Curse of the Crystals

Chapter 5: Into The Empire - part 2

The nobleman turned towards the crowds that had gathered around. "Listen here, we've got a new doctor in town. He'll take care of any ailments you have! Line up people, line up!" With a sinister grin, the nobleman watched as some people hesitantly started to approach Ambrose to see if this was true. It was clear the nobleman was trying to set him up by having him fail to cure someone. His guards were clearly aware of this as well, as their eyes seemed to be scanning the area for a way to escape these crowds.

Ambrose decided to do his best to try to play along, as he could at least try to buy some time for his guards to figure out what to do. It's why he was soon examining an older women with back pains. Elven physiology wasn't too different from Humans, although they tended to be taller and more slender, with pointier ears and a slightly more oval-shaped face. Their natural build and muscle mass didn't differ as much between males or females as it differed between Human males and females. None of those things had serious implications for Ambrose, as he could still use most of his normal cures and methods. In fact, it felt like he was even more effective than usual, as some people were getting better almost immediately, especially the ones that he needed to examine through physical contact, rather than merely on sight.

A younger Elf of humble origin was sounded very rough and troubled when breathing, but somehow managed to breath in and out a lot easier after Ambrose had lain a hand on his chest to feel how deep his breathing was. It was very odd to see this, as he hadn't even prescribed a treatment yet, so he decided to also give him some herbal remedies. Even stranger was a kid with a broken bone that he was supposed to examine, as the kid was able to walk on it after Ambrose had carefully moved the leg to see how close to the knee the damage had gotten. He really wondered if he'd been mistaken or of something more mysterious was going on. Even a very dangerous looking infection that had formed after an old wound of a retired soldier opened up was somehow looking far less severe almost immediately after Ambrose had disinfected it and treated it with a healing salve, even though this would normally take almost a week to show significant results.

Oddly enough, Ambrose was also getting tired more quickly than usual, to the point that he eventually had to give up on treating people. Luckily enough, one of his guards stepped in. "The Human clearly proved himself capable of what he's summoned for. With all due respect, we've still got our orders, so we'd like not to waste any more time here."

The nobleman gritted his teeth, but begrudgingly allowed them to pass. Luckily enough, he wasn't willing to further push his luck by disobeying soldiers that worked for the prince himself. His plan had backfired, as Ambrose could see a lot of different other emotions when he left the village, such as wonder, surprise and even hints of respect and gratefulness.

It wasn't long before their journey finally ended by going through the capital's gates. Ambrose couldn't believe his eyes. The capital of the Human Kingdom was barely more than an overgrown village, while this capital was by far the biggest city he'd ever seen in his entire life. The buildings were of a much higher quality then anything he'd seen as well, especially those closer towards the centre of the city. In fact, it was clear that the entire city was designed to have all its most important and expensive buildings at its centre. The latter was why he started to feel a bit nervous when he was lead directly towards the centre of the city. A lot of Elves were staring at him with eyes that clearly indicated that he wasn't welcome here and that they didn't even deem him worthy to walk upon the same streets as them.

Ambrose was even more surprised when the guards escorted him directly towards the royal palace itself. Although the Human Kingdom was still being called a kingdom, it was no longer allowed to have its own King. It had lost all its governmental powers after becoming a vassal-state. Instead, the one with the most power among the Humans was the lord-regent, who was little more than a puppet of the Elven Empire. As a result, it was extremely rare for any Human to meet Elven royalty, as none of them held even a fraction of the power and influence that Elven royalty held. Furthermore, it was almost entirely unheard of for someone of an unknown background like Ambrose to visit them.