"Doctor, I'd hate to trouble you. I can manage just fine..."
"Oh ho, are you saying I am useless now?"
"No, Doctor. I would never say something like that..."
"Haulz, you came from the north."
The two were on their way to Marvin's house. They rode at a gentle pace, as though enchanted by the morning sky. Along the path, dewdrops reflected the sun's faint rays, greeting them like a sea of scattered glass. Behind them, however, the lulling music that usually echoed in the air was absent.
"...Yes, Doctor."
"You see, Haulz, you may not know, but here, doctors are bound to their patients until they recover or die."
Haulz was mistaken, and had perhaps forgotten what kind of person the doctor was. The doctor was the kind of man who believed his role in the world was to find ways to help his patients. Take that role away, and all that was left was an empty vessel. In short, he had chosen his sole purpose in life to be helping them.
"I apologize if I came across as antagonizing. It was not my intention."
"Pfft, this old man already has one foot in the grave. I don't have time to be taking things to heart," the doctor chuckled.
"Please do not say such things, Doctor. I can see you still have a few more decades in you."
"Hahaha, please do not say such scary thoughts out loud...!" the doctor burst into laughter.
They filled the empty dirt path with their chatter, giving life to the typically lonely trail. They were in no rush, freely talking about their experiences, medical knowledge, and even how Haulz's family, specifically the doctor's previous pupils, were doing.
Shortly, they arrived at their destination.
Greeting them outside was Sontra. He was strapping a saddlebag to a horse, preparing to depart. He appeared to have been waiting for them
.
"Good morning, Doctor. Good morning, Haulz."
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Sontra. Are you heading out now?" Haulz asked.
Dismounting their horses, the three greeted each other.
"Please do not worry; we will watch over your son until evening. I hope you find the Sylvarin without any trouble," Haulz continued.
Looking at Sontra, ready to leave, Haulz assured him of his son's care.
"About that, please wait a moment."
Sontra pulled the reins, guiding his horse closer. He rummaged through the saddlebag he had just fastened and retrieved a brown-paper wrapping. He then carefully handed the bundle to Haulz.
"Here, I hope it is enough."
Taking the bundle, Haulz wore a puzzled expression. He gazed at it, and his face turned to shock as a familiar smell seeped out. He unwrapped the paper, disbelief filling his features.
Inside, he found several stalks of Sylvarin, fresh and still vibrant in color.
"..."
"Is it not enough?" Sontra asked, clearly worried.
"I-it's more than enough..." Inspecting the herbs, he looked confused. He then continued in a faint voice, "But how...?"
"I am glad to hear that," Sontra said calmly.
"Forgive me, but I must take my leave now. Doctor, Haulz, I entrust my son to your care," Sontra continued.
"We understand. Please do not worry," said the doctor.
From their conversation the previous day, they had managed to divide their tasks. Haulz would be responsible for concocting the medicine to stabilize the child's damaged core, while Sontra would assist in procuring the necessary ingredients.
As for the doctor, his role was to monitor the child's overall condition, ensuring that any medicine used would be both suitable and safe for the boy's body.
Watching Sontra's back as it slowly grew more distant, the doctor went up to Haulz, who seemed shaken. He carefully took the stalks from Haulz's hand. Truthfully, he understood why Haulz was acting like that.
"Arcanists always scared me... Come on, these were picked just a few minutes ago. It's best to begin the refinement soon, lest the quality degrade."
"...Doctor, may I borrow your apothecary room?"
"Go on ahead. I will wait here."
What the doctor said was true. The optimal time to process herbs for an elixir was right after they were picked. As more time passed, more of their vital energy would seep away.
Nodding to the doctor, Haulz left in haste. He had not expected Sontra to get his hands on the herbs so early, and he was deeply puzzled. He urged his horse into a trot, catching up to the tall figure ahead.
"Sontra!" he called out.
Hearing his name, Sontra halted his horse. He turned to look at Haulz, who was waving at him.
"Haulz, is something the matter?" Sontra asked, rather surprised.
"N-no, I just wanted to head to town together, if that's alright."
"Did you forget something?"
"I did not, but I can only brew the elixir in town."
Sontra understood instantly. He had been concerned when he saw Haulz running after him in such a frantic manner. Knowing that everything was fine, his heart eased.
"I apologize; I would have brought the herbs to town had I known."
"Haha, it was also my fault. I did not expect you to acquire the herbs so early. It did not even cross my mind to tell you."
The previous day, when Sontra said he would head out first thing in the morning, Haulz had expected him to set out around the time they were arriving. Assuming Sontra would be busy in the forest for a long time trying to gather the herbs, he had even offered to look after the child until evening.
But the "first thing" for the Arcanist was far earlier than he had anticipated.
"Um, Sontra, was it that easy to get these? Isn't the forest filled with Beasts?" Haulz said, looking down at the herbs in his hand.
"I didn't get them from the forest."
