The Herb King

The five masked experts who saved Chris sneakily headed to the Lassiter Household's estate. They brought the unconscious Chris directly to Aethelwolf's room.

The leader of the five experts took off her mask, revealing her long white hair and beautiful face. It was the elven princess, Aenwyn.

"Sir Aethelwolf, we already gave him the Recovery Pellet, but he didn't show any signs of recovery." Aenwyn reported while the other experts gently laid Chris on the bed.

Aethelwolf grabbed the man's wrist and checked his pulse. It was faint which was a dangerous sign. "Discard the clothes you wore during the operation. You may leave now. I'll take care of this guy first." He said to the experts as he took out a bunch of medicinal herbs and apparatuses from his storage space.

Aenwyn and the others nodded their heads when they heard his words. They were confident in Aethelwolf's skill so they weren't worried that something would go wrong.

After they left, Aethelwolf furrowed his eyebrows. He noticed that Chris' body had numerous scars. Although the scars were slowly healing because of the pill given by Aenwyn and the others, Chris didn't show any signs of waking up. The accumulated injuries in his body were starting to act up and are now threatening to take his life. If he wasn't saved tonight, this man would have died in the underground prison.

Aethelwolf felt a bit guilty when he realized the seriousness of the matter. He kept on delaying saving Chris so he was also to blame for his predicament.

Aethelwolf grabbed some medicinal herbs and crushed them into powder. He then mixed them and added a golden liquid. This liquid is a personal creation he concocted. It was a medicinal liquid that could cure all kinds of diseases and injuries. Even a damage to the soul could be healed. In short, it was a powerful medicine! However, he added a few high-rank herbs to make sure that Chris could be saved.

After mixing the herbs with the golden medicinal liquid, Aethelwolf grabbed an empty syringe and filled it with the mixture. He then helped Chris drink the contents of the syringe.

Chris' pale face slowly turned rosy.

Seeing this, Aethelwolf heaved a sigh of relief after checking the pulse of his patient. The man's heartbeat was slowly recovering to normal even his Hegel showed signs of Awakening!

All he had to do now was wait for Chris to wake up.

Aethelwolf went out of the room and found Aenwyn and the other four experts waiting for him outside.

"How is he, Sir Aethelwolf?" One of them asked.

Aethelwolf gave them a reassuring smile as he replied. "He is now in a stable condition. Just give him some time to recover. He will wake up soon."

The experts were relieved to hear this. After all, their mission was to bring back the man alive.

"You guys did a great job." He then took out five small pills from his storage space and handed them to the experts. "These little things are capable of enhancing your strength permanently without any side effects. Take one each."

When they heard the effects of the pills, they were shocked. Even Aenwyn couldn't believe this. No Alchemist in the Aracan Kingdom was capable of makings pills that could increase someone's strength. Only rare magical fruits like the Golden Canistel had such an effect!

They quickly grabbed one pill each and kept it inside their storage ring. "Thank you, Sir Aethelwolf!" They said excitedly.

Aethelwolf smiled at them. "If you work for me well, you'll receive more benefits in the future. You guys should go back to your rooms and consume the pills." He waved his hand and dismissed them.

The four experts excitedly left, while Aenwyn remained and gave him a curious look. "Is it really as you said?" She asked.

"You think I would lie to my people?" Aethelwolf chuckled. "Just try it yourself and you'll know if I'm spouting nonsense or not."

Aenwyn's eyes narrowed as he muttered. "Aren't you afraid that news about this would leak? If someone learns about the effects of your pills, the whole world will be in chaos. There might even be Level 5 Espers who would come to take them from you."

Hearing this, Aethelwolf's expression didn't even change as he calmly replied. "Level 5 Espers? Then let them come." He then walked back to his room after saying those words.

Aenwyn stared at his figure for a long time. The guy didn't even blink even though they were talking about Level 5 Espers. 'Does he really not care or does he truly have the strength to back up his words?' She thought to herself. Until now, she still had no idea about the extent of Aethelwolf's power.

***

A few days later, Aethelwolf went to the venue of the awarding ceremony together with Aenwyn, Einar, and Ramiel. He didn't bring Olivia with him this time since the little girl still had classes to attend.

When they arrived at the venue, a few people came to greet them. Leading them was the first prince, Prince Renz.

"I'm happy to see you guys here!" Prince Renz smiled at them. Duke Baron and a few high-ranking soldiers who came with the first prince also smiled as they enthusiastically greeted Aethelwolf and his group.

"It's nice to see you guys too. Are we late?" Aethelwold shook hands with the prince and the others.

Prince Renz shook his head with a smile. "Not at all! You guys came just right on time! Come. I'll take you to your seats." He then led Aethelwolf's group to the seats he prepared for them.

Soon, the awarding ceremony began. Emperor Ragnar headed to the stage and started his opening speech. It was then followed by some performances.

After all the performances were done, the Emperor headed to the stage again to personally award the people with meritorious deeds during the war against the Dustin Empire and the Ford Empire.

People like Ramiel and Einar who were central figures in the war received a lot of rewards from the Emperor. They were even rewarded with a huge piece of land each.

Soon, Aethelwolf and Aenwyn's names were called and they also received abundant rewards from the emperor.

The awarding ceremony concluded and it was followed by the funeral of the deceased soldiers. The atmosphere was solemn and the families and friends of the fallen soldiers were filled with grief and sadness as they watched the coffins of their loved ones being buried. Although they received a lot of benefits from the Leone Imperial Family, none of them are happy.

Aethelwolf sighed as he looked at the families of the martyrs.

Meanwhile, a small group of people led by a young man also spectated the funeral. They were part of the Ward Household and the person leading them was their young lord, Alec Ward.

The young man had a calm look on his face. Some of the fallen soldiers were part of his Ward Household. They served as the vanguard force during the war so there were a lot of casualties on their side. At this moment, not even a hundred soldiers remained of the once strong noble family.

"Let's go back." Alec muttered as he left with his subordinates.

After the funeral, Aethelwolf's group received an invitation from the emperor.

"His Majesty wants me to come?" Aethelwolf stared at Prince Renz. He was very busy this time, but since it was an invitation by the Emperor himself, Aethelwolf didn't have the heart to decline.

"Sir Aethelwolf, we need your wisdom in this difficult time. We are really out of options now so we can only ask for your opinion." Prince Renz muttered in a hopeful tone. He knew that the peace they had now was only temporary since he already know that the Ford Empire sent someone to the Zion Empire. Even a fool knew what those guys were up to.

"Alright. Take me there." He nodded his head. He then turned his gaze to Aenwyn and Einar. "You guys head back to the mansion first." After which, he glanced at Ramiel and muttered. "We'll discuss the result of your mission later."

"Yes, Sir Aethelwolf!" The three nodded their heads at him.

Aethelwolf then followed Prince Renz to the imperial palace.

Upon their arrival, he noticed that there were already a few people in the throne room.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Aethelwolf smiled as he greeted the emperor.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation, Sir Aethelwolf." Emperor Ragnar smiled gently. Without the man's helpful advice, the Leone Empire would have had a lot of casualties in the last war.

"Since all the brilliant minds of my Leone Empire are already gathered here, let's begin with the secret meeting." Emperor Ragnar announced.

Everyone's expression turned serious when they heard this.

"I believe the messengers I sent already told you guys about our situation. We might have won against two empires, but there is a high risk that the Zion Empire would attack us."