The next morning I've decided to meet with the preacher earlier than promised, as attempting to sleep with both Abi and Miss Mariel's snoring was impossible. That gave me two information, firstly that the priest was called Joachim, and the second that the mission might be a full blown investigation.

  The general situation was fairly simple. The local river was full of surface copper and people have been sifting through the waters to gather the ore lumps. This simple method allowed them to gather metal for smelting, without the need for mining underground. Problem is, for a week now people have been too scared to fully work, as some strangers in robes were seen around the river banks, and simultaneously the water turned from deep orange color of rust, into a ever shifting rainbow of colors.

  This already was quite suspicious, as that would require a steady supply of dyeing agents in the water, like a tailor's workshop. Thing is, the river went deeper into the the forest, far away from any settlements. I've accepted the request but informed the priest that if it's made by some form of organization or a group, there might be a fight breaking out and I couldn't promise that blood wouldn't be shed. He wasn't happy but accepted, citing that his flock - the people - deserve to work in peace, without getting potentially poisoned by some illegal manufactory. That confirmation was enough to satisfy me, and so I met up with Abi back at the grandma's house and informed her about the details of what we know so far.

  She helped me put on the chainmail I've discarded for the night, and then we both got fully ready for departure.

  "We'll eat breakfast on the way. We need to see the river in person to see what's going on."

  "Mhm, got you." It didn't take her long to already pull out a little package of cloth. She unwrapped it, revealing some dried bacon, taking joy in eating it.

  "I hope you didn't spent ALL the money from the reward for Kastan. In this line of work, buying new equipment is sadly an often occurrence, both for weapons and clothes. And I will not sponsor you a spare pair of pants another time."

  "No need to." She quickly responded, mouth full of bacon. She ate it fast, as if manners didn't exist.

  Getting to the river took about 20 minutes, which at first surprised me. Why would the villagers live so far from it. Then I stepped out of the dirt path, and my foot sank good five inches into the water and grass. The entire bank of the river was a floodplain, hidden under tall grass. Luckily I had Abi to help me get out, without losing my shoe.

  "Swamps, copper rivers, massive menhirs. What's next in this damned forest?" I cursed at the situation, as every other step now made a loud squelching sound, with all the water I managed to get into the boot in this short amount of time.

  Even if Abi knew how to control the water and get it out, I didn't manage to ask her, as something already took my attention. I could see the river few dozen feet away from me, and it was as crazy as the priest have described.

  The water moved slow, with barely visible ripples. The surface shone in different colors, with vibrant blues, yellows, greens and even reds. I've carefully approached it, trying not to sink in again, Abigail right behind me, far more careful. Her footwear was brand new, so she had more reasons not to ruin it with the water.

  "Have you ever seen something like that?" The redhead spoke, when we both reached the bank.

  I've knelt down and sank my bare hand into the water, feeling it thick as oil. Each brush of my fingers uncovering a different color from underneath the surface one. "No. If there's a tailoring workshop, they usually use one dye for as large of a batch as possible. It's also thick as tar."

  At my comment, the mage started waving her hands around, first gentle, then more roughly, as if trying to rip the water out of the river.

  "Nothing. The water is not only contaminated with copper, but also this colorful thing. My magics can't grasp it, just goes through my fingers." She sighed loudly, moving a hand through her hair. "My mana cannot recognize it as water anymore."

  She was completely dejected, with an expression of a beaten puppy. I've stood up and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "No worries, water's everywhere here. Let's go up the stream and find the reason it's all like this."

  Abi nodded to that comment and we started walking in silence. She spent the time observing the surroundings, sometimes using her magic to control a bit of water out of the bog, as if checking how far from the river the contamination goes.

  I, on the other hand was recalling the rant I've witnessed from the guild clerk, back in Amandor. If the lunatic that sold the cheap hair dyes to the adventurers was somehow connected to this river, there might be some operation going on. Hopefully not a large gang.

  We kept going for about an hour up the stream without seeing a single clue. Not a person, a sound or a reason for all this oily substance, simply a rocky river bank and nature. But after all that walking, the silence has been broken by whistling. It was a cheerful rhythm, going through the wood for a bit, then silence for few good seconds, a splash of water, another patch of silence and return of whistling. Someone was working at a steady pace, killing time with a bit of music. Not a good sign.

  "Let's sneak over, let's hide in the tall grass." I've whispered to Abi, who nodded and went first, stepping deeper into wilderness, until mostly invisible from the bank. I thought about overtaking her, but my slightly jingling chainmail was making enough noise to potentially alarm the target, and so the redhead went first, with me few feet behind her.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Few dozen steps, and we both were hiding behind a bush, observing what seemed like a small workshop. There was a net strung across the river, with large slabs of unknown material on the ropes, being washed by the stream. On the bank were few men sitting on stools, with big tubs in between their legs, where more of those slabs were soaking. We had to observe their work routine for few minutes to fully comprehend the process of what they were doing.

  The slabs were in fact large, grey scales of some reptile. They had a pile of those scales next to them, picking one every so often and throwing it into the tubs, filled with some kind of oil. While the scales were soaking, they took a large spike and stabbed it across the entire surface from both sides over the next few minutes, and by the end of the stabbing, they threw the scales into the river, to be caught by a net. I could see some sort of colorful mucus coming out from them, seeping into the water and coloring it in those bright colors.