"...What do you mean?"
"Loik gave them to me," Sontra explained.
Looking at Haulz, it was clear he had plenty of questions. Sontra urged his horse to walk again, wanting to talk as they headed to town. Haulz, still in a daze, urged his own horse to move once he saw Sontra pulling ahead.
"The Elder's son gave these to you?"
"Yes, he gave them to me when I asked him to accompany me into the forest. He said he always kept some on hand, just in case."
"He sounds like a thoughtful person..." Haulz said after a moment of silence.
"He is. But have you not met him?"
"No, our paths have not crossed yet. I have only heard about him from my uncle."
Just like Sontra's first impression, Haulz was, in fact, a noble. He came from a city in the north. From what he understood, the doctor's lineage had been taking pupils exclusively from Haulz's household.
"I hope you two meet soon. I am sure you would enjoy each other's company."
"I look forward to that day, then," Haulz chuckled gracefully.
"Um, Sontra, does he have more with him? I would love to make more elixirs if he does."
"I'm not sure. He also said they were difficult to come by."
After only a couple of questions, Haulz seemed satisfied. Naturally, Sontra was curious why Haulz had asked so many questions, and he did not hesitate to ask for the reason.
"I have been wanting to go to that forest."
Haulz explained that the Erla Forest was a special place.
According to him, its inner part contained unique herbs. While it was normal for rare herbs to grow deep in a forest due to the high density of Arcana, Erla Forest had something most forests did not: a guardian spirit.
The spirit's presence influenced all the beings that lived in the forest, be they plants, animals, or even Beasts, mutating them into forms that should not have existed.
One example he gave was a beast recently sighted: the blue-antlered deer.
While the beast itself was fascinating, Haulz's real reason for wanting to enter the forest was the mutated herbs. He had heard tales of wondrous plants that could snatch people from death's door with just a single leaf.
Nonetheless, obtaining them seemed impossible, as he believed he would become Beast food the moment he stepped into the forest. However, he had gained some hope upon seeing Sontra casually produce the Sylvarin.
He thought he might have overestimated the forest's danger and that he himself could tread there. Unfortunately, fate was not kind to him. Upon hearing Sontra's explanation, his hope turned out to be false.
"Then, I must be on my way."
"Haulz, thank you again for helping my son. I truly appreciate it."
After Haulz's lengthy explanation, they arrived in the town center without even realizing it. They bid farewell, with Haulz heading north to brew the elixirs and Sontra turning east to continue his unfinished work from the previous day.
Tak.
Tak.
As Sontra approached the Hunter Plaza, he noticed that decorations were being put up. He observed the green and white cloths hung on the houses around the plaza. They were shaped and arranged to resemble a forest, and Sontra quietly admired the craftsmanship.
In the corner of the plaza, several people were busy hanging up instruments of a kind he had never seen before.
His destination was the center of the plaza, where a mountain of beast cores stood. Although it was considerably smaller than the previous day, the number of unsorted cores was still somewhat overwhelming.
The sound of the beast cores slamming into one another rang in his ears.
"Oh, Sontra."
On top of the mountain of cores, Loik was sitting cross-legged.
"Loik, good morning."
"Hm, good morning."
"...You don't look well. Did something happen yesterday?"
Loik, who had always seemed cheerful and laid-back to Sontra, looked especially troubled. Beyond his dark expression, Sontra noticed that more bandages were wrapped around his body.
"Well, something did happen. Come on up; I want to hear your opinion," Loik said, tossing a core into a pile below.
"Sure."
Sontra unhesitatingly climbed the mountain of cores and sat facing Loik, who emitted a faint smell of blood. Loik offered a faint smile before letting out a helpless sigh.
"Sontra, I have a bad feeling."
"A bad feeling?"
"...Since two days ago, there has been so much strange activity. Do you remember that deer we saw?" Loik whispered, his voice trembling. "I think we may have accidentally angered the Spirit when we tried to catch it..."
"...Tell me what happened."
Loik then began to explain the events that had occurred since the day they encountered the blue-antlered deer.
First, he recalled the incident from two nights prior, where a man building the platform was dragged deep into the forest by a Beast. It was baffling, especially since Beasts never tread on the forest's outskirts.
Although they managed to rescue the victim by mobilizing almost every available man from the clearing, the man still unfortunately lost an arm.
Then, he described the events of the previous day, when he had been called to the forest following the sighting of the blue-antlered deer. There, they discovered that the Beasts and wild animals were behaving with unusual hostility.
As if protecting something, the Beasts and animals appeared to be working together to drive the hunters away. The situation escalated quickly, and by the end, most of his men had suffered serious injuries. One of them had nearly lost his life.
However, the most concerning event of all had happened just hours prior. The town's music had stopped for at least an hour. In all the recorded history of Erla, there had never been a moment during the season of the Spirit's Descent when the music ceased. Yet, for the first time in centuries, it had.