After returning from all the events, Eleanor was even happier than the day before. Last time she almost died while fighting a demon, now she almost died because of other complications, now she had a more set 'goal' in mind; mending her soul.
Before entering the mansion, Eleanor dug up a ditch somewhere off road just before entering the estate, and put her wig in the hole before filling it right up.
"I'll be back for you", she said.
Upon entering the estate she was immediately met with her brother who seemed to be ready to go to Brookshire, it was almost a bit too late after all. He was wearing the training outfit, and had a sword strapped to his hip; he looked like he was going off for war. He seemed to want to look ferocious, intimidating at least, but he just looked cute; like a moos.
"Sister!", he shouted as he ran towards Eleanor.
"Alex?"
"I-I was so worried? I thought something happened to you. Why were you so late?", Alex asked in a very agitated voice.
"Well, I met some nice people who were helping out in the town and well this and that happened and I lost the track of time…"
"P-Please never be so late again, I was so scared", Alex said who seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"Yes, yes, I'll make sure to be on time. I'll also not go to the town so often from today.", Eleanor said in a consoling manner, after all she wanted to take a break also, and most of her money concerns were more or less going to be solved eventually.
"R-Really?", Alex said shocked, he didn't think his pleas would work knowing how stubborn his sister could get.
"Yes, really. So, let's go inside. It's going to be dark soon."
"OK!", he shouted as he pulled on Eleanor's hand.
***
In the manor.
After eating dinner, Eleanor finished cleaning up, and went to the common room where Alex was reading some books on history, and literature. He didn't seem especially engrossed on them, in fact he would never read those books if not for Eleanor's insistence on him becoming a proper 'noble'.
"Sister? Why do you have smeared makeup on?"
"Oh I-"
In all the mess, it seemed Eleanor had forgotten about the makeup while she remembered the wig.
"Kuhum, yes, when the villagers met me they couldn't help but decorate my 'pretty' face, and well; on the way here, I seemed to have smeared them…how sad…I wanted to show them to you"
"Wow~~~", Alex seemed very happy for some reason.
"The blacksmith even made you a sword, look", Eleanor said as she showed Alex the basic long sword she had gotten from the dragon, trying to change the topic.
"WOW~~~ I'm going to train even harder tomorrow", he said excitedly.
"Yes, yes, don't push yourself too much OK!"
"OK!"
After talking for bit, the two of them went to bed.
***
The next morning, Eleanor woke up early and went to pick up the food which would be left in front of the manor.
There she met Elmyra, the owner of morning morsels, who seemed to be dropping the food off. Elmyra, who was just about to leave, gave a last look towards the manor just spotting Eleanor.
"My-MY LADY", she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Ah, madam Elmyra how have you been?"
"My lady, I am much well, in fact I'm worried about you more. Have you been well?"
"Yes, I have been well. Please thank everyone else for providing us with the food; things would've been much tougher on us if it weren't for you all."
"My-my little miss…she has to be so much more mature…curse those who have cursed you with misfortune"
"It's alright madam Elmyra-"
"Oh, how has Mr. Elin been? Reynold and Rosalind seem to want to apologize to him after yesterday's incident. I too-"
"Ah…why would they apologize to Mr. Elin though?"
"Well…after…you know, after Violet was infected with Aero's disease, well Mr. Elin said he knew of a treatment, but well things got quite heated and Reynold said some things he regrets, and he wanted to apologize, so he asked for Mr. Elin and well…", Elmyra said trying not to scare the young girl.
"Aero's disease, isn't that the serious disease which has no cure…I see so Mr. Elin had a cure to it…I see, so that's why-"
"My lady did something happen?"
"No, madam Elmyra, it's nothing. Well after yesterday, he returned a bit sad. And, he left a bit later, saying that he would get the ingredients…"
"I-Ingredients…", Elmyra seemed distraught, all the blood in her face seem to disappear.
