A knock on Arden's door woke him from his restless slumber. Throughout the night, he never found true restful sleep, as he was affected by the potion fatigue even in his dreams. Shallow dreams with no meaning or substance infested his mind as rest continued to elude him. The stickiness of his clothes let him know that he was drenched in sweat.

  Arden groggily looked at the door as it swung open forcefully. It was fortunate that Arden was chained to the bed, as the door would have slammed into him had he been out of bed.

  The imposing figure of Bellum stood in the doorway with his hands on his hips. As was expected of a crownguard, even in the early morning, he was wearing his armor with his sword strapped to his hip. His entrance had sobered Arden up completely.

  After a brief stare down, Bellum took a keyring out of a pouch on his hip and approached Arden. Arden's eyes never left the keyring, looking at every key. There were numerous keys on the ring, most of them mundane. Arden found the correct key and focused on it, trying to memorize every detail.

  Admittedly, it was fairly easy to see which key corresponded to the handcuffs. No other key had the diameter of a railroad spike, after all.

  Bellum unchained Arden and stuffed both the keyring and the handcuffs into the pouch. When the two items entered, the pouch emitted a soft purple light from its mouth.

  ‘I want one of those,’ Arden thought, momentarily forgetting that he did have one of those in the real world, in the form of the Status’ inventory.

  ‘I want one of those in the trial,’ he amended.

  “Healer Barnos is coming here to check up on you again. Do anything funny, and you’ll be in drastic need of his services. Again.”

  Arden nodded his head at the threat. He understood that right now, there was nothing he could do, so it was better to just ride out the storm.

  Perfectly on cue, Prince Nux entered the carriage followed closely behind by Barnos. Because of how out of it he was the previous night, Arden didn’t really remember the man who had healed him. Seeing him now with most of his mental faculties corrected, Arden felt that there was one word to describe the healer perfectly.

  Average.

  Barnos did not stand out in any way. Average height, average muscle definition, average looks. Brown eyes and brown hair. He was the perfect representation of 6.5 out of 10. Even his presence was weak, like a passing face in a crowd.

  “He looks a lot better today,” the average healer muttered. He looked at his host and continued. “Did he have any trouble during the course of the night?”

  Nux answered.

  “Not really. I mean, he made a lot of groaning noises as he slept, but nothing major.”

  Barnos nodded and approached his patient. He held out a hand for Arden to grab.

  “Can you stand?”

  Arden hesitated for a split second before he took the hand. He pushed himself up off the bed and stood up. When he stood, he felt the world spinning around him, and the ground felt like it was moving out from under him. His legs were like jelly, but he miraculously managed to stay upright. He held up his free hand to his forehead and grimaced. Eventually, the dizziness passed and returned to manageable levels.

  After a deep breath he looked at the average healer looking at him with concern.

  “Dizzy? That tends to happen after potion fatigue ends. It's like your perception forces itself to be reset after biological trauma. However, just because potion fatigue ended doesn’t mean that you're in the clear. Your symptoms will continue for a couple of days, manifesting in big and small ways.”

  Barnos looked back at the prince who was looking at Arden with worry written all over his face.

  “I suggest we leave him in a clinic for the time being. We just do not have the proper resources to care for a prolonged ailment like this.”

  “How prolonged are we talking about?” Nux asked.

  “It varies,” the healer shrugged. “I know someone who fully recovered in a few hours, and someone whose recovery took more than a month. In my professional opinion, a clinic would be the best for your servant.”

  Nux solemnly nodded his head.

  “We discussed this last night, actually. We are a few hours out from Silverbrook. I’ll send Bellum out as the advance party and let the officials know of our sudden arrival. We were going to head there first anyway, but it's best to let them know since we'll be showing up ahead of schedule.”

  For the first time, Arden looked out one of the windows and saw everyone eating breakfast as the sun rose higher into the sky. He looked at the clock in his room and saw that it was nine in the morning.

  ‘I slept longer than I thought.’

  His eyes returned to the food that was being served outside. It had been more than 12 hours since eating, and a sick person needed to eat.

  “Ah, that reminds me! I’ll be right back!” Barnos said, before leaving the carriage.

  The three men watched from the window as Barnos ran around the campsite collecting several pieces of food and then into his carriage car. A few minutes later he exited his carriage carrying something that trailed a cloud of white smoke. Moments later, he was back in the prince’s carriage catching his breath as he handed a bowl of stew to Arden.

  “That’s a medicinal stew,” he said in between gasps for air. “It should reduce the magnitude of the symptoms, so that they aren’t as debilitating. Bear in mind, that it won't taste good. I had a few of the ingredients in my carriage, but the rest I had to use food that we were serving with similar effects. The effectiveness shouldn't have dropped much, though.”

  Arden looked at his bowl and stifled a groan.

  ‘It can't be.’

  He took the bowl and the spoon that Barnos offered him. He mixed the stew in the bowl until it became a brown paste with an indescribable smell. A familiar smell.

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  He brought the spoon to his mouth, and after mentally praying to anything that was listening, God, demon, Archon, or otherwise, he opened His mouth and began eating the medicinal meal.

  ‘It is!’ Arden lamented. ‘I've traveled worlds, and gone to medieval times, but it hasn't budged an inch! It's just as bad here as it is in the slums!’

  The brown paste was something he hadn't eaten since before he met Vera, and was the bane of his existence. It was an impetus for his yearning for wealth and power.

  As if magifying windows and lanterns wasn't enough, Barnos had managed to find a way to magify the slop given to him before he was given Cirai’s ID.

