The ruins of the Ancient Temple are swarming with C-class monsters. Hunters are advised to bring a strong team or avoid the place altogether.

—Monsterpedia entry, 112th edition

Asteria

The Commanders’ workplace was virus-free, and so were the restaurants. Uriel also went to some shops in the past five days, but I didn’t think that a five-minute stop was long enough for him to get infected that badly. The women were probably the real cause.

The next day, the Commanders unofficially took the day off after clocking in. Uriel had called all of the women last night and arranged for them to meet him separately at a restaurant. We’d booked two private rooms that were beside each other. Uriel would entertain the women in one room while we would be in the other. Once I’d identified the correct woman, Sariel would signal Uriel by pretending to have just found out that they were in the same restaurant and going over to greet them.

“That’s Uriel's type, huh?” I said. The private room had a one-way glass wall that overlooked the entrance and we’d all been treated to a parade of tall, long-legged beauties. Even though it had only been three days since I’d last seen him, Uriel had been with five different women.

“He likes the tall ones. He doesn’t care about hair color or whether they are thin or plump, just that they’re as tall as possible,” said Sariel.

“Is it normal for people to sleep with that many people in a few days?” I asked. Maybe that was the norm in this world.

“It’s normal for Uriel, not for other people,” said Seraphiel.

“I guess it’s not a problem for Uriel to eat five meals in a row, but aren’t the staff weirded out?” I asked. ELs had a huge appetite and, if one were to use Uriel as a typical example, it wasn’t just for food.

“Uriel says the staff here are very discreet. One had to wonder why Uriel knows so much about discreetly meeting with people. Are we talking about bored married women?” said Sariel.

“It’s none of our business,” said Seraphiel.

“I feel something,” I said.

The two ELs tensed. A taxi had just stopped in front of the restaurant.

“Do you feel anything?” Sariel asked Seraphiel, who shook his head.

A redheaded woman got out. I gasped in surprise. “It’s the actress from Heirs of the Ancestors, that TV show about Adon’s supposed descendant.”

“Is it her?” asked Sariel.

“It’s her,” I said softly, pressing a hand against my stomach. Seraphiel and I quietly got up and left for Uriel’s nearby apartment using Seraphiel’s car. Sariel would stay and give Uriel the signal after a few minutes.

I’d instructed Uriel to ask the woman if she’d gone anywhere new or had any strange encounters. After curing her, I wanted to find the source of the infection and get rid of that, too.

“Ahhh.” I grabbed the barf bag I had placed in the glove compartment in advance, but I did feel a little better when we had put some distance between us and the restaurant.

Seraphiel, who was driving, glanced at me then handed me a piece of candy.

“How could Uriel be sure that all those women would agree to go to his apartment?” I asked Seraphiel as I ate the candy, but he just smiled.

Uriel had given us a keycard for his place. Once inside, I gawked at all the swords Uriel had on display then we headed for the guest bedroom beside the master bedroom. Thankfully, the nausea had subsided so I lay down on the bed while we waited for Sariel to arrive.

“I’ve never seen Uriel that upset,” said Seraphiel.

I patted the space beside me. There was plenty of space because the bed was huge, sized for Uriel. “Never? Maybe he’s just more comfortable about showing his real emotions about the virus now that you know. He doesn’t have to hide it and pretend to be strong.”

Among the three S-class ELs, Uriel was the least adapted to the genetically modified version of the Iah virus. If I hadn’t come along when I did, based on what I knew from “Tales of Vesterland,” Uriel would be dead soon, and the other two would be suffering from increasingly frequent episodes of mental instability. Though Uriel hadn’t said anything, I knew he must be extremely worried about their situation.

Seraphiel sighed.

“All that bluster... but Sariel was frantic with worry, wasn’t he? It must be hard on him, too,” I said.

“Sariel would rather burn this building to the ground than admit how worried he is,” said Seraphiel.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I’m worried, but I know you’ll fix this,” said Seraphiel.

His faith in me was touching. I just hoped everything went smoothly. We lay there in comfortable silence until Sariel arrived.

“You pervert!” said Sariel when he saw us in bed together. “That girl’s still underage.”

“Ely isn’t a girl, and he’s twenty-eight years old,” I said. “Is she coming with him?”

“Oh, barf, they were being extremely lovey-dovey. They’ll be here soon, I bet,” said Sariel.

“Please don’t make the fake barfing noise, you’ll trigger me,” I said.

Sariel shook his head and sat down on a chair. Despite the fake tan, his skin looked sallow, as though it had lost its healthy undertone. “So it’s her. He’s been sure she was the source since he found out he was infected by someone. They’ve met up every night since Monday, and she had a bite mark on her leg. He arranged to meet with the other women first to rule them out.”

