Chapter 61 …
My heart dropped.
Raul was dying. Right before my eyes.
Voices echoed as if from far away.
“Get the Duke to the treatment facility immediately!”
“We have to stop the bleeding first! If we move him carelessly, the wound will open further!”
“There’s… there’s too much blood… What do we do…?”
Still reeling from shock, I snapped back to my senses when I felt a warm hand grasp mine.
“Muriel, it’s nothing serious. Calm down.”
“Lishian….”
When I turned to him, his face was shadowed by an inexplicably complicated emotion.
“We still have a top-grade potion, right? If we use that, it should be fine.”
“……”
Right. That was true.
I had the ability to save Raul’s life.
Me—the one that man had hated and scorned so much….
How would he feel, surviving thanks to none other than Muriel Terny?
At that thought, my heart seemed to grow cold, and a hollow scoff slipped out.
The shock and fear were gone. Strangely, my mind had become calm.
All that remained was choosing which path to take at this crossroads.
Should I save Raul…?
Or leave him to die like that?
Ding!
Sudden! Quest Generated!
〈Save Your Enemy〉
Save Raul Vinterberg and receive an important reward!
Use Top-Grade Potion on Raul (0/1)
Use High-Grade Potion on Raul (0/1)
Success Reward: 2,000 coins, Elixir Recipe
Failure Penalty: None
The system popped up at just the right moment.
A quest with no failure penalty.
It would give rewards if I succeeded, but there was no real need to do it.
“An important reward”….
An elixir recipe?
Elixir—or elixir.
The supreme substance of alchemy, equated with the Philosopher’s Stone, the perfect liquid.
Yet no one knew how to make it, and its effects were only the subject of speculation.
In short, a legendary panacea said to exist somewhere.
They’ll give me the recipe for something that incredible… if I save Raul?
Why?
Was Raul really that important in this world?
Still, it doesn’t say it’s a mandatory quest. They’re not forcing me.
In the end, it was up to me.
…They say the elixir can cure all diseases and even rejuvenate a dying old man, extending his life.
If that were true… maybe not now, but someday it would definitely be useful.
“Phew….”
Having made my decision, I took a deep breath and slowly opened my eyes.
Then I looked back at Dante and Lishian and said,
“We should save him. I still need to get his signature on the divorce papers.”
* * *
“Please step aside. Coming through.”
When the crowd didn’t listen to Muriel, Dante and Lishian forcibly cleared a path.
The people shoved aside protested loudly in anger and confusion.
“Who do you think you are?!”
“How dare you push us—!”
It was a natural reaction—they were the proud knights of Vinterberg.
But to Dante, these incompetents were nothing but laughable.
No wonder an accident happened when they entered a newly appeared dungeon with this ragtag bunch.
From what he could see, only the seven surrounding Duke Vinterberg were true elites.
Each of those seven could handle the work of ten men, but even so, dungeon raids were never easy.
Especially not this newly appeared palace-type dungeon.
They must have used orthodox strategies to clear things easily before… but that only applies to tower-type dungeons.
Unusual dungeons often contained unheard-of traps or irregular patterns.
That was why you normally brought only a small elite force and explored gradually to gather information.
Looks like Duke Vinterberg was in a hurry. Or he overestimated his own abilities.
If he had been rushed, it was understandable. The Terny family also seemed to be aiming for the first clear of this dungeon.
The reason everyone chased the first clear was simple.
The highest-grade spirit core and ancient relic obtained by defeating the dungeon’s master—the “Ruler.”
Ancient relics in particular often possessed functions that modern magi-engineering simply could not reproduce.
Tempting enough, I suppose.
But excessive greed and competitiveness invited disaster.
Thus, Dante always prioritized survival above all else.
He would never recklessly charge into a dungeon.
That was Dante’s principle—and the reason the Veratis Guild had such a high survival rate.
* * *
When I reached Raul, the seven knights surrounding him looked at me with sharp vigilance.
