Lucia was currently analyzing the composition of the cure brought by Morrigan to see if it could be synthesized with more accessible components. The blue haired alchemist was observing the different elements being separated through magic, and while she could identify some of them herself, she detected a lot of components that she had never seen before. In past times, she would have been elated to discover so many products and possibilities, but right now, the result depressed her as it only made the perspective of creating an alternative cure harder than initially planned.
As she pondered what exactly made the cure effective, a masked Nabisu entered the lab. Even with the cloth on her face, Lucia could feel her distress.
"We're almost out of basic medicine."
Lucia sighed. Of course they were, they consumed more herbs and phoenix tails in a few days than during most of their adventures.
"We have a team currently on the road to gather more. There are still a lot of monsters contaminated?"
"Around ten, most of them being slimes… We checked everyone, and everybody who's sick is correctly quarantined."
"Good… Let's just hope that we'll have enough product to not be forced to make a sadistic choice then…"
The duo remained silent for a minute, with the only noise coming from the strange magical assemblage made by Lucia. Eventually, Nabisu cleaned her throat.
"Morrigan passed by."
Lucia nodded. "I know."
"She accused Promestein."
The alchemist nodded again, tired. "Yes."
"And the latter confessed to using a chemistry set in the middle of nowhere to craft an aphrodisiac."
"Huh-huh."
"For the sake of a mysterious client."
"Yup."
"You knew about that?"
Lucia grimaced. "I also know about the identity of Promestein's client… I wonder why she does even bother with all that stuff, nobody would bat an eye if she purchased a bottle in a shop and jumped one of her guard."
Nabisu raised an eyebrow as she took in the information before Lucia started talking again. "But it's irrelevant anyway, I'm more worried by the fact that the ones who're looking for the origin of the virus are Chrome and Morrigan… I mean, I respect the small necromancer for her skills, but she follows the procedure a little too approximately to be a good scientist, and the latter…"
"…Is Morrigan. A disaster waiting to happen."
Lucia nodded. Her magic analyzer calmed down as it had finished. Lucia looked at the results with the expert eye required to analyze the seemingly random and chaotic lines drawn on a sheet.
"Ok, soooo… Well that's some useless information."
Nabisu quizzically tilted her head on the side.
"The active ingredient is extremely alike to what can be found inside most healing products crafted by queen-class monsters." Lucia leaned toward her station, a rage-filled frown on her face. "I KNEW THAT YOU STUPID MAKINA! WHY DON'T YOU ACTUALLY TELL ME SOMETHING THAT'S GOING TO BE USEFUL FOR ONCE!"
After a moment, Lucia slowly turned back toward Nabisu, aghast after her own outburst.
"Sorry for that, I'm… A bit tired and tense with what's currently going on.
The succubus sympathetically nodded. "On that we agree."
"Just… Once we're done, help me to ask Mephisto and the others to convince the queens to stockpile most of their healing medicine. I know they have to be fresh, but if we put them in stasis with a spell…"
"Then again, where would we store it?"
In the meantime, Chrome and Morrigan were starting their descent into Gold's Tartarus. The youngest of the Lilith Sisters was pouting, as the hero was currently unavailable, which meant that she wouldn't have an occasion to enjoy his company and frustrating her further. She considered having her way with the small necromancer to calm herself, but the latter was always somehow always covered in grim which broke any physical attraction the succubus could feel for her.
After their earlier experience, Chrome could only enjoy the silence from her partner, although it made her uncomfortable. A part of her analyzed the reason, and came to the conclusion that without auditory interferences, she could fully turn her attention toward her work and be more careful in the application of the scientific procedures. But a part of her was also so used to perpetual nagging from Frederica, her colleagues or her latest travelling companion that she came to miss that background noise. The silence felt so surreal compared to what she usually endured that the smallest noise made her fidget around.
Eventually, they reached the bottom of the Tartarus. The place was as inhospitable as usual, with forests, deserts and cold, metallic machine-filled rooms mingling with areas that presented the usual signs of spacetime corrosion.
