Wind of Plague (10)
Scourges, Devourers.
Whatever name they went by hardly mattered. At its core, the Lemterte Plague was an infection caused by the parasitic spawn that those vile rodents scattered as they self-detonated, which then burrowed into human blood. If one could eradicate the larvae that had invaded the body unseen, the plague would naturally recede.
For that very purpose, Hyplisia possessed the ideal properties. It was exceptionally effective at repelling Devourers, and it produced no adverse side effects in humans.
"The exact same result again... What on earth is going wrong?"
Compounding it into medicine, however, proved excruciatingly difficult. The mana components required to drive out the plague's spawn had to be captured intact; any loss during the process drastically reduced its efficacy. Yet, focusing solely on potency prevented the mixture from emulsifying at all. To make matters worse, the layers separated, rendering the concoction utterly unusable. For a student who had merely sat through a handful of alchemy lectures, the depth of her knowledge was still far too shallow.
"Which way is right...? It's not like I can just go ask Professor Dahlia..."
This medicine held the future, and it carried the hopes of the Sirens. The knowledge that she could not afford to collapse here was etched into her mind, yet developing a cure was an ordeal Senia simply could not shoulder alone.
"This isn't working. I need to clear my head."
Just as the old saying went—make haste slowly—she needed a brief respite. Taking in the panoramic view of the clear lake nurtured by the Sirens might help her recover her drive.
As she drew near the water's edge, two figures observing Chireu's behavior caught Senia's eye.
"Fascinating little creature. For something drawn to my mana, it doesn't even try to eat it."
"I've never seen anything like this either..."
Chirrrr.
"Ah. I think he's getting sleepy. It'll be uncomfortable if he falls asleep right there... Are you alright with that?"
"Leave him be. Once he's out, you can just carry him back."
Senia wondered what they were discussing, but it seemed to center entirely on Chireu.
He used to be like that with me, once upon a time.
Chireu never took to just anyone. Neither Nella nor the other Sirens could commune with him; only someone who held a peculiar resonance for the creature would elicit such a reaction. Senia had known from their very first encounter that Junon was a Calyx as well. It was thanks to Chireu darting straight to him that she had been able to notify the elders, prompting the Sirens to rescue the stranded human detachment. Still...
That leaves me with one question.
His jet-black hair, an extreme rarity in the Principality, and the subtle mannerisms typical only of modern people were telltale signs. As a Calyx, Junon was an otherworldly being on the Kempf-Litton Continent, just like her. Who on earth had summoned him here?
"I guess because you're a Calyx too, mister, you feel extra special to Chireu."
"A Calyx? What's that?"
"Huh? But you're a Calyx. Didn't your summoner tell you anything?"
"...This is the first I've ever heard of it. I didn't even know the word existed."
The conversation drifted naturally down that path.
Though she had ended up eavesdropping unintentionally, Senia had actually contemplated asking Junon directly. Yet looking at him now, he appeared genuinely clueless.
"Umm... Well, a Calyx is..."
Nella began explaining what a Calyx was. Though clumsy, her explanation conveyed the essentials, and Junon seemed to grasp the gist of what he had been missing.
"So he leaped at me because he knew what I was? Hmm... Then what about you calling me a Calyx earlier?"
"Oh, well, that's..."
Nella rolled her eyes, hesitating. It was an unspoken taboo among the Sirens, not something she could casually voice aloud.
Well, I've heard enough.
Sometimes it was better not knowing by whom or where one had been summoned. Senia stepped forward to cut the conversation short.
"What's everyone doing here?"
"Who's... Oh, it's you, Senia."
"Ah, Big Sis!"
Beaming as if she had spotted a savior, Nella scurried over to Senia, whom she had treated like an older sister for years. Watching Senia brush away stray hairs and pluck off the leaves clinging to the girl, they looked every bit like real siblings.
"I'll take Chireu back later. Mother was looking for you, Nella, so you should head home."
"Okay! See you later, Sis!"
With that, the other participant in the conversation scurried off. Exactly as Senia intended, the talk surrounding the Calyx came to an abrupt halt.
"What were you doing out here?"
"Just wandering. Talks didn't go so well."
"...Is that so?"
She had already heard as much from the Elder, but it seemed the man himself had no concrete countermeasure either. Feeling a phantom weight settle onto her shoulders, Senia reached up and kneaded the back of her neck.
"Anyway, thanks. You tampered with the bracelet, didn't you?"
"The bracelet? You mean the Hyplisia vine band?"
"I guess that's what it's called. Whatever the whole squad was fitted with. I thought mine was defective at first, but you were the one who fixed it, weren't you? Made moving around a lot easier."
"Ah, well... the situation demanded that you be able to act."
Junon was expressing genuine gratitude, but Senia found herself bewildered. Winking at Cain to give Junon a hint—check. Secretly tweaking Junon's bracelet—check. She had weakened the mana-suppressing effect and disabled the tracking signal, but it certainly shouldn't have seemed completely defective. Junon had likely misunderstood.
"More importantly..." Junon sniffed the air. "Did you just come from running an experiment?"
"Why?"
"I can tell just from your clothes. That's the compounding condensing agent we used during laboratory work in Professor Dahlia's lectures."
No wonder he had been twitching his nose while she rubbed her shoulder. Having spent hours cooped up in the lab, her senses had dulled to the point where she hadn't realized the scent had soaked through her garments.
"Let's see. It's one of the acidic condensates, so the prefix must be 3A. Number twelve and fourteen tend to stain fabric, but since your clothes are clean, that leaves Reagent 13, right?"
Reagent 3A-13.
He had pinpointed the exact code of the condensation agent she had been wrestling with moments ago.
