Preparations

Inside a room in the Ironwood Town's hospital...

"Her condition seems to be stable for now, she needs to rest for at least 10 days before we can release her." The doctor said.

"Thank you for your hard work doctor." Blanc and Adelaine said gratefully.

After the doctor left, the two of them checked on Helena.

Seeing that she seemed to be resting peacefully, The two decided to find a restaurant to eat since they hadn't eaten anything for more than 12 hours.

"Hey, Adelaine...Cheer up okay? Don't worry, your big sis Helena will surely recover. "

"She's really strong you know? How about this? you can buy everything you want to eat today at the restaurant."

"Okay... I'd love that... Thank you big bro Blanc."

Knowing that she could eat everything she wanted today, Adelaine cheered up albeit only a little.

At the restaurant.

Blanc's face twitched at the amount of food on the table.

"S-Say, Adelaine, Can you really finish all of that?"

*munch* *munch*

"Hmm?? yes... I think. Well, if I can't, then we can just bring it back to the hospital and eat it later." Adelaine replied.

"Well, that makes sense." Blanc said.

The two continued eating until they were full.

As expected, they were not able to finish the meal so Blanc asked the waitress to pack the remaining food for them.

After waiting for a while, the packed food was ready so Blanc settled the payment with a bit of pain in his heart.

The meal cost them 1/10th of their silver coin reserves so his heartache about paying such a large amount of money was justified. 

However, he quickly recovered because he was confident in his ability to at least not let the three of them starve in the future.

After eating, the two went back to the hospital to watch and take care of Helena again since she was still unconscious.

10 days quickly passed.

"Ughhh.. where am I?" Helena groaned upon waking up. However, no responded to her so she looked around.

Upon seeing that Adelaine and Blanc were sleeping beside her bed, she was deeply touched.

After a while, tears welled up in her eyes as she suddenly remembered that they only had each other to rely on in the future.

She continued looking around and saw a newly prepared packed food on the table beside her bed.

Helena has been living off of dextrose for the past 10 days because she was unconscious so this first meal in ten days was like heaven for her.

*munch munch* *nom nom*

Blanc woke up after hearing weird chewing sounds. He looked around and he was pleasantly surprised upon seeing that Helena was already awake.

"Helena! Thank God you're awake!" Blanc said as he hurriedly hugged Helena tightly.

"Owww owww owwww!!! Hey, cut it out! My wound still hurts!" Helena yelled in protest.

"Hmm? Wha... Big sister! Uahhhhh… I'm so glad you're awake."

Adelaine woke due to the commotion and she couldn't help but cry as she hugged Helena.

"Hey! Owww! I SAID OWWW DIDN'T I?!!" Helena shouted as she gave the two of them one whack each on the head.

"Owwww! big sis! I was just worried, sorry for hugging you too tight." Adelaine apologized.

"Same here... I'm just really glad that you're awake.. but can you please hit us a little lighter next time? I thought my head was blown off." Blanc added.

"M-My bad... I was indeed a bit too heavy-handed this time." Helena replied apologetically.

"Well, we're just really glad that you're fine now. Go ahead and eat more so you can recover faster." Blanc said in a happy manner.

"I know, I'm gonna eat all of these even if you tell me not to," Helena replied.

two more days passed and finally, the doctor determined that Helena was ready to be released.

"Here's the overall bill for the hospital services. Please confirm and settle your payment before we can release Miss Helena." the hospital staff explained.

"Thank you, we will settle the payment immediately."

Blanc replied.

Upon checking the bill, Blanc's face twitched again.

What a ripoff!

However, he knew that the expenditure was necessary for Helena's recovery so he quickly recovered.

After settling the bill, Blanc secretly checked their remaining funds.

There were only 70 silver coins left which would probably only last for a month's worth of expenditures. 

"I have to quickly execute my plan before we go broke."

Blanc muttered to himself.

The three of them left the hospital after settling the bill.

"Let's eat for a bit before we prepare for our journey."  Blanc said

"Oh! I'd like that!" Helena and Adelaine replied at the same time.

At the restaurant.

"Mhmmm..dish ish yummy… I shud ordur moar of thish." Helena said with her mouth full.

"Helena, swallow your food first before talking." Blanc reprimanded.

"Well, that took another good bit out of our savings but it should be fine since she needs good food for recovery." Blanc thought to himself

"Ahhh that was delicious." 

Helena said while rubbing her belly.

"Hey, have you finished preparing your belongings? If not, I advise you to start preparing your belongings now. The war is just around the corner and it might reach our town very soon." whispered a guy from another table.

After hearing the conversation from another table, Blanc snapped back to reality that they were not safe yet.

"If you guys are done eating, let's go. We're not safe yet and we need to move as far from the war as possible."

He quickly led Helena and Adelaine to the town market in order to prepare for their journey.

Their next destination is the Kingdom Capital where he plans to meet up with his mother and the other surviving personnel of the Count.

After a few minutes of walking, they finally arrived at the market.

Blanc walked around and purchased everything that they needed for their journey.

"Please give me some of these.. and that.. and this."

Blanc bought the necessary dried food and commoner clothing which is convenient when going on a long journey.

They also bought some blankets that they could use when sleeping during their long journey towards the capital.

After purchasing everything that they needed, Blanc thought about whether he should buy his own horse cart or just hire someone to drive them toward the capital.

Upon realizing that the prices of necessities went up way higher due to the war, he knew that their reserves wouldn't be able to last until he could execute his plan.

He had to resort to plan B!

"Helena, Adelaine, change of plans. Let's temporarily sleep tonight in an inn. I have additional preparations to make." Blanc said to the two of them.

Upon settling the two of them down in a room at a local inn, Blanc proceeded towards the pub to gather information regarding small bandit groups. 

In the end, he decided that it would be better to buy their own large horse cart so that it would not be difficult to travel towards their final destination.

The only problem is, the money they currently have will probably not be enough.

This is why Blanc is preparing to execute plan B. 

Blanc's plan B was to pretend to be merchants and lure the small bandit groups to attack them while ultimately raiding them in the end.

He chose a very nice large horse cart for their operations. Then, he loaded some sacks with dirt to make them look like raidable merchant goods in order to lure the bandits into raiding them.

After everything was ready, he went to pick up Helena and Adelaine.

"Woah.. what a huge horse cart, are you sure this isn't too big?" Helena asked.

"Yeah, aren't there only three of us?" Adelaine added.

"No, actually this might not be enough. I will explain my plans to you two on our way to the capital. For now, put all your belongings in the cart and hop on. We're going to the Kingdom's Capital." 

The three of them boarded the large horse cart and went on with their long and grueling journey towards the capital.