Chapter 54: Saving Ankaji

At the entrance of Ankaji, two guards were standing by the gates protecting it. Suddenly, one of the guards squinted his eyes as he looked at the sky outside of the magic barrier that protected the city.

"Oi! Do you see that?" he asked his comrade while pointing at the sky.

The other guard looked at him before starting at the sky where a black dot was slowly getting larger.

"Yeah, but I can't see it properly. It's probably some bird or something." the second guard answered.

His comrade looked at him properly,

"A bird, in this weather and place. They would have already been eaten by the sandworms."

He then looked back at the dot who now grew bigger.

"Wait, that's no bird. I'll cast (Farsight) to see."

He chanted his spell and his eyes glowed as he looked up at the anomaly.

"It... looks like a carpet."

"A carpet? What the hell is a carpet doing in the air?"

"Well, that's not the weirdest thing. I can see two people sitting on it."

"People!? How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but should we sound the alarm?"

"Let's wait for a bit. I don't want to raise a false alarm with the disease going on."

Suddenly, the space right in front of them distorted and digitalized before opening and revealing two people, a boy and a girl, on a carpet. There was a thin translucent barrier around them protecting them from the wind and sand.

"Oh, it works!" the boy said with a grin.

The girl looked at him,

"This is the spell you were working on?" she asked.

"Yeah, and it's incredibly useful."

The carpet flew inside the portal and the couple got off from the carpet which the boy dismissed it making it disappear.

The guards raised their spears at them in alarm. They have never seen a portal in action.

"Who are you and what is your purpose for coming here? And what is that?" the first guard asked pointing at the portal.

The boy raised his hand and replied,

"Hi there. My name is Izumi Miyamura and this is Kyouko Hori. We seek to enter the city for a place to rest. And that is a portal. Is a way of travelling far distances."

The second guard shook his head,

"We cannot allow anyone in right now because of a disease outbreak."

Izumi squinted his eyes and cast (Structural Analysis) on both guards before shaking his head.

"It's not a disease."

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about?" the guards frowned at his words.

Kyouko looked at her boyfriend a little confused.

"What do you mean, Izumi? Did you find something?"

Izumi nodded and pointed at both guards,

"What you have is not a disease, but poison."

Both guards started to grip their weapons,

"What are you on about? The doctors that diagnosed the patients said it was a disease." the guard said.

"If you let us in, we can show you the problem and even fix it," Izumi said.

Both guards looked at each other before the first one replied,

"Wait here. I will inform that duke of what you said."

A few minutes later, the guard returned and said,

"The Duke invites you inside. I will be escorting you to the palace."

Izumi and Kyouko then followed the guard until they've reached the palace. There, a group of people was waiting for the trio. The group reminded Izumi of the middle-easterners back on Earth. From the group, two men can forward. Seeing everyone's reaction to them, Izumi and Kyouko realized assumed that they were the royalty of this city.

"I have arrived, Duke with those you have requested!"

The older man of the two nodded,

"Thank you. You may be dismissed."

"Yes, sir!" the guard said and returned to his post.

The older man presented,

"Welcome to Ankaji. I am the Duke of Ankaji, Lanzwi Feuward Zengen." He then presented his son who also greeted them, "And this is my son, Bize Feuward Zengen. May I know your names?"

"My name is Izumi Miyamura," Izumi replied.

"And my name is Kyouko Hori." Kyouko followed.

"Thank you. My man reported to me that you stated that what we are suffering from is not a disease, but a poison. I do not want to discredit your words, but may I have proof?"

Izumi nodded. It was normal that they would ask. You can't just believe a stranger that comes and says that they can cure you.

"When we arrived, I noticed how empty the city looked from the outside. When we requested entry, we were denied by the guards due to the pandemic you are experiencing."

The man nodded,

"That's right. Many people were infected and we didn't want to contaminate foreigners." the duke said.

Izumi understood the reasoning,

"So I analyzed the guards to see if they had anomalies and I noticed the cause."

"And that is?"

"Poison."

murmurs broke out from the crowd at the sudden news.

"Poison? What do you mean?"

Izumi smiled,

"I have a spell that lets me analyze anything I look. That's how I know that the guards outside are affected. However, the symptoms have not surfaced yet. They will soon though. Their mana will soon go berserk."

Even Kyouko looked shocked by the news.

"Are you for real, Izumi?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Lanwi sighed and closed his eyes.

"I see. That's right. The sickness causes the mana to go berserk, and the only way to cure them is to grind Stillstone and swallow them. But we do not have it in stock anymore so we were thinking of requesting help from the kingdom. However, you say that you can help us. Can you give us an example?"

Izumi grinned,

"Sure, bring me to see one of the patients. And, I'll show you."

Lanwi nodded,

"Very well."

They soon arrived in the treatment room where multiple victims of the poison were lying on the ground suffering from the berserk mana rampaging in their bodies. Kyouko gasped at the sight. They could see small children too laying on the ground with nurses and doctors treating them.

"A truly horrible sight. It always wrenches my heart seeing my people like this." the Duke said.

"That's why it would be a great boon if you could help us. We are low on resources because the waters have also been polluted. It's most likely the cause of all this." his son said.

Izumi smiled. It's always nice to see leaders care about their people.

"Don't worry. Let me show you the proof that I can at least alleviate their symptoms."

They arrived in front of a small girl of about six years old with a woman, who's most likely her mother, beside her. The latter looked up and saw the gathering of people. She gasped when she saw the prince and the Duke.

"Duke Zengen! Prince Zengen!" the woman said before bowing to them.

The duke raised his hand,

"At ease. We have come with guests that may be able to help with our situations. And they would like to treat your daughter. Is that possible?" he asked.

