Chapter 6 - The Death Revival Pill
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As Leon continued to stare at his aunt for a while and did not change his gaze for a while, Paula, his new aunt started to become nervous and panicked.
She walked closer to him and put her palm on his forehead to measure his temperature, as she spoke,
"Ginata, Leon doesn't really look to be well. Was the damage to his brain really that much?" The golden-clothed woman spoke towards her eldest daughter with her eyes full of concern.
"Big Brother? Don't scare us like this.." Ginata could only look back at Leon, as she tried to shake him out of his confused state.
"AH.. right. A-Aunt, nice to meet you.. again." Leon lowered his head to prevent his embarrassed face to be seen by the others. He had recalled by now that his woman named Paula was his mother's twin sister and his aunt. Although she could even be said to be his stepmother, Leon preferred to call her Aunt and so, Leon only had to follow in his footsteps.
He also recalled a shocking fact. The women in this world, although not born very beautiful, alter their appearances with the use of beauty pills. They were the hottest item on the market and the demand for them far dwarfed the supply.
Rare ingredients were required for it, but the women of considerable influence could quickly get them and become super beautiful till their old age. Though, his family members were born with appearances of fairies and never needed such a thing, ever.
There were also pills that could make one's body to be more resilient and strong. Some could prevent rare diseases from being caught. The youth pills were another variety of popular pill which was a lot cheaper than the beauty pills and although they didn't really change the appearance all that much but could let one have the best possible stage of the body for a long time for the consumer.
These pills were all made by his mother, while the duty to collect these ingredients from the places around here and the auctions was his Aunt's responsibility. His mother was in charge of refining the pills and the medicine, which were then sold by his Aunt. They were a perfect team and contributed a lot to help them earn some money in their exile.
His sister-in-law had recently become widowed after getting married 2 years ago and was said to still be a virgin as his brother was obsessed with the political schemes of the throne chasing.
The incident broke her young heart and her cheerful and humble persona morphed into an ice-cold and bone-chilling personality instead. She would often be away from their new home and searched for the rarer herbs far away from here. As for her strength... a Rank C Battle Mage was not your average cookie around these parts.
What Leon realized after recalling these memories was that he couldn't really depend on his senses to define anyone's age around this place. Especially when a heavenly beauty across the street could be an eighty years old grandma!
He knew how much women liked to care for their beauty and decided to be more alert to his desires.
"Ah! Paula, you came back so early. How was the search for those herbs this time?" Elvira entered the room with another bowl of medicine in her hands as she looked at her twin sister with eyes full of hope.
"Sister, I did find thirteen herbs but the remaining 2 herbs are too difficult to find in this season. We can only hope that Malisa could find them instead.." Paula sounded very depressed as she reported this.
The ingredients they were searching for were something called the Death Reversal pill and it was one of the most difficult-to-refine pills in this world. not only were the ingredients too exotic and rare to find, but their cost was also insanely high. It was all due to its unique effects, as a person in his dying breaths could miraculously recover up to 30% upon consuming it. It was also said to increase the lifespan of the consumer and was an object of high value. Its diplomatic use was enormous and was often only available in the black markets for an exorbitant amount of price.
Not to mention that they were now living so far away from the prosperous nations, that the Doctors around this place couldn't even diagnose severe injuries properly.
There were only a few things that were of equal value to it, as money couldn't buy it. The recipe for the medicine was so restricted that it was almost a mythical pill. Elvira though, had once reigned supreme over an enormous Empire alongside her late husband, and so knew about the preparation method and the ingredients very well.
Leon knew that the pill must be for his sake and most of the savings that his new family had collected would be completely burnt out, just for the sake of healing him.
Although they were doing it all for Leon, Leon would end up benefitting from their compassion and sacrifice and couldn't help but feel his frozen heart softening a little.
"I-I see.. I hope that Malisa could find them soon.. we can only wait till then.." Elvira spoke with a disheartened feeling.
"Leon, drink this medicine quickly! It would certainly be somewhat helpful." Elvira presented the bowl full of medicine to Leon, as he tried to gulp the bitter medicine down his throat.
As the medicine got absorbed by his body, Leon could feel his arms and legs being rejuvenated, as the difficulty he had in moving them before had somewhat disappeared.
And so, for the next few hours, the four ladies continued to chat with him over various topics as they all tried to make him a bit happier. Leon really enjoyed the conversation, as this time it was not out of some memory or someone else, but he himself was the one dealing with them now. The Leon of before and the Leon of now were almost merging into a new entity.
"I'm back." A quiet voice echoed from the outside, as Ginata sprang up to her feet and rushed outside. Elvira's expression became instantly brighter as she glanced toward the opened door.
Curiosity overcame Leon as he too looked towards the gate to see the new arrival.
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A/N: For some readers who are curious, this story takes inspiration from the huge amount of great work out there. If you can spot any reference or something, please do comment.