74 GERMS IN THE GORE AND MORE

Two people were strolling through a street at a quick pace.

\"I wish I could be of more help, but I've never had the opportunity to make acquaintance with important people on this ship,\" Hundred's voice lacked confidence but contained some comfort. \"That said, I'm sure the news of what happened in the hall would have long reached many decks. So, I don't think it's too late to find a good healer. We just have to go to the right places.\"

Sariyu clutched her head to keep her headache in check. \"I don't know what's the right place anymore. Every healer I came into contact with was either not up to scratch or was just pretending for some coin. I feel like I've been roaming on this deck like a fatuous dog. If only I had more time, I could've gone to upper decks. Maybe, it's still not too late for that.\"

\"You are worrying too much. Just calm down, and think twice before leaving this deck,\" Hundred uttered in haste. \"It's not easy to move up and down the decks when doing it for the first time.\"

\"But we have no other choice, do we?\" Sariyu clearly looked frustrated. Only minutes ago, Hundred helped her with some money, and together, they requested a notable healer named Roddy Blume for help. However, after taking six gold as advance, Roddy told them that he was just passing by on the twelfth deck, and he told them both to bring Lirzod to his room that was in the upper decks. Roddy's words infuriated Sariyu, but Hundred stopped her from fighting him. All they could do was watch as Roddy left shamelessly without even giving the money back. Six gold was not a small amount by any means. One could build a decent house, or buy a few acres of low-level farming lands in some rural parts of the world, where it took years to earn one gold coin for the middle class and the poor.

\"If you really want to try the other decks,\" Hundred hesitantly said, \"it's better to go down than to go up.\"

Sariyu was a little surprised. \"But do you think we can find anyone capable there?\"

\"I'm not sure, but you never know, right? You told that guy to look in the upper decks, so...\"

\"Hmm…\" After pondering for a moment, Sariyu suddenly asked, \"What about Stussy?\"

Hundred's heart skipped a beat from hearing that name. \"By Stussy, you mean… the Captain Commander?\"

\"Yeah, that woman should be able to help us. We know that she's on the tenth deck. So why don't we just go there and request her?\"

\"You know her?\" asked Hundred, as if he eagerly awaited her response.

\"No,\" replied Sariyu, straight away.

Hundred's shoulders slumped a bit. \"Then how are you going to get to her?\"

\"What do you mean 'get to her'?\"

\"Well, she's mostly on the tenth deck, probably out in the open, steering the ship and all, but you can't get to her without her permission. Lifting the Mighty Rock isn't an option either. Many people have tried in the past, but no one has ever succeeded in years. Even the commanders of decks are nothing special in her eyes. As for you and me, she wouldn't even give us an audience. And not to forget, our requests aren't even selfless. You are from the same clan as him, and I'm trying to be his offsider. I don't even see the slightest chance of her heeding our words.\"

\"But, but, since death is not desired on this ship, that woman should be inclined to listen to our request, right?\" Sariyu couldn't help but ask in a hurry. \"I mean, she can't let someone die on this ship under her watch, right?\"

Hundred leaked out a restrained smile. \"You are thinking too much. The rules do say that we are not allowed to kill each other, but I don't think that the rules say, she must stop us from killing each other.\"

Sariyu was startled a bit. With a frown, she responded, \"The rules seem so convenient for these superiors.\"

\"I wouldn't say that, really,\" Hundred opined. \"Even those executives can't exercise their authority in ways that go against the rules. That said, I do agree that the rules aren't made in our best interests.\"

Sariyu's frown deepened, and she went wordless with vexation.

\"You said we should first go see him once before we think of our next move,\" Hundred reminded, \"so let's first do that. Who knows, if luck has it, that 777 might have already brought help.\"

\"I very much hope that's the case…\"

Meanwhile, inside the drill clinic.

As Blood was leaving, the elf girl hastily walked in from the entrance, albeit with a tense look. \"I hope that snake didn't come out—\" However, upon seeing new faces, she briefly shut her mouth. \"Who are you people?\" Just as she asked, her eyes looked in Lirzod's direction and noticed that all his wounds disappeared. \"Whoa, is that… who made him well-el? Was it that person in the beautiful white mask who came here recently?\"

\"We are from Knuckle Hounds,\" the guy from the guild responded with pride, \"and we don't know about this masked person you are speaking about, but our Sister Blood is the one who took care of his wounds.\"

\"Oh… Knuckle Hounds...\" the elf girl's eyes then looked at the floor beside Lirzod's bed, and there were leaves all around, most of which got walked upon. \"I don't care who you are-fu,\" she pulled her gun out, startling everyone, \"but tell me, who threw my moon herbs on the floor and made a mess out of them?\"

\"U-Uh,\" both 777 and the other guy looked at each other's faces.

