Chapter 54 - Burdened Shoulders

Outside of the East Cato Clinic, Hakuya slumped on a cast iron bench as he watched the sun set. The bench was set against the wall of the clinic along a small winding path that surrounded the building. It was well kept, lined with small beds of flowers and shrubs. Apparently Josie the nurse managed them in her free time for the patients to enjoy on short walks. The sky was alight with pastel pinks and turquoises, the quiet low buildings that lined the eastern edge of the town cast long shadows on the rolling fields that surrounded the clinic.

If not for the troubles on Hakuya’s mind, it would have been a beautiful relaxing evening. But there were many things weighing on the Cleric of Yuima as he contemplated to himself in this brief moment of solitude.

His visit into the city had been successful. To report the situation in the woodcutter’s cabin he had gone straight to the Temple of Noga and prayed in one of the pews inside its sanctuary. For mystical matters such as this, this was the most direct way to reach the attention of the official Exalted protecting the city.

After relaying the information through prayer he heard a faint illusory chime that signified that his prayer had been received. Following this he stood up and exited the temple. As he passed through the doors he exchanged glances with one of the priests residing over the sanctuary. The priest nodded and bowed her head gently, letting him pass without speaking to him.

The temple was quite full, with many ordinary folks coming in to pray. It was the sign of a healthy government that the citizenship were so devout in their worship. Although the prayers were directed towards the ruling lord, it was the priests that received them and took note of what the citizens of the Lord were concerned about. Most of the populace would never receive any sort of direct response, but instead see their concerns expressed through the actions of the government.

The fact that Hakuya had heard a chime upon finishing his prayer indicated that the priests were taking him seriously. And since he hadn’t been directly approached as he left the temple, it meant that his involvement was no longer needed.

After all, for a visiting Exalted such as himself, there was no need to get too involved in the affairs. He was only a Disciple, after all. The Lord would not only have his own Disciples and Adepts serving as the captains of his forces, but also have a few demigods under his command as well. This was the minimum expected strength of a province that had to protect against threats such as foreign powers, secret organizations and ancient evils.

Despite this success, Hakuya felt like he had not done enough. Despite not having a role to play at the moment, he felt anxious about the activities of the Demonic God Deka and the blood priest that served under Him.

Having nothing else he could do though, Hakuya could only trust in the authorities and return to the clinic. After checking on the status of Anabelle and Lucelle, Dr. Ilec had handed him the small leather pouch full of coins.

“There are ten marks here for you.” Dr. Ilec had said, “Eight were paid by Char Char’s ward. He came back while you were out, and after hearing the treatment that you provided, gave this amount.”

“The other two are from myself, Rosalie and Josie. Please accept it as payment for your services, and also as a token of our gratitude.”

The thin, worn out doctor would not let Hakuya refuse, and so the Cleric was forced to accept it. While he gladly accepted the amount for healing the girl, he did not think he’d done anything to deserve the payment from the doctor and his nurses.

Sitting on the bench outside of the clinic, Hakuya stroked his goatee as he casually squeezed the coin pouch in his hands. It had a satisfying weight to it as the thick silver coins shifted inside the soft leather.

Hakuya loosened the cord around the opening of the pouch and poured the contents into his hand. Examining the coins he found that eight of the coins were shining silver marks, while the remaining two marks were made up of copper bells and leafs. Hakuya wondered how much of Ilec, Josie and Rosalie’s personal savings had gone into remunerating him for his help.

“The problem at the cabin is taken care of by others, and now I have money again.” Hakuya mumbled to himself as the rays of the sun reflected off his eyes. “I can return for the chest tomorrow, if I wanted.”

Being honest with himself, it was not something he was particularly looking forward to. The contents of the chest was a treasure that allowed its user to harness the power of Fate. It was one of the sacred relics of Yuima known as the Weaver’s Chest. The chest allowed its user to observe and manipulate the threads that governed the fate of people and creatures. Its existence was kept a secret by the members of the sect, and so very few people knew of it, and fewer still knew that Yuima possessed it.

It was a powerful relic that had saved the members of the sect many times and was one of the underlying reasons for the Goddess’ successes in her battles against evil cults and their Gods. However for low and mid level Exalted who were not attuned to the Domain of Fate, just having the chest in one’s possession caused it to constantly wear at their spirit. In fact, the eroding effect it had on the spirit was the most pronounced on Exalted from his domains, whereas regular people barely experienced any negative consequences from being in its vicinity - as long as they didn’t try to directly use it.

Even though Fate shared the same Kingdom as Nature and Spacetime, which were the two domains that Hakuya was attuned to, it was not a relic he could use without great risk. Not that he ever would. He was under explicit instructions not to use it except in dire straits, and he had no intention to get himself into any situation that warranted it.

Another one of the relic’s properties was that it constantly tried to seek out Exalted of the Fate pathway. It would do this in a subtle, undetectable way simply by being kept in one location for too long. Thus, every year a Disciple of Yuima was tasked with transporting and safeguarding the relic to a different one of Her temples. It was a necessary task, but an arduous one, because of the degenerative effects the chest had on its handler.

Since the chest was also protected by various anti-divination and concealment charms, there was very little risk involved in the journey. The chest contained myriad runes inscribed into its wood that contained most of its power. The seal was not perfect, but it was good enough to consider the relic relatively safe as long as the seals on the chest were not disrupted. Hakuya was encouraged to treat the journey just like any other trip, helping people along the way as the opportunity arose.

