The heavy iron door on the top floor of the West Tower completely isolated the clamor downstairs, as if they were two different worlds.
Downstairs was the piercing sound of scissors cutting linen, the hurried panting of the workers, and Irene's hoarse commands.
But here, it was so quiet that one could only hear the faint buzzing of magic power flowing through the air, and the bubbling sound of the medicinal liquid boiling in the containers.
When Sophia pushed the door open and entered, Delilah subconsciously tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword. However, after seeing the scene inside the room clearly, even this battle-hardened General revealed a nearly dumbfounded expression.
The room, originally serving as a laboratory, had been filled with a pale golden halo. Daphne stood in the center of the room. Her golden long hair, akin to moonlight, floated slightly due to the resonance of magic power, its tips emitting a crystal-clear glimmer.
From Sophia's perspective, the scene before her was extremely unscientific, yet it revealed a sense of extreme precision.
"Your Majesty."
Willow, who had been guarding the cutting board the entire time, had dark circles around her eyes. Her hands were skillfully grinding a dark purple herb.
She merely called out in a low voice and immediately threw herself back into work, because Daphne's magic had reached the most critical moment.
On the table were several pitchers of ordinary clear water, a bowl of fresh berry juice left over from the Hot Pot earlier, and a pile of withered herbs.
Daphne's eyes were slightly closed, her slender hands overlapping in mid-air.
With her every raising and lowering of her hands, Sophia could clearly see countless pale golden runes, as fine as silk, flowing out from Daphne's fingertips. Like living tentacles, they plunged into those ordinary containers.
"Strip away, purify the heart, sublimate."
Daphne's clear and cold chanting echoed within the room.
Under that golden curtain of light, the originally turbid herbal juice began to undergo a drastic change.
Sophia saw that the black, bitter-smelling impurities within the herbal dregs were actually forcibly repelled out of the droplets, turning into wisps of black smoke and dissipating.
Under the kneading of magic, the color of the remaining liquid changed from withered yellow to transparent, and finally presented a magnificent, pure luster like a ruby.
This was not simple medicine boiling; it seemed to be a recombination at the molecular level.
Sophia watched quietly.
In her past life, producing high-purity antiviral drugs required complex centrifuges and precise separation and extraction equipment.
But now, Daphne alone, in this backward high tower, had simulated the most cutting-edge laboratory environment.
However, the process was not smooth.
With a light crack, a small bowl filled with bright green medicinal liquid suddenly turned black, then rapidly dried up.
"The ratio of magic power is still not right... The plant structure of this world is much more fragile than that of my homeland."
Daphne furrowed her brows slightly. Those eyes that always carried a smile on normal days were now filled with seriousness and coldness.
She didn't give up. Fine beads of sweat seeped out on her forehead.
She casually grabbed a pitcher of Irene's specially made fruit juice and poured it into another container.
Magic descended once more. She attempted to solidify the healing properties of the Holy Light into these sweet and sour fruit juice molecules.
Sophia held her breath.
She saw the liquid in the container begin to spin and glow, changing from an amber color to bright gold, finally stabilizing into a translucent texture that flowed with starlight.
Delilah to the side also felt her breathing become slower.
Is this the power of a Magical Girl?
Not used for killing enemies, but used to endow ordinary objects with divinity.
Everyone beside Her Majesty seemed to possess the key to changing the world's rules.
And Her Majesty was the sole existence that could allow these miracles to take root and sprout in the darkness.
Sophia leaned against the doorframe. Through her mask, she smelled a strange, delicate fragrance.
It wasn't the bitterness of mugwort, but a pure scent like a forest after the rain.
She gazed at Daphne.
At this moment, Daphne displayed an astonishing charm. It wasn't a piling up of looks, but a sense of sublimity of dedicating one's soul to a certain cause of salvation.
Her side profile appeared holy and inviolable in the golden halo. Every dance of her fingertips was like weaving the warp and weft of fate in the void.
She had seen many women, whether in her past life or after coming to this world.
But if there really were fairies, they would probably look like this.
Sophia sighed in her heart.
However, rather than counting on gods, I believe more in that bowl of magic Potion in Daphne's hands.
"Is it done?" Sophia asked softly, seeing Daphne lower her hands.
Daphne turned around, her face somewhat pale, but her eyes were astonishingly bright.
She held a glowing small bottle in her hands:
"Your Majesty, this is the fifth version.
It removes the toxicity of the herbs and amplifies the suppressive effect of the Holy Light.
Although I dare not say it can instantly cure smallpox, it will absolutely be of some use.
