Now here's a chapter that I've been looking forward to writing for a while. Enjoy!
Paranoia Sickness
Breakfast had just ended. Gunter and Yuki were heading to the library with Gisela close behind them. Gisela rather enjoyed studying medicine with Yuki. She and Julia once spent long hours in the library and having Yuki with her made it almost like Julia was back teaching her.
Yuki was suddenly slapped in the face with a powerful wave of extreme anxiety and distrust. It got her by surprise and nearly made her trip. She stopped, looking to the right.
"Yuki-sama?" Gunter called. Instantly, he remembered the effect the boxes had on her. She didn't even like looking in the direction of the temple anymore, too unnerved by the presence. She could sense it. "Is everything alright, Yuki-sama?" He called, fully prepared to take her and Yuri (she refused to leave his side) on a small tour of the Shin Makoku kingdoms.
"Someone has a high fever or something." Yuki stated.
"Haki again, Yuki-sama? Can you sense when someone is unwell as well?" Gisela asked.
"More like I can sense someone's mental state. I'm guessing whoever it is just woke up or something." Yuki shrugged.
"Could you take me there, Yuki-sama? Perhaps it hasn't been noticed by the others yet." Gisela asked. She wouldn't be surprised, in fact. Soldiers had the bad habit of trying to 'tough it out' when they fell ill.
Yuki turned to look at her two companions, pointing behind her. "What's that direction clear across the castle about two levels upwards?"
"Female dormitories." Gunter stated. "Unless married, we separate soldiers and workers by sex as to avoid, well, illegitimate children." He led the way down the halls. "Most maids were sent here by their families in distant lands in order to both work up the ranks and to earn money to send home. A pregnancy or (Great one forbid) a rape would hinder the work of the maid and perhaps result in her being sent back."
"I trust the offender in the case of rape would be given a proper punishment." Yuki stated rather than asked.
"Yes, Yuki-sama. Though the country is widely ran by men we do not tolerate rape." Gisela told her carefully. "Sadly, we still must work on not looking down on the children produced after the event. There's that old superstition that the boys will grow up to be rapists as well."
"The fear that children will end up like their parents seems to be the same no matter what world you're on." Yuki sighed. "On my adoptive world, there are entire secret island cities full of the lovers of wanted men and their children and grandchildren. Most are there because they respect their fathers too much to take another last name, even for their own safety. Children are shipped in by the boatload every year, seen as monsters because their mothers died in childbirth."
"Luckily, our medicine has advanced so that isn't as much of a danger." Gisela stated. "And our healing magic makes it fairly rare. However, I suspect in human lands it may still be a problem."
"Families need something to be mad at, something to put the blame on and to hate." Yuki stated. "Otherwise, the husbands and parents would go mad with grief."
"Have you been to these islands Yuki-sama?" Gisela asked curiously. "How are they?"
"Best orphanages I've ever seen – that's for sure. The children are raised by truly loving people whose life goal is to ensure the children are as loved as they would be if they had parents. My personal favorite is a bundle of islands known as the Tatum Islands. They have their own military, a small group of fighters completely made up of women. It's a hot-spot for pirates passing through and, if one causes too much trouble and acts like how you would probably assume of a pirate, they take care of them. If I had the option between twenty Gunters honestly trying to kill me and twenty of them, I'd honestly prefer your father." Yuki chuckled.
"Never." Gunter stated sternly. He'd sooner behead himself than harm her ever again. Her delicate arm was internally mangled, nearly every single vein bursting due to his magic. Even thinking about it made him want to forever seal his damn magic away.
"Four are in there, a man and three women." Yuki stated, her eyes now closed. "One of the three women is delirious and running around madly, the other three trying to catch her. Aside from enough paranoia to make an army turn around and run, the woman is fine. But… it doesn't seem like a normal fever."
Just as Gisela was about to walk through the door, Yuki yanked her backwards. At the same time, a familiar bald man threw the door open and ran right into Gunter. "Ah! Gisela, you're here. Please. Sanguria. She's not well. I don't know what to do!" It was Dorcas, a couple bruises already forming. Then he jumped slightly, putting his hands up. "I didn't do a thing. The girls asked for help and I came, I swear it."
