The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects: Volume 4

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3138-9
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Reihe: The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects

When Dias comes down with a fever, the twins nurse him back to health with a mysterious herb... Could it be that Dias really did receive the legendary sanjivani herb from that weird talking baar? Before he can think too much about it, however, Dias learns from Eldan that he's officially a duke! The title comes with a whole host of new and complicated responsibilities, but what has Dias most worried is simply deciding on a new family name! Can Dias learn and remember all the new and confusing laws and rules while Iluk Village prepares for the freezing winter ahead?

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fuurou

Weitere Mitwirkende

Kinta

Lim, Hengtee

Leseproben

I didn’t want to make the two girls any more worried, so I hefted myself up with what little strength I had left and I took the bowl in hand. The liquid in it was a deep green, so I guessed that they’d brought me some more of Alna’s curatives.

I didn’t feel much like drinking anything at all at that point, not even a single drop, but I wanted to reassure the twins and let them know that everything would be all right, so I prepared myself to force their medicine down. I took a big old gulp and found myself caught off guard by the flavor.

“Huh? This is delicious.”

The medicine that Alna made had a powerful scent, and it was mighty bitter to boot. But this stuff was sweet and refreshing, and in my weakened state it was a welcome pleasure. It was like a mix of honey and fresh fruits, except the sharper edges of the flavors had been smoothed out with warm water. Whatever it was that the twins had given me, it didn’t taste like the usual medicine.

“This is so good,” I said. “What is it? It doesn’t taste anything like Alna’s herbal stuff.”

“Um, we made it from the leaves you got,” said Senai.

“We used one of the three in the bag,” added Ayhan. “Then we planted the seed in our field.”

That was when I noticed the bag that the talking baar had given to me. It was hanging on Ayhan’s belt. I was suddenly confused.

My addled mind raced with questions, but that was the most I could muster. Just thinking too much tired me out. I sank into bed and laid my weary head back on my pillow. I let my troubled thoughts fade away into the ether before turning to the twins.

“Thank you, girls,” I said. “I think this medicine will work like a charm. It’s made me sleepy, so I think I’m gonna take a nap.”

I’d only just drunk the stuff, so it wasn’t going to have any effect so soon, but my words brought bright smiles to Senai and Ayhan’s faces, and they hopped back to their feet and ran out of the yurt. I watched them go, then closed my eyes; my wounds itched and I couldn’t keep from moaning, but soon enough I faded back into slumber.

“...ey! ...ias!”

Someone was slapping me. They kept at it too. They were slapping my forehead.

“...you hear me?! Dias!”

I pulled myself back into the world of the waking and stared up at the ceiling. The scarlet light overhead told me it was evening.

“Dias! Wake up!”

It was Alna. And she wasn’t letting up.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Did something happen?”

Her face was a mix of shock and relief.

“ what happened!” she cried. “You were running a nasty fever and now it’s just gone!”

But when I started to take notice of my body, I realized that my fever had subsided, and the lethargy racking my body was gone, along with the dull pain and nausea I’d felt earlier. I sat up gingerly, took a deep breath, and shook my head to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I inspected my body again but nothing was out of the ordinary. Well, actually, if there was anything out of the ordinary, it was the fact I felt incredible.

“It’s not just the fever,” I said. “I don’t feel nauseous or tired anymore either. It feels like I came out of a restful few days of sleep, but I know that’s not the case...so what happened?”

“Let’s take a look at your wounds,” said Alna.

She undid the string holding my bandages in place, then slowly peeled them off. She looked closely at my wounds and discovered that all the swelling had subsided completely. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she worked, putting the dirty bandages in a basket and wiping the blood and pus from my cuts with fresh pieces of cloth. When she was done, she got in super close to look real carefully at my wounds.

“The cuts still haven’t fully healed,” she said, “but they’re not festering anymore, and there’s no swelling. I think it’s safe to leave them uncovered; they’ll scab quickly and close on their own. But I have to ask: this isn’t because you have some kind of superhuman healing abilities, is it?”

