Vivi wasted no time; freezing up had never been a fault of hers.
As soon as she registered the noises echoing from within the building, she scooped herself and Saffra up with a [Blink]. Materializing inside the room, she took several sights in. Her stats meant she might as well have been standing still and studying a painting; action crawled by as if time had frozen.
There were four people besides her and Saffra. Vivi realized that she had actually gotten lucky. Both Leslie and Myer, the healer and bailiff respectively, were present and involved in the ongoing crisis. She'd instantly found the people she was looking for.
The bailiff was shouldered up against a door, in the midst of absorbing some enormous blow that had made the heavy wooden slab nearly bend out of its frame. His face was red with exertion, and his expression was grim yet calm as he dug his boots into the ground and pushed back with all his strength. Muscles bulged through loose clothing, and, though indeed the man had a gut as Mark had accused him of, the bailiff gave the impression he was actually quite strong. Likely a prior adventurer.
In contrast, the face of the boy aiding the bailiff—also shoving against the door to fend off whatever attacker lay within—was panicked, lacking the grim calmness of the older man, and he was stick-thin, not the kind of person who should be testing out a career as a barricade. By the linens and apron the boy was wearing, he was likely a bystander who had leaped in to help. Perhaps a member of the impromptu hospital's support staff.
The head healer was standing a dozen feet away and looked about ready to burst into tears. Vivi couldn't help but spare a moment of amusement at how accurate Mark's description had been. Though maybe the frantic situation was especially to blame. The small woman with brown hair would've gotten in the way if she had tried to help the two men, so she hovered close and wrung her hands instead. The bailiff was yelling something at her. A fourth person some distance away had run off, presumably to get help… or just fleeing, in a less generous interpretation.
Vivi [Blinked] behind the door.
As expected, a monster—no, not a monster, a person, she reminded herself—was battering against the door. The mutated, reddish-purple mass on his skull told Vivi that the sickness had burrowed into the host many times deeper than in even Miss Agnes. It was the furthest-gone example she had seen yet, though no doubt not close to what a completed genesis would look like. If this really was the Flesh-Weaver's work, even twice removed or more, a fully mutated monster would be ripping through hordes of orichalcums with ease.
Inside the clearly repurposed room, she spotted a tangle of rope and a wooden beam torn from the wall. The best-effort restraints the impromptu hospital staff had used to keep their sick prisoner locked up, she assumed.
Vivi admired the people of this town for not taking the ruthless path of putting down the worst of the patients. It might have been the so-called logical thing to do. The pragmatic one. 'For the greater good.'
Maybe after this incident—if everyone had lived through it—the bailiff's hand would have been forced. They might have needed to go down that path, executing their patients before… well, this happened.
She breathed another sigh of relief that she had arrived before things had become that bleak. Though it would've been better if she'd gotten here weeks ago, before the nightmare had developed.
"[Wind Cocoon]," Vivi incanted.
The low-tier elemental spell wrapped around the demented human and locked him in place. She tugged him back several feet to separate him from the door. Afterward, she [Blinked] back into the main hall.
"I restrained him," she said calmly. "There's no need to worry."
Unsurprisingly, her words didn't immediately set people at ease. Rather, all three were startled by the sudden arrival, and their shouting picked up anew. Fortunately, soon enough, they saw that the pounding at the door had stopped, and the bailiff and the other boy tentatively stepped away, alternating shocked looks at both her and the door.
Vivi swung the wooden barrier open with a [Telekinesis] and pulled out the man wrapped in [Wind Cocoon] to demonstrate that everyone was safe. More shouting came from that, and she realized that had probably not been the best way to go about it. Vivi delivered more calm reassurances, and, after seeing the creature really was contained, their eyes fell on the badge affixed to her chest. They slowly registered what that meant.
Where nothing else could, the show of rank had people settling down in record time. Gawking, yes, but settling down. As much as she didn't like how people treated her when she wore 'high rank' around, the authority had its uses.
"My name is Nysari," Vivi said, taking as calm a tone as she could manage, like she was speaking to a startled herd of deer. "This is Saffra, my apprentice. I heard about the trouble Crestbook was having and came to help. The guard at the gate told me Myer and Leslie are who I should speak to, and I believe I've found them?" Hesitant nods came from the two relevant parties when she looked at them in turn. "Good. Now, if we can have a moment in private, I would like to speak with you."
