Chapter 40: Demonized Items

At dusk, the Duke continued to light a fire and roasted the leftover small wild boar to warm it up a bit.

After heating it up, the Duke cut a small piece of the boar meat with a dagger and went to Vivian, preparing to feed her again.

Vivian’s eyelids fluttered slightly, sensing something, and she quickly opened her eyes and said, "I... I can eat myself..."

At this moment, Vivian seemed like a startled little rabbit, looking a bit flustered.

Unlike her usual image as a Female Knight, she now resembled a girl-next-door.

The Duke awkwardly scratched his head, then handed the meat to Vivian, who accepted it and began eating slowly.

Afterwards, the Duke continued to cut the small wild boar’s meat with a dagger and handed it to Vivian.

The whole process was silent; neither of them spoke, and Vivian did not dare to look at the Duke.

Vivian noticed the clothes she was wearing and realized she was in a vacuum state inside, understanding that the Duke had already seen everything. She felt even more shy, her face reddening like a ripe apple.

It was then that the Duke noticed that Vivian in armor and out of armor appeared to be almost two different people, giving off a completely different impression.

After a while, just as the Duke was about to hand over more meat, Vivian softly said, "I’m... I’m full. You eat. Thank you..."

The Duke, also feeling hungry, did not hesitate and began eating himself.

Vivian touched the herbs on her belly and looked at her right leg, which was bound with sticks and treated with medicine, feeling a bit moved in her heart.

She was aware of the situation at that time, and it was indeed rare for the Duke to carry her instead of fleeing alone.

If not for the Duke, Vivian would not have survived till now, nor would she have received such meticulous care.

The Duke did not think too much about it; Vivian had helped him, so he wanted to save her, pure and simple.

If Vivian hadn’t chopped off the Two-headed ogre’s head, the Duke would never have escaped.

After eating, the Duke pulled some herbs from the surroundings, chewed them, and placed them on a broad leaf, saying, "Let me change your dressing."

"Ah... I’ll do it myself." Vivian, like a startled rabbit again, seemed to think of something and became shy.

"You can’t even sit up conveniently now; several ribs are broken, and your leg dressing needs changing, which you can’t reach. Just lie there, I’ll do it." The Duke spoke with sound reasoning, in a tone that left no room for dispute.

To his surprise, Vivian didn’t argue, merely replied with a soft "mm" and lay down, turning her head to the side, her face flushed red.

The Duke gently rolled up Vivian’s clothes, stopping at a certain point, then carefully scraped away the herbs from her abdomen and applied fresh ones.

While applying the herbs, his fingers inevitably brushed against Vivian’s skin.

The Duke could feel the young girl’s body trembling slightly but had no choice but to push through and finish applying the medicine.

Next was her right foot; the Duke cautiously rolled up Vivian’s pant leg, revealing her fair, slender, and rounded long leg.

After carefully removing the sticks, he held her foot, gently scraped off the herbs, washed it with clean water, re-applied the herbs, and secured it with the sticks.

Vivian remained silent throughout the entire process, eventually closing her eyes out of shyness, tightly gripping the edge of her clothes with her hand, her toes occasionally tensing up uncontrollably.

After changing Vivian’s dressing, the Duke sat nearby to continue practicing; neither of them spoke, only their breaths could be heard.

After a while, Vivian asked, "What was that golden light on you before?"

During the battle with the Two-headed ogre, Vivian had noticed it, but the situation was urgent then, and there was no time to ask.

"It was this." The Duke raised his hand, showing the brass ring.

"You actually have a Demonized Item," Vivian said, a bit surprised.

"Is this thing called a Demonized Item?" The Duke was hearing the name for the first time.

Vivian said, "Demonized Items are things left by Wizards, imbued with spells enchanted by Wizards, usually only usable by Wizards."

"But I’m not a Wizard," said the Duke, puzzled.

Vivian explained, "If a person has the qualities of a Wizard, they too can activate Demonized Items through their own Spiritual Power; my father is like that."

"Your father... the Earl." The Duke thought of something.

Recollecting what the Minstrel had said before, that Earl Hardy had a Red Glove capable of causing deadly bursts among nearby people, it seemed that Red Glove was an attack-type Demonized Item.

"I see, perhaps I should have told you about this earlier. If I had known about the brass ring, it would have been much easier dealing with that ogre," the Duke recalled the hard-fought battle, feeling it was a pity.

But what happened had happened, and there was no way to change it.

Vivian shook her head, "It’s no use; I can’t use it. Do you know why I so want to become a Great Knight?"

"Isn’t it to get stronger?" The Duke asked.

"It’s not just because becoming a Great Knight makes you stronger; more importantly, once I’ve practiced the Giant Whale Breathing Technique to the ninth level, my Spiritual Power will increase a bit, and by then, I’ll have the qualifications to become a Wizard."

"My Spiritual Power is not far away from crossing the threshold to becoming a Wizard," said Vivian.

Vivian couldn’t provide an exact value, but the Duke, thinking of his own experience, guessed that the threshold must be around seven something.

A normal person’s Spiritual Power level is five, and Vivian was probably around seven, just a tiny bit shy.

"Can you tell me more about Wizards? Isn’t the Earl a Wizard?" The Duke asked.

After learning about the existence of Wizards, he had developed some fascination with them.

Having witnessed the Magic Power of the Two-headed ogre, the Duke’s desire to pursue the path of Wizards grew even stronger.

Since Extraordinary Power existed in this world, and he also possessed the appropriate qualifications, he wanted to harness Extraordinary Power, to tread the extraordinary path, breaking free from the mortal cycle of life and death.

"Father is not a Wizard; he just worked for a Wizard in his youth and thus knows a bit about these things. According to my father, that Red Glove was merely an unsatisfactory experiment discarded by the Wizard and given to him as a reward..."

Vivian then talked with the Duke about many things, and the conversation between them gradually opened up, no longer as awkward as before.

The Duke learned that there indeed were Wizards in this world, but they were extremely rare.

The Vera Kingdom was situated on the Florence Continent, where Wizards were very rare and hard to come by.

Even if they did exist, common folk could not encounter such beings, nor find out about the existence of Wizards.