guild.

“Haa… ha…”

She was out of breath, but even in ragged clothes and bleeding from her nose, she stepped inside. Her entrance caused all sorts of whispers and gasps out of the adventurers that were still inside the lobby.

From behind the counter in the back, Lucina could hear the clamor coming from the lobby and decided to take a peek.

“Hm?”

Her eyes went wide the moment she noticed a high elf of black hair and azure eyes standing in the middle of the lobby, her footprints dirtied the floor while blood dripped down her chin onto the white tiles.

Once Rionara managed to take a deep breath, she shouted from the top of her lungs.

“MISS LUCINA! I NEED YOUR HELP!”

A nearby guild staff wearing a white gambeson approached her with a wooden baton on his right hand. Clearly he wasn’t taking her scene lightly since every single patron in the lobby, adventurer or otherwise, had their heads turned in her direction.

“Miss, step outside.” He spoke with his left hand raised. “You’re causing trouble being here.”

“No! I need to talk to her!”

While still gasping for air, she took another sharp breath and was about to shout again, but at that moment the guard raised his baton—threatening to strike her down.

“Wait!”

Lucina’s voice made the guard suddenly jerk his arm back as the receptionist approached them.

“Miss Lucina.” He turned a sideways glance at her. “Do you know this woman?”

“No, but…” The receptionist eyed Rionara from head to toe. There was a strange sense of familiarity to her, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. “She clearly knows who I am.”

“Miss Lucina!” Rionara was about to step closer to her but the guard got in her way—although he lowered his baton, he was still ready to strike the moment she showed any signs of aggression. “It’s- it’s Pris! She needs help! Please!”

The way she spoke made the receptionist flinch with both her brows furrowing as if she was witnessing something she should never have.

“Rio, is that you-”

“She doesn’t have much time!” Tears started to flow. Rionara couldn’t hold back the despair she felt. “Please! Help her!”

“Okay, okay.”

Lucina took a sharp breath and turned around. All eyes were on them, a dreadful bitter taste formed inside her mouth.

‘This is just like ten years ago…’

The receptionist let out a calm exhale before turning to the guard.

“It seems this young lady found Miss Priscilla. As her guild staff, I should check on her well-being.”

The guard raised an eyebrow as he started to question it.

“Miss Lucina with all due respect, is this-”

“May I?”

A male voice came from behind them. A young man of short jet black hair and deep blue eyes approached them. He wore a simple adventurer outfit consisting of a light linen overcoat, a raw cotton shirt, linen trousers and leather boots. Hanging around his neck, he had his adventurer tag visible. A plate made of silver.

“I overheard the commotion, are you in need of a healer?”

Those were the words that Rionara needed to hear as she instantly spoke, borderlining shouting.

“Yes! Are you a healer, Sir?”

“Aspiring physician. Ren.” He bowed with his arm in front of himself. “At your service, what about you, Miss?”

“Jeanne. My name is Jeanne.” She bowed slightly. “I’m just a simple village girl.”

“Very well.” Ren spoke after clearing his throat. “Tomoe! We have another patient.”

On the corner of the lobby a woman stood up with a towering knapsack on her back.

“Aye, m’lord.”

Her pale skin contrasted with her dark emerald hair and purple eyes. Two thin skin colored horns protruded out of her forehead, parting her otherwise straight fringe in two before they converged back near her eyebrows. She wore a heavy leather coat that covered her upper body and lower body with only her sandals of the same material being visible underneath it.

“Miss Lucina.” Ren spoke with a calm tone. “Can you tell me about my patient’s physicality? We can talk as we go there.” He then gently turned to Rionara. “As for you, Miss Jeanne, could you tell me what happened to her?”

“Certainly. I will accompany you three.”

“Y-yes! Of course.”

The group of four exited the guild hall in a hurry. Lucina kept her pace behind the trio as Rionara was taking her turn in answering every single question that Ren threw her way as best as she could.

“What were her symptoms?" He asked while pulling a small leather covered notebook and a crude pencil made out of wood and a charcoal bit. “Was she conscious?”

“S-symptoms?”

