Malleus looked to him in surprise, "He told you this?"
Lilia nodded, "Not only that, but he and the nurse kept it a secret that he was the one who single handedly cured students in Octavinelle dorm. He is just as surprised as the nurse to discover that he would get injured so often, though."
Malleus thought for a bit before he said, "Students from Octavinelle was hurt?"
"That's right." Lilia clarified, "Remember the tarantula infestation? The students of Octavinelle was trying to clear out the spiders when they were all bitten by the dead spiders. According to Lotus, the tarantulas came from the south and are rare. She bought the poison once in Scalding Sands and created an antidote out of it. Some of the students had become close to death by the time Azul went to find him. They didn't realize the situation till she told them information about the spiders. He said he witnessed first hand how he was able to extract the venom of the spiders from every students in worse conditions and how he organized the treatment professionally and being very level headed through it despite having only come across this situation once in his life. After the treatment, he got everyone there to promise secrecy in exchange for their treatment."
"Then, how did you manage to get information from the doctor, father?" Silver looked to Lilia in confusion.
"He gave it to me under the condition that I help him convince Lotus to become his apprentice after he graduate." Lilia responded, "He really wants to learn the techniques and knowledge from Lotus, but the chances that he is willing to become someone's apprentice is low since he wants complete secrecy regarding his accomplishments."
Malleus was left in deep thoughts as he muttered, "If he was so skilled, then he couldn't have made those blunders and gotten hurt so often... Unless..."
Lilia nodded with a frown, "Unless, someone is purposely targeting him."
Silver could hardly count the number of time he's been surprised by this point, but the thought of Lotus being targeted still brought nothing but shock to him, "Why would he be targeted? Perhaps this has something to do with his background?"
"Lotus came from a town near the Valley of Thorns. However, the Valley of Thorns shouldn't have such advanced knowledge in medicine compared to the other countries. Unless he's studied in places outside of the kingdom, he couldn't gain access to all the materials to learn the skill." Lilia continued before he sighed, "If he just had a simple background, we wouldn't have to look into it so deeply for interacting with Ren. The question is if he has any ulterior motives or not and who is targeting him? Hah... At this rate, I might just be asked to return to the ranks..."
"Lilia..."
Seeing Malleus's worried look, Lilia laughed, "It's fine. I serve the royal family because I want to, after all. I'd happily return if the royal family needs my help."
Malleus is currently studying in this school as a break and a new experience as a regular student. However, they didn't think that they would be given the task to keep an eye on Ren whom they had known before entering the school. Malleus can't say that they were close, but he was certainly like a little kitten following after him and and the others when he was little. He was timid back then and shivered like a little kitten struggling to stand on their own little legs. However, in just a few years, he managed to stand and walk around to explore his surroundings. Yet, his parents started telling everyone that Ren was ill and didn't allowed him to leave the house to anywhere unless it was over at Lilia's house or the castle. It was obvious what the family was trying to do this time, but they were confused on why they did it so blatantly obvious. Thinking this back then, Lilia had the idea to visit the house with the kids under the pretense of a play date when he noticed something off about the behaviour of the family.
Since then, Malleus and his grandmother has been keeping an eye on the family, especially Ren. She had often left the child with Silver and the others as they were the only one in the castle of close age back then after the two started visiting the castle more often. Ren was weak and often became sick under the cold seasons. However with his family's reputation had always been the worst and that also affected Ren who was said to have been the black sheep of the household. If that was it, then it was no wonder they alienated him, but it made no sense because he was their only son.
Perhaps it was this thought that made Malleus's grandmother tell him to keep an eye on Ren after he was enrolled into the school. However, why was it that he ended up coming across someone as troublesome as Lotus too?
Would it be worth going to find out more about Lotus?
.....
Back in her room, she took out her scroll and began to write on it. Thinking of this now, she dropped her pen into the container of ink and thought aloud quietly to herself, "Mo Li also loved Chrysanthemum tea the most..."
She later grew tired of it, but the tea was something she craved for the most during the warm seasons. She thought long and hard and pondered in thought, "Mo Li had lovely brown hair and eyes like that of emerald... It later became black and her skin became pale, but her beauty still remained after that change or had become more beautiful. As I thought... Malleus Draconia greatly resembles her too much to just be a coincidence."
"Does master think there's a connection?" Ying Hui asked her curiously, "Also, who is Mo Li? Is it some one from the Mo family?"
"You idiot!" Xiao Li whispered and pulled his sister back inside.
Not many of them knew who Mo Li was as some only knew from their soul contract with her. However, only two knew of Mo Li. The others do not know of this person. As a result, Ying Hui and Xiao Li do not know of this person.
"Mo Li as the flower, jasmine. She's not part of any family in our world biologically, but, if it's family, she's my younger sworn sister." Lotus said quietly butt loudly enough for them to hear, "Something happened to her a few years after we met and she had to return to her birth world."
The two froze as she continued, "As you've probably guessed, I've found out a few weeks ago that this world is her birth world."
Hearing this, Ying Hui floated over quietly as Xiao Li hesitated to ask, "Th... Then, was she also a fae?"
He recalled how she mentioned that the sister looked and acted just like Malleus did and only thought about it now. Perhaps, Mo Li was a fae from this world.
Lotus nodded her head, "That's right. Many years ago, I met her at my rest spot. She had stricking green eyes and large black horns. It was clear that she wasn't a human, but she was insightful and blunt. However, at that time, she had suffered from a fall into some thorns and scratched her face. So, I took her back and sought my two older sisters for help. Many years without entertainment... The two caught interests of what I stumbled across and came to my place under the pretense of a flower-viewing. At first, I had thought that she was a race of demons that had escaped from the underworld, but who would've known that neither of my sisters have ever seen her before nor heard of the term fae. She spoke an unusual tongue and wrote in strange literacy. Not to mention, she was weak to metal, she couldn't even touch the metal hinges of porcelain containers when we applies medicine to her face."
"The characteristics of past Faes in this realm!" Xiao Li gasped in bewilderment when he heard this.
"That's right..." Lotus sighed, "The incident got the four of us closer, so we decided to become sworn sisters with this child. She was so young back then and only reached my elbow, but the years passed and she grew tall and beautiful. However, an incident occurred forcing us to part with her. The journal was one of the many things we gifted her at the time. However, seeing the deterioration of the scroll..."
"But faes can live for a long time." Ying Hui responded hesitantly, "Maybe..."
Lotus shook her head quietly as she said solemnly, "I've already heard the news from everyone. Mo Li knew how to preserve items with her magic and she liked things to remain as they were. If my suspicions are correct..."
She thought long and hard. Over and over again before she finally said quietly, "She's been dead... for over ten thousand years now..."
The two were surprised to hear of this! There were stories of realms with time that flow at different paces. If it was true, then it wouldn't be farfetched to say that her sworn sister really did die many years ago.