Chapter 278: Tape

Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

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Jean's destination carried her to the Northwest of the Solar Empire. The close she approached the hotspot of the epidemic, the more she learned about it through word of mouth. With each new bite of information added to the growing list of symptoms, the deeper Jean's frown grew.

"Josie. Does this sound familiar?" She said while nudging a stack of papers towards the older woman. "Read the symptoms carefully. Pay careful attention to the nature of their deaths. What do you see?"

The duo were currently located in a resting inn along their paths - Jean and Josie shared one room while Sect Leader Guy and Dora shared the other. At this time, Jean decided to regroup and devise an action plan to tackle the illness most efficiently when she intercepted it in the future.

Josie's brows grew furrowed as her pupils danced back and forth across the page. "This slave strongly urges the Young Miss from drawing hasty conclusions. It could very well be a coincidence. Bone Mite Venom and Gout both induce similar symptoms, except the way to treat the two is completely different."

Jean slammed her hand forcefully over the table before her and slowly curled her fingers into a tight and shaking fist. "I know that, but look at how similar the symptoms are. The nature of the blistering, the excessive bleeding and blood contamination, the method of transmission, there are far too many similarities to not call it a coincidence."

"The Plague of Dark Cleansing affected mages, and mages alone," Josie interjected while pointing out a key fact.

"And whatever this is," Jean argued while tapping her index over a stack of papers aggressively, "only affects common folk (as far as we know). Who knows what the disease is truly capable of?"

"Which is why we mustn't jump to conclusions," Josie reasoned. "The Young Miss is acting uncharacteristically impulsive these days."

The words were caught in Jean's throat. 'Was I?' she thought to herself. For most of her life, she'd lived in a world of black, white, and grey, metaphorically. Everything was bland and lukewarm, there was no vibrancy, no joy, no dullness, and no sorrow. It was hard to get used to the silence in the world around her, but the two voices in her head definitely helped distract her from it. If she really was showing emotions such as anger and irritation, it could only mean that somehow, her capacity to feel was slowly making a comeback! Was it a change for the better, or the worse?

"A healer cannot afford to be impatient," Josie reminded. "Impatience leads to negligence, and negligence always leads to the loss of life."

"I know. You're right," Jean relented. "But the similarities are uncanny. It just... I'm getting this... intuition? Right! I'm getting this intuition that the two are related. This new disease is like a toned-down version of the Plague of Dark Cleansing."

"This slave understands where the Young Miss is coming from, but - to quote Sect Leader Larks - 'starting an investigation with a predetermined conclusion isn't an investigation, it is a verification'," Josie emphasised.

Jean nodded affirmatively and outwardly showed acceptance. However, inside, while the voices quarrelled amongst themselves, something weird worked its way down her neural channels. Jean determined this 'something weird' to be the intuition gnawing away at her. To others, this 'something weird' would be referred to by a much more mundane name - a gut feeling.

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Apparently, the Empire, and by extension, the Balen Duchy, had already implemented a solution to the epidemic. Unfortunately, this came in the form of a strict quarantine that blockaded a large swath of land and inhibited the movement of people out of the affected area. Jean's group arrived at this blockage within the next day.

"This isn't right," Jean said while shaking her head. She cast her gaze beyond the sparse yet robust wall of soldiers inhibiting the passage of a group of worn-out men and women who looked like they were on their last limbs. "They're just planning to let them all die?"

"They're mortals - expendable," Josie said with an exhausted sigh. "That is how the Empire sees them."

"But they're still people! People who're in pain," Jean groaned. She turned to gauge Sect Leader Lark's reaction. Hopefully, he would have an opinion or any idea of what to do from this point onwards, but she was dumbfounded to see the man look on with a blank expression.

"Sect Leader?" Jean nudged, but she received no response. "Sect Leader?" she tried again.

"Uh? Oh, Jean! Sorry, I was..." his gaze glazed over once again.

"Sect Leader? Are you... are you okay?" Jean probed with a concerned frown.

"Not really," Mister Larks answered automatically. "I mean... I should probably take Dora back to the town we just passed. It's not safe here, after all."

After saying that, he turned and walked back towards the carriage. "I feel like there's something wrong with Mister Larks," Jean noted as she watched his receding figure. "He hasn't been himself lately - always looking out into the distance with an empty gaze, shutting down mid-conversation, forgetfulness..."

"Sect Leader Larks is evidently going through something. He's been this way since a day before we left Sunspear," Josie affirmed.

"Going through what?" Jean responded with a tinge of inquisitiveness and interest.

Josie shrugged. "This slave does not know. Sect Leader Larks is an adult. He should be able to handle his own problems."

"Everyone needs help sometimes, even if they're ancient monsters at the peak of power," Jean sympathised.

"We cannot afford to split our attention between two fronts, Young Miss. It is either the folk beyond the quarantine or Sect Leader Larks," Josie proposed. "Which one does the Young Miss prefer to tackle at this moment?"

