Chapter 235 – Going for a checkup.

“Roland, is this really necessary? I don’t feel that anything is out of place and is Agni coming too?”

“Awooo?”

“Yes, I’ve already explained, it’s better if we do it now before word reaches this place. Bernir and Dyana need to come with us too.”

“If you say so…”

Roland was now back home but this was not quite over yet. After getting a big hug from Elodia and a lot of slobber from Agni he didn’t just relax. The Cult was still fresh in his mind and the creatures that turned people into abominations could be among them. The only cure that he knew were elixirs and holy energies thus the best place for a checkup would be the church of Solaria that was in the city.

His assistant Bernir along with his wife needed to be brought over as well. He would not be able to relax if anyone around him was infected, probably from this point onward all of them would need to periodically go get checkups at the church if that was a possibility. There was no official announcement yet and without things like the internet, information traveled slowly.

While nobles could use magic to get informed most of the common folk were usually left out in the dark. Everyone had their own little circle they cared about and just like him they would probably prioritize them. What the people knew about was that there was an attack in the city of Reeka but they didn’t have the details. Not many knew about the abyssal larvae that could transform people into monstrosities. If they did, they would probably all be pushing towards the churches.

“What got ye knickers in a twist, boss? Shouldn’t we have a drink first? Ye managed to get ye golden adventurer card!”

“Now is not the time, is Dyana with you?”

“I’m here, I’ve got some gauntlets for your magical touch bossman, and we also managed to finish that thing you were asking about, it was hard to do the measurements with him moving around so much though.”

“Good but that will have to wait, we need to get to the church so we’ll close the shop for today.”

“To the church?”

Both Bernir and Dyana looked at each other with confused expressions. They didn’t know what was going through Roland’s head but he had an unusual expression on his face. Luckily they didn’t argue too much or ask any unnecessary questions before nodding.

“Aye, let me turn the forge off before we go then.”

It took them a moment to make sure that no magical tools were turned on, not having his home burned down after his return would be appreciated. Elodia finished up in the shop while having to apologize to a few people that were glancing through the wares. The hired guard there would remain to keep watch for the time being while all of them headed to the city.

“Do you mind explaining why we are going to the church, does it have anything to do with the current rumors about Reeka?”

“Yes…”

Roland didn’t want to directly announce that all of them could potentially have brain-eating parasites in them. So he needed to make it seem at least a bit less lethal.

“So you all know that I’ve taken the mission towards that city and that it was attacked by cultists, right?”

“Yes.”

Replied Elodia while the other two nodded.

“During that trip I directly encountered the people from the Abyssal Cult, they have been, how should I put this… inflicting people with an ailment that could be deadly if not checked by the church.”

“An ailment? D-do you think that it could have happened to us?”

“There is a slight possibility but you all should probably be fine… still we need to see, it can be cured so don’t worry.”

All three of them started looking at each other and then quickly onto their own bodies. In their minds, they tried to remember if there were any symptoms of getting cured or poisoned. None of them could recall such an event occurring, their own statuses weren’t showing anything but not like they would, and Roland was aware of this.

“Wait… was this ailment responsible for what happened in Reeka?”

“Don’t think too much about it, let’s just get to the church, Sister Kassia should be able to get rid of it.”

This was also an unconfirmed statement. He had seen a high-ranking member of the church destroy the parasites but she was a tier 3 class holder. Loreena was not a priest that specializes in healing magic. The abyssal larvae were quite weak, in theory, a tier 2 priest like Kassia should have been able to cleanse them but this was still only a theory.

After the little talk, his friends started walking at a quicker pace. They all knew that Roland wasn’t someone that would lie to them. If he was kicking up a fuss about a strange disease then they needed to get to the church and do it fast.

“Stop!”

With a rapid pace, they finally arrived at the city gate. There the first problem arose which was a huge Dire Wolf with rubies on it. The moment the people waiting in line saw the oversized wolf they started backing away. The guards grabbed their spears and pointed them toward the dangerous beast which made Agni growl slightly.

“He is my tamed beast, there shouldn’t be a problem, here.”

Before the situation could get out of hand Roland presented the people with some papers. There Agni was stated to be his tamed monster and along with his golden adventurer card, he would theoretically have permission to bring it inside of the city.

“These documents are outdated Mr. Wayland but the card is real…”

“I know, I recently went through my ranking test, as you can see he is wearing a muzzle to update those papers I need to get him to the guild.”

Even though he didn’t update the documents he wasn’t in the wrong. Agni needed to be taken to the adventurer guild for an assessment of his stats. With the gold rank card, he would be also taken more seriously and be allowed to keep a tier 2 monster. It wasn’t forbidden for adventurers to take weapons into the city and a tamed beast was just another part of their repertoire.

“You are correct… Please have the new documents the next time you bring him here or you will pay a fine, next.”

Everything went rather smoothly. The guards had the power to keep him from entering the city but as he had a relation with the city lord they could not. He wouldn’t be surprised that they would have let him in even if he didn’t show any of those documents to them.

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“Hah, it’s good to be famous!”

Dyana chuckled along with the rest of them after they managed to get through the checkpoint.

“Let’s go to the church first, I’ll sort things out with the guild later.”

Everyone nodded before going towards their destination. Roland took some time to examine Albrook, it didn’t seem that anyone was taking the infection in Reeka seriously. The news of the parasitic creatures that could be inserted through the eye socket certainly didn’t spread yet.
‘The nobles and church wouldn’t want to cause panic…’

If the people in power announced to the world about this potential plague the kingdom could come to a halt. Every person would clamor to get themselves in the church to get cleansed. This could have various ripple effects on the kingdom’s economy and even potentially invite outside nations to attack. It wouldn’t be surprising if they spread some counter rumors to keep everything hidden.

‘They will probably only mention that the cult attacked the city but now how people started turning by themselves… not many people witnessed everything like me…’

At first, he thought that the only reason the inquisitor let him go was due to his noble heritage. But there was another reason, no one would believe a group of adventurers about the parasite problem if it wasn’t confirmed by the church. Yet at that point in time, no one expected the cult to retaliate this swiftly and make a giant spectacle of everything. He and the adventurers were loose ends that could complicate things.

‘Will they try to…’

“Hey, Boss we are here.”

“Was he in his own world again?”

“Aye, that he was.”

“Hey…”

Roland frowned as Elodia along with Bernir started laughing at him. Everyone was already used to him spacing out in his own thoughts for a long time so they learned not to interrupt him. Only when they arrived at the church did they raise their voices to get him out of the trance.

“Before we go in…”

He looked towards Agni who just plopped his rump on the ground. The muzzle that he was wearing did make him look a lot less energetic, his tail which was usually a propeller was just hanging down without moving.

“I’ll stay with him.”

“Awoo…”