In a lavish mansion, Protaris was looking over a report he recently received with a large smile. The butler who stood near the entrance of his office saw his joy and couldn't help but comment on it, it had been some time since he had been so happy, causing him to act.
"It looks like the tides are turning in your favor?"
"Of course, Dorian, things always go my way. With this final push, my county will generate the most profits out of all the counties under my father's domain," putting the papers down, he lost his smile for a moment.
"Is something the matter, young master?"
"No, nothing," getting out of his seat, he put on his vest and a small hat that had two holes to let his horns through. "I just find it strange why Astaroph accepted my bet so readily."
"My apologies, but I wasn't present at the time due to meeting the puppets."
Waving his apology away, Protaris continued, "You convincing those fat bastards was needed to keep Agatha chained down. Your apologies are not needed."
"While I do appreciate your compliments, young master, I've recently received a letter that they are starting to lose ground," the butler put on his own vest and hat to accompany Protaris outside. As they walked down the stairs, they continued conversing.
"How so?"
"Apparently their men have been getting killed or disappearing when they were sent to Agatha's estate."
"Clearly they were just killed by her, have them send someone with a higher Rank and they won't be able to move. They should have enough funds for such a thing, or are their brains as rotted as their bodies?"
Opening the door to the front garden, they walked outside into the fresh clear air under the red sky. The butler sighed slightly, "According to the recent letters I received some have gotten addicted to something called a casino, a place where one takes bets to win resources."
"Weren't those banned?"
"It appears that the establishment is working in a gray area that's not fully documented. So it is unclear if the Duke's men can step in or not. The laws have not covered it yet, so I have urged the Duke's lawmakers to move as fast as they can."
Exiting the front garden, they arrived at the big street that was neatly paved. Carriages of all kinds rode along it, each carrying plenty of influential people. The infrastructure was something Protaris was proud of. "What gray area? If it's a casino, just ban it."
"According to the current laws only public or private establishments that have that as their main source of attraction or income are banned. In this current case, they work out of something called brothels."
"Brothels?", Protaris and Dorian continued to walk along the street as they waved to the people passing them by. Protaris was regarded as a great leader, not due to his leadership skills, but purely from a business perspective, he made sure the wealthy would get wealthier and even the smallest of demons stood a chance at riches.
"Yes, after some digging, brothels are considered houses of prostitution, a human practice that is mostly shunned on Sabaoth. Apparently there were some brothels active a few hundred of years ago, but they weren't able to generate enough profits, so they closed down."
'A human practice?', when it came to human influence on Sabaoth, it was minimal to none. There was but one Duke that cared a little for humans and gave them a few more freedoms, but he wasn't respected for it. If Protaris had to think of a human that could make some waves there was only one.
"So that Lucas is behind it, huh? But why are they successful now? Enough to even rope those fat puppets in?"
"I hope you won't mind me sending some of your men in advance to gather intel," making a small bow as they made their way to the main square, the butler explained, "While it is traditional that courtship can only happen through a man showing their power to attract the lady, after being intoxicated and high on drugs, those public rules are blurred."
"So, it's a brothel containing a casino while selling their customers drugs? How has the Duke not stepped in? I understand father often waits things out, but isn't this clearly taking it too far?"
"That's where I ran into some issues. It is not a single place but is distributed over locations. Some are just brothels, the drug trade is done secretly in alleys, not in a fixed location and the casinos aren't always open. Of course, it's clear they are all connected and working together, but from a wide perspective, they are unrelated."
"Tch, well, those bastards were just meant to chain Agatha down and drain the county of their funds," staring at a local park filled with beautiful flora, there was but one thought in Protaris' mind. 'These parks don't build and maintain themselves for free.'
"If they are removed, so be it. Focus your efforts on removing those disgusting places, that plague, from our society."
Dorian bowed slightly as he held the door open to a large building. "I will try me hardest, young master. I have encountered some issues with the lawmakers because I believe they have also fallen to those practices."
"Typical. You can use the backup fund for projects for this. Just don't take everything."
"Consider it done, young master."
Entering the building revealed it to be a house of mages that practiced Light magic. As Demons, studying it was seen as a disgrace. Demons were meant to work on their Demonic powers and battle prowess, but Protaris cared little for the taboo. One of the reasons his county was flourishing so well was because the populace was rarely sick or stuck with injuries, 'Making them available to work on a consistent basis for a small fee.'
One of the demons walking around with a clipboard noticed his entrance and quickly welcomed him. "Good afternoon, dear patron. Thank you for visiting us."
"No problem, I had a meeting with the director."
"Yes, please follow me, I will guide you to the Director's Office."
After being brought to the place they entered to find a large hunchbacked demon with twisting horns and a large white beard. His hunched form was larger than what one would expect, with him being almost twice as tall as Protaris; hence, the constantly hunched back to not break any of the ceilings with his horns.
He was used to this life and cared little for his own health, for he used that energy to care for others he deemed more worthy of it.
"Director, how have you been?", Protaris was all smiles when he saw the somewhat terrifying man, but he knew the old giant's temper quite well.
"Oh? The dapper little boy has come back," there was a defeated sentiment in his tone, one rarely heard from him. The butler had to hold back his comments on the way the director addressed his young master, but knew this was considered normal between the two of them.
"I hear exasperation? What's troubling you? I am certain your funds should still be quite substantial."
"Money matters little when you're sick with an incurable disease."
Dorian felt confused, he was normally constantly up to date with the latest developments within the county. He was the one who summarized it for Protaris, but the mention of a new sickness never reached his ears. "What do you mean, Director, you never bothered to include this in your reports?"
