The seeds flew from her hand and separated in the air before finding their way to their own places in the soil along the lengthy seedbed. Then Aquon’s river broke away from the sorcerer and expanded, following each seed’s path. Each stream started to shimmer with the colors of water and nature mana. Before a thin stem sprouted from each indent in the dirt and grew rapidly, spitting out branches and leaves until they were each as tall as a person.
Deep purple fruits started to form on each branch like little cherries, before rapidly outgrowing that size. They ended up looking like some kind of dark squash, weighing their branches down until it seemed they would break. Just before reaching that point, they popped off the branches, becoming a swarm as they flew back towards the sorcerer.
“Looks like I overdid it a little, but they keep well.” She plucked two out of the air, allowing the rest to pile beside the baffled Official and his recruits. Watching the streams all converge and work their way over to fill Nanri’s tank, Cira handed a fruit to the witch and bit into her own, “They’re called Moonberry plums. Contrary to the name, they don’t even need moonlight, just water and good soil. A little tougher than most fruit, but I find their texture to pair well with the sweetness. Feel free to grab one, you guys.” The others gladly took the chance to try the mysterious fruit.
Nanri timidly plucked a bite out of her own and her eyes perked up, speaking with her mouth full. “Wow, these are amazing.” Everyone seemed to share her opinion, including the alchemists who had just returned.
“H-how did you do that?” The girl with glasses asked, hand trembling with the urge to write down the answer. The priest silently stood next to her with an uncomfortable reverence.
“I just grew some fruit.” Cira answered, “That’s what it really comes down to.”
The alchemists had a small amount of the cure left over that they poured into one jar and handed back to Cira. No issues were encountered, and everybody on the final platform got a dose. Most, Delilah said, seemed to have a light return to their eyes. Even now their chatter could be heard from afar.
“Now I can finish explaining,” Everyone turned to her, “Only the people on that platform have begun treatment. Of course, I’ve yet to do anything about the water and food, so if they were to resume their diet, it could nullify this dose. So,” She looked between Delilah and the Earth Vein Official, “This will be in your hands, but you’re welcome to rope in volunteers. I’ll leave Lomp with money to pay them once the plague is eradicated. Now, until further notice the patients that received treatment today can consume nothing but these plums and water from this tank.”
She pointed at the tank with water gushing into it. A few taps formed around the side and a thin spillway on stilts appeared, working its way toward the plum orchard. “It may sound strange, but these fruits contain everything needed in one’s daily diet. Aside from that, they’ll die off in five or ten years, but you’ll get fruit every month or so. I guess this much should get them by a few days though,” The plums were stacked as high as her prima salt, “but do what you want with them once the rest of the island is fixed. You’ll know when.”
She let out a yawn now. It was truly getting late, and her mana was almost empty. Nanri put a hand on her shoulder, “It’s awful late, Cira. How much left do we still need to get done tonight?”
“Not much… I’ll finish with the exorcists in the morning. I just want to heal our patients and then we’ll head back and turn in early.” Fighting another yawn, she pulled an elixir out of her pocket and regained some mana. As her eyes seemed to jolt awake, all her staves re-emerged and lit up, “Greater Chain Heal.”
Their light converged in a flash of golden light that turned into a spark, arcing across the chasm to the closest patient on the final platform, then to each one down the line with little sparks of holy lightning. With a groan, Cira held her head, “Ahh, that did it. Tours over, folks. It’s time for bed.”
She let Nanri support her as they made their way back to the workshop. Much to Cira’s relief, Delilah started leading her alchemists and even the Official in distributing plums and water. The high priest wordlessly offered his help with dignity, grabbing a few handfuls and heading back toward the patients. Cira would have been mildly impressed if she saw it.
Once back inside, her exorcists were all standing at the window looking over the orchard with plenty of questions, but one look at the worn-out sorcerer held them back for a moment. They collectively and silently agreed it would be wiser to ask Nanri when they had the chance.
As her final move, surrounded in extravagant staves and a mystic river, she conjured twelve beds out of wood, straw, and coarse wool, as these were easy and low cost. Sticks grew out of the metal platform and wove themselves together, before they all became covered in straw and wrapped in the rough fabric. Then another layer of it fell onto each bed as a blanket before Cira claimed the closest one. Yawning, she quietly crawled into it and her breathing immediately relaxed into a soft purr, her legs stretching out. She was asleep.
“Oh…” Nanri was still for a moment, then clenched her fists, “I will ask her tomorrow…”
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While finding the courage was one thing she struggled with, she couldn’t afford to let that drag her down. Just finding the right time to talk to her was hard enough. Nanri had a chance today and she blew it, not wanting anyone from Earth Vein to overhear. They were always so busy, and it didn’t help that Cira was awake today for five or six hours at most, either.
She followed the sorcerer’s example and crawled into the next bed over, trying to get a head start to wake up early.
“Um…” Triton stood there blankly, “What?”
___
Her alchemists got back a few hours later, and by then everyone else was asleep. Despite the fact that the sorcerer had claimed the three homes were theirs, there were no beds to be found in them. Instead, there were the right number of free beds strewn around the alchemy equipment. Nonetheless, they turned in as well.
