Jonas wished there was a way that they could speed this process up. It had already been a few days and Elin had been able to get through around half of those infected. While he was of the opinion that they could still move on as they took care of the victims of the devourers, he couldn't deny that it would be difficult to keep those quarantined separate from those who either hadn't been infected with the parasite or already had theirs taken care of.
Part of the problem was keeping track of who was infected and who wasn't and part of it was the fact that if they did find a way to keep them separate, such as getting wagons to carry them, he was confident that complaints of special treatment would come up. Or at least something of a similar nature. Then there was the fact that he couldn't tell if the parasite would spread like a disease or how it covered so many of the army to begin with.
If he wasn't one of those 'in charge' of the army, he doubted that he would worry so much about it. After all, it'd be someone else's problem.
Yet, since he was one of those in charge, he couldn't help but wonder how much of a bad idea it was to have accepted the army in the first place, or at least not allowed them to follow Kim when they left the capital.
Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if they hadn't done that if he'd have noticed the changes in Elin or if all of them would have been infected rather than just Elin.
If he had been infected himself, he couldn't be sure if he'd have noticed the changes, or if he had, that he'd have realized what it meant.
Such as when a child sees something that feels out of place, they wouldn't know enough to know not only why it felt out of place, but also what it might mean. Especially with how significant of a problem that would have been if the devourers had finished what they had been working at.
While Jonas would have liked to shift his attention to other matters, he couldn't help but worry about exactly how the infection started in the first place. He hadn't had a chance to talk with the person who'd first given them information that led to the discovery of the devourers, but that's partly because there was still so much going on.
Elmo hadn't been able to get any more information about the devourers, which Jonas wasn't that surprised about. Elmo's View Stats spell wasn't exactly provide a detailed manual about whatever he scanned with that spell. So, it wasn't surprising that while it gave some detailed information about what he used the spell on, it didn't exactly give him information about where it might have come from or anything of the sort.
Still, he wished that there was something that he could do more about the issue. Especially since there was so much that he knew that he didn't know.
He sighed as he started to walk away from the camp. Maybe if he started collecting firewood, it would help get his mind off of things.
Not that they really needed more firewood collectors, but if nothing else, it would help him distance himself from the problem, and maybe he'd figure out what it was that he felt like he was missing. It wasn't anything significant, he was sure, but that didn't make it any less effective.
Besides, it wasn't like he needed permission from anyone to do this. If anyone complained, he could just ignore it, or if a problem came up, he was confident that Kim or Elmo would be able to handle it. Assuming it reached either of them in the first place, given how capable Lance and the other officers of Kim's army had proved to be so far.
As Jonas was starting to collect a number of sticks, he found himself glancing back to the camp. It wasn't that he felt he had to do anything, just that the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't let go of what he'd been worrying about in regards to the devourers.
Even though he didn't have anything to go on, it was clear that his mind wasn't wanting to let the issue go. As such, he couldn't bring himself to do much in regards to collecting some firewood.
Not that he stopped. Even if he was bored with it, he was confident that doing something else would likely be good for his mind. Even if his mind wasn't really happy about his decision.
Still, as he forced himself to continue, he found himself getting fewer and fewer sticks, with how frequently his mind was pulling him back to what had been worrying him so much.
When he realized he'd been standing in the same spot for a few minutes without having picked up a single stick, with a number of them around his feet, he decided he'd done enough.
It might not be the best load of sticks anyone of the people who'd been assigned to gather firewood had brought back, but it wasn't the worst either.
As Jonas started to walk back, he wasn't sure if he'd been able to do what he'd hoped to accomplish with doing this. Mostly because he hardly felt like he'd been able to figure anything out.
Other than the fact that he wasn't good at distracting himself with other tasks.
+++
Elin felt more tired than she could remember. Even when she'd been worn out from the night she spent staying awake, despite the drug that had sapped all of her stamina up that she'd come into contact with from the shaft of the arrow she'd pulled out of Samantha had been coated with.
Though, this was still a different kind of tired. Here she kept a close eye on her stats, so she'd know when she'd have enough MP to cast Treat on another person. So they'd be able to get the devourer in the next person as soon as possible.
Kim had suggested that she do them in bulk, but aside from when she got up in the morning, she didn't feel like doing that. Mostly because she remembered how she felt after it had come out, when she was able to realize what had been happening to her. As such, she didn't want anyone to suffer through that horror more than absolutely necessary.
She also worried that they didn't know how long it took the devourers to essentially devour a person's intelligence until they were done with that person. As far as Elin knew, they were already at the limit of some of the people, who were mostly barely able to thnk for themselves now.
She wished she could do more, but since they'd sent someone out to get more supplies for them, nothing had arrived. Although, she had been told that they were looking for some potions that would restore her MP, but she had a feeling that it wasn't going to happen.
Elin couldn't say why, but it felt like because it would be so useful to them right then, that if it did come, it wouldn't be until after she'd either finished treating everyone with the devourer in their heads or that there wouldn't be any at all. Which would mean she'd be on her own anyway, despite the fact that she'd been doing her best.
If she could figure out a way to improve he recovery of her MP, then she would be able to get this done with faster. To the point that this could be put away as a terrible memory that she wouldn't want to think about. Ever again.
However, as she decided to walk around, while she waited for the next period where her MP would recover enough to treat the next person in line, she lifterd her arms above her, stretching them out. The act of which somehow making her feel a little more relaxed, even though she really didn't consider the act doing anything really usefull.
As she wandered through the camp in the afternoon light, she wasn't really paying attention to anything in particular, so she was surprised when she saw in between two tents that was otherwise covered in shadows, a light that seemed like it should be from a fire, despite the fact that there wouldn't be a fire right next to either tent, simply because both tents would go up in flames, alerting everyone to the problem almost immediately.
Still, her curiosity had been piqued and she wanted to see what was causing the light. She hadn't even heard of anything like this, so she couldn't say what she expected to find.
When she moved in the narrow space between the two tents, she looked around to see if she could find the source of the light. It should be around there, but she couldn't feel any change in temperature, like she would if she was close to a fire, so she wasn't sure how close she might be to the source.
Then when she took a step and the light suddenly went out, she nearly feel over in surprise. Although, as her foot moved, she was startled to see that the light returned.
She wasn't sure what was going on, but she at least was confident that she'd found the source of the light. Not that she knew exactly what it was at that time.
Still, as she bent over to see what it was, all she could see was a feather.
The feather was clearly not an ordinary one. It was about the length of her hand, and was mixed with yellows, oranges, and reds. It also gave off light as if it was from a campfire that was just starting to die down, though it didn't provide any of the heat that a campfire would have provided..
Forgetting about everything else, she couldn't help but smile to herself as she looked at the feather. If nothing else, she wanted to show it to Kim and see what Kim thought of the feather.