Stewart Hail groggily blinked open his eyes. He could feel the lumps of the thin old mattress he was resting on. He felt as though his throat was on fire and a weight was tied to him. Giving a groan of discomfort he sat himself up and looked around seeing an IV bag connected to him. That wasn’t there before. He thought.

“Pops!” Jimmy cried out upon seeing his father awaken. Rushing over, he checked on him, “Are you alright?” He asked in concern.

“Jimmy?” Stewart said looking at his son with groggy eyes, “How long was I asleep. Has something gone wrong?” He asked before going into a fit of coughs.

“Careful pops, Florence said that you’re still sick.” Jimmy said handing him a glass of water.

After taking a sip of water to clear his throat he asked, “Has anything happened while I was asleep?”

His son nodded, “The people from the city are here.”

“They actually came?” Stewart said in disbelief.

“Yeah, wait I’ll go get him.” Jimmy said running off down the stairs. A moment later Jimmy returned with a boy with black hair and eyes wearing a fine jacket behind him.

“Stewart Hail?” The boy asked.

“Yes.” Stewart said clearing his throat.

“My name is Bryson Coldwater. I have been sent here to evaluate the situation here.” Bryson said coolly.

“Coldwater? As in, Duke Coldwater’s son?” Stewart said in astonishment, “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to give you a proper welcoming.”

“It’s fine. I have been talking to the girl Marsh, I just have a few questions if you are able to answer.” Bryson said.

“Of course.” Stewart said with a nod, straightening up.

“Do you know how this disease started?”

“One of the villagers came back from a hunt and was sick. It spread to this.” Stewart said gesturing to the other sick villages, “I was powerless to stop it.” He said solemnly.

“Not much could be done about this. Do you have any idea how this disease works?” Bryson asked.

“No, I don’t know much about this stuff. I mostly listened to our herbalist and little Florence when she arrived. Honestly, she’s a godsend for us.” Stewart said before breaking down into a fit of coughs.

“Alright, that’s all for now.” Bryson said.

“No, I can help more.” He said before stopping as he had more wheezing coughs.”

“Just rest, you are scaring your son.” Bryson said indicating to a very concerned Jimmy, “Who can I talk to in your stead?”

“Florence is the most capable right now.”

“Marsh.” Bryson said, “The child?” He asked unconvinced.

Stewart gave a small pause as he looked at the ten-year-old boy, “She may be an outsider, but she has the most medical knowledge here in the village. Besides, she’s seen everything while I’ve been stuck here.” He said. She’s also older than you. He thought internally.

“Hmm.” Bryson gave a small grunt. Bryson had a troubled look on his face. Stewart could tell that it wasn’t because he was unconvinced of what Stewart was saying, more because he didn’t want to talk to Florence.

“She’s the reason why the village hasn’t been wiped out yet.” Stewart said.

“Right.” Bryson said giving a small nod, “I’ll leave you to rest.” Bryson said, talking to Jimmy he said, “Take care of your father.”

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“Alright, thank you Bryson!” Jimmy said as Bryson left.

It’s Lord Bryson. Bryson thought internally as he walked down the stairs. He didn’t bother to say it aloud because it just wasn’t worth the effort. When he made it to the bottom floor he saw Florence talking to one of the medical staff that had arrived earlier.

Once he saw that they finished talking he approached Florence as she was alone for a moment. Noticing him approach, Florence turned to him.

“How is the village chief?” She asked.

“Sick. But better than some of the others here. Anyone die yet?” Bryson said.

“No. Thanks to the medical team the critical patients have been stabilized.” Florence said.

“Hmm, well have you figured out what this disease is?”

“Yes, it’s called the ‘Chantless Killer’.”

“That’s a… very alarming name. How come I haven’t heard of it before?”

“Because it should have gone extinct over seventy years ago.” Florence answered.

Bryson blinked once, “What?” He asked.

“It is a virus that is considered extinct, what’s more, is that it was never native to the continent.” She said with a troubled look on her face, “I have no idea how it got here.”