To be honest, Izumi was slightly surprised by the man's respectful attitude. He would've had thought that the duke would order the woman to let him try instead of asking.

The mother's face beamed,

"Truly! Can they really heal my daughter?"

She then took Kyouko's and Izumi's hands and tears brimmed her eyes,

"Can you really heal my baby?"

Izumi's heart stung at the sight of the poor mother. He could see that Hori felt the same as he saw her eyes moisten.

"I can alleviate her symptoms. Your daughter wouldn't need to suffer anymore. However, to completely cure her, we would need Stillstone."

The Duke's eyes widened,

"But you said you could cure them! Why do you say you still need Stillstone? We already said that we don't have in stock!" he was about to get angry when Izumi raised a hand.

"I never said that I couldn't get Stillstone."

The leader calmed down and now sported a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Let me help her first." the teen said before kneeling to the girl.

The latter opened her eyes and saw Izumi by her side,

"Who... a-are you, mister?" she weakly asked.

Izumi smiled at her,

"I'm the one who will help you. You won't feel any pain after this," he replied.

"D-does that... mean I can... go play with... my friends?" the little girl asked.

The esper-mage's heart clenched,

"Yeah, What's your name?"

"My... name is Aya."

"That's a pretty name. Don't worry Aya. Big brother Izumi is going to make you feel better now. Are you ready?"

"Hn."

"Alright. Here I go."

Izumi raised his hand and placed it on her forehead. Then, he materialized a black ball of Dark Matter beside him in the air before placing his other hand on it. Once he was ready, he cast his spell.

"Divide!"

At that moment, Izumi's hand glowed and the mana that rampaged inside the little girl weakened as a part of it was siphoned by Izumi. He then guided the extra mana and infused it in the mana ball. The veins that bulged because of the foul mana disappeared and the girl's breathing slowed down.

"There. I relieved her symptoms so she should be fine for a while."

The girl opened her eyes,

"Mama?"

"Oh! Aya!" the mother hugged her child.

"Be careful. She's not healed yet." Izumi said.

The duke and his son approached him,

"Thank you, Izumi. Even though she hasn't been healed yet, you have at least relieved her." the duke said before asking.

"Earlier, you said that you could bring Stillstone. But the mineral is supposed to be excavated in the Gran Gruen Volcano. It is also a very dangerous labyrinth. Are you and Miss Kyouko, adventurers?"

He nodded,

"Yes, we are."

"Then, As the Duke of Ankaji, I would like to request you to bring Stillstones for us."

"No problem. Now let's go see the oasis, shall we?"

They soon stood in front of the oasis. and Izumi and Kyouko we're examining the water.

"Izumi, do you feel this?" she asked.

Izumi nodded,

"I can feel it too." He turned to the people behind him.

"I'm gonna need you to step back."

They followed his instructions and the couple got to work. Izumi raised his hand towards the water before turning his palm towards the sky and lifted.

*SPLASH!*

The water trembles before something huge shot out of the water. Trapped in a floating cage of Dark Matter was a slime-like creature with multiple tentacles.

Cries of surprise were heard from the citizens,

"Dear Lord! What is that!?" shouted Bize.

"Your turn, Kyouko!"

"Yes!"

She raised her hand in a finger gun position. Purple mana coalesced in front of her finger and grew into the size of a basketball before she shot it towards the core of the monster. Once they saw the magic core destroyed, the slime disintegrated into nothing.

"Thank you, Mister Izumi and Miss Kyouko. You have helped us solve the cause. But I have never seen this thing before. How did it get here?"

"I don't know? But it doesn't matter right now. Let's solve your water supply problem. I'm gonna need your help this time Kyouko."

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Water. Lots of water."

Hey arrived in front of empty land. Izumi placed a hand on the ground and used Earth Magic. A large plot of the land parted making a makeshift tank that he then transmuted a layer of earth into metal so that the water would not be absorbed by the earth. He wiped off some sweat and let out a breath.

Tipping off the sweat forming, he turned to Kyouko.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Then let's begin."

"Tsunami/Tidal Wave!"

Both of them cast their spell and a huge amount of water was formed above the tank before they dropped it in.

He saw Kyouko stagger and caught her.

"Thanks, Izumi-kun."

"No problem, here."

He directed the mana he had absorbed from the child before into Kyouko. Although it was not a lot it relieved his girlfriend a little. He then turned to the royal family.

"Your problem is now solved. You may check if you want."

The duke looked at one of the scientists who when to confirm the water. The latter checked and gave a thumbs up at the duke who sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Mister Izumi and Miss Kyouko. You are the saviours of Ankaji. We are in your debt."

Izumi nodded,

"Well, there's one job left. Getting Stillstone."

"Wait! Do you not need rest now? It's going to be a long journey." The Duke asked.

Izumi grinned,

"There is no need. Just watch."

Soon the space beside him distorted as Izumi created a portal. As soon as the space opened, they were blasted by a wave of heat.

"What is this?" the man asked in awe.

"This is called a portal. It allows me to fold space at two intersections and create an opening to instantaneously move from one point to another."

"Is that Stillstone!?" shouted Bize when he saw the other side I the portal. As everyone looked through the portal, they could see the place covered in Stillstone.

"What is this place? I have never seen so many Stillstone." Lanzwi asked before backing off due to the heat.

"That's normal since this is a place deep in the Gran Gruen Volcano," replied Kyouko.

"Are you saying you went inside the Labyrinth!?" the duke asked shocked.

"We didn't just go inside. We completed it." Izumi said.

"My God! That must mean you are very powerful adventurers!"

Izumi nodded,

"Now, let us get the Stillstone for you."