A few of them seemed to recognize me and widened their eyes.
“You are….”
I deliberately waved the top-grade potion I had already taken out of my inventory.
“Move. If you want the man who’s about to die to live.”
“Y-you’re Muriel Terny, aren’t you? How can we trust that’s a real potion?”
“If you don’t trust me, then just let him die. I don’t care whether he lives or not.”
“What did you just—!”
“Philip.”
Someone stepped forward, stopping the knight who was about to shout at me.
The knight commander, Michelle.
Raul’s most trusted subordinate.
And to Muriel…
She didn’t participate in the bullying, but she stood by and watched Muriel be humiliated right in front of her.
Michelle gave me a polite bow, then asked in a distinctly interrogative tone,
“I heard you were exiled to the contaminated zone. May I ask why you are here?”
As she spoke, her gaze flicked between Dante and Lishian, who stood guarding my sides.
Her eyes lingered longer on Dante.
“If I’m not mistaken, the gentleman on your left is the master of the Veratis Guild….”
I stared straight at her and cut her off bluntly.
“You don’t have the authority to interrogate me.”
“…!”
Only then did Michelle seem to realize her mistake. She quickly lowered her head and stepped back.
“My apologies.”
At the same time, she glanced sideways at me, her eyes unfamiliar—as if looking at a stranger.
Of course. The original Muriel wouldn’t have acted this boldly.
I jerked my chin toward Raul’s corpse-like body and sneered.
“Why so relaxed? Isn’t this an urgent situation? Planning to just let him die?”
Two knights were desperately trying to stop the bleeding, but Raul’s complexion was only growing paler.
If left like this, he’ll die from blood loss. They won’t even make it to the infirmary.
Michelle hesitated, lips moving anxiously. She glanced at Raul, then stared at the top-grade potion in my hand.
“…Are you certain that is truly a top-grade potion?”
“I already said—if you don’t believe me, let him die.”
My complete lack of courtesy made Michelle’s expression tighten for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure and let out a breath.
Finally, as if making up her mind, she met my eyes and spoke clearly.
“…I will trust not you, but the Veratis Guild Master standing there as guarantor. Please administer the potion to His Grace.”
A fairly clever judgment.
Dante wasn’t someone who would allow an unjust poisoning accusation—if what I held were poison, he would have intervened.
I openly sneered as I uncorked the crystal bottle.
When I stepped forward, Michelle moved aside.
She still looked half-doubtful, but since Dante made no move, she simply watched in silence.
“Move your hands for a moment. I need to apply the potion.”
I knelt in front of the unconscious Raul.
The knights performing first aid looked uncertain, but when Michelle nodded, they obediently withdrew.
The moment their hands lifted, I removed the thick cloth pressing the wound and swiftly poured the potion over it.
For external injuries, direct application to the wound worked fastest.
“Ugh…!”
Raul flinched and groaned faintly, but showed no sign of regaining consciousness.
The potion first healed the damaged internal organs.
About fifty seconds later, even the external wound had completely closed—though a red mark remained that would later become a scar.
“Th-the wound healed…!”
“It really was a top-grade potion….”
“How did that woman…?”
While the knights whispered among themselves, I pried Raul’s mouth open and poured in a high-grade potion.
He coughed slightly as if choking, but once he swallowed, his complexion visibly improved.
I casually tossed aside the empty crystal bottle and stood up.
Stares filled with shock—or perhaps admiration—poured toward me.
And then the system notification floating in the air—
Ding!
〈Save Your Enemy〉 Quest Complete!
You have shown mercy to the enemy who was on the brink of death!
Use Top-Grade Potion on Raul (1/1)
Use High-Grade Potion on Raul (1/1)
Success Reward: 2,000 coins, Elixir Recipe
Check your inventory!
That much was expected.
The real problem was the popup that appeared next.
〈Notification〉 You can increase the target’s recovery.
Method: Use Sacred Breeder’s Touch (Lv. 2)
…Has this system lost its mind?
