Chapter 157 157 The Patient’s Concerns
He needed to determine whether his condition had deteriorated even further or not. That way he could determine the type of treatment that would suit the old man.
That way he could determine the type of treatment that would suit the old man.
Although there was magic in the world, sometimes physical healing could do the job that magical healing procedures couldn\'t even begin to treat.
As Marico\'s furrowed brows relaxed slightly, his eyes closed automatically. Drew placed his palms on top of Marico\'s body while maintaining a gap of more than four inches between the body and his palm.
This was the method that Drew used to examine the bodies of his patients. He could determine any kind of anomaly in the magic circuits of the patients and could use that knowledge to determine the kind of illness the patient was suffering from. Just like there was a psychological effect of all kinds of diseases, there was a magical effect of them as well. Each illness corresponded to a certain type of problem in the magic circuits. For example, a patient suffering from flu would have an overflowing magic circuit. The mana would leave the body inadvertently in a random manner.
Drew had spent his entire life treating and diagnosing patients using this method and it had turned out to be quite effective as well.
Drew mobilized his magic power and concentrated it all into his hands. An ethereal glow lit up his hands and a white light covered his hands completely like a curtain of light was draped around his palms.
Drew\'s face assumed a serious expression as if his concentration was totally on Marico and his ailing body.
After he moved his hands back and forth over his body for a small period of time, Drew looked spent as if he had consumed a ton of mana with his hands hovering a few inches above Marico\'s body.
After Drew was done examining him, Marico became a lot more relaxed than before. His stiffened expression was nowhere to be seen and he looked to be in high spirits. He didn\'t seem like a sick and ailing person at all.
Drew on the other hand was a bit worried about Marico\'s increasingly deteriorating health. He suggested Marico to make arrangements for his family because his days were numbered even with his help. There was nothing that Drew could do that might extend Marico\'s life anymore.
Marico on the other hand could look relaxed even in such a condition because he had long since accepted his fate. It had become quite difficult to maintain his borrowed existence in the world and he was willing to keep it that way only because he was too worried about his daughters who would have to survive on their own after him.
The world wasn\'t a peaceful place. Marico had seen greed and jealousy twisting the minds of countless humans in his lifetime. He did not believe that his daughters were capable of withstanding all such people and still keep the family intact after his departure.
Therefore he had begun thinking of a solution in order to keep his family from falling apart ever since he found his condition to be irrecoverable.
The most feasible of his plans included marrying off one of his daughters to a prominent family in Byzantium city. That way, he could ensure that the other daughter would be able to keep the Windsor family from vanishing with the support of her sister and her in-laws.
Despite the fact that this was the only solution to his problem at the moment, Marico had stopped himself from following along that path. His heart did not agree every time he tried to act on it. His intuition and years of experience screamed at him and clawed at his heart in order to keep him from making that decision. He knew what the big families in Byzantium city were like. There was no trace of warmth or loyalty among them. They were driven by benefits and were willing to go to any lengths in order to claim those benefits.
While Marico was a family head and had his responsibilities towards the Windsor family, he was a father as well. He needed to think of his daughters\' happiness as well so that he might not push them into the fiery pit while thinking of their well being.
Marico wasn\'t a saint either. He knew how the big families operated only because he was also the part of the same system. If the situation was reversed and he had come across such an opportunity during the time he was still healthy, he would have definitely done his best to annex the Windsor family as well. Therefore he didn\'t condemn the big families and kept thinking of an alternative so that Windsor family wouldn\'t just survive in the name alone.
"Hey old man; what do you think about that SS ranked water element mage that came to your house recently. I have heard the servants gossiping about how he was able to predict the weather an hour before it actually happened even though there were no signs of it at the time. Is that true?"
While Marico was lost in thought, Drew\'s sudden question brought him out of his reverie.
Marico stared at Drew while he tried to make sense of his question. In the end he couldn\'t stop himself from laughing. Rumors sure travelled fast and exaggerated the core news by the minute.
"I don\'t know if that person is an SS ranked water mage or not. From what I have gathered, he seems to be a powerful dark mage from Elizabeth city. The information doesn\'t clarify whether he was an elemental mage or not. But I do know that he must be powerful enough to be admired and coveted by the royal family."
Drew couldn\'t believe his ears at all. He couldn\'t imagine that the mage staying with the Windsor family was powerful enough to attract the attention of the royals. But there was one thing he couldn\'t understand.
"But if he isn\'t a water mage, then how did he predict the weather so much in advance. And how can you even doubt whether he is a water element mage or not?"
Drew was suspicious that Marico hadn\'t told him everything yet.
"Before he came here, it seems that he had a huge battle with Prince Kolt who wanted to force him into subservience. As a result the guardian mage escorting the prince was found dead in a mutated condition. His whole body was scorched and his interior organs had been burned to ashes completely. That level of control over flames isn\'t something that a mage below SS rank can manage. Therefore, I think that he is an SS ranked Fire mage."
Drew was thrown off by this piece of information. He couldn\'t understand why Zach was able to predict the weather despite being a fire element mage.
As for why neither Drew nor Marico expected Zach to be a dual elemental mage was because there hadn\'t been one in the entire history of the world. In general, a mage could not have more than one mutually exclusive element in their body. It was quite common for some kind of mutation to occur. For example, liquid fire was a rare element that had the properties of both fire element and water element but the two elements could not exist separately in the mage. The mage could only control his exclusive element and had no control over the individual fire or water element.
For that very reason, there hadn\'t been a single SS rank mage who could wield both water and fire magic of that level.
Drew had in fact heard of the genius who invented and developed the concept of self driving carriages. He had thought that the inventor had gone into hiding after escaping Elizabeth city. Surprisingly, Zach had come to Byzantium city to develop in secret.
Drew couldn\'t help but admire the person for his courage and admirable will. In his opinion, Zach was a super genius that came once a thousand years bearing the responsibility of raising the rate of development of the human society by a notch. The truck developed by him was in fact such an invention but the whole transportation plan had been ruined by the greed of one stupid idiot from the royal family.
"That stupid stupid bastard Kolt…"
Drew couldn\'t keep himself from cursing out loud as soon as he thought of the idiot prince.
Marico heard the frustration in Drew\'s voice and could only give him the news regarding Kolt to ease his strained nerves.
"Don\'t worry; the royals have dealt with that idiot you are cursing. They aren\'t stupid either you know. They too understand that man\'s worth and even willingly punished Prince Kolt and rewarded the Elizabeth family with the title of Marquis because of their good relationship with Zach."
Drew nodded in understanding. He could tell how much importance the royal family was giving to Zach in order to earn his goodwill and his forgiveness so that they could start anew.
"Then he might be poached by the royal family very soon. Why don\'t you try to keep him here? He might become the solution to your problem as well." Drew suggested with his eyebrow raised as if asking Marico to consider the meaning hidden between the lines.
"That won\'t be happening. Zach has probably grown wary of the royal family and might be trying to keep his distance from them. Otherwise he wouldn\'t be hiding here behind the name of Smith. It\'s obvious he has no intention of reconciling or cooperating with the royal family at the moment since he intends to establish himself here with the help of my family."