Disclaimer: Y'know the drill, I do not own anything or anyone from DQ9. I only own Saffron.


Chapter Eight: Welcome to 'coughing' well

The red-eyed girl looked ahead to see a town. "Is that it?" she wondered aloud. Earlier this morning, Saffron went to the Starflight Express. As soon as she entered, the train jolted, signifying that Stella's theory was correct and she need to collect some more Benevolessences in order for it to be up and running. As she recall, King Schott did mention something about a town northeast from Stornway that she and the others could check out.

"Ugh," Renia groaned as she still hasn't recovered from the fight they had with three leafy larrikins a few minutes ago, "Wait up, Saff! We don't have as much stamina as you."

"Sorry," the leader said and pointed at the town, "Look, the town is not far. It's just down the road."

Miu came up the hill and finally Sulina. They looked at the town with wonder and Miu asked, "Is this Coffinwell?"

"Should be," Saffron shrugged, "let's check it out."

The four girls walked to the town saw a sickly-looking man at the gate. He told them that Coffinwell is cursed and that they should turn back. However, the girls assured him that everything will be alright and walked in. After talking to the villagers, they went to visit the mayor to hear the full story.


"As you can see," Laria, Mayor of Coffinwell explained to the four, "My town and my people are in great peril. You see, we've been hit by a curse and everybody is sick. As mayor, it's my duty to save my people… however…I haven't got the foggiest idea what any of these manuscripts say."

Saffron asked, "Is there anyone in town who can translate it for you?"

"Well yes but…" Mayor Laria trailed off and mumbled something along the lines of, "I don't want to see his face again."

He then looked at the team and an idea sprang to his mind, "Hey! Could you guys do me a favour? Can you go and see Dr. Phlegming and see how he is doing with translating those manuscripts?"

Sulina meekly held up her hand, "E-Excuse me but…who Phlegming?"

Laria said, "He's an archaeologist and my… son-in-law." He said the last sentence with regret. He told the girls that Dr. Phlegming currently lives in a house on the left side of the mansion. They left the mansion and walked to the house. Renia knocked on the door and turned to the others. "What do you think about Dr. Phlegm- something?" she asked curiously.

"He seems nice." Miu replied.

"Sound like a nerd." Saffron added.

"I don't know…" Sulina mumbled.

At that moment, the door opened to see a bubbly looking young woman with sea green hair and a bright pink bow on the top. She blinked twice and then smiled, "Why hello there! How may I help you?"

Renia was shocked at the woman's appearance at first as well as her bubbly personality but then she smiled nervously, "Um…hi. The mayor sent us to see Dr. Phlegming. Is he here?"

"You mean my husband?" asked the woman before squealing, "Eek! I feel silly calling that!" The woman then suddenly stopped squealing and said, "I'm sorry about that. I tend to get giddy of that name. My name is Catarrhina. As for Dr. Phlegming, he's currently in his study. I'll show you there."

The woman walked out the door and down the stairs. Saffron, Miu, Renia and Sulina just stood there. After processing what they saw, Miu asked her team with a sweet smile, "Isn't she sweet?"

Sulina smiled and nodded but Renia had a stunned expression on her face. "A newlywed?" she muttered.

"Most likely." the wingless Celestrian muttered with the same expression as her warrior friend. (A/N: they are stunned by the woman's fan-girlish squeal at the name 'husband') They followed the woman a door below the mansion. Upon arriving they heard Catarrhina mumbling before getting into a small coughing fit, "I can't believe dad sent a group of travellers to check on Phlegming. Is he really that hard to talk to?" she then turned to see them, "Oh! That was quick. Phlegming is in here."

The green haired woman knocked on the door and a male voice answered, "Catarrhina? What are you doing here?"

"Sorry to bother you Phlegmy," Catarrhina called and coughed a few times, "But you have visitors. They were sent by the mayor to check on those manuscripts he gave you."