We can have that soldier try it first.
Rest assured, this has no side effects."
Willow hurriedly stepped forward and took the Potion bottle. She looked at Sophia, her eyes full of firm resolve:
"Your Majesty, please rest assured.
This servant will guard Miss Daphne, and will also guard that soldier.
I will report the situation of the West Tower to you every quarter of an hour."
Although Willow wanted to return to Sophia's side to massage her shoulders and warm her hands, she knew that this bottle of glowing liquid in her hands right now was the greatest loyalty to Her Majesty.
Sophia nodded and turned to signal Delilah:
"I have nothing going on at this moment; I can go together with you."
"Your Majesty,"
Daphne said somewhat weakly. She wanted to dissuade her, but in the next second, she was interrupted by Sophia.
"Lead the way."
The long corridor of the West Tower was lengthy and dim. The torches on both sides appeared somewhat hazy under the shroud of the mugwort smoke, projecting several intersecting long shadows.
Sophia walked at the very front, the hem of her black fox fur sweeping across the cold and hard flagstone floor.
Although she was inwardly sighing at this moment about how great it would be if this tower had an elevator installed, on the surface, she still maintained that coldness capable of freezing the air.
In front of the door to the room that had been temporarily transformed into an isolation room, two burly guards were tightly gripping their spears.
Fastened to their faces were the coarse linen masks rushed out by Irene, only exposing a pair of bloodshot eyes that revealed a deep sense of unease.
When they saw Sophia's iconic silver hair appear at the corner of the long corridor, the two soldiers abruptly straightened their backs, yet right as Sophia was about to step over the warning line, they uniformly crossed their spear shafts.
"Your Majesty!"
The soldier on the left had a violently trembling voice, yet he did not yield a single inch.
"Inside... inside is entirely the breath of the God of Death!
Lord Irene and Lord Victor specifically instructed absolutely not to let Your Majesty approach.
Please, Your Majesty, take care of your precious body; Mason cannot do without you!"
Delilah stood by Sophia's side with her hand resting on her sword. Although there was also worry in her eyes, she did not speak.
She knew that once this Girl Queen made a decision, absolutely no one could shake it.
Sophia stopped in her tracks. Her pale golden pupils appeared exceptionally profound within the light smoke of the mugwort.
She was not angry; she merely tilted her head slightly. Her voice was clear, cold, and composed, every single word seemingly striking upon the soldiers' hearts.
"What are you fearing?
Fearing that the so-called curse will crawl up the hem of This Queen's skirt through the cracks?"
Sophia raised her hand and pointed at that tightly shut wooden door that was emitting bursts of a sickly sweet, bloody scent:
"If This Queen were to retreat three days' march today for the sake of this so-called precious body, then tomorrow, Mason's territory would be piled high with nameless corpses.
This Queen is not merely saving a single soldier; This Queen is saving Mason's spine.
If This Queen, as the brain, shrinks back into the Palace out of fear, then on what basis would you defend the city for This Queen in this severe winter?"
She paused, her tone becoming unquestionable:
"Step aside.
Since This Queen dared to take over this messy Black Rose on this wasteland, then I am not afraid of that mere God of Death."
The spears in the hands of the two soldiers slowly lowered, the sound of the wooden shafts hitting the stone floor appearing exceptionally heavy.
From their perspective, how was the Sophia before them any sort of frail young girl?
That silver hair flickered with a holy luster under the dim firelight, as if she herself was an assembly of some kind of divinity.
The guard soldiers' moods were extremely heavy.
Originally assigned to guard this severely ill soldier, they had harbored some dissatisfaction and were also extremely fearful.
Although they didn't have wives or children yet, they still had their own lives.
But now, Her Majesty's actions made them ashamed, wishing they could pick up a black musket and fire a shot into their own heads.
Her Majesty wasn't reasoning; she was making an oath of authority.
She was going to use her Royal House bloodline and supreme providence to forcibly save everyone!
Her stepping through this door was to take all the curses upon herself.
How was this visiting a patient? This was Her Majesty the Queen gambling against the God of Death on behalf of us all!
Her Majesty... Her Majesty was willing to risk her own life to save everyone in Mason; then what right did they have to retreat!
"Your Majesty..."
The eye sockets of the soldier on the left instantly grew moist. With trembling hands, he slowly pulled open the heavy door.
"May the glory of the Black Rose protect you.
If anything happens to you, this subordinate will absolutely not live on in disgrace, and will definitely follow you to the underworld to continue guarding!"
