“Oliver… Put on some gloves and grab that end of the bed.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Thick black gloves appeared on Oliver’s hands and he grabbed the bottom of the twin-sized wooden bed. Klein picked up the head and the two men easily lifted the bed out of the room. Even though Emerald, Ivy and Peridot were still crying, they quickly followed them out. Jade struggled to turn around and keep up with everyone, feeling like the world around her was speeding up rapidly.

 

Fortunately she made it to the back door and into the warm sunlight before it was too late. The village was on the southern side of the mountain, so most of the year, they received quite a bit of sunlight all day long. However, there were other mountains to the west which would make the days seem to end a little earlier than they should.

 

“Keep your masks on for now. I’ll destroy them afterwards.”

 

Klein quickly poured alcohol all over the quilt and the bed. He specifically chose a spot with only dirt that was far enough from anything else that might be flammable. Then he turned to his wife and asked, “Emy, do you have anything you wanna say first?”

 

“No. Dad’s gone now. He can’t hear me anymore.”

 

“Then I’ll say something.” Klein looked at the old man who was still gazing blankly in his direction, “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. But I promise. I’m really close. I won’t let the kids suffer like you suffered. I’ll cure this damn disease, once and for all. So be at peace, Greenstone. Enjoy your retirement with Sage and the others.”

 

*Click~!* He flicked a lighter open and then tossed it onto the bed, causing the flames from the alcohol to spread rapidly. Eventually heading up the mattress and wooden bed.

 

“It’s not going to be enough firewood.” Oliver shook his head and started picking up some twigs, branches and chopped up logs nearby. Tossing them under the burning bed.

 

“I’ll help out…” Peridot sniffled and started adding kindling as well.

 

“No… No!” A sudden harsh scream startled everyone. They all looked towards the tall gray-skinned girl who was backing away from the fire and freaking out.

 

“Jade, what’s wrong?” Oliver tossed his gloves into the fire and rushed over to help when he saw the stone girl tripping over a rock. He managed to catch her before she hit the ground, but she was still flailing her arms around and screaming.

 

“What the hell’s going on?!” Klein got rid of his contaminated mask, leather gloves and robe by throwing them into the fire. Then he conjured a new surgical mask and two thin green gloves. Instead of a robe, he was just wearing a black t-shirt and pants.

 

“Who is she? And what the hell happened to her skin?! And her eyes!”

 

“Her name is Jade.” Oliver quickly conjured a gas mask and hardhat to protect himself. However, a single elbow from the terrified girl was able to knock the mask off his face and shatter the goggles. Fortunately it disappeared before any shards of glass managed to pierce his eyeballs. His hat was also smacked off his head.

 

“She’s Cursed!” Peridot came over and shouted, “She’s got a Cursed Word on her wrist!”

 

“What the hell kinda Curse is this?!” Klein quickly grabbed those wrists and prevented her from hurting anyone or herself, while Oliver held down her ankles. However, it didn’t take long before she slowed down and eventually seemed to stop moving completely. Locked in place with the glow in her eyes fading until they turned dull yellow.

 

“Stone Statue? Rank 2? Where the hell did this girl come from, anyway?”

 

“Ummm, you’ve met her before…” Oliver laughed awkwardly and looked away, “I… I dug her up from the ruins of that village back then.”

 

“She was buried in the ruins?! For how long?! And she’s still alive?! Holy shit!”

 

Klein reached out and checked her pulse on her neck, then her wrist, which was obviously fruitless either way. After that, he took out a stethoscope and placed it on various parts of her chest. Over and under the simple green dress she was wearing. No matter what though, her body was as hard as a literal rock. Not just any rock either. If a Rank 2 Miner is twice as strong as an ordinary Miner, then becoming Rank 2 also makes Jade twice as hard as a regular Stone Statue.

 

“She’s not breathing and her heart isn’t beating. Does she even have lungs or a heart? I wish I could do an x-ray, but that’d probably be useless anyway. She doesn’t need a Doctor, she needs a Geologist!”

 

“She has lungs… I don’t know about the heart, but probably?” Oliver quickly explained, “For a long time, I thought she was just a haunted statue that could move sometimes. But we just recently found out that she needs to be charged by sunlight or something. She said she’s really hungry, but we didn’t know what to feed her or whether she can actually ‘eat’, so we brought her over to you to make sure we didn’t accidentally kill her!”

“Does she have a stomach or stomach acid in her condition?” Klein calmed down a bit and started thinking more seriously about the possible issues, “I’ll need to do some tests. No, a lot of tests. In her current state, she can’t even breathe or move, so eating is impossible. I can’t give her an IV, because… Does she even have blood? If her skin breaks or gets damaged, will it regenerate?”

 

“I don’t know. But… Probably? I’m not sure. I really don’t know. Have you ever seen a person with a Cursed Word that isn’t a Job?”

 

“No. But I’ve heard stories… Horror stories.”

 

“Put her in the sunlight. You’re both blocking the sun!” Emerald came over and pushed the two of them away from the girl’s body, “You two boys go away. This dress is blocking the sun. She isn’t getting as much light as she needs.”

 

“It’s not like I haven’t seen her naked before.” Oliver rolled his eyes and complained, but was still pushed into the house by Ivy.

 

“I’m a Doctor!” Klein also complained, but walked into the house under the glare of his teary-eyed wife.

 

“Fine, whatever. Help me clean this place up a bit. We need to make sure all the germs are dead or the plague might spread.”

 

“Ugh…”

 

While the two of them were working inside, the fire was crackling outside. It took a few minutes, but eventually those yellow eyes started to glow green again. Though it was a little hard to tell under the sunlight.

 

“Are you okay?” Emerald pulled down her mask and smiled gently. She had a few more wrinkles around her eyes than last year, but otherwise she was still about the same. Blonde hair, green eyes and some freckles on her pale cheeks. She actually looked very similar to Peridot in a lot of ways, except she was half a head shorter already and not as skinny.

 

“You can call me Emi. I heard your name is Jade? How are you feeling now, Sweetheart?”

 

“I’m…” Jade looked over at the fire and trembled slightly, “I’m okay. I just… Remembered something.”