Chương 225: Chapter : 225

The Silverleaf Jungle waited. And Ken Eliot was not the kind of person who walked into a jungle without a plan. Even if that plan involved stealing things from Royal Princes and hoping nobody noticed.

Dr. Chiha worked tirelessly through the night. The old physician had not left Luna's bedside for even a single moment since he began. His white hair was soaked with sweat, and his hands trembled from the sheer amount of mana he had poured into the suppression spell. But he did not stop. He could not stop. Every time the Blue Decay surged forward, he pushed it back with another pulse of golden healing magic. It was like trying to hold back the tide with his bare hands. Exhausting. Relentless. Necessary.

By the time the first gray light of dawn crept through the bedroom window, the blue veins on Luna's neck had stopped spreading. They still pulsed with their sickly light, but they had retreated slightly, pushed back by the sheer force of Chiha's suppression magic. The old doctor finally pulled his hands away. He sat down heavily on the wooden stool beside the bed and pressed his palms against his face. His whole body shook with exhaustion. He felt like he had aged ten years in a single night.

Princess Iris was waiting at the door. She had not slept either. Her violet eyes were ringed with dark circles, but they were sharp and alert. She stepped into the room quietly, her small hands clasped in front of her.

"How is she?" Iris asked. Chiha looked up at the princess. His face was gray and drawn, but there was a flicker of something in his old eyes. Not hope. Not exactly. More like a very thin, very fragile thread of possibility.

"She is stable," he said.

"The suppression is holding. But Princess, you must understand what that means." Iris nodded slowly.

"Tell me."

"The suppression will hold for exactly one week," Chiha said. His voice was heavy and grim.

"Not a single day longer. The Blue Decay is too aggressive. My magic can cage it, but the cage degrades over time. In seven days, the bars will begin to crack."

"And after seven days?" Iris asked, though she already knew the answer.

"The poison will break free and consume her mana channels within hours. There will be nothing anyone can do." Chiha wiped the sweat from his brow with a trembling hand.

"I am sorry. That is the absolute best I can do." Iris closed her eyes. A muscle in her jaw twitched. Then she opened them again, and her violet eyes were burning with quiet, fierce determination.

"One week. That is enough. We will find the cure before then." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. She turned and walked down the hallway to the main living room, where the rest of her vanguard was already assembled. Nobody had slept well. The mood was tense, urgent, and focused.

"Dr. Chiha has given us one week," Iris announced. Her voice was calm but iron-firm.

"We leave for the Silverleaf Jungle this morning. Luna stays here under the doctor's care. The rest of us move out immediately." There were no arguments. No hesitation. Everyone was already packed and ready. They had been ready since last night. Zinia was checking her earth-reinforced boots by the door. Laxmi was doing quick shadow punches near the window, small flames flickering around her knuckles. Ira sat perfectly still on the couch, her water mana already gathered around her hands like invisible gloves.

Sayma had her notebook open and her glasses on, reviewing the copied pages from Hephaestus's encyclopedia. She had already calculated three possible routes into the Silverleaf Jungle based on the limited geographical data available. Naomi stood near the front door, her twin daggers strapped to her thighs, her red hair pulled back in a tight, practical braid. She looked tense and ready, like a coiled spring waiting to be released.

And Ken was leaning against the wall near the staircase, his eyes half-closed, his cheap navy blue suit as wrinkled as ever. He looked like he was about to fall asleep standing up. A small piece of paper was sticking out of his inside jacket pocket, but nobody noticed it.

"Let us go," Iris said. Laxmi cracked her knuckles and grinned.

"Finally. I have been ready to punch something since last night. This jungle does not know what is coming."

"We are not going there to punch things," Sayma said, closing her notebook with a snap.

"We are going there to find information and negotiate with a reclusive tribe."

"I can negotiate with my fists," Laxmi said cheerfully.

"No," everyone said at the same time. They filed out of the estate and into the bright morning sun. The streets of the capital were already busy with merchants and soldiers and ordinary people going about their ordinary lives, completely unaware that a girl was dying just a few blocks away. The journey to the Silverleaf Jungle took most of the morning by carriage.

The roads grew rougher as they left the city behind, and the paved stones gradually gave way to packed dirt, then to wild grass, then to nothing but jungle growth. The carriage could go no further. They climbed out and stood at the jungle's edge. The Silverleaf Jungle rose before them like a massive green wall. The trees were so tall their tops vanished into the clouds. Their trunks were wider than houses, wrapped in thick vines and glowing moss. The darkness between them was absolute.

Iris took one last look back at the capital, far in the distance. Then she turned to face the jungle.

"Stay close. Watch each other's backs. We move as one unit."

"Here we go," Naomi said, drawing her daggers. She took a deep breath and stepped into the jungle first. The humidity hit them like a physical blow. Within seconds, their clothes were soaked through. The air was thick and wet and hot, like breathing inside a steaming pot. Sweat poured down every face. The vines were everywhere. Thick as steel cables, they hung from every branch and coiled around every trunk. They grabbed at ankles and snagged on shoulders.

Every step required pushing through a wall of green that seemed to actively resist their progress. The mud was even worse. What looked like solid ground would suddenly give way, sucking a boot down into ankle-deep muck. Zinia nearly lost a shoe. Laxmi stumbled and had to grab a vine to stay upright, which turned out to be a mistake because the vine was alive and tried to wrap around her wrist.

"Off! Off off off!" Laxmi shouted, torching the vine with a burst of flame. It recoiled hissing.

"I hate this place! Everything here is trying to eat me!"

"The vine was not trying to eat you," Sayma said, pushing her glasses up.

"It was simply responding to pressure and body heat. A natural defense mechanism."

"It wrapped around my wrist, Sayma. That is personal."