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Jean would have loved to return a condescending smile, but her mind could not compute the required muscles needed to make that arrangement. "We should probably address the more pressing issue first, right?"

With that said, the two approached the blockage.

"HALT!" One of the soldiers bellowed as Jean and Josie walked towards the encampment which acted as one of the control and deployment points for the quarantine.

"No one is allowed to enter past this quarantine. Leave this instance!" The armoured man called out with a sneer. Josie balled her palms into a fist and moved forward, but was held back by Jean.

"We're here on a mission to handle the epidemic," Jean declared. She retrieved the plaque of the True World Sect and said, "We are registered with the Solar Sect Alliance."

"The epidemic is already being handled," the soldier shot back dismissively.

"Would it be possible to confer with the physicians assigned to this case? We wish to lend a hand in any way possible," Jean pleaded.

"Physicians?" The soldier scoffed. "There are no physicians here."

"Then who is treating the patients?" Jean asked, but was only met with silence and a derisive chuckle from the soldier. The answer she dreaded turned out to be true.

"You're really planning to let them all die?" Jean asked rhetorically.

"The disease started amidst common folk, and it should end amidst them," the soldier emphasised. At that moment, one of the men being held inside the quarantined region by a duo of soldiers squeezed past them and made a run for it. The man's feet moved frantically, he zigged then he zagged, but his erratic movements weren't unpredictable enough for the soldiers as a racing javelin cut through the air and pierced his heart the very next instant. The soldier talking to Jean raised his hand and summoned a |Fireball|, burning away every trace of the man's existence.

"W-What are you doing?!" Jean said with a raised voice. She looked at the man with eyes burning with an intensity she never thought was possible.

"We were told that none must pass through this blockade. That man never crossed the blockade, as he never existed in the first place," the soldier declared maliciously as he glared at every commoner, who cowered against his murderous gaze.

"A-At least let those willing to help these folk pursue an attempt?" Jean pleaded.

"Listen here, girl-" the soldier took a step forward, his hands moved towards the sword sheathed against his waist. However, his voice faltered, and his breath hitched as he was suddenly bombarded with immense pressure. The surrounding mana turned turbid, which in turn started to discombobulate him.

"If you reach for that sword, I will separate you from the hand grasping it," Josie's booming voice echoed across the encampment. It was controlled just enough to cause all the soldiers to bear the weight of her presence, while conveniently avoiding the clamouring common folk (who turned and fled in fear of the threat posed by Josie).

"This one was blind," the soldier spoke through gritted teeth while trying to work through the immense disorientation and pain. "Please forgive me..."

"Josie, please," Jean appealed. "No one needs to die here-"

"No, this slave thinks they do," Josie interjected.

"They're just doing their jobs-" Jean reasoned as she tried to lower Josie's hostility. Although it was an unpleasant statement for Jean to make, she had to do something to stop Josie from killing the man.

"Then, Young Miss, please let this slave do hers," Josie interjected, once again. "This slave was entrusted with Young Miss' life by Master and Miss Rasmus. This cretin here was just about to cause this slave to break Master and Miss' trust. For that, punishment is in order."

She turned her head and noticed the distressed gaze forming haphazardly on Jean's face. So, after a second of reconsideration, she said, "Since Young Miss does not wish for this slave to take a life, she will not do so. Instead, for the crime of taking away something precious from this slave, I shall take something precious from this one."

Then, she swiped her finger in front of her. A delay later, the man's left hand dislodged from his body and collapsed to the floor. Blood started to fountain out of the stump, which was immediately treated by a forceful slap by Josie with a red-hot palm. The smell of burning meat and a muted scream echoed through the sparse forest, as the pressure wrought of turbulent mana subsided.

"J-Josie..." Jean squeaked while tugging at the woman's sleeves. "Why?"

"This slave has shown something unpleasant to Young Miss. For that, she apologises. But this was necessary," Josie reasoned.

"We will be entering the quarantine," Josie bellowed. "If there is a problem to be had, take it up with me!"

With that statement hanging in the air like a mercurial guillotine, Josie strode forward with Jean's hand grasped firmly. They crossed the imaginary line that demarcated the quarantine without a word of opposition.

"That was unnecessary," Jean repeated.

"Diplomacy can only get us so much, Young Miss. As you said, those grunts are just doing their jobs. Jobs handed to them by those above. To get the permission that we need to operate within these forsaken grounds, their confirmation is necessary. Except, those folk are also answering to the powers above, and on and on the vine grows, until it gets so tangled up in a bureaucracy that nothing ends up happening. On the other hand, by squeezing the arms of these grunts, we gained the access we desired without any hassle," Josie explained.

"But did we really have to cripple that man?"

"It is the price paid to be taken seriously in this world," Josie reasoned. "The Young Miss should learn to harden her heart against this."

Jean looked thoughtful. She did not know if that was still the right thing to do.

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