Chapter 14: Contaminated Village

"Kanan, Kanan, take a deep breath and tell me what’s wrong. Are you hurt? Did you get attacked? Was it the Typhon Tribe again?" Erl patted down Kanan to ensure that he wasn’t hurt, even pulling him to the side in case there was an enemy nearby.

"No, no, I’m not hurt, but the tribe might be in danger!"

"Why is that? Is there an attack?"

"I-I don’t know. But there’s poison! I’ve spotted poison in the forest where I hunt! I just went there to collect some herbs and maybe hunt a rabbit or two, but then I noticed that there was a dead boar that didn’t suffer any injuries until I cut it open."

"Poison? Are you sure?"

"Yes! Even the river was contaminated! I saw fish floating on the river’s surface, bears that died on the riverbank, and even some herbivores that collapsed after eating plants! Healer Yala! We need to tell Healer Yala!"

"Quickly! Go inside and tell her!"

Kanan nodded and ran inside the village, leaving Erl to guard the eastern entrance just in case. He ran past his tribemen, pushing some aside as he made his way to the healer’s hut to inform Yala about the situation.

Upon arriving, he entered without warning and shouted her name until he got her attention.

"Kanan?" She walked out with herbs in her hand. Thankfully, they weren’t poisoned. She was the best and most powerful healer in the village, so if something happened to her, they would be in some deep shit.

"What has you all panicked like that? Are you hurt?"

"Have you heard of Angler Poison?" He got straight to the point, as beating around the bush could lead to lives lost.

Yala nearly dropped all of the herbs she was holding upon hearing Kanan’s words. She staggered slightly to a table, where she dropped all of the herbs and then power-walked over to Kanan, where she gripped his shoulders tightly.

"Where...Where have you heard of such a poison?! What happened?!"

"I-It’s the forest! It’s been poisoned by the Angler Poison. Some of the animals are already dead, and it’s even in the water!"

Yala instantly called for her assistants, herbalists who could whip up any tonic with ease and knew herbs like the back of their hands. She ordered them to get started on Anger Poison cures right away before turning her attention to Kanan.

"Take me to where you came into contact with this poison."

"Yes."

"Healer Yala!" One of the herbalists called out. "We’re running low on Golden Marigold. We won’t be able to make too many cures."

"No! No! Why has this happened now? Not again!" Yala quickly rushed to their emergency stash to see if there were any extra Golden Marigold that could be used.

While she found some, they weren’t enough for a village-wide cure or enough to clean their water.

"W-Wait! I have some! I’ll be right back!" Since his people were in danger, Kanan wanted to open his inventory right away, but he didn’t know how everyone would react to that.

So he quickly ran to his hut, greeted Glena, and grabbed an animal skin, into which he dropped all of the Golden Marigold and Verdant Orchids from his inventory, then ran all the way back to the hut and presented them to Yala.

"Will these be enough?"

Yala didn’t even care to know why he had these herbs in his hut, as she quickly grabbed the herbs and handed them to the herbalists.

"Come, Kanan. We’ll search for the source of this poison."

"Yes."

Stepping out of the hut, all of the village elders gave out commands as the situation was dire. Erl had met up with Verl and Chief Solan, so they were given the rundown of the situation.

People who were in physical contact with herbs, plants, animals, and water within the past few hours were taken to an isolated part of the village in case there was an outbreak.

"Yala! You’re just the person I was looking for." Chief Solan managed to spot her through the current chaos and gave her the rundown of what was happening.

"Yes, Kanan has informed me. He is currently taking me to the spot where he noticed the poison. The cure is currently being worked on as we speak."

The chief nodded. One could see his tense shoulders droop in relief upon hearing that the cure was being worked on. Still, his face was grim.

"We have a few people coughing already. This could be a repeat of last time."

"What? No, no, no!" Yala wanted—no, needed to check on them, but finding and eliminating the source was most important so they could at least use nature’s resources.

"Some herbalists in the area have managed to keep things under wraps for the time being, but we’re going to need those cures."

Yala nodded. "Come, Kanan, we need to leave now."

They both rushed toward the spot where Kanan first encountered the poison, but since Yala wasn’t used to running so much, Kanan had to carry her around half the way so she wouldn’t be out of breath.

"There, the boar." He pointed

Crouching down while touching the boar, Yala confirmed that the boar was indeed poisoned and determined that it had been poisoned for around two days before dying.

"Two days?!" Kanan asked in surprise. "T-Then that means—"

"Yes, everyone in the village is poisoned. Angler Poison is slow, but extremely strong. Once it enters the body, there are around three to five days before it starts melting the insides of a person."

"It’s contagious, right? You shouldn’t touch it!"

"It’s okay. As the healer, I’m immune to poisons, and I can contain them with my abilities, but I cannot cure poison. But you, Kanan, you’re probably infected. Don’t worry, the cure is being worked on, so we just need to find the source and contain it until the cure is made."

It was a bit scary, but Kanan nodded. The situation was dire, so he needed to be strong and believe in his tribesmen.

"The poison is under you as well."

"Under me?" Yala got up and touched the ground. When her power reacted, her eyes widened.

"On that tree, those plants, and a few of those animals too."

Yala quickly contained the poison to keep it from spreading, but she couldn’t understand how Kanan knew exactly where it was. Her eyes widened as she looked at him. "K-Kanan, can you see where the poison is?"

Hesitantly, he nodded.