Morrigan shivered. "Urgh, that's as creepy as usual… You know what you're looking for, right? I mean, I don't think we'll find a chemistry set here…"
"Any deposit that looks organic. Drool trails, mucus marks…"
Chrome carefully started examining her surroundings. Even if succubi were theoretically immune, the last thing she wanted to see was to carry the virus on her clothes back home. She used detection spell every few meters, while Morrigan rushed and annihilated any apoptosis that got remotely close to them. It was clear that the succubus was losing patience, as she soon started actively hunting apoptosis. When she came back, she was covered in gunk.
"Sooo, please tell me you're almost done and got a positive result so that we can get out of here!"
Chrome shook her head negatively when an idea came to her mind."Wait, don't move."
She then used a detection spell on Morrigan. The succubus raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
"Really?" She shivered. "And that tickles!"
Chrome examined her. The succubus was covered in glowing traces. "Oooh, look at me, I'm covered in goo!" She squirmed around while talking in a sing song voice. Chrome didn't react in the slightest to the succubus' antics, her head in her hand as she was completely lost in thoughts.
"Huh, that's weird."
"What? The virus came from one of them? I mean, it'd make sense since some apoptosis were monsters, but…"
"Actually, there's not only one virus like that, there are dozens on you."
Morrigan's eyes widened. The next second, her body glowed and dried scraps fell of her.
"There! No more virus! No more problem!"
"…I don't know if they were the ones carrying the Slimebreaker Plague though..."
"Does it matter that much?" Upon seeing Chrome pouting, Morrigan relented. "Okay, fine, we'll cut down a few more apoptosis for your analysis. How many do you need?"
"Only the right one."
"Well, in that case, let's get started!"
Morrigan all too enthusiastically started tearing open apoptosis left and right while Chrome timidly followed. Even after the small necromancer found what she was looking for, the succubus continued slaying apoptosis for several more minutes, showing her frustration in an excessive display of violence for anyone to see. She came back covered in goo once more, a large smile covering her face.
"Aaaah, that hit the spot…" Morrigan stretched, her wings flapping happily. "Finish up your sampling and let's go back home. I really need to score myself a certain hero."
"You didn't need to kill that many apoptosis…"
Morrigan shrugged. "Meh, Tartarus is going to respawn them anyway. It's not like they really die…"
Chrome sighed. The faster she was done the faster she would be free from Morrigan. She was surprised by how many viruses and other bacteria covered the succubus. Her analysis was taking a lot of time.
"You know… We make a good team! You take care of enemies at range and do the more boring stuff, while I keep you safe from all those idiots! ...Wanna do it again later?"
Chrome wanted to shout her down and tell her how much she felt tired of the youngest f the Lilith Sisters. She wanted to tell her that nobody liked her, that she was a walking disaster that could compromise any scientific work with her reckless behavior and that she herself wanted nothing more than to flee away from her. The only reason that the words were never heard was that she feared so much for her own life that she simply couldn't find the courage to voice them in front of Morrigan.
At the very least, thanks to her different skills, she managed to identify most of the viruses and got the confirmation that indeed, the one that reached the Pocket Castle was on the succubus, which meant that one of the apoptosis was a carrier. As she considered that, she realized that she nearly skipped an important step in her analysis process.
Chrome spat on the ground and analyzed it. It was free of any virus. She then expectantly look at Morrigan. The succubus raised an eyebrow.
"I don't feel sick. And besides, you really think a mere virus could do anything to a legendary succubus like me?"
"AKQL5 Lust Fever."
"…I'm never going to live that one down, will I? Fiiiiine…"
The succubus cleared her throat and spat a huge glob on the ground. The small pool was glowing under Chrome's analysis spell, while Morrigan shook her head negatively.
"You're fucking kidding me, right?"
Chrome gulped louder than what she thought she would before answering.
"Well… You got covered in gunk from extra-dimensional beings repeatedly, and some of that stuff is pretty strange, and might have gotten in your mouth, soooo, it makes sense that you'd actually end up contaminated by one of them."
"Yeah, but it doesn't look like anything serious, so I can come back to the castle, right?"
Chrome backed away slightly, afraid of her interrogator. "First please keep your distance, we don't know if I could get contaminated by that, and second I can't identify this one. I didn't see anything like that, and you don't show any symptoms. So you'd better be put under quarantine-"
Morrigan planted her sword into the metallic ground in a deafening screeching noise.
