Chapter 117: Forage

"What are you going to do now?" He asked the priestess.

"I'll head to the jungle again. Maybe I'll find something that I didnt see during the night. What about you?"

"I'll go back and check on my patients. It makes me uneasy to be away from Lucien while he remains in his current condition. Rei is a good healer but he can't handle this."

The duo bid each other goodbye and headed off in their own directions. Syryn walked the whole way back to the cabin while his thoughts ran in circles around Cami's sickness and the implications of it on the other villagers. Part of him was starting to believe that a ghostly possession could also explain what was happening but when he took into account Dinah's confidence, it left him confused. What contagious illness was there that could explain the symptoms displayed by Cami?

Syryn knew that the answer lay inside the dead body of the buried man. An autopsy had to be done. Gravedigging was an act of desecration and he could not risk being caught by the villagers. He preferred a freshly deceased body but there was none to be found. If Cami did pass away, her body could answer the questions of what had happened to her and her father but Syryn was willing to bet on the family not letting him perform an autopsy on the child. It felt disrespectful to already be thinking about Cami's death but the alchemist was almost certain that the child would not last much longer before she succumbed. It was unfortunate but inevitable.

"Back so soon," Rei remarked when Syryn stepped into the threshold of the compound. 8 builders were hard at work shaping logs, digging, and setting the foundations for the new washroom. The noisy environment wasn't conducive for peaceful recovery but Gosan seemed to be enjoying having something to watch.

"How is Lucien?" Syryn asked the avian.

"Still asleep," Rei replied. The other cabin next to theirs had also been opened and Akida walked out while dusting his hands.

"I've set up the cooking area. You can take the rest of it inside," the avian informed Rei. Noticing Syryn already back, Akida headed towards him.

"Rei told me about the patient you're seeing. If it's contagious, we have to leave the village before shit hits the ceiling." Akida spoke soft enough that the builders wouldn't hear them.

"What if it's a possession and not a disease?" Syryn looked up at the handsome avian.

"Can't cut a ghost down. We're still leaving." Akida's response was practical.

"Then why are we forcing them to build that?" Rei asked after overhearing their topic of conversation.

The dark-haired avian's gaze drifted to the builders. "Riaku paid them for full amenities. I'm not running into the forest every time I need to take a leak."

Syryn agreed with the man's sentiments. "Akida, wanna visit a brothel?" He recklessly asked the man. Rei stiffened up behind Akida and it was a telling response.

"I don't fuck whores." The avian's cold gaze slid away from Syryn and he walked off.

The way Rei's mask turned to face him, Syryn could tell that the healer had a few things to say to him. Rei quirked a finger and Syryn followed him inside the cabin they were using as a kitchen.

"What was that, Syryn? Why are you provoking him?"

"How was I supposed to know that he doesn't fuck whores?"

"You asked because you were testing him. Dont even think about lying. I know it was deliberate."

"Alright, I asked him because I was curious. Why is he so uptight?"

Rei bent his head and whispered to the alchemist.

"His mother was a prostitute impregnated by a nobleman. Akida was born and brought up among pimps and sex workers who resented his parentage. You can imagine what life was like for the son of a nobleman."

"That's why he hates sex workers."

"And nobles."

"Then how the hell did he end up working for Riaku?"

"Working off a debt he owes the prince."

"Who told you about his aversion for brothels?" Rei asked Syryn.

"Dinah overheard him asking the innkeeper about brothels."

"That idiot."

"Who?"

"Kida. Who else?" Rei said it as if he expected Syryn to understand what he meant. "Anyway, tell me about the sick little girl."

Syryn summed up what he had seen of Cami. About how he thought there was no way to save her.

"What a pity," Rei softly said to the alchemist.

"They dont want my help so that makes it all the more difficult to examine her."

"I hope the sickness ends with her," Rei replied, but his wishes were not to be.

"Milt, what's wrong?" One of the builders asked the older man who was clutching his head and standing still.

"Huh?" Milt shook his head and looked around himself strangely. "The heat is getting to me. Pass me some water."

