บท 30: An unexplained illness strikes

"Quests are for members only. But Tival Village didn't have one. If I didn't have the cabin built from my family's money, I would have joined as an F Ranker in another place." Ester let a long sigh in regret. It would have made her life more comfortable to acquire money.

Vincent could understand why she kept suffering. The cabin built from the Minor Heal Scroll money allowed Ester to remember her parents. That's why she didn't want to leave it to Trek.

As hours passed, Vincent noticed how Ester would glance with a worried frown while helping him pull the heavy cart.

Ester wanted to apologize for what happened in the small lake. She couldn't hold this any longer since Vincent never brought the subject. He felt awkward for being seen naked.

"I feel guilty for what happened to you. You saved my life twice, and I made you get hurt." Ester said in an apologetic tone while pushing the cart from behind.

"I don't know how my powers work or what my powers are. Don't worry. It's all in the past while we live in the present. This is something my friend Kevin the sixth hero, once told me." Vincent forgave her in a heartbeat.

Ester wiped her welling tears and smiled at these words. The heavy burden of guilt was lifted. She could feel a warm feeling of being treated equally and not like a monster.

Lupa at her side, brooded for being left out from these conversations.

As Vincent instructed, Lupa kept her awareness full attention to pick up any trace of movement, but other than birds, she heard nothing else.

As time passed, the moon faintly illuminated their surroundings with light. Tired from the moving heavy cart, the three decided to call it a day.

They stopped to sleep outside, but because of the gray wolves, more danger could be lurking, making them on edge. Vincent soon thought of a great idea. To make a guard shift by using his digital watch.

"Come here. Let me show you how to use my watch." Vincent took out his digital watch and pointed at it. Later, Ester and Lupa had the gist of how it worked.

"We will do a two and a half hours of guard shift each. Meaning we get to sleep five hours a day. I will take the last shift, so decide who wants to start." Vincent explained his plan to stay safe in the night.

A second later, Lupa swiftly raised her hand as she promptly said, "Me me me. I want to be first."

Lupa held the watch while Vincent and Ester placed a few sheets on the ground, soon they lied on the ground beside each other, trying to sleep. However, it was awkward without Lupa in between. Their eyes met as they nervously stared at each other.

"Good night. " Ester said while quickly turning to the other side.

'This isn't bad.' He thought while turning to the other side as well.

It was a bit cold outside, but the season seemed to be changing the farther they walked. From cold to warm. Maybe the mountains were the cause of this cold since Vincent saw a mountain covered by ice in the far distance behind Tival Village.

Ester had said how it must have been the nesting ground of an ice wyvern. A creature mostly found in the western continent, the home of the elves.

Lupa was alone and had nothing to do. The watch in her hand showed there was a long time for her shift to end.

Suddenly an idea of getting praised sparked in her mind. Lupa removed her clothes and shapeshifted back and forth. She wanted to trained her shapeshifter ability and become stronger.

The timer finished, and the watch alarm beeped.

Lupa turned back into beastman form, wore her clothes, and woke Ester. They changed their shift while Ester set the timer for two and a half hours.

Lupa happily lay beside Vincent while leaning her head against his back. With a smile, she took a whiff and closed her eyes.

Ester sat on a small rock. She pondered on the four days that changed her life while trying to get used to this new way of life. She raised her hand and gazed at the retainer mark.

'With this, I will never be alone again.' She thought with a warm smile.

Suddenly a faint headache bothered her; however, as time passed, the headache grew fiercer. Ester felt cold, so she covered herself with cloths and rags but strangely felt colder. Her body trembled as if she was in a snowy area.

Ester tried to resist the cold and let the others have their sleep. However, when she couldn't resist the strange freezing coldness anymore, she went to wake them.

Unfortunately, both the headache and coldness became stronger. Ester fainted soon after.

*Day 5

Vincent opened his eye, but the sun had dawned. He quickly pulled himself up with a worried frown. He thought something might have happened since Ester didn't wake him.

Vincent became pale with fright when he saw Ester on the ground. She was wrapped with a lot of cloths while shivering and breathing heavily. Her face was pale, and her breath left a trail. As if they were in a cold place. But it wasn't cold enough to make someone sick to this level.

Vincent rushed to her side, but the closer he got, the colder the temperate around him became.

"Ester, wake up!" Vincent shouted, worrying about her safety. However, she remained in a deep sleep.

Lupa woke up while hearing the commotion. She rushed to see what was happening and asked with a worried frown, "What's happening? It's strangely cold around Ester!"

"I don't know. Maybe a strange fever from this world?..." Vincent stopped as he wanted to see if his Soul Power had reset.

