Chapter 86

General Philostratos looked at his oldest nephew, Prince Nikandros. He had summoned him to his tent for a private meeting.

Prince Nikandros had entered the tent with the same Royal, composed bearing he always carried with him. Yet, when he saw the cold expression on his Royal Uncle's face, he had immediately formed a smirk on his face.

The Prince summoned barriers for their privacy and then took out of his robe two large bottles of wine.

"Uncle, stop frowning, you're already all wrinkly!" the Prince exclaimed in the kind of spirit he allowed very few to see.

"Oh, shut up and give me that," General Philostratos took the bottle of wine.

As routine for the two men, they started drinking together and laughing.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Prince Nikandros suddenly asked as soon as the topic veered away from the last tavern exploit the two men had been through.

"I don't know what you're talking about," General Philostratos replied, yet he couldn't hide a smile from behind his cup of wine.

"You wanted to teach Kallikrates a lesson. He's strong, but he's also a hothead who thinks the world will be at his feet."

"Your father should have sent him sooner to me," Philostratos grumbled. "When he arrived, he was already rotten. I'm trying for a miracle here."

"Yet, you might have performed one."

"I had to put him under house arrests in his own tent, nephew," General Philostratos sighed. "I fear he would have gone looking for trouble otherwise. He was shouting incoherently after the girl knocked him out."

"He was also looking very humbled in front of all our men, though," Nikandros tried consoling his uncle. "You never wanted to take the power from Lucianus Claudius, and you found a way to give him a win over you and teach a lesson to my brother. The Old Fox is still very well alive and kicking, Uncle."

That was what his men called him. Philostratos wasn't just known for being powerful. In fact, not many had seen him fight directly. He only entered the most crucial skirmishes. He was known for his elaborate and convoluted plans.

"Stop flattering me, nephew."

"Then tell me why you summoned me. I know this isn't about drinking. You very rarely drink on the night before a battle. What's on your mind?"

"The girl," Philostratos said, scratching his bushy gray beard. "I want you to get close to her, Nikandros."

"The girl is fourteen, Uncle. She's a child," Nikandros frowned. "Are you asking me to..."

"Nothing untoward, nephew. I want you to befriend her. She's much more powerful than your brother seemed to realize."

"You said she was holding back."

"That much was clear to me," Philostratos said. "But I don't know the extent of it. I suspect it'll be impossible to tell without following her closely."

"And you want me to do it because..."

"You're so smart, Nikandros, yet so dumb. I hope your character will mature more by the time I'm dead and buried under a sea of shit."

"Uncle," Nikandros groaned. "Can you stop with the when I'm dead routine?"

"It's true. I'm only good at killing and teaching how to kill. Once I'm done being used by your father, I'll be buried in an unmarked grave."

"Father asked you multiple times to go back to court and enjoy your retirement. You asked for this campaign."

"Bah, someone's gotta do the job," General Philostratos grumbled, sloshing the wine in his cup.

"Ok? Then, what do you want me to do and why? Enlighten me about my immature character."

"Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror, Nikandros?"

"Yes?" the young man replied. "And?"

"You're a handsome young man. If I had as handsome as you, I would have never made it this far in life. I would have been bogged down by the amount of women I would have been entangled with. Yet, even with this ugly face, I still manage to get more ladies than you do, nephew."

"Uncle, for the Holy Arms, what is that you're saying, that I should use my charms with the girl?"

"What charm?" Philostratos laughed. "You've got a pretty face. Just be with her and pray she takes a liking to you. In fact, do nothing. She looks like she's even sharper than her father and her damn Uncle."

"Sharper than..." Nikandros did a double take.

"Caesar Iulius, that bastard. She's got his look in her eyes. If you'll try anything overt, she'll figure it out and never trust you again. Just offer your help with what she needs and say that I ordered you to because I want you two to get close. Say that you're not very much interested in that but that you have to follow orders. Is that simple enough for you?"

"Good enough," Nikandros sighed. "One question. Do you really think she'll cure the Undead Disease?"

"I don't bet," Philostratos replied, pensive. "Men who rely on their intuition get cocky and can get killed."

"What are the facts?" Nikandros smiled. This was Philostratos's favorite question to ask his nieces while teaching them.

"The facts are that she's displayed the ability to do something we would considered a Lost Skill or Forbidden Skill. She regrew a hand in the blink of an eye. Do you understand how that alone could change a battlefield?"

Nikandros dropped his smile and nodded seriously.

"She'd be a great asset for our people."

"She would be," Philostratos agreed. "That's why we are going to ally with Lucianus. I've seen Ennius's son. He's a monster... I thought he'd be the one to look out for, but he's already got the look of someone who has his own aims. This girl, she's younger, easier to sway. And, if I'm being totally honest, she might be even stronger than that Cassius Iulius at his age. I need more reports on the matter, in fact."

"So, what are we going to do about the girl?”

“I’ve told you,” Philostratos smiled. “Just be helpful and nice to her.”

*

Lily was cleaning up the tent and talking to Hadrian and Laurentia when she saw Prince Nikandros pass through the flaps that curtailed the [Healer]'s area.

The three had been discussing on how to spread Lily's knowledge as widely as possible throughout the [Healers] in the camp. It would soon make its way back to Alba, of course. This degree of healing wasn't going to escape the many spies that the Great Families had seeded among each other. But that did not worry Lily at all.

Not only it would be much harder for [Healers] who had not seen her to trust and assimilate this information, but it would also be very hard to practice any of it without autopsies.

Lily had to skip the corpse-handling since the Empire's army had made its appearance. Yet, she was trying to organize that once again.