Creak—
The room door opened, and a complex scent mixed with the smell of high fever decay, the rich fragrance of mugwort, and the pure forest-after-rain scent from Daphne's fingertips blew into their faces.
Sophia stepped over the threshold, her gaze falling upon the soldier lying on the bed who was continuously convulsing in pain.
She didn't turn her head, only softly ordering Daphne behind her:
"Begin.
Since the fifth version is already out, let this Potion of civilization witness its first miracle."
The air in the room seemed to solidify.
Sophia stood not far from the bed, her gaze locked tightly on that soldier whose nails were sinking deep into the edge of the wooden bed due to pain.
Daphne took a deep breath, smoothing out her somewhat pale complexion caused by the over-drafting of magic power.
She slowly stepped forward. That fifth version Potion in her hand, flowing with starlight and presenting a bright gold color, became the sole visual center in the dim room.
Willow carefully supported the soldier's back. The soldier to the side gently pried open the other party's already fever-cracked lips and poured in that small bottle of Potion that was like liquid sunlight.
The moment the medicinal liquid entered his throat, the originally noisy room fell eerily quiet for three seconds.
Hum—
A visible pale golden ripple spread from the soldier's throat to his entire body.
Sophia discovered in surprise that those originally shocking spots, under the washing of the golden light, were actually like remnant snow meeting a warm sun, rapidly fading and melting away.
The heavy breathing that had originally sounded like pulling a bellows smoothed out into an even rise and fall within a minute.
After seeing this, the guard soldier couldn't help but open his mouth behind the mask.
"Look quickly! The curse has dissipated!
What Her Majesty brought was not merely masks; she directly poured the Potion, a gift from the gods, into our flesh and blood!
Is this the Queen's healing power?
In front of Her Majesty, even the God of Death must obediently hand over his scythe!"
Just when everyone thought the first battle was a victory and was preparing to breathe a sigh of relief, Sophia acutely sensed that something was wrong.
On the soldier's arm, which had originally recovered its normal skin color, the blood vessels suddenly bulged eerily, and a deep purple fluorescence like a venomous snake began to flow backward along his veins.
"Ugh... Ah!!"
The soldier abruptly opened his eyes, which were surprisingly completely occupied by bloodshot veins. His body arched up like it was being electrocuted, and what issued from his mouth was no longer a human wail, but an extremely shrill static noise like metal rubbing.
"Step back!"
Delilah reacted extremely quickly, instantly crossing her sword and blocking in front of Sophia, her whole body surging with a chilling intent to kill.
Sophia's gaze fixated on the soldier.
That shrill shriek like metal rubbing almost pierced everyone's eardrums, and a nauseating scorched smell permeated the air.
Delilah's long sword was already halfway unsheathed; the cold sword aura even caused the surrounding air to drop a few degrees.
The two guard soldiers were even more frightened, their faces the color of dirt, and the spears in their hands shaking violently—in their eyes, how was this taking a turn for the better? This was clearly the God of Death conducting a final possession!
"Don't move him!"
Daphne shrieked. Disregarding that bizarre purple fluorescence which was attempting to burn everything along the soldier's skin, she used magic to float into the air and slowly blanketed over the soldier.
The pale golden Holy Light bloomed once again, but this time it was no longer a gentle covering; instead, it transformed into countless tiny golden chains, forcibly suppressing that backward-flowing purple.
A minute passed, feeling as long as experiencing a century.
Finally, that ear-piercing sound of metal rubbing gradually dissipated. The bloodshot veins in the soldier's eyes faded, and he fell back heavily onto the pillow, falling into a death-like deep coma.
The purple fluorescence on his arm did not completely disappear, but instead, like defeated remnant soldiers, shrank back into the depths of the blood vessels, forming extremely fine, faint dark lines.
Daphne dejectedly let go. Her body swayed, nearly toppling over.
"The Potion is effective, but because the virus has produced some kind of magical mutation, it needs to be taken periodically multiple times.
Your Majesty, I am sorry."
Daphne turned her head. Her moonlight-like long hair appeared somewhat messy at this time, with a few strands of hair dampened by sweat clinging to her forehead.
Her gem-like eyes were currently brimming with mist, and her voice carried an unprecedented choke and defeat.
"I am so useless. In my homeland, this level of evil entity, I would only need to wave my hand to completely purify it.
But now, I've exhausted all the power in my body, yet I surprisingly can't even root out the toxins within a mere soldier's body.
Am I... am I no longer that Saint who can protect everyone?"
Her fingertips were trembling slightly.
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