"This… friend, do you… notice anything?"
Talos suddenly spoke up, his voice hesitant, but his gaze firm as he turned to Behline who was standing rigidly behind Marlin.
Behline was immediately startled as he turned to look at Talos in confusion, but the moment he did his senses came to him and he turned away.
Marlin looked up at him and asked, "Is there a problem Behline?"
"…, there's none, none at all. It's just that those people… have still not arrived after so long, so I am a bit unsettled."
He said with uncertainty in is timeless and unique voice.
"Hmm…", Marlin gave a light grunt in response as he reached for his pocket, but then Talos finally looked away from Behline, and sighed deeply as he turned to him.
"In any case, the baby she gave birth to could currently be suffering from mana overflow, and the only way to confirm his current status and possibly treat him would be through us."
He said resolutely, as he clenched his tingling hands together, disregarding the fear he had of nobles.
"In other words without you both, the baby is going to die?", Marlin asked quietly.
"No. In simpler terms the more time you spend interrogating us the more his condition worsens."
Fernand said as he reached for the near empty glass cup in front of him.
"Is that so?", Marlin mused to himself in slight surprise, but continued speaking with a polite smile.
"It does seem very possible for such a thing to happen, but since he had not shown any symptoms over the span of five days, then he wouldn't possibly act up now. Besides, there is only so much mana a baby can absorb"
Marlin said dismissively, but inwardly wondered, 'Why are these two people so bent on helping out!? Are they the emperor's me- no they couldn't be. Well it doesn't matter, they have to leave now lest they encounter those spies on their way back to wherever they came from.'
"…Young master-", Behline suddenly called out from behind but was interrupted by Fernand.
"But what if he doesn't stop absorbing mana?", Fernand abruptly raised the question, annoyed by their dismissal, but continued once he got their attention.
"The last time we were here was when he was born, and even before he made contact with the Mana filled air, my assistant described his mana to be as reminiscent of a low tier mage gathering mana to cast a spell. Don't you thin- "
"But he's been fine all this time you were not here, has he not? And your assistant… from what I've gathered is merely an assistant herbalist, and a doctor. What would he, a nonmage, know about mana?"
Marlin leaned forward, and continued to speak despite seeing how disgruntled Fernard was.
"In addition, if any problems arise along the way, I'll be able to get a proper mage to examine him, and if need be, contact an herbalist as well."
"Is that so?", Fernard forced the words out of his mouth, resisting the urge to scream about how wrong Marlin was, in his face.
From what he had inferred from his interaction with these people. He could tell they were incredibly stupid, unbearably prideful and the couple in front of him were not as sensitive to mana as his assistant, or himself due to his spiritual energy.
This meant that they did not realize how suffocating this place was due to its richness in mana. Even he, someone who possessed a considerable amount of mana resistance, found it nearly unbearable at times, almost collapsing under the increasing influence of the potent mana.
Thankfully he had a mana resistance powder concoction, and his precious spiritual recovery potion or else he would have long made a fool of himself in front of these Eastern people, and all their efforts would have gone to waste.
Marlin's cold voice interrupted his train of thoughts.
"Yes, I can do that. Despite my low title, I'm still a noble after all. Now, since we have finished our discussions, I'll get my people to reward you for your kindness and send you on your way, that is, if you wouldn't mind."
"Mind? Why would I? Since you're a noble, you also wouldn't mind sending me all the way to the southern continent.", Fernand said with a sneer as he reached for his briefcase.
Marlin's expression did not change but Behline, who stood behind him, turned pale.
"I wouldn't, after all I was the one who made the offer", He said with a stern voice.
"Behline, contact the main estate right now and have them send over a carriage and a surplus amount of gifts for our guests to have delivered to the nearest city they are stopping at"
Marlin continued as he stood up and turned to the guards who came with him.
"Remove all personal items from the carriage we arrived in, and prepare it for our guests to use to set off to the nearest territory."
"Yes sir!", The normal clothed youth responded almost immediately while the armoured knight wordlessly turned around to leave.
Fernand watched all this happen as he squeezed his briefcase tightly. His attention was suddenly attracted by Rhoda who had stood up to clear the table without paying a second glance to them.
While Talos who had stepped out of his comfort zone multiple times had spaced out. He barely noticed when his Master had got up, and had begun to urge him to come along so they could leave.
And it was then, as the timid doctor stood up with his doctor's bag in hand, that a small figure came into the living room through the back door.
She paused, and stared at the guests who had yet to notice her.
"No wonder!", She exclaimed, dropping the basket filled with house maintainable gifts, as she turned around to go to the kitchen.
But Rhoda and the rest of the occupants turned to her when they heard her exclamation and the thud.
"Greta? What are you doing here?
Rhoda asked as she felt a light tingling sensation in her left hand.
Young Greta turned around and came face to face with the guests unreadable gazes, then with a small embarrassed chuckle she explained herself.
"Well I was in the shed sorting out the gifts, and came to drop them off upstairs, so I didn't see the guests arrive and couldn't prepare refreshments for them…"
Moving carefully, Rhoda approached her as she spoke. "No not that, why aren't you upstairs?"
"Upstairs?", Greta asked with a slight tilt of her head and appeared confused.
'Did her teacher think she was eavesdropping?'
"No no I wasn't, I only just stepped in now, and I haven't heard a word of what you all discussed."
Now in front of her, Rhoda asked once again, "And the baby?"
"Oh! Well the baby fell asleep, so I decided to do some chores since he seemed to be sleeping wel… should I have not left?"
Greta spoke slowly, still very confused as she moved her gaze from her teacher to the unfamiliar visitors and finally, the smiling herbalist.
'Is something wrong?', she thought as she began to feel a sense of apprehension.
At that moment, Rhoda dropped everything and ran upstairs, and Marlin followed with Behline anxiously running up behind him, and the worried Talos following after.
Greta looked up the stairs, completely bewildered.
'What should she do? Should she follow?', she wondered, hesitating between running out to call for help or following after them.
Meanwhile, the soldiers remained outside completely oblivious of the chaos that had ensued inside, and Fernand remained standing with a gentle hold on his briefcase.
He contemplated on what to do as he bore an amused expression.
"Should I go up, or wait for them to come down?"
He questioned inwardly but ended up voicing his thoughts out, as he chuckled softly to himself.