Ch. 261: The Forest in the Attic

Lily was about to hit the ground when Mo Fei lunged forward and caught her just before she landed.

Through her robe, her body burned alarmingly hot.

She's caught it!? This is bad, I have to get her treated... Right, Victor!

He hauled one of her arms over his shoulder and shoved the workshop door open.

"M-Mr. Mo Fei?"

Mo Fei made straight for the basement, leaving Toby's voice behind.

"Victor!" he shouted all the way down the stairs. "Victor, I need help!"

Victor glanced up and swept everything on the operating table to one side.

"Put her here."

Mo Fei laid Lily down. Victor grabbed the crooked cloth mask and tied it on, bent to listen to her chest, then fetched a needle and gave her an injection.

He pressed the side of her neck and waited a while, then switched to another vial and injected that too. Only after a good while longer did he lay the back of his hand against her forehead.

"Fever's down."

Her chest still rose and fell, shallow and fast, each breath carrying a rasp from her throat, and before long she coughed a few more times.

Victor watched her until she finished, a frown settling in. "The fever drug works, but it can't stop the cough. Something's off."

"Her lungs were never good. She was injured once, and ordinary medicine and magic couldn't fix it."

"That explains it." Victor listened again, then straightened. "So it's mainly the old lung injury, with the sickness going around out there layered on top. Anything finer than that, I can't say."

"Can it be treated?"

"I can hold it down for a while. I can't cure it."

Can't cure it... Go get the beak mask back from Guy? But the people lying in the treatment station are waiting on it too...

Another bout of coughing came from the operating table. Mo Fei looked down at her and remembered her standing at the shop door, saying "my lungs are bad."

"What about Lungclear Herb?" He raised his head. "Would that work on her?"

"Lungclear Herb?" Victor thought it over. "That's a herb for lung disease. I don't know how much it would help with the old injury, but it does fit the sickness going around outside. We could try making it into medicine."

"Great, then—"

"I don't have any."

Mo Fei clenched his fists. She grows it herself, but I don't even know where...

"...I do."

The voice was barely a breath. Mo Fei hurried closer. Lily's eyes were half open and her lips were moving, and haltingly she gave the name of a street in the Lower City and an old apartment building on it.

"Top floor... the attic."

Her hand fumbled at her side and found her satchel, and her fingertips hooked at it several times before pulling out a key. Mo Fei quickly reached out and took it.

"The herbs... are on the roof."

"Got it. The roof."

But her fingers caught his sleeve. She drew a breath, and the breath brought out two more coughs.

"Needs... fragrance..."

"Fragrance?" Mo Fei leaned his ear in closer. "Lungclear Herb smells strong, right? Okay, I'll remember."

Her mouth moved once more, without a sound. Her eyelids slowly closed, and the fingers hooked on his sleeve slid away.

"Lily?"

Victor pressed her neck. "She just passed out."

Mo Fei closed his hand around the key. "How much do I need to pick?"

"Making medicine takes trial and error, and one batch might not work. Three plants at least."

"What does it look like? I only saw it once, and I don't remember well."

"Dark green, leaves growing in pairs, slightly wrinkled, with faint white-gold veins."

"The medicine and treatment fees are on me. If you want a few months of rent waived to cover it, just say so."

"No need." Victor waved a hand. "Don't take too long."

Mo Fei took the stairs in a few strides.

Mira and Toby were waiting beside the basement entrance, and when he came up, Mira hurried over first.

"M-Mr. Mo Fei, Miss Lily, is she..."

As Mira came closer, Mo Fei touched his own face. His nose and mouth were bare.

Damn, I forgot everything in the rush!

"Don't come closer!"

Mira's steps halted. He pulled out the mask Guy had given him and tied it on, then looked at their faces. I should get a few masks for them too.

"She has the contagious kind. Stay away from the basement, and keep your distance from me, too."

Mira hurriedly backed off several steps. Toby didn't move.

"I-I've already stood in the smoke, so I won't catch it." He twisted the hem of his robe. "If Miss Lily needs someone to look after her, people from the c-church can come over. My mother, back then, was also..."

"No. She can barely breathe right now. If your church comes over, are you going to smoke her too?"

Toby opened his mouth, then lowered his head.

"I'm leaving the workshop to you. Whatever Victor needs, help him out." Mo Fei headed for the door. "I'm going to get the herbs."

"Y-yes!" Mira answered.

Outside, Mo Fei reached to check for the key, but the first thing he touched was the slip printer, compressed into a block.

Almost forgot.

He went back into the workshop and set the unit on the workbench. "Mira, once the data's converted, hook it up to the machine and give it a try." Only then did he step onto the footboard of the mobile device.

---

The old stone buildings on that street were packed shoulder to shoulder, wooden sheds cobbled together here and there on their roofs. He took the creaking wooden stairs of the old apartment building two at a time, reached the top floor, and pushed the key into the low door at the very end.

The door opened and a damp smell of greenery rushed out to meet him. He charged in without a second thought and put his foot down on the wooden floor.

Creak!

The shadows by the door moved. Thick gray-violet stems rose together from the base of the wall, hooked scales fanning open into funnel mouths, and lunged at him.

Aren't those the vines from the Academy's herb garden? Lily, you use these to guard your door?

Mo Fei jumped aside, and a hook slid past his sleeve.

Renos got stuck because the more he cut, the more grew back, until he was tangled up in a net of vines... Back then these things lunged at whichever side made noise, so then...

He grabbed a few coins from his pocket and threw them to the other side.

Clink-clatter!

The coins bounced and rolled across the boards. The vines poised in midair paused, then turned in unison toward the corner, their scales scraping the floor with a rustle.

Mo Fei took the chance to tiptoe inside.

Inside were a narrow bed, a desk piled with books, a shelf crowded with bottles and jars, and a wool blanket draped over the back of a chair.

He glanced back at the vines. Lily, you walk past this thing every day when you come home?

Looking off to the side, he saw a whole curtain of thin vines hanging from the rafters, green light seeping between them, as if a path lay beyond. He pushed the tendrils apart and slipped through.

Behind the curtain was green as far as the eye could see. Thin vines climbed from the floor up over the rafters, and a skylight opened above, its light filtering down through translucent leaves until it was pale and soft. Small flowers of every color dotted the foliage, and the warm air was thick with the scent of herbs. The plants were packed so tightly that only a narrow path remained.

This is the Attic Forest!? So that's what the Young Lady meant by "the Witch of the Attic Forest."

The coins had long since stopped ringing, and the rustling behind him was growing closer. He looked back to see gray-violet stems pushing in through the gaps in the curtain.

Mo Fei broke into a run, not caring how loudly his footsteps rang out, and in a few strides reached the wooden ladder beneath the skylight. He scrambled up on hands and feet and pushed the skylight open.

Light flooded in. He squinted as he poked his head out.

A trellis stood on the sloped roof, ringed on the outside by a solid wall of thorns. Along its crossbeams, every so often, squatted a stubby plant, its top swollen into a round head with a round mouth opening at the front.

The round mouths formed a circle, all facing inward. But the ones nearest him had moved, slowly turning his way.

Mo Fei stared at the muzzles aimed at him, his mouth twitching.

Why are there Peashooters here too... Lily, are you playing tower defense on the roof!?