[Scene : Colt in Anya's room disguised as Helix, he's done treating her, Anya finally leaves the bed, Lea, Luc and Luna as Helia are present]
Helix : "And with that, my lady, your treatment is complete."
Anya : "I truly can't thank you enough, may I request your services in treating everyone in this manor?"
That's the first thing she asks about?
She doesn't even know how contagious it is and yet…
[internal smile]
Found another one.
Helix [places a hand on his chest, bows slightly, closes his eyes] : "My lady, the affliction you suffered from is known as the black death. It's a highly contagious disease that might've spread through this whole domain, I am the only one who knows what it's capable of as well as how to cure it. Soon enough, corpses will fill the streets with no one to bury them because those who would are also dead. I assure you on my life that I'm not exaggerating. People will die, children will be orphaned before dying themselves, it might even spread further than this domain to afflict the whole kingdom. Maybe even the whole continent."
*Helix stops talking to let Anya process the information*
*Helix straightens up, opens his eyes, fixes his gaze on Anya*
Helix : "Knowing all that. How many people would you like me to treat?"
Anya : "How many can you treat?"
Helix [with a subtle smile] : "As many as you wish. Other healers have their limits, I however don't have those limits."
Anya : "Then-"
Helix : "Forgive me, my lady, however, before we proceed any farther, you should be made aware of something."
*Luc whispers to Luna in the background*
Luc : "What is he doing?"
Helia : "Leave him be, everything is going according to his plan."
Helix : "This domain has about 10,000 people in it, correct? The minimum the black death can do is kill at least a third of them, assuming -for convenience – that is 3000 people, and I'm being quite generous here. One person's healing costs a large silver coin, 10 is a gold coin, a 100 is a large gold, and a thousand is a platinum coin. Which means that if I treat this domain, I will be asking for 3 platinum coins, not to mention, as you've seen yourself, I am the only one capable of such a feat, which also means that it's within reason if I ask for more than that."
Anya [looking down] : "But that's-"
Helix : "How many people would you like me to treat?"
Luc : "I've had it."
*Walks to Anya's side and surrounds her shoulder with his arm*
Luc : "What do you think you're doing?"
[internal sigh]
This idiot never learns.
At least that's to be expected, I am in an isekai after all, there will always be an idiot who doesn't get it. At least he's treating me more as a friend and less as someone to fear.
Luc : "I know you mean well, and you probably have your reasons, but that choice is too cruel. You can't-"
Anya [speaking in a low tone] : "Stop."
Luc [looking at her] : "But Anya-"
Anya : "He's right, we need him; Many healers came here many times, none could manage to fully cure us. He treated me in a single day, he'll even help my parents."
Luc : "Anya."
*Anya clenches her fist, gently removes Luc's arm as she looks at Helix.*
Anya [in a firm tone] : "I can't give you that much, I can't promise it either but-"
Anya [as she slowly bows] : "I'm willing to abandon my pride as a noble, I'll give you everything I have, so please-"
She passes, with flying colors.
Helix : "There's no need for all that."
*Anya straightens up to look at him*
Helix : "You never did let me finish."
Anya : "What do you mean?"
Helix : "My lady, you seem to be unaware of who your fiancé is, Master Luc is a hero who I'm indebted to greatly."
Luc : "HUH??"
Helix : "I'll only take one large silver."
*Helix turns around, walks towards the door, leaving Anya, Lea and Luc stupefied*
Helix : "We begin tomorrow."
*Luna exits the room with him.*
[scene: the two of them are walking the hallway.]
Helia : "You sure love to take things far *giggles* from three platinum to a large silver."
Helix [smiling] : "You've already figured that was a test didn't you?"
Helia : "I'm getting used to how you think a bit more, you really drove her into a corner though."
Helix : "That's when a person's true nature shows."
Reminds me of a certain pink-haired old woman testing a certain blue-haired girl.
Well, I'm not as kind as her though.
Helix : "She went as far as to bow to me, for a noble, there's no greater disgrace."
Helia : "She didn't even hesitate."
Helix : "And here he comes."
*Helix turns around, Luc comes running from behind, reaches them, stops, panting*
Luc : "WHAT... in the world... was that?"
Helix : "Oh cheer up, I just earned you some credit with her."
*Luna giggles quietly*
Helix : "Be sure to live to the image I painted. HERO…"
*Puts his arm around Luna, laughs as they walk away*
Luc [speaking to himself, in anxiety] : "He's a demon."
