The Scarlet Flower

"Nobody understands control better than I do!"

Leon's smug voice echoed in Klein's ears, but he was in no mood to pay the man any attention.

Only after Leon removed the old man's pajamas and placed them on the sofa did Klein get a clear look at Old Neil.

No, "the terrible state he was in" would have been more accurate.

He looked as though he had aged ten years overnight.

His already pale hair had become like dry grass, brittle and sparse, as though something had drained it of its nutrients.

The skin on his face hung loose, covered in dark red marks like rotting petals that spread from the corners of his eyes and mouth and across his forehead. Dark brown scabs had formed along the edges of every fissure.

Those lines were still spreading slowly.

But what truly made Klein's scalp tingle was Old Neil's chest.

With Old Neil's pajamas removed, his bare chest lay exposed in the dim yellow light.

Over his heart, near the fourth intercostal space on the left side of his chest, a fist-sized bulge stretched his skin almost transparent.

Through that thin, bloodshot skin, Klein saw an orange-red flower bud.

It lay pressed against his heart-or rather, it had taken root in it.

Countless roots as fine as hairs extended from the base of the bud, burrowing into the heart muscle and spreading along the blood vessels like a greedy net, tightly enveloping the still faintly beating organ.

With every heartbeat, the bud glowed faintly, as though absorbing something.

Klein activated Spirit Vision almost instinctively.

His gaze pierced skin, muscle, and the translucent outer wall of the bud, looking straight into its center-

Then his whole body jolted.

Deepest within the bud, at the core of that orange-red light, he saw a world in miniature.

Beneath a murky gray sky, dark red land stretched as far as the eye could see, its surface covered in a dense carpet of orange-red moss.

Scarlet liquid flowed slowly, forming rivers. Enormous, rotting skeletons of unknown creatures lay in piles, covered in those bewitching flowers.

The bud trembled slightly, as if responding to his gaze.

Klein abruptly shut off Spirit Vision and stepped back, cold sweat dripping down the bridge of his nose.

"Did you see it?"

Leon's voice came from beside him, inappropriately calm.

Klein nodded. He wanted to say something, but it was as if something had blocked his throat; he couldn't squeeze out a single word.

"This is the 'seed.'"

Leon's tone was flat, as though stating a fact that had long since been verified countless times.

"The seed that brings Scarlet Rot."

He crouched down and gazed at the orange-red bud still glowing faintly on Old Neil's chest, then let out a soft breath.

Fortunately, things hadn't reached the point of no return. Not enough time had passed for the flower to bloom.

Klein opened his mouth, trying to digest the amount of information in those words, but his brain was like a rusted gear that wouldn't turn.

He stared blankly as Leon crouched in front of Old Neil, pried open the old man's jaw, and took a dark red pill from inside his clothes.

The pill was coated in a layer of moss-like powder.

Leon's movements were brisk and efficient. He shoved the pill into Old Neil's mouth, pushed his jaw shut with one hand, and gently stroked the old man's Adam's apple with the other.

Gulp.

Old Neil swallowed it unconsciously.

Only after all that did Klein come to his senses, as though jolted awake. He rushed over in a few long strides, crouched beside Leon, and stared intently at Old Neil.

He saw the dark red cracks begin to contract, their edges curling and blackening as though scorched by something, before flaking off.

As soon as the flakes left the skin, they turned to ash and scattered through the air, carrying a burnt stench.

Old Neil's body stopped trembling. His breathing steadied too.

"Is it over?"

Klein heard how unsteady his own voice sounded, tinged with a dazed sense of unreality. He instinctively thought that Leon seemed to have known how to handle all this from the start.

"No."

Leon's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Preserving Boluses (note 1) can only suppress Scarlet Rot. They can't eradicate it."

He reached out and pointed at the bud still clearly visible on Old Neil's chest. His gaze grew grave, and he fell into thought.

Preserving Boluses. Scarlet Rot.

Klein silently mulled over the two unfamiliar terms.

They sounded like a specific medical condition and the medicine used to treat it.

He didn't dig deeper, simply taking it as a gap in his own knowledge. After all, this world held far more secrets than he had thought.

He hesitated, then said, "Perhaps... I could try Spirit Channeling?"

Leon's gaze shifted slightly.

Spirit Channeling was indeed an approach he had never considered.

The rules of this world were entirely different from those of the Lands Between. The methods of fighting and suppression he was familiar with might not always be the best solution here.

Sometimes, it was precisely these seemingly opportunistic methods that could pry open the tightest crack.

"Can you perform Spirit Channeling on the living too?" he asked curiously.

"It's a Dream Divination technique," Klein explained. "Instead of questioning the spirit directly, I use it to obtain information. That gives it a much higher chance of success."

"I use it often at the Seer Club. There shouldn't be any problems."

Leon pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"Don't try to ask about anything directly related to an evil god,"

he cautioned. "That's too dangerous. You only need to look for some indirect information."

His gaze moved from the bud to Klein's face.

"Pollution of this level doesn't appear out of nowhere. The other party surely has some backup plan, so be careful."

"I'll stand guard beside you and make sure no accidents disturb you."

Klein wasted no more time. He quickly took materials from the things he carried, set up a simple altar on the floor, and began reciting the incantation.

After seven repetitions, he stepped back and activated Dream Divination.

"The reason for Old Neil's abnormal condition."

"The reason for Old Neil's abnormal condition."

On the seventh repetition, his consciousness sank as though plunging into water.

He entered the dream.

In the murky gray expanse, Old Neil's spirit lay sleeping.

It was a transparent, illusory silhouette, floating there quietly like a faded photograph. Klein reached out and touched the spirit-

The scene before him abruptly flipped.

Several minutes later, he sat bolt upright.

Leon already had a hand around his arm. His grip was neither too tight nor too loose, yet so steady that Klein couldn't break free.

"What did you see, Klein?"

There was an indescribably strange look in Klein's eyes.

"I... didn't see anything."

His voice was full of confusion, as though he couldn't believe the result himself.

"The divination clearly succeeded. But after I entered the dream..."

He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"There was only a baby's cry. Then there was nothing."

A baby's cry.

Leon frowned.

Things had once again developed in a way he had never anticipated, with a result like something from a riddler.

Leon was quite speechless. He hadn't done this kind of thinking in years, and he hadn't expected it to get this intense right from the start.

He had only been in this world a few days, and already several deities had come into the picture.

If this body could have handled it, he would have searched the whole city long ago.

But Leon knew this wasn't the time to complain. He looked at Klein, who was still examining Old Neil, and suddenly an idea struck him.

"Klein, contact the captain. The plan has changed again."