"Relax, we believe you." Yuki sighed as she walked into the room. "Observation Haki doubles as a sort of lie-detector." She informed the two behind her.
"She's been acting strange all morning and we finally told her to get some sleep. I was going to get you but then they came in and got me. It suddenly got way worse. But I've managed to get a hold of her and she doesn't seem to have a high fever. Ah, but I'm not a healer. I don't know. Please." Dorcas requested, bowing slightly.
The green-haired maid was bouncing around in her nightgown, trying to avoid the other two maids she shared the room with – Doria and Lazania.
"No, stay away from me!" Sanguria sobbed scared. "You're planning on rubbing that stubby head of yours on me, aren't you?"
"Stubby!?" Dorcas echoed, offended.
"Catch her, Dorcas!" Doria commanded.
By that point, Gwendal, Conrad, Wolfram, Ken, Greta, and Yuri were all looking from the doorway. "She seems fine by me." Wolfram stated.
"My turn." Yuki sighed, stepping forward.
"Even Yuki-sama?" The girl sobbed. "Even she has turned against me. I can't trust anyone!" She finally collapsed sobbing into a bed, covering her head slightly as if scared she'd be attacked.
Dorcas sat on the bed looking pathetically lost while the two other maids tried to comfort their distraught friend.
Ken left for the library and nearly all of them followed him. He found a book and started looking for something, not saying anything until he found what he wanted. On the page was a picture of a mountain covered in snow. Yuki, Greta, and Yuri were the only ones that didn't know about it. Greta mere liked the picture of snow.
"In the most isolated part of Shin Makoku, there is a mountain called Mount Makadria." Ken stated.
"That is the location that Majesty Shinou and Soushou had their last battle. Because of the battle, the mountain is now snow-covered no matter the season." Gunter stated.
"So it's like a famous historical sight." Yuri guessed.
"But no one goes there." Gwendal stated.
"Huh?" Yuri chirped.
"The snow was not the only thing that resulted from their battle. The area is full of evil left over from Soushou. If you're effected by the miasma, they say you'll never be able to trust anyone." Ken stated.
"So it's pretty much blessed in the most twisted way." Yuki put in.
"Bingo." Ken stated.
"Sounds like Sanguria right now." Yuri mumbled to himself.
Everyone went rigid. "Impossible. When would she… why would she?" Conrad asked everyone but no one. No one in their right mind would ever go to that mountain and when would the maid ever have found the time to get there, survive, and get back without anyone noticing?
"I don't know the reason. But if my hunch is correct then the only thing that can help her is the Minadia leaf." Ken stated. He turned the page a couple times to get to what he wanted, the only illustrations on that page being of a single plant. "It's a medical herb that can neutralize the miasma's effects."
"So if we get some of that, then we can cure Sanguria." Yuri nodded.
"Yep." Ken stated. "However, it only grows in one place: Makadria Mountain."
"The painful irony of most rare herbs for rare diseases." Yuki sighed. "They cure the disease because they've grown for thousands of years in the area that the disease runs rampant, gaining nullifying effects over the years."
"So in order to get the herb, you yourself must be prepared for the danger of being affected by the miasma." Gwendal stated.
"Yep." Ken sighed.
"I'll go." Yuki stated, resulting in every single one of them jumping to protest. "When I don't know who to trust, I rely on my haki. It's why I'll wake up the second there's a threat of any kind."
"What, so you sense a threat every morning at the crack of dawn?" Wolfram muttered, knowing for a fact that the girl was awake even before the maids in the morning.
Yuki stuck her tongue out.
"I'll go too." Conrad stated. "I'll call Yozak. He and I have survived many dangers together. Trusting each other is instinct by now."
"I'm going too." Yuri decided.
"What? Why are you going, Majesty?" Gunter gasped.
"Because I am the Maou." Yuri stated. "I can't just let my friends in the castle stay like this!"
"As far as the Miasma is concerned, Yuri and Yuki have the highest chance of being completely unaffected." Ken stated. "And even if they are, the twin-bond will keep them safe."
"If Yuri is going then I'm going too!" Wolfram demanded.
"Fine. Fine." Ken sighed, knowing better than to argue with the blond. "But listen. The second any of you start to doubt any others, even a little bit, you should head back down the mountain."
They all nodded.