"Is everything all right, madam Elmyra? You seem sick, should I get some medicine?", Eleanor said with an innocent facing, internally apologizing to Elmyra for lying.
This lie would likely never be found out as she wouldn't be cosplaying as Elin for the coming week, or maybe more.
"N-no it's alright, my lady. Please ask us if you require more food, or any essentials. I'll get going now.", Elmyra left in a hurry.
"…"
"Phew! I'm sorry everyone for lying, however I need to do this…", Eleanor said as she took the food and prepared to go in.
"Have you been fine?", a voice came from behind her.
Immediately, Eleanor dropped the food in her hands, and held the short sword hidden under her dress and slashed at the intruder. The intruder quickly brought up a sword to block the attack.
Eleanor pulled the short sword to retaliate, just then- she stopped.
The intruder had silver armor, reminiscent of Elin's, although it appeared to be a bit too small for their body; and helmets which covered their face. There was someone else behind this intruder. The other person was wearing a cloak that covered their full body, and was sitting on a wheelchair.
"…Francis?", Eleanor spouted before taking a defensive stance.
"Yes, my lady. Francis.", the first intruder said as they bowed their head.
The other intruder also bowed their head, as deeply as they could in a wheelchair, and took out a letter from under their cloak.
Eleanor took the letter quite cautiously, before opening it and reading it while still having held the sword.
---
My lady, as per our discussion I sent you two people to disguise themselves as your alter egos. They are reliable, and know your secrets.
---
The letter was really just two lines.
"This guy…", Eleanor seemed to make disgusted face, before quickly changing her face, "Um, can you guys please introduce yourself?"
"Yes, my lady. My name is Sheryl", the first intruder opened her helmet.
The intruder named Sheryl had pale white skin and long black hair, and a young-ish face. Eleanor guessed that she might have been in her mid-twenties, or younger. Her eyes were brown in color, her lips were thin. Since the armor seemed a bit too small for her, Eleanor could discern that she had a much trained physique, with a slender, although not to the level of a sword knight. Judging by her build and physique, Eleanor guessed that the woman in front of probably specialized on assassinations, or conventionally stealthy weapons like bows.
Like Eleanor, the woman also seemed to be checking out Eleanor, but unlike Eleanor who was discerning physique and level, the woman seemed to be checking for wounds, and other complications.
"My lady, my name is William."
The second intruder raised his cloak which seemed to cover his face. The face of the man seemed familiar; he had freckles around his nose bridge, an average face, looking at Eleanor with brown eyes. He was the receptionist in the [Dawn Breaker Inn]
Eleanor nodded at the two of them.
"Please, let's converse inside the manor. Have the two of you already eaten? We always get extra food."
"Yes, my lady we have already had breakfast", "NO! I'M STARVING, MY LADY"
The two of them looked at each other, as if telling each other to take their back their words.
Eleanor looked at the two of them, chuckling at them.
"Yes, let's go inside first"
***
[In the Russel estate]
Eleanor, Sheryl, and William made their way to the dining hall of the estate. On the way to the hall, Sheryl and William examined all the parts of the estate.
The Russel state was a relatively very small state even for a barony. While it was bigger than a normal mansion, it was quite small. In the entrance was a small ball room, with a stair well in the middle, with empty pedestals on either side of the bottoms, and corners which once hold statues. On each side of the manor, there were two door, the front two doors led to the garden now slightly overgrown, it seemed Eleanor had taken sometime to roughly clear some weeds and long grass off the garden; the back door on the right led to the training hall, which had signs of being used recently, the one on the right led to a separate estate through another overgrown garden.
The ballroom itself seemed to have many empty spots where it was obvious there used to be decorations, the grand chandelier, the curtains, the extravagant chairs, all taken away. On the second floor of the ballroom, there were a few openings to the side, which opened for a scenic view towards the gardens and the other estate, and a few guest rooms.
