He didn’t have any more time to waste, so he did what came to mind immediately; there was no hesitation.
He felt a slight drain in his Willforce but also an increase in its intensity around his legs. Almost as if he was being given an energy pump in it.
Though the energy felt massive, it also felt instantaneous.
Just a moment ago he was about five meters behind a lamp post, and now he was exactly five meters in front of it. He had traveled ten meters in an instant.
Ashton felt slightly amazed by that fact, but that didn’t distract him from the main point, which was getting to the Nurses house as soon as possible.
If it was up to him, he would continuously use the dash ability, but he also knew how risky it was. Draining his Willforce too much without an assured way of replenishing it was just something he couldn’t do.
Every now and then he would run by another person; despite seeing how worried he looked, there wasn’t a single person that bothered to ask him what was going on.
The only reaction they showed was shock, and that was in response to how fast he was moving but not about his state at all.
Every single one of them.
After about ten minutes of running at his full speed, Ashton could finally see the Nurse’s house in the distance, but something else began to bother him.
[Willforce -1]
The drain in Willforce still acted as a reminder for him to go faster, but that still didn’t remove the bother in his face.
He was bothered because of the anomaly in front of the nurses’ house. There were just too many people there for comfort.
Every other time he had been here, at most he would meet two other people, but this time there were approximately twenty people there.
’What is going on?’ he thought.
Though he was getting closer, Ashton still didn’t slow down; he sprinted all the way, attracting the attention of the crowd in front of the house.
They all turned to look, but the instant they saw Ashton’s face, they looked away again and returned to waiting.
The closer he got to the place, the clearer he could see, and if his eyes weren’t tricking him, then Ashton could say for sure that he wasn’t the only one in such circumstances.
There were about three to four more people that had directly carried the person over, and in some cases it was even multiple people.
’Is this some kind of pandemic or something?’ Ashton thought.
Though trying to socialize and actively talk to others wasn’t his strong suit in such circumstances, he knew it was the best to do, so he turned to the closest person he could find and asked.
"Do you have any idea what’s going on?"
The man he asked wasn’t someone familiar in any way, but the man just took a single look at Ashton before opening his mouth to answer.
"Why do you care? Do you have anyone that was affected?"
Ashton slowly opened his mouth, but just as he was about to speak, the man cut him off and responded to him.
"Yeah, exactly. So since it has nothing to do with you, stay out of it."
Ashton couldn’t even be bothered to say anything to retort to what the man had said since it was obvious the man already concluded because of his reputation.
So Ashton ignored him and moved to ask someone else; thankfully, this person answered Truthfully.
"No one really knows what’s going on, but people have been getting really sick and turning green after a meal," the woman’s example.
Though she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic to talk to Ashton, at least she managed to hold it together and speak honestly.
"Does anyone have a clue or a rumor?" Ashton asked again, pressing further.
without making any progress. When she heard him speak again,
Time was going, and he just couldn’t afford to wait for too long. The woman looked particularly irritated but not specifically annoyed.
"You didn’t hear this from me," she suddenly said while looking all around her carefully.
"People say Lord Marlus is responsible," she whispered, leaning closer.
’Uhhhhh,’ Ashton thought while his eyes widened in shock.
He started connecting dots, and the more he did, the more it made sense for it to actually be Marlus.
He had found his men around the banana tree when he arrived at his farm; they seemed really willing to leave easily, when he prepared the banana, they locked green, but he had ignored that.
When he arrived, he had seen other people that also had the same condition as Lisa, but on a closer look, theirs looked much milder than Lisa’s current condition.
’Did plant Blessing actually worsen it?’
He was about to dive into his thoughts when he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening; the Nurse was coming out.
A small area was quickly opened for her so she could address everyone at once, but from her expression, Ashton was almost sure she didn’t come with good news.
"Uhhhh, Good Afternoon everyone,"
"For anyone that brought over a sick family member or is here on behalf of them, I have good news and news."
When she started her second statement, the crowd was already quietening down, and by the end of the statement, everyone was completely silent.
Before she proceeded, she looked all around the crowd as if she was looking for a particular face, and when her eyes landed on Ashton’s impatient face, she suddenly shook her head in pity.
"The good news is that Lord Marlus just sent over a messenger to inform us that he will be providing a cure for the Illness," the nurse said.
Immediately they heard, the crowd went into a bit of an, completely forgetting there was bad news coming on the way, and when it eventually arrived, they all shut up immediately.
"The bad news is that the Cure is temporary, and he also specifically said to not give it to one person," her eyes straying to Ashton again.
Ashton already caught it the first time, and the second time, he immediately realized what she meant.
’She is talking about me.’