– Day 5 –

Some Fine Friends

I wander over to the knight, slowly of course with my hands raised. I don’t want him to attack me thinking I’m with the assailants after all.

“Um, sir? Are you okay?”

…

The knight seems to give no response as I edge closer to him.

It could be a language issue. I’ll try again, keeping my hands up so as not to seem dangerous.

“Sir, are you okay? I saw you fall from your horse.”

…

Still no response. He’s either unconscious, dead or waiting to strike. I’m going with option one as I drop all caution and hurry over to him… Or rather, her. A female knight..

An equal opportunities knighthood huh? Go figure.

I remove her helmet.

“She’s been poisoned.”

Yep, must be the arrow. High temperature, pale lips and short fast breathing. I'd guess she doesn’t have long left.

I have no idea what she’s been poisoned with though. I’m not exactly from around here, so my other world knowledge of poisons isn’t going to help… Not that the list of poisons I know is very long anyway.

The blackening around the entry wound suggests [Alrist Poison], a derivative of snake venom and six toxic plants.… Don't ask me how I know this, but I also somehow know that mixing [Taproot] with [Blue Flower ampist] will create a basic poison antidote for it.

I guess that’s the effect of the [Herbalism] and [Achelmy] skills, but I doubt it’s strong enough for a poison that’s this fast acting–

Wait…

If I add [Eldis Flower] the potency of the antidote will be significantly higher right? It’s a potency enhancer so I’m willing to bet it would make the remedy strong enough even without knowing the exact variant of [Alrist Poison] that’s been used… Of course, I’m forgetting that I have no way of mixing the drug!

"I could chew them…"

Hmm, that would probably work but [Taproot] is poisonous itself… chewing that will likely poison me. Besides, do I really what to save some random knight I’ve just met?

"…She’s cute. Cute is justice?"

Damn my culture weakness. Fine, but let's be quick about it, she doesn’t look to have much time and I can’t rule out the possibility of enemies appearing from the highway.

I pull the knight to the side of the road into the brush and collect the horse to here as well. It should provide some cover and obscure us from the road if she is indeed being perused.

I take the plants from 'Inventory' along with the water-skin to dilute the mixture.

I first chew [Blue Flower ampist] as its harmless for consumption, and I’m hoping that when [Taproot] gets added, it will neutralise some of the poisonous effects of [Taproot]. It tastes particularly bitter, but this is no time for complaints.

After adequately chewing the flower into a herby paste, I take the poisonous [Taproot], wash it with some water and bite a large chunk of it off. It has the texture of a cooked potato and the flavour of a swede. Quite pleasant, for a poisonous plant!

After the two are adequately mixed in my mouth, I take half the current mixture out and place it beside me and begin to chomp down on the [Eldis Flower], combining all three in my mouth. The [Eldis Flower] taste is impossible to grasp when in combination with the other two plants.

Okay, the mixture is done. I feel a little dizzy, but nothing I can’t handle right now.

I take two-thirds of the mixture from my mouth and replace it with water

While mixing the tonic in my mouth, I remove the arrow from her back and then proceed to lay her down flat on her back. I’ll need to treat that wound as well, but the poison takes president.

The next part is dangerous as she’s still unconscious, but I can hardly hook up an IV, so I don’t see another option.

I tilt her head back while lifting her neck by the base of her skull and open her mouth wide enough so as to transfer the contents of my mouth into hers…please don’t choke!

It’s worked, she drank it. Okay, twice more.

I repeat the process two more times with the remaining mixture and transfer it to her. Her expression has softened, and her breathing is normal. The antidote looks to be fast acting and is working well to neutralise the poison, score one for impromptu potion making!

Okay, now that’s taken care of, I need to address the wound on her back. This, of course, means stripping her down.. which I don’t think will go down well…

No choice, she might bleed out if I leave it as is.

I take her chain mail off to expose her undergarments. Her chest is wrapped in cloth, tying her breasts down. This would explain why I thought she was male previously. This is good; the wrappings will allow me to dress the wound. I start to unwrap her breasts while assessing the back puncture wound.

It’s deep.

I don’t think it’s hit anything vital, but it needs to be disinfected with strong alcohol and stitched. The best I can do here is put the remaining chewed [Blue Flower ampist] and [Taproot] over the top of the wound. On top of being a minor antidote, the combination of these two have antibacterial properties so it should help somewhat. On the bright side, it’s not bleeding too badly any more. She won’t–

Those are some fine friends….

