“Ah!”

 

Oliver shouted as he felt a sharp prick in his left shoulder blade! He looked back and saw a tall, pot-bellied man with a balding head, a shaggy beard and a cataract covering his left pupil. The right iris was green though. He had a few boils on his face, neck and arms that were exposed by his green t-shirt. His pants were green/brown camouflage.

 

“Uncle… Uncle Denver?!”

 

“Huh? Ah! Ollie?! Where did you come from?!”

 

“You shot me!”

 

“No, I shot a deer! Hahaha! Why would I shoot you?!”

 

As he came over, Oliver glared at him for a moment, but then sighed. Because he saw the bulging goiter on the left side of Denver’s neck. He backed away and said, “Uncle, you’re sick. You shouldn’t be out here hunting. You should go to Uncle Klein for help.”

 

“Sick? *Cough-cough~! Eh-hem! Who said I’m sick?! I’m still as healthy as a wild boar! Hahahah~! *Cough~!* Ah, you’ve got an arrow in your back!”

 

“Yeah, ‘you’ shot me!”

 

“No I didn’t! Don’t slander me, Brat! *Cough~!* Eh-hem… So, so what’re ya doin out here alone in the middle of nowhere?”

 

As the man got closer, Oliver could smell the rancid stench even stronger than before. So he backed up again, “Uncle, don’t get close to me. I don’t wanna get sick too.”

 

“I’m not sick! Stop saying I’m sick, you little Bastard!”

 

“Denver!”

 

“Denver you asshole! Get back here!”

 

“Uncle Denver!”

 

Three loud voices suddenly rang out in the woods nearby and the middle-aged man frowned, coughing up a little blood, he pulled an arrow from the quiver on his waist very familiarly. Held the recurve bow out to the side and then pulled back with his other hand in one smooth movement.

 

“Stop!” Oliver shouted anxiously as he conjured a shovel and smashed it down onto the bow. Knocking it out of Denver’s hands and causing the man to scream in pain because of a few broken fingers.

 

“Denver! Oliver?!” The burly young man who came out of the woods was actually Grun, with blonde hair, green eyes and slightly tanned skin.

 

“Be careful! He’s really sick! He just shot me and tried to shoot you!”

 

“What?!” Forest came out of the woods in a camouflage hunting outfit like his uncle and a few other men.

 

“Liar! I’m not sick! I didn’t kill anybody! I never killed anybody! Shut up! Shut- *Cough~! Cough-cough-aaack~!*”

 

After coughing up some more blood, he started vomiting out a lot of bile and blood as well. Then he held his extremely swollen throat and started suffocating. Oliver moved away quickly and nobody else wanted to get close to the dying man either. By the time Klein came over wearing his black cloak and white bird-beak mask, it was already too late to do anything.

 

“Don’t touch him. Don’t even get close to him. I’ll take care of it… Tell Ivy I’m sorry. I have to burn the body to make sure the plague doesn’t spread. Wait, Oliver… Let me treat your wound first.”

 

“I’ll tell Ivy.” Grun sighed and shook his head, “Come on, Forest. Let’s go.”

 

“Yeah…” The little boy was still crying, but he didn’t make any noise. Just followed the other adults listlessly into the woods again.

 

“It’s not your fault.” Klein wasn’t too surprised when he saw the black backpack disappear. Without being held in place, the arrow actually fell out on its own. It only took a little ointment to treat the wound, but he also gave the kid a few special ‘shots’ just in case. Whether they would work or not was a mystery.

 

“There’s nothing you could have done. He was already dead a long time ago… Just a walking ghost.”

 

“He doesn’t look like a ghost. I’ve seen a lot of ghosts in the mines. He’s not even glowing.”

 

“I don’t know why I bothered trying to console you.” Klein rolled his eyes behind the tinted goggles, “Now go home.”

 

“No way. I found a bunch of treasure down there and I’m not leaving till I take it all with me!”

 

“How much treasure are we talking about? More than last time?”

 

“Way, way~ more! Hahaha~! If you help me carry it back, I’ll share some with you…”

 

“I’m tempted, really, but no thanks.” Klein snickered, “After you bring everything back home, let me browse a bit before you get ripped off by Verna’s parents.”

 

“I’ll help you with the firewood.”

 

“Thanks…”

 

The two of them silently dealt with the funeral pyre after that. The body was already pretty close to the middle of the village square. They put down a bunch of relatively dry dead tree branches and logs, then Klein created a long, black metal cane out of thin air. Using it to push the corpse onto the wooden platform. Oliver used a stick to push the bow onto the wood, then tossed that branch onto the pyre as well. Finally, Klein dissipated the cane and conjured up a full glass vial of rubbing alcohol. Pouring out the contents in a seemingly endless stream.

 

“Do you wanna do it or should I?”

“I’ll do it.” Oliver pursed his lips and made an already lit candle appear. It was also attached to a metal lantern. He tossed the whole thing onto the alcohol-soaked wood and the pyre burst into flames immediately. The lantern and candle disappeared in the raging bonfire within a few seconds.

 

*Crackle~!*

 

“Do you hear something?”

 

“I hear a fire burning. What else?” Klein looked around curiously, still wearing that creepy Plague Doctor mask. The tinted goggles didn’t affect his vision much, because it was really sunny out.

 

“I thought I heard… Never mind.” Oliver shook his head and sighed. As he stared into the flames, he seemed to hear screaming, crying, shouting, cursing… It reminded him of the mine tunnels.

 

“Kid, if you’re hallucinating, let me know now. That’s not a good sign. I’m a doctor, remember?”

 

“Am I hallucinating? I think this place is probably just haunted.”

 

“Bullshit. Ghosts aren’t real.” Klein shivered and looked around anxiously, “Don’t try to gaslight me.”

 

Oliver rolled his green eyes at the spooky Plague Doctor, “I think you’re scarier looking than any ghost I’ve seen.”