[Vol. 7] Chapter 199: Nightmare of Dreams
As they continued to talk briefly about the situation, Yulia pushed the door open and led the way inside. The scene inside quickly came into view for the priestess who followed right behind her.
Just as Yulia had said, this place was more like a quarantine area than a regular hospital room.
With Sainz’ advanced magical technology, all the injured people were placed in narrow, sealed spaces that looked like capsules. They were wearing the same white hospital clothes, with several tubes connected to their bodies. Nearby crystal screens showed real-time data, constantly changing with different numbers and curves.
People in this world might find this kind of setup strange and unfamiliar, but the black-haired girl, who knew a bit about such equipment, recognized it right away. These were machines for monitoring patients’ conditions and providing nutrition, pretty much like the device Sainz had used before to test Xiao Guang and Lenka’s abilities.
Just like the magical train earlier, Sainz sure had a lot of “creative” things that seemed oddly familiar~
But leaving that aside, apart from Violet and Yulia who had just arrived, there were already many others walking around the room. They didn’t look like staff members and seemed to be important people who had heard about the situation and came either to help or check it out themselves. Judging by their serious and slightly unfriendly expressions, it was no wonder Yulia looked so worried earlier.
Still, not everyone looked unfriendly, there was even a familiar face who greeted the priestess kindly.
“Well, what a coincidence. We meet again, Your Holiness.”
The person who had already sensed outsiders approaching turned around with a smile. It was Frederica, who had been leaning over one of the injured to check on them.
“So the powerful support Yulia has been hoping for is you, Miss Violet? I must say… it almost feels like you're taking over a Saintess’ job.”
“Hey, hey, don’t make it sound so scary... I’m not here to steal anyone’s work, okay?”
Hearing the teasing tone in the Judgment Saint’s voice, Violet didn’t take offense. She just smiled, shook her head, and walked over without any hesitation.
Although she had interacted with the saintess during her travels in the Holy Empire, all of that had been while using her other identity[Dawn]. As [Violet], her direct contact with this saintess was quite limited. Aside from the brief glance they shared at the banquet in the [Fantasy Sky Courtyard], their last real meeting would’ve been back during their time in the Azure Sky Kingdom.
So overall, their relationship was still pretty distant.
The priestess didn’t want too many people to know that she and Dawn were actually the same person. Because of that, she couldn’t act too familiar with Frederica right now.
Among these unfortunate people who had fallen into a coma after being attacked by an unknown enemy, it seemed that one group came from an academy within the Holy Empire. Frederica had clearly come to help for that reason. But even though she was one of the Three Saintesses of the Holy Empire, it looked like she was also helpless in this situation. At least, she hadn’t found a way to wake any of the patients.
If it were the Redemption Saintess, Lady Philomena, maybe she could try using her holy artifact, the [Ring of Salvation], to help. But although the Judgment Saintess was strong, she was actually the weakest among the three when it came to healing. If even Sainz couldn’t solve this, Frederica had little chance either.
So despite what she had said earlier, Frederica wasn’t actually unhappy about the priestess’s arrival. She stepped aside generously, giving Violet the best spot to check the patient, and then offered her thoughts:
“The [Judgment Holy Sword] seems to sense some evil aura hidden inside their bodies. If I’m not wrong, these victims may have been infected by a high-level curse, something similar to what the demons, who once fought several holy wars with us, used in the past. It’s extremely powerful, close to or even at the level of a Demon Lord.”
“But this dream-controlling curse isn’t something I’ve seen before. It’s not recorded in any of our holy books either. So I don’t think it’s from the demon race… maybe it came from some other creature that’s similar to them.”
“Demons, huh…”
Violet didn’t confirm or deny that theory. She just shook her head slightly, then without wasting any time, summoned the [Eternal Scepter of the World's Heart] into her hand with a flash of light. She gently placed it on the capsule containing a young man who was clearly from one of the Holy Empire’s academies, and activated her [Information Detection] ability.
“Hmm…”
Seeing the priestess go silent, both Frederica and Yulia immediately held their tongues, not daring to interrupt her diagnosis. The important guests and relatives who had come to visit also recognized the famous Honorary Professor of Sainz, the legendary adventurer known as the [Priest], and all turned hopeful eyes toward her.
The room quickly became very quiet.
But Violet didn’t seem affected by all the attention or pressure. As a professional healer, the black-haired girl calmly focused on the feedback coming from her spell. Her brows slowly drew together in thought.
So that’s how it is… No wonder all the strange magical technology in Sainz, and even someone like Frederica, a Saintess of the Holy Empire, couldn’t fix the condition of these people. They even had to turn to someone like her for help.
Because… there was no illness at all.
This young man, probably a student training to become a holy knight, was actually in perfect health. In fact, his body was strong and well-built. From head to toe, especially his brain, there were no injuries or problems at all.
His blood flow was good, his energy was strong. According to the information she got from her [Information Detection], he was just... asleep. If we look at it from a purely physical point of view, even if he woke up right now, jumped out of the capsule, and did five hundred push-ups, it wouldn’t surprise anyone. That’s how healthy he was.
But that’s exactly the problem.
She remembered something Xiao Guang had told her before. Back then, Xiao Guang had secretly infiltrated a transport convoy from the Church of Truth. During that long trip, the cultists gave the kidnapped children a strange magical drug, so they wouldn’t cause trouble. The drug made them fall into a deep, hibernation-like sleep. Their bodies stayed healthy, but they couldn’t wake up no matter what.
At the time, Violet didn’t think much of it. After all, it wasn’t uncommon for traffickers to drug their victims during transport. Even if the drug was unusually strong, she figured they just had a good supplier. But later, after learning more about magical drugs from Ismael, she started to find it strange.
Due to the fact that current Xiao Guang's body was a manifestation of her nascent divine form, strictly speaking, she wasn’t a normal living being. She didn’t breathe, her heart didn’t beat, and she didn’t eat for the usual reasons.
Magical drugs, especially those taken by mouth or injection, are only supposed to affect living creatures. So the fact that Xiao Guang said she did feel sleepy for a short time, before some other power inside her wiped it away, shouldn’t have been possible at all.
That meant the drug probably wasn’t just a regular magical medicine. It might have been mixed with something else… something unusual.
Unfortunately, by the time Violet realized this, she was already far away in the academy city, so it wasn’t easy to go back and investigate that strange drug.
Making someone fall asleep without control… if you look at it from the point of view of magical laws, that kind of power sounds too weak and basic to be a threat. But if it’s related to dreams… could there be something more going on here?