Under the stairwell was a hidden passage which led to the treasury of the baron's family, it was hidden quite well. And it also contained a secret passage to an unknown place within it too, although no one seemed to know about it.
Through the back left door, they made their way towards the other estate building through another garden, which had a small pagoda type building for outdoor meals, had two separating paths, one of which seemed to lead towards the staff quarters. The separated estate seemed to be the living quarters of the main family.
Inside the living quarters, it wasn't very extravagant. A common room, two offices, to the left, and a grand library now mostly empty which seemed to occupy two whole floors of this estate to the right. A stair case stationed at the middle led to the upper floors which contained the rooms for the family living here. Behind the stairwell was the dining hall, and a hidden passage, which the two of them immediately recognized, probably led to one of the many hidden passages for the main family to use in emergencies. There seemed to be a door connecting the hall to the kitchen and through the kitchen was another door which led to an outdoors area which contained the water well.
The separated estate seemed to have many connecting paths which were slightly hidden to the training hall and the stable which were beside the training hall, and the guest estate. There seemed to be many hidden paths from this buildings some of which led through the forest surrounding the entire estate to a safer location.
All of them sat at the dining table and began their discussions.
"I hope the two of you have already been introduced in the basics of the situation"
""Yes"", the two of them agreed.
"Miss Sheryl, are you sure the armor is fine, isn't it a bit too…small?"
"Well, my lady it is a bit too small, however I can fix it…well…it's better for me to show you…"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
Suddenly a holy light came from within the armor, Sheryl's black hair began to glow in a holy light and her black hair suddenly became golden blonde. Her eyes also began to glow in holy light, before becoming a familiar blue color. Her physique also reduced to a smaller form, she probably lost quite a few inched in her height.
"Uh~~ UH~~", his voice also became familiar.
Sheryl had completely become Elin.
"A holy assassin? That's quite a combination of abilities that most would find…heretical, how long does this transformation last?", Eleanor remarked out loud, not thinking too much about her comment.
"Hm? My lady I thought the guardian dragon hadn't woken up, how did you come to know of such things?", William questioned Eleanor genuinely intrigued as how such a young person could know such things.
"Well-", Eleanor looked around and met eyes with Sheryl who also seemed to beckoning her for answers.
"I don't know actually, when I saw her and her abilities, I just suddenly realized what kind of role she plays…I'm sorry for not being too helpful."
"N-no it's fine my lady, we were just curious about the situation, but at least it's better than expected; the guardian seems to impart knowledge, so he should be able to wake up soon…this transformation lasts for about 4 hours, after which I need a break of about 1 hour", Sheryl said as she let out a small sigh of relief.
"No, the situation is worse because I haven't even felt the dragon's power even when I was half way to death's door", Eleanor made a remark in her mind.
"Um, do you guys have any ideas on how to awaken the dragon?"
"Well, there hasn't been many cases in the history of mankind where a dragon was bound to a human soul, maybe there has been 3 maybe 4 cases at most…and even then there are hardly any useful records of them, only passing remarks in what would be considered myths today", William said quite uncharacteristically.
"I-I see…", Eleanor was truly dejected.
"W-well, my lady we will figure out a way, in theory it should be just like awakening a bound soul in an equipment, so let's do our best…", Sheryl quickly consoled Eleanor afraid that she might lose her will.
"Thank you, Miss Sheryl; but I know a way will be found, but today is not the time; my brother will wake up soon, so have you brought the cure ingredients for Miss Violet's disease?"
"Yes, my lady here it is", Sheryl said as a suitcase seemed to appear out of thin air, and with a gentle 'thud' sound the suitcase landed on the table.
"Ok! I'll work on it starting-"
Suddenly she stopped talking. The traveler put his hood up, and Elin straightened his back, more he than he already had. Alex had woken up and was making his way down towards the dining hall.
"Sister? Who are these people?"
"Ah, Alex? When did you wake up? Go wash your face, let's eat breakfast. I'll introduce them to you now."
