Chapter 64: On the Road Again

There is only one clinic in the entire town of Lakeside, located on a hill at the highest point of Lakeside, run by a family of apothecaries called the Jenlos.

Unlike Stormwind City, where herbalists juggled healing and the business of buying and selling medicines, potions, and the like, there weren’t many priests here for a large town.

Because the influence of the Church of the Holy Light was not as strong as the Storm City side in Lakeside Town, a place where the northern and southern clans interacted closely, the only chapel built by the Church of the Holy Light had also turned into a place where people of all sorts of strange beliefs met individually, and was on the verge of losing its original function, except for the emblem of the Holy Light that was hung on the doorway.

In the middle of the night, Jace sat outside the dispensary waiting quietly for the people inside to look at Grid’s injuries; he knew nothing about healing injuries and didn’t want to go in there and add to the confusion, and now he actually felt like he was waiting for the results outside the operating room.

“Mr. Jace Sesso, right?” The owner of the pharmacy, a middle-aged man with a full head of gray hair, came out and said, “That dwarf gentleman was seriously injured, but it’s not life-threatening anymore, it just might take a few more days before he wakes up. Luckily he’s a dwarf, it would be hard to tell if he was a human struck by lightning.”

The news is good, but lightning strikes?

Jace no longer wanted to explain that it was an orc that attacked Grid, and the town, from the guards to the medicine man, thought he was hallucinating before he thought he was attacked by an orc shaman.

According to them, if they encountered an orc, it was absolutely impossible to survive, and even if they did, it was absolutely impossible for an orc to summon lightning or anything.

He should have asked that orc for something to use as evidence, maybe even for a bounty, but as it turned out, the misunderstanding of only half the town was now a real pain in the ass.

“Will he make a full recovery?”

“It should be possible, but in my experience even for dwarves it takes at least two weeks. Tomorrow I’m going across the street to get help from a priest or paladin in the barracks, maybe I can heal faster and save some money.”

“How much in total?” Jess asked.

“The Living Root Herb and the array of recovery medicines needed for the electrical wounds are not cheap.” The apothecary said, “Stabilizing his injuries has cost some of that, it’s now 3 silver coins, the subsequent price depends on how long he stays here.”

Jace sighed and felt in his bag, he had brought 6 silver coins and now only had 4.

Grid’s bag seemed to have been left behind in the battle, and how could he think about getting it when he got Grid back?

It’s probably still on the other side of the lake, and there’s no point in going over there to find it, it’s probably been stolen by all the fish people.

He handed over the 3 silver coins, then took his assistant’s emblem and showed it to the apothecary and said, “I’m from the Wizard’s Temple, sir, I’m here in Red Ridge Mountains because I’m working for a mage, and my boss’s name is Eden Marin. Take care of this dwarf for me, follow up with treatments and whatnot, don’t just throw him out because you don’t have the money, I’ll return to Stormwind after I’m done and send you the rest of the money you need within a week at the most, what do you think?”

“Of course I’m willing to trust someone from the Witch Temple, and I’m not going to throw my patients out anyway.” The apothecary said, “But it would have to be soon, after all, I have to buy herbs as well, and the hunters who pick the herbs won’t let me take credit if I don’t have enough money.”

Herb-picking hunters, has it been stated so bluntly here?

If it was a normal day, Jace would probably be happy to ask what the prices were for acquiring herbs here.

Red Ridge looked like a good place to pick up herbs, but at the moment, with Grid lying in it and his own important business, he really wasn’t in the mood to ask for a price here.

This trip to the action, not only did the Warrior Guild’s bounty not get it, but even took a lot of it in, it was really a loss to the grandmother’s house.

Luckily, this pharmacist said that he could fully recover, if there were any more after-effects, he would really regret it for the rest of his life.

At noon the next day, Jace bought a couple of carrots at the hotel and fed them to the horse, who was so hungry that he almost gnawed a piece of his finger.

He was going to run out of money anyway, and the horse wasn’t going to be expected to eat anything good.

Even after half a night’s rest plus a whole morning, I still felt bloated and sore, but by noon I was already feeling much better than I had in the morning.

Jace wasn’t thinking of complaining about anything anymore, if it wasn’t for Saurono’s Blood Deed Seal, he could have been many times worse off than Grid.

After visiting Grid, he felt that he should be fine and continued on his way to Stone Castle, time waited for no one.

Today was the last day of the agreed upon three days, but now it looked like he wouldn’t be back in Stormwind until noon tomorrow at the earliest, so I guess he’d have to miss another morning of work.

But this being official business, Marin should be able to understand a little less or no deductions.