"Is it… safe… to leave him there?" the bailiff asked, staring at the mutated man Vivi had restrained and left floating. He tried to suppress a dubious tone, but Vivi sensed a hint anyway.
"Yes. It is." It wasn't in her nature to speak so firmly and order people around, but someone clearly needed to take charge, and she didn't have Rafael to lean on. "For that matter, I have another one." She [Blinked] outside to where she'd left Miss Agnes, grabbed her, and teleported back. "Miss Agnes, I was told. I found her on my way into town."
The bailiff took another moment to adjust to the increasingly strange development. After sharing a baffled look with the healer, he straightened up and fixed his belt and trousers. Then he nodded firmly. A quicker recovery than she'd expected. The man had been running the show up to this point, and from what little Vivi had seen, he'd done a good enough job. It was a nightmarish situation his town had been thrown into, and he hadn't crumpled under the pressure.
"Right you are, Lady Adventurer," the bailiff said. "We have something of an office around the corner, if that works for you."
"Yes, please." She gestured for him to lead.
The man hesitated and looked at the two infected townsfolk floating in the air, restrained with different spells, then shook his head and began walking.
A minute later, she and Saffra were alone with the bailiff and healer, the second of whom had meekly scurried along while wringing her hands and wearing an expression of deep uncertainty.
The bailiff opened his mouth, but Vivi raised a hand to cut him off before he could begin. "Please don't thank me, first off," she said. "Skip all the niceties and speak plainly. There's neither time nor a need for it. I will do the same."
The bailiff's mouth closed. "Ah, yes, my lady," he said, thankfully obeying. "You have me at a disadvantage. You seem to know some of what's going on already. Is there something you need from me?"
Vivi almost sighed in relief. He clearly didn't think nothing of her rank, but he wasn't gawking at the green badge like most people did. "A recounting of events leading up to today, and whatever else you might find relevant. Just catch me up."
He briefed her, much as Mark had earlier. Though it was more comprehensive than the young man's, she didn't actually learn anything new. Not until the very end of the recounting, at least.
"An elven woman?" Vivi repeated, interest sparking brightly enough for her tone to outwardly grow animated too. "In plate mail? Really? How many others were with her?"
The bailiff hesitated. The sudden reluctance to elaborate was conspicuous enough that she noticed—and immediately formed a suspicion why.
"…just two, my lady," he answered, not wanting to upset an orichalcum-rank by refusing. "Her teammates."
"Did she tell you who she actually was?"
The man startled, since the question implied Vivi also knew. Confirmation, then. She nodded, pleased.
"Good. That simplifies things for me."
"You… also know?" the bailiff said. A statement as much as a question.
"I do. I assume she told you to reassure you, despite wanting to keep a low profile. No one else is aware, though?" She glanced at the healer and saw that the woman was wearing a baffled expression. Unlike the bailiff, the woman was clearly in the dark about how a team of Titled had wandered into her town. "I suppose I should do the same then," Vivi said. Following Eshara's standard seemed wise, and in any case, these people looked like they needed inspiration. Both the bailiff and the healer were dead exhausted, no matter how much they were pushing their way through the horrible situation. "She was my blacksmith once. I came here tracking her down, but will obviously handle this too. What's happening is… serious, I won't pretend otherwise. Likely a challenge even for her and her party. But within my capacity to solve, and without compromise. You have my word on that."
There was confusion at her words first, then dawning shock, doubly confirming both that it really had been Eshara and that he had known her identity. She watched the man lean against his desk heavily, like he'd lost the ability to support his weight. Vivi pushed down a grimace and turned to the healer, giving the man a moment to recover. She'd known he would be surprised, but his previous reactions had made her hopeful that he would take it in stride.
"I should heal everyone before I leave," she told the healer. "There's a chance that killing the source will cause… problems for the infected."
As in severe, irreparable mental damage, depending on how deeply rooted the infection was. More likely, she expected outright death. At least for people like Miss Agnes, though maybe not every sick person would face such savage backlash.
