Who Wants to be a Hero? I Just Want to Farm in Peace with my Knight

Chapter 4: Magic (+ diagram)

With the Archmage now gone Sora looked up at Keyne. "Are you not leaving?" He asked.

"Leave? I can't. It's my duty to help and protect you." Keyne said. His words sounded noble, but Sora remembered Archmage Galen's earlier comment about 'ulterior motives'.

Suspicious, Sora felt the need to ask. "Am I in danger?"

"No, the palace is a safe place. No one here would dare to hurt you." Keyne answered. He then walked over to the bed and once again began removing the bed's canopy.

"If it's safe, why do you insist on staying? Shouldn't you be able to leave me in the room alone?" Sora asked as he stood up to once again help with the canopy.

"Sora, sit down. I can remove it myself. You just sit and and safely rest." Keyne said.

Sora wanted to object, but when he moved towards the chair Keyne called out once more with a pitiful tone. "If you fall I'll need to call Archmage Galen again to heal you and effectively look like a fool. An incompetent fool who can't even protect one man over the course of an hour. As commander of the palace knights it will be a black mark on my otherwise pristine reputation."

Sora was at a loss for words. It wasn't that he cared about the man's reputation, but that he was in shock that Keyne would exaggerate the seriousness of a simple fall. "Do you need to call for a healer simply because I fell off a chair?" He finally questioned amused by how ridiculous it sounded.

"Of course. A fall could lead to a serious injury like a broken bone or sprain. If that were to happen, quick treatment is necessary." Keyne explained with a serious look.

"Do you really believe I could break a leg from falling off a chair? I'm not so fragile. Believe me, it takes a lot more effort to break my legs." Sora said.

"Have you broken your legs before?" Keyne asked. He wasn't oblivious to the underlying meaning of Sora's words.

"I have, but it was a long time ago. They've long healed. However, I still remember a lot of force was needed at the time to break them. Much more than a simple fall from a chair could generate." Sora said with a forlorn and solemn look.

Keyne wanted to ask more about the incident that led to his injury but couldn't when he saw Sora look off into the distant.

"You may be right, but it doesn't matter now." Keyne said as he jumped down from the chair.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked his mind no longer trapped in the past.

"There is no need for you to help, because I am already finished." Keyne said with a smile.

Sora looked up at the bed and saw that the canopy had indeed been removed. His brow furrowed with complex emotions. Unsure whether to laugh at the man's sly act or be angry.

Finished with the canopy, Keyne walked over to one of the two doors on the left. "I'll prepare a warm bath for you." He said before walking in what Sora could only assume was the bathroom.

"Is a bath really okay? Isn't there a drought currently plaguing the land?" Sora asked.

"As I mentioned earlier, aside from water used for drinking, cooking, or growing crops all other water can be substituted by magic. Taking baths, washing clothes, cleaning, they can all be done without worry as long as you can cast a basic water spell." Keyne said.

"You did mention something like that's earlier. But if what you said is right won't it also affect the water cycle?" Sora asked concerned that the solution he thought up wouldn't work.

"I don't believe it would be a problem. After all, the spell to create rain is an intermediate weather spell. It falls under Spiritual and Empowering magic. If we used elemental magic the water would be contaminated and the problems I mentioned earlier would occur." Keyne explained as he began pulling towels and a change of clothes out of the wardrobe.