The Red Ridge Mountains looked unbelievably clear after the rain, and the sunlight poured over the valley. Beyond the rolling forest, the stone fortress on the high cliffs on the other side of the lake was clearly visible in the distance, as if it could be reached with a single reach.

But that distance still requires an hour or two of horseback riding to get there.

“Master!”

The Kid’s sudden appearance startled him.

“How did you get out on your own?”

Saeuno gave a few bad laughs and said, “Of course it’s because there’s no third person around, master, you don’t think this big beast is an intelligent creature as well, do you?”

The chestnut horse under her seat seemed to be a bit nervous and uneasy because of the sudden appearance of the demon, and kept ankling her hooves on the road, and it took Jace a long time to comfort her before she finally calmed down.

The Kid grabbed the horse’s mane and tossed it around for a while before standing still before asking, “Master, is the dwarf dead?”

“Not dead.” Jace replied in a cold voice, a ball of rage had rushed to his chest at hearing what the brat had said, and the tone of his voice.

“Pity!” The Kid sneered.

Jace grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up hard, and the Kid coughed violently for a few moments, staring at Jace in disbelief as he said with difficulty, “Master …… are you sending me back to the …… Twisted Void? “

Ignoring the fact that his hand was itching and numb from the demon’s skin burns, Jace grabbed him in front of him and said angrily, “You want him dead? I know it, I know it now, and if I find Grid suddenly and inexplicably dead someday, you don’t want to live either!”

“Master!” The little ghost grabbed Jace’s hand and said feebly, “Why are you defending that dwarf, you want to become strong, you want to live forever, while that dwarf only wants to turn you into a mediocre incompetent! You surely won’t live long relying on the swordsmanship he taught you and the self-preservation he taught you! He is a stumbling block in your path to growth! I thought you knew that!”

“You can hear everything we say?” Jess asked.

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying, master?” The little ghost said sharply, “He hates the mighty demonic power, he hates the unfathomable power from the void, but his own hatred of the Shadow power is his problem, my master, he cannot manipulate you!”

Jace shoved the brat into his bag and said, “He’s not manipulating me, he’s just worried.”

“Worried about what?” The Kid asked, showing his head, “Worried about you surpassing him, worried about you becoming a great sorcerer, surpassing him head and shoulders above him in every way, making him ashamed of himself, making him doubt that he’s nothing but a useless piece of shit.”

Jace grunted contemptuously and said, “What kind of cheap provocative maneuver is this, Imp, I wonder what you have to gain by saying these things, or is this the kind of shit you demons are born with.”

“I’m just making a realistic guess, and it’s 100% for your own good.” The little ghost peeked out of the bag a little bit, grabbed Jace’s arm and brought his face close to him, and said, “I don’t have any other agenda, master, I just want you to be strong, ah, to become …… at least able to protect yourself first. If that dwarf doesn’t interfere with your growth, I sure as hell won’t bother with him!”

“Look at what the so-called ‘Power of Evil’ has brought you, what would have happened against that Elementalist if you didn’t know the Fear spell, if you hadn’t summoned me? Think hard, Jace Sesso, my master!”

The little ghost said anxiously: “Azeroth is a world full of powerful magic na, in the whole dark void it is bright like a magnificent jewel, countless demons, countless shadows, countless dead and living are coveting its beauty, in such a world …… don’t want to find a way to make themselves stronger is not live! The first thing you need to do is to get a good deal of money to pay for the work. Maybe you can survive for a few years, but what about decades, centuries, or even millennia? One day ……”

“To take the most realistic example, ah, this kingdom has experienced a great war, a terrible war between the outsiders and the natives. I could feel a powerful surge of magic in the south consistently sending its influence this way! It’s a portal, a portal built by demons, that’s the very gateway for outsiders to reach here! Imagine, my foolish master, how the native races fought off these outsiders and reclaimed their homeland. It was by strength …… at best, and a little faith, but strength is the basis of everything.”

“I don’t really need you to lecture me, Imp.” Jace responded coldly.

“Too bad, honored master.” The little ghost smashed his mouth down in mockery, “As much as I hate to, I must obey your orders and tell no more of these truths that I have seen. Though I must watch you slide little by little into the bottomless abyss of what you thought was light and upward, eventually arriving at a poisonous pool called remorse and impotence, your soul drowning in howls for decades, I still ……”

“Shut up.”

The kid coughed twice and retreated back into the bag.

Jace zipped the bag and shook the restraints.

“And yanking up a poetry reading for me.”

The horses hoofed briskly toward the main road, the sun was about to set, and the walls of the stone fortress were in sight.

Jace turned over the letter in the package and identified the name of the recipient – Martin Harrower, a mage apprentice at the Wizard’s Sanctuary.