Scorpions Behind The Scene

"They're... Uh, let's just say that they're the commander's personal unit," Sirks bluntly put it. "They're willing to do whatever the commander tells them regardless of whether or not it is wrong. They go by the motto: for the empire. They're also elites and we probably don't stand a chance against them if we encounter one."

"They're that strong?"

"Yes, they're war veterans that have survived countless battles. They're somewhat like the knights of Silverfield, but just more bloodthirsty. And before you even consider trying to fight one, your brute force style with your giant sword won't work on them," Sirks warned Kies.

"And what makes you think that?" Even if they're war veterans, all it takes is for them to make one careless mistake when facing him and they will lose their lives. He could pull the black sword out of nowhere in a blink of an eye and catch even the most battle-worn soldiers off guard with it.

"Trust me, just don't... Please," he added in the end, begging Kies to not try it. Kies really didn't understand why, but it really seemed that these red-scarfed soldiers were nothing to scoff about.

"Yes, don't do that," Iris also agreed with Sirks and said after she finished her food. "It doesn't matter how strong you are. They're not even something that you and that big sword can handle. For starters, the 'red-scarfed soldiers' is just the nickname that everyone calls them. Their real name is the anti-magic corps, and I don't think I need to tell you what they're capable of based on that name alone."

"Anti-magic corps? Are you saying that they're good at taking down mages?"

"Not good, they excel at it. They have a way to nullify magic completely and can render all magic users useless. This way, they don't have to worry about fighting against mages as they can deck the floor with almost everyone in a melee," Iris explained to Kies what their fighting style is like.

"I see..." That did sound pretty intimidating. They already sounded like tough opponents, but to be able to render all magic useless as well... Kies had no idea how they could do that, it was definitely something that sounded really dangerous as well. While he was fairly skilled with the sword now and didn't use his magic all that often if he didn't to as it was way too powerful and would attract a lot of needless attention, he wasn't sure if he could take one of them on considering what the two told him. Even Wompa was shaking her head to tell Kies that fighting them is a bad idea.

"Alright, alright, I get it. We run if we meet one." Though Kies really wanted to see if he could defeat one of them, it was far too risky. In the first place, he wasn't sure if he could summon his black sword since he didn't know if summoning it is considered magic or not. If it turns out that he can't call it out then he wouldn't have a fighting chance against them. It was better to not test that. So Sirks was right, Kies shouldn't pick a fight with them if he didn't have to.

"Anyway, we're done. Let's start moving again," Sirks waved for everyone to get up. He left a couple of coins on the table as payment and threw a napkin at Iris. "Wipe your face, you disgraceful princess." Iris didn't question it and started wiping her face with it and then threw it on the plate to be taken away and disposed of when it is collected.

"Where are we going?" Kies asked. They never told him what they were going to do after they made it into the city. Were they planning on going directly to the palace? That didn't sound like a good idea since the queen is in a coma and couldn't help them. It wasn't like they can wake her up just by being there at her side right?

"We need to find someone," Sirks tells him.

"Someone? Who?"

"A herbalist that can wake her up. Otherwise, even if we go, we would have no way of getting rid of her poison and we'll just be handing ourselves to them."

"I see..." That made sense. "Do you know where they are?"

"No. That's why I said that we need to find one. The only herbalist we know is the one who poisoned her, and we can't exactly go asking them for the antidote now can we?"

Well, technically, they can. Though Kies would say that "threaten" is the better word in this scenario. But finding another herbalist to do the job was probably the smarter choice since it isn't as risky as getting the person who poisoned the queen to cough up another brew. For all they know, it could be another vial of poison and they wouldn't know.

"Okay then, where do we start?"

"Well for starters, let's see if we can find an elf somewhere. Most of them hate this place, but there has to be at least one somewhere in here."

"At least one huh?" Kies looked around the streets to see if he could spot one but found nothing. The streets were packed with humans (as it should be), with a couple of beastmen and dwarves in the mix, but there were no elves at all. In the first place, why were they trying to find an elf? Weren't they searching for a herbalist? Kies asked Sirks about it, confused about why they were trying to find an elf.

"Well, aren't they the best with plants and stuff? They should know how to make an antidote."

"But wouldn't a herbalist that is native to here know more about the plants and herbs in the area than an elf?"

"Oh, that's true..." Sirks never thought about that. And from the looks of things, neither did Iris or Wompa. They both raised their eyebrows at the point that Kies made. Had they been so focused on getting an elf to do it that they forgot about that obvious fact? "Hmm... But there's one slight problem about it," Sirks tells him.

"And that is?"

"We don't have those here in Otane."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... Why don't you take another good look around?" Iris tells Kies.

Kies turned his head back towards the street and started looking around to see what she was talking about. He didn't get it. On his right were a couple of swordsmen and merchants. Directly in front of him stood several more warriors carrying swords. On his right is a pair of merchants and standing behind them were several guards... Oh.

Kies saw the problem now too. It seemed that everyone in Otane was either a merchant or warrior. Even all the shop and store signs had something to do with weapons and armor or food. Fighting and food. There was nothing else other than those two things in Otane.

"Is there really not a single herbalist other than the one that poisoned the queen in the entirety of Otane?" Kies asked. This couldn't be true. With how populated the city is, there has to be at least one other herbalist who can cure the queen. Kies refused to believe that there isn't another one.

Sirks scratched his head and suck his teeth. "There is one, but..."

"But?"

"She charges ridiculous fees for her service."

"Define ridiculous."

"Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Yes." Was the price really that high that even the two princesses of Otane couldn't afford it? Kies doubted it.

Sirks pinches his brow and leaned in and whispered it to Kies. His eyes widened when he heard the price. "Are you-"

"No, I'm not making this up. She really does charge that much."

"What!? Who can even afford that?" The price that Sirks told him, if it were true, even if Kies sold everything he had on him, he wouldn't be able to cover half of it. And he had some pretty expensive stuff on him. One of a kind to be exact. But this should still be well under what the princesses have, so Kies didn't see what the problem is here.

"Can't you just take that much out of the treasury? I mean, you two are the princesses of this place, right?"

"We can't," Iris tells him.

"Why not?"

"We can't exactly go into the palace right now."

"Hm? Can't we just sneak her in, have her look at the queen's condition, and then cure her? After that, she can just go into the treasury herself." It was as simple as that. Even if they didn't have the payment now, they can just pay afterward.

"That's true, and it would save a lot of headaches if we can do that," Sirks sighed.

"What do you mean? Why can't we do that?"

"She only accepts the job if you pay on the spot."

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