She seemed to be a girl around 15 years of age. Although unlike Magnus, the slightly pointed ears made her identity discernible to him.
'I think this is a half elf trait? Specifically when the mother was human?' he was wracking his brains, trying to recall the common sense taught by Bastils retainers.
Next, he noticed visible burn marks spreading across her body, including covering the right side of her face.
'What a shame.' he thought as he eyed her face, 'She would've grown up to be quite a looker. Had a happy life. And yet fate played a cruel joke on her.'
The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't help feeling a sense of kinship with the poor girl.
Inspecting the rest of her injuries, he noticed some of the burns looked old. More than that, her frame was thin as if she had been starving.
'Was she a slave?' he looked on, before a thought struck him.
'Should I... End her misery?'
'NO no no no!' he furiously shook his head, 'What the hell was I thinking just now!'
He soon noticed footsteps coming from the corridor. Turning to look, he saw one of the two medics of their team standing at the door.
"She alive?" he asked, unbothered.
"Barely. Can you patch her up?"
Making his way beside Magnus, he replied "Maybe. Health pots too expensive for her, so I'll just give her some pain killers and a healing salve."
"How much Is the pot?"
"3 Gold." as he said that, he started reaching for a medical bag.
"I'll pay." Magnus said, pulling out 3 gold.
'I am just sowing karma or whatever. And I am loaded right now so 3 gold is not that bad. Totally nothing personal.'
As he came up with lame excuses one after another, he handed the 3 coins to him.
Looking at the 3 coins in his hand, the medic sighed. "I really shouldn't be doing this as her life isn't in danger. And just so you know, this would technically count as bribery and get you in trou-"
"Yada yada yada, her condition worsened so she needed it. That's fine isn't it?"
Not responding, the medic smiled and pulled out a red finger-sized vial from his backpack. Sloshing the liquid around a little bit, he nodded as if inspecting it, before pouring the contents of it directly on the girl.
Red smoke instantly formed, covering the girls body. The burns healed, leaving behind only scars, and her breathing stabilised.
"How amazing. Also, I always thought you needed to drink health potions." Magnus said, seeing as the girls pained expression was replaced with a relaxed one.
"That stopped being a thing millenia ago," he explained proudly, "throwing a potion at your ally is much easier than making them drink it. Why do you think the armor has gaps?"
"When do you think she's gona wake up... "he asked the medic, trying to remember his name, "Luca?"
"She should be up soon, the health potion was meant for knights so it's way stronger than the civilian ones."
"I see, thank you." Magnus thought, upgrading the knights rating in his mind. 'Definetely only a -2. Maybe it can go higher.'
"I'll go back on the deck, call me if you need anything Magnus." leaving behind those words, he exited the room.
Minutes passed, and out of boredom, Magnus searched the captains room.
First, he rummaged through the drawers of the table but only found yet another bunch of maps.
On the sides of the room, there was nothing else.
He even checked the carpet to make sure there wasn't a hidden safe underneath it, yet he found nothing.
'That means the only place where something could be hidden is-' he cast his gaze towards the bed, before shaking his head, 'I'm not gonna mess with the poor girl just to see if there's treasure.'
"Ugh-" the girl twitched suddenly, opening her one remaining eye. A deep blue iris shifted to look at Magnus, and the girls shoulders shook, her breathing becoming shallow gasps.
"Who are you..." A weak voice escaped her lips.
"I'm Magnus, a knight errant of Azel." Magnus tried putting on a reassuring smile, "You were the only survivor of your caravan, so could you tell us what happened?"
"The only... Survivor?"
Magnus nodded with a heavy heart.
Tears started streaming down her face, and quiet sobs broke the silence.
After a few minutes, the girls crying quieted down. Her eyes red, she turned to look at Magnus.
"I am Charlotte, sir knight."
"Hello, Charlotte."
"The caravan... They were attacked by something large and white. I only got a glimpse of it before..." she shook, as fear took hold of her.
"Large and white, huh." He thought, before looking at the marks on her neck "There was a woman that held you when I found you. Is she your master?"
Panicking, she started yelling, "No! I didn't kill her! I di-"
Only for Magnus to place his hand on her mouth, hushing her.
"Slavery is outlawed in the Empire, what you did is perfectly acceptable according to law. Plus!" he shrugged, grinning "I know you didn't kill her but used her as a shield."
"But I was always told that the empire was filled with evil man eating demons..."
"PFFFT! Yeah, some of the knights have a few screws loose." he gestured at his head, "But that's a tiny minority. Most of us have honor and value the lives of innocent people more than any other empires soldiers. And who told you that even?"
"My mast-" realising something, the girl made an exclamation sound.
'Seems like I managed to get her guard down. Time to strike while the iron is hot!'
"There we go. Now we did get sidetracked, are there any other things you can recall from the attack?"
"I... I Lied." she stammered, turning her head away from Magnus, "It wasn't something large and white, it was a flying ship that was orange colored."
"Wait, was it black and orange colored?!"
"Ah, yes..."
'I need to report thi-'
A distant boom rang out.
Whistle-------------
Magnus eyes narrowed, and he grabbed Charlotte and ducked.
The whole ship shook, the ceiling above them turning into a hail of splinters.