Late in the night, calm had finally settled over the frontier camp. Despite the silence, the air remained thick with palpable tension as the wounded knights fought against the poison. The side effects, although varied and unpredictable, made the monitoring of each patient essential. Nearly five more knights had been saved thanks to the remedy, carefully applied by the soldiers' medical team. However, the condition of the injured remained fragile, with several requiring constant supervision due to the numerous side effects: heart palpitations, extreme fatigue, violent headaches, and other ailments.
Helia had scarcely had the chance to rest. Since taking charge of preparing the remedy with Bellair, she had lost count of the hours spent monitoring, treating, and noting every detail for her research. Exhausted but driven by unwavering determination, she felt, for the first time, truly useful and fulfilled in her vocation, even though the effort drained her both mentally and physically.
Sir Leon had not regained consciousness. His unstable heart rate occasionally threatened to cease, but thanks to the constant care provided by Bellair and his team, he had survived up until now. Helia sat beside him, quietly recording the fluctuations in his condition, when Arthur's presence startled her.
"Are you still here at this hour?" the prince asked as he approached, looking fatigued and his voice slightly hoarse.
Arthur stood there, exhausted, his armor darkened by soot and stained with dried blood. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his hair was disheveled, but his expression remained as closed off as ever.
Helia offered him a reassuring smile. "Your Majesty, I took a short nap earlier. I'm fit to stay awake for a while."
Arthur furrowed his brows slightly. "Where is Bellair?"
"He went to rest, he hasn't slept since yesterday," Helia replied, her gaze returning to Sir Leon. Silently, Arthur pulled a chair and sat by Leon's bedside. Helia guessed that he, too, wanted to watch over his friend. She observed the prince for a moment, struck by the quiet determination visible in his features despite the exhaustion weighing down his shoulders. He remained there, motionless, his gaze fixed on his sleeping friend, in a silence thick with unspoken thoughts.
After a long silence, the magical device placed near Leon's bed, measuring his vital signs regularly, emitted a faint hum, signaling an increase in his heart rate. Helia jumped up and leaned over to check Leon's pulse herself. The device only measured variations, but she preferred a more direct precision. Suddenly, she felt Leon's fingers weakly close around her hand, a tentative but real grasp. She immediately raised her eyes, her lips stretching into a relieved smile as she saw his heavy eyelids slowly opening.
Leon stared at her for a moment, his gaze still clouded with fog. In a weak voice, he murmured, "You… are you an angel? Am I dead and in heaven?"
A bit surprised, Helia stood frozen, her cheeks slightly flushed, until Arthur intervened in a serious voice: "And what about me? Am I one?"
Leon flashed a sarcastic smile, a gleam of mischief in his eyes despite his condition. "Then I must be in hell, then."
The tension seemed to ease a bit, and Arthur rolled his eyes while Helia gently released Leon's hand.
"Sir Leon, welcome back among us. Do you remember what happened?" she asked gently.
He frowned slightly, as though trying to piece together his memories. "I was attacked by a wild boar… but… how is it that I'm still alive?"
Arthur gave a nod toward Helia, and Leon, realizing the implication, asked, amazed, "You found an antidote?"
A cry of pain interrupted him as he brought a trembling hand to his head, and Helia immediately called for a nurse. She then explained softly, "These are the side effects of the poison. We managed to block its most dangerous effects, but it's still present in your body. Tell me, how exactly do you feel?"
Leon nodded weakly. "It feels like a weight is pinning me to the bed, my heart beats like when I'm with my fiancée… and my skull hurts as if someone's hammering it, but otherwise, I'm fine," he said sarcastically, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Helia responded with a compassionate smile and administered a sedative prepared by Bellair to ease his symptoms, while the nurse, an experienced mage, applied healing magic to soothe Leon's pains. Leon's heartbeat began to stabilize, and his face regained a semblance of serenity.
After one last glance at Leon, Helia discreetly turned away, deciding to give him a moment of calm with his friend. She crossed the tent to the small desk set up in a corner and sat down to examine the reports given to her by Lord Bellair. Absorbed in reading the research on the venom of mutant creatures, Helia took notes methodically, even though fatigue was beginning to take its toll. Her eyelids grew heavier, and she pressed a hand to her forehead, struggling to stay awake.
A few hours later, as sleep gradually overtook her, she startled slightly upon hearing quiet footsteps approaching: Bellair entered the tent, a look of indulgence at the corner of his lips. He placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder and suggested she go rest. Having no strength left to protest, Helia finally agreed and left the tent to sleep.
