Sixteen years ago.
***
In the early hours of dawn, three women stood before a woman who was lying down with a bulging belly.
The woman, although motionless, let out soft breaths filled with fear and anxiety.
These women had been here since late evening, trying to deliver her baby.
But for some reason, the baby could not be delivered.
They had tried all the methods they developed over the years as midwives, but this was a difficult case that had exceeded their experience.
When the labour had dragged on for over ten hours, they hastily sent someone to the village chief's residence, in order to get him to request a healer from the nearby town.
Although it was still early in the morning, the village head along with some men from the village left the village to go to the town.
Meanwhile, the three women remained to do what they could, ensuring the mother and child's safety until help arrived.
Minutes trickled into hours, and the passing hours only intensified the palpable tension in the air, unnerving even the experienced midwives and causing distress to the mother-to-be.
Breathing softly, the weakened mother slowly lifted her hand to caress her belly.
'Oh baby, why won't you come out?'
She thought as she reminisced over the days of her pregnancy.
Many women had praised her for having such a precious baby, who knew when to kick, cheer her up, and not inconvenience her. But now she knew what those village women would be saying behind her back.
She wasn't concerned, and doubted they would dare to say anything even if they wanted to.
'But if I had known you'd be such a stubborn baby, I wouldn't have kept you… '
She continued her thoughts whilst caressing her bulging belly.
Just then, the doors burst open and two men stepped inside.
"What are you doing here? Don't you know she's having a baby?!"
Already tensed up and frustrated, one of the midwives shouted immediately she spotted the men.
"Shut up! Young lord, are you the healer?"
But another one rebuked her, and carefully asked the man in the lead. Taking notice of his fanciful outfit, the grace he carried himself with, and the unmistakable aura he exuded in his silence, which was akin to that of a noble's.
She trembled as she spoke, but still kept a straight back as she had learned.
'Right now, they were in a precarious situation, and he wouldn't possibly lash out on us because of my associate's mistake, would he?'
She thought hopefully, but the man remained quiet as he observed the state of the people in the room.
His assistant noticing this, lightly tapped his shoulder, seemingly calling his attention back to their conversation.
The Herbalist exchanged gazes with his assistant, and finally spoke up after a brief moment.
"Yes, I'm the… healer. No, actually I'm an Herbalist, my assistant here is the doctor in training who's going to deliver the baby. I'm just going to monitor the delivery from the side, and make sure they both don't die"
The herbalist replied from the side, with a small smile on his face and his gaze returning once more to the room.
Once done, he concluded, it had terrible lighting, was humid and there was a certain smell that had filled the room.
He frowned, ignoring the midwives, the woman in labour and the present situation, about to complain but was interrupted by his assistant, who had, once again tugged on his coat.
"Hm?", he looked down at his short and timid assistant, with slight surprise in his eyes.
His assistant pointed past the dumbfounded women, towards the neglected woman on the bed.
"Sir the baby…", he struggled to say a word, his gaze fixated on the sight before him.
"What about him?", he asked, his gaze dismissive as he set down his briefcase.
"So many lights are surrounding the baby…", He marveled in response to his master's question.
"Lights?"
The herbalist finally paid attention to his assistant and turned to the woman, surrounded by the distraught midwives.
He saw nothing, and before he could address that, his assistant spoke up.
"Ah I mean mana, it's overwhelming…"
The assistant was shocked by the sight of mana particles being attracted by the child that was yet to be born.
It was such a wondrous moment as the lights, as he called them, were in abundance, purifying whatever foul substance in the air, and dispelling the tension built up by the difficult labour.
"And what is it that you see?", The herbalist asked, eyes on his assistant.
"It's- it… is difficult to describe. But it is reminiscent of a mage gathering up mana to cast a spell."
The assistant described it as best as he could but still failed to capture what he saw in words, yet that was more than enough for the herbalist.
"So there's something wrong with the baby?" He asked with squinted eyes, his thoughts processing at a hurried pace.
'If there is something wrong with the baby, then I'll need to make sure it gets delivered safely so I can check, and if possible then…'
"Ahhh…"
His thoughts were disrupted by an aggressive grunt. One which earned his displeasure.
"Sir the baby!"
His assistant called him once again, and all he did was give a sidelong glance, before letting out a soft sigh.
He wasn't a mage, and neither was his assistant, but his assistant had a little affinity with mana which made his discovery possible, but he was unable to perform even the simplest of spells.
Opening his briefcase, he brought out a perfectly spherical bottle with a little stub which served as the bottle neck.
He shook it a little, and the dull blue bottle lit up, and kept on glowing as he shook, all until the whole room was lit up. And that took but a few seconds.
He calmly dropped the bottle on the closest surface, and approached the midwives.
The midwives quickly made way for him, and remained silent as he passed them by.
Since there was a possibility he could be noble, they were being quiet and cautious so as to avoid offending him.
And their respect was even more elevated once they knew he was an herbalist.
After all, they still recognized the importance of an herbalist in their empire, even if their own education as midwives had been lacking.
"Okay, let's begin the operation. I presume you ladies are the midwives, correct?", The herbalist asked while rolling up his sleeves.
"Y-yes sir!", All but one responded with the same vigor, and that was the one who had lashed out on him when he first walked in.
"Alright we're going to assist my assista- the doctor, in this operation. That means we're going to do everything he tells us to do, without question. Okay?"
"Yes sir!"
'Okay…', the herbalist thought internally and turned to his assistant who was filled with trepidation.
There was little wonder about what he was scared of, after all, a child who was able to gather this much mana must be from a powerful mage.
So one mistake leading to the child or mother's death would follow by their deaths.
How novel…
"Doc, come on", He gently urged his assistant from the side.
"If we don't hurry up then the baby would suffocate to death."
The assistant laid his briefcase on the table he had cleared up, and opened it up.
After a moment of self encouragement he began the operation.
The midwives were stunned when they saw him making preparations to cut open her stomach.
They wanted to object but didn't dare to offend the herbalist in front of them.
Rhoda Franiel, the mother who had been in labour for over ten hours, and had stubbornly held on for the sake of delivering her baby safely into this world, started to lose consciousness.
She tried to stay awake, or even demand they let her be awake so she could deliver her baby, but she wasn't even given the chance to see the doctor, much less make demands from them.
She could only pray silently as she lost consciousness.
'Please be safe…'