V. O, Glory of the Tournament! (21)
V. O, Glory of the Tournament! (21)
Injuries among knights participating in tournaments were relatively common.
Many knights bled while fighting their matches, and the Bogenberg Tournament produced fresh injuries every day.
Deaths, or injuries severe enough to threaten death, were another matter.
Knights did sometimes die during tournaments, but there was a reason such deaths were classified as 'accidents.'
A tournament was essentially a mock contest meant to test martial skill and enhance both knights' honor. Killing an opponent there was unacceptable.
An accident that occurred while both men observed the rules carried no liability, but proving that the death had not been intentional was an arduous process.
A knight could easily be branded as someone who had killed an opponent in a tournament and see his honor dragged into the dirt.
Even after proving there had been no intent, custom required financial support for the dead knight's house, such as paying part of the funeral expenses.
The Bogenberg Tournament did not gather a rabble of mercenaries for a brawl. It brought together proper knights from established houses.
A death or grave injury at such a prestigious event would create a serious problem not only for the opposing knight but also for Count Bogenberg.
That was why Keldric had returned to Bogenberg's inner castle, where the banquet had been held several days earlier.
The tournament had been suspended. They could have declared a champion with only the final remaining, but Sir Ortvin's condition was far too serious.
Delaying a victory declaration was fairly common. If a knight was injured but remained alive, the judges and organizers often withheld their decision.
Keldric had received his wager back, but the prize, honor, and glory owed to the victor had all effectively been held hostage.
'Damn.'
To be fair, Keldric could understand Count Bogenberg's difficult position.
But that was one matter, and the fact that Keldric continued losing out with every passing hour was another.
In the middle of their match, his opponent had begun bleeding from the ears, convulsed violently, and been left a half-dead wreck.
Keldric could see no explanation except outside interference, but spectators ignorant of the circumstances could reasonably assume that a hard blow to the head had caused it.
Keldric therefore needed to clear his name as quickly as possible.
Count Bogenberg's investigation might eventually prove his innocence, but if Keldric underestimated public opinion, truth be damned, he could still be branded the knight who had nearly killed Sir Ortvin.
"At least he survived."
"...True."
Keldric nodded sourly.
As Alisa said, in this suffocating situation, Ortvin's survival was an immense relief.
If Ortvin had died, or been reduced to a state where death might have been preferable, both Keldric and Count Bogenberg would face far greater trouble.
"Alisa. Do you have any medical knowledge?"
"A little. The Academia teaches some medicine as well."
"Then did you get a close look at Sir Ortvin's condition?"
"No. I did not see him closely either..."
Only one suspicious factor came to Keldric's mind.
The blood streaming from Ortvin's ears, his convulsing body and rolled-back eyes, the oily blue-green film on the blood, and the tiny wormlike things swimming through it.
Sir Ortvin's grotesquely abnormal condition set Keldric's instincts on edge.
No blow to the head from falling off a horse could explain why things like that had emerged.
Alisa could offer only fragments of medical knowledge, but that was exactly what Keldric needed most.
"Actually, when we rolled Sir Ortvin onto his back, I saw something strange."
After a moment's hesitation, Keldric briefly described what he had seen.
Alisa remained calm while he described the blood from Ortvin's ears and his rolled-back eyes.
Her brow furrowed when Keldric mentioned the blue-green film on the blood in his hand, and she grew deeply grave when he reached the leechlike worms.
"What do you make of it? Do you think it was an accident during the match?"
"...First, I should tell you one thing."
"Go on."
"At Firenza Academia, anatomy and natural philosophy were given greater priority. My knowledge of formal medicine is therefore not especially deep."
"I will bear that in mind."
That was only natural. Alisa had studied magic at Firenza Academia, not medicine.
Keldric nodded and gestured for her to continue. Alisa sighed softly and tapped her chin with one finger.
"Let us go back to the beginning. You said the first abnormal signs appeared in Sir Ortvin's movements, correct?"
"Hm. As I said, something about his breathing looked wrong. It did not seem like simple exhaustion."
Keldric recalled Ortvin's chest and shoulders heaving for breath.
It had not looked like mere fatigue. Keldric had also seen him repeatedly thump his chest as though something there were bothering him.
"Chest discomfort has many possible causes. Something he ate last night or this morning may not have agreed with him, but if he struggled to breathe and complained of tightness... it was most likely an imbalance of the humors."
Keldric listened with a blank expression.
According to Alisa, four humors flowed through the human body, and chest pain could result from an excess of black bile or phlegm.
"...Black bile? Phlegm?"
"Correct. Examining his urine or tongue would tell us more... but that is probably impossible under the circumstances."
Unease crept over Keldric. Could he really trust the medicine of this era?
After all, Alisa was a wizard of the School of Purifying Flame, not a physician.
Four humors and all the rest of it were entirely new to Keldric.
"All right... I understand for now. What comes next?"
"Based only on chest pain and tightness, that is the only diagnosis I can offer. But your account may let us go further, Sir Keldric."
The next signs were the blood from his ears and the violent trembling of his rolled-back eyes.
"I suspect poison. My knowledge of herbs is limited, but from your description... I would suspect monkshood."
"Monkshood..."
"Poison made from its roots and leaves is deadly. Its main symptoms are an irregular pulse and loss of bodily control."
