"Paul! Paul!" Corporal Crowley cried, shaking his comrade. "What madness is going on here?!"<br/><br/>Kosuke looked at the chaotic scene before him and sighed profusely. The corporal looked over at him as if offended by the gesture. "Panic does nothing to improve a situation Corporal. Surely Mr. Jorman has taught you that?"<br/><br/>"You heard Paul: Ranger Jorman is dead!" He spat.<br/><br/>"Either way," Kosuke said, standing up, "I wanted to at least see the man's body. If he is dead and he was killed at the same time as Lord Farwulf, we would have definite proof that this was the doing of multiple people. Have someone else attend to Paul," Kosuke said, turning away from the Corporal. "Station some others to keep people from messing with any evidence that may have been left here. I'd like you to show me the way to Mr. Jorman's house."<br/><br/>It was typical for the boy to put on a calm and collected act in the midst of a crisis, but internally he sighed. How in the world did he get dragged into directing the investigation of a crime scene? He was a healer for pity's sake. Unfortunately, the sad truth of the matter was that no one else here seemed confident or capable enough to do it. He had no choice.<br/><br/>The corporal hesitated for a moment, then called in a few guards to watch the crime scene. He gave Kosuke a thorough glare before speaking. "You will not replace Ranger Jorman," he said coldly. "And I don't much like taking orders from a child-- healer or not."<br/><br/>"I don't intend to take anyone's place," Kosuke said calmly. "But I cannot simply let murderers run free. Besides corporal, there is the possibility that Mr. Paul was simply overreacting. Now if you would be so kind..."<br/><br/>At that, the corporal hesitated for only a slight moment, before leading the mage off to Ranger Jorman's house.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>The ranger's house was slightly small, and would have been very cozy had it not been so cold and damp. No one had tended to the fire that morning, and the fog had crept in to dampen the place. They had only been inside for a moment before the corporal let out a gasp. He ran over to a chair which was housing a slumped figure.<br/><br/>"Ranger Jorman!" He cried, but there was no response. He turned to Kosuke with an evil glare in his eye, as if blaming him for getting his hopes up. "He's cold as ice," he spat. "It is as Paul said. The Ranger is dead."<br/><br/>Kosuke closed his eyes and focused for a moment. It had been intentionally dimmed, but there was still the faint aura of life around the man. "He's not dead," Kosuke said, walking over to the man, "But he's been given quite the powerful sleeping drug. For two reasons, I would guess," Kosuke said, reaching into his bag and pulling out some herbs and a charm. "First, so he wouldn't be around to stop the assassination of Lord Farwulf. Second, to cause panic and confusion. He turned to the corporal, "Since this is a mountain village, you cremate your dead, right?"<br/><br/>He gave a sick nod, "Yes, sir," he said. He was finding it increasingly difficult to think of this boy as a child.<br/><br/>"Perhaps they hoped you'd think him dead and burn him alive. That would make their job exponentially easier."<br/><br/>The corporal gave a gulp, wondering who they were facing here. Kosuke considered the herbs in his hands, and the charm pendant he was grasping, then examined the Ranger's body more closely. He soon found a slight prick mark in the man's neck.<br/><br/>"Oh, they're clever," the boy mused.<br/><br/>"What is it?" the corporal asked. "Have you found something?"<br/><br/>Kosuke laughed just ever so slightly. "They almost took me for a fool. I was under the impression it was a consumed drug, this however was injected."<br/><br/>The guard waited a moment for further explanation. "...What does that mean?" he asked after a moment.<br/><br/>"It means," Kosuke said, putting the herbs and charm back in his bag, "I can't wake him up with these. Can you carry him?" The corporal nodded. "Good, then we'll bring him back to the castle. I assume Lord Farwulf has a guest room?<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>Soon they were back at the castle and Ranger Jorman was lying comfortably on a bed, in a decidedly warmer and less damp building. Kosuke had been spending the last fifteen minutes or so preparing his herbs into a liquid state. He knew very well that to battle this drug, you had to fight liquid with liquid. Anything consumed would take so long to activate you may as well not have done anything.<br/><br/>Once he was satisfied with the mixture, the healer took out a hollow tube similar to the one that had been used on the Ranger earlier. He carefully poured the medicine into his neck. After watching the Ranger for a moment he walked out the door. The worried corporal was waiting there impatiently for news.<br/><br/>"How is he?" The corporal asked desperately.<br/><br/>"He'll be fine," Kosuke assured him, smiling. "The medicine I gave him is fast acting. He'll wake up any moment now, though I expect he'll want some explanation as to what's been going on." Kosuke was relieved at the prospect of the man in charge coming back. Running a crime scene was exhausting, and not what he'd bargained for.