  The medicinal meal was pretty much identical to the lowest rank of rations that he and Sya had eaten for years.

  ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same,’ he thought miserably.

  He choked back tears as he continued eating the horrid meal.

  Barnos grimaced at Arden’s reaction and stuck his finger into the meal, then up to his mouth.

  “It can't be that bad,” he said.

  Then he tasted it.

  He began gagging and coughing. He dropped to his knees and continued.

  “Oh Helios!” He spat. “That's practically inedible!”

  Nux looked between the collapsed Barnos and the crying Arden. His gaze returned to the former.

  “Maybe stick to healing magic and basic alchemy, not cooking.”

  Arden held up his empty bowl with tears running down his face. He looked like he had just aged a decade and returned home from a war.

  Barnos looked at him with surprise.

  “You've got balls. Big ones. Don't hesitate to throw it all up. What matters is that you ingested the medicinal properties, so the magic is already being absorbed by you.”

  ‘I won't throw up. I've long become accustomed to the abysmal meal of the slums. I need the calories, so I can keep it down.’

  Barnos stood back up.

  “Keep him here until we get to Silverbrook,” he repeated. “Monitor him so we can prevent him from getting worse. I'll be heading out. I need to eat some actual food before we depart.”

  Moments later, Barnos was outside grabbing a large plate of bacon and chowing down on it. He looked incredibly relieved to be eating something that didn’t taste like decaying mud. Arden looked on in envy.

  ‘God I wish that was me.’

  Nux and Bellum looked at Arden. He returned their gazes with a flat stare and an exhale through his nose.

  Less than a minute later, he was once again handcuffed to his bed.

  ***

  Arden stifled a yawn and looked at the clock in his room.

  12:17

  Three hours had passed since he woke up and began recovery with the alchemical medicine. Since then, several changes had occurred that Arden took note of.

  The door was locked from the inside, and on the other side Nux had the key. Even if Arden was unchained, he wouldn’t be able to get out of his room. However, even if he couldn’t see any developments, he could hear them.

  Shortly after he was locked in, he could hear Nux and Bellum talking to each other. The conversation was about the next steps. Nux ordered his subordinate to grab a useful soldier to replace him while Bellum made his way to Silverbrook to prepare for the rest of the expedition’s arrival.

  Shortly after, Arden heard a new voice introducing himself to the prince, and the prince telling him what he expected. Number one on the list involved letting the sick servant sleep.

  After that, the carriage started moving and they were once again on the road.

  Arden constantly shuffled in bed, changing positions numerous times. He couldn’t relax. Today, and the day previous as well, he felt anxious.

  He needed to move. Over the past month, he had gotten used to constant danger and the training that came with it. Now, he couldn’t even train, no matter how much he wanted to.

  Here, he didn’t even have the space to train, and even if he did, he was still chained to the bed. In any other circumstance, he would probably enjoy it. Now, he felt limited.

  ‘I want to move!’

  As if the universe heard his request, the door to Arden’s room swung open. Arden sat up expectantly as Nux approached him. Upon doing so, Nux noticed the lack of damage done to Arden’s wrists.

  “I guess you recognize the futility of your situation, demon? That there is no point struggling.”

  Arden ignored the taunt and looked past the prince. Bellum had replaced the soldier from before, and a gaunt man with messy black hair stood beside him with dead eyes.

  ‘How many doppelgangers do I have?’

  Nux turned around and inspected the newcomer before giving praise to Bellum.

  “Really good job with the illusion magic, Bellum. He looks a bit more malnourished than our friend here, but he will do nicely.”

  “Actually sir,” Bellum began. “I didn’t use any magic. This is what he normally looks like.”

  “Oh...I…see.” Nux cleared his throat. “Young man, do you know what we ask of you?”

  “No sir,” the man said shakily. “I was only told that the crown prince needed help with a matter regarding security and that I was the best candidate.”

  Nux nodded.

  “That is correct. Are you aware of the reason for our expedition?”

  The man shook his head.

  “I only know that it was sanctioned by both the Valtorin royal family and the Helios Church, lord.”

  “The world faces a grave peril. Only by a joint operation between my family and the church can we hope to avoid this oncoming calamity. The silent man handcuffed to the bed is the advance party. A scout. However, only me and my guard know the truth. To everyone else, he is my mute servant. Yesterday, he became sick. We don’t have the resources to keep him with us on the road, but we also can’t leave this demon to his own devices. Do you understand?”

  The man nodded.

  “You want me to act as his body double.”

  “Correct. We’ll send you to the clinic, and all you have to do is lay low as the physicians treat you. Don’t speak.”

  The prince bowed his head to the commoner.

  “Please, do this for me, and you will be handsomely rewarded. Anything you want can be in your grasp.”

  “Lord, please don’t bow your head!” the man panicked. “I’ll do it. All I want is asylum with my sister.”

  ‘Wow.’ Arden thought. ‘He does more than just look like me.’

  “Done,” said Nux.

  The prince handed the man a potion with swirling blue and red inside of it.

  “This is a very special illusion potion. Drink it, and it will appear to everyone that you are suffering from the residual effects of potion fatigue for around a week. You will be perfectly fine, but everyone will think otherwise.”

  The man didn’t hesitate to drink the potion offered by his prince.

  To everyone present, the man looked like he was incredibly dizzy and pale. Just like Arden was.

  “How do you feel?” Nux asked.

  “Perfectly fine, sir.”

  Nux nodded his head.

  “Come with me. It's time for the show to begin.”