Soul Nexus. Volume 2: The beginning of the forced adventurer

31

Continent of Axal, Imperial Kingdom of Tikalt, Year 1811. Summer.

Still seemed as if it were yesterday when we had just arrived. Time passed so slowly and swiftly at once that even boredom had become routine.

We thought things would be much more chaotic here in Tikalt with all this talk of the "Black fever" epidemic. Supposedly, it had taken the lives of many of the region's inhabitants, but upon our arrival in the kingdom, it turned out that things were calmer than one would expect.

Despite the curfew being implemented, people still moved about the streets, food continued to arrive from the fields outside the capital, and commerce remained active. The truth was that there didn't seem to be a critical state of emergency here.

However, the absence of any apparent dangerous illness in the air didn't mean there wasn't exist. Just seeing Narek's betrothed, Countess Anush, was a warning sign that this was serious.

In all the time I've been in the palace, I haven't dared to enter the royal chamber; I couldn't risk contracting the disease and spreading it to my companions, or worse, to Queen Mireya; but every time I walked down the hallway, I caught a glimpse of the deplorable condition in which the poor woman lay.

She was covered in dark spots all over her body, infected by a dreadful rash that surely caused her terrible pain, yet she was too weak even to attempt to move or scratch herself. The color of her veins was so dark that they resembled more ink rivers flowing through her limbs, ending up being expelled from her mouth. Watching her cough up that black liquid without ceasing, the way that dreadful "tar" emerged from her body, was most terrible.

The palace physicians and shamans attended to her at all times, constantly entering and leaving the royal chamber, always carrying blankets and warm water, or bringing trays full of glass vessels. They administered all sorts of medicine and tried to alleviate her pain with healing commands, and although this helped her stop coughing for a while, she would soon vomit blood again.

It was incredible how brave these people were, risking being infected and jeopardizing their own health to help improve the Countess's condition. However, in the nearly six months we had been here, I still hadn't seen anyone become infected, not even these doctors who cared for her all the time and attended to her without any covering over their faces. It was extremely strange that nothing happened to them despite being in constant contact with the patient. Wasn't the disease supposed to be highly contagious?

Queen Mireya: 『 Roef... Roef... Hey, Roef!... ROEF! 』

Roef: 『 Hmm? 』

Queen Mireya: 『 I'm talking to you. Can you pass me those herbs over there? 』

Roef: 『 Ah, yes, of course. Here you are. 』

Queen Mireya: 『 Seriously, sometimes I wonder where you go off to. 』

Roef: 『 Pardon? 』

Queen Mireya: 『 It's just that I always see you lost in your thoughts. Suddenly you go silent for a while, so focused, analyzing something in particular that catches your attention. 』

Roef: 『 Is that what you think, Your Highness? 』

Queen Mireya: 『 Not only do I think it, I've seen it. And honestly, I envy that concentration of yours; it would be very useful to me when I'm making my potions. But also, your company and that of the boys here have helped me a lot in my work. 』

Honestly, I didn't know what to think of it. I was just doing my job; I always had to be attentive to any situation. As the Queen's bodyguard, our only responsibility was to protect her and watch over her quarters and the entire palace so she could carry out her experiments and no one would try to sabotage or harm her. But so far, no one has shown up with those intentions. We've only ever kept watch over the complex, with no suspicious behavior to report or any kind of incident or emergency. We did intercept a couple of thieves who tried to steal some palace belongings, but that had nothing to do with this matter.