Using the limited power behind his all-knowing eye, Cirrus was able to find the location of the plague seed so far in the distance, although the more he used it, the more he felt like his head was splitting and his ears were ringing. Whenever he needed to use this unstable concept of his, frequent rest stops became mandatory. He often felt ashamed, as he’d worked tirelessly for over four hundred years to finally master this concept, yet to no avail. He knew that in its final form, where the all-knowing eye was at its most powerful, it would no longer harm its user, and yet here he was clenching his eyepatch in a tight fist with his amber eye burning and pulsing, feeling as if it were being stabbed by millions of tiny needles just because he’d used it for more than fifteen minutes.

Really, it was shameful. No matter what kind of prophecy Cirrus may have on his head, it was still clear to him that he had a long way to go before he was fit to save reality, however one was supposed to go about doing such a thing to begin with… he certainly didn’t know. But the task he’d been assigned on this journey was to follow the rumor mill leading him to the miracle worker, so he would do what he could to swallow his pain and push forward regardless, all until he and his group finally reached the town where the seed was hidden away.

“How much longer will our illness immunity last, Achitha?” he questioned darkly as he wiped a single tear off his face, doing his best to hide his exhaustion while he finally got to wrap his eyepatch back around him and over his troublesome eye.

And the question was necessary, because following the seed had led them to a larger town on the south coast of this planet, his eye having located a deep pit in the far distance filled to the brim with dead, diseased bodies covered in black bulges and rotting yellow blisters that the citizens were apparently trying to burn. Even with that concerning sight ignored, there were dying people abandoned on the streets, their bodies now malformed and decaying, swelling up with those same black and yellow welts that could only be the sign of a very grave, deadly plague. And the worst of it was here in this very town, the home of the plague seed where all this sickness originated, so he was very glad Jayce had stayed with Eve outside.

Even though she’d been doing her best to heal the worst cases they had seen, she couldn’t heal everybody, and he didn’t want that to weigh on her. Saving lives was not her sole responsibility to bear, and she shouldn’t feel like it was. In fact, saving people was not their goal here at all, so even he did not have to worry about it. But still, with her naturally empathetic and passionate nature, it would be impossible for Eve not to feel guilty at what she saw if she found herself too weak to do anything, because she would most certainly feel like she should’ve been able. The young woman did always have that bad habit of feeling responsible for things that weren’t her fault, and this instance would be much the same.

Achitha, on the other hand, was very different. He could tell just by giving her a glance that she felt at home in this atmosphere, despite pitying the people. Perhaps that was just what was natural for someone who wielded the concept of disease as both a useful tool and a powerful weapon. “I can give you immunity to all diseases so long as I am awake. Meaning we’re fine for now, but we shouldn’t rest here, as wielding my concept in my sleep is far beyond my abilities,” Achitha responded calmly, her tall and sturdy stature, while slightly shorter than him, making her look that much larger. He worked out too, of course— you would need to, if you were always going to be on the front lines like he was. But he was aware that Achitha herself was aiming to develop a strength concept to add to her arsenal, so she seemed rather larger than life compared to someone like him. Though he didn’t mind, he was just thankful for her reliability and her skill, her muscular physique doing nothing but showing how hard she’d worked to be where she was today.

Most people assumed that Achitha was the type of woman he liked. In other words, because of his previous engagement with Princess Arcadia, people who didn’t know him very well tended to think he was attracted to serious, intelligent, and slightly rude or arrogant women, exactly what Arcadia used to be. She’d been incredibly sharp and wise beyond her years, and she’d never had a problem with interrupting strategic meetings if she disagreed with what other officials were saying. Arcadia would boldly and unabashedly point out all of the flaws in their plans, and when asked what she would do differently by condescending men and other figures of rank, she displayed flawless insight with outstanding plans of her own, even as a child. It was to the point that, despite how sickly and ill the young girl had always been before her death, she’d still always be invited to political roundtables and military meetings just to gather her insight. Cirrus’ mother had always said he should learn from her.

