Anire brought both of them back to her silent neighbourhood, to her own home. There wasn’t much to do in the Explorer’s Guild afterward besides… well, explore around. Their own space in Toulasi to conduct their own investigation. There won’t be any fears of it leaking since no one wanted to be near Anire.

  Wattyson took one step into her room, then immediately headed for the balcony. He didn’t feel at ease in that room. His thumbs kept scratching his own hands. At least at the balcony it was open enough for him.

  Anire poked him then tugged him by the sleeve. “You okay, Wattyson~?”

  He kept his gaze to the outside world. “What kind of living space is this?”

  “A functioning one?”

  “It’s too narrow.”

  “Yes~ Because I live alone.”

  Arlene already sat down on the hammock in the main room, watching the two while swaying. She took notice of his sudden scratching behaviour. He said it was too narrow? Well, the room was filled with tables, chairs and a lot of alchemists and mixing stations. The balcony had conveyor belts shovelling materials in, but it was still wide enough.

  “Wait,” she dared to ask, “Are you claustrophobic, Watty?”

  “It’s just too narrow!” He leaned out of the railing. “There’s only one walking path!”

  “How about you take this hammock? Would that be better?”

  “If I don’t have to move, yeah.”

  She got up and flourished her hands as if to offer him the silky fabric hammock to him. An offer to which he took and began to sway himself with haste. It was like he was trying to overwrite his discomfort with nauseous.

  Anire hopped to the corner of the table and took out the Gavituth’s heart. It wasn’t beating nor was it dead. It was cold still. A residue from Wattyson’s magic from two days ago found its holding. She placed it on a stool in a bowl, then injected it with few vials of rainbow—mana potions of her own design.

  The heart began loudly like a drum struck for a few beats then stopped. It exuded out blood of purple, spilling them down into the bowl. It let out a sizzling sounds like it was being cooked before simmering down to black then red. The blood them hissed out and evaporated.

  Anire clapped her hands, “So what I know so far from studying it yesterday, everything that restitute mana somehow bring it back to life.” She could see Arlene expressed curiosity about the blood itself. “As for why it could exude blood still,” her lip curled, “I could only assume the heart itself manifested the mana into blood—corrupted blood.”

  Arlene’s eyebrow raised as she crouched down at eye level with the heart. That impossible heart that could still pump out something it shouldn’t be able to do. There wasn’t any magic in the known world that could just… recreate blood. Another factor in this, it was dead.

  “Do you think it’s possible this heart was tempered with? Like someone carve magic circles into it?”

  “Unlikely,” Anire shut it down immediately, “Such a precedent would mean surgery and… well cut open into the heart itself and stitched it back. If you look here,” she swung the stool slowly, “there aren’t any visible marks~. My other hypothesis is that it was infected like a natural disease. If the Master Explorer’s words on how the Far Tundra is overloaded with demon’s energy. That could be it.”

  “So?” Wattyson was swinging idly on the hammock. “Can you prove that hypothesis?”

  “Yes~ If you would be so kind to cast any healing magic on it.” She eyed him eagerly. Her darted eyes mere dot away from connecting to see the flow. She wanted to see it.

  “Nah. I don’t know how to use healing magic?”

  And so her excitement was humbled. “Eh? Then… what would you do if you got an injury?”

  “I bandaged myself and let it heal up obviously.”

  “Wouldn’t it be faster to learn healing magic?”

  “No. I prefer it this way. Beside, why don’t you do it?”

  “I can’t. My… mana is too low for it.”

  The two then looked to Arlene. It was clear now who would do the task as they both looked with anticipation, awaiting her to cast a healing magic to see what would happen with the heart. It born a small inkling of warmth in her. It was that feeling of being depended on, by extension—being needed.

  Her hand hovered few inches off the heart and chanted out a wish to Ysoiea. Holy magic shined out in a warmth green as it enveloped her hand then onto the heart. The healing itself jumpstarted the heart again like it had with the vials earlier, only this time it could sustain itself. It continued to beat indefinitely.

  Anire’s eyes fixed on the heart like an obsessive scholar. Her hands were already moving, scribbling, drawing, and writing in a font only she could understand. She could see the flow of mana circulating inside the heart, healing all the cells before going outward. Yet, there wasn’t any blood pumping out.

  She squinted harder. Perhaps Arlene’s question hold merits. What if something inside the heart was tampered with? It wouldn’t hurt to look harder since her own theory was about a disease. Her smile twitched upward nearly reaching her ear.

  Nothing happened, yet, but Anire grew impatient. Such an abundance of mana flowing inside didn’t yield any result. Was it because it was healing magic? Or was it because the holy nature of it cleanse the blood? Such divinity magic was common to cleanse corrupted blood after all. She leaned her chair back and grabbed the vials again, injecting them into the heart.