  "I think, that I might know what these are." Said Abi, as she leaned over to my ear to whisper extra quietly to me. "Basilisk scales."

  Hearing that, I've turned over and raised an eyebrow. Basilisks were large lizards, known for their powerful poison. At least that's what I heard over the years. Not only were they not native to the province of Marubia. Hell, not even in the entire Kingdom of Narva! These large reptiles were specifically living in much hotter climate, far in the south.

  "How do you know?"

  "The liquid they leak into the water - basilisk mucus. A strong poison. So strong in fact, a single drop can cause severe paralysis in the entire human body. My master had a bit of it in his alchemy lab, told me to never touch the bottle."

  As she spoke, I carefully observed the scales, and how the orange water turns into a rainbow oily mess. "And they're injecting the scales with something that neutralizes that mucus. I touched the water and nothing happened."

  "Maybe. Nevertheless, I could not imagine why are they doing it." She paused for a moment and locked her eyes on the scales in the netting. After a good minute, she gasped. "I just noticed. The scales turn a different color after a moment."

  I looked over to the river myself, noticing what she meant. The grey scales released the see through liquid, but when it touched the water it started changing color. Different scales produced different colors, so it must be three different liquids in those tubs. But the scales themselves turned from grey into deep brown, resembling tree bark. For a moment we simply looked without a word between us, as we tried to figure out why.

  "Any rare wood used in alchemy?" I asked after a moment.

  "I think there was bark used in body strengthening potions. Anyway, do we attack them?"

  "No, better to get out of here. We don't know how big is the operation yet. Better to let it continue."

  I must have whispered a bit too loud, as one of the working men looked up from the tub, staring in our general direction. His abrupt pause in whistling brought the attention of his two buddies. I wanted to curse myself for yapping to eagerly while hiding.

  For a moment I thought that they might ignore the sound and go back to work, but suddenly one of them stood up and started walking away from the river, deeper into the woods, fast-walking. We've been discovered.

  "We run!" I barked out the order, as I stood up and started running down the stream, where we came from. When I looked back, I seen Abi closely behind me, and the remaining two men get up from their chairs, running after their buddy into the forest.

  We run for good few minutes before we stopped. I could continue, but Abi was on a brink of falling over.

  While we both breathed heavily, she had to kneel down on the rocky river bank, struggling to recover. While she did that, I instead looked over the forest, trying to see if there's any pursuit after us. We should have built quite the distance away from those guys, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  "You're good?" I've looked down on her, and she gave me a slow thumbs up. "Recover a bit. We'll continue back to village slower, but we cannot dawdle."

  "D-do... Do you think there's more?"

  "Certainly. Someone had to bring in those basilisk scales, and in such a quantity. It's probably a larger group, with a hideout somewhere nearby."

  It took Abi a bit, but after a moment she extended a hand and I helped her get back up. "So what do we do?" She then asked.

  "We're going back to village, report everything to the priest."

  "And then?"

  "We get out of here. I might be a vampire, but I cannot defeat ten armed men, if that's if it isn't a larger group. Let's leave it to the Lord Otto and his knights, while we get back on the road to Vishgrad."

  "At least can we not run again? I think I might die at this rate."

  "Yeah, let's do that."

  And so we continued our escape, but at a slower pace. We returned to the place where the villagers have worked, and used the dirt path to return to the village, which was at the state we left it in. Simple, slow life in a remote part of the world. I've went straight to the church, Abi right beside me.

  When we entered, we noticed Joachim talking to one of the older men from the village. He was kneeling before the priest, whispering something to him. Soon later Joachim replied aloud, absolving the old man of his sins, and sending him off to do good. After that, he waited a bit, before calling me and Abi over.

  "So? Did you find what was going on?" He asked finally, when the old man exited the building.

  "Yes. There's some operation going on, an hour walk upstream." Suddenly Abi interjected, explaining further.

  "They've been imbuing basilisk scales with some unknown substance, and later washing it in the river."

  The priest looked over both of us, running a hand through his short hair. "Basilisk scales? Never heard of such a thing. Is it dangerous?"

  Abi shrugged, but I continued. "I've touched the oil, after an hour of floating in the water it had no effect on me. But Abi mentioned that basilisk mucus is a strong poison, so better be that nobody gets near the water, in case it's still potent to cause harm when drunk. And also send someone to guard captain in Amandor. The operation might be big enough that a squad of knight's would be needed to break it."

  "Alright, alright." Joachim nodded along to my words, then asked an important question. "Any danger to us?"

  I could feel both his and Abi's eyes land on me, waiting for an obvious answer. "I don't know. They spotted us, but we didn't see anyone following us back here. Just in case, if any of them comes here with questions, don't mention us. They might think we kept on going downstream."

  When I said that, he interlocked his hands and said a quick prayer under his breath. "Alright. If that's the case, you should go immediately. I'll try to inform the people in the village, but I don't know if I'll manage. Let the Divine enlighten your path."

  "And blessings to you." Me and Abi replied in tandem, and we both turned on our heels, walking out of the church.

  In just a moment we were already out of the settlement's boundary, fast-walking away from it, through the forest. We need to potentially avoid any passerby's and reach the next stop by the night, which could be tricky. We've already wasted two hours of good weather on this little quest, that might've pinned a giant marker on our backs from an unknown organization.