-~*~
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Early the next day.
While having breakfast, Irene heard the all familiar footsteps coming into their courtyard. At first, her movement starts to be more hasty. Has no intention of letting the man who had been sending her to work for the past few months to wait.
But that hasty movement stops when Kazuto himself places his palm on her shoulder. Indicating for her to sit back down and finish her breakfast properly. Yanyi had anticipated his arrival from yesterday's call and had already prepared extra servings.
She turned off the stove, placed down the final pancake layer before bringing in the cup of coffee over to the table. "Your portion for today." She then proceeded to take her own seat and enjoy the supper with the other two.
After learning that Irene is also taking the life oath, Kazuto didn't fear having her listening in to their conversation. "Any findings from your little experiments?"
"I brought home 10 extra ingredients yesterday. Turn seven into powder and successfully combine them with the Venium plant powder. The other three? I tried all the possible methods. They turn into liquid."
"Have you tried mixing said liquid?"
Nodding with a piece of her pancake to her mouth. Yanyi replied, "Try it. It all turns to paste like and then proceeds to evaporate within 30 minutes. Considering that Riqa said it was in a package, high-likely it will be in a powder form." She ate her pancake piece.
"What are the tactics you guys used?"
Irene asks from the middle of the table. She gets to sit in between the two influential figures so she ought to have heard everything. Thankfully she is not totally book deaf. She understood what they were talking about.
Kazuto — "Yanyi is tasked to experiment and research all the possible combinations of Venium plants. One that could possibly cause the effect of a zombie like people."
Yanyi — "Kazuto is tasked to search for the user of these drugs. They are said to have a rotting flesh like texture but very well alive."
Irene — "Alive? Dead as well? Are we sure it isn't any umbra doing it?"
Yanyi — "That we aren't sure. However, considering that it has an effect, a huge one, to the citizens we still decided to investigate it under illegal drug use."
Just as Yanyi finishes saying that, something crosses Irene's mind for which she immediately turns to her friend. "Did you test the drug you've created?" Yanyi nodded seeing that it's nothing to hide anyway.
"DID YOU TEST IT ON YOURSELF?!!!"
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"No. I tested it on a few lab rats that Daniel allowed me to use. They all bear the result of either nothing or the effect of a completely different drug." Hearing Yanyi explaining herself, Irene takes a long deep breath before leaning against the chair. Relieves that her friend has yet to turn into a mad scientist.
Seeing all the panic have died down, Kazuto decided to re-instate the discussion. "Anyway~, I think we need to have a different approach to our investigation." Yanyi agreed and tried to brainstorm the best way for their investigation.
They both come to a conclusion that although Yanyi can create the drug it will take a long time. So they devise a plan to search for the packet and send it to a medical lab for ingredient testing.
All of her hard work won't be wasted as she is only testing for the main ingredients. Thus, she can still use it to determine the percentage of the ingredients. They all doubt that the zombie effect alone came from the Venium pill.
Despite reaching an agreement for Yanyi's side of the work, they have still to discover the most efficient way to search for this user.
Searching one by one alley?
Too long.
Arrest all the drug users?
Too radical.
Sending in all the forces to search for the person, risking the thought of the citizen that the authority is using an unnecessary amount of power?
Yeah, no.
They reach a dead end for all the possible solutions. When all hope is lost, Irene gives a rather broad idea but still could pose useful information. "Why not instead of searching for that one specific person, you guys search for the location of where the drug den is."
Yanyi — "..."
Kazuto — "..."
Irene —"I mean, if the drug can even spread to the city area, albeit the alleyway only. There must be a place where they get the supply of Venium, right? Since Venium is not something that can be cultivated without a permit, just searching for Venium plants itself could bring in a big fish."
Yanyi — "..."
Kazuto — "Are we stupid, Yanyi?"
Yanyi — "Sometimes. I think sometimes."
Thus they decided to follow Irene's plan and caught the illegal cultivation of Venium first. Because Irene is someone who likes to receive something, even for her ideas, both Young Marquess agreed to let her tag along.
She gets to pick to be partnered up with the girl who will be spending the rest of the day in the library, in the meeting, and in her bedroom doing experiments until the dead of night. Or with a man who will be on the ground all day long searching for a possible drug den area with the possibility of encountering a huge gossip topic from the people around.
You can tell who she'll choose.
Of course with her life oath, Irene won't be covering the topic they are about to disclose. She will leave it to Yanyi whether she can cover it or not when everything clears up.