The male voice then groaned, "I have a million and one things to do right now and I'm very busy. But…I guess having a messenger won't be a problem. Come in."

The door unlocked and opened. Catarrhina walked in. Saffron turned to the three. "Are you guys alright with staying here while I'll talk to this guy."

Miu and Sulina nodded and went to do some shopping while Renia stayed. The warrior and the minstrel walked through the door. The room was small in size. It was also small in space and that was mainly because of the books and paper resting on the floor. Saffron looked around and saw a man sitting on a stool. He had reddish brown hair tied into a loose ponytail; he wore a white coat over his green and black top and was wearing square-rimmed glasses. His blue eyes seemed to be glued to the book laying on the table in front until Catarrhina closed the door. He looked up to the three females and said, "Okay. So tell me, what does the mayor want?"

Catarrhina said quietly, "Um, Phlegmy? You forgot something."

"What would that be?" asked the man.

"You forgot to introduce yourself, silly!"

The man huffed, "Introductions are nothing more than silly time-keeping things if you ask me…fine! My name is Dr. Phlegming. I'm an archaeologist and I like studying rocks, ruins and the-like."

Saffron said, "My name is Saffron."

"And I'm Renia," Renia told him.

"Saffron and Renia," Dr. Phlegming repeated, "I'll try and remember that, doubt I'll be successful though."

Renia's left eyebrow twitched. 'You mean to tell me,' she thought, 'that a pretty young girl like her married a guy like this?! It's broad daylight, it's a beautiful day and his wife is at home alone and yet this… man coops himself in his study!'

"Well," Dr. Phlegming demanded, "Spill it."

'Ugh! He's rude!' Saffron thought, "The mayor wanted me to see how you were doing with translating those manuscripts."

Dr. Phlegming pushed the bridge of his glasses up his nose, "Well…I've found about something about the curse."

"Oh Phlegmy!" Catarrhina cheered, "I knew you could do it."

"Apparently, this curse hit this town a hundred years ago when a group of people decided to explore the ruins it resides in. The town's people sealed the curse away after that."

"And it somehow got out again?" Catarrhina asked.

"It could be that the recent earthquake broke the seal and made a hole." the man recommended, "I could go to the ruins to investigate but the monster report is very heavy and I can't afford to get hurt."

Saffron and Renia left and told the other two before telling Laria. The mayor requested them to be Dr. Phlegming's bodyguards for the time-being and gave them the key to the ruins. After they reported to Dr. Phlegming and gave him the key, he said, "So, the mayor has roped you four to be my bodyguards, has he? Well, we better get going then. Don't want to make him think I'm all talk and no action."

Catarrhina said meekly, "U-Um… I don't think that's it, Phlegmy…"

But Phlegming won't stop to here the possible reasons and set off in a rush. Renia asked to no-one in particular, "Why are we helping this guy again?"

Saffron bluntly replied with, "No idea. Let's just hope it's worth it."

"COUGH! COUGH!"

Sulina turned to Catarrhina who got into another coughing fit and went to her aid by handing her a bottle of water, "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah," Catarrhina said a bit weakly, "The place is just stuffy."

Miu said, "Oh dear, maybe you should go for a walk then have a nap. We'll take care of your husband."

The wife thanked them and left the room. The team then got their new weapons and armour before going after Dr. Phlegming.


After running into a few monsters, they got to the ruins and as Phlegming suggested, the earthquake made a hole for the curse to escape and Renia can't help but notice the foul smell emerging from the hole. "Ewww." she said and covered her nose with her arm, "It reeks in here. I mean, I smelt a lot of bad stuff but this is the worst!"

"Too bad we have to go in there." Saffron replied, "The sooner we get this done, the better."

When the group got in, they saw a tightly sealed door. "Crap," Dr. Phlegming muttered under his breath, "There's no keyhole. How on Earth are we gonna open it?"