“An unusual feeling, m’lady.” Tomoe explained gently. “Like fever, nausea, headaches…”

“She… she didn’t say it. I knew she was in pain, but not much else.”

“I see…” Ren started to write down a few things. “Was she sick or wounded?”

“Wounded.”

“I see, I see…” He frantically started to write down more while continuing asking. “Do you know anything about the wound itself?”

Rionara shook her head.

“She had a bandage around her stomach, but she never took it off.”

Simply hearing them talk made Lucina feel anxious.

‘Priscilla Avellion…’ The receptionist thought to herself as her lips curled bitterly. ‘I’ve promised your father that I would do all I could to help you but…’ Her gaze trailed towards Jeanne's face as she was trying her best to answer all questions Ren had for her. It made Lucina’s heart ache. ‘Compared to this stranger, how much did I actually help you?’

They hurriedly made her way to the inn. Some patrons gave cursory glances as they entered, but those soon turned into whispers once they saw the silver plaque hanging from a small cord around Ren’s neck.

“A silver plate adventurer?”

“Eh? Who?”

“The guy over there.”

Paying no heed to the gossip, Ren followed right behind Rionara, who quickly brushed everyone aside to get to the stairs. Some looked at her with frowned brows but it didn’t matter to her.

“Lucina.” Karla caught the receptionist by the shoulder and asked with a serious look in her eyes. “Who are the other two?”

“A physician and his assistant. I heard what happened to Miss Priscilla, I’m here to lend a hand.”

“I see…” The innkeeper let go of her shoulder. “We’ll need to talk later, will you stay here for the rest of the day?”

She nodded in response before turning to the rest of the group. The four of them made their way up the stairs into the first room of the hall where the knight was resting.

Upon opening the door, Rionara rushed to Priscilla’s side, but the knight was still unconscious. Her foot hit something metallic and the knight’s rapier came tumbling on the ground against Rionara’s feet. She ignored it and grabbed her hand—her eyes widened with how hot her skin was.

“She… she has a fever…”

Her hand trembled with fear, but before her mind could come up with even worse ideas, Tomoe grabbed her hand between hers and smiled.

“Please stay strong, m’lady Jeanne, we’ll make sure your companion recovers.”

Although the chilling sensation was still coursing through her body, Rionara did feel a bit more relieved seeing how confident Tomoe seemed to be.

Ren approached the bedridden knight on the opposite side and started taking her pulse by putting two fingers against the side of her neck while also listening closely for her breathing. He stood there for a while before reaching for his notepad again.

“Fast pulse. Shallow breathing. Probably an infection, smaller dose of laudanum if needed.” He was jotting down information as he addressed Rionara without taking his eyes off his patient. “Can you show me where she was wounded?”

“Y-yes.”

Rionara gently shifted Priscilla’s jacket aside, exposing the now blood soaked linen bandaging. It had a dark red color to it. It only took him a brief inspection to switch his priorities entirely.

He put down his notepad and asked Lucina with urgency in his tone.

“Ask the innkeeper to boil water in a pot and bring back some candles.” He then turned to Tomoe. “Cut those bandages open.”

“Will do.”

“Aye.”

The receptionist ran downstairs. Meanwhile Tomoe placed the towering knapsack on the floor near the edge of the bed and pulled out a pair of shears from within.

After carefully removing the stained bandaging, Tomoe revealed three swollen red perforations beneath the dirty cloth. Ren knelt beside the knapsack and removed a piece of cut cloth from within and started to tie it on himself in order to cover up his mouth.

After doing so, he approached Priscilla’s abdomen and evoked a flame on his hand to illuminate the wound. In the firelight, he noticed how the redness was spreading around each wound while there was little to no blood coming out of them. He extinguished the fire and turned to his assistant.

“Tomoe, alcohol.”

“On it.”

She placed the shears beside the bag before taking out a large transparent bottle of distilled spirits. The liquid was clear, almost like water. With little effort, she uncorked the bottle with a thump.

Ren rolled back his sleeves before extending both his hands out and Tomoe doused his palms with the liquid. It was as if he was washing his hands with it before eventually flicking out the excess around him.

