Enchanted Items

At dusk, Duke kept the fire going and reheated the leftover wild piglet over it.

Once it was warm, Duke cut off a small piece of pork with his dagger and brought it over to Vivian, preparing to feed her again.

Vivian's eyelids fluttered. Sensing something, she hurriedly opened her eyes and said, "I... I can eat by myself..."

At that moment, Vivian was like a startled little rabbit, completely at a loss.

Unlike her usual image as a female knight, she now looked entirely like the girl next door.

Duke awkwardly scratched his head, then handed the meat to Vivian. Only after taking it did Vivian begin eating slowly.

After that, Duke cut pieces of meat from the wild piglet with his dagger and handed them to Vivian one by one.

The entire process was silent. Neither of them spoke, and Vivian did not dare look at Duke.

Vivian noticed the clothes she was wearing. Realizing there was nothing underneath, she understood that Duke had already seen all of her. She became even more embarrassed, her face flushing red like a ripe apple.

Only then did Duke realize that Vivian in armor and Vivian without armor were almost like two different people, giving off entirely different impressions.

After a while, just as Duke was about to hand her another piece of meat, Vivian softly said, "I... I'm full. You eat. Thank you..."

Duke did not stand on ceremony. He was indeed a little hungry, so he began eating himself.

Vivian touched the herbs applied to her abdomen, then looked at her right leg, which had been dressed with medicine and bound with wooden sticks. She could not help feeling touched.

She knew what the situation had been like then. For Duke to carry her on his back instead of fleeing alone under those circumstances was truly rare.

Without Duke, Vivian definitely would not have survived until now, much less received such meticulous care.

Duke had not thought that much about it. Vivian had shown him kindness, so he would save her. It was that simple.

If Vivian had not cut off the Two-Headed Ogre's head, Duke would not have escaped either.

After eating, Duke pulled some more herbs from the surrounding area, chewed them into a paste, and placed it on a broad leaf. "I'll change your medicine."

"Ah... I'll do it myself." Vivian became like a startled rabbit again. Seemingly recalling something, she flushed with embarrassment.

"You can barely sit up right now. Several of your ribs are broken, and the medicine on your leg needs changing too. You can't reach it yourself. Lie down. I'll do it." Duke's words were reasonable and carried a tone that brooked no argument.

Surprisingly, Vivian did not argue. She merely gave a soft hum and lay down, turning her head aside with her little face bright red.

Duke gently rolled up Vivian's clothes, stopping once he reached a certain point. Then he carefully scraped away the herbs on her abdomen and applied the fresh ones.

While applying the medicine, his fingers inevitably brushed against Vivian's skin.

Duke could feel the young girl's delicate body trembling, but there was nothing he could do at this point. He could only steel himself and finish applying the medicine.

Next came her right leg. Duke carefully rolled up Vivian's pants, revealing her fair, slender, rounded legs.

After untying the wooden sticks one by one, he held her foot before him, carefully scraped away the herbs, washed it with clean water, applied fresh herbs, and finally secured it again with the wooden sticks.

Vivian did not make a sound throughout the entire process. Near the end, she even closed her eyes, seemingly too embarrassed to look. Her hands clutched tightly at the hem of her clothes, and her toes occasionally tensed up despite herself.

After changing Vivian's medicine, Duke sat off to the side and continued training. Neither of them spoke; only the sound of their breathing could be heard.

After a long while, Vivian asked, "What was that golden light around you earlier?"

Vivian had seen what happened when Duke fought the Two-Headed Ogre, but the situation had been too urgent at the time for her to ask.

"It was this." Duke raised his hand, showing her the Brass Ring on it.

"You actually have an Enchanted Item." Vivian spoke in surprise.

"This thing is called an Enchanted Item?" It was Duke's first time hearing its name.

Vivian said, "Enchanted Items are things left behind by Wizards. They contain spells enchanted by Wizards, and usually only Wizards can use them."

"But I'm not a Wizard." Duke was puzzled.

Vivian explained, "If someone has the aptitude to become a Wizard, they can also use their own mental power to activate an Enchanted Item. My father is like that."

"Your father... Count Hardy." Duke thought of something.

Thinking of what the bard had said before—that Count Hardy possessed a Red Glove that could make nearby people die suddenly—it seemed that Red Glove was an Enchanted Item with an offensive spell.

"I see. Perhaps I should have told you about this earlier. Then, after getting the Brass Ring, you would have had a much easier time dealing with that Ogre." Recalling the bitter battle from before, Duke said regretfully.

But what had happened had happened, and there was no way to undo it.

Vivian shook her head. "It would have been useless. I can't use it. Do you know why I want so badly to become a Great Knight?"

"Isn't it to become stronger?" Duke asked.

"Not only because becoming a Great Knight will make me stronger. More importantly, once I cultivate the Whale Breathing Method to the ninth level, my mental power will increase somewhat. Then I'll have the aptitude to become a Wizard."

"My mental power is not far from the threshold for becoming a Wizard," Vivian said.

Vivian could not give an exact number, but recalling his own experience, Duke guessed that threshold was probably somewhere above seven.

An ordinary person's mental power was five. Vivian might be around seven, just a tiny bit short.

"Can you tell me more about Wizards? Is Count Hardy a Wizard?" Duke asked.

After learning that Wizards existed as a group, he had begun to feel drawn to them.

Having witnessed the Two-Headed Ogre's spell power, Duke's desire to pursue the path of a Wizard became even more urgent.

Since supernatural power existed in this world, and he himself possessed the necessary aptitude, he wanted to control that supernatural power, step onto the transcendent path, and escape the cycle of life and death that bound ordinary mortals.

"Father is not a Wizard. He merely worked for a great Wizard when he was young, so he knows a little about these things. According to Father, that Red Glove was only an experimental product the great Wizard was dissatisfied with, casually tossed to him as a reward..."

Vivian then spoke with Duke about many things. The conversation between them gradually opened up, and they were no longer as awkward as before.

Duke learned that Wizards did indeed exist in this world, but their numbers were extremely small.

The Vira Kingdom was located on the Florence Continent, and Wizards were scarce throughout the entire Florence Continent, exceedingly rare.

Even when they did exist, ordinary people generally could not come into contact with such beings, much less know that Wizards existed.