  Arlene snapped at Anire, it had only been above a minute. “Anire, what are you—“ She paused after seeing the expression on hers. That need to understand.

  The rainbow fluid was injected with a sharp stab. She hesitated after, but then noticed the healing magic was stitching the wound. Her eyes narrowed and smile widened. She could be more abrasive. More vials stabbed onto the heart the size of a bamboo ball.

  The result? The heart began to flow like a fountain. Half of it stems flowed out corrupted blood of purple while the other half was just regular blood. Such a feat shouldn’t exist. The heart wasn’t supposed to produce blood like that, let alone two different types.

  “That’s not how biology works.” Wattyson eyeing the whole ordeal from his hammock.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The two rattled by the sight, observed down to the bowl. The corrupted blood infected and overrode the normal one, before sizzling loudly then simmered to regular blood. Only this time, it couldn’t evaporate. The blood kept trickling down from the stems.

  The heart itself was fully alive. The healing magic was still active, perhaps more intensively than before. Anire nudged Arlene to grab a larger bowl as she herself looked closer to the heart. She saw a blockade, something red, something circular. The holy mana was ramming against it waves after waves before dispersing into a loop and repeating it again.

  “Wattyson!” she called out whilst hovering her hands above it, swaying above it.

  He already knew what she asked of him. He reached his arm out from the hammock and gripped onto the table’s edge. His free hand extended out then released a chill air breathing onto the heart.

  The heart’s throbbing slowed down, beating less and less. The blood itself stopped flowing and finally allowed exuded ooze to evaporate. The mana inside dissipated as the heart went into hibernated death.

  Arlene tip toed awkwardly to the table. “So uhhh… do we still need this larger bowl?” She glanced around to the two. Wattyson returned to swaying his hammock while Anire took out a carving knife and started cutting out a specific part. “What are you doing?”

  “Cutting the part I think,” she stuck her tongue out as she struggled to cut the thick and rubbery flesh, “is the reason why this thing can turn mana into blood~.”

  “Do you need me to?”

  “No need. I got this.”

  Arlene sat on her stool, watching the neko’s tired effort to carve. “Hey, Anire. I just thought of something. What if the blood coming out was just your vials’ fluid? Like the heart turned them into blood?”

  “Arlene~, you ever seen a heart that can just turn flavoured water into blood?”

  “I mean… we drink water every day for more blood in our system right?”

  “But this is a dead heart. I don’t think it’s possible~ Beside… the fluid is filled with mana refresh properties, there has to be something inside that turn it into not just blood, but corrupted like the demon.”

  At the final stretch, she pulled it out and then slashed the still connected tissues. Finally, she got that part out. It was the size of her palm. Flipping around to look over and found nothing. Just the inner flesh. She hovered it to Arlene, nudging with her foot.

  “You could’ve just ask you know?” Arlene hovered her hand once more, ready to cast healing.

  “Wait, wait! Cast a smaller version of healing~”

  “Alright,” the glow grew again but less, more dimmed, “How’s that?”

  Following the enveloping glow, she stabbed again with one vial, then tossed it to the larger bowl nearby. The inner flesh was showing atop. That circular blockade showed up once more to her mana’s vision.

  “What’s that?” Arlene asked with a shaky voice. It seemed like the blockade wasn’t visible in mana’s vision only. Arlene’s eyes narrowed as her breaths became more jagged. The blockade had a symbol—three pointed star with three circles in each gap. The symbol of the Dark Lord.

  “Can you cast your ice magic, Arlene?”

  “I-Alright.” Was this the Dark Lord’s doing? The Dark Lord was dead! She killed him. She and her party members. Was it the remnants of the Dark Lord’s legion? No… They were all hunted. Then that left out one suspect; Humanity itself.

  The ice cooled and hibernated the cut part to death. Anire crouched down, poking it with her own finger. “Hmmm… seems like you were right. The heart was tempered with, but…” Some of the blood got onto her finger and hand.

  Arlene quickly crouched to her, hovering her hand to cast healing to starve off any corruption. Anire brushed her off gently.

  “It’s fine.” She said as the blood simmered and evaporated. Such exposure would cause heaviness and rot, but she waved and flicked her hand around like nothing had happened.

  She swiped her chin before tapping it. “It seems the blood itself is too diluted to cause problems to us. The fact remains,” she stood up, “Someone is trying to recreate corrupted blood and testing it on animals.”

  “How do you think they got it into the animal?” Wattyson asked, curious on the matter. “Was Arlene right? Someone imprinted a magic circle into its heart?”

  Anire curled her lip into a crooked smile as she furiously started to write on her notepad. “Such a feat would require precise surgery. Not to mention that it is to be done on an apex animal. I don’t think so. I think they did it through selective feeding.”