[scene : Helix roaming Anya's mansion healing every butler, maid etc]
First, it was the staff of the household.
[scene : Helix looking at a map of the domain]
After finding out which one was the first to fall ill, we needed to find out where he lived.
[scene : Helix and the rest including Anya in a neighborhood, the shops are closed, no one's in the streets, it seems like a ghost town]
The black death didn't disappoint. It was already spreading, people isolated themselves.
Luckily, that stupid rumor didn't spread in this world which helped things progress a bit slower.
Back on earth, during the time of the black death, a rumor spread that if you infect a healthy person you'd be cured. That made things exponentially worse.
[scene : Helix gently holding a little girl's head as she sleeps in bed struck with fever, powder seeps into her mouth from a petri dish]
We had to go door to door at first, curing sick patients one by one, making sure to emphasize on keeping houses clean and people regularly cleaning their bodies.
In this world, soap isn't that effective and it's pricy since there aren't oil plants, so animal fat is the only source of oils and whatnot. People would clean themselves with hot water every so often... but that's better than nothing I suppose.
*Helix uses healing magic, the girl gets better, her mother hugs her in tears as the father watches standing at the door, barely holding back his own tears*
[scene : Helix and the rest entering a house to find all the residents dead, it's an entire family, mother, father, a little boy and a little girl, Helix lines up the corpses one next to the other]
Unfortunately, not everyone could be saved.
Anya [in emotional distress] : "Awful, what did they do to deserve this? It's too much."
Helix : "I might seem insensitive but... this is actually better than I thought."
*Helix gets on one knee in front of the corpses*
Helix : "I know you suffered. I know you were scared. You wanted to live. Thanks to your sacrifices, many people will be saved. Sorry there wasn't a cure. But I can at least bury you together."
*In the void, the blue flame is ignited*
*Helix encases the bodies in water, uses "search", everything in house starts floating*
Anya [in awe as she looks around] : "What am I seeing?"
Luc : "I don't know... I've never seen him do this before."
*From the few rooms, rats come slowly flying, Helix burns the rats with fire bullets*
Helix : "Helia, water shield."
*Luna creates a water cylinder that surrounds the three of them, water seems to spue from the ground, it's not a constant shape like water prison*
*Around Helix, a ring of fire spreads with him as the center, slowly shaping itself into a sphere*
*It scorches the house then goes out suddenly*
Condensed nitrogen. No more remnant fleas or rats here.
Helix : "We're done here. Let's go."
*As they walk the streets*
Anya [in anguish] : "How… do we stop something like this from happening again?"
Helix [without even looking back] : "I'm your only hope. You do as I say and the deaths will be minimized."
Lea : "What about...*looks back to the floating corpses behind them*"
Helix : "I'll have to bury them myself, we can't let many people come in contact with them. The black death uses fleas and rats to spread. Exterminate those and you're good. Keep the sick isolated until they're treated or dead. And we'll…"
*Later that night*
[scene : Colt, back to his form, and Luna are in their room. Colt is sitting on the side of the bed, Luna comes from the other side to back hug him, her head is slightly above his as her arms surround him]
Luna : "Are you okay?"
Colt : "I died of an illness too, an incurable one with our technology. Difference is: I was happy about it. It seemed like an escape from that hell. To me, death... was a mercy... it's not the same for them."
Luna : "Do you blame yourself?"
Colt : "You already know the answer *subtle smile* but I have to say it, don't I ?"
Luna : "Yes."
Colt : "I'm not the type of moron who'd blame himself for this. True I was late to save them. But I'm here now, what I'm doing is saving thousands of lives every step. Not to mention, we caught it in the beginning. I won't get depressed or discouraged over this. I learn from the mistakes of others and save time and effort with maximum efficiency. The black death is more dangerous than any mage, it's a deadly foe with a thousand bodies. One thing's for certain, we can't save everyone and we have to accept that."
Luna : "I'm happy to see that you can work through your feelings this fast."
Colt : "I still have my logical reasoning. "Just be you". Isn't that what you said?"
Colt [his tone changes to sarcastic] : "Any other would've called himself a failure or a sad excuse for a healer or whatever… Idealistic idiots."
*Colt turns around to face Luna.*
Colt : "But really, it's all because I have you with me.*Hugs her tightly, placing a hand on the back of her head, resting her head on his shoulder* Thank you, Luna, for always being with me."