Year 768, 4th of April, at the investigating team's area.

"Call all available personnel! We need all the help we can get!" said one of the doctors as they were studying the dead rats' corpses.

In one of the nearby hospitals, a run-down one, due to the lessening of resources lately, Sina was tending to her patients and was thinking to herself, "Tomorrow is the day I go back, should I get Leo something...? I know he likes reading so maybe a book? But with the current situation, this is...", she was a bit sad at what the current situation was limiting her to.

While she was deep in thought, one of the guards came through the hospital door and approached her then said, "Are you a doctor?".

"Uh, yes, I am, if you need something go to the recepti-" she said as she was interrupted by the guard as he said, "Good, per orders, I'd like you to accompany me to an investigation site regarding a certain disease that's spreading among rats, I'm sorry for the inconvenience but we're short on time.".

"Uhh, I've still got patients to dea-" she was interrupted again by the guard who said "Let the nurses take care of the patients, we need all doctors available at the investigation site, don't make it hard for me, Ma'am.".

"...You! Fine! Where is this site of yours!" replied Sina with fury, although she still went with the guard.

***

"How long is this investigation going to take?!" said Sina to the guard bringing her to the investigation site, worry apparent in her face.

"I don't know. All I know is that it's a contagious disease that's lethal." said the guard as he continued marching towards the site.

"No... Leo is still waiting for me..." thought Sina, "Listen! My kid is still waiting for me at home, please! Just one day! Let me talk with him about it!" she said as she was walking with the guards.

"Human lives are at risk here! We can't lose manpower at this critical time, I'm sorry but you'll have to come with us, as for informing him, we'll send one of the guards." insisted the guards, as they kept marching towards the site.

"...Yes." replied Sina to the guards answer, looking sad, she wanted to tell her kid, but wasn't able to do so.

The next day...

While Leo was exercising, he heard a knock on the door, as he went to the door, excited, thinking it was his mother.

He asked, just to be sure, "Who's there?".

"Is this Leo Vilex, son of Sina Vilex?" said a man with a loud voice.

Leo was a bit disappointed as it wasn't his mother's voice, but let it pass as he thought she would return later in the day.

"Leo Vilex, by the request of your mother, I'm here to inform you that she will be staying at her work for a few more days! We apologize for the inconvenience caused, but we absolutely need your mother's skills!" said the man.

"Oh... Okay..." replied Leo a bit flustered at the man's way of talking, straightforward and blunt.

"Alright, that's the end of it. I shall be on my way!" he said, as he walked away.

The man walked away, with Leo still being flustered by the man's actions, blinking as he hadn't processed everything he had heard.

"Huh... so mother wont be coming back early this time... I should've expected this..." Leo said, as he kicked air, feeling a bit sad and frustrated at this.

He continued his training, meditated, and read a few books, and by the time it was 4:30 PM, the door was knocked again.

Leo thought perhaps it was his mother, who came back unexpectedly, and asked "Who's there?" which the person outside replied "Gabriel, it's me, man! I'm sorry I'm late, I just had to run a few errands for my family!".

Leo, who had built false hope for himself, was disappointed yet again, but opened the door, and said "Oh, hey man!".

"What's up? You look a bit sad, what's going on?" replied Gabriel, then he quickly added "Oh, right! Today your mother is returning, yeah? Good for you, haha!".

"Yeah... turns out she wasn't, she's going to stay for a bit more as something unexpected popped up in her work, but it doesn't matter, I'm used to her being late to return." said Leo, Gabriel felt a bit awkward at Leo's response, as he had just congratulated Leo for his mother's upcoming return, but quickly rejuvenated as he cheered up Leo.

"Come on, man! Don't be sad like that, don't worry, she'll return, anyways I've got some food, here let's eat!" said Gabriel.

"Oh, isn't that your food?" said Leo, not accepting his suggestion.

"Oh, don't worry, we've got extra food, haha, we got lucky and got some food for extra cheap, it was a bit old, but it's still edible, here, come on, eat, eat!" as he handed an old piece of bread to Leo, which Leo accepted with gratefulness, "Thank you, Gabriel." and started eating it.

"Haha, don't sweat it man, we've got to help each other when it's getting tough, that's what my father taught me." replied Gabriel to Leo's gratitude.

They started eating, and they talked about a bunch of things, all in all, they enjoyed each other's company.

Meanwhile, back at the investigation site, Sina had arrived there a few hours back at the investigation site, and was informed of the current situation.

"So it's a deadly disease that spreads among rats, and we're looking if it spreads across humans? What if it actually spreads, do all the doctors in the investigation team die?" she asked, very bluntly to one of the doctors.

"No, we've checked that, we were at first protected, but later discovered that the disease doesn't spread from the dead bodies of rats, but we're not sure about humans." said one of the doctors to Sina.

"Hold up... one of the patients I had two days ago had a disease I have never seen before... perhaps it was the same? But no... the patient wasn't in a critical stage, and the disease didn't look lethal... probably not... I'll report it anyways." Sina thought.

"Okay, so what stage are we at?" asked Sina, again.

"Well, we've discovered what I said earlier, but that's about it, we can't make sure if it spreads from rats that are alive, as we can't sample them, since we don't have any, we'll have to wait for either a dead human body that has the disease, or a rat that's got it. Either way, one will confirm it, and the other will give us a chance at investigating it. I hope that it's the latter and that it doesn't spread to humans, but we have to prepare for the worst." said the same doctor.

"I see, actually I've got something to report, a few days ago, I had a patient with an unknown disease I have never seen before, I had told that patient to go to another doctor to see if he maybe could know what this disease was, could he have contracted that disease?" Sina reported.

