During dinner his mood was gloomy, searching the right words for his report. He needed all the help he could get, but couldn't tell the truth, at any cost.
"Now not only I must find a foolproof cure, I also need to make certain that no one Awakens. I can achieve it in two ways. Either I make the cure slow and prolonged over time, or I do not extract all the toxins after killing the parasites.
Either way, the specimens wouldn't be able to perceive the mana flow in their body while the cores recover their strength, and my a*s would be out of the frying pan. Both methods have evident flaws, though.
The first one could be improved by other healers not aware of the dangers it will pose. As for the second one, with no more parasites, I don't know how long the toxins would retain their potency. I need more data." ¨C
Lith's trains of thoughts was interrupted by Colonel Varegrave.
"What is the problem with those blue veins that Kilian was telling me about?"
"It's a sign of the infection nearing the critical point. At this rate, the patients will be dead soon." Lith's lie killed two birds with one stone. It would give him plausible deniability if he was forced to kill someone, and ensure his research to get priority.
"I see." Varegrave didn't seem surprised, mostly worried.
"Are you going to extract more toxins tomorrow?"
"Most likely. Why?"
"Because we need to establish a safer chain of custody." Varegrave handed to him a gold ring with the Royal family's crest engraved.
"Only people with one of these will be allowed to handle the vials containing the toxins. Use it to stamp the custody release note every time you produce a vial, and always check the courier has a ring too."
Lith took the ring, pondering about the implications of the sudden increase in security. His mind went to the most paranoid answer.
"Let me guess, you want to weaponize the toxins."
Varegrave was taken aback, he didn't expect a kid to understand the severity of the situation.
"Yes. If we manage to stabilize them and apply them on clothes and armours, we could obtain anti magic protections. But that's not the only reason. Today an alchemist was discovered trying to steal a vial. He is currently being interrogated."
Lith inwardly scoffed at their wishful thinking. If such a thing was possible, he had no doubt that Hatorne would have already found a way to do it and sold her merchandise for a high price.
On the contrary, he expected Hatorne to prevent it from happening. She was a mage too, after all, he doubted she could be so stupid to leave behind something that could take away her greatest weapon. Yet Lith could benefit from their wild goose chase.
"Whatever they discover about the anti mana toxins, I need to be informed as soon as possible. Without a cure, all the infected will die shortly, and with them all your precious toxins will be lost forever."
Varegrave didn't miss Lith's hidden allegation, and was outraged by it.
"Are you implying that the army would care more about a possible weapon rather than the lives of the citizens of the Kingdom?" He indignantly stood up from his chair.
"I'm not implying anything, I know it." Lith replied between mouthfuls.
"I wasn't born yesterday. 'It's too dangerous to let it fall in the wrong hands. It's for the greater good. Collateral damage and all that stuff.' Isn't the way the army works?"
What Lith had just stated were the bullet points a small faction within the army was actually using to try to convince the King to not cure all the infected, but keep some of them as human breeding grounds for the parasites.
The mana blocking parasite, was the one that had raised the most expectations. In a world were a single mage could obliterate a battalion, it would give a chance to those without great magic powers to fight on equal footing.
"What can I do to help you?" Varegrave didn't have the strength to lie anymore to Lith, so he preferred to change the topic.
"I need the strongest mages among the infected. If I find a cure for them, treating the others will be easy. I'm not capable of devising a single spell to cure them, but I'm confident to find the right steps that will later be merged into one.
No one aside me must interact with my patients."
"It will be done." Varegrave nodded.
"I know you have no reason to trust me, but I need a favour from you. Please, find a way to kill those monstrosities before I'm ordered to do something that I would regret for my whole life."
Chapter 157 First Impressions
Kilian was aware of the political struggle that was taking place within the military's highest level. After Marth had created a cure with Lith's help, the fear of the infection had been replaced by personal ambitions and dreams of conquest.
Unlike Lith, though, Kilian knew there was still a silver lining. Varegrave was one of the most loyal men the King had, so if his final decision was to destroy everything, Varegrave would obey, leaving no stone unturned.
Generals and strategists could rant as much as they wanted, the final say on the matter rested on the King alone. Despite that, the pressure on him was bound to be enormous, just like the one the Mage Association was bound to exert on the Queen for that same matter.
It was easy for Kilian to imagine what was happening in the royal palace in that moment.
The upper echelons of the army against those of the Mage Association, with the Crown caught in the middle. Another crack had just appeared in the government of the Griffon Kingdom.
"Life sure has a twisted sense of irony." Kilian thought. "To think that so many lives rest on the shoulders of someone devoid of mercy. If Lith manages to find a cure fast, the political situation can still be salvaged.
Thanks to the information blackout, the camp is cut off from the outside world. Nothing gets in or out, not even information. We can wipe out the plague, and then pretend to know nothing about the military's plans for the parasites.
Worst case scenario, Varegrave will take the fall for everything, allowing the King to get away with it." ¨C
"Don't worry, Colonel. Even if you didn't ask me, I wasn't going to spare any effort to find the cure." Lith's tone was so full of determination that both men doubted about his psychological evaluation.
