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nIn front of Foster and Lynol stood some plague doctors, with the bird masks and everything. Just that they all looked a little different than he remembered from random pictures he saw online. In the center stood a woman with a long black dress and a white apron strapped to the front, like some sort of old maid or nurse style uniform. She wore a black crow mask with two yellow pieces of glass as lenses for her to see through, although they were opaque from Foster's point of view. She had a few bottles with random liquids strapped to her hip that he couldn't recognize even if he cared enough to.

nNext to her stood two other figures. One of them wore beige and red clothes, as well as a red bird mask, although it didn't look the same as the crow mask. Foster couldn't tell what sort of bird it was supposed to be, though. Either way, from what he could tell, the clothes that this person was wearing were more suited to combat than the others. Leather padding was covering their vitals, and they were very clearly hiding a few knives underneath the loose cloth bound around their hip. They were also wearing thick, gauntlet-like gloves that were clearly too clunky to be useful for someone like a doctor. And on the other side of the crow was someone wearing completely brown and beige clothes. This one was the physically smallest, and probably youngest, of them all, judging from their build. They were holding some sort of leather notebook and a pen, so this one might just be a sort of assistant to the other two.

n

"And who might you two be?

" Asked the Crow, and although her eyes were obscured through those yellow lenses, it was clear that she wasn't asking out of curiosity.

n

"...Just someone trying to visit their colleague, what's it to you?

" Foster replied immediately, before the loud, penetrating voice of the red doctor quickly prompted him,

"Answer the question.

"

nWith a somewhat annoyed expression, Foster looked back at the plague doctor, but without him having the chance to say anything, the Crow chuckled,

"Now, now, Condor. We are the ones that came here unannounced, it makes sense for them to be a bit hostile.

" She pointed out, before the red-clothes doctor, Condor, nodded nearly nervously,

"I apologize, Lady Crow.

"

nWithout minding her colleague any further, the Crow turned her head, looking back at Foster,

"We came here to investigate an incident. I'm sure you're familiar with our line of work, yes?

"

n

"And what if I'm not?

"

n

"...Then you must not be from around here. Finch, give them a quick rundown of who we are and why we are here, please,

" the Crow said, and the young one standing next to her quickly nodded, shutting the book they were holding before starting to speak in a nervous tone,

"Yes, Lady Crow! We are members of the Plague and Calamity Protection Order, a specialized group directly under the emperor in charge of protecting the empire and her people from curses, plagues, and other calamities that may come in similar form. Today, we are hoping to investigate a concering case of a new disease that seemed to have appeared in one of the lower districts, and said investigation has led us here.

"

nFoster crossed his arms as he listened, enduring the fact that the Condor was clearly evaluating him and Lynol in some form right now. Once the Finch was done, the Crow placed her hand onto the girl's shoulder and nodded,

"Thank you, Finch. As you heard, we are part of a Protection Order, which led us to investigating the necromancers of this tower. Your being here makes me assume that you have some correlation to them, at least?

"

nFoster looked those three up and down. Obviously, this was the first time he heard of this Order, or any sort of Protection Order in the first place, so he wasn't sure how much authority they really had. But if these guys could be compared to some investigation bureau as he had to deal with a few times before, then they might turn out a little annoying. At the very least, he could be sure that they were the real deal, otherwise they would never have made it up this high into the mage tower.

n

"I'm a necromancer, I only joined the tower earlier this week, though. My friend's a swordsman, so he's unrelated.

" Foster said quickly, not wanting to pull Lynol into anything he didn't need to be involved in. If this was something related to necromancers, worst-case being that those guys that killed Thiodrus somehow got this organization to look for Foster, then this was something he had to deal with on his own. But once again, it seemed like his appearance made it rather hard to believe that he was a necromancer,

"You're clearly a martial artist. We don't have time for your jokes.

"

n

"Urgh...

" Foster groaned loudly,

"Seriously? This again? I'm a legitimate member of the tower. Samria, come, tell them.

"

n

"Huh? A-Ah, yes, right... he is, he is a necromancer affiliated with our tower, yes...

" Samria said in a nervous tone of voice, and the Crow curiously looked at the man in front of her,

"Is that so? Then that is perfect. I heard that there were only a few necromancers in this tower, so this will save us some time gathering them all together.