“Miss Jeanne, are you able to light a fire? I need you to hold it away enough from my hands but close enough so I can take a better look at Priscilla’s wounds.”

“Huh? I…”

“If you are not capable of doing so, we’ll need to wait for the candles, but I must start treating this as fast as I can if we want to maximize her chances of survival.”

Hearing his words made her feel weak in the legs, but her hands clenched tightly alongside her jaw. She had to be strong, not for her, but for the person who had saved her.

“Y-yes, I can.”

She raised her shaking hands together and evoked a small flame. The way it flickered and swayed made the light inconsistent, but Ren wasn’t about to lecture her.

“Good.” He said while turning his attention fully to the patient in front of him. “Keep it exactly at that distance, you don’t want to set either me or your friend on fire.”

“O-on fire?!”

Rionara trembled.

“Aye.” Tomoe answered, looking at Rionara while putting the bottle of spirits away. “Alcohol tends to burn easily. But as long as you stay there, it will be fine.”

“O-okay…”

The door opened again and Lucina peeked into the room, panting heavily.

“She was already boiling water but… she’s out of candles.”

Ren looked at her briefly and nodded, but quickly focused back on inspecting Priscilla’s wounds. He noticed how there were three distinct perforations in roughly equal distances from each other. The area around the wound felt tender to the touch, with a distinct difference in temperature compared to the rest of her skin.

‘Beginning of an infection…’

He shifted his weight and peered into the wound itself. Some blood had already clotted inside. He lifted his head up and asked.

“Was this from a pitchfork?” Rionara nodded frantically which made the physician frown his brows a bit while taking a deep breath. “Alright. Tomoe, see if Miss Lucina is-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Lucina barged into the room again while carrying a huge iron pot filled to the brim with boiling water. She was clearly running at full speed.

“I got the boiled water!”

“Good.” He replied and turned to his assistant. “Cool it, fast. We’ll need to use it now.”

“Got it.”

While he continued to inspect the wounds. Tomoe quickly grabbed the iron pot from below—something that took Lucina by surprise—and the previously bubbling water suddenly stopped doing so. In contrast, Tomoe’s hands and arms were turning to a painful red color with steam coming out of them.

“Miss Tomoe!” Lucina was about to pull the pot away but the oni held it firmly. “What are you doing?!”

“We can’t afford to wait for this to cool.” She explained while holding a calm smile on her face. “Worry not, I’m quite accustomed to doing this.”

In just a few seconds, the boiled water was now ready to be used. Tomoe carefully grabbed a metallic syringe from the side of the knapsack while avoiding touching anything else. The metallic tool quickly absorbed the heat from her left hand before she put it inside the water, quickly cooling it again enough to the point that anyone could hold it.

She then reached inside the bag with her left hand and pulled a palm sized metallic tool, the blade was thin and slightly curved. After making sure it was the right tool for the job, Tomoe switched hands and the metallic blade started to absorb the heat from her body as well as the energy she had taken from the boiling pot.

After leaving the metal glowing slightly red, she looked at Lucina and urged her to move beside Ren.

All the moving made Priscilla weakly open her eyes. She noticed how there were many people surrounding her, some faces she didn’t recognize, but even if she wanted to sit up, her body felt too sluggish to do anything.

“Rio…” The knight muttered quietly. Their eyes met and she asked. “What are you doing?”

“Pris! These people are here to help you!”

She turned to the other side of the bed, where a masked man stood above her with a metallic syringe in his hand.

“A-are you… a healer?”

“Yes.” He answered shortly. “I am about to cleanse your wound shortly. Are you able to drink a tincture? It’ll dull the pain.” She nodded quietly which prompted him to look at Tomoe, who was holding both the scalpel and a small cup made out of wood. “Give it to her.”

“Aye.”

Following his gaze, Priscilla saw this oni woman approach her with a very small cup. She could hold it between two fingers if she could lift her hand, but her limbs felt heavy—extremely so.

“Give… give it to me.”

The assistant gently complied with her request and tilted the cup enough for her to drink it. Although drink wasn’t the right word. There was barely anything to drink, only a very small dose of the reddish-brown liquid was found inside that cup, but it was something that Priscilla had never experienced before.

