Aleus had an awkward smile as he looked around seeing the palace guards with their weapons aimed at him. And several feet away on the higher floors of some buildings there were cannons aimed at him as well. Outside the immediate encirclement he could see Aramis.

  He had expected this, and just on queue upon being identified the weapons were turned away and the encirclement was dissolved.

  "What a warm welcome."

  He said as he left the array, floating towards Aramis.

  "We were taught not to hold back on serving the uninvited."

  Even though they exchanged greetings in relaxed and patient manner, afterward Aramis did not waste time asking for the circumstance of Aleus's arrival. From the latter's appearance and mood, he did not think it was a hopeless one but he could not erase the anxiety in his heart.

  "There's nothing to worry about. The dark cloud over us has been cleared. We return victorious."

  Aleus declared but before they could ask any further he took out his painting. He threw it into the air while using several runes, one to hold it in place with wind, another to cause it to enlarge.

  Everyone present watched with curious eyes, for the life of them they could not grasp what the prince was doing.

  After growing enough the painting came to life and gasps could be heard among the crowd, for a moment they even forgot why they were there. They were rune practitioners, of course they realised the source of this was a new rune, one that was unknown to the public world.

  Unknowingly some even started to get close, one step, two two steps before they could advance any further something even more shocking happened.

  "It's them... the rest of the subjugation army."

  Someone exclaimed as battle ships began flying out of the painting, one or two at time.

  "You are not surprised?"

  "Hahaha. Elder brother, not much time has passed but not only did I find out about the new rune, I've also seen it in action when master Isis used it to show off to Arisu."

  "And where are they now?"

  "No clue, but likely locking themselves up somewhere in the palace."

  "Hmm. I assume you've been busy, sadly I'll have to trouble you with more work today. I'll only be able to help from tomorrow onwards, father should be the same."

  Aramis shrugged with a confident smile as he said.

  "What will I be doing that I wasn't doing before. Besides you returned sooner than expected, it's a Boone if nothing else. And how difficult can it be to provide lodging and entertain guests."

  Aleus silently nodded, it was already evening, finding a place for so many people to stay would have been a bit difficult but they were staying here recently as such they could be easily put in the same accommodation as before.

  As for those who were still wounded, there was no cause for concern for them as well. The fight was expected to be a prolonged one, so they had left some supplies back on the continent to teleport periodically using limited teleportation rune arrays. Each kingdom new where their supplies were, it was only a matter of retrieval.

  "Hope you like it, the painting is yours."

  Aleus said leaving Aramis, there were still battle ships and people coming out but the one he had been waiting for had just gotten out, he felt he had no reason to linger.

  "Prince Aleus..."

  Leandro called out after a moment of hesitation, with a troubled expression and uncertainty flashing in his eyes.

  "Sorry Leandro, but no need to worry. My actions are my own, that includes their responsibilities."

  He said before continuing on his way, he felt bad and didn't like it. Being a person whose choices inevitably influence those around him, no matter how insignificant was just a pain Aleus believed.

  "How is he?"

  He asked, quickly catching up with Vazpin carrying Hiro, but the one to answer was Oldomus walking beside him, also carrying someone, Jura.

  "His life is not in any danger but his life force is twisted, like organs that have been so shaken they've moved from their natural position hurting themselves in the process. Naturally his soul is also injured not to mention the evidently wounded body."

  Summarised Oldomus, he wasn't just a rune finder and helper but also adept at healing. With the time spent inside the painting it wasn't enough to treat Hiro but assessing his condition was something he could do even with a quarter of the time.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  And it was also during this time that they recovered however much of their lost stamina and strength, while others continued to recover.

  "But there's nothing to worry about, like the analogy of organs that have shifted from their original position, one need only return them to their rightful place and healing should take place even without outside help. As for the soul you and I both know we have yet to find a rune that can be of help. But what's surprising is this shouldn't be enough for him to lose consciousness."

  "I see, so his soul can only heal by his own efforts. It may sound hopeless but with his life force, healing should be possible. In truth I already had an idea of his condition. During his fight with the dragon he did something, causing his life force to be expended but in turn his speed increased."

  Aleus recounted, it was clear as day and he would likely not forget Hiro was being pushed back losing ground with every exchange of blows but in the next moment his life force was like fire. Fierce and strong as it powered him at its expense and while it did so it was tangled.

  Lifespan, vitality and all the other aspects of one's life force fused little by little, the end result would be he would no longer live as a normal person if the fusion was completed. While on the other hand if his life force was used up he would be dead.

  (If he died this way, would he come back to life? The fusion of the aspects of life, what would the end result really be? We rune practitioners can convert one into another and it is effective and safe this way...)

