Santiago was livid.

He was disturbed in his work to be taken out into the rancid part of the city. Alongside that, it was a murder. He was sure that the city would have some greater level of protection against the outbreak since it's been the better part of a century or two.

Regardless, he was now on his way towards a dead-end alley in what was, arguably, the deepest part of the slum. The smell of stagnant water was all around them. The aqueducts had been all but abandoned here since materials kept getting stolen and put on the market. A simple issue to solve, really, but Santiago wasn't paid to provide economic counsel to the leader.

He slid past a barrel, filled with water from prior rain. The gutter was, surprisingly, not rusted though a few others he had seen were. The realization that the rain would've diluted and washed away some of the blood prompted a headache.

Three assistants were already there, and a corpse hidden under a blanket.

"Tiago?"

He turned over his shoulder and watched his superior shift into the alley as he did. The man was larger than him, and so also shook the barrel a little too much. When the water splashed, the sound alerted something. Looking across, he saw the small scurry of a tail as a rat dashed from the wall near the barrel and into a crack in the building. He narrowed his eyes, the headache worsening.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"How much of the victim was eaten by the rats?"

The assistant stiffened under his scrutiny, looking up at him.

"Not a lot, sir," he stuttered, "we assume that the corpse wasn't here long enough for them to fully eat it."

"And cause of death?"

The assistant was quiet. Agitated, Santiago dipped down and pulled the blanket off the corpse, revealing a stiff, pale corpse with a pattern of small bites. One was notable, on her neck. It was somewhat inflamed, the skin had a waxy type coat.

"There was swelling here," he noted, pressing the puncture marks. An ooze came out of them, and a grimace was his response..

"She was bitten before her death and her immune response took over."

"She died of septic shock?"

"I don't know," Tiago shrugged, "I'm just trying to piece things together. We'll have to look further for anything conclusive."

He got up, nearly slipping on the sludge in the sewer. Tiago mumbled a variety of curses against everything in existence before the assistant dared to speak up:

"We identified the victim, Tiago," he provided, hoping to level Santiago's temper.

"Sereia Augustus, a local innkeeper said she had seen Sereia a few nights at the bar, even gave us her favourite drink."

"Sereia Augustus," Tiago murmured, running the name in his head a few times.

"Anything else?"

"No, sir, just Sereia Augustus. She was apparently very good with herbs."

"Then why would she be here? We have a district for pharmakeion."

"Apparently, she was a good help amongst the sickly here."

Again, the headache grew. Tiago was rubbing his brown as the implications built on each other. Now it could be a case where the incentive was competition amongst the pharmacy district. He felt like crying, in all honesty.

"Please tell me that there's a lead beyond just 'she was a pharmakeia with a target on her back'?"

"No, sir, but investigations have started in the district."