"Don't tell me you've gotten yourself possessed by the ghost," another builder remarked. The chuckles that followed his words were light and humourous like they didn't really believe Milt could be possessed.

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"I'll see you guys in the afterlife," the older man joked along. "Let's get this done before I croak."

Akida who had heard the builders exchange words was staring at the man called Milt. Rei had told him that the initial symptoms of the sickness included headaches and confusion. He didn't like the situation at all. There would be no more random visitors allowed after the construction of the building was completed.

"Going somewhere?" He asked Syryn who had a satchel around his shoulder.

"To the forest," Syryn replied. "I won't go far. Just need to look around the outskirts for any medicinal plants that may be growing."

"I'll come with you."

"No, really. Stay with Lucien."

"Nobody in the village is looking to harm a child. You on the other hand," Akida's half-closed eyes regarded him, "aren't welcome by some, are you?"

"Who told you?" Syryn asked Akida.

The avian's sights drifted over to where the builders were working. "Gossip."

Syryn soon found himself exploring the forest with a bodyguard whose silent presence was a solid and reassuring wall. Even without knowing much about him, Akida had an aura that convinced the alchemist of trusting in the man's abilities to handle a situation with efficiency.

A quarter of an hour into their walk, Akida lowered his head and told Syryn in a low voice, "We're being followed."

"Oh? Let them follow then." The alchemist felt fearless. He could take care of himself and then some. There was also a good bodyguard with him as a backup.

"I could flush them out," Akida said again, head bent close to Syryn.

"Let's waste their time," Syryn replied.

His guard went back to quietly walking. In no time at all, Syryn found his first harvest. And out came his sharp clippers to snip at the plant.

"They all look the fucking same," Akida commented from behind him when Syryn crouched down to snip off the leaves from an unremarkable-looking plant.

"It's called the Pilgrim," Syryn stroked the edge of the leaf where it was pointed. "You can tell by the way the colour of the leaf changes gradient towards the edge."

The avian bent his head low to squint at the leaf. "You're right. How did you catch that from so far away?"

"When you know the plants well enough, it gets easier to notice their little characteristics. And look there, that's a Cymbette shrub. It looks like its cousin, the yellow Cour, but one gives you mild diarrhoea and the other one kills you."

"So they're both shitty plants."

"No," Syryn heaved himself up after gathering enough leaves. "They find application as ingredients that counter other diseases. You just have to ensure that the right doses are given to the patients."

The sound of rustling bushes alerted the both of them to something or someone that was approaching. Akida stood in front of Syryn and waited as the rustling got closer to them.

"Eh? Are you guys also looking for medicinal plants?" A man popped out from behind a tree. He was short but had a muscular body.

"Why are you sneaking around like a thief?" Akida asked the man.

"A - a thief? I wasn't!" The way his voice went up a pitch indicated his nervousness. Syryn's bodyguard wasn't buying it.

"The forest floor is scattered with dry foliage and twigs. Don't give me that bullshit about not sneaking around when you made sure we wouldn't hear a thing till you rustled the bush like a pair of rabbits fucking were inside."

"Ah, you caught me," he finally confessed.

Akida rested an elbow on the hilt of his sword. "The fuck were you sneaking around for?"

"I'm not a suspicious person!" He said while clasping his hands.

"That's what a suspicious person would say," Syryn peeked out from behind Akida.

"I'm just a healer looking for some medicinal plants. I didnt want to disturb the harmony between the two of you.."

"Huh?" Akida scowled at the man. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You were whispering to each other... And the last time I stumbled upon another party, it was a couple looking for someplace in the forest to.."

"How the fuck did you manage to come to such a conclusion?" Akida angrily snapped at the man. "You're a pervert, aren't you?"

"I'm just a healer. Please spare me!" He fell to his knees and begged. It was a pathetic sight - such a muscular man acting like a coward.

"Aren't you the same guy with a laceration on his back?" Syryn asked.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"My assistant stitched you up."

"You're a healer too?" The man stood up and his expression changed to a seriousness that wasn't there before.

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