It took Edwin two days to heal everyone. Some just had rashes that were brought about by bad hygiene, to which Edwin just made them wash before he did further check-ups.

Others had arthritis. There was no cure for that, but Edwin prescribed them painkillers. The merchants had arnica, so Edwin had made them gels from most of the stock and had told them to place them where the pain was worse.

Then, there was the lice infestation. To which Edwin responded by shaving the heads of the infected and dozing the parasites with necromantic mana. He did something similar for the fleece, except he didn’t shave anyone for them.

Then, a messenger came to the oasis and handed Edwin a letter from Hadrian. On the envelope, it read: Read this alone. So, Edwin had moved to the water and had opened the letter.

Eddy,

With this letter, I am sending you pages from Aleric Stormcrow’s book on condensed mana. You might have had something to do, ok, you are one of the three people responsible, with the coughing sickness.

What was this? Edwin couldn’t understand. He had never attempted to harm anyone. Let alone spread a sickness. And, in the personal correspondence of Aleric Stormcrow, there was proof that he had created the sickness. He kept on reading.

You woke up a woman from a coma, but you were tricked. Remember the case where the woman began to eat raw meat after waking up? Well, that is because she is a Lich now.

A shiver ran down Edwin’s spine. A Lich? He had helped create one of those? He remembered the first time he visited Wandermere. How the mayor had been oh so happy about finding a necromancer who was also a healer. It had been a trap? He felt used.

Anyway, she was not in a coma. Well, she was. But that was because she was dead for quite some time before Thorold Hafnon resurrected her using condensed mana and Harika knows what else.

But they needed a necromancer to wake her up. The way I understand it, after reading a couple of books on Liches, waking up the woman amplified the mana and made a sickness spread.

That was why you managed to find the cure so easily. Well, that, and because you are a good healer. But, if the woman remains alive, the coughing sickness will continue to spread.

I'm aware that you don’t want to hear this, but…

Edwin shook his head and sat down on the grass. He stared in the calm surface of the water. So unlike his inner state. That woman had thanked him upon waking up. She had promised to name her future child after him. And she had done so. He had gotten the invitation for the naming ceremony just before Helena and the children were killed.

But, how long until the mayor’s wife began eating souls? Did she do so now? Liches needed souls to function. That is why Edwin refused to become one. Denying a person, a chance for a rebirth was something Edwin found to be the worst of crimes.

What does he do? Deciding that he couldn’t do anything without getting his hands dirty, he continued reading.

…the Lich has to go. And any of her children too, if she has any.

Edwin sucked in a breath. Could he kill an innocent child? No, he could not. But wasn’t that what he was doing by letting the coughing sickness spread. How many children died because the blood root prices become jacked up? How many people in general? What were two lives…

No! He couldn’t think like this. There had to be a way to stop the coughing sickness without any deaths! There had to be a ritual to purify someone from Lich mana. Surely, after the woman and child become human again, the sickness won’t have any mana to draw on?

Or, you can hit your head in a wall for a couple of times and come up with something that doesn’t make my stomach turn.

The proof that Hadrian didn’t want to see anyone, much less a child, die make Edwin happy. He was once again reminded that Hadrian was one of the best people he knew. Second only to Edwin’s mother.

Anyway, read through the pages I send you. Endeavor to find anything in there that I missed. I also send you, my notes. Not that I know much about the subject, but the librarian helped.

Stay safe,

Harry.

PS: Marisa wants to know what size you wear. I mean, about everything. Shoes, pants, shirts. I might have told her that you wear your healer scrubs most of the time.

Edwin blinked, attempting to figure out who this Marisa was. Then remembered Daniel mentioning that his sister’s name was Marisa and made an oh sound. Then, he began going through the notes and the pages.

Hadrian’s elegant writing with its drawing like loops was right next to a chicken scrawl, which Edwin supposed had come from the librarian. And yet, Edwin did his best to decode it, for the thoughts of the librarian were far better structured than Harry’s.

As far as Edwin could understand from the notes and the pages, as long as the Lich side of the reborn person was awake, there will be a sickness. But, what if the Lich side ended up in a coma?

Splitting mana was dangerous, but he had trained Harry in isolating it before he had left. Mana sickness was something the children had to get before their tenth year because if they got it in later stages of life it could kill them.

So, Edwin had thought Hadrian how to treat the sickness. Now, Hadrian would have to do things in reverse. Instead of healing the mana, he would have to cripple it so much it would go to a state of sleep.

Hopefully, that wouldn’t hurt poor Paulina, the mayor’s wife. But, even if it did, her pain was a worthy trade-off for everyone who had died, so she could have a second chance in life.