The bitterness was beyond anything she had ever tasted. It was terrible when going down and the aftertaste was just as disgusting.

“Ugh…”

Priscilla groaned as she forced the lingering taste down with saliva.

“Sorry it tastes bad.” Tomoe apologized. “But it’ll make you feel fuzzy later.”

It didn’t take too long until it started to take effect. She could feel her heart calm down as her whole body began to feel lethargic. It was strangely soothing—it made her feel conscious of her own mortality.

‘It wouldn’t take much to kill me now…’

She let out a sigh that made Ren look her in the eyes.

“Miss Priscilla.” Once she opened them again and looked at him, he continued. “I will start the procedure. It will hurt, but I ask that you remain with us. If you feel like it’s too much, I’ll stop briefly for you to recover, but I must do this to save your life.”

She nodded twice before uttering.

“I’m ready.”

“Okay.” He glanced at Tomoe. “Prepare some bandages, I’ll start the debridement.”

“Aye.”

She began to pull out more sheets of cloth before dousing them in alcohol while tucking them beneath Priscilla. Ren then turned to Lucina and said.

“Leave the pot here and ask the innkeeper to boil some more water.”

“On it.”

She left the now cooled iron pot on the bed beside the knight and headed out of the room in a hurry. Ren kneeled beside the bed and asked Priscilla to turn to his side, in doing so, Rionara made her way to the other side, making sure to be far enough away from them while keeping the flame as steady as she could in order to illuminate the knight’s wounds.

After a calm, deep breath, the physician looked at Tomoe and extended his hand.

“Scalpel.”

She gave him the tool and he focused on removing the blood that had clotted in the perforations. Priscilla couldn’t even feel the blade, all she felt was a dull tenderness and the pulsating heat from her abdomen.

Ren slowly made progress in removing all clots before gently flushing each wound with the clean water from the syringe.

Dark, red liquid and small bits of the clot were coming down the white cloths placed beneath her. Upon further irrigation, some dead flecks of tissue also came out.

“Hm…” Ren glanced at the wincing knight and asked. “Can I keep going?”

She responded with a firm nod as she clenched her teeth together to endure the stinging sensation.

“Alright, hang tight.”

The process took several minutes, only marked by Priscilla’s quiet breaths and the water dripping from the bedside. With the scalpel’s help, Ren continued to remove all dead or infected tissue from the wound with careful precision. In the meantime, Lucina had come and gone with more pots of boiled water.

Rionara could feel her heart pounding against her ribs as she was forcing her trembling limbs in place with sheer force. Priscilla’s life was too important for her to give in to despair and unlike before, she wasn’t alone in that dark room.

“It’ll be okay, m’lady Jeanne.” Tomoe reassured her as she doused a few bandages in the bubbling water with her bare hands as if it was already routine. “M’lady Priscilla is quite a strong individual, once Ren is done, she’ll be on her way to a full recovery.”

With her lips curled, almost as if trying to shallow her tears, Rionara nodded firmly.

“Y-yeah.”

About an hour passed. Ren managed to treat all three wounds thanks to the abundance of clean water and everyone’s commitment to keep him supplied with everything he needed. Priscilla remained conscious throughout the entire process, which left the physician quite surprised.

He stood up and took a deep breath while putting away the now empty syringe and bloodied scalpel. He had a relieved smile under the rag that covered his mouth.

“Luckily your internal organs didn’t sustain any injuries.” He addressed Priscilla while washing his hand with the distilled spirits he had left ready in one of the empty iron pots. “I will finish treating your wound now, how are you feeling?”

“B-better.” She uttered while forcing a smile. “Though I have to say, this… ‘debridement’, is not for the faint of heart.”

“I’m more surprised you didn’t need any breaks.” He grabbed a sterilized cloth and started to dry her wounds. “Are you a former soldier perhaps, lady Priscilla?”

“S-something along those lines…”

“I see.” After properly drying the area, he reached for another set of bandages and doused them in a strange yellow viscous liquid. “Now, what I’m about to do is to stuff those punctures with these bandages, I will need you to not remove or touch them under any circumstance, okay?”

“What is that liquid?”

