Chapter 130: Emberian Herb

Lucius observed Finch's injuries and saw that most of the burns were concentration on her hands and arms with some on her torso. As for the cuts, they were all over her body and seemed to be strange.

"These cuts… they are far too many in number. Just what kind of effect did that artifact have?" Lucius muttered.

Lucius then remembered the sword that Gellor had used to kill the Four Winged Hawk that night. He also remembered that Finch was the one holding the sword when he met Gellor and the rest for the first time.

"The artifact that caused all this… is it the same one you used to kill the Four Winged Hawk?" Lucius questioned.

"Yes, that's the one," Gellor replied.

Lucius furrowed his brows as he recalled the effects of that artifact.

"Doesn't that sword send out an arc of red energy?" Lucius questioned.

"That is just one of the effects. The attack can be in the form of a concentrated attack or multiple small attacks. The energy is also very hot and can easily burn flesh, but this heat can also be controlled.

The attack can either be made to have a burning effect, or just a cutting effect. When the artifact went out of control for Finch, it caused both of the things at once, which should not have happened usually." Gellor answered.

"Hmm… I see." Lucius replied and went back to observing Finch.

Her breathing was rather shallow, and she seemed to have a fever as well. Lucius could tell that she would not survive for long if this was kept up. He even reckoned that if this was in his past world, she would have already died if no healing spell of potion was used.

"How's the prognosis, Healer Delia?" Lucius questioned the old woman.

Delia gazed at Finch for a moment before speaking.

"Finch is in a rather bad condition and will only get worse as time passes. She needs immediate treatment with either the Emberiam herb or needs the healing from a priest of Alana." Delia answered.

"I see… how much does this Emberiam Herb cost?" Lucius questioned.

"The Emberiam herb costs about three to four thousand gold coins, but procuring it is also a big problem. If someone is lucky, they may find it being sold in the herb market, but if not, they would need to commission mercenaries that specialize in harvesting herbs to get them." Healer Delia answered.

Lucius had actually read about this herb and knew that it was found quite far from the land of Etara. The herb was found in a forest called Amber Forest and was considered to be rather dangerous location. Not only were there a lot of rune beasts living in the forest, but it was also filled with poisonous and toxic plants.

The Emberian Herb grew there among hundreds of other herbs that could be poisonous or medicinal. Even harvesting it was a complex task and one needed to ensure that no part of it was damaged during it, or it would lose its potency quite fast.

That was the reason why the mercenaries who were dispatched to get the herb needed to be experienced with that. There were actually different categories of mercenaries who specialized in types of jobs.

Around fifty percent were those who could be said to be the jack of all trades and took every job they thought they could. The other fifty percent only took jobs that they specialized in. For example, there were mercenariness who specialized in the procurement and harvesting of herbs.

Then there were mercenaries who were specialized in the hunting of rune beasts, along with others who worked as bodyguards or security for traveling caravans and merchants. There were many more categories, but these were the most common ones.

Lucius knew the effects of the Emberian herb as well as it could help heal burns very well and could even help the body regenerate lost blood. If these two things were taken care of, Healer Delia would be able to heal the cuts on her own.

Another reason as to why these injuries were hard to heal with normal methods was because they were caused by a gift. Gifts had this lingering effect, which often prevented the injuries caused by them from being healed by normal methods.

This made it so that many of such injuries could only be healed by other gifts, or with the assistance of herbs. If one thought of herbs, they could also be considered to have gifts of their own, like the rune beasts.

Except in the case of the herbs, they weren't really long lasting and would often fade away after the herb was removed from the ground or cut. There needed to be special methods of preserving them, if they were to be used after a certain wait period.

Lucius thought over Finch's current condition and realized that there really wasn't much he could do on his own. If Finch was to be healed, they would need either a priest of the Church of Alana or the Emberian herb.

Lucius also wondered if getting a priest would be cheaper or not. All he would have to do is pay a tithe to the church for using their services, which would likely be around three thousand gold coins.

"Is there any priest of Alana that is currently nearby?" Lucius questioned.

Delia shook her head before speaking, "there are none that we know of. At least not in this city."

"I think I know where one of the priests currently is," One of the other healers suddenly spoke.

"You do? Where?" Healer Delia and Lucius asked in unison.

"I heard from one of my old friends who is also a healer at the Drew City that a priest of Alana has been staying there for a few days now." The Healer answered.

"Viscount Drew's territory… ~Sigh~" Lucius muttered.

Healer Delia and even Gellor knew that the current relationship between the Inanis family and the Viscount was not good.