Vivi didn't know whether Eshara and her team had deduced that consequence. They weren't experts in the arcane—not by Vivi's standards—and she'd only come to that conclusion after studying the magic infesting Miss Agnes. She couldn't even be sure that they'd realized one of the Flesh-Weaver's creations was responsible. Old, and now an experienced adventurer, Eshara had likely considered the possibility, but Vivi had no guarantee of it. And even if Eshara had figured that out, she might have chosen to press forward regardless. Might have accepted the brutal necessity of it.
If that was the case, Vivi would try not to think worse of Eshara. Vivi had unparalleled privilege in how she had the skill set to fix nearly whatever problem she ran into. Peeling out the barbs of the Flesh-Weaver's plague would be tricky even for her, and that meant next to impossible for anyone else, even Titled healers. Eshara might have assumed everyone infected was doomed—dead men walking—and she wouldn't even have been wrong in any case except one. The impossible scenario in which the Sorceress came to help. So what other choice would Eshara have but to sacrifice the few for the many?
As Vivi had noted earlier, the bailiff himself might have needed to start making certain gruesome decisions, possibly within the hour. If he'd even lived through that mishap of an escaped patient.
Again, Vivi was immensely relieved she'd arrived in time.
"…the source?" the mousy woman asked, sending uncertain looks toward the still-recovering bailiff. "You know… what the source is? It's something that can be killed? But they'll be hurt if it is? And you're a healer?" She sounded increasingly confused with every question.
"I don't know with total certainty, but yes, I'm fairly sure it's a monster. I might even know which. And no, I'm not a healer, but I can heal everyone who's sick."
"All… right then. Um. Okay. Yes, and how… can I help you, exactly?"
"Show me the patients in the earliest stages first. I'll start with them and work my way up." Practice might not be necessary for tackling the worst infections, but taking the precaution seemed wise. Confidence in her ability would rarely be unwarranted, but she should avoid unnecessary risks when people's lives were at stake.
"O…kay." Leslie shot a desperate look at the bailiff, clearly wanting him to explain what was going on and what they'd spoken cryptically about, or perhaps just to confirm that she should be doing what Vivi had asked.
The man firmed his shoulders and did the latter, at a minimum. "Do whatever she says, Leslie. Whatever. On my authority." He laughed. Not one with any humor in it—only relief. He wiped his forehead and mumbled, "I think the nightmare is finally over."
Vivi was glad she'd given him hope, as she'd initially intended to. And better, he didn't seem to be taking her reveal with too much shock. He'd mostly recovered, and there was no glint of awe—or even worse, worship—in his eyes.
But some level of shock would always happen. The savior of the world, quite literally, had appeared in his small town's hour of need. It would be rather strange if a person didn't react with some astonishment to that.
"Do you know where they went, by the way?" Vivi asked the bailiff. "The elven woman and her team."
"No, my lady. Just into the Middlerose. That's where everything started, but we don't know more than that." A grave look firmed his expression. "Because every time someone goes out, they just disappear. Even they aren't back yet, my lady."
And that did give Vivi consternation. Eshara and her team of Titled had arrived yesterday morning and left within hours, presumably to cull the threat. But they hadn't found their target and killed it yet?
She had multiple reasons to not dally, now. One: the infections were only getting worse. Two: if Eshara succeeded and killed the Seed of Genesis—if indeed that was what they were dealing with—many innocent townsfolk would die. And three: Vivi didn't know for certain that Eshara and her team could win against some of the nastier creations of the Flesh-Weaver.
Vivi wanted to hurry away immediately to find Eshara, but tracking her down would take time, and Vivi had an obligation to heal the townsfolk first. A possible blade hung over their collective necks, and it would descend the moment Eshara won—or rather, if she did.
So, yes. Not an ideal situation to be in. She would work fast. "No time to waste," she told the healer. "Please, lead." She gestured at the door.
"All... right then," the healer said. Unsurprisingly, the nervous woman didn't cross her arms and demand answers, no matter how deeply her eyebrows had furrowed and how confused she sounded. She hovered in place for a second, sending pleading eyes toward the bailiff, but he nodded at her seriously and provided no explanation. Her shoulders hunched. "Please follow me, Lady Adventurer," the woman said meekly.