Fire

Logan looked at the tent in front of him with a white banner raised high that had a red eagle on it. He lightly scratched his chin while doing so. Looking to the left and right the tents around this one were rather basic.

Even the fireplace where the soldiers from this camp sat around was grander than most. Just shaking his head in defeat he entered the tent where he could immediately see his Grand Knight and Squire.

"Since when did we have this huge tent, William? Am I going to hear an excuse from you for you wasting our funds?", he asked nonchalantly.

"Waste? It is only proper for a lord. You have been neglecting that for far too long, Logan. If you visit such a place we should at least have this much to show."

"And while we do this, this young lord needs to scavenge all the money he can get from bandits that are encountered? Does that make sense? I am also a man of good food but here I can now see where most of the money went in.", snorted Logan as if he were concerned.

Vi looked at their conversation with a smile and slight confusion. She was also surprised they had this huge tent on one of their carts. Thinking about his action of scavenging all the bandits it made some sense now.

Her look even seemed to say that William was going too far with just using their funds for something like this tent. At least he should have saved up most of it for keeping them fed?

Looking at Vi looking at William with a slight blaming look he smiled. He wondered if he would get an Oscar for his acting skills. Probably not but at least he needed to somehow explain the magical stuff appearing.

'System, please don't let my oh so grand knight purchase stuff without my permission, okay?'

[...Okay. But it was not expensive. Only 2 merit points. Do you prefer money instead? For 100 gold it would only take 10 merit points.]

'Wait, what? I can actually exchange merit points into gold?'

[Sure, but I would not see the benefit? Using merit points for such things is such a waste? For example, that guitar was alright since it would probably fetch a few hundred gold coins if sold to a lord that enjoyed music instruments. Producing such high-quality items otherwise would be hard for craftsmen.]

[Also, purchasing magic items with merit points is also a much more efficient way than to purchase the mundane. Gold is just gold. Find a goldmine and that would be enough to last you for whatever years to come.]

Logan nearly coughed up the drink that he picked up from the table at the side when he heard the explanation. But thinking about it real hard Logan was actually convinced the system was right. Money had actually no real value nor power. Those that think that they are powerful because they have it are just delusional idiots.

Logan sighed lightly. "Fine, at least mosquitoes are not going to be a problem this night. But I will miss the stars in the sky."

'And you can exchange 5 merit points for 100 gold. That is all the money we will need. Can't hurt to have some of it in a world of commerce. Man, now I even regret having shown that petty side of me.', ordered Logan to the system.

[Understood. The gold is converted into 1000 gold dragoons and located in the chest to the left.]

'Wait what?', asked Logan.

But William was already moving to the said chest and opened it with a special key that had special indentions in it and opened the chest. Then he put a few coins from his pocket inside the chest and closed it again.

"That should replace the money that I had spent. Are you happy now?", asked William with a blaming sigh.

Vi made such big eyes at all the shining gold coins inside the chest that she nearly drooled. Then a weird look traveled over to Logan. Her frown clearly showed contempt for ling so blatantly at her.

Seeing that one of Logans eyebrows was twitching. So he could only smile wryly.

"Haha....Uncle, you should know those are the funds for our army...I would never take away the money that is rightfully my soldiers."

Logan cursed inwardly at the damn system playing a trick at him. So it actually meant gold ingots and not coins. What the hell was that conversion rate? He could beat the economy to oblivion if he spammed gold coins like a golden goose.

"Hmm, but it is still wasted if you don't use that money to at least present yourself." Somehow Logan had a weird impression that William was only pissed because he revoked the simple system purchases that most retinues had the option to use. At least the ones that were summoned by it.

"Fine, I give in. Can you guys not think that I am a bad person? Especially you, Vi? All people have some bad habits. The dead just don't have any use for money, okay?"

"I am sorry, my lord..." realizing her judging eyes were a little too much she looked away in slight shame. She had gotten too used to his friendly behavior that she actually forgot he was her lord.

Logan only smiled. This woman was actually too easy to read. "I didn't mean it that way, Vi. Just keep in mind that I do have that money reserved for people and can't use it up nonchalantly. So I did not really lie when I said that we are a rather poor group. Why else would we come to this tourney if it were different?"

'Why indeed', sighed Logan inwardly at the same time.

"Right, we are here for the prize money...", dittoed Vi.

"And honor. Do not let the young lord corrupt you that much, Vi.", added William and his look was stern.