"Ok", Alex said as he rubbed his eyes, and went to wash his face.
"Now begins the mission, you don't have to do much; just familiarize yourself with my brother, and tell him some things I have done as Elin, and well as the traveler, ok? Also Elin, teach Alex some swordsmanship too, and Mr. Traveler, I might send him to learn somethings about finances so, be ready too"
""Yes!""
***
Alex came back after he went to wash up. He looked at the two new guests, and began examining their physique, and their possible reason for coming here, like he had been taught by his sister. He also eyed the suitcase placed on the dining table, but did not give much mind to it.
"Oh my dear brother, you did well, but it's too obvious", Eleanor made a remark in her head, chuckling at her brother while thinking how cute he was and how he was trying his best.
The guests also noticed Alex's attempt to examine them quite obviously.
"How incredible", the two of them thought.
The traveler was more impressed with the young man's attempt, "How trained, how disciplined, and how immediate", he thought. While Elin felt a bit regretful. Such a young child had to become more mature than he should, time he should be spending playing with other children, he is here being cautious of even the friendliest people.
"Elin, these are two guests who will be staying with us for a while…please treat them with grace"
"Alright sister", Alex said as he gave a slight bow to the both of them.
Elin took the initiative to introduce him, "Young lord Alex, my name is Elin Nullborn, I am here along with my partner. We were supposed to stay here only for a week and move onto Vivaldi, but circumstances changed and we decided to stay here for a while, I hope to be help to you"
Seeing Elin's introduction, the traveler also started his own, "Young lord, I am the partner he speaks of, I am a traveler and as you can see due to my physique, I am not much of a physical person…haha", his voice no longer hand the young feel, as it was coarse and rough, it seemed he would start a coughing fit if small amounts of dust were blown at his face.
"Hm? A voice changing mana device?", Eleanor thought to herself, as she noticed small amounts of the traveler's will be sucked into a small device near his chest.
"Um…yes, Thank you for choosing to stay at our state…I-I hope you have a good time here", Alex replied a bit hesitant, a bit agitated, and a bit scared.
"How cute…but I am concerned, what if his social anxiety continues to grow further?", Eleanor thought to herself, slightly concerned.
"Kuhum! Yes, let's begin our breakfast, Alex, you should train with Mr. Elin today; he is a great person who recently saved this town from a demon attack you know. And, Mr. Traveler has been helping with the town's financial situations too, so learn from him from time to time, alright?"
The 'demon' seemed to have caught Alex's interests as he nodded along with his sister's words, trying to hide his feeling.
"I will be resting today, so I won't be with you much alright? And, don't bother them too much", Eleanor said making an excuse; she needed to make the cure after all.
"Alright sister! I-", Alex said excitedly before closing his mouth as if he had accidentally said something he shouldn't have.
"H-kuhum kuhum", Elin let out some small cough, she also thought Alex was very cute, the traveler however seemed to see something more in him, he seemed impressed by Alex's talents.
***
After they ate the breakfast, Eleanor made her way to her room, while Elin and the traveler made their way towards the training to observe Alex's training.
Eleanor put the suitcase on a drawing table near her bed, and opened it.
The suitcase contained two vials with labels on them, a stick of mistletoe and a container which seemed to contain a bronze colored triangular bit, which was obviously the dragon scale, submerged in a liquid which seemed to some sort of oil to prevent tarnish, about the size of an adult's fist. There were also some essentials like fire mana stones, mana insulating sheet, water mana stone, ice mana stone and some essential tools like a distilling container, tongs, extra vials, and much more.
"He really thought this through huh.", Eleanor said as she took out all the ingredients and placed them on the insulating sheet which she had taken out first, "Whew…let's begin"
In a large pot on top of the insulating sheet, she put some water using the mana stone, and using a fire mana stone, she began to boil it, and gathered the distilled water in a separate clean container. Then, she dipped the mistletoe in the distilled water, to soak it for a bit, which would increase the rate of the next step quite dramatically.