Hakuya himself had never used the chest, nor had he opened it to see what the relic inside looked like. As far as he was concerned, transporting the chest across Kumin to Yuima’s temple in the east was simply one of his duties. Thus, he was in no hurry to retrieve the relic from the pawn shop. In fact, now that he had been separated from the chest for several days, he was feeling much stronger than earlier in the journey when the chest had been in his possession.

He wondered what his colleagues would think if they knew he had pawned the sacred relic. Fumu would find it hilarious. Asuna would stare at him like he was insane. The higher ups... well, hopefully they’d never find out. He grinned, finding a little joy in the image of Asuna getting mad and being unable to comprehend how he could do such a thing.

“I’ll pick it up tomorrow.” He said to himself, rubbing the silver coins against each other in his fingers. “That will solve that matter.”

As for his wounds, once he had purified the demonic energies of the blood he was able to use a combination of his healing salves and Cleric’s Rewind to heal them. His injuries were mostly superficial burns, after all. As for Reid... well, the Hunter would have to take care of himself. The rift that had formed between them would probably not resolve itself any time soon. He might not even meet the Hunter again.

The final matter on Hakuya’s mind was the most concerning one - The misfortune that had beset the Kent family. He was still no closer to healing Anabelle. Despite his brave words in front of Reid, Hakuya felt less and less confident in his ability to treat the poor woman. The daughter, too, was becoming less responsive. Lucelle had spent the entire day sleeping, and Dr. Ilec had even woken her up several times as he was worried she was falling into a coma like her mother had.

And as for the father and son...

After he had received the money from Dr. Ilec, Hakuya asked for a clearer description of Luke Kent, the missing son. After hearing the description, Hakuya was certain that the boy in the monk robes that they had run into at the cabin was Luke.

He had kept this revelation from Dr. Ilec, and even had been vague about what he and Reid found at the cabin. He only hinted vaguely that things had not gone well, and that further action needed to be taken.

And the father, Peter Kent... What Hakuya feared most of all was that Peter was one of the bodies strung up on the ceiling. At the very least, he had confirmed that the woodcutter did not wear a beard, and so was not the man bleeding above the vessel when they had barged in on the ritual. Cold comfort given the dark circumstances.

“I have an idea of where Luke is.” Hakuya had told Dr. Ilec, “I’m hoping to find both of them soon.”

The Cleric of Yuima buried his hands in his head as he thought about those words. Hakuya had told the white lie in order to not bring more worry to the doctor who clearly cared about the family, but this only shifted more of the burden onto himself.

He felt he was sinking into an abyss which he had no power with which to pull himself out.

As he sat on the bench, alone in his despair, a soft voice spoke out to him.

“Are you alright?”

He instinctively smiled as he looked up and saw a familiar Kumin girl with long black hair and a pretty face. He rubbed his eyes as if he was simply tired. “Oh, yes. I was just resting.”

Char Char smiled, looking somewhat anxious as she stepped forward. “I- I have something to confess. I overheard your conversation with Reid this morning, in the hall, about the cure for the dev- I mean, for the plants.”

For some reason she felt uncomfortable speaking the evil sounding name out loud to the Cleric.

Hakuya smiled warmly as he consoled her, “It’s alright, I don’t mind.”

“Also-“ Char Char pulled out a small box from her bag, “This is for you.”

She presented the plain looking wooden box to Hakuya with a shy look on her face, then retreated back a step as he received it with a confused expression.

His eyes widened as he opened the box, revealing the pasty yellow dried mushroom heads inside.

“I overheard that you wanted to look for Biltishrooms, so I went looking for them for you...”

“How did you...” Hakuya couldn’t even finish his sentence as he picked out one of the mushrooms to examine it. It was in extremely good condition, despite being dried. He had honestly never seen such good specimens of this mushroom before.

“I asked a friend to help me... Are these the right kind of mushroom? Will you be able to help out Lucelle and her mother with these?”

Hakuya placed the mushroom back in the box as he closed it and stood up. “Yes, yes I think this will be enough.”

He felt something stir in his heart as he looked at the relieved and joyful expression of the girl in front of him - a feeling of hope, pulling him out of the abyss in his heart.

“I need to start preparing this right away.” He said, then added, “If you’d like to help, you’re welcome to join me.”

The girl looked incredibly excited for a moment before a thought tempered her emotions. “How.. How much medicine will you be able to make from that?”

“Enough for Lucelle and her mother, for sure.” Hakuya said.

“But not more?” Char Char asked.

“Maybe one or two more patients...” Hakuya frowned, “Why? Are there more people infected?”

Char Char nodded. “I think there are. The mushroom seller said that his friend was suffering from the same thing... I’m worried that we might need more medicine.”

“If the medicine works, then I’ll look for more after.” Hakuya said, “But even still, to be able to find more...”

“I can get more!” Char Char said, “I don’t know how much, but... I’m going to meet some people tonight and hopefully I’ll have more Biltishroom for you to make medicine from. Please don’t take it the wrong way, I really want to help you make the medicine... But I think that this is really important too.”

Hakuya did a double take as he looked at the girl, who seemingly had no problem finding this rarest of mushrooms. “That sounds like a good plan. If this works out, you’ll be the saviour of many people.”

“No...” Char Char smiled shyly, shaking her head, “I.. I’m not doing anything amazing. Not like you and Reid... I just want to help where I can.”

Hakuya found himself unable to hold back a smile as he felt a renewed energy coursing through his body. “Alright, I’ll count on you to find more of the mushroom, and you can count on me to save Anabelle and Lucelle.”

“Okay!” Char Char said. “Thank you!”

Hakuya watched her take off down the street. When she reached the end of the road she turned and waved to him before disappearing around the corner.

With a quiet determination he turned and walked into the clinic, gripping the box of mushrooms firmly in his hands.