“Why didn’t he tell me that?” I asked.

“Who knows? Their affair is a secret since she’s supposed to be romancing her co-star,” said Sariel. “He must have been hoping it was one of the other women.”

“Uriel still doesn’t trust me,” I said.

“He didn’t tell me either,” said Seraphiel. He got up from the bed and faced Sariel. “He didn’t tell us that he was sick before Asteria came.”

“Uriel’s always been the strongest, you know. He’s the eldest of six and very responsible,” said Sariel. “It’s hard for him to show weakness.”

“I wish he would trust me more…” said Seraphiel.

“Incoming!” I said. I knew from the onset of that sick feeling in my stomach that they were on their way here. “This is gonna be like something from a comedy show. I hope he keeps all his clothes on. My eyes are still virgin.”

“He’d better,” said Seraphiel.

“Says the exhibitionist,” I said.

“I told you, I ran out naked because you screamed,” said Seraphiel.

“Shush.” Barefoot, Sariel walked to the bedroom door and put his ear against it. In a few minutes, even I could hear them coming. I could sense the virus, too. There was the sound of the door opening and laughter as the couple entered the apartment. We could hear them talking naughty to each other. Blushing, I got up from the bed and stood facing the window with my fingers in my ears.

Since the Rite of Cleansing produced a visual effect, the woman would have to be either unconscious or blindfolded for me to cure her without revealing myself. Uriel could choose either a sleeping drug or a blindfold, depending on how things unfolded. All I had to do was to stop myself from puking or making any noise.

We waited a few minutes then Sariel opened the door. Uriel was standing in front of the open doorway, all his clothes still on. He put a finger to his lips and motioned for me to follow him.

“Darling, hurry,” said the woman from the other room.

Uriel entered the bedroom first.

Eek! She was blindfolded and also tied up on the bed in her see-through underwear. She was a natural redhead.

I closed my eyes immediately and started the Rite of Cleansing though it was hard to concentrate with them talking.

“What took you so long?” she asked.

“Don’t be impatient,” said Uriel.

“You tease…”

I shut out the sounds in the bedroom from my mind and entered a meditative trance. The black spots of the Iah virus were, surprisingly, not as active or numerous in her as they had been in Uriel. Lifting my hands to shoulder height, power flew from my palms. I couldn’t see it, but I knew that a cleansing golden light was covering her body. When I was done, I tip-toed away, back to the guest bedroom.

Seraphiel eyed me worriedly as I sat down on the chair, but I felt fine except for a slight headache. The nausea was manageable, and I wasn’t even that tired since the viral load had been quite low.

Since I thought we might be waiting for a while, I took out a book titled “The Art of Disguise” from my handbag. However, I hadn’t read more than a few pages before we heard the sound of the bedroom door closing then, after a few seconds, the sound of the apartment’s front door. Uriel entered the guest room a few moments later.

“Oh my goodness, it’s only been a few minutes,” I said. “Is that even enough time-”

“She said she wasn’t feeling well,” said Uriel.

“Was it right after I cured her?” I asked.

“Yes, she said she suddenly had an awful headache.”

“Oh dear. Well, she’s cured so she should be fine after some rest,” I said.

“She said she was bitten by something small when they were shooting a scene in an abandoned tire factory at the Solbjerg district,” said Uriel.

“Hmm, this is probably just a monster infected with a mutated strain of the virus rather than an actual Iah spawn,” I said.

“What’s the difference?” asked Sariel.

“It’s like you three. You’re infected, but you’re not Iah spawn,” I said. “The spawn are large clusters of the original virus.”

“We’ll head over there right now and kill it,” said Seraphiel.

I had prepared for this sort of reaction because I knew they still didn't understand the danger. Shaking my head at their lack of common sense, I handed Seraphiel a piece of paper.

He unfolded the paper. “...”

“What is it?” asked Uriel.

Seraphiel showed Uriel and Sariel the drawing of a large, fanged mouth swallowing three stick figures.

“That wouldn’t be a good idea because, as you know, Uriel was infected merely by coming into secondhand contact-” I said.

“Prolonged and intimate secondhand contact,” said Sariel.

“Do you really want to risk it?” I asked. “She said it was a small monster, right? You wouldn’t normally need three S-class ELs for that.”

“Alright, I’ll have someone else take care of it,” said Uriel.

“Remind whoever it is to burn the corpse. When it’s dead, I’ll go and get rid of any remaining traces of the virus,” I said. “I’ll also need to check if the people you sent to fight the monster got infected.”

Uriel and Sariel decided to go back to work since it was only an hour after lunch. Seraphiel insisted on sending me back to his apartment personally.

“Everything will be fine. You didn’t even feel any symptoms this time,” said Sariel to Uriel as we exited his apartment building.

I prayed that it would be so.