By the time Cira awoke, the plague ward was quiet. She could hear the gentle, steady breaths of the witch next to her and activated a wind spell to silence herself. If anyone woke up, they would see her in the dim starlight, but everyone was sound asleep. She crept across the workshop until reaching Lomp and violently shook him, “Wake up!”
“Gah!” He flailed his arms like he was trying to shake something off, “What’s happening?! Oh…”
“Pshh… I knew you would make a lot of noise. Good thing I prepared for that.”
After she finished speaking, he looked around and the world seemed eerily still. Not even the trickling of water below could be heard. “What are you doing…?”
“Tomorrow’s the big day, Lomp. It’s irritating that you’re the only one I get to say goodbye to, but here.” She shoved a ring into his hand, “This contains a mithril ingot to—”
“What?!” He tried and failed to shove it back into Cira’s hand, “What the hell for?!”
“Would you not interrupt me?” Her emerald eyes lacked any sign of the exhaustion from earlier. She was alert and as serious as Lomp had ever seen her. He straightened up and listened, “The ingot is to keep Fount Salt from falling to famine while it recovers over the next couple years. Of course, there’s a bullion in there for you personally, then one for Delilah as well and another to keep everyone involved in the cure fed during this time. A doubloon for each other exorcist and alchemist, then ten more so you can hire help, only to be distributed once the plague is eradicated. You understand so far?”
“I understand… So, this means you’re finally leaving?” She nodded, “The deritium, the floods… you figured everything out, but you don’t want anyone to know. That’s how it is, isn’t it?”
Again, Cira nodded, “That’s how it is. The Astral Witch, whoever that is, is on her way. If we meet it will undoubtedly spell trouble this island does not want.”
Lomp gulped, “Yeah… That one is famous, and old. From the rumors, I don’t know if even you could take her. A seasoned witch is not to be trifled with in her element.”
Cira was curious, but depending on what this one specialized in, she would want to see her magic. Astral magic was rare, but it could just be her name. Astral generally referred to stars which could mean a few things if she thought about it, “I’m not interested in a large-scale magic battle, and it would only complicate things. I need to leave before she arrives, which means you need to be ready to take up my work, in authority at least.”
He only sighed, “I already figured it would happen like this. With all these exorcists I’ll have plenty of time for my Lomp work.” He gave her a pointed glare, which only made her chuckle, “I already have access to the census, and I’ll organize with all the leaders around the island to make sure everyone gets access to the cure. I’ll need to spend time in Uren to figure out how to turn any of this ancient treasure into money but by the time I’ve established a food supply line, everything else should be running smoothly.”
“You’re a good man, Lomp. I wish I had time to think of a more creative treasure to gift you.” He glanced over at the sleeping man with a silver medallion.
“I’ll be just fine. I think mithril is more than enough.”
“Alright, then there’s one more task I need you to do personally.” He focused back in and nodded, “Tomorrow you will be in the Last Steps again, but the following morning, or at the signal, I need you to go to Uren. Spread all that happened here through the city and send a slew of messengers to Port with the same news. Don’t leave anything out, well, except for my identity. Feel free to call me whatever you want aside from Cira, maybe mix it up a bit.”
“Wait… What—I mean, why?” Lomp was baffled.
“I don’t know enough about Earth Vein, but I imagine they won’t take kindly to everything I’ve set up. I’m banking on having spread enough roots here to make them hesitate when they arrive. Ideally, they wouldn’t dare stop the cure, after all. In the worst case, they want the workers, right? By the time whoever’s above them figures it out, hopefully the Gandeux will know all about the deritium hidden in Fount Salt. I’ve been led to believe they would care. What do you think?”
He thought about it intently for a moment, “It’s true some of them are corrupt, but when the public has their eye on them, they can’t do anything fishy. While most don’t know about or understand it, deritium is still treated as a national emergency. And in the very same location, a cure that no one has ever heard of appears… They won’t let Earth Vein take a single breath by themselves once they hear. It’s a good plan… if we make it in time. Can you really resolve everything tomorrow? What will you do with the deritium, take it with you? Is that why you’re in such a hurry?”
“I’m going to destroy it. There won’t be any left for the Gandeux to find, but they don’t need to know that right away.”
“I… guess asking how is useless…” He leaned back on his bed, “Are you sure you’re okay with just leaving this recipe here? Isn’t it some advanced stuff your father kept hidden for a reason? Earth Vein is sure to take it as their own, not to mention their prima salt we’re supposed to use up over the next few years. And isn’t it dangerous?”
“If deritium is so well-known in these skies, I think it’s good that a cure should exist.” Cira reasoned, “Hopefully it won’t fall into the wrong hands, but in theory it could regress someone’s soul and eventually body to a child-like state. Perhaps further. If Earth Vein takes it, the worst they’d do is monopolize it, I hope. So long as you guys can get through the plague first. There’s only so much I can do though.”
“I get it… That’s about all you can do without moving here yourself. Is there anything else?” Lomp looked at her with tired eyes.
“That’s all.” Cira offered a weak grin, “See you in the morning.”