I Will Be the Greatest Knight

The potions they had been giving to Sir Alix were strong, and the healing magic he was subjected to made him tired. Those two things combined were enough to keep him asleep well into each day.

At least he was awake, though, that was all that mattered.

However, that also meant that Irene couldn't just appear at Katerina's house whenever she wanted to. She was going to wait for someone to summon her so that she would know the knight was awake and it was her turn to visit.

While there was a lull in her day and it wasn't her turn to patrol along the forest's edge to see if monsters had returned to the area, Irene decided that she would see if there was something interesting she could buy for the knight.

While she had brought along her Volna first aid kit, it was more for wound care and fast fixes. What Sir Alix needed was healing from the inside out.

Considering this place was teeming with surprising things due to the high mage population, Irene knew that browsing some of the shops for healing items would reveal something interesting to her.

Devoid of armor but sure to have her sword with her at all times, she ventured into Idona alone, finding a wide variety of shops she wasn't expecting. Some talked about healing crystals and mana stones, others talked about armor or weapons imbued with magic, but when she made it around a bend and to a more narrow street, she was happy when she found a place for healing wares.

"Yer one of the knights arentcha?" a voice came from behind the counter.

She was surprised to see the space devoid of another until the child came around the counter and revealed himself to her. He couldn't have been more than seven years old.

"Yes, I am a knight," she explained. "Are you a mage?"

However, she asked an obvious question. This boy had hair reminding her of Siverly's and odd colored reddish eyes. Only in mages had she seen such interesting eyes. Unlike Siverly, though, he didn't wear robes but tunic and pants of a regular child. Idona was interesting in the way that mage children were treated like normal kids. It was kind of nice to see such types of people living in unison without issue.

"Yes, miss," he answered, suddenly talking more maturely and unlike his childish self before. "I am the most mage in my class."

"Good for you," Irene responded. "Then you ought to have the strongest magic, right?"

The boy seemed prideful momentarily as he crossed his thin arms over his chest.

"Yes, miss," he agreed again.

"Well, with your likely expertise from being a mage, would you happen to know if this place has some unique healing potions or elixirs for someone who is going through a long healing process?"

Even though he was as serious as a mage, the boy hopped deeper into the store with his hands behind his back as he skipped along.

"These have been here a while, but they never sell because of the weird words on them," he explained with a shrug. "But they are quite dark, which means that they must be potent."

"That logic is sound," she agreed. "I suppose I will look at them. Thank you, mage."

He quickly ran back off to the counter, and she stared after him with slightly raised eyebrows.

Not expecting to take his words seriously, but deciding she would pacify him at least, Irene stepped towards the shelves he had been indicating before.

Truly, there was a lot of dust in this area, showing that the shoppers there didn't even bother to lift the bottles on the shelves. There were likely a lot of dangerous things in a place like this, and most wouldn't risk it if the substance was unknown.

However, when she lifted the bottles to eye level and angled them towards the front of the store so she could read the worn labels a bit better, she gasped when she saw Sunstoian writing.

It wasn't a potion, necessarily, but a medicinal alcohol called Eldrivin that could treat bruising. Some warriors took it after already being injured, but she knew that there were some who took it even before battle in anticipation of injury.

"Who brought this to the shop?" Irene couldn't help wondering out loud.

The mage popped his head around one of the front shelves and shrugged.

"I dunno," he said. "Some old traveler."

She didn't have high hopes that he would know details, but there was a small spark in her heart that maybe there was another Sunstoian out there somewhere, wishing to find more people just like them. The hopes were immediately dashed when he said he didn't know.

"Either way, I'm taking all of them," Irene insisted.

"Might as well," the boy responded. "No one else was going to."

There was a bit of Siverly coming out of him. She wondered if the two were related in some way.

Regardless, she did know that she wanted to bring this to Alix, but she wanted to add her own herbs first that had more restorative properties. All she could guarantee about this old liquid was that it would take away the knight's pain because it could get him drunk—quite easily, in fact, considering those who had already seen him said he had dropped in weight.

After giving the boy a bit of gold because he wasn't sure how much to charge her for items like that, she exited the shop, passing by a woman with long, light blonde hair. Based on her eye color, she knew instantly that it was the child's mother and likely the owner of the shop who had stepped out quickly.

She couldn't tell if she over or under paid for the items, but she wanted them at any cost.

Irene then went to one of the wells where she was able to pull up a bucket and get a bit of water. There she was able to rehydrate some of her herbs before she would break them up a little bit and put them into the bottle of the alcohol, opened for the first time in an indiscernible amount of time and, based on the pop of the cork and undisturbed wax, she knew that it had remained sealed after the first time it was closed.

As Irene gently tipped the bottle once it was corked again so that the medicinal alcohol was infused correctly, she was surprised when Bren approached her.

"Sir Maximus came to the inn and said that Sir Alix is ready to see you," he explained.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, quickly cleaning up her items.

Without another thought, she rushed towards Katerina's home and eagerly knocked on the door.

The female mage opened the door with a pleased smile.

"Here to see Alix, I assume?" she asked.

"Yes!" Irene confirmed elatedly.

The older woman pushed the door open all the way and revealed to Irene a somewhat frail knight who had taken up a spot on the comfortable couch. He had a bowl in his hands as he tried to eat foods that would help him restore his strength.