Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 163: Shadur’s Failed Diagnosis

“Come in, Shadur!” Hurman spoke up, motioning for Jonon to let the young man enter. “Now tell us, what’s happened to my son?”

Seeing the stress and anxiety emerging within Hurman’s gaze, Shadur bowed as the door was closed and the silencing formation was reactivated. “Patriarch Hurman, after examining Master Lyle I believe his coma may not have been naturally induced.”

“You mean–”

“At least at the moment,” Shadur continued, not letting Hurman interrupt his first diagnosis, “I don’t believe Master Lyle’s coma has been steady without some external aid. By that, I mean to believe that something has been administered to him to at least prolong his coma if not to maintain it. However, I’m not certain what or how that is as of yet.”

Everyone kept quiet. Some opened their mouths to speak, such as Jonon and Hurman, yet they were rattled with a slew of silencing, confusing emotions.

“I’ve already drawn some blood for testing but I’m unsure how long that testing will take. Depending on what the issue could be, I may need to draw more blood and run different tests within a week,” added Shadur. “But since I’m already doing such tests, I would also like to test a sample of your blood, Patriarch Hurman.”

“Mine? Why would–”

.....

“From the others, I’ve already learned that Master Mertin had been the one in charge of portioning Master Lyle’s medicine. Considering how Master Mertin may have tampered with Master Lyle’s medicine and how Master Mertin had also given you medicine, I’d rather test your blood as a precaution.”

“...” Hurman stopped speaking. He was being forced further and further away from his desire of repairing his family.

Oli spoke up, “Go for it, Patriarch Hurman. It’s just to run a test.”

Shadur nodded with a struggling smile. “Nothing is certain yet, so we don’t need to assume anything. I’m simply going through the procedures to verify everything that I can before formally treating my patient.”

“Right... Then I’ll go find you after I’m done speaking with them,” Hurman said, sharing Shadur’s struggling smile.

“Very well.” Bowing his head, Shadur stepped back toward the door. “I’ll start setting up my room and practice, so there’s no need to rush on my behalf.”

Shadur’s interruption in the conversation didn’t last long as he came and went, but it greatly affected the thoughts of everyone. Jonon nearly broke the door’s lock trying to control his rampant emotions.

“Calm down, Jonon,” Hurman stated with a straight, perplexed face. “We don’t know–”

“First, I learn that he hunted and targeted my son... Then, I learn he may be the reason Lyle’s in his coma... How else am I supposed to feel, Father?” Jonon asked with a quivering half-frown. “How am I not supposed to be furious?! How could he leave before we’re able to ask him anything? Why would he just get up and flee if he wasn’t guilty?!”

“It’s likely that he knew hiding his actions would no longer be possible with a doctor taking up residency, forcing Mertin to run while he still had the chance,” Vloz commented, reappearing from the shadows. “I don’t know the full story, none of us might, but things seem to point at Mertin more than anyone else...”

“But... I don’t understand why... Why would he... I’m no perfect father, but I thought we were close enough to talk about each other’s troubles...”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Father,” Jonon tried to comfort his old man. “We may not have had the perfect childhood but we were far from pain and suffering. You’ve done nothing to validate such terrible actions on Mertin’s part.”

“Either way, I’ve failed to at least understand my sons...” sighed Hurman, trying to contain his emotions for the time being so they could continue. “That being said, we should finish discussing this so we can move on. Right now, there seem to be two immediate issues the family must face at the moment. We’ve learned of a grand debt that we’ve secretly accrued through Mertin and that our health was possibly compromised from someone within the family... likely Mertin. We must also regrow our sword school and find someone able to take up Mertin’s now-empty role, though that’s secondary.”

“Keep in mind that the city tournament will be happening in a couple of suns so the winner can enter the institute this upcoming tetramester,” added Keldon, glancing at Oli. “That’s mostly for you but the Practor Family will be involved by default.”

“The next tetramester? What’s that?” Oli asked.

Keldon answered, “Trighton Institute breaks each year into four, or tetramesters. Since more than two moons have passed since the first equinox of the year, they need to hold the city tournament before the next trimester starts at the beginning of the fourth moon.”

Nodding along, Oli pondered and updated his mental calendar the best he could. Nine moons were spent in isolated training and more than four moons before that were spent in Iron Academy. Add the sun he’s spent in Trighton territory and it had been more than fourteen moons since the last equinox that Oli could remember, the day of the Iron Academy’s entrance tournament.

“So each tetramester is three moons long? Then I’ve got no time to prepare for the tournament?”

“Where did your confidence go?” Keldon chuckled. “Given your origin, it’ll be hard not to root for you though. You’ll probably go far even if you lose.”

Hurman and Jonon were listening but they were too busy stewing in their own emotions to add their thoughts. This was evident when Jonon asked, “Is there anything else? We need to hurry up and get you to Shadur, Father.”

“Well–”

“As for handling your debts, do you know how much it is?” Vloz questioned calmly.

It was Hurman who nodded but Keldon that replied, “It should be more than two thousand gold. Hurman will have to talk with the Libarn Guild for the exact number but my sources were able to learn the rough amount.”

“Hmm... That’s a decent sum of money...”