Chapter 7

(Asher’s POV)

“I see. Miragela poison, huh? You may leave.”

          I motioned to the maid who was the spy of the house and she left. Aran was writing something in his other small notebook where he usually kept his research notes.

“I believe Miragela poison is incurable and the research to find its cure has been ongoing for years already, yet Baron Constance wants to find the cure in only a month? And without medicine at that? I’m starting to think of him as a suicide maniac.”

          I voiced my opinions to Aran and he nodded in agreement. “In my opinion also, finding cure for Miragela in a month is impossible. Even if there were a cure for it, it might take a long time to produce it as our researchers had tried almost all of the ingredients that the central continent have.”

“Hmm. They might need to go to other continent to find ingredients for the cure. I kinda feel sorry for his fruitless attempt.”

Aran chuckled.

“Who knows? He is the one who discovers the half part of our research in producing healer soils, he might be able to do this one too.”

I snickered.

“Maybe...”

***

          (Lancelot’s POV)

“How fares our guests?”

          I asked Taylor. We were on our way to have a late night dinner after I went to the library to do some reading. They have some interesting books in the library even though Lancelot doesn’t seem to be the type who read books in his free time.

“Yes, they were doing well. We tried our best to serve them with our outmost care.”

I smiled.

“Good work.”

“Thank you, Master.”

He smiled back at me and my chest felt warm.

          Look! He is just a kind old man! What did he do for you to treat him unfairly, you bastard Lancelot! If I found your soul I’mma land a few thousands of kicks to your face.

          Suddenly, a group of maid stomped near me and surrounded me. Their face looked kinda scary.

“Master, is it true that you will die in a month?”

A maid with a ginger hair asked.

          In an instant, I darted my eyes to Taylor in an urgent manner. Did he spill out our secrets?!

          Taylor surprisingly looked shocked as he shook his head violently, telling me he was not the one telling them.

“I’m sorry, I am the one who told them.”

          A timid looking maid said and went to stand in front of me. She and the others looked down solemnly. Ah, she must have overheard our conversation. Of course, maids have habits of evesdropping on people that it would be kind of a pain sometimes, but the cat’s already out of the bag so what can be done?

“...Yes, I will.”

          They eyes suddenly sparkled and tears started flowing out of their eyes. I turned to Taylor to ask for help but to my surprise, he also followed the trope to cry along with them.

          Gosh darn it, I’m never good at handling people, especially the ones who are crying because I never have any family or children and I seldom went out back in my past life, so how am I supposed to handle a big group of crying people?

“Uhm..... L-Let’s talk about this. I’ll tell you the truth, okay?

          I said. Good, they have stopped crying. “In additional, how about a campfire?” I suggested.

“A campfire?”

The maids said in unison.

***

          (Asher’s POV)

“Ah I’m tired...”

          Aran stretched his tired body and continued to yawn. We just returned to the Constance estate after a long day of travelling to the northern region. It was already after dinner by the time we returned so our dinner were served in our room.

“So? Got anything new from the spy?”

          I asked. I also felt a little sore after riding the carriage all day so I will rest early tonight.

“Nothing in particular. He did start researching for the cure by asking for informations everywhere.”

“That’s a good start.”

          As we both passed the outer corridor to head to our room, we noticed a smell of smoke not far from the back garden.

“Fire?” Aran darted his eyes in alarm.

I paused to look at my surroundings. After some more sniffing, I informed, “...Maybe not. I didn’t see any building on fire.”

Aran looked partially convinced. Despte that, it never hurt to be careful. “Wanna try checking?”

“Sure.”

Then the both of us headed towards where the smoke smell is.

          While walking, we noticed that the source of the smoke came from a campfire that was set near the knights training ground. From afar, we could hear them chatting something about sweet potatoes and stories.

          Little by little, many servants gathered around the campfire and they looked very serious.

“...!”

As we were hiding behind the pillar of the outer corridor, we saw the Baron standing in the middle of the circle of servants. Then, me and Aran exchanged glances and we started casting magic on ourselves for better hearing.

I don’t know what they are talking about, but it must be something big if he had gathered all his people.

***

          (Lancelot’s POV)

“...And then Mark got mad at me, saying I was fat and all.”

“It’s true isn’t it? You’re eating a lot and all, might as well call you fat.”

          The butler called Mark retorted, causing the ginger haired maid to pout. Then, all of us laughed. From our conversation before, I got to know her name as Silica. She really is an energetic girl.

          After I invited them for a campfire, somehow, almost everyone in the household have gathered together to hear the story. Except the knights of course, I sent them away for information gathering. So we gathered and I told them about me consuming a poison and now it is stuck in my body and I have to find a cure quick before I die in less than a month.

          Some of them offered their ideas to me and I thought that their ideas were splendid. The moment of truth now turned into a discussion moment. And after finalizing some useful ideas and ending the discussion, now its just us idly chatting with each other while enjoying our sweet potato. They did want to serve lavish meals for me but I refused and said that it was fine to enjoy some country food sometimes.

          So here we are, chatting and laughing as we gazed at the night sky. The cooks were busy roasting the sweet potato under the campfire while the gardeners were saying something about the flowers and plants. Taylor had already excused himself early as he had to wake up early tomorrow.

          While everyone was busy chatting, I stared at the sky. Might be because it was Spring, but the night sky looked clearer tonight.

          Silence suddenly crawled into my surroundings.

          I hugged my knees as I continously stared at the sky. I wanted to engrave this beautiful scenery in my mind, because I won’t be seeing this beautiful sky anymore after I died. Ah! But if I’m able to find the antidote I might be able to see the night sky of other seasons too. That kind of gotten my hopes up.

          I glanced at all the faces that were around me. Their chattering and their laughing, all of them reminded me of the loving family and relatives that I have back in my world.

“You guys are the only family that I have left, Thank you for being here with me.” I whispered, soon after that chuckling to myself when I saw some of the servants doing some trick that rendered the others to laugh.

I emptied the remaining laugh I had in me, before once again tilting my head up to see the sky. For a short moment, my eyes caught a movement of a star that looked like a shooting stars, and unconsciously reached out my hand to it’s direction.

“Dear stars...” Warm droplets began to fall down my cheeks and I feel myself choking to continue my words. “...Please, give me strength...”