“How did it get extinct?” Bryson asked.

“The ‘Chantless Killer’ virus developed in populated cities full of non-magic users on the main continent. It is easily eradicated by mana. Once the technology for temporary mana boosts was invented, a simple mana shot and they would be fine. So it died out.” She explained.

“And I’m guessing none of these villagers from a different continent and living relatively isolated from the main cities had any of their shots recently.” Bryson said sarcastically.

“No, which is why this was the third village I found.” Florence said clenching her fist in anger, red eyes brimming with anger.

Bryson didn’t need to ask what happened to the other villages as her expression said it all. Instead, folding his arms Bryson asked, “So do you think this is dealt with then?”

“No.” She said flatly.

“Care to elaborate?”

“It’s going to take weeks for the villagers to recover from this and they’re running out of rations.” Florence said, “During this season they should also be hunting and gathering to prepare for the winter. They can’t do that right now.”

“And I’m suppose to be here for only a couple of days. I won’t be allowed to stay and it would take days for a proper relief mission to get here. If they ever bother.” Bryson muttered.

“Then there’s the other villages.”

“More villages are infected?”

“Not quite yet, but there are a few more villages close enough that could get infected.” She said.

“Is there nothing that can be done?” Bryson asked, not wanting to give up.

“They need treatment. They just need magic.”

“I don’t know if I can get the medicine and mana stones don’t work on people who can’t use magic.” Bryson said shaking his head.

“We have what we need here.” Florence said face becoming emotionless as she thought.

“What do you mean?”

“A ways out there are several patches of enriched mana flowers. They can cure the villagers upon being ingested.” She said as she frantically grabbing Bryson’s shoulders, “Give me one of your terrain cars. Please.” Desperation in her voice.

“Relax.” Bryson said as he pulled her arms apart from him, “The ship is faster.”

“I can’t fly the ship.” She said.

“You don’t need to fly the ship. The ship has pilots.” Bryson said with a chuckle.

“No.”

“What? What do you mean by no?”

“They can’t come, no one else can come.” She said adamantly.

“What are saying?” Bryson paused and looked at her suspiciously, “Where are you planning to go?”

“Just a half a day’s travel with a car.”

“To where?”

“Further into the forest.”

“Which direction?” Bryson asked taking a step forward staring up at her. His dark eyes staring into Florence’s.

The staring contest continued for a few seconds before Florence answered, “Northwest from here.”

“For around twelve hours by car?”

“… Yes.”

“That leads straight to the contaminated zone.” Bryson realized, eyes widening.

“Yes, which is why I’m going alone.” She said calmly.

“Are you crazy?” Bryson exclaimed, “You realize that that’s basically where all the monsters from children’s stories live right?”

“I know, I’ve been there before to gather herbs. I’m not going in that deep and plants thrive with the magic there.” Florence said.

“Have you ever had to get enough herbs to load up a very noisy vehicle?” Bryson argued.

“No, but I can figure it out.”

“I doubt it.”

“Lord Bryson.” She began, “You are the son of one of the most powerful men in the world. You have a crew who all work for one of the most powerful men in the world. There is no logical reason for you to be in danger. The villages aren’t important to you.” She said now taking a step forward.

“They’re important enough to you to risk your life for them.” Bryson said shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I am nobody. You don’t care for me.” She snapped.

“I’m not supposed to, you mean.” Bryson grinned, “And you’re right. I don’t care about any of you. But I do care about my father, Duke Coldwater.”

“You see he gave me this job.” He explained before pretending to recall something, “What was it that you said? He’s one of the most powerful men in the world? Well I don’t exactly want to disappoint someone like that. So I better do my job.” He said as he began to walk out of the building. Florence simply stared at Bryson at a loss.

“I would prefer if you were to join me on the ship, it seems that you have a good idea of the surrounding area. Really useful when it comes to completing my job.” Bryson said with emphasis as he closed the door behind him.