"Yes, yes. Come, Vi. The dark side is always full of pleasure, muhahaha", laughed Logan now.

Vi actually got a blush when she realized she herself was influenced by him so much. Then with a determined look towards William, she saluted. "For honor!"

"My lord! Someone wants to speak to you!", said a soldier loudly that came into the tent.

"Hmm? I wonder who? You two can come with me this time since everything is done here."

Both of them nodded and followed outside.

Outside they saw a man in leather armor and dark brown hair.

"Eddard? I didn't expect you to visit me that soon. Did something happen?" Logan was rather surprised to see one of the Stark visiting him.

"Hello, friend.", Eddard nodded lightly and seemed to look around rather surprised and taken by the lavish tent and camp at first.

'That is why I wanted to keep a low profile...But I guess William should know what he is doing...Just give him his rights back but inform me of his purchases...'

[Got it.] The system was attentive and knew when it was talked to.

"Yes, it is about the man that was attacked at the joust side. My sister is treating him right now but the fever is not going down at all. She asked if you could help? It is said that you are a wandering noble from Sothoryos. Our Maester said that on your continent disease is rather common and that your people have developed a higher understanding of illnesses."

Logan made rather large eyes. They actually had investigated him to this extent? Logan actually may have given away too much information.

Thinking about his words he contemplated at first and thought if it is alright to help them now? Coming to a conclusion he nodded at the end.

"I can see what I can do. Vi, get me the large box inside the tent with the red cross on it..."

'System, purchase a wooden box with a white circle and red cross with medical supplies like bandages, antibiotics, and disinfectant. Make it look medieval. I should be able to discern it with your help.'

[Purchased~ Careful, that was rather expensive because of the antibiotics and used up your remaining merit points. You only got 3 left.]

'Doesn't matter. I will improve diplomatics and get it back fast enough.'

[Now you finally understand how it works. I am happy.]

At that moment Vi came carrying the said box. "Is this the one?", she asked.

"Yeah, that's it. Now, if you would lead us, Eddard?"

Eddard was a little confused because he saw no Maester and Logan seemed to want to go himself. But he just nodded at the end and lead them to the camp side of House Stark.

When the three of them arrived all soldier's eyes were on them. Even another man with somewhat longer dark brown hair had noticed their arrival.

He approached them.

"Is that him? Such a young Maester?", asked the man.

"No, brother. This is the noble we talked about. He...seems to have no Maester?", asked Eddard now back.

Logan nodded. "No need for one. In your lands, they seem to have a high stand but they are...Not having that much trust in our continent. Let's leave it at that. Now, where is the patient?"

The other man looked at him slightly suspicious. "My name is Brandon Stark, the oldest son of Rickard Stark. Come this way." Introducing himself first he then nodded and led him to the small tent where Lyanna was treating the wounded man.

"William you stay here, too many people will make that tent crowded. Vi, you come along to learn.", ordered Logan.

"May I come along?", asked Brandon.

Looking at the noble, Logan knew what he was after and only nodded. "But no interfering."

Entering the tent he could see Lyanna trying to cool the head of the man with a wet cloth and also wipe away the sweat.

Hearing them enter she looked over to them and a smile appeared on her face. "It is good to see you. So you can help us out?"

"We will see. Please remove all the bandages that you already applied."

"What!? But that would..."

"I said to remove them..." He was not going to argue and have no talking back to him at this moment even though it would be seen as rude. Brandon was already frowning. "Vi, get me on of the folded white blankets here and lay it out. While I put on gloves and prepare you lay him on that blanket."

Vi did as ordered and took it out while Logan took out ethanol and rinsed his hands with and then put on some thin leather gloves. He had to remark whoever did this had some real skill making the leather as thin as possible but still sturdy. To make sure the gloves were disinfected as well he repeated the first step.

Then when both Lyanna and Vi managed to position the man on the new cloth and unwrap the bandages Logan came closer and looked at the various cuts that he had at his upper body.

"No wounds on the lower body?", he asked.

"None.", answered Lyanna and looked intrigued.

"Good. Vi, I will need your help shortly. You can also prepare yourself."

"Me too, please.", demanded Lyanna now.

Logan looked over and nodded. "Just do what I did. Clean your hands with the ethanol and then put on some gloves. We need to keep everything clean as much as possible."

Then Logan went on ahead to look at the wounds. They were very crudely sewn. Some not even at all. The rule was everything that was at least 2 centimeters should be shewn. Same applied if you can see bone or the wound is gaping.