Sulina stared at the puzzled man until she felt something icy cold. It was a blue glass orb glued to the door and next it was a red one. She then looked behind her to see a pair of mirrors. Miu looked at Sulina and asked, "What's wrong, Sulina?"

"I think…I think I know how to open it." Sulina replied with a serious face.

"How?" Renia joined.

"Look at those mirrors. Maybe we can use them to reflect light to these orbs."

"But the sun is outside!" Phlegming pointed out, "How are we supposed to get light?" to answer his question, a red beam of light bounced off from one of the mirrors and land on the red orb, nearly burning the archaeologist's backside in the process, "What the-!?"

The group turned to the mirror to see Saffron coming from behind the wall. "You should have seen it you guys!" she exclaimed as she ran to them, "There was this red sage and I press the button and a red beam of light shot out the button like whoosh and kept on bouncing of the mirrors. It was so fast; it was hard to keep up."

"Saffron?" the warrior exclaimed in shock. She looked at the previous spot where Saffron was and it was empty. Renia then pointed at Saffron, "Y-You! Where were you? You w-was right here with us a few moments ago."

The leader laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head, "Yeah, I was with you guys but then I saw a Metal Slime, chased after it and before I knew it, I was lost and next the red sage."

"HEY YOU!" Phlegming screamed, "YOU ALMOST BURNT MY BUTT!"

Saffron made a vacant look, "Who cares?"

"I DO!"

Saffron sighed and told her group that there is also a blue sage and the light from it will help them open the door. They tried her theory and it was correct: the mirrors direct the blue beam to the blue orb and the door opened. The group entered and the first thing that caught their eyes was the broken jar. "There it is. The seal." Dr. Phlegming cheered, "and just as I thought; the recent earth broke the seal. Lucky for us, the drawing is still there so fixing the seal wouldn't be a problem for a top archaeologist like me."

'Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop boasting already.' Saffron thought with and irritated sigh but it wasn't the archaeologist that was a bother; it was the stench from before. First time it was weak, now however, it was too strong for Saffron handle which is why she is using her arm to prevent the smell coming in to her nose. What's weird is that none of the others can not smell it the way she smells it. 'It's weird…' Saffron thought, 'First, my speed increases… and now my scent have gone sharper as well. What's happening to me?'

The archaeologist picked up the broken pieces and got out his 'super-glue' and that was when a pink ghastly-looking monster appeared out of thin air. He had three eyes and green smoke was coming out of his mouth. He looked at Phlegming and sneered, "Trying to get me back into that tiny jar, I see. Well not this time 'cause I'm the Ragin' Contagion!"

"Good heavens, so this is the one who cause the town's people to be sick." Phlegming gasped. He then turned to his bodyguards, "You four! Don't just stand there! Keep this guy busy while I do my job."

"Why?" Renia asked blankly, "Do we have a choice?"

Saffron couldn't take the smell anymore and yelled, "Oh sure! Let the guy stink up the place and kill us all!"

"Hey!" Renia snapped, "I never suggested that!"

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

The Ragin' Contagion was tired of being ignored. "Don't ignore me!" he cried and exhaled his sordid breathe onto the four. It was the wrong thing to do since it got Saffron seething mad. She looked up at her opponent with a look so fierce, it even intimidated Phlegming. "You dare breathe on me?" she growled before shouting, "You DARE breathe on me?!"

The Ragin' Contagion scoffed at her, "Ha! You are way ahead of yourself if you think you can defeat me!"

However, he had second thoughts when he saw that she had a look of a monster instead. The red eyed girl grinned manically and shouted, "Alright! You asked for it, you bastard!"

She leapt up into the air and with superhuman speed; she landed few devastating blows on the creature. Renia just whistled, "That's nasty."

"It just shows that you shouldn't piss Saffron off," Miu added while Sulina looked shocked and scared. After that, the other three joined in defeated the creature. Phlegming fixed the pot and managed to get the monster back inside the pot. He then decided to explore the ruins some more before coming home. None of them argued and the four of them went home.