[Name] Vincent Agius

[Condition] Healthy, Soul Nurture 20%

[Soul Power] 0sp

Vincent cursed at both the Soul Power draining spirit and his luck. The ability to cast two Minor Heals was lost. Then he used inspection on Ester.

[Name] Ester

[Condition] Injured, Sick(Fever), Cold

[Soul Synch] 12%

"Lupa, turn into a wolf and keep Ester warm. I will make some space in the cart." Vincent urgently said after he saw her strange condition. He didn't know if Ester brought medicine with them, so he had to remove everything in the cart and check each item one by one.

Lupa without care undressed, but Vincent was already halfway to the cart. Regrettably, he missed a peek.

Lupa, in her wolf form, went to lay beside the shivering Ester while Vincent began emptying the cart.

'If twenty Soul Power raised Soul Nurture by twenty percent, then I need five more days to heal Ester.'

'I need to find some medicine, or else we will be in a dangerous predicament.'

Vincent thought with worry. They couldn't go back because of the Guard Lord, so forward was their only path.

An hour later, Vincent cursed his luck even more while he thought how naive he was. If salt was a luxury material, then what about medicine?

No medicine or herbs could be found inside the cart. Some stools and duplicate stuff were not needed, so Vincent decided to leave them on the ground.

Vincent filled the cart with all the barrels of drinkable water. A barrel with the remaining wolf soup. Some logs to burn, a rusty axe and a rusty hammer.

The last items were a few sundries, cutlery, cups, and bowls. Then Vincent covered everything with all the sheets and cloths to make the journey comfy.

Vincent also found the slave collar, lock, and key. It seemed Ester or Lupa placed it in the cart to take with them. In Tival Village, he had taken the used slave collar to show the Guard Lord how Ester was going to remain a slave.

[Name] Iron Collar

[Condition] Healthy

The collar became an ordinary lump of iron after the curse activated as he inspected the collar once again to be sure. Vincent decided to place it back in the cart for emergency use. Who knows if he had to scam someone else in the future.

The unnecessary things were going to be left behind since the cart would become heavy with a light woman and a large white wolf on board.

Vincent was reminded of the generic card games. The more good cards you have, the harder it will be to choose and build a deck. Balance is the key, as he always liked to play a balanced deck.

Vincent gently carried Ester and placed her in the cart. Then he lifted Lupa inside, not to break the cart from jumping in. The small cart is their most important object that needed to be safe and undamaged.

"Lupa, you stay here to keep Ester warm. Don't forget to maintain attention over our surroundings. I will pull the cart." Vincent covered both of them while he felt like covering a block of ice.

[I only feel cool because of my pelt. It's quite nice. Leave Ester to me.]

Lupa didn't seem to mind the mysterious cold emitting Ester, so she proudly said to protect her new sister.

Vincent raised a warm smile while he brushed her soft fur. Then he noticed a strange occurrence. The barrels started to become cold as well.

Whatever was happening to Ester, it wasn't a normal fever as her surroundings were being affected by her unnatural condition. At least the wolf soup could last longer since the cart had become like a refrigerator.

'Wait! Could this be magic? A magical fever? But why now?'

Vincent thought of many questions that needed answering. Sadly, he didn't have a way to confirm which question was correct to ask.

Half a day passed. Vincent stopped to take a break because his legs couldn't take another step.

"Hah... Let's take a break. I can't walk anymore." Vincent fell on the ground, exhausted by this daunting task.

'Do I need to pull this heavy cart for five more days?' He thought with a conflicted frown. Half a day already exhausted him, but he had to do this for the entire day.

Vincent wanted to find a safe place to stay while caring for Ester and waiting for this Soul Power to accumulate points.

Lupa raised her ears and twitched her nose. She caught a whiff of a familiar scent.

[I smell water nearby. I can hear a faint stream to my right.]

Lupa announced her discovery.

*Huff

Vincent "One minute."

*Huff

"No, make it five... we will go there after a rest. " Vincent said with difficulty as he heavily breathed.

[You can rest longer if you want.]

Lupa felt terrible for not being much help. She wanted to check in his stead, but keeping Ester warm was a job only she could do.

A few minutes later passed. Vincent pulled the cart in the direction Lupa mentioned. Soon a small river path welcomed them. It was similar to what Vincent saw on the first day. In these areas seemed to be a lot of shallow river paths.

Lupa cleaned Ester since it might help with her strange fever. They needed to keep Ester alive until Vincent could heal her. On the other hand, Vincent tried to search for food of any kind. Unfortunately, he could find none.

They ended up spending many hours in this location as the moon appeared, and the darkness of the night slowly crept. Vincent raised his gaze at the sky while gazing at the moon.

It was welcoming the end of the fifth day in this world.