"Why would I? This has only been discovered a week ago, who knows how long this has been circulating?"
Protaris instantly felt something creep up his spine, not wanting to give in, he pursued it. "Where was it first recorded?"
"At the border with the domain of Duke Vesper, I do not know if it originated from the Duke's territory or if it was just coincidentally at the border."
Plunging himself into deep thought, Protaris tried to understand what was going on. 'A ploy from Alastor? No, sicknesses aren't his specialty, then again, he's good at anything. Duke Vesper is known to have dabbled in diseases, but Dukes aren't meant to fight one another, only the candidates are allowed to start wars between one another. An escaped experiment?'
Not finding any concrete conclusions, Protaris needed more intel. "When you say incurable, you don't truly mean that, right?"
"Of course not, nothing is incurable, we're just too stupid to figure it out. Any mage that is somewhat formidable in Rank 2 and above can cure it themselves, the problem is all the others below."
"Meaning 90% of the population could get in serious trouble?", Dorian jumped in hearing the director's findings. "Can't we send Rank 3's to cure them?"
"Hah! Unless you want to pull all Rank 3's from the county and have them running around curing as many as they can, there's no way to eradicate the sickness. Besides, performing such a procedure on yourself is quite doable, but on someone else? Those babes don't even know what Light magic is."
Stuck with a pensive face, Protaris wasn't fully dedicating his time to finding a solution, rather, he was thinking about how it appeared. Performing a root cause analysis on the spot wasn't something easily done especially with the limited intel they had, but it was the best way to avoid the issue in the near future.
Instead, the butler and the director worked to find a suitable solution. "If we can siphon the sick to this place, would that solve the issue?"
"No, while the sick are still mobile for the most part, some die from overexertion."
"Some?"
"Yes, a few demons were able to survive using their own immune system."
"What's that?"
"I don't have time to explain it, they survived because of their body, diet, and luck. What's beneficial is that they become immune after experiencing it once."
"So they can handle the sickness after experiencing it? If you can't stop its spreading, can we forcefully infect everyone?" The butler didn't know much about Light magic and sicknesses. As a mage surrounded by other mages most of the time, being sick was an extremely rare occurrence.
The old director almost broke his desk by slamming on it, "Don't be ridiculous! Stopping a plague is impossible, and making everyone sick is just asking the people to die! I started this institution because I wanted to save, Dorian, not kill."
Protaris held his hand out to stop his companion. "Don't forget who funds your research, director. I aim for the long-term sustainability of this place. A title is easily handed over," with a sudden spike in aura, the room became cold. His threat out of the way, Protaris continued, "Either way, we should fetch the people who are immune and help the ones that are currently sick, no?"
"Well... Yes, unless we get mages of Rank 2 to clean, wash and take care of the sick, that would be a more suitable solution."
"A mage won't waste time removing the dirt and feces of a peasant, that's the way it's always been. The strong won't bother caring for the weak. I'll try to get some reserve funds activated and support you," Protaris looked at the old man for a moment to gather his thoughts.
'It's about time he gets removed. His performance has been steadily declining,' smiling to himself, he knew he was making the right move. "Get rid of this disease within two months or I'll cut the annual budget. We won't be able to hire as many people to work for us, so I'll oversee the restructuring if the time comes."
Spoken with clear intent and a large smile, the director almost felt his world fall apart. Before he could even speak, they had already left the room. Standing hunched, the director clenched his large wrinkly hands. 'There's no way to stop a plague in two months.'
And while the imminent threat to his own title and position was on the line, he couldn't help but think about what the butler mentioned. 'Would making everyone sick be beneficial? I suppose if we could somehow weaken it and feed it to people, they could probably become immune to a lesser version of it?'
Giving it more thought, he suddenly waved his own ideas aside, 'How can we even weaken a sickness? As I thought, Light magic isn't suited for that stubborn one.'
Dorian led his young master back to the entrance where a seemingly normal demon was standing around. She looked average at best, not wearing any official uniform, Protaris didn't lose sight of her.
"Who are you? Are you here to visit someone who's sick?", seeing his young master ask her, Dorian stood behind him and prepared some spells in case this was an assassination attempt, it wouldn't be the first.
"Ah, no, my name is Amber, I was called here because I was immune to a new sort of disease going around," her short brown hair and dark brown eyes with one small horn made her one of the lower-standing demons. Not worthy of further attention, Protaris only had a single question for her before her usefulness dried up.
"How did you get sick and survive?", if he knew where it originated, he might be able to put a stop to it.
"I don't know what it is, but I can still clearly remember when everything started to change," a sad expression on her face, she continued, "My husband works in the mines. One day he came back and almost all the blood was drained from his face, his beautiful red skin was replaced by an almost pale one. I cared for him as long as I could until I also got sick. It wasn't as bad for me, but we were both sick. After a few days, I got better, but my husband didn't open his eyes again. After telling my story to the manager of the mine, he pushed me away, I was only now contacted by the people here to visit them because I can apparently help somewhere."
Hearing the story, Protaris just stared at her with an annoyed look. Sure, some people might feel some sympathy, but to Protaris this just meant that he might have to shut down the mines for a moment to see if there's anything going around. Closing the mines was out of the question, but temporarily abandoning them to find the source and fix it would be permissible.
"Thank you, please help the institution get rid of the sickness," with that, Protaris left her behind and moved out with Dorian in tow. The butler checked Amber out and noticed she was around Rank 1, nothing too special, but what bothered him the most wasn't her powers. It wasn't something Protaris would take note of.
'Why wasn't she crying?'