Hadrian was running, three boys running after him and throwing rag balls at his back, trying to hit him. But he dodged so swiftly each time, it was as if he had eyes on his back.

The vampire turned around and stuck out his tongue.

“Come on, my grandmother threw with better precision. And by the time I was born, she was 93!” Said Hadrian as he turned around again and dodged to the left and the ball thrown by Ben sailed harmlessly pass him.

“And you say that your stomach has been hurting for how long, sir?” Asked Edwin, his attention split between the training quartet and his patient, a traveling merchant that they have met on the road.

“A month, healer. It all happened after I ate a slightly old apple. I think it was cursed.”

Edwin shook his head. Most common people thought that curses were the cause of all their woes. This man had demanded a mirror curse twice already.

“I would need you to go in the bushes and relieve yourself in this jar,” said Edwin as he handed the merchant a glass jar.

“What, seriously? Can’t you check with mana? What are you? A charlatan?” Huffed the man as he eyed the jar distrustfully.

“My mana is necromantic in nature, so, unless you want to rot from the inside as I inject it in your guts, I suggest you head to the bushes. But not the ones next to the redwood. They have poison ivy in their base,” said Edwin, and he pointed to an oak tree further away from the carriage.

The man grumbled, but they were in the middle of the Durian grassland, or as everyone liked to call it, middle of the void. He didn’t have much choice when it came to healers.

Edwin’s attention turned fully to the three children chasing after the man-child. When he first met Hadrian, he thought it will be a day or two long of arrangements. A week, at best.

Instead, he was now raising children with the man and teaching them how to become adventurers. Which was weird, since Edwin didn’t know anything about adventuring.

As the rising star student at the academy, he had many offers for dungeon delving, bandit camp clearing and straight up curse breaker jobs. He had taken some curse breaker jobs that had to do with healing, but bypassed the ones that just wanted to turn cursed loot in a general good’s ware.

He supposed that if things got tough, he would have to do curse breaking jobs too. With his mana that was necromantic in nature, he could just suck out the curses’ mana out of the objects. He did not envy those who had to be buried in mathematical equations trying to undo a rune or two.

If the children were serious about becoming adventurers, he supposed it would be good for them to learn how to create necromantic mana. That way they wouldn’t have to split their loot with anyone.

Everyone could manifest one mana crystal worth of necromantic mana per day. People like Edwin could make more, true, but if Edwin got carried away he was risking becoming a Lich or a Worm King. Neither option would let him heal, and so he never used too much mana.

He was broken out of his musing when the merchant came back with the jar. There were white wriggling things inside his excrement. Edwin sighed.

“Did you wash the apple before eating it? Did you take it from the ground?” Asked Edwin.

“Washed? Real men don’t wash their food! But this is the proof that a curse is at play. You see, don’t you?” Asked the merchant, waving the jar in Edwin’s face.

Years of cleaning patients who soiled themselves in his mother’s hut prevented Edwin from gagging from the smell. Still, it was unpleasant. He took the jar and then a stick from the ground and began rummaging in it.

It was watery and filled with thread like worms. There was no blood inside, so that was good, at least.

“Your anus itches, and you have been losing weight for no reason. Should I look, I will see red marks around your anus. No, don’t pull down your pants. What is in the jar is enough proof. You have worms, simple as that. And real men wash their food always and drink clean water. I have nothing for worms, so you will have to undergo mana cleansing.”

“Wait, didn’t you say I will rot away if you give me your mana?” Asked the merchant, scared out of his mind.

“I will use your mana. The operation can’t be done with anyone else’s but the host of the parasites. It will hurt, a lot,” said Edwin. This would be a good lesson for the merchant. Edwin doubted that he will just pick food off the ground anymore.

“Wait, I have herbs. Can’t you mix something up? I am a herbal merchant,” the merchant waved his hands before himself and backed away. Edwin had a mind to go through the mana procedure, but then decided that he had scared the man into better hygiene habits enough.

“I will see through your stock. Lead the way.”

The merchant showed him to a bright red and gold covered wagon filled with crates. Edwin saw carrots, wormwood, garlic, pumpkins, and bags filled with dried mint. Just what he needed.

“Ok, I would need wormwood and garlic. I will show you how to make a tincture out of them, and then you will take it for a month. Just wormwood and garlic. Worms eat sugars, so bear with the bad taste,” said Edwin, taking the herbs he required.

“Your healers are all the same, swearing by the worst tasting things!” Grumbled the merchant.

“And just because you resist the treatment, I will take a bag of mint as payment. Would you like to argue some more?” Asked Edwin, and the merchant shut his mouth.

A small glass of tincture made thanks to some medical alcohol that they found in the back of the wagon, Edwin went back to watching the four plays around, the ground littered with rag balls. Something told him they will enjoy a cup of mint tea after all that running. Maybe the next traveling merchant will have something that will be worth a bag of sugar?