Instead she is looking over to the darker side of Volenix. Specifically speaking, the people who live in the old and dark part of Kinsel. This is not saying that they are horrible people and should never deserve any saviour. No.
Instead, these people are actually escaping from the rehabilitation center.
The Volenix empire had built a drug rehabilitation center for all the state. Big enough to house the highest possible count of drug users.
Having said that, many self-rebellion parties tried to change that the rehabilitation center is used as an encampment for the people who bring the darkness to Volenix. It is due to the current emperor's young era that proclaims that each drug user only has one chance at the rehabilitation center.
If they were found to have escaped the facility, they wouldn't be forced to undergo the same thing. However, if they are found to be using drugs in the views of the public then they shall be convicted of inappropriate substance usage which would land them in a much bigger problem.
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Not all happy words that I have told you tell the full story of the empire.
There are some dark areas which I have no intention of sugar coating.
After all the essence of a story is not purely on the character but the settings as well.
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Continue~
Kazuto and Irene are walking around the street again. This time, they picked an area that has some rumours of being sketchy. Kazuto has sharp eyes but that doesn't help much when the target is farther down the alleyway.
Irene has an innate hearing ability. This actually allows her to hear most of the sound around her. How she has this ability beats me actually. But with her ability, listening into the alley for any weird murmur is easy and wouldn't pose much of a problem.
Which is exactly what they both decided to do.
They would stop by the entrance of each alleyway and Irene would try to concentrate to listen in. They would sometimes find some weird murmur but upon further investigation, it was just some citizens complaining or doing something.
Kazuto did make a mental effort to clear those alleys in the future.
"Are you sure these are the streets? Maybe she could've gotten lost somehow?"
Kazuto — "Could have been if I myself didn't know of the streets she is talking about. But yeah, this is the street. They are crawling with many of those people and honestly, the state tries to do everything to give them a better life but they just refuse."
Irene — "So they return back and live… like this?"
Kazuto — "Yup. Though we tried to find some children in the area, it's like they are also actively avoiding us."
"Hey! Maybe you can join me in a project? I've been wanting to-!"
"Shh!"
Irene cuts off whatever Kazuto is about to say and her eyes start to stare into another alley. A weird sound that they have been hearing in a certain alley came into her eardrums. However, by the look of her face, this one feels different.
"Something is wrong with this one?" Irene didn't hesitate walking into the said alley, Kazuto didn't leave her behind and stuck close to her. Making sure that his eyes can catch all the movements in the area.
"What's different with this one?"
"The murmur speaks, "more…" over and over again."
"So we catch our streets, huh." Kazuto is a bit more relaxed than yesterday. At the very least he made some progress today. Maybe one that requires more procedure but process for sure.
Entering even more into the dark streets, Irene finally can hear what the exact words are. "More… Venom?" is what she said to Kazuto.
Both of them eyed each other, determination in their eyes.
Kazuto puts on a pair of sunglasses and continues to walk beside Irene. Because of his bright baby blue eyes, it makes him stand out really well. Combine that with bright red hair.
However, having only one of the traits is normal, so he opts to hide his eyes.
After 5 more minutes of walking, Irene stopped. Her eyes stare deep into the dark yet barely visible sewer passage. Left and right, both sides. People.
Laying
Leaning
Sitting
Everyone.
Man
Woman
Young
Old.
All of them are here. Right before her eyes. "What in the?" Kazuto didn't try to suppress any thought coming from her. This is after all the lives of those who are unfortunate. Yet also for those who didn't want to seek treatment.
Seeing the girl beside him stoned in place, Kazuto decided to take the lead this time. Irene didn't let out a single syllable. Her legs move by themselves. Following Kazuto in every single step.
He takes two steps to the left.
She takes two steps to the left.
Two steps to the right.
Two steps to the right.
Irene's lips might not be able to form auy words. But her eyes keep on glancing at every single person she passes by.
Those who are mad,
Those who are depressed,
Those who are well,
Those who are dying.
Speaking of which, she can't help but see a pattern in those who are dying. Their skin. They are not normal. Not even for people who have been addicted.
They are unusually pale blue, almost as if their skin is suffocating. This matches what Kazuto and Yanyi had foretold her. However they are missing a key feature.
They are not rotting.
In fact, aside from the pale blue skin colour. They are fine. From the outside at least.
But you can't just focus on the texture of the skin either. This is something that Yanyi didn't tell her, but she had learned about them while in the academy. Look she paid attention while on the news club, okay.