He was indeed cold and cynical, but seemed to truly have at heart the safety of the Kingdom.
"F*ck, that's why I hate the military. They would weaponize even dirty socks if given the chance. If I don't act fast, there is no telling what damage those idiots could cause." ¨C Was what Lith actually thought.
That night, he and Solus had one of their rare quarrels.
"Are you really willing to kill all the patients in the last ward?" She asked bluntly.
"Honestly? I would rather be at the academy worrying about the second trimester exam, instead of being here playing doctor Fleming. But what do you expect me to do? Wash my hands of everything and hope for the best?"
"But¡ there are also women, children and elderly. We saw them during the round of visits. How can you even think about doing something like that?"
"How could I don't do it, you mean. Women are no better than men, and being old doesn't make you a saint. As for the children, their cores are too weak, the risk of Awakening is insignificant, I'm more worried about them dying because of the parasites.
I have noticed that most of them have red cores. I don't know what happens when a red core gets downgraded, but I don't think is anything good. Please, Solus, try to understand my point of view. You don't know what someone is capable of, until he is given the power to avoid the consequences of his actions.
A good person can easily be hiding his true nature or simply too scared to follow his instincts. Law and order work because people are afraid of the punishment. Back on Earth, a man called the Buddha said that evil comes natural to humans, while good needs to be taught.
If we are right, and that alchemist, Hatorne, is behind the plague, why do you think she did it? For money. Why do you think the army is willing to sacr
ifice innocents to preserve a biological weapon? For power. But you know what's the scariest thing?
Ask any bully, any violent man or woman why they do what they do, they all answer the same thing: because they can. If you really want it, I can let all of the patients go, but remember, whatever happens next, all the death and misery they'll cause, will be on you." -
Solus knew how harsh Lith's view on humanity was. After all she had seen, Solus couldn't completely refuse his reasonings anymore. Her only hope was to be wrong about the mana blocking parasite side effect.
The next day, Lith took extra precautions. He was about to meet his main specimen, and first impressions could not be taken back.
In case everything went well, he had arranged a comfortable medical table, a chair and some comfort food.
Hidden behind a curtain, there was a stretcher with leather straps, a straightjacket, a mouth gag and some manure if the specimen turned out to be a troublemaker or Garith Senti.
The person that walked into the tent wore no restraints. Lith would have considered that a good sign, if not for her attitude, with eyes filled with contempt like she owned the place and wasn't happy with her guests.
"Sir, allow me to introduce to you Nindra Luce. She is Kandria's strongest magician, and also the chairman of the city branch of the Mage Association." Kilian knew what to expect from both of them. Diplomacy wasn't the strong suit of any of those present.
"Nice to meet you." Lith extended his hand, only to have it ignored.
"You are a member of the Queen's corps, and a Captain at that." She said recognizing the uniform.
"Why am I forced to stay in a mixed tent, and who is the pipsqueak?" Nindra was 1.67 metres (5'6"), barely a couple centimetres taller than Lith. Her remark aimed to emphasize the difference in their standing more than in their height.
"I'm sorry, but for safety reasons the infected must be kept together, or surveillance would be impossible." Kilian replied with a flat tone.
"He will be your new healer, that's all I am at liberty to say."
"Another quack that would do nothing more than grope and probe me around for another month? No thanks!" She tried to walk away but the guards blocked her path, their hands on the weapons' hilts.
Lith had to admit she was indeed a sight for sore eyes. Nindra was a beautiful woman in her early thirties, with bronze skin, light brown shoulder length wavy hair and hazel eyes.
She had long legs, and enough curves to make her attractive even while wearing a grey prison jumpsuit. Back on Earth, Lith would have asked her out for dinner, but in the new world he was at least ten years too young and lacked a ton of patience.
"Great! A female version of that arrogant idiot. Luckily I came prepared." ¨C
"Release me immediately! I'm a member of the Mage Association. I demand to talk with the Queen!" She yelled in outrage.
Kilian was about to explain to her that she was in a quarantine zone, not a luxury resort, when Lith's ignored hand turned into a fist that struck a liver blow. The sudden drop in blood pressure, coupled with the pain, made her kneel on the ground, incapable of speaking one more word.
"Strap her to the table and gag her mouth, I had enough of her rants." Lith could have knocked her out by hitting her jaw, but he wanted Nindra to stay conscious. After the soldiers executed his orders, it was Lith's turn to talk.
"I'm sorry for whatever harassment you may have experienced here, but people are dying. I have no time to coddle your ego. Let's cut to the chase: to find a cure and give you back your magic I need your cooperation, but it may take some time.
You may either spend your next days strapped like an animal, or behave as a civil person and be treated as such. The choice is yours."
Lith ignored her gaze full of anger and the countless muffled curses she threw at him, focusing only on his task.