Alisa's explanation that severe cases could end in death was chilling.
If even Alisa, who had not specialized in medicine, knew that much as basic herb lore, monkshood had to be exceptionally deadly.
What mattered was whether it matched Sir Ortvin's symptoms.
"Can the symptoms appear after a delay?"
"There is a great deal I could say about that... but the next symptom should all but confirm it."
"What symptom?"
"The Erosion Larvae found in Sir Ortvin's blood."
Erosion Larvae. That was what the worms were called.
Keldric had never heard the name in either of his lives.
Seeing his complete incomprehension, Alisa continued with an uneasy expression.
"Erosion Larvae do not occur naturally. They are like the filthy residue left when a wicked witch creates a curse—in simple terms, a witch's by-product."
A witch was not simply any woman who used magic.
In the distant lands of the heathens, priestesses who practiced strange sorcery were commonly called witches.
People across the continent sometimes pursued magic toward evil ends and committed murder, but even they were not called witches or servants of demons.
They were usually dismissed as lunatics and executed. Witches were categorically different.
"They have many names. The heathens call them sacred priestesses, while others call them shamans. None of that changes the fact that they are witches."
"Why is that?"
"Because they twist the world's causality."
Alisa had said that magic was a discipline for drawing closer to the truths of the world.
The wicked magic of witches was far more ritualistic and occult.
Magic was already vague and difficult to understand, but witches went further: their magic aimed to profane truth itself.
"Erosion Larvae are base vermin born from that process. No naturally occurring insect could ever take such a form."
"Oh..."
"Once Erosion Larvae lodge inside the body, they multiply indiscriminately. They feed on the humors and excrete waste as well."
Alisa explained that the waste mixed with blood and other humors to create the oily blue-green film. Its toxicity acted like monkshood poison, though somewhat weaker.
"I see. So creatures like that really exist."
"Yes. I do not know how Sir Ortvin came to harbor Erosion Larvae, but they could never have occurred naturally."
In other words, someone had tried to poison Sir Ortvin.
Because Ortvin had barely survived, it was technically attempted poisoning, but Keldric had no intention of reducing the culprit's punishment on that account.
Keldric's honor was at stake. If it fell into the dirt, he would be socially ruined as a knight.
Heavy footsteps made Keldric turn. Sir Tolle was approaching.
"Sir Keldric. His Excellency is asking for you."
"I will come now. Alisa, come with me."
"M-me too?"
"You know some medicine. You should come."
Keldric followed Sir Tolle with Alisa beside him.
Why Count Bogenberg had summoned him so late at night was unclear, but Keldric at least had a defense to offer.
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"It appears the cause was poisoning."
Count Bogenberg was an enlightened man.
With some knights distrusting medicine and ignorant nobles abounding, accepting a physician's diagnosis was remarkably sensible.
"It appears not to have been your fault, Sir Keldric. Even so, I would like you to remain in the castle for the time being."
"I shall do so."
Keldric had no reason to object. However fine the inn was, the castle where Count Bogenberg and his honored guests stayed was far better.
It would save him money as well. Keldric hid the corners of his mouth as they tried to rise and bowed his head.
"This is the physician who diagnosed Sir Ortvin. I am told he is highly renowned."
"I am honored, Your Excellency. Sir Keldric of the honorable House Bellaf, may I briefly introduce myself?"
"Go ahead."
The man introduced himself as Niccolò of House Sanluce, a physician formally trained in medicine at the Avalonchene Academia.
"The Avalonchene Academia is renowned for medicine. Count Bogenberg found a proper physician."
Alisa, standing just behind Keldric, quickly whispered to him.
As Keldric listened, he saw why. Niccolò spoke calmly and recited the symptoms without hesitation, seeming every inch a born physician.
"His body was producing an abnormal excess of black bile. As for the cause, the corpses of Erosion Larvae were being expelled."
"I see."
"I therefore performed bloodletting, and the prognosis is favorable. We discovered it early."
According to Niccolò, Keldric's powerful lance blow to Ortvin's chest had shocked the Erosion Larvae inside his body and driven them out, allowing early treatment.
Keldric could not make sense of the explanation at all.
More explanation would not help, so he simply nodded in silence.
"Your Excellency, a moment..."
"Hm. Go ahead."
"Thank you."
Then Niccolò did something unexpected.
After finishing his explanation, he suddenly threw the window wide open and leaned his upper body far outside.
Keldric was too dumbfounded to speak. Niccolò nearly draped himself across the windowsill before pulling back inside and continuing.
"Judging by the sky, the moon is waning from full toward new. The body's restorative power does not improve while the moon diminishes, so bloodletting is preferable to medicine."
"That makes sense. Proceed."
"Thank you, Your Excellency."
'What did he say about the moon?'
Sir Ortvin looked as though he might die at any moment, so Keldric thought medicine should be administered immediately. Niccolò, however, insisted that they wait until the moon began waxing again.
Keldric glanced sourly at Alisa.
Contrary to his expectations, she was nodding with considerable admiration.
"It certainly makes sense... A renowned physician really is different."
"Should we not give him medicine first?"
"But the moon is waning, is it not? I think we should follow Niccolò's advice."
Keldric closed his mouth. The matter had passed beyond his control.
They called Niccolò a renowned physician, so Keldric could only watch and leave him to it.