Rionara asked from behind him. Her hands were tingling from holding the flame alight, but she still endured the pain with quiet resolve.

“Honey.” He answered while slowly and gently plugging each individual puncture with the bandaging. “It’ll keep her wound from festering again.” While not taking his eyes off what he was doing, he spoke to Tomoe, who was cleaning the tools on the side with both heat from her body and alcohol. “Ask the innkeeper for a new replacement for the sheets and bedding. I’ll cover the cost if needed.”

“Aye, m’lord.”

After finishing packing up the tools in the knapsack, Tomoe quietly exited the room. The sound of the crackling flame on Rionar’s hand and the knight’s quiet, yet calm breathing filled the room.

“I’m glad. You’re not a knight, lady Priscilla.” Ren spoke as he finished applying the bandages doused in honey. “If you were, I’m sure you would’ve used the Goddess’ blessing to heal that wound.”

Though too weakened to ask, the knight’s frowned eyes made her seem like she wanted to ask a question, which Rionara ended up asking in her place anyway.

“Why?” The young woman asked quietly. “Is there something wrong with her blessing?”

“Her healing is potent, there is no doubt about it. But that is exactly what makes it dangerous for common folk like us.” He started to clean around the bed by taking out the cloths that were used during the earlier procedure. Some dead skin, flecks of flesh, blood and pus were mixed in it which made him hurry to dispose of it in a separate bag of cloth. “Her healing traps all sorts of things inside the body, which no normal human would be able to survive. I’ve… I’ve lost a good person because of it.” He then shook his head. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be saying that to a patient.”

After cleaning up the contaminated material, he stood up and glanced at Rionara with a faint smile under his rag.

“Miss Jeanne, you can put your hand down. The procedure is over.”

Hearing those words was like having a mountain taken off her shoulders. As the flame flickered out, her legs gave up as she stumbled backwards and fell on the ground. She let out a sigh of relief that felt as if she was holding her breath for an entire hour.

“Ha… Haa…” She looked at her own trembling hands, all willpower had left her body and she was now unable to control the shaking. “Is… is Pris going to be fine?”

“Yep, she will.” Ren nodded. “I’ll personally keep an eye out on her for the next few days to make sure she won’t have any complications. But for now, I need to dispose of these.”

He lifted the cloth bag filled with everything he could dispose of himself.

“C-can I stay here?” Rionara looked at him with pleading eyes. “I… I want to be by her side.”

“Certainly.” He nodded shortly. “Ah, but do avoid touching her for now. We don’t want her to go through another infection.”

“R-right, I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He quietly made his way out of the room. Rionara desperately crawled towards Priscilla’s bedside. The wet wooden floor reflected the moonlight coming through the window. A faint blue hue illuminated the knight’s serene expression as she uttered a few words.

“Thank you, Rio… I knew I could count on you…”

“Pris…” She sniffled while trying to hold back the tears that inevitably started to pour out from her trembling azure eyes. “I’m… I’m happy that you’re alive…”

Faint cries could be heard from the outside. Ren stood there with his eyes slightly closed. The cloth bag felt heavy on his hand as he made his way downstairs. The inn’s main hall was already devoid of patrons as only a handful remained to either finish their plates or tankards of beer.

Near the doorway to the outside, Tomoe was speaking with Karla until he decided to poke in.

“Miss Karla.” Ren announced as he came down the stairs. “Could I use the back to burn this? I’d rather not leave it where someone else could end up getting their hands on this.”

“Sure thing.” But before he could turn to leave, she chuckled and told him. “You don’t need to pay for bedding. The woman you just saved was the one who caught that terrible Black Assassin fellow, so consider the new sheets and bedding on the house.”

“I appreciate your kindness, Miss Karla.” He bowed with a serene smile on his face. “On that note, could I rent a room here? I’d like to keep a close eye on Miss Priscilla.”

“Aye, the room next to hers is available.” She glanced at Tomoe with a raised eyebrow. “But is your companion fine sleeping in the same bedroom?”

Tomoe nodded without showing much emotion before saying.

“M’lord wouldn’t mind, I’m sure.”