The next morning, after refreshing herself and preparing, she returned to the injured tent to resume her duties. She had just started her rounds with the patients when an imperial knight appeared, announcing that the prince was waiting for her. Gathering her notebook and notes, Helia followed him through the camp. Sir Aldric joined them to accompany her, as was customary, and they made their way toward the edge of the forest.
At the tree line, they found the carcass of a wild boar recently hunted, lying on the ground, emitting a strong scent of earth and fur. Around the animal, Prince Arthur and several hunters were waiting, their expressions serious. Arthur greeted Helia with a sober nod, allowing her to focus on her work.
Helia crouched beside the boar and began her examination with meticulous care, trying to compare its characteristics with those of the mutant she had previously studied. Though it was an ordinary specimen, she noticed several intriguing similarities with the giant venomous boar. The animal's ears, for instance, had a slightly elongated shape, reminiscent of the mutant's. The structure of its legs also displayed striking similarities: the claws were well-developed for a young boar, and the arrangement of its joints closely resembled that of the mutant creature.
As she studied the musculature of the specimen in more detail, she observed a robust structure, though it still fell within the norms for the species, which wasn't unusual in itself, but could point to a potential for rapid muscle mass increase if an external factor were to stimulate it. Helia also noted the shape of the veins, which, though normal, followed a pattern identical to that of the mutant, as if the mutated creature had been an "extended" version of this species.
Arthur, watching her in silence, noticed the concern on Helia's face. He leaned slightly toward her, seeking her gaze. "How could an ordinary boar help you find an antidote?" he asked in a low but attentive voice.
Without shifting her eyes from her subject, Helia answered cautiously, "It's not for the antidote, Your Majesty…" She hesitated for a moment, weighing each word. "This specimen may help me understand the origin of these venomous creatures."
Arthur tilted his head slightly, a glimmer of curiosity slipping into his gaze. Helia strove to maintain a focused expression, but the tension in her features was palpable. The prince furrowed his brows, his eyes scrutinizing her face. "What's so troubling?"
Helia stiffened, aware that she had revealed too much of her thoughts. She attempted a clumsy escape, choosing each word with nervous caution. "Oh... nothing, Your Majesty, it's just..." She quickly searched for an explanation, but the words did not come. Her silence was eloquent enough to arouse the prince's suspicion.
"It's just what?" he insisted, his piercing gaze fixed on her with intensity.
Realizing she could not avoid the question, she lifted her eyes to meet h
is, her expression serious. "Your Majesty, I would sincerely prefer not to speak of my hypotheses without concrete proof."
The prince did not break his gaze, a flicker of understanding appearing in his eyes. He briefly scanned the surroundings, observing the knights stationed nearby. After a moment of silence, he gestured for Helia to follow him further, away from prying ears.
Once they were out of hearing range, he looked at her, patient but visibly tense. "Tell me what troubles you. You can tell me everything, you aren't committing to anything."
Helia took a deep breath, weighing her words before speaking. "I'm not sure of anything, Your Majesty... but after observing the two types of wild boars, there's a strong possibility they belong to the same species."
The prince raised an eyebrow, trying to grasp the significance of this revelation. She continued, her voice cautious. "If these two wild boars are of the same species, the differences I observed in the venomous giant boars... should normally be due to thousands of years of natural evolution, aided by mana. Otherwise, it means that..."
Arthur interrupted her, his dark eyes taking on a troubling gleam. "Otherwise, it means they were induced."
Helia nodded, her voice lowering as she spoke with increasing concern. "The giant boar that attacked the convoy was barely a few months old. And yet, it had an adult size and a fully developed reproductive system." She lowered her gaze for a moment, aware of the weight of her words. "This was not natural evolution. Even the surrounding mana couldn't cause such targeted changes."
A heavy silence fell between them. Arthur brought a hand to his chin, thinking deeply, his gaze shifting between Helia and the slain boar. After a moment, he approached her, his face bearing a gravity she had never seen before.
"If your suspicions are correct, then there could be dangerous consequences for the Empire..." He left the sentence hanging, looking pensive. "How could you confirm these hypotheses?"
Helia lifted her eyes, determined. "I would need to sequence both genomes and compare the relevant genes. With the magical equipment from the academy, it should take me about a week at most."
Arthur remained silent for a moment, then nodded slowly, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. After a second, he fixed Helia with an intense look, as though ensuring her full attention. "Very well." He took a step towards her, his eyes locking with hers, more determined than ever. "You must not speak of this to anyone. As soon as you return to the capital, do what you need to do as quickly as possible. Is that clear?"
Helia inclined her head, her gaze grave. "Yes, Your Majesty." She fully understood the magnitude of this promise, and the implications of the secret they had just shared.