Contrary to Lith’s expectations, Colonel Varegrave didn’t raise objections to his proposal, allowing him to start studying the mana blocking parasites. The only issue was that many preparations were required, and the safety measures were much stricter than before.

Most of the victims had turned extremely violent, so they needed to be hands and feet strapped to the stretchers to avoid escape attempts.

Everything that regarded the magical community needed the Mage Association permission, so Captain Kilian was assigned to him as escort and assistant whenever he came in contact with one of the patients.

There were a couple of reasons behind Varegrave’s meek attitude. After speaking with Professor Marth, he had been able to put his wounded pride aside and admit to himself how wrong he had been doubting Lith’s loyalty to the Kingdom.

Second, and most important, he was dealing with an internal investigation that had exploded between his hands out of the blue. After Lith had killed the traitorous lieutenant Vickas and his two accomplishes, the cogs of fate had started to move.

With the tight discipline the encampment was operated with, the sudden disappearance of middle level officers couldn’t go unnoticed for long. By the end of the first day, the military personnel were on alert, looking for three possible deserters.

The worst case scenario was that one of them, if not all, had been infected, and had decided to attempt escaping from the quarantine zone to see their families one last time before their demise.