Traversing the hills in the northern outskirts of the Serpensius lands they make rest at a small temple to the god of light, on their way to Sassafreud. A priest accommodates them to some warm tea. The priest is old and has a long white beard, he's wearing typical light attire with pristine white robes that are trimmed with golden symbols.

  This is really good tea, what type is it Baldric asks?

  I've had better, Alina says.

  It's a herbal tea, grown locally, the priest says.

  It's not often we get travelers around here, usually I only receive visitors when someone is in desperate need of healing. Didn't used to be that way. Seems like just yesterday that we had a whole legion of worshippers living here, and many young ones aspiring to join us once they got older. Then of course the war happened. The priest sips his tea and looks off into the distance in silence. From this hill you have a beautiful view over the surrounding villages and woods, most barely scathed by the war. I see you are a follower of light too, he looks at Alina and her staff, which is golden colored and engraved with light symbols.

  That is correct. Is there anything you could teach me? I'm sure a priest with your experience has all sorts of things to teach. Well unfortunately young lady, I excel only in healing, I'm not a true wizard. You should talk to the head priest if you want to learn something new. He can perform revival spells, he even knows a spell called mass revival, that as the name suggests can revive multiple people at once. That would be amazing to have as our aid, Foley says. After all he likes to get a little reckless sometimes, assurance of being able to be revived would vastly expand his combat abilities.

  But the head priest is very ill, he doesn't have much time left. He's in no condition to teach you anything right now, that much is certain.

  Can't he be cured with your healing spells or potions?

  I am powerless against his disease. It's a disease we call Deleria fever, victims get a fever and become unable to do anything but lay in bed all day, as their body fights the disease. Typically in the later stages of the disease their toes and fingertips turn blue, before they eventually succumb and die. Some younger, strong people recover on their own, but I'm afraid for this old man it is a death sentence. Oftentimes in the final stages their entire body is blue. We think he has about a week left.

  Is there a cure?

  There is one that works most of the time, but the ingredients are difficult to obtain. In the bandit infested south a plant called Larafluff grows. It's easy to recognize because around the top of the stems below the flowers it grows thick lilac fur-like hairs that it uses to trap insects. About 3 or 4 of those should be enough to brew a potent enough tea to cure him, but of course, his recovery is not guaranteed. His toes have already started to turn blue, he hasn't got much time left. I should also add that it's out of season, Larafluff is most prominent during the springtime, so there's a chance there's nothing left.

  Let's give it a shot crew, I'm all for saving this man's life, and the extra spells are a nice bonus. Kilian says. The rest agree. Without hesitation they make their way to the location marked on their map.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  They travel through a small village and then enter the forest on the way to the hill. Although the place is supposed to be bandit infested, they don't run into a single bandit.

  Yeah of course they don't try to rob us, Foley says. We're a full party, and besides Alina none of us look worth stealing from. Why would they go after high risk low value targets? Bandits aren't idiots you know. Well some of them are, Alina says whilst looking at Foley, who ignores her comment.

  By evening they make it up the hill. But it's too dark to see anything so they decide to camp for the night and continue tomorrow. Much to Alina's regret, since now they have to share tents in the wilderness.

  The following morning they start looking around for Larafluff in pairs of two, but by midday when the sun is high they still haven't found any.

  By noon they are preparing to head back, empty handed, only Amaru and Foley are still looking, determined not to give up, and motivated by the tactical benefit the new spell would offer, rather than just the old man's life. As the sun is about to set they stumble on a cluster of Larafluff plants, six of them, growing not too far apart. They stuff it in their pockets then make their way back to the camp. They hurry back through the forest at night and decide to spend the night at a local inn.

  The following morning as they prepare to leave they are stopped by a young boy, around Zad's age, and his younger diseased brother, whom he carries on his back.

  What's wrong with that kid on your back, Alina asks.

  He's got Deleria fever, I'm taking him to the hills to find some Larafluff, it's the only cure for it.

  We just came from the southern hills and after looking for an entire day we only found 6 plants.

  Can I have it? My brother means the world to me, the young boy says.

  We should really take it to the monastery, Amaru says. We made a promise to the priest.

  But this is just a young boy, he should be full of life. He's too young to succumb to such a horrible disease. Alina says. Being raised in a safe environment with the best medical care available to her, she is not used to seeing suffering, and it pains her deeply.

  Can we speak privately please? Amaru says. The young boy walks about 20 meters away.

  Well this is going to sound harsh but thousands of young kids die everyday from disease, we can't save the world from disease. We need to save that priest, if he teaches you that mass revival spell you will be able to save many lives. You have a lot of potential.

  This kid could do great things in his future, he has unlimited potential, Kilian says, now joining the conversation.

  Yes that's true, you never know what this kid might become, Ennius says in agreement.

  Most people don't end up doing great things though, Mona says, now joining the conversation. They just end up helping on some farm and they're easily replaceable.

  How unexpected, the arcane mage doesn't value life. Foley remarks.

  How could you say something so banal, you know very well I care about life! It's just a bad decision, Mona says, now annoyed.

  I think we should save the young boy, Zad says. He thinks of his own little brother, who he would save at any cost.

  Baldric has no comment. These type of moral questions are too complicated for him, he doesn't want to get involved.

  A majority wants to save the boy, so that's what we're going to do, Kilian decides.

  They hand over the herbs and he brews a tea with it. The boy makes a quick recovery in mere hours. There is still some tea left over but unfortunately it is not going to be enough to save the priest.