The four girls were walking through the open field when something occurred to Sulina. "Hey Saffron," she asked to the red eyed girl, "You never told us where you're from."

"Yeah!" joined Renia.

"Now that they mentioned it," Stella said in the Celestrian's head, "I haven't met you before. Where are you from anyway?"

Saffron throat went dry and her mind went blank. She was expecting this but not so soon! Her brain racked up for possible solutions. She knows all of the towns and villages by heart but if even if she did lie and randomly pick a town or village, her team will find out eventually and might cause problems. Considering this, Saffron told her team with a smile, "I'm merely a wanderer."

"How cool," Renia cheered, "How many places have you visited?"

"Many."

"What would you recommend the most?"

"I…can't say."

"Why?" Renia cried with excitement. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and turn to see her older sister smiling, "Miu?"

Miu continue to smile as she said, "Renia dear, please. I fear that you might be scaring Saffron with your outbursts."

"Oh…sorry."

Saffron shook her head saying it was fine and the fight with the Ragin' Contagion almost drained all her energy and her friend's yelling boosted up enough energy to last the rest of the walk.


"Hm?"

Sulina turned to see the purple-eyed warrior looking up at Catarrhina's house. Her face was stern and her brows made an upside down arch. "What's wrong, Renia?" she asked.

Renia did not answer. She just kept staring at the house and muttered, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Huh?"

The warrior then turned to the confused mage and commanded, "Get Saffron and my sister to Catarrhina's house!"

"Huh?"

"Hurry!" Renia yelled as she hastily ran up the stairs to Catarrhina's house. She burst in the room to see the young woman sleeping in her bed. The girl gulped and slowly walked to the unconscious figure. Renia said quietly, "Hey."

Catarrhina did not open her eyes and did not move an inch. Renia said a little louder, "Catarrhina. Wake up."

The woman still didn't move. Now that she looked at her better, her skin was pale than before. Was it because the lack of warmth? No…it was something else. She didn't seem to be breathing. "No…" the warrior gasped, "it…can't be…is she…"

Saffron was about to pay the innkeeper when she looked at the direction where the mage was. She could tell that something was wrong by the wide panicked eyes and deep breathes. Saffron asked Sulina, "What's wrong?"

"Renia…hurry…Catarrhina…emergency." Sulina panted.

Miu looked at her team-mate and asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"Renia wants you guys to hurry to Catarrhina's house." The pink-haired girl said clearly, "I don't know why but it sounds like an emergency."

"Wha-"

"SAFFRON!"

That was Renia! Without a second thought, Saffron rushed up the stairs to see her purple-eyed friend with the same panicked look Sulina wore. When she asked what the matter was, the warrior almost screamed, "It's Catarrhina! I-I think something's wrong! She's kinda pale…and she's not breathing!"

'What?' Saffron thought. She jumped from the roof of the inn and landed on the rail on the other side of the gap. She got off the rail and ran into Catarrhina's house and burst inside, "What happened?!"

"It's Catarrhina!" Renia replied, "She's not breathing."

Saffron walked to Catarrhina and touched her arm. It was as cold as ice. She leaned on Catarrhina's chest and got back up. Saffron shook her head sadly. Miu and Sulina entered the scene and the look on the face of their team-mates told them what happened. "Catarrhina," Phlegming's voice called from outside, "I'm home but I'm going back out after collecting some manuscripts." when he entered the house, he was quite surprised to see Catarrhina in bed, "Catarrhina? You're a bit quiet." He ran to her side and tried to wake her up.

No avail.

Catarrhina…was no longer alive.

When the archaeologist realised this, tears fell from his eyes. "No!" he sobbed, "The Contagion couldn't have taken you! Why didn't you tell me you were sick? I've could have work harder…faster. I could have saved you…" The tears in his eyes spilled out of his eyes rapidly and he screamed, "Catarrhina!"