“No, no, I’m asking if you wouldn’t mind, you’re a Lass for goddess’ sake.”

Before he could get dragged into their conversation, Ren quietly made his way to the back of the inn. At the back of the inn, there was a small backyard with beaten dirt, a clothes line was hung across one end to another where the wall of another building met the inn’s.

He tucked the bag in an unused corner and started to scribe on the ground with a piece of charcoal. After drawing a big circle, then one inside and lastly a line connecting both—he put the bag in the middle of it and touched the ground around the rune.

“Haa…” He let out a tired sigh. “I wish there was an easier way to dispose of these…”

Light blue mana started to surge from his arms into the drawn rune, in a few seconds, the charcoal lines lit up in flames before incinerating the bag in a violent vortex of flames.

He stood up while the spell continued to activate within the rune and in a few minutes, the bag of dirty rags was now nothing more than ashes. He clapped the dirt off his hands and headed back inside.

As he made his way back to the hall only Gerolt was there, cleaning the tables on his own.

“Oi, Lad.” He lifted his hand in a short greeting. “Your lady headed upstairs. She’s in the room next to Pris’.”

“Oh, right. Thank you.”

“Aye. She also paid for your stay already so you can just go rest.”

The physician bowed and headed upstairs. Upon passing in front of Priscilla’s room, he could pick up faint bits of conversation which brought a relieved smile on his face as he entered his own room.

Inside, Tomoe had settled the knapsack on the foot of the bed as she was finishing cutting a few more pieces of cloth to use as bandages.

“Welcome back m’lord.”

“Thank you for handling everything.”

He approached her and without saying anything, the oni assistant already put a dollop of a thick dark brown paste on his hand. The deep heavy scent of old oil permeated his hand, but as opposed to feeling disgusted, he simply smiled before chuckling. Tomoe glanced sideways at him and asked.

“What’s wrong, m’lord?”

“No, it’s nothing.” He picked up a wooden bucket near the bed and brought it to the open window where he started to scrub his hand with the soft soap made out of tallow and ash. “You just know me too well.”

The bits of ashes combined with the slickness of the tallow in his hand felt nostalgic in a way that he smiled unconsciously as he washed away the soap. After flicking the water away from his hands, he turned to her again as he put the bucket down.

“Shall we finish it?”

She nodded as she stood up.

“Aye.”

As they both headed outside, they encountered Karla holding a large sack stuffed with hay and Lucina holding new sheets for the bed.

Ren approached the door and knocked it twice.

“Yes?”

Rionara’s voice came from inside.

“We have new bedding and sheets.” Ren spoke behind the door. “Can we come in?”

“Yes, please, come in.”

After opening the door, the first thing that caught the physician’s eyes was how Priscilla had a calmer expression on her face. He smiled while asking.

“How are you feeling, Miss Priscilla?”

“A bit better thanks to your treatment. Thank you.”

“I’m glad.” He stepped aside as everyone else entered the room. “We’ll be changing your bedding and cleaning the room so you can rest better.”

It took a few minutes, but after they made sure the bedding and sheets were changed, they also cleaned the floor and the room was left with a refreshing scent.

“Good work.” Ren spoke with confidence in his voice. He then turned to Tomoe and asked. “Can I leave it to you then?”

“Aye, m’lord.”

“Leave what?”

Priscilla asked with a raised eyebrow as she was already lying down on the bed. She felt like they should have been done for the night but the oni assistant had other plans for her in mind.

“What are you talking about m’lady?” Tomoe whipped out a dark paste wrapped in parchment from her pocket as she approached the knight with a bucket of water. “We need to make sure your body is clean.”

“Wait, wait, wait. I can clean after myself just- ugh!”

She tried to lift her upper body but a painful sting made her falter.

“Just make sure you don’t make her too uncomfortable.” Ren said as he was halfway out the door with Karla and Lucina chuckling outside. “Have a good night, Miss Priscilla.”

He closed the door as the knight’s voice echoed to the outside.

“Wait! Don’t leave her with me! Rio, do something about her!”

“I’m sorry Pris, but if Ren said she should clean you I think-”

“Wait, no! Don’t take my clothes off! Aaaaaah!”