But Arcadia was dead. Which, notably in the eyes of other nobles, left him very alone and without a fiancée. The missing slot that the prophecy had appeared to have gotten wrong spurred a fire in many a noble’s heart, and many of them viewed it as a chance too delicious to pass up. For the past four hundred years or so, hundreds of different planets and all the vast amounts of royals and nobles within them all attempted to send their daughters his way and make him fall in love with their charms. However, it wasn’t the usual charm you would think of when you envisioned a nice, lovely girl fit for a political marriage. Instead, all of these audacious parents and guardians had specifically trained their daughters to be cold, serious, and arrogant, and forced them to study endlessly in the hopes of reaching Arcadia’s same intelligence. Which, well… he’d found it all to be a bit unsettling. It wasn’t like he was blind to what they were all trying to do. Instead, he usually found himself pitying the poor women who came his way, because more often than not, it was clear they were very unhappy and uncomfortable playing the role of someone who was dead. And in fact, Achitha was one of them.

Looking at her now, it seemed hard to believe, as she’d come a long way and had now grown into herself splendidly. But back when they’d first met, Achitha had been trained the same way as all the other girls, with the task of seducing him and becoming his beloved falling on her shoulders. And because his grandmother, Ruba, had invited her into Lilino’s royal palace to have his mother train her personally, anyone could imagine how awkward he had felt. In fact, Achitha’s initial aggressiveness had only made him timid and caused him to avoid her, and when the observant girl caught on to that, she greatly softened her approach and finally revealed the very polite, sympathetic woman who liked to keep herself fit and active and who hated confrontation almost as much as he did.

Eventually, after she admitted to what her parents had asked of her, Cirrus was able to give a firm but kind rejection, which finally allowed the two of them to become genuine friends. Achitha gave up on trying to woo him, and after a few centuries passed, he appointed her as his right-hand and personal second-in-command, the one who would lead in his place if he ever weren’t there to do so. He grew to appreciate her flawless memory and her own unique intelligence, as well as her strategic insight and calm, levelheaded demeanor. He might’ve known Jayce far longer and trusted him just as much, having been raised beside him for most of his life, but his dear best friend was not fit to lead in the same way she was. So, knowing he had her loyalty after all these centuries of fighting alongside each other, he couldn’t be happier with whom he had chosen to represent him.

“Perfect, that should be fine. This town is large, but… if the miracle worker is truly here, I’ll be able to sense his mana just fine if he ever goes to use it, even if we’re on the outskirts. And if he really is here at all, it’s clear what he will try to do. Healing this town would probably be his priority, based on all the other legends we’ve heard of him,” he smiled wistfully, staring off into the distance where he could sense the plague seed was residing, Achitha staring at him with a level face.

“Hm, I’m not as certain,” she admitted after a moment, turning to stare into the same spot he just was while he turned his head towards her instead, her murky green eyes squinting into the clear blue horizon with rather complicated feelings. “Your grandmother told us to follow the trail of rumors, so it would be good to continue to keep an eye out and possibly ask around. This might not be our final destination.”

“Ah, well… true. You have a point. I’m just hoping we’re close now, I guess,” Cirrus smiled awkwardly, Achitha lowering her head as she listened. “It’s been nearly ten months since we set off. I know my grandmother said this journey was important, but I still can’t help feeling like there’s other stuff I could be doing that’s more impactful. I mean, who knows when the next apocalypse will start…”

“You’re right too, Cirrus. I do understand what you’re feeling, because I feel the same. But if anything, I also believe this is the closest to the miracle worker we’ve ever been, so there’s that. This journey has been long, but you know just as well as I do that Ruba wouldn’t send us on such a long mission if the results weren’t going to be well worth it,” she remarked wisely, Cirrus turning to stare at her again while heeding her words. Achitha really was a wise girl. She was probably the wisest person he knew who was younger than him. He was a good fifty-eight years older than her, after all, and yet her maturity always greatly outshone his own. It was comforting most of the time, but sometimes it left him feeling a little lacking, since he was supposed to be a great leader according to the prophecy that had already lit up his legend for him without him even needing to lift a finger.