"Looks like you were trying to extract an internal magic formula intact. If the mixture isn't blended properly, the condensing agent gives off a much sharper odor—just like what you're tracking right now. Must have failed pretty badly, huh?"
"..."
He was hitting every nail right on the head. Had he always possessed such an uncanny aptitude for alchemy? Come to think of it, she recalled hearing that the students in the lower ranks had all received Junon's guidance when synthesizing artificial mana stones.
The perfect person to help stood right before her, yet the fact that it was Junon posed a problem. She worried whether dragging him into this was wise, especially when he might face immense political fallout soon simply for knowing about the Lemterte Plague.
And yet...
"Then could you lend me a hand? You clearly know way more than I do."
Right now, she desperately needed even the tiniest shred of insight.
"Is it really fine for me to be in here? If an outsider gets caught, won't someone throw a fit?"
"The Sirens don't even come near this place. Besides, no matter what happens, I'm the one who asked for your help."
"Fair enough."
There was no way a proper laboratory existed in a settlement like this. Devoid of any real equipment, it was merely a makeshift setup barely capable of handling small-scale synthesis. Still, heading back to his quarters wouldn't produce a sudden breakthrough anyway. Lying in confinement was no solution, so Junon had followed Senia willingly.
"So what are you trying to make?"
"Medicine. Something the Sirens desperately need."
"Hmm... Medicine."
Though they had taken the same course under Professor Dahlia, the massive class size had split them into different cohorts, leaving Junon unfamiliar with Senia's actual skill level. Even so, one thing was certain: after repeating trial upon trial, Senia had hit a brick wall.
"This is it. I need to extract the mana woven into this powder completely intact."
Medicine was notoriously difficult to brew, making failure a natural part of the process. The presence of an embedded magic formula elevated the difficulty of extraction exponentially. Forget a few hours; finding the right extraction method for this powder could easily devour weeks.
"First, walk me through how you've been doing it."
"I used fractional extraction. Since it's a powder, I dissolved it thoroughly in the base solution, then added an activator to charge the mana—"
Senia's jaw dropped.
The moment he heard the words 'fractional extraction,' Junon moved as if working from an established blueprint. From the formation of the precipitate within the solution to every procedural step, he did not err by a hair's breadth. If anything, his execution was far more precise and delicate than hers had ever been. As the mixture reached the final vacuum stage, the tart, acidic tang that had clung to Senia's clothes began wafting through the room from the freshly separated liquid.
Junon collected the extracted solution, handed it to Senia, and finally spoke.
"Did that differ in any major way from what you were doing?"
"...No."
What more could she say? If she had to point out a difference, it was merely that his measurements and manual finesse operated on an entirely different level. Even his timing was precise to within a few seconds. He had essentially predicted her entire methodology without needing to hear the rest of it.
"Multi-fractional extraction. When trying to preserve an inherent magic formula within a substance, people often push for extreme purity and make this exact mistake. This is where it went wrong."
Junon began portioning out small amounts from the prepared ingredients once more. His quantities were distinctly different from what Senia had measured, and after inspecting the other reagent bottles, he swapped several out for alternatives.
"The blending ratio is the same issue. To the naked eye, the precipitate might look like it bonded properly after dissolving, but in reality, it barely clumped together. If it didn't truly integrate, how could the mana flow out properly?"
Finally, he lit the lamp and began gently heating the solution containing the dissolved powder. Arranging dozens of empty test tubes in a neat row, he delivered advice that sounded absurd on the surface.
"You have to take your time. This isn't something you rush through in a matter of minutes. You need to let it advance step by step, steadily removing impurities and raising the purity."
Telling someone in a desperate rush to take their time was maddening advice. Yet, an uncanny sense of reliability emanated from him. His process wasn't flashy, but the methodical care he poured into every action was far more delicate than Senia's frantic hands had ever been.
Watching him, Senia's face gradually stiffened.
"Junon... Just how long have you been doing this...?"
It wasn't merely a matter of talent. He wasn't relying on some secret technique, nor was he employing a brilliant, novel method of compounding. His movements didn't look dazzling because they didn't need to be. Every action was pure mastery born of time.
Heating, adding reagents, cooling. The sheer, effortless familiarity with which he performed these basic motions could only have been forged through an endless mountain of trial and error.
"...I've had to do it a lot."
At the low, hollow tremor in his voice, Senia snapped back to reality. Her eyes, previously transfixed on the experiment, widened as she looked at Junon's face. Catching the bitter smile tugging at his lips, she realized her mistake.
Those hands were the product of Junon's history—his past. To make him dredge up memories from a life he never wanted to revisit was cruel.
"To be honest, I still don't know what you're trying to create," Junon continued quietly. "Since I don't know the exact nature of this powder, I can only help you through the intermediate steps. But if you manage to finish it, do me a favor and bring up what I proposed to the Elder one more time."
"I promise..."
A bitter taste filled her mouth. Without realizing it, Senia had bitten her inner lip hard enough to draw blood.
How much time had passed since they were locked in the basement? Judging by the fact that they had been served a proper meal, at least half a day had elapsed. John, who had been whining about being hungry, had eaten his fill after the earlier snack, and both exhausted men had collapsed into a dead sleep right after dinner.
Yet unlike the other bunks, one bed in this room remained empty. It was Junon's.
Why did the Sirens take only Hyung-nim...?
Cain wondered if they, too, had recognized that Junon walked a completely different path from ordinary men. As he sat staring at the empty bed, lost in thought, a visitor arrived just as one had earlier.
"Hey, you. Which one of you is Cain?"
"...That would be me."
"You'll need to come with us for a moment. Don't try anything stupid."
"Understood."
Cain complied obediently, falling into step behind the Siren sent to fetch him.
Hyung-nim must have pulled something off again.