"Because we don't know what it can do, and I don't think Luka, Mephisto or even your sisters will be happy if you bring a virus that gets one of us killed…"
Morrigan's breath grew louder. Chrome backed away before a world-shattering scream nearly ruptured her eardrums.
"I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT! I MAKE ALL THAT EFFORT AND GET FUCKED OVER BY THOSE SHITTY APOPTOSIS OF MY ASS-"
Chrome felt herself enter a state of mental fugue that blanked the rant coming from the succubus. She grabbed a large book from her bag and started browsing with the hope of finding information, but it was a lost battle. Without any symptoms and no other means at hand, it could be any illness.
"-AND OF COURSE ALL OF OUR FUCKING HEALERS ARE AWAY, I WON'T EVEN BE ABLE TO-"
The blue haired succubus was making frustrated pelvic thrusts that Chrome continued to ignore as she was browsing through the book. Was there an illness that made people act more violent like that? Several, in fact, and it was hard to tell with the succubus if it was natural or no. Maybe Mephisto or Lucia could say more, but she herself was not the most qualified psychologist or biologist. She was more used to doll crafting and necromancy herself, although the latter was quite frowned upon. Still, people appreciated her skills when it came to taking care of the numerous zombies they had recruited on their adventures.
She looked up from her book to see that Morrigan was finally calming down.
"Okay, so what do we do NOW?!"
Chrome pulled out a large, covering outfit from her bag.
"You dress up in that one to get sure you don't contaminate everyone on your way to your room, and we will see with Lucia and the others to examine you later.
Morrigan snarled, but dressed up all the same.
"I better receive a huge thank you for that one."
An hour later, Chrome was reporting with Lucia in front of Mephisto.
"We indeed got the confirmation of the source of the virus, it is exactly the same strain that was carried by local apoptosis there. On the matter of the sick, everybody is currently either healed or on their way to recover, and we count no casualties." Lucia sighed. "I will spare you the most requested change in stock management…"
"More healing materials in stock, I got it the first twenty times, don't worry about that." Mephisto raised her arms defensively.
"On a side note…" Lucia grimaced. "We have a new research project, namely analyzing the apoptosis themselves over a period of time to see how and if the microbes they carry evolve. It could help us to better understand the phenomenon should it happen in the future."
"Am I correct in assuming that we are to consider ourselves extremely lucky for not suffering an incident like that in the past?"
Lucia grimaced again while looking at Chrome."I will be honest. We never considered biological incompatibilities between everyone, whether we're talking about virus, bacterias, or anything tangentially related. We considered that since most people around had a strong immune system and that we always had a large number of healers at hand, we would never suffer a related issue."
"Until that cosmic configuration of circumstances happened. And we almost ran into a second outbreak in the process." Mephisto got up and started fidgeting with her wand. "How is our new victim doing?"
"Physically? Absolutely fine in spite of being the victim of a virus we don't know anything about… Mentally however…"
"I would have guessed as much. We'll have to properly reward her once we're sure she's clear. I mean, she did suffer that because she was the only succubus available because her kin is currently too busy partying. And besides, maybe she'll start behaving herself."
Everybody looked at Mephisto with an expression of surprise.
"Disregard what I just said. I thank you for your report, feel free to take a rest everyone. I know I will."
The yoma got up, and soon everybody followed suit.
Chrome made her way to the dining room and decided that she could as well eat a large pudding to reward herself. Those last days were hell, and she definitively deserved something to sweeten the sour taste this expedition left in her mouth. She was interrupted in her degustation by an-all too familiar voice.
"Chrome? Did you eat something else besides pudding since you were back?"
Chrome's shoulders slumped in annoyance. "Yes I did. Why?"
"Then where are the empty plates?"
"Already taken by the service. Now do you need anything?"
"We're in need of maintenance, it should be today…"
Chrome turned to try giving Frederica her best smile. "Oh, don't worry, I didn't forget, I was just busy helping the common good for the Pocket Castle. I'll arrive as soon as I am finished."
"Oh. Good. Well then."
Chrome resumed eating her pudding, but Frederica's judgmental gaze behind her spoiled the experience. She finished in a hurry and eventually turned back to Frederica.
"Ok! Fine! I'm getting started now!"
"I should tell you that Zenovia and Roza have a problem with their slime generation."
Chrome groaned and hurried her pace, leaving a surprised Frederica behind.
"Was it something I said?"