There was something going on that bothered Jonas. Aside from what they'd discussed about what to do with Kim's army, since they were told not to get outside help to comlete challenges, there was the thing with Elin sounding… different.
It wasn't something that he could put his finger on, nor was she different enough that he thought that she might have been switched with a doppelganger. It was more like she just wasn't as smart as she had been the day before. He wasn't sure what to do about it, nor was he sure what might have been the cause of it.
If it was just Elin, then he might have written it off that Elin was just tired or something. However, he also couldn't help but notice others in Kim's army that were acting much the same. A couple of the men, and one of the women among the army seemed to have forgotten some of the basic things of life. Such as how to walk through a camp without walking into tents or fires.
If it was just one person, then maybe he'd have dismissed it out of his mind entirely, but while those three cases were the most extreme, there were plenty of other examples of people acting less intelligent than they had been just the day before.
As a result, when it was time to start striking the camp, Jonas demanded a meeting of the 'officers' of Kim's army. He had a hunch that something wasn't right and that they needed to deal with it now before it got worse. Even if it was as bad as it was going to get already.
"Shouldn't we be moving instead of doing this?" Guy complained when he showed up. "We have at least several days left to go before we even reach the edge of the mountains you said we were heading to. The Clawed Mountains."
"Probably," Jonas replied calmly. "There's just something I need to address everyone about before we decide to move on."
"What's that?" Kim asked, also looking rather impatient to get moving.
"I'll explain it once everyone is here," Jonas answered.
The area they were meeting in was likely going to be cramped, but it wasn't like they had anything for that. Even the spaces between the tents weren't set up to accommodate a meeting like this. Yet, Jonas was confident that once he explained the situation to everyone, that they'd be able to at least understand why he insisted that they have a meeting before they leave.
The problem was waiting for it to begin.
Not only did he have to deal with their impatience of having to attend the meeting in the first place, but he also had to deal with his own impatience in trying to figure out what was going on.
He doubted that he was the only one who had noticed people acting and talking less intelligently, but he had a feeling that he was the only one who was currently concerned about it. Maybe he was wrong and it really was nothing, but right now, he was confident that a problem was occurring and it needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Or he suspected that this would only continue, and possibly hurt them in ways they'd really not like to have happen.
"Okay, I think that's the last of them," Elmo said as he followed three more 'officers' of Kim's army.
All the officers were nobles, most of which were among the ones that Jonas had saved from having to deal with explaining to their families why they'd been arrested again, back when he was still trying to find a lead as to who was trying to assassinate the king.
The other nobles among the 'officers' were mostly family, younger brothers and cousins, of those whom Jonas had saved. They weren't really what Jonas would have had in mind as 'officers,' but he wasn't going to complain about that issue. He couldn't care less about what they played at, so long as it didn't endanger him. In total, there were maybe around 40 crowded in an area that probably should have been able to hold ten at the most.
Although, with this many people, it at least would increase the chances that someone present might have an idea of what might be happening. After all, they ad more knowledge of their world.
Conversely, if this was a potential challenge, he couldn't care less about getting it marked as a 'completed challenge' because as long as all of them survived, they still might be able to find a way back to their worlds, even if they didn't win the competition.
Keeping all of them alive was his first priority, and whatever was happening wasn't something that Jonas could assume would turn out to be mostly harmless.
"Alright, since most of you have made it clear that you feel I'm wasting everyone's time here, let me get right down to what my concerns are right now," Jonas began, hoping that others would voice their support of what he was doing once he made it clear why he had concerns in the first place. "First, I noticed some small changes in Lady Elin."
"What?!" Elin protested. "What changes?"
"Then I noticed others in the army that were also showing similar signs of what I noticed in Elin," Jonas continued as if he hadn't heard Elin's question. "Then there were three people who had started walking into tens and fires, looking like they didn't understand why doing those things were problematic."
"So, we're here because of some people weren't waking up so quickly?" one of the lieutenants scoffed.
"How many total did you see acting like this?" another lieutenant asked, giving the other lieutenant a quick glare.
"If I remember correctly, I'd say thirty," Jonas replied.
His response was met with groans of annoyance.
"Seriously?" one of the captains called out. "That's only a small amount of our entire army."
"Shouldn't you be worried more about dangers that are real?"
"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?"
"What're you going to do to those thirty? Tie them up because they weren't waking up as quickly as the rest of us?"
Jonas endured the criticism flung his way. He had pretty much expected it, but he remained convinced that there was a problem. Even if others couldn't see it. Especially since he knew just how alert almost all of those people among that thirty had been when he'd witnessed their odd behavior.
When the complaints died down, which Jonas could only assume happened because they ran out of ammunition and he wasn't responding to any of them, another voice spoke up, this one a little muffled, startling everyone.
"You said you only noticed this this morning? That they weren't like this yesterday?" Jonas looked to see if he could find who the muffled voice belonged to, but they were hidden by the crowd, due to there not being enough room.
"Yes, I'm saying that," Jonas replied clearly, not sure where this was going.
"Then its possible that their intelligent is being eaten away," the voice said, as people moved out of the way, pulling this person forward.
When the person came into view, Jonas could see that it was a young man, maybe just twenty, who had brown hair and brown eyes, and hardly looked like he'd stand out in any kind of crowd. Especially given how he looked like he was between 5 foot 5 inches and 5 foot 10 inches.
"What can you tell me about what might be doing this?" Jonas asked, not sure if this was what the problem actually was or if this was something else entirely
"Just that they have many names, but my grandmother told me all about them, even when everyone else, including my parents said that she was crazy," the youn man replied.
"How can we be sure this isn't some way of trying to kiss up to the boss?" one of the others. in the crowd asked.
"Simple," he replied. "Lift up the hair on the back of their head. This creature will have a kind of tail hanging out the back of it."
"So, if it's there, we can just pull it out, right?" another said, laughing.
"No," the young man said firmly. "If you try to pull it out or even merely touch it with you hands in any way, it'll burrow deeper into their mind, and could even kill them." The young man paused, looking rather sheepish suddenly. "I-I'm not sure how to get them to come out. My grandmother only ever said how to identify them."
"Wouldn't leaving these things in there risk their lives anyway?" someone mocked.
"Eventually this creature will leave on its own and the person will likely be able to recover over time," the young man replied.
"Then how would we deal with these creatures?" another of the officers mocked.
"Regardless of how to treat them, if we can identify that such a creature exists, then at least we can move on from there," Jonas said, interrupting everyone's complaints.
"How do you suggest we do that?" another voice called out. Jonas was fairly sure he recognized this one. He was pretty sure it was Guy who was asking that.
"Very simple," Jonas answered as if he had planned on that question being asked. Then he turned to Kim and said, "Would you lift Elin's hair and examine the back of her head? She is one of those who I suspect have been affected, so there would be a chance that if there is a creature that is behind this, that the sign of this parasite would be visible."
"Sure," Kim said, her tone indicating how she really didn't believe there would be anything.
Everyone waited quietly, some less patiently than others, but Jonas was at least glad that no one said anything during that time. He wasn't sure what he wanted Kim to find, but he had a strong feeling that she was going to find something.
Then when it looked like Kim had only gotten about halfway through, she stopped, and stared at the back of Elin's head in disbelief. Jonas wanted to ask Kim to show everyone, but he didn't think that it would be good for him to speak at that moment.
Yet, even though he didn't say anything, Kim turned Elin around, her left hand still holding Elin's hair out of the way. Giving everyone a clear view of the pink tail-like thing poking out of the back of Elin's head, very visible against her azure hair.