But let’s not think of that… there was no good that would come out of comparing himself to others. He needed to focus on other things, like the possibility of detecting any strong mana that could belong to the miracle worker. He hadn’t missed the strong shockwave that had seemed to rock this part of the world, and he vividly remembered the mass destruction of that cave and the ashy remains of a powerful hydra when he’d come across it just recently. Whatever the case, this miracle worker was clearly not one to hold back, so if he was here and planning on using whatever concepts he may wield, Cirrus was sure he would feel it.

“Hm, Achitha… say this isn’t our final destination, like you suspect,” Cirrus eventually turned towards his friend, giving her the warmest smile he could. “We’ll need to look for more rumors again. My grandmother said to follow the trail, so if we don’t find the miracle worker here, we should at the very least be able to find a trace. I’m just concerned we won’t be able to do that in this town, seeing how all these people are sick…”

“Well, I agree that’s an obvious issue,” Achitha nodded, turning her stoic gaze around to stare into the houses and windows of this diseased and dreary civilization. “Eve will not be able to heal them all. She is still learning as a healer, and has a long way to go, being the youngest of us all. Honestly, I do hate to say it this way, but I don’t understand why she was the one chosen to accompany you in the first place. Out of all the healers Ruba could have chosen, Eve is only… barely above average, I’d say. And I know Queen Nadia has access to greater ones. I admit she’s more than a prodigy for her age, and she also has plenty of experience and skill in combat, it’s just that she’s not at the same level as you or I. And with you being such an important figurehead in the fate of our world and society in general, it seems rather irresponsible to me for you to have been assigned such a healer to protect you,” she spoke honestly and in a cold tone when, after another brief moment, she winced and lowered her head. “Not that I don’t like or appreciate the woman. She’s kind-hearted and fun to be around, I just can’t say the same for the strength of her concepts. In my opinion, she would’ve needed much more time to keep honing her skills before she was ready to travel with someone like you.”

Hearing all this come from her mouth, Cirrus couldn’t help but stare at Achitha rather blankly, having not expected her to be quite so blunt. If he were being honest as well, he really liked Eve and thought she had more than enough potential to be worthy of traveling at his side. Sure, she wasn’t the best healer out there, but she had the skill and the tenacity to get there eventually. If anything, he’d enjoyed watching her grow over these past ten months, and he knew she still had a lot more growth left inside her.

“I think you’re being a bit harsh on Eve,” he smiled softly, Achitha refusing to look at him as she kept staring straight ahead. “She is young, sure, but she has immense potential. Ruba handpicked her by choice after having a vision that was apparently so great she had to search for her right then and there. I don’t know what exactly that vision must’ve been, but it was clearly something very special. I don’t mind if Eve’s not as skilled as she should be to be on my team. In fact, I don’t want to be viewed that way at all. I don’t want to be a person who’s so high above everyone else that you have to be someone extraordinary to travel with me. I don’t want to be alienated in that way. And Eve is exceptionally friendly, and she’s got a good heart, so that’s more than enough for me.”

Achitha was silent as Cirrus continued to smile at her, patient and kind in his expression. And while it took her a moment, she finally pieced together a response she thought was fitting, her demeanor always calm and collected in every way. “I see what you mean. It was never my intention to put you on a pedestal. I agree that Eve has the most potential for a healer I’ve seen in a while. I just fear that she’s a bit stuck right now, as I haven’t seen her improve much over the last few decades. In any case, we’ll need to plan out who she chooses to heal so that we can get the most information. If anyone would know any rumors about the miracle worker, it would most likely be an adventurer of some sort, so we should head to the main guild in this town and choose whoever seems most important.”