"Sir, we have just received a report that the patient has made a drastic recovery." An elf reported, dressed in a white robe and a thick pair of glasses resting on their nose.
"That's a relief." I replied as I sat on the ledge of the balcony of the makeshift lab, that had been hastily built inside the lord's manor.
I was taken a brief break after spending hours creating a cure. And when we did, it was sent over to be tested on an inflicted elf. With the report I was given, the production of the large batch of potion will now be put into action.
Downing the remainders of the mug of water, I stood up and re-entered the makeshift lab. I was greeted by tired faces. Most of the elves that had been sent to me were already exhausted from looking after the inflicted elves.
"Ok everyone. We have been given the go ahead, so once this is done, we get to collapse in a corner somewhere." My speech wasn't exactly inspiring, but these elves weren't looking for inspiration, they were looking for some sleep.
"Cain, I've made some calculations on the measures we need." Jane, the elf who turned out to be the chief healer, handed me a small piece of parchment.
I looked it over, and it was pretty accurate, however, it was a little off and wasted more ingredients than we needed. His face seemed to realise that as well.
"Pretty accurate. However, if you infuse the mixture with mana, you can reduce the amount of the ingredients by ten percent." I explained, having done some calculations of my own and arriving at near the same number. 'This man is pretty talented. Shame he doesn't practice alchemy.'
"I see. Then, shall we get started?" He asked, looking the same emotionless as usual. However, at my words, he seemed a little relieved that we could actually brew enough potion for everyone.
I nodded and headed over to the prepared area, with all the ingredients laying to one side. One of the helpers had been tasked with preparing them for quick use. I didn't have to give them many directions, as it seemed that their primary tasks as a herbologist apprentice was to prepare the ingredients.
Having people to help was something I wasn't used to. But they were reduced to light jobs as I did the heavy lifting, which would make everything easier and faster, which I wasn't complaining about.
Controlling the flame under the repurposed cooking pot, I levitated some of the chopped mushrooms into the liquid and slowly controlled the liquid, so it didn't mix too fast. The going was slow, as I placed each ingredient into the mixture, I had to judge the flow of the brew. If anything got out of balance, the mixture would fail.
After an hour of solid concentration, I was at the final phase. 'Now I need to add and boil the murkmelk fluid. Adding it as a steady stream.'
Raising the fluid out of the pale it sat it. I condensed the milky white fluid into a ball in the air and raised the temperature until the surface was boiling hot.
Creating a vortex in the brewing potion, I slowly funnelled the boiling hot murkmelk into the brew, I needed to make sure that I didn't dilute things too fast. I needed time for each attribute of the ingredients to absorb the amplifying effect of the murkmelk or it'll nullify the entire potion.
Ten minutes later, and the last of the liquid had been merged, turning the whole potion murky brown. 'Now for the final step.'
Placing both of my hands onto the boiling cooking pot, made the elves in the room wince. If they hadn't seen me doing it before they would have tried to stop me. Luckily, for me, my control over fire offered me pretty good amount of fire and heat resistance.
I began to fill the whole pot with mana. As I did, the liquid began to glow a purple colour as I took away the heat, slowly cooling the liquid down so that it could be used straight away.
Another five minutes past before I was finished. The brown potion had become a clear liquid as I removed my mana from the pot.
"Finished." I said, with a sigh as I wiped the sweat from my brow.
My work was finished, so I left the bottling and administration to the elves. I needed a lay down.
"Good work. We will handle everything else." Jane spoke. His eyes looked at the three assistances in the room who knew what that look meant and started to get to work.
[Quest Complete]
With your help, the elves have managed to synthesize a cure to the plague. Time will tell how many lives will be saved. However, your positive actions in solving the situation cannot be overlooked.
[Reward: The people of Cadisa recognise you as their saviour. Positive increase in favourability towards all elf characters]
"Thanks. I'll get out of your way. Let me know if there is a problem." I said as I left the room and headed back to my room. I had used a fair amount of my mana and felt pretty tired.
As I opened the door to my room, I saw a human sized mound of cloth laying in my bed. Walking over, with a sigh leaving my lips, I grabbed the hem of the sheet and pulled it off with force. And found nothing underneath.
I frowned as I looked at the empty bed, slightly confused. Then, I heard a sound that could only be described as singing light, coming from behind me. As I turned, I saw a little girl sitting on the windowsill with a bright smile. She was clad in bright light, so bright that I could make out only her smile.
Before I could say anything, she turned into a bright light and vanished. 'Was that a spirit of light? Aren't they incredibly rare?' I was stood in complete shock. Light spirits were widely known to be very cautious and avoided almost every creature. It was also thought that no light spirits existed anymore.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
The sound of knocking on my door broke me out of my shock. As I opened the door, I was met with the familiar face of Zale, she stood wearing casual clothes and had a silver tray of food.
"Good evening, Cain. I heard that you have just finished with making a cure. So, I thought I'd bring some food for you." She explained, with a look that seemed to be conflicted about something.
I invited her inside, because I was hungry and intrigued as to what she had on her mind. She placed the silver tray onto the table and sat in an empty seat.
It was another dinner of fruit and vegetables. But as I started to eat my food, I watched the absentminded face of Zale who sat, staring into space.
"Something on your mind?" I asked, placing a piece of fruit into my mouth.
Zale jolted at my sudden words and her eyes regained some focus as she looked at me.
"Ah, well, we have received new about the recent elf kidnapping cases." She spoke. At the look on her face, I guessed that there was something troubling about the recent news.
"I take it there is something troubling about what you've heard?" I asked. I was curious but didn't want to press the issue.
"Lord Langer has been selling elves to the humans for luxury good."