Ahem. As I was saying, she’s not at any risk of bleeding out.

I use the wrappings as a bandage for the wound and place the cotton-like overalls for the chain mail over her chest to cover her dignity. She’s sleeping like a baby, and the colour has returned to her lips. She looks very innocent and cute like this.

Operation complete! Cue battle success SFX!

Phew, now that the crisis has passed. I appear to have time to collect myself.

I expect she will wake soon given her build and the potion's effectiveness. There will likely be some confusion on her part due to her being semi-naked and all… I should hold onto her sword for now. I am rather fond of my new junk after all.

Looking closer at the female knight I’ve potentially saved, barring any complications of course; she’s a real stunner. Fair skinned, delicate facial features, a couple of freckles over her nose, curvy figure and long golden-brown hair. How someone with such a figure became a knight is unclear to me--

Ah, she’s waking up.

“You’re awake I see.”

The knight opens her blue eyes slowly, looks around and then quickly proceeded to throw herself up onto her knees. After a couple of seconds of a blank stare shared between us, she proceeds to look down to the realisation that her breasts are on full display.

“Wah! Where’s my sword! Answer me you, you, scoundrel!”

As expected of a knight, the first thing she does is look for her sword. Well, second if you count grasping her chest to hide her exposed breasts. Glad I took hold of it when I did.

“Calm yourself. I took it from you after treating your wound and curing your poisoning. I foresaw this reaction and didn’t feel like getting stabbed for your misunderstanding. Here, take your sword and then pause to assess the situation.”

The knight looks confused, but the logic in my words seem to have taken hold as she looks around and at her self. She then takes the sword gently from my out-reached hand.

“You treated me? Why?”

“Well, I witnessed you fall from your horse, I was hardly going just to walk on. It seems you had been poisoned by this arrow that was stuck in your back. Quite a deadly poison I might add. You wouldn’t have lasted the hour. You were quite lucky though; the plants near here can be used to cure it.”

“Then why have I been undressed?”

“How else was I to dress and bandage the wound on your back?”

She looks at me suspiciously for a moment while still holding her chest, but she seems to have accepted my answer–

“How long was I unconscious?!”

The realisation of her ambush must have resurfaced.

“About 20 minutes or so–”

“The commander! I have to get to the garrison and notify them of our situation!”

I want to tell her to be realistic. There is no way any of the knights at that camp are still alive by now, but this would give away the fact that I had seen the camp and I would rather not admit to that.

“I’m sorry to say, but you are in no fit condition for riding–”

“I have no choice! I must! Or my friends; my unit will be killed!”

I’ve seen that look before. Nothing I say is going to dissuade her from this, no matter how silly. Might as well help her whatever way I can.

“Then if you must ride, I recommend you lose your chain mail here. It will lower the burden on your shoulder. I can do nothing about the searing pain that awaits you should you choose to do this.”

She puts on the cotton-like overall and leaves the chain mail on the floor beside me as per my advice.

“Pain is a state of mind; I’m sure I have endured worse. Thank you, traveller, I will make do.”

Bullshit it is but so be it, it’s your body.

The knight climbs back onto her horse and turns towards the highway

“Traveller, I am Katharine, Katharine de Armstrong. If you are heading to the Capital, seek me out there. I would like to repay your kindness, but for now, I must take my leave quickly.”

Armstrong or Headstrong? Heh.

“I’m–”

Hm? My name… why can’t I remember it? Strange, I have all my memories but not the memory of my own name? What’s going on here?

“Traveller, I must–”

Oops, sidetracked. For now, let’s make one up that I can live with, this is a question for another time.

“Sorry, I’m Aburi. Aburi Draculis. I am indeed heading for the Capital myself. I will surely look you up when I get there. Swift and safe travels Lady Armstrong.”

That sounds foreign enough for a Dark Elf right? Ironic slightly too.

“Then Draconis, I will take my leave.”

Hm? Did I pronounce it wrong? Ah, whatever. I kinda like Draconis more anyhow so I’ll take it. My new name is Aburi Draconis. Yep, I can live with that.

With that, she galloped off like the injury never happened… I definitely just heard–

“…ow ow ouchie ow…”

Ha, state of mind huh.

*blink blink blink*

Guess I’ll carry her chain mail to the capital for her…

*sigh*

Those really were some fine friends….