---
Musashi pulled out a chair and sat down at the side of the bed, in his hands were a few red flower petals, the hue on the petals was dark in the middle but got lighter as it reached the edges.
Musashi crushed the flower petals in his hand and mixed it with a green paste, once finished, he tore off Caesar"s undershirt and rubbed the paste on his abdomen, chest, and back.
Once Caesar"s wounds were covered in the medical paste, Musashi pulled the covers over Caesar"s unconscious body and sat at the foot end of the bed to await his inevitable awakening.
He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, thinking back to the battle, "it"s weird, although he has the same aura and bloodline as that race, his physical body is much weaker? Perhaps, he is slowly awakening it?" Musashi silently thought to himself while in deep meditation.
*knock*
"Clan head, your tea, and pipe have been prepared" A mesmerizing voiced echoed out from behind Musashi"s doors, interrupting his deep thoughts.
"Ah yes, bring them in" Musashi responded simplistically after a few seconds of thought.
*creak*
The sliding doors were opened and a kneeling girl with waist length obsidian black hair, topaz eyes, and relatively sophisticated facial features appeared in the doorway. She had a round silver platter in her right hand with a steaming cup of hot tea and a tobacco pipe on it.
She smiled respectively slowly stood up, once standing, she carefully brought the silver platter to Musashi and put it on a table nearby, she casted a curious glance towards Caesar, who was currently in Musashi"s bed, however, she quickly turned away as if she had seen nothing.
"He was injured in his last battle, so I am nursing him back to health… don"t get any unnecessary thoughts" Musashi calmly explained while grabbing the tobacco pipe and lighting it with a flame from his finger.
"T-this lowly maid wouldn"t dare think about anything past her boundaries," the girl said anxiously as if fearing Musashi would think ill of her if she said anything he didn"t want to hear.
Musashi closely examined the girl while puffing on his pipe, blowing a large amount of smoke into the room.
"I don"t remember having a maid as pretty as you… where did you come from?" Musashi asked the kneeling girl curiously, he wanted to pa.s.s the time before Caesar woke up.
The girl kneeling on the ground slightly shivered and just barely raised her eyes to take a peek at Musashi"s face, a glimmer of fear was clearly discernible in her gaze.
"My mother used to be a maid directly under you… w-when she died, she had asked me to follow in her footsteps" she spoke hesitantly while sneaking a few glances at Musashi every now and then.
"Interesting… I don"t seem to remember any of my maids having a child as beautiful as you, alas, I can"t keep track of them all" Musashi spoke in exasperation and slowly reached for the cup of tea on the silver platter.
He could feel the la.s.s"s heartbeat start to quicken as his hand got closer to the cup of tea, suddenly, right as his hand was about to touch the cup, he could feel movement on the bed.
His hand halted in mid-air causing the maid"s expression to grow even more anxious, but, Musashi wasn"t focused on her, but instead on Caesar, who"s eyes were currently fluttering as if he was forcing himself to awake.
---
Caesar could feel a weird stinging sensation on his abdomen, chest, and back, the feeling was so uncomfortable that it even interrupted his dreams… he forcefully opened his eyes and slowly raised his upper body.
The sheets fell down as he got up and fully expose his bare chest, to which the maid couldn"t help but sneakily glance at.
Caesar scanned around the room in confusion, it was quite large and luxurious, he could see a bathroom on the left side, a large mirror in the middle of the room, and the walls were etched with many different mythical designs that almost looked ethereal.
Caesar"s attention soon focused on Musashi, who was sitting at the foot end of the bed with a weird smile plastered on his face as he puffed on a tobacco pipe.
"Good morning sunshine, you woke up faster than I had expected… I"m impressed" Musashi said sarcastically.
Caesar was suddenly struck by a headache and remembered the events that had just taken place earlier in the day, he ma.s.saged his forehead and deeply creased his brows.
"Your mana manipulation ability was astonishing… It caught me off guard" Caesar suddenly spoke up, after thinking about the duel for a few moments.
"Haha, although my ability is indeed good, it isn"t amazing like you praise it to be, it"s just that your abilities to control your mana is severely lacking" Musashi explained, completely ignoring the maid that was still kneeling on the ground.
Caesar tore the covers off of his body and stepped off the bed, he shook his head and wildly flailed his hair while rubbing the thick paste off of his chest and abdomen.
"Ahri had said something similar, depending on the affinity, the way to utilize your mana varies greatly, alas, there are apparently no more ice magicians to a.s.sist me with my mana manipulation abilities," Caesar said while subtly glancing at the tobacco pipe in Musashi"s hands.
"You aren"t wrong, but not entirely correct either, although every affinity does indeed have a different method of control, don"t you have your strange eyes to a.s.sist you in finding things such as that?" Musashi asked curiously.
Caesar just shook his head with a wry smile, "my eyes are indeed special, but their capabilities seem to stop at merely intimidating, finding weaknesses, and attack patterns" Caesar spoke quietly so that only Musashi would hear him and not the maid.
"Haha, you just aren"t thinking out of the box, find the weakness within your current mana manipulating method and continuously fix it until there are no weaknesses," Musashi said with a loud laugh and took another puff of his pipe
Caesar held his chin with his right hand and squinted his eyes, "the feasibility of his words aren"t entirely impossible, I just don"t think with my current capabilities I would be capable of accomplishing it" Caesar thought inwardly and walked past the maid to the bathroom.
"Thank you for your wisdom, your words will surely come in handy at another date, I do want to continue our conversation but this stench on my body in unbearable" Caesar said with a scrunched up nose, the medical paste on his body smelled quite detestable, not to mention he hadn"t bathed in a few days.
"I don"t mind, we can continue our talk later, I have some things to take care of myself, so do take your time," Musashi replied with a wide smile to which Caesar nodded his head in acceptance.
He opened the bathroom door and glanced at the maid one last time before leaving Musashi"s and her line of sight… Once entering the bathroom, he quickly heated the water and scrubbed the medical paste off of his body.
He stepped into the wide bathtub and lazily stretched his limbs inside, he tilted his head back and gazed at the ceiling with a weird smile on his face.
"For the trolls to be in such a hurry for Musashi to die, I wonder what is making them so anxious?" Caesar whispered to himself quietly, the quickened heartbeat of the maid and the strange smell of the tea made it clear to even Caesar who had just woken up that it was poisoned.
"To use such an innocent and shy girl to attempt the a.s.sa.s.sination, the trolls are just getting desperate, aren"t they? Haha" Caesar chuckled to himself and soon finished thoroughly scrubbing his hair and body.