Logan immediately took the scalpel and reopened the few sewn wounds and pulled out the fat stitches that were probably not even sterile.

"Okay, Vi and Lyanna. This is going to be important but you need to hold him still. Use force if need be. I am going to clean the wounds and look if they damaged any internal organs."

Of course Logan hoped there would be no need for an operation. He knew Jack shit about that after all.

Both nodded and when Logan slowly used the ethanol it sure was to burn and the man soon groaned in deep pain. He even opened his eyes in shock.

"Shh, we are helping you. Try to endure it." But before Logan said that the man lost consciousness again.

Then Logan slowly poked with tweezers around the wounds and looked them up. Nodding he sighed in relief. "No wounds that are too deep. Let's stitch them up properly now."

Logan took out the very thin thread and slowly stitched the wounds up with the help of Lyanna while Vi the body up and in place so all wounds at the front and the back could be treated.

Then after a short inspection,he gave the clear to bandage him up with the white rolls that were inside the first aid kit. All three spectators were amazed by the craftsmanship of the bandage. it looked so thin at first but once applied it looked much proper.

Letting the men rest Logan gave Lyanna a small glass bottle with pills.

"As soon as he wakes up you need him to drink a lot of water. He also should take 3 pills a day for a duration of a week. The fever already seems to go down so he should be able to wake up soon."

Then Logan stretched unequipped the gloves and threw them into an empty box that was labeled trash.

[Skill Medicine learned, Skill Surgery learned.]

"My lord? Your gloves?", said Vi.

"What about them? Never use gloves or any other items more than once when doing the treatment. Especially when dealing with infectious diseases like greyscale. That is under the rule of keeping everything clean. Anyway, we are done. That sure took a while. I actually got tired." He was not but he was still mentally tired. He felt like taking a break for now.

"Can you bring everything back? I will join later."

"As you wish, my lord." Vi nodded and carried the box back. Outside she told William the order and both seemed to leave.

"Now then, why is a noble like you trying to save a man that you don't even know?", asked Logan the black-haired beauty.

"She has always been that kind of good soul.", commented Brandon from the side. "Well, looks like you are no swindler. Thanks for the help. I will inform my father so we can compensate for your troubles." With those last words, Brandon also left the tent.

Lyanna looked at him with a smile. "Thank you for helping out. I think it is the right thing to save him. This is a place that should be held in honor. No one should be hurt to the extent where one lost his life. Especially not in a cowardly way as those squires did."

"So they really were squires? Pathetic imbeciles. Anyway, I will take my leave then. Just sent it to our place if your father decides to really compensate us."

"I will tell him that." She smiled brightly.

"What?" Logan felt weird when he saw her smile like that.

"Nothing. It's just that it seems I was right about you. You are a way more honorable man than most I know of."

"Is that why you searched through my background?", asked Logan curiously back.

"Hmm, no. That should probably have been my father...I only mentioned your name once when he insisted where I was. If it was not me that told it, Eddard would have given in. Sorry about that. He can be a handful at times. Being overprotective and all that."

Logan actually smiled. This woman had a smart head on the shoulders. "I can see why one would want to protect such a daunting daughter."

"Daunting? That's new. Most would call me beautiful or something along those lines."

Logan raised a brow. "That is also true but I would not dare. With you being engaged that would make for a rather great disaster, would it no?"

Lyanna actually smirked. "That's no fun. So you are saying I am not worth the fight over?"

Now Logan even had his mouth lightly agape. This woman is really daring. Is she really tempting fate that much? Well, she does envelope with the prince after all. He knew she was only playing around.

"I would say you should always be careful what exactly you do. No matter how strong the love is, our responsibilities lie not in it..." Logan actually tried to reason with her. Maybe change her mind and save her from the fate that awaits her.

Lyanna looked at him and her eyes were darting from one point to the other. His words clearly shocked her and also intrigued her once more. "You are pretty confident in just saying that I fell in love with you."

"Who said it was me?" Logan clearly showed a toothy grin now and Lyanna remained silent that instant. "Well, see you around, oh wild beauty." A small snicker was heard and he left the tent with Lyanna still looking at the exit.

Now her face slowly formed a small frown and she even put a finger near her mouth and lightly gnawed at her nail. A slight groan from the injured men brought her back to her senses and she stopped doing that and went to see if he woke up.