"Perhaps, it isn't totally out of the question! Good report!" said the doctor in charge of the team as he joined into the discussion.

"What was his name?" he also asked.

"It was Joseph Ixavior, if what I recall is correct." said Sina.

"Okay, order a search for this man, we need to be in contact with him as soon as possible." said the head of the doctor team, to one of the guards.

"Yes, sir!" replied the guard, as he went to inform the other guards of the orders.

Sina and the doctors got to work, as they dissected the bodies of multiple dead rats that died by the disease.

The next day...

The guards received a report of a dead body from one of the families that resided in the northern areas, and the guards hastened to report it to the investigation team.

"Bring that body for dissection, also, compensate the family and inform them that there is a disease that is spreading and that their beloved one is needed for the progression of the investigation, the Kingdom doesn't have much, but try to scrounge what we have and pass it to them, also bring me one of the family members, preferably all covered up, face and skin, nothing exposed." said one of the doctors after he heard the dead body's report.

"Yes sir!" said the guard to the doctor, as he went to fulfill his orders.

"We received the first dead body report since the beginning of the investigation, at one hand... I hope it's not the disease that was the reason, but on the other hand, if the disease does spread to humans, I hope it isn't a body that died due to something else... sh**..." said the doctor who received the report, and the others nodded to his remark, a heavy atmosphere took over the investigation site.

"I hope Leo is coping well with the situation..." thought Sina, thinking about Leo.

"Anyone got anything?" said the doctor leading the team.

"Nothing yet." replied all of the doctors.

Meanwhile, the guard went to the deceased's family, and reported to them as he was told by the doctor, gave them a bit of food, water, and money.

The deceased turned out to be the father of the family, and the family was furious at the request of the guard to allow the dissection of their father, but the mother stood up and said, "I'll allow it. Also, I'll come with you, if you've got any questions, I'll answer." completely expressionless.

"Mom! How can you allow that!" said one of the daughters of the deceased man.

"Quiet! If it's that contagious disease, we'd be doing something good in handing him over to the investigation! Always work for the benefit of the people, it is what our Lord has told us!" said the mother, as she covered her entire body with cloth, and went to the investigation site with her deceased husband and the guard.

As they left the house, the sound of the crying sons and daughters of the man could be heard, it was a heart-wrenching sound to hear.

While they were going to the site, the mother asked "Say, in the chance that my husband died from another cause, will all of this be for naught?" completely expressionless.

The guard escorting her and the corpse was taken aback at the question, before thinking for a bit, and said "Yes." as he couldn't think of anything to tell the mother.

The mother simply nodded to his response, remaining completely expressionless.

As they reached the investigation site, one of the doctors noticed their arrival and also noticed the mother, completely covered up.

"Is this the deceased?" he asked.

"Yes, sir!" replied the guard, "The woman next to me is the wife of the deceased man, sir!" reported the guard.

"I see, I am sorry for the loss of your beloved one, ma'am, what you did is really going to help us, we really appreciate it." said the doctor.

"Don't worry about it young man, you're not the one at fault here, I'm glad I can help." replied the mother.

The doctor stayed silent for a bit then added, "Ma'am the reason we asked for you to come is because we've got some questions to ask regarding the death of your husband.".

"Go ahead, you can ask what you want, I'll answer if I can." replied the mother, remaining absolutely expressionless, it was an almost unnatural face to have after having a loved one die.

"Thank you, ma'am." replied the doctor, with a serious expression, he had complete respect for this woman in front of him.

"First of all, I'd like you to report what did your husband go through before the day of his death?" asked the doctor.

"Well... let's see... I think it all started five days ago, when he started coughing uncontrollably, we all thought it was a strong flu, so we thought he just needed some rest, we couldn't get him to a doctor instantly, as the economical situation of the house wasn't too good, you know, with the kingdom's situation and whatnot."

"We then had him sealed off from the rest of the house so as to not let the flu spread among the family, I brought him food every day, at first it was just coughing, then it was sneezing, afterwards, my husband said that he felt as if knives were stabbing him all across his body, and he described it so vividly it was worrying, this was three days after he first started coughing. That was the last straw for me as I grabbed my husband, and brought him to a doctor."

"The doctor told us to go see another doctor, which we did, but they all said the same, we ran all across town to find doctors, which made my husband very tired, but we still had to find a doctor, by the end of the day, we hadn't found a doctor who could identify what my husband was going through, so we gave up and went home, I fed him, as he was completely beaten by the end of the day, and afterwards, we went to sleep."

"The next day, when I went to wake him up to go search for more doctors, he... he..." a tear came out of her originally dry eyes, as she continued "I found him passed away.".

"I went to report it, and what happened was what followed up till this moment." said the mother, as she finished off her report of the past few days. She broke down instantly afterwards, "I... I'm.. I'm sorry, doctor, this was just a bit too much for me to take in at once." she said as she kept sobbing uncontrollably.

"I see, again, I am sorry for what happened with your husband, ma'am." replied doctor.

The mother remained quiet, continuing to sob, the doctor waited for her to let all her emotions out, then asked,

"Alright ma'am, I've got two more questions regarding your answer." said the doctor.

"The first one being, what is the name of your husband?" he added quickly.

"It is Joseph Ixavior, doctor." replied the mother, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Alright, and what was the name of the doctors you've went to?" the doctor asked his second question.

"Right... one second... it was Valio Joice, Laffi Firrow, Fayez Sofal, and the first one I think was Sina, Sina Vilex.".