"In a few days' time, the recruitment will start. Are you in need of money now?" Looking at his clothes and his state of urgency I can tell something was up.
"I….. I need money for my sister. She is sick and needs medicine." The young man had tears in his eyes. He looked up at me and wiped his eyes as he asked: "If you wish to bring change to the lives of your citizens then please I beg of you to help my sister!"
The young man suddenly knelt down and pressed his head against the ground. I couldn't help but sigh as I reached down and helped him up. "Hurry and stand up or people will think I am bullying you. What is wrong with your sister?"
"I do not know. She had been sick for a few days and had begun withering away. It's not just her either, many of the people on my side of the slums have been getting sicker and sicker." The young man replied. I couldn't help but furrow my brow. This did not sound as simple as it seemed.
"Grace!" I yelled out. And almost instantly, Grace appeared at my side. "Yes, Master?"
"Follow me. We are going to the slums to check on his sister. I want you to try healing her." I had no idea what was going on, but it seemed whatever it was needed to be taken care of quickly.
To me, from what the boy said, it sounded more like some kind of epidemic. One that was new. I have yet to run into anything like this since I was reborn on this world, but it does not mean it is not possible. This world has been undergoing many changes since the arrival of the dungeons, so some kind of virus might have also come from it as well.
Whether this was true or not was another story, but when I think about the seven sins that the others got during the first dungeon and then hearing that his sister was withering away, I wondered if it was some kind of curse that was spread from person to person.
"You are really going to help my sister?" The young man asked his eyes lighting up with hope.
"I do not know if I can help her, but I will take a look and see what I can do. What is your name?" I asked.
"It's Tryu, Your Highness," Tryu answered.
"Then Tryu, lead me to your sister, and let's be quick about it." I wanted to hurry and try to deal with this as quickly as possible since he already said many were sick with this same illness.
It took an hour to get to the east side slums that were still waiting to be reclaimed. Luckily I had my skill, or it would have taken much longer. When we arrived, Tryu led us to a small hut that was in decent condition. In fact, most of the slum houses have been upgraded to be in better shape than before due to Annie's efforts in helping those she would while they waited for things to be rebuilt.
When we entered, it was a one room hut with two beds. And behind a curtain was a young woman who should have been in her late teens, early twenties lying on the bed, shriveled up, looking as if she had no meat on her bones whatsoever. I used appraisal on her and found nothing wrong. No status effects or anything of the sort. "Grace any idea?"
Grace had been studying up on medical stuff as of late which was why I brought her along. She looked at the girl and took her pulse but still shook her head. "Her pulse is weak, but I am not sure what is wrong with her…. Let me try to use heal on her and see if that works."
"I will try to dispel after if heal does not work and if needed, I will call Iena and Diablo here to see if they know." I frowned. I did not think dispel would work as there was nothing showing in her status, but it was still worth a try. If it was a curse of some kind, it should have at least shown up at least I would think anyway.
If it is some kind of disease though, then heal should work. If heal doesn't, then it is something that magic can not take care of, which will put me at a loss. My only other options would be to talk to Diablo and the rest. I did not wish to bother Freidinia if I did not need to as she is usually doing some kind of experiment, and if I called her, it could cause an explosion of some kind.
Grace stood at the young woman's bedside. The young woman did not speak. She only looked over at us. It was as if she could not move at all. Her sunken cheeks and hollow eyes seemed like a mummy coming alive when her eyes moved.
"Greater heal!" Grace cast healing magic on the young woman, but even as the minute slowly went by, no changes accord. "Dispel!" It was my turn next but even dispel did nothing. I couldn't help but wrinkle my brow.
"Tryu, you have been in contact with your sister this entire time, and nothing has happened to you?" I asked. I should have asked these questions beforehand, but I did not think too much about some kind of illness.
"Mm…. I have not felt anything wrong with me. It seems only certain people are coming down with this strange sickness." Tryu replied. I nodded and called Diablo.
"Faith?" Diablo looked at me in confusion.
"Before I ask you to go get Freidinia, have you ever seen this kind of illness?" I asked as I pointed at the young woman on the bed.
"This…." Diablo looked at the girl, and like me, he wrinkled his brow and shook his head. "No, I do not know what is wrong with her. Freidinia would be your best bet. I will go get her." And before I could say anything, he disappeared.