He used Invigoration to determine the status of her mana core. Judging from the streaks, it had once been light blue, but now it was several shades darker. Lith decided to have her treated first, checking Solus' theory at the same time.
He had already devised a way to beat the last parasite, but between though and action there were countless things that could go wrong. The first part of his plan was testing if the toxins harmed the core by being in its proximity.
Lith tried to extract the toxins from her abdomen, instead that from the arm or leg like he usually did. Not having access to water magic, he could only make them get excreted with the sweat, and let it drip into the vials.
Even with all his considerable magical power, making the mana circulate in Nindra's body was like pushing a SUV uphill. Soon Lith was drenched in sweat, and only after a quarter of hour of unrelenting efforts he managed to bring to toxins at the skin level.
He had Kilian passing him the containment vials, and then grabbed her shirt, preparing to extract the sample. Lith felt her whole body going stiff, her limbs stretching the restrains to the limit.
"If she has been molested in the tent, it's natural that she doesn't like being touched. I'll try to be quick." Lith thought.
"Yeah, and maybe having a little consideration for her would help." Solus snorted. "She is restrained, surrounded by four men, one of which is about to undress her." She added, since Lith seemed a little slow on the uptake. ¨C
Lith turned around, noticing that all eyes were fixated on his hand. Those present were tilted to get the best view available, holding their breath in anticipation. Even Kilian was eager to spectate the next step, for academic purposes, of course.
"Sorry guys." Lith shrugged, realizing his mistake. Having examined and treated countless patients of every possible age, he had become numb to the allure of certain aspects of his job.
"Doctor patient confidentiality."
The sound of the curtain being pulled was accompanied by loud groans, caused by the awareness that their thirst for knowledge would not be quenched.
Chapter 158 First Impressions 2
Lith unceremoniously lifted the grey shirt all the way up, revealing Nindra's flat and smooth belly. He then enhanced her metabolism with light magic, covering her abdomen in milky droplets of sweat saturated with the toxins.
His eyes and hands moved nimbly, careful to not miss even one bead of the precious liquid. The fate of the Kingdom, but even more importantly his own, depended on the alchemists finding a way to neutralize them or at least analysing their properties, making Lith's work much easier.
Even if her partner didn't care, Solus stared in envy at Nindra's full and perky breasts going up and down while she heaved in panic.
"If I ever get a body, I would really like for it to be like this one." She thought to herself. ¨C
Nindra's fears quickly got dispelled by Lith's careful touch, filling one containment vial after the other without taking pauses to look at the scenery, or worse taking advantage of her helplessness.
During over a month of captivity, she had learned to recognize the lust in the men surrounding her, be them other infected or soldiers. After the prolonged period of isolation, people were easy to fall in desperation and act like animals.
Guards were relatively safe. They couldn't go past the casual grope because they feared getting infected the most. But her tent mates were something else. With nothing to lose, they would often lose decency, fighting among themselves for a slice of bread or harassing women.
Usually the guards intervened quickly, but other times, when they were bored, they would let things slide, watching at the r*pe attempts like they were just a theatrical performance, laughing and commenting without a care.
They would still intervene before something really bad happened, but that didn't make any of it less traumatic. With her powers gone, pride was the only thing Nindra had left, and she would do anything to protect it.
When she had first met Lith, she had assumed that behind the mask there was just another perverted old man, and treated him accordingly, taking take to remind him her status in the Association and her knowledge of
the Queen.
But now, watching him work relentlessly, she couldn't feel anything. He was cold, like a machine, allowing her to hope that for once since her imprisonment, the man in front of her was really a healer.
As the last drop was collected, Lith carefully placed the shirt back down, avoiding any unnecessary contact, before using Invigoration again. The zone surrounding Nindra's mana core was now clear from all the toxins, only the cocoons remained, with the parasites still hidden inside them.
"Any change, so far?" He asked Solus.
"None, it's still too soon. Even for you it takes some time. Don't worry, if I notice her core recovering or her mana circulating like that of a true mage, I'll let you know." ¨C
Without the toxin's dampening effect, Lith could now spot the worms and attempt to kill them. His plan was to test on Nindra the first cure he had devised. It consisted in cleansing first the mana core, allowing it to recover, while the rest of the body was clogged by the anti mana parasites.
His theory was that even if the core were to be flooded with the world energy, Nindra wouldn't be able to perceive it in such status.
"If I'm right, I need to make up some medical babble to justify the passing of days before treating the rest of the body. I can't allow other healers to rush things up." ¨C
He then targeted the cocoons closer to the core, sending multiple tendrils of dark energy to seep in and kill their inhabitants. Just as he feared, the cocoons were just a highly packed toxin mass.
Sending magic through them was like pushing the proverbial SUV uphill, but this time with the hand brake on. Since this was within his expectations, he moved to plan B. He used his cleansing spell to remove the outer layers, while he enhanced with light magic Nindra's metabolism.
The effect was similar to doing cardio, the blood pressure increased and the muscle contracted and relaxed cyclically, hastening the dispersion process of the toxins, by both natural flow and osmosis.
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