  "Sounds like a crude way of using life force. If one is not careful they could end their life. When he wakes up, warn him of this but I'm certain he too knows this. If you'll excuse me, I need to get my emergency rune tablets."

  Said Oldomus interrupting Aleus's thoughts, before handing Jura over to some rune practitioner walking alongside them, and turned a ninety degrees from their original path, walking away.

  The rest continued to one of the palace's infirmaries. There weren't many patients brought here, only those who were high up in Akarn's hierarchy with exceptions like Hiro among them. Vazpin laid Hiro on one bed then bid farewell to prince Aleus.

  (I guess I should get to work.)

  Thought Aleus as he moved to Jura's bed, the latter was unconscious but unlike Hiro his injuries were ones that could easily be taken care of.

  "I see that they managed to heal him to an extent, it must be that they ran out of healing rune tablets and the engravers were spent as well no doubt."

  He presumed, taking out a healing rune tablet he had prepared for himself. He placed it on Jura's wound. It looked fresh and it was but no blood flowed from it. Aleus activated the rune as it shined with a golden light on the tablet. In just moments its effects could be seen, new flesh grew closing the opening until it finished with a layer of skin forming.

  He heaved a sigh of relief and exhaustion, he had kept on using the rune of Dreams nearly nonstop. Though he did not look like it, he was more drained than most. Even this was the last bit of strength he could muster before going over his stamina limit. He looked over at Hiro and sighed once more as he moved to take a seat at one corner.

  While he did that he heard the door open, he rotated his head to see who it was, Oldomus.

  "Master Oldomus, you're done so soon."

  "Healing is also my specialty but even I would need some time to prepare, fortunately it's not necessarily a one man's job to engrave a rune tablet. Engraving these few runes is very doable."

  Aleus backtracked no longer going for a seat but moved to Oldomus to see the process of Hiro's healing.

  Even if Oldomus and Aleus were both masters, people specialized in different areas which resulted in the same rune being used yielding more or less even for people of the same rank and level. Oldomus was adapt at healing and had ideas of his own, combining runes one would overlook raising his healing to another level. A talent suiting his first two paths as a rune practitioner.

  "You don't mind if I watch do you?"

  "Hehe, if his Highness still wants to learn from this old man, I couldn't be happier."

  He replied unfolding a cloth revealing several rune tablets. Some Aleus saw to be an obvious choices while others would cause someone to question if Oldomus was really going to treat Hiro with them.

  (True to their craft runes are just like tools, looking at them individually a person would overlook a lot of things. Like scalpels to perform surgeries with and alcohol to disinfect. It's these little innovation that led me to being a finder.)

  He thought observing, the first rune Oldomus used was the life expulsion rune but he used it along side another to strengthen it, causing the life force to loosen barely holding onto the soul and body.

  (Poison, medicine, there is no such thing as being one or the other, any expert worth their salt is aware of this.)

  Thought Aleus internally praising Oldomus for flawlessly displaying this idea.

  Hiro was put into a state of quasi life dispersion, this way the three aspects of his being would nearly unaffect one another. But at the same time it looked like he was be killed by expelling life from his body.

  Next Oldomus influenced the individual aspects of Hiro's life so that they would be untangled.

  (This is the hardest part, one mistake and one aspect may be further harmed or worse, completely expended causing death.)

  Aleus's gaze moved to Oldomus and saw the latter was even sweating to a degree, expending all his concentration not to influence all at once or too much.

  When his gaze shifted back to Hiro, even without Oldomus saying it he could deduce Hiro's vitality was currently being stimulated, evident from his rising temperature and the rapid regeneration of the body.

  (To think it influences the body this much even with those runes at play. If this was used without weakening the connection between the three, Hiro bursting from rapid biological activity wouldn't be strange.)

  The current Hiro's body was filled with immense vitality, his blood rushed, his cells experiencing a stimulus so great they kept on multiplying, bit by bit Hiro even got more fit burning the fat in his body while a bit of vapor rose off of him.

  (At this rate the physical body might be completely heal before his life force.)

  But just after Aleus thought this, Oldomus moved onto another aspect before Hiro fully healed. But not much was left, in comparison the state Jura arrived in was four times Hiro's current injuries.

  After influencing two more life aspects, Hiro's life force was completely untangled without the need to influence the remaining aspects.

  With the untangling of life force done, Oldomus deactivated the rune tablets that loosened Hiro's life force.

  Aleus was about to offer his healing rune when the two of them saw Hiro quickly healing before they did anything else. They didn't know for sure but they had the same suspect, the swords right beside Hiro on the bed.

  "These swords continue to amaze me, healing him even without his intervention."