For the first time, Stonebridge City's sea breeze had lost its usual salty tang.
In its place was a strange, sickly sweetness born of decay and chemical reagents.
Pier Seven had been sealed off entirely. The towering piles of fish, busy porters, and boisterous sailors were gone. Only squads of grim-faced Golden Sail Merchant Guild guards stood silently throughout the dock area.
Caroline and her party disembarked at the pier. She wore a knee-length pleated skirt with a cloak, preserving her dignity without sacrificing ease of movement.
An elderly man with white hair and a white beard came forward to greet her. His mage's robe, embroidered with a silver flask, was covered in stains, and his expression was utterly exhausted.
"Vice President." He was Master Valerius, the guild's chief alchemist, a man renowned throughout the Haiti Duchy.
Caroline looked past him toward the fishing waters under heavy guard.
The seawater there was an ominous gray-green. Several small boats were dredging the surface, their nets filled with shapeless, viscous masses that resembled melted wax.
"Give me your conclusion, Master Valerius." Caroline's voice held no warmth.
The old alchemist sighed deeply.
"There is nothing we can do."
He handed her a report wrapped in oilcloth. "This is unlike any plague known to us. It has no magical aura. Divine purification rites can only slow it down, not reverse it."
Caroline took the report and listened in silence. "We tried seventeen broad-spectrum anti-plague potions and thirty-three alchemical antidotes. The results were all the same."
Valerius pointed to a row of sealed glass tanks on the pier. Inside were fish at various stages of degeneration.
"It is more like... a complete collapse of the organism. We observed that the pathogen directly attacks a creature's most fundamental living structures, causing it to disintegrate from within. Its life energy vanishes into thin air. This contradicts everything we know about life alchemy."
Caroline listened silently, her green eyes betraying no emotion.
Barris added from beside her, "We invited mages from the nearby School of Nature. They could find nothing abnormal in the water, aquatic plants, or any other part of the natural environment either."
"But the good news is that, so far, this disease has not spread to the other fisheries."
It had appeared from nowhere. It could not be understood. It could not be fought.
Every phrase was a sledgehammer blow to the Golden Sail Merchant Guild's lifeline.
At last, Caroline withdrew her gaze and turned to Korn, who stood behind her.
"Has the messenger left for the Royal Capital?"
"Yes, my lady," Korn answered at once. "The letter was sent with the highest priority. A seated mage from the Heisenberg Mage Academy should arrive within a week."
A week.
Caroline calculated the timing. There was no need to sit around waiting. It would be the perfect opportunity to visit Newborn Town.
"Master, continue your research." Her voice regained its usual decisiveness. "I want you to analyze every stage of this 'collapse.' Even if it cannot be cured, I want to know the precise process by which it destroys everything. There will be no limit on funding."
The old alchemist bowed in acknowledgment, a researcher's spark flickering in his eyes.
Caroline turned, her skirt fluttering in the sea breeze to reveal a glimpse of a pale, firm calf.
"Korn."
"Yes, Vice President."
"How far is Newborn Town from here?"
Korn froze for a moment, but quickly replied, "Less than three days by water."
"Good." Caroline lightly brushed the stud on her earlobe with a fingertip. "I happen to have some free time before our mage from the Royal Capital arrives. I would like to see this Pioneer Knight you claim can work 'miracles' for myself."
Her tone was casual, as though she were merely arranging an inconsequential outing.
"Bring those jars of dead fish. I want to take a good look at my 'new problem' along the way."
Unlike Stonebridge City's suffocating gloom, the air in Newborn Town was full of the scents of earth, sweat, and wood shavings.
Everything was new, rough around the edges but brimming with life.
In the laboratory on the third floor of the lord's residence, Veylin stared intently at a crude distillation apparatus. Tiny bubbles rose in the Stripping Flask as it heated over an alcohol lamp, and drops of viscous liquid slowly traveled down the condenser into the collecting dish below.
This was an Underground Worm the Garrison had caught at the edge of the swamp. Their main business had once been finding magical materials for their patrons.
This time, however, it was for Barrett. It was one of the supplementary ingredients for the potion he would use to purify his bloodline.
Veylin extinguished the alcohol lamp and carefully sealed away the extracted Underground Worm mucus.
The next experiment was about to begin.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Xiao Lan entered with her head lowered. She had changed into a short shirt and trousers that allowed her to move easily, but they still did little to conceal her voluptuous figure.
"M-my lord..."
"Ready?" Veylin did not turn around. "Let's begin."
A blush spread across Xiao Lan's cheeks.
Biting her lip, she inched toward the center of the room, where an animal hide had been spread on the floor.
She drew a deep breath and lay down in resignation.
Veylin paid no attention to these minor details. He took out the notebook he had prepared for this purpose and turned to the latest page.
"Today, I'll teach you the reclining bound angle pose. Put the soles of your feet together, open your knees to either side, and let them sink naturally."
Xiao Lan did as instructed.
But once her soles met and her knees spread apart, she suddenly realized just how mortifying this pose was!
As she continued exerting her limbs, her short shirt and trousers pulled taut, leaving her looking both pitiable and alluring.
After barely a dozen minutes,
A faint, milky scent of sweat filled the air.
Her coarse shirt had already worn thin from washing. Now, soaked with sweat, it clung even more tightly to her body, outlining breathtaking curves.
Veylin paid none of this any mind.
His attention was entirely focused on the data panel in his field of vision.
[Stripping Potion: primary ingredient: 118.2 grams of standard primal blood crystal. Supplementary ingredients: 20 grams of powdered Newborn Mandrake rootlets...]
It went down again!
Unable to hide his excitement, Veylin continued instructing Xiao Lan. "Let's do another set of downward-facing dog..."
Already exhausted, Xiao Lan felt her eyes sting. She could no longer hold back her tears, and great drops rolled down her face.
No. This couldn't go on.
A thought flared in her heart.
He could kill her or cut her to pieces. Even death would be better than being subjected to Lord Veylin's indecent games every day!
She abruptly sat up, not even bothering to straighten her disheveled clothes or hair. Raising her tear-streaked face, she met Veylin's gaze without flinching for the first time.
"My lord!"
"I... I can't do this anymore! I'm very grateful that you saved me from the slave traders, but I can do anything else. Just... just not this. I won't do this sort of thing ever again!"
Xiao Lan's words were somewhat incoherent, and her tears fell like beads from a broken string, refusing to stop.
But Veylin understood what she meant.
Apparently, the daily training had been too intense. He had worked the poor girl to tears.