\"It's them!\" Blood immediately pointed her fingers toward them both.

\"You vulnuric scum!\" the elf girl glared at both men. \"Pay me for all the leaves you've wasted. Five gold. That's their worth.\"

\"W-What?\" 777's jaw dropped. \"B-But you already used those leaves.\"

\"They are reusable leaves, you fool!\" the elf girl's voice deepened. \"I could have used them at least two more times, but thanks to you, I'm being forced to waste some lead now-fu.\"

\"N-No, no, please, don't shoot me!\" 777 hurriedly said, \"Even if you search my pockets, you won't find a single silver. I've already given everything I had to bring this woman here.\"

The elf girl narrowed her eyes, \"Pick up those leaves first. I will fix the fine after I see how many of them you guys have spoiled.\"

\"Yes,\" 777 breathed a sigh of relief. \"Thank you.\"

\"Move,\" the elf girl raised her voice, and both 777 and the other guy began to quickly pick up the leaves.

\"For an elf, you're wearing human clothes,\" Blood's eyes met with those of the elf girl, \"and you are also the one who put those leaves on that knuckle.\"

\"Yeah, what about it?\" the elf girl coldly responded.

\"Nothing. I just wondered which inexperienced idiot would place herbs on top of burnt clothes, that's all,\" she said and smirked.

The elf girl briefly looked at Lirzod, and then narrowed her eyes and glanced at Blood once, and later broke eye contact. \"So you are the one who healed him, huh...\" she stepped past Blood. \"I don't expect fledglings to know sensitive subjects.\"

Blood's brows furrowed. \"Who are you calling a fledgling?\" she clenched her fist and swiveled back, but to her surprise, her face was at gunpoint.

\"I suggest you leave my clinic before you spit any more venom on me, \" the elf girl's voice was as chilling as the winds of winter, \"or I'll be forced to direct all my frustration into my first finger.\"

\"Hmph, this deck is still as entertaining as ever,\" Blood turned back and started to walk. \"For a fleshy elf, you can move. So the sayings were true after all—that elves can be as nimble as apes. Thank your lineage, uncommon knuckle, or things would have ended differently for you.\"

\"For you as well-fu,\" the elf girl put the revolver back under her shirt.

Just that moment, two people entered the room.

One was a female, and her eyes first fell upon the one who lay on the bed, and after seeing the patient's condition, her eyes regained a bit of glow. \"L-L-Lirzod… Thank goodness.\" A bit of wetness also gathered in her eyes, and they gleamed.

\"Wow, so he's healed already?\" the second one, Hundred, was pleasantly surprised. \"I told you that everything will be fine, didn't I?\"

Sariyu ran over to the bed and pinched on Lirzod's leg, startling everyone. \"Enough acting, and get up!\" she said, but there was no response, so she was readying herself for another one.

\"Whoa, what are you doing!\" 777 interfered. \"He's still unconscious.\"

\"Unconscious?\" Sariyu was puzzled. \"He's healed, wasn't he?\"

\"Well, it's complicated,\" 777 said and glanced in the direction of Blood, and the other guild build member was saying something to her.

\"Are you sure that she's the one you guys failed to capture?\" Blood looked at her junior.

\"Yes, Sister,\" he confidently said. \"I mean, even if I'm wrong, how many red-haired girls can there be on this ship? And how many would carry an injured man? The guy on the bed is most likely the one whom she was carrying.\"

\"So, you are not a hundred percent sure.\"

\"N-N-No.\" He somewhat backed away. \"I am, I am sure she's the one.\"

\"If you are wrong, then I will punish you appropriately later on,\" Blood stepped toward the bed. \"Hey, you, Red Hair.\"

Sariyu, who was busy talking with 777 and the elf girl, didn't hear her words.

777's eyes, however, were on Blood all this while. \"She's calling for you.\"

\"Who?\" Sariyu turned her head by degrees and looked at Blood.

\"Are you the one who beat a man for asking you out?\" Blood slowly tightened her fist, for she got filled in with the information on what had happened during her travel here.

\"Asking me out?\" Sariyu turned around to face her, guessing where the conversation was going. \"If you mean cheapening someone's character by talking to them as if they're a lady of the night is the same as asking someone out in your town, then yes, that's what he did.\"

\"Oh, so you are saying he behaved tastelessly, and that's why you manhandled him,\" Blood locked her eyes down on Sariyu. She was, without a doubt, the tallest one in the room, but Sariyu didn't back down and met Blood's gaze with her own.