She took one of the vials of poison, it was labeled 'Black-stripped Naga venom', a venom which was magic based, which neutralized aura on contact, used by the nagas found in very hot environments like the desert, where the animals had to evolve and used unrefined aura. This predator hid in small holes and ambushed the prey neutralizing the aura in them, and killing them in a matter of hours, no matter the size of the prey.
The other vial was labeled 'Red spine gigano-makar venom'; this venom was aura based and came from a gigantic makar which lived in moist damp caves. Their cobwebs, and scent can essentially disrupt the mana around them thus, their prey which use mana in the atmosphere to guide themselves get stuck in the cobwebs to become dinner. The venom is a result of their diet, as there is a need to dissolve mana in their prey's body while they digest them from the inside out. This would be used in the later steps.
She slowly opened the naga poison vial and poured it slowly into the pot which was soaking the branch. The branch and the poison did not seem to react yet, so she brought out another fire crystal and slowly raised the heat in the container to almost boiling the water, but not quite; at which point the poison began to be absorbed in the branch which seemed to release a blue essence of its own, very slowly.
This essence later would react with the other aura based poison, and create green colored chemical which must be soaked again in the mistletoe branch at then, one should quickly let it cool down; as the fast reaction between the three elements, mainly the opposing poisons, could damage the main body of the branch; effectively destroying the cure and having to restart the entire process from scratch. This process produces a highly corrosive substance which is very volatile, and must be kept in a separate container as it would be used in the next step. There is also an excess of essence left before the cooling process, this excess must be taken out as it is used in a later step.
After the reaction in the mistletoe has been completed, now the dragon scale is purified by washing off the oil using distilled water, and then having it soak with the remaining mistletoe essence with hot distilled water, and then the corrosive matter is added to the container, which dissolves the essence infused dragon scale. Then after purifying the dissolved dragon's scale by distilling it multiple times, a watery paste which has a light blue color will be formed, depending on the size of the scale, it might amount to a spoonful to a cup's worth of dragon's scale essence, as what is left of the big piece of scale will be a concentrated paste of all the benifits. For Eleanor's case, the scale should provide a few spoonful of essence.
Finally, using the mistletoe branch's tip is whittled down to a tip, like a needle. This needle is dipped in the light blue paste (dragon's scale essence), and then inserted at the nape of the patient, about a third of a finger's length. This process will be quite painful, and difficult; but after the process is completed, the neutralized poison should cleanse the patient's body of all their solidified 'will' and the paste will numb out the thalloid nexus, and provide a form of stabilization to it. After the treatment about 2 hours later, the mistletoe branch will blacken, but the pain in the patient might last for a couple of hours if the damaged area is big enough.
Finally, after the pain in the patient disappears, the patient must rest for a couple of weeks, and take at most a drop of dragon scale essence per day, for about a week, if possible by mixing it in a cup of water and drinking it. It has a very, very bitter taste with a slightly sour after taste.
However that was for the future, currently Eleanor had to make sure the branch correctly soaked all the naga-venom, which could take up to 24 hours. Then she also had to simultaneously make the dragon scale essence, which could take more than 7 days. She also had to be very careful, as she did not have the most abundant source for ingredients; well at least she didn't know how abundant these ingredients were.
All in all, this entire process should take just less than 2 weeks.
Working on the cure, Eleanor was reminded of her life as Rebecca. For the cure, it was one of the few times she had to fight a dragon, and negotiate about 50 kilograms after beating it. She remembered the genius but crazy alchemist. Eleanor was reminiscing her previous life as Rebecca, but she couldn't remember why she had gathered the dragon's scale for.
She racked her brain, before remembering that a village had been contaminated with an infectious version of the black rot disease, their name for Aero's disease. She seemed to remember how well the alchemist had explained the steps.
.
.
.
Knock knock~~~