Chapter 71: The Organ I Need Is Inside a Quarantine Zone

«PROJECT: PROTOTYPE RIFLE

Core Systems Identified: 5

Functional Components Acquired: 1 / 5

Next Target Function:

Stable Mana Storage

Known Probable Source:

Mana Reservoir Toad

Primary Known Habitat:

Mirevale Wetlands»

Raven closed the interface.

The piece he needed was here, and so was the road to the next region. Leaving would cost them almost two weeks. Entering might cost more.

Or less.

"We’re going in."

Valeria smiled. "I knew you’d say that too."

"That’s starting to become concerning."

"You’re becoming predictable."

"Then I’ll have to correct that."

The soldier gave a signal, and the barricade opened just far enough for the horses to pass. Raven crossed, and the logs closed again behind them.

He didn’t look back.

He already knew they were still there.

Mirevale did not look like a sick city.

It looked like a city trying to pretend it wasn’t.

The markets were still open. Small boats moved through the canals while people carried baskets of fish, reeds, medicinal herbs, and alchemical bottles. Buildings stood on stilts or stone platforms connected by wooden bridges raised above the swamp water.

Everything still worked.

There were simply too many people missing.

Many windows were shuttered, yellow cloth hung from several doors, and inspection posts stood every few streets. On three separate occasions, Raven saw soldiers transporting bodies beneath waxed tarps.

No one stopped to watch.

It was normal again, just a different kind of normal.

Raven watched a woman scrub the entrance of her shop with white liquid while a corpse cart passed behind her. She never stopped scrubbing.

"How long do you think this has been going on?" he asked.

Valeria studied the quarantine markings.

"A week, maybe. Two at most."

Roland looked toward the smoke overhead.

"Too many pyres for one week."

Raven had been thinking the same thing.

They reached the central checkpoint soon afterward.

There, Raven discovered that the man overseeing the quarantine had very little interest in Valeria von Nacht.

That made Raven like him slightly more before they had even met.

Captain Garran Vale was a broad-shouldered man in his forties, with a short beard streaked with gray and the kind of face that looked as though it had spent more time in rain than inside offices. He wore no ceremonial armor, only reinforced leather, a sword, and a yellow band around one arm.

Six documents lay open across his desk.

He did not look up immediately when they entered.

"Names."

Valeria answered first.

"Valeria von Nacht."

The man’s pen stopped.

He looked up with recognition, but not reverence.

"Lady von Nacht."

"Captain."

"If you’re here to request a transit exemption, the answer is no."

Valeria smiled faintly.

"I haven’t even asked."

"Three nobles already did today."

Raven stepped closer.

"Did it work?"

Garran looked at him.

"No."

"Good."

Valeria glanced sideways at Raven.

"You like him."

"So far."

Garran pointed toward Raven’s Iron plate.

"Mercenary."

"Yes."

"Raven Ashford."

"Also yes."

"Greyhaven sent your registration through communication crystal this morning."

Raven frowned.

"That was fast."

"Quarantine communications take priority."

Garran opened another sheet.

"Level Eight. Iron. No registered Blessing. Several unhelpful notes concerning your hunting habits."

Raven already knew who was responsible for some of those.

"I don’t need to hear them."

"One says you specifically ask about organs."

"That one is accurate."

Garran set the paper down.

"What are you looking for?"

"Mana Reservoir Toad."

For the first time, the captain’s expression changed.

Not much, but enough for Raven to notice.

"Problem?"

Garran rested both forearms on the desk.

"How many?"

"One, if it’s the right one."

"What for?"

"Personal project."

"Vague answer."

"Personal question."

Valeria looked between them, but Garran did not press further.

"You won’t find many."

Raven went still.

"The guides say they’re common."

"They were."

"What happened?"

"They disappeared."

That had not been part of the plan.

"Hunters?"

"In part. Alchemists, physicians, local government. We’re all buying them."

Raven glanced toward the documents.

"For Hollow Fever."

"Yes."

Garran stood. He was slightly taller than Raven had estimated.

"Reservoir Toad organs can maintain a stable mana flow for hours after proper treatment. Our purification wards use crystals, but the crystals we have are saturating too quickly. Reservoir organs work better as buffers."

Raven began to understand.

"And the medical teams?"

"Those too."

"So the same organ I need is being used to keep the quarantine functioning."

"Correct."

Valeria asked, "How much are you paying right now?"

Garran looked at her.

"Triple the normal price."

Raven became interested for entirely different reasons.

The captain noticed immediately.

"No."

"I didn’t say anything."

"Your face did."

Valeria laughed.

Raven looked at her.

"Don’t help him."

Garran continued.

"Any Mana Reservoir Toad captured inside the quarantine zone must first be offered to the local medical authority. Mandatory purchase."

Raven stopped liking him.

"No."

The captain did not react.

"It isn’t a negotiation."

"Then this will be a short conversation."

"That too."

Valeria stepped in before the two of them started testing how much legality could survive an argument.

"Raven needs a specific specimen. Probably not just any reservoir."

Garran looked at her.

"What specifications?"

Raven answered without hesitation.

"High capacity. Stable discharge. Near-complete integrity."

"That describes exactly what we need."

"Convenient."

"For no one."

Garran unfolded a map across the desk. Several areas had been marked in red.

"Normal specimens are disappearing from their usual habitats. Hunters are finding corpses, empty eggs, or nothing at all. Populations around the main settlement have dropped by roughly seventy percent in ten days."

Raven studied the map.

"Disease?"

"We don’t know."

"Predation?"

"We don’t know."

"Migration?"

"We don’t know."

Raven looked up.

"You have a lot of answers like that."

Garran did not take offense.

"Because lying to you won’t improve the situation."

Raven liked that.

A little.

"Where was the last sighting?"

The captain pointed to three areas.

"Southern Channels. Hessa Marsh. Deep Mire."

Valeria leaned closer.

"Deep Mire is inside the red zone."

"Yes."

"What does red mean?"

"Forbidden."

Raven studied the map.

"Because of the disease?"

"Because of mortality."

"That isn’t the same thing."

"I know."

Garran tapped the marked area.

"Two hunter teams went in. One came back with three people sick. The other never returned."

"What did they find?"

"We don’t know."

Raven looked over the routes again.

This was becoming more interesting, though not in the traditional sense.

The target had become rare. Multiple groups were competing for the same resource. The best remaining habitat sat inside a restricted zone, and there was a possible connection between the disappearing creatures and a disease capable of draining mana.

If Raven discovered what was happening, he might not only find a Mana Reservoir Toad.

He might find a variant better than the common specimens.