And once again, she was being interrupted.

She looked at the Prince with a curious gaze, waiting for him to explain his presence as he came to stand in front of her.

"In His Light," Prince Nikandros said politely, using the customary salute of the Church.

"In His Light," Lily replied.

They both observed each other in silence until Hadrian gave a cough and Laurentia finally spoke.

"Prince Nikandros, what an honor for you to grace us with your presence. What can we help you with? Are you injured, perhaps?"

"No, my Royal Uncle just requested I help Lord Lucianus's daughter in her endeavors. So, how may I be of any use, milady?"

Lily looked at the man, roughly Cassius's age, and shrugged.

"I asked for some supplies for the autopsies. Go check on the attendants and ask the quartermaster of the camp."

"Liliana!" Laurentia suddenly paled. "He's a Prince! You can't ask him to go around doing your chores!"

"It's alright," Prince Nikandros said, bowing his head. "I am here to serve. So, which supplies should I locate? I could perhaps ask our own quartermasters if they have any."

"The Gens Claudia carries scalpels and the exact tools I requested. I appreciate the willingness to help, though," Lily smiled. "Could you go, now?"

Prince Nikandros was clearly surprised at how Lily casually ordered him around but just nodded and walked out of the tent.

After that, Lily erected some barriers for privacy.

"He's here to spy on us."

"You're not going to get rid of him just by sending him on errands, though," Hadrian said. "He'll be glued to you whether you want it or not. General Philostratos probably wants to know if you can actually back up your words with actions after your father promised that you'd cure the Undead Disease."

"I can," Lily said, gritting her teeth. "But first, let's teach people how a body looks like."

*

After Nikandros had located the attendants and brought back two toolboxes meant for [Healers], Lily had gathered the corpses of the dead inside the tent and requested all [Healers] participate to this lesson.

Nikandros, too, had decided to stay and watch Lily.

"I will be opening multiple corpses today and expect those with the most levels among you to open at least one each. You'll be getting your hands very dirty today."

"We can't desecrate those corpses!" one of the [Healers] complained. "It's against the Church's dogmas!"

"You care more about a rule that makes no sense than making sure your fellow Soldiers survive?" Lily asked, curious.

"I care about the lives of my fellow men, Lady Liliana, but we can't just break rules that were made to stop Death from spreading! What if one of those corpses were to turn with all the Death Magic that's around us?!"

Lily was about to respond when Nikandros, whose presence had not escaped any of the [Healers], intercepted the question.

"She's covered the corpses with enough Life Magic that I'm surprised she didn't bring them back from death as normal human beings. Use your [Mana Sense] and your common sense," the Imperial Prince said.

Everyone straightened at that. Despite being men of the Gens Claudia, this was one of the most important men in the entire world, whose authority in his country rivaled that of Cassius Iulius in this one.

The [Healer] activated his [Mana Sense] and saw that, indeed, the tent was saturated with Life Mana so powerful he noticed he was feeling less tired and beaten up than usual even after a full day of healing.

"There is nothing that can take the place of practice. You will have the opportunity of opening up the living and, if your [Mana Sense] becomes powerful enough, seeing the body from the inside out without even having to use a scalpel. But before we get there."

Lily added some Mana to the small blade and swiftly removed the front of the ribcage from the body in front of her. Back on Earth, she would have needed bigger tools and the kind of force you needed to snap the ribcage away made most first year med student puke right on the spot. She had saved such a gruesome spectacle, which had made even her stomach weak, from these [Healers].

Nonetheless, despite being [Healers] who dealt with death on a daily basis, seeing Lily slid off the front of the ribcage, exposing the organs of the man, a few people bent over and vomited right then and there.

This is going to be a long day, Lily thought, as she saw more people starting to become paler.

*

"And this is the abdominal aorta," Lily said. "It's on the fourth page of the sheets you have received. If the bleeding is not internal to an organ but comes from this, the person in question could die in under a minute. You will need to become capable of feeling the tumultuous movements of a broken aorta through [Mana Sense]."

Lily soon finished her first lesson, which took almost two hours, showing the insides of the ribcage. This was where most of the mortal wounds were delivered and she needed everyone to get, at the very least, a basic understanding of organs and the blood vessels that went through them and around them.

"Now, Laurentia will divide you in groups. Set a table up, put a corpse on it, and remove their organs one by one, placing a lot of attention on what kind of vessels you see.

Lily waited for them to follow her orders and then cleansed herself with a spell.

As she watched from the side, ready to give instructions, one man suddenly barged into the tent.

"Your Highness!" He was an Imperial [Soldier] who called out Nikandros.

"What's happening?" the Prince frowned.

"Five giant hordes have converged! The Gens Claudia is organizing a defensive position but the encampments are about to be surrounded! Your Uncle has given orders that every fighting man is required to enter the fray and form a line together with the Gens Claudia!"

"Damn it!" Nikandros started running toward the entrance and suddenly found Lily by his side.

"Laurentia, take over! I need to experiment on the field! Just stabilize the patients! If their limbs have been severed, have someone with an ice spell freeze them! I'll reattach them myself!"

"Got it!" Laurentia said, immediately having all the [Healers] move the body away. "Should we follow your triage methods, Lady Liliana?"

"No, go back to your system for now. It's still new and if there are so many Undead around, this is not the moment to try out new things!"

Lily then followed Nikandros out of the tent. From the plains where the encampments were stationed, Lily could see that the hills, now that it was night, had become much darker. But it wasn't just the lack of light. No. The hills were filled to the brim with an ocean of red eyes.

The darkness that had enveloped them was just an impossibly large number of Undead.