  “What do you mean? You’re thinking…”

  “Hmmm~ perhaps whatever sick cult is up there, they were injected into people and then fed to Gavituth in the wild. Still, that doesn’t explain the symbol. Demon physiology isn’t that understood after all. I mean~,” she shrugged, “Who want to study a dimensional being right?”

  “So you’re set then? Not any remnants of the Dark Lord’s or demon causing this, but people of this world?”

  “That’s the only explanation I have yes, with the current information~. Though I said humans earlier… that’s probably an exaggeration otherwise people would’ve reported it. It is likely done on smaller herd animal.”

  Arlene was quiet, still battling with the thought that people of Celes’ira would succumb to such practice. It had only been two years since the end of the Dark Lord and already this. Could it be done out of malicious act? To gain power? Or maybe it was those who sided with the Dark Lord still in hiding? Or maybe…

  “Anire,” she placed her hand onto Anire’s shoulder and pulled her, “I need you to answer honestly. I mean it. Do you think… the Explorer’s Guild could be behind this?”

  That thought persisted in her head. If an institute like that was behind it, then it could’ve lobbied the world to participate. If that so, did they make a mistake? By relaying part of the Gavituth’s report to Uzard?

  “No. Not that I know of~.” Anire answered in the same tone of voice. “Uzard wouldn’t know either. The Master Explorer is too busy repenting his spending habits in paperwork. I don’t think anyone in the Guild know~. We’re too far south from the Far Tundra.”

  The answer didn’t calm her down. If anything it made her more paranoid. Her thumb brushed the pommel of her sword frantically. Her gaze remained onto the stool Anire sat on. They were only three people to uncover such a massive conspiracy. If it ever came to light, it would destabilize the peace she had fought so hard for.

  She stood up, but her expression was weary. “Then we need to set out. We need to uncover this. We need to—“

  “Not do anything.” The two gazed to Wattyson swaying on the hammock with his eyes closed.

  “Not do anything? Don’t you know what this mean? It means something linked to the Dark Lord is still active! It means my mission, my prophecy, isn’t over! It means—“

  “Absolutely nothing right now. Your prophecy is over. You’re not the Chosen One anymore. You’re Arlene. Arlene Dawnwalker.” Wattyson rolled to face them now, he had only one eye opened and even then it was a lazy one. “As far as I understand fighting the Gavituth, the apex predator was still itself. It wasn’t corrupted or anything of sort. It was still acting on its biological codes.”

  He eyed to Anire to which she nodded, “Yes that’s right, Wattyson.”

  “And remember? The blood earlier didn’t do anything to Anire when it came into contact. That means nothing is happening. Nothing that would constitute urgency like you are right now.”

  He raised his hand, motioning slowly for her to sit down. “Whatever caused the Gavituth to migrate this far south had to be from external reason. I do not believe for a second that internal shift in the organ that minuet could cause it.”

  “Then what do you suggest I do then?” Arlene asked, her voice stammered as her lip trembled. “I-I can’t sit still with this information at hand.”

  “We investigate, of course, but it won’t be our main priority. Remember what you wanted to do on our way to Toulasi? To reclaim your life and collect the small things on the way? That should be our main focus, but we keep one eye for any sign of the corrupted blood.”

  Her eyes softened. She did mention something like that. Her shoulders loosened as she exhaled a long sigh, then sat back down. She bit down on her own lip before uncurling it.

  “Alright… you’re right, Watty. Sorry I-I was a bit taken back by the revelation.”

  “It’s only natural. You used to be the Chosen One~” Anire strode and massaged her shoulder. She bellowed out a soft laugh. “Your full name is Arlene Dawnwalker~?”

  “Shut up.” A bright pink crept up in her cheeks. “I didn’t choose ‘Dawnwalker’! The Church needed a last name for me and chose that because it’s ‘symbolic’ or whatever!”

  She reached out to touch Anire’s massaging hand, and turned to Wattyson. “Thank you guys. I… really appreciate it.”

  Wattyson rolled in the hammock away from Arlene’s gratitude expression, only let out a small hum. Anire brushed her hand off and poked her in the cheek. “Anytime, Arlene~” She poked harder against the puffed cheek.

  Quiet fell onto the room for a good minute. Arlene’s smile grew more and softened as time went on, and so was Anire’s poke.

  “Alright,” Anire spoke loudly, clearing the silent away. “Now that we somewhat advanced our understanding of Gavituth’s heart. I would like to begin the other reason I brought you two here.”

  Arlene tilted up, asking in an innocently curious voice. “What’s that?”

  The neko’s small smile widened to her ear as she locked to Wattyson. “As our agreement, Wattyson~. I would like to ask for your cooperation in drinking some vials. For my research, of course.”

  Wattyson still swayed by the hammock only shifted a side eye to Anire. “Eh? Right now?”