Book 6: Chapter 11
A small family was clustered together while seated at a low table, and two other individuals that could have been guards or adventurers rested wearily against the walls of a room inside the fortifications. A pair of robed figures that Kay faintly recognized were checking over the two children of the family, with streamers of blood descending into small cuts in the kid’s arms. The two people dressed in worn and in some places battle damaged armor glanced over as new people entered the room and stiffened as they took in Kay and his escort. There was no reason for them to recognize him, but unimportant people didn’t have personal guards. The family and the two Blood Manipulators, who had been in some of Kay’s early classes on the Class now that he took a moment to look at them closely, didn’t look away from the two children. The parents’ faces were pale and drawn, while the kids looked somewhere between uncomfortable and the boundless curiosity of the young. One of them kept trying to peek inside his own arm and frowning when he couldn’t see through the blood trailing into him.
Kay watched what was happening with both his eyes and his magical sense, although the former didn’t tell him much and he didn’t get a ton out of the latter either. The only way he could see into another person’s body was to send blood under his control in, so all he could sense was the blood in the air between the children and the Blood Manipulators. The tiny conglomerations of cells tainted by eldritch corruption being siphoned out of the kids told him that the taint wasn’t being purged like what he did, but it didn’t give him any clues on why that was happening.
The procedure ended quickly after that and an explanation combined with reassurances had the worried looking parents calmed down a little bit. It was when the two Blood Manipulators turned toward the two people leaning against the wall that everyone else noticed Kay and his entourage.
“Your majesty!”
The family of four all huddled together with nervous expressions, even the children looking at Kay with hints of fear. The two fighters that had been watching him silently while he’d watched the examination stiffened even more while doing their best to keep their expressions blank. They failed, looking worried and anxious.
Kay gestured for his two citizens to rise from their bows. “Hello, I hear you’re doing good work but things aren’t going the way they were expected to. I’m here to see if we can figure out why.”
“Of course, your majesty.” The more senior of the two Blood Manipulators, a male elf that Kay vaguely remembered from the earlier classes he’d taught, nodded as he rose from his bow. “How would you like to proceed?”
“First I want to see what differences you’re seeing compared to if I was doing it. I’ll send a little of my own blood in with yours during your next examination to shadow you, and then we can try more after that depending on what we figure out.”
“Of course.” He gestured at the two fighters, “We were going to continue on with these two, so we can do so now if you’d like.”