" She pointed out, placing her hands behind her back as she started to slowly pace around the room,

"Last night, around midnight, one of our members out on patrol came across a certain genteleman that seemed to be suffering from a heavy fever, chills and sweats, as well as persistent dry cough combined with a shortness of breath and general physical weakness. The symptoms of a generic flu, of course, so that would usually not be anything particularly concering, but while assisting this man enter a short-term quarantine, that patrol-troop member noticed something unusual. Once the lighting of a street lamp illuminated the man's face, the imprint of a hand could be seen on it, that area being distinctly more pale than the rest of the man's face. Upon further investigation, we also found that the disease was created magically, and not through normal pathogens.

"

nFoster looked into the crow's eyes, not letting it show that he was getting a bit annoyed. It was obvious that they were talking about the guy that Foster used his 'Diseased Touch' spell on the other day. But well, this wasn't the first time he had to blatantly lie to the police about something that he very clearly was the perpetrator of. He wasn't caught often in the past, and he wouldn't let this random encounter add onto his record.

n

"So he got that flu through a spell?

" Foster asked, responding with the bare minimum. Quickly, the Crow nodded,

"That's right. And that is why we are here, to investigate the necromancers of the tower. Playing with diseases is a dangerous, dangerous thing. If they can't control their magic for some reason, we might end up with an epidemic sweeping through the city.

"

n

"That does sound pretty serious... I hope you find whoever did this soon enough.

" Foster said with a genuinely concerned expression. He had enough chances to practice that one in the past.

n

"You sound as if this doesn't concern you at all,

" the Crow pointed out, and Foster shrugged,

"It really doesn't. Not like I can help you with this at all. I've got nothing to do with that, and the only other necromancer I know is Samria.

"

n

"You've got nothing to do with it? So you're saying that you don't know any disease-related spells?

" The crow asked curiously, and Foster looked back with a frown,

"I never said that. I said that I didn't cast one on some random guy. Just because a house burnt down, you don't just think that a fire-mage did it, right?

"

nWith a loud laugh, the Crow nodded her head,

"You're right, you're right, I apologize if it seemed like I was suspecting you. I just wanted to make sure I fully understood your words. But if I may ask, what sort of disease-spell do you know?

"

n

"Ray of sickness. Haven't had the chance to test it out yet, though. Our party just came out of the world dungeon yesterday, I leveled up toward the end of our dive.

" Foster explained. Of course, he didn't know the spell called 'ray of sickness', it was just a spell mentioned in the notes that Samria gave him the other day.

nThe Crow stayed silent for a few moments, and then shrugged,

"Well, the effects of 'Ray of Sickness' don't particularly fit the description we were looking for either. But still, it's a good thing that we met you while we were here. We ask that you refrain from using such spells outside of dungeons unless absolutely necessary, and for you to report any and all useage of such spells to the Plague and Calamity Protection Order.

"

n

"Is that a law, or just a request from the Order?

" Foster quickly asked, and the Condor took a slight step forward, seemingly annoyed at Foster's words,

"Calm down. Just trying to make sure I 'fully understood her words'.

"

n

"Which is your right, of course. But no, it is not a law, but it may as well be. Regulations regarding necromancers still have not been fully put in place, but I assume this to become a law sooner or later,

" the Crow pointed out, as she started to walk closer toward Foster and Lynol, stretching her hand out toward the former,

"I apologize for the disturbance. Since you said that you know nothing about the incident, we will move on for now to investigate other possible causes. Thank you for your time.

" She said, practically forcefully taking Foster's hand the moment he just slightly raised his own toward her. Overly enthusiastically, she shook Foster's hand with both of hers, as if enveloping his hand completely. Once she was done, she quickly left the room, followed by the Finch and the Condor. It didn't take long until the three of them had left the floor, and Samria seemed to let out a breath of relief.

n

"Haah... you handled that really well just there! Those guys scare the ** out of me, seriously...

" He let out nervously, and Lynol slowly nodded his head as well,

"I had heard stories about them, but they certainly do feel quite capable. But at the very least they do not seem to be suspecting you anymore.

"

n

"...Right.

" Foster replied, looking down at his hand, 'I wouldn't be so sure about that...' he added in his mind. While she was shaking his hand, the Crow had practically slung her fingers around his, as if she was trying to see how big his hand was.. As if she wanted to compare it to the handprint on that guy's face.

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