Alna wiped the wounds again, then a third time, and then she took some of the medicinal herbs she’d squeezed into a bowl and rubbed that into and around my cuts.

“Of course not,” I said. “I’ve had festering wounds before, but this is the first time they’ve ever healed so quickly. Being that I was poisoned and the wounds were infected, I was ready for a few weeks in bed.”

Alna tilted her head to the side, puzzled by it all.

“Can you think of any reason it might have happened?” she asked finally. “Was there anything over the last few days that you might have picked up off the ground and eaten? Like herbs or something like that?”

“Picked up off the ground? I mean, come on, Alna, I... Oh, wait a second.”

I couldn’t believe she would have asked me something like that, but then I suddenly remembered the talking baar from the night before and the medicine that Senai and Ayhan had made me drink.

“What? What did you pick up off the ground and eat?!” demanded Alna. “Be honest!”

“Well, there was this talking baar that I met last night before I went to bed. It told me a bit of a tale, but I’d been drinking, so I didn’t really take it too seriously. I think we’re going to have to talk to the girls to—”

Before I could finish, however, Klaus rushed into the yurt.

“Excuse me, Lord Dias,” he said. “We’ve received word that the lord of Kasdeks is on his way here to Iluk. Given your condition, would it be best if we asked him to come back when you’re feeling... What?!”

Klaus was shocked at the sight of me.

“You’re okay?! Already?!” he exclaimed. “And your wounds! They’re already on the mend?!”

Alna and I shared a glance. As I looked into her eyes, I wondered what to do about Eldan. I thought about it a lot, and then I decided that the best thing to do before making a decision was to see how I really felt. I slowly lifted myself from my bed, swung my arms a few times, twisted and circled at the hips, and even hopped a little.

I was careful not to overexert myself and open up my cuts, but they didn’t hurt in the slightest. My fever was gone, and my breathing was all back to normal. Maybe it was because I’d slept so well, but I didn’t even feel any fatigue. In fact, I felt on top of the world.

“It’d be one thing if I wasn’t feeling well, but I feel great,” I said to Alna. “I’d love to see Eldan. What do you say?”

I mentally prepared myself for Alna getting mad at me for so much as suggesting the idea, especially after I’d just woken up from a potentially life-threatening fever, but instead she nodded thoughtfully.

“Eldan has done a lot for us, so we should make the effort, and besides, you won’t get any worse as long as you don’t push yourself too hard. I’d have some harsh words for you if you were leaving on an expedition somewhere, but as long as we’re around Iluk, you can come back and rest if you start feeling weak or tired. I don’t see any problems as long as we’re well prepared.”

Alna then reached for a bag hanging on the yurt wall and began preparing immediately.

“I’ll let Eldan’s traveling party know!” said Klaus.

“Thanks,” I replied, although he was out the door so quickly I wasn’t sure he’d heard me.

I reached for my clothes, which were folded up by my pillow, but Alna stopped me.

“Dias,” she told me, “there’s no need to rush. I told you that we have to be well prepared, remember? That means you’re going to drink a good helping of medicine, then we’re going to put some dried herbs on the insides of your cheeks, then you’re going to breathe in some incense, then you’re going to warm your body by the oven. You’ll get a really good sweat going, so you’ll get dressed we’ve wiped you clean. You’ve only just recovered, and that means you could easily catch something else, so I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Alna showed me the bag that she’d taken from the wall with an ear-to-ear grin on her face. That smile of hers had a unique sort of pressure unlike when she was angry, so I just gulped nervously, nodded, and prepared myself for what was to come.

Alna and I waited at the eastern fringe of Iluk Village as the sun began to sink behind the horizon. The first people we noticed coming our way were Klaus and a group of dogkin. They were soon followed by Kamalotz and a number of guards, all on horseback, and then came the familiar bed-shaped carriage that Eldan traveled in.

“Sir Dias!” Eldan called out from his bed. “I meant to come so much earlier, but there was so much to do I was delayed. You have my humblest apologies!”

“Don’t sweat it, Eldan,” I answered, waving and smiling. “Welcome to Iluk!”

Maybe it was because I’d opened my mouth, or maybe because I was moving...