\"What would you have done?\" Sariyu asked.

A moment of silence filled the room, before Blood replied, \"The same, probably.\" She turned around and began to walk. \"But you should have handled it a bit more gently, for your own sake.\"

\"I regret to say, everyone's got a little beast in them, merely made out of base instincts.\" Sariyu's words made Blood stop and turn back. \"Most of the cases, the beasts you see are overbearing and cause nothing but trouble all the time, but they are not the ones you need to fret for.\" Sariyu walked toward Blood. \"What you should really watch out for are the few cases of the beasts that stay docile and don't show their fangs unless you are in their faces,\" Sariyu stopped right in front of Blood, and both their gaze pierced that of each other, raising the tension in the room. After a few seconds of unsettling silence, Sariyu turned around and moved toward the bed. \"When a fool tries to tame the wrong beast and somehow makes it back home with his life intact, he should be glad that he didn't go missing. Instead, he sends more of his kind after the beast only to let them suffer a much worse if not the same fate as him. But now, maybe, I can be somewhat glad that, at least, you are not of his kind.\" She placed her hand on Lirzod's forearm, \"Otherwise, I'd feel bad for having to fight someone who treated my friend.\"

Blood slightly smiled, and then swiveled around before leaving the room in confident strides. The other guy from the guild tensely followed her.

Sariyu snapped her fingers at 777's face, for he was in a stupor. \"Tell me, what's still wrong with him?\"

\"She, she said something about comminglers being in his blood,\" 777 hurriedly said.

\"What are those things?\"

\"Some kind of germs that kill people from the inside, it seems.\"

\"What?\" Sariyu was stunned. \"Are you sure she wasn't lying?\"

\"I think so.\"

\"You think so?\"

\"W-Well, she seemed incapable of healing his condition, so I don't think she has a reason to lie.\"

Sariyu's heart was pounding in her ears, and her head felt heavy. (It's one thing after another.)

Hundred, who was standing on the side, noticed the surprised expression on the elf girl. \"She seems to know something about them.\"

Sariyu and 777 immediately looked at the girl.

\"I… I don't know much about them,\" the elf girl walked over to Lirzod and observed the clotted blood lying on his side, \"that woman must've sensed those germs in this gore, which means some of them probably are in his body now.\" Her eyes enlarged a bit.

\"What can they do?\" Sariyu hurriedly asked.

\"From what I know,\" the elf girl didn't look comfortable as she spoke, \"there are many types of comminglers, but most of them travel through blood and eat all the organs from the inside, and then drink the host dry, but the worst part is, the host may look healthy from the outside, while he's dying on the inside.\" She touched Lirzod's hand, \"it's mildly warm—as if he's fully well.\"

\"Do something about those germs, please,\" Sariyu urged.

\"I can't,\" the elf girl shook her head. \"I don't have any herbs that can help his situation.\"

\"What?\" Sariyu was taken aback.

\"You are underestimating these comminglers,\" the elf girl indifferently voiced her mind. \"The more time they spend in the body, the harder it gets to spot them as they merge with the body. I don't know where these things entered this boy, but these germs are rarest among the rare. One of their kind, slumber germs, if I'm correct, they are only used on dead royalty in some civilizations, so they eat up the insides while keeping the outer appearance intact. That's why the remains of their royalties not only look but also smell fresh even after centuries following their death.\"

Sariyu, 777, and Hundred were stupefied to hear that. \"W-Why would those kinds of germs be on this ship?\"

\"I have no idea,\" the elf girl then pulled her revolver out and pointed it at Lirzod, stunning everyone.

\"What are you doing?\" Sariyu was about to move.

\"Move, and I'll shoot him in the head,\" the elf girl stated bluntly.

\"Do that, and I swear I'll kill you the next second,\" Sariyu stressed her words.

\"Don't worry. I'm not going to kill him now,\" the elf girl said, \"but given that he's infected, he's a threat to us and everyone on this ship. Though the comminglers can change hosts through blood, they are terrible at changing hosts within a short period, so the hosts usually tend to die before the infection even spreads. However, it still makes your friend dangerous. So we'll have to make sure he's taken into custody. If he's lucky, someone will find him and heal him. Otherwise, he'd at least come in handy for some research.\"

\"Research?\" Sariyu ground her teeth and stepped forward straight away. \"Screw that!\"

POW!

And the gunshot fired.