Apparently, all of the people who have that pale blue skin also have one other thing in common. Dilated pupils. One that is weirdly enough, like those of corpses.
Can't help herself anymore, Irene walks a bit faster to be closer to Kazuto. Close enough to whisper into his ears. "Psst!"
Kazuto, who had also been silent this whole time, gave a simple "Hm?" to indicate that he is listening.
Irene — "Those dying people, do you notice something?"
Kazuto — "The fact that they all had unusually pale blue skin with a very dilated pupil? Yeah, I notice."
Irene — "Do you think it might be the influence of those Venium drugs?"
Out of nowhere, a melted slimy sensation suddenly latched itself onto Irene's wrist. The grip is firm enough. Irene looks down towards where the hands are coming from.
There sat a man with not only the pale blue skin and dilated pupils they both had discussed just seconds ago. His skin. It is also rotting.
Fear ran through her eyes before a hand ripped off the hand from her wrist and brought her close into an embrace. Her ears are covered by a pair of arms. A strong and firm grip by her head.
A loud 'THUD!' is what she heard from behind her. The place where she once stood.
Taking a little peek out of her safety spot, she saw the rotting man back on the floor. His body didn't move as if he was no longer alive. But the sound coming from his nostrils. Breathe.
He is clearly alive but dead at the same time.
"Take this man and bring him to the station. Place him in the morgue to ensure that everything on him is preserved. I will give further command when I return back."
Suddenly a few footsteps from who knows where landed in front of them. They spoke a firm, "Yes, Young Master!" before squirming away following the order that she had thought coming from Kazuto.
Speak of the devil.
Only after those men had left did she realize her current position.
She is currently being hugged by the Young Marquess Kazuto Ryuichi. Her head had been firmly placed by his chest. With one of his arms covering her head and ears while the other firmly on her waist.
She is being embraced in such a protective and intimate way.
Her head starts to become a bit hotter.
She didn't move fearing that a sudden movement to free herself would make things awkward or could cause them even more problems. After all they are in a rather tight area and she could have stumbled onto some valuable information.
"Are you okay?" The gentle voice that is far from what it was just a minute ago reverb near her ears. She didn't say anything and just gave a small nod.
Kazuto, who has no clue what is happening inside Irene's head, looks down and sees the small nod. 'She is shy?' to which he let loose a silent smirk before slowly guiding Irene through the alley.
She is still firmly in his embrace but he had moved her a bit to allow her to see the surroundings. It was a slow walk so that they could gather more info while fast enough to get them out of the cramp space.
Once out of the cramp alley, Irene can see the bit of sunlight. "We're out now." Immediately after hearing that sentence, she freed herself and started to dust off her clothes. Acting as if what they had just done never happened.
I mean it is just a hug.
A protective measure if I may add.
"L-Let's search for some clue here! This-This is their "home", right?"
Kazuto was neither hurt nor shocked by her sudden action. In fact, he finds it rather normal. "Yeah. The Venium plant we want might be here somewhere." He said without much reaction.
I mean, Kazuto never went to the Soter Academy alongside Luyao. Even during any banquet, Irene and him never really chatted due to the difference of their house as well as no similar interest.
If anything it made much sense for her older brother to speak to him.
Kazuto — "This is a really big area. One that is easy for us to see each other. Let's split up and see what we can find. If anything comes up, just call each other, okay?"
Irene — "Uhm…"
She immediately walks away from Kazuto, intending to find something that could make it not suspicious or weird. After learning that there are people following them, or rather Kazuto from the dark, she doubts that she'll be in any more big trouble.
After confirming that she is far enough from that man, she takes a really deep breath. Checking her chest to make sure that it has yet to explode from a weird surging of euphoria or whatever it is.
Irene walks to what appears to be a house? I mean there's an entrance and a roof. From what Kazuro had told her, she can picture that living here is quite the struggle. Thus just having a place to shelter is enough.
Despite the shabby looking house, something is out of the blue for such a building. There's actually a potted plant. A lot of them actually.
Squatting down, she finds out that each of them has a similar characteristic.
The leaf,
The stem,
The roots,
Even the colour.
"Kazuto! I found something!" The man who is just walking around the area walks to where she is and stops just behind her. Bending his waist to also take a closer look at what is right before his eyes.
"Is this?"
"Venium plant. Yanyi's description matches it perfectly."
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-~*~-