CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER 64: THE SICK HOUSE

A priest in dusty green robes hurried forward—his face pale and drawn, but still alert.

"Mayor Lysandra," he said, bowing. "Thank the Light you’ve come."

"I heard about the others," she said grimly. "How are they?"

"Worse," the priest said. "More took sick last night. Including Brother Tameth and one of the physickers."

His eyes moved to Kael. "And this...?"

"His name is Kael," Lysandra said smoothly. "A merchant from a distant realm. He’s here to advise."

The priest’s eyes darkened with curiosity, but he nodded. "Come. I’ll show you."

Inside the Sick House

The largest hut in the village had been turned into a sick ward. There was no floor—just packed dirt. Half a dozen villagers lay on straw mats, limbs twitching. One man groaned, his eyes rolling back. Another coughed violently.

Kael crouched beside one, feeling for the heat of the man’s forehead. He didn’t need a thermometer—just touch. The fever was brutal.

A girl beside him had dark spots near her neck.

"How long has she had the fever?" Kael asked.

"Three days," the priest said. "They all start the same. Fever. Chills. Then weakness. We gave them mint leaf, onion tea, smoked salt. But..."

Kael shook his head. "It’s not enough."

"So what do we do?" Lysandra asked.

Kael pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing.

"Send this back to Ginip in my store. Seris will understand. I need mosquito coils, my sprays, clean water filters, and every bottle of eucalyptus oil we have."

The priest glanced at the note, eyes narrowing at the perfectly uniform script. "Strange ink... What realm makes marks like this?"

However, Kael ignored him and said, "Boil all water—drinking, bathing, everything. Cover the sick with netting if you can. Keep lanterns burning to drive away the bugs."

"It won’t cure them," the priest said quietly.

"No," Kael replied. "But it might stop others from getting sick. And maybe... give them a fighting chance."

One hour later — Kaelmart

Seris had just finished dealing with a difficult customer—an older merchant who insisted chocolate had to be a disguised potion—when he finally huffed and stormed out, muttering curses about "foreign tricks" under his breath.

She let out a slow sigh, rubbing her temple.

The bell above the door jingled again, but this time it wasn’t another customer.

A city guard stepped inside, his breathing uneven. Dust clung thick to his boots, and sweat soaked through his uniform. He looked like he’d ridden hard without rest.

"You’re Seris, right?" the man asked quickly.

"I am," she said immediately.

The guard reached into his satchel, pulled out a folded sheet of paper, and handed it to her.

"From Lord Kael. Urgent."

"Why didn’t he come himself?" she asked, looking up sharply.

"He rode out with the mayor this morning to a village called Dustrim—borderlands, near the Wasteland. He asked this be brought to you as fast as possible. I rode straight from there."

Seris blinked. "Wait—he left the city? With the mayor?"

The guard nodded. "Urgent situation. Some kind of sickness. They needed supplies."

That made her freeze.

Sickness? Near the Wasteland?

She had seen what borderland plagues could do. Not this specific place—she’d never even heard of Dustrim—but in her own homeland, similar remote villages had been struck by diseases that ravaged entire families.

Her fingers tightened around the paper.

Kael. Gone into a sick village. Of course he had.

She opened the paper and read it.

"Send: All coils. All repellent sprays. Water filters. Eucalyptus oil. Every bottle in stock. —K"

Seris stared at the list, recognizing the items. They were all strange things, ones Kael never explained in full. She had learned how to use them, sell them, even demonstrate them—but she didn’t know where they truly came from.

That was fine. Kael had always been private about his past.

But now... this note unsettled her.

Insects. Sickness.

She didn’t know what plagued that village, but she knew one thing: Kael wasn’t carrying divine healing or enchanted relics. He was walking in with knowledge—dangerous knowledge, because no one else here understood it. Or could protect him for it.

She folded the paper, jaw set.

"Wait here," she told the guard. "I’ll get everything."

She moved into the back storage room, where they kept the goods. She grabbed two canvas satchels and began loading them.

The coils were easy to find—stacked neatly in their crates. The repellent sprays were lined up in a cabinet, their strange nozzles and printed labels unreadable to anyone here. She grabbed the small cylindrical water filters Kael had once called "emergency tools," then collected the last six bottles of eucalyptus oil, careful not to crack their delicate stoppers.

She returned a few minutes later, both satchels slung over her shoulder. The guard stepped forward to take them.

"Tell him—" she started, then paused. She didn’t know what to say.

She cleared her throat. "Tell him to return. Before dark. Tell him not to be stupid."

"I will," the guard promised. "He’s with the mayor. They plan to return by evening."

She nodded but didn’t speak again.

The shop fell quiet again.

Seris exhaled slowly.

Her expression was neutral—but inside, her thoughts stirred uneasily.

She didn’t understand why this bothered her so much.

She didn’t know why the idea of Kael walking into a plague-struck village unsettled her so much. He was clever. Always cautious. But something about this moment felt different.

He treated her fairly. Gave her space. Never barked orders or pulled rank, not even when he could have.

And unlike so many others, he didn’t look at her and see just a title lost or a weapon bought.

That counted for something.

She set her hands on the countertop, fingers lightly tapping the wood.

It wasn’t affection, not really. Not yet.

But it was something.

Respect, maybe. A kind of guarded trust.

And that was rare enough in this world to be worth worrying over.

So she’d wait. Do her part. Keep the shop running.

Because Kael had asked her to.

And because, for reasons she didn’t fully understand, she wanted to.