"Who are you people and what you want from us?" a human priestess stepped in front of the villagers. Must be Anna that priest mentioned.

Her voice was shaking and her eyes were jumping back and forth from Tristan and my hands. A set of sharp needles between my fingers were now dangerously glittering in the sun.

"Blood," I replied with a smile and everyone stepped back.

"Kitty," Phoenix glared at me for a moment and then faced the crowd, "It might be hard to believe so, but we are actually here to help."

"Help?!" the priestess almost choked on her words.

"Yes, it came to our attention that a vile plague might be spreading in these lands and the task to deal with it fell on our shoulders... My companions might be a bit impulsive..."

"But I really need blood," I silently whispered while looking at the needles.

"... but I assure you that they meant no harm..." continued Phoenix.

By the end of his speech, we started to sound almost like some kind of heroes. Maybe what he said technically wasn't exactly a lie, but still... quite a few details were omitted from the story. Many of the gathered showed the signs of believing his every word... well, maybe except for those few that suddenly felt a sting in their body.

It has nothing to do with now a bit red needles in my hands.

Metal manipulation is awesome.

*

Special skill Transmutation has reached level 2. Arcana Alchemy has reached level 5.

I almost jumped in joy.

Finally!

Various chemical compositions for explosives, prototype mana core, microchips for catbit, weapons, almost nothing I created thus far have helped with improving transmutation. If I knew that a bit of medicine against virus will do the trick... I would have turned into a doctor the moment I came back to this world.

Well, maybe not necessarily a doctor... there is a very high chance that creating a few samples of virus from my old world would do the same trick. After all, judging from the changes to transmutation, the key to success was a precision on a molecular level.

"This one is for humans," I tossed just finished potion to Phoenix and then faced the priestess.

The moment I did so she stepped a few times back, just like the rest in the crowd. Have I accidentally used intimidation?

"Kitty," Phoenix shook his head while trying to suppress a chuckle.

"Hey, I haven't done anything now." I objected to his reaction.

"How should I put it... that smile just now looked really ominous. Even Tristan is probably no match to you at scaring people."

Oh? Have I finally obtained my father's charm?

I always found it fascinating how he could intimidate others with his single glance, even if people have not recognized him yet. There was once a guy that wet in his pants after accidentally bumped into him at the restaurant. As for me... usually only when people learned my identity would they treat me with caution... and that irritated me to no end.

I mean, it was very nice to have an excuse to beat someone here and there... but it was getting really tiresome when even small fries, guys whose only exercise was probably to sit up in the morning and then lay down at the evening, were hundred percent sure they can take me on just because I was a girl.

Hmm... I now slightly miss those days... To think that in this world I have yet to meet a single bandit or a thug. Assassins? Plenty. Heroes or villains? If champions and harbingers counts, then almost on every corner. Hell, I have even personally met with a devil, but...

Not. A. Single. Bandit.

I stopped my idle thoughts when noticed that quite a few villagers started to shake in fear. I mean, they looked like someone heading for the gallows anyway, but now their fear was on an entirely different level.

I am really that scary?... Maybe they finally reacted to the word plague Phoenix has mentioned? No... from the looks of it they have not even registered what was said.

I looked behind me and quickly found the culprit.

After he heard Phoenix earlier Tristan decided to try out the effect of a smile... and it was... very effective. Way more than what he did before this. For me, he still looked completely normal, but then again, I now thought the same even about Sei.

When you see all those massive sharp teeth exposed to the sun... nine out of ten probably start reminiscing about their unfinished business in the world.

I wonder how they would react if saw Dahaal in his true form? Hmm, probably just turn into a stone...

"In truth, we are here to prevent you from killing all those people," I looked back at the priestess.

As I did so, I felt Phoenix's gaze on my back, but with a wall of wind, I created behind the priestess, others were simply unable to hear what I just said so he said nothing and returned to the task of analyzing the cure. Even for someone with enhanced mind, a high concentration was needed to duplicate that stuff - a single mistake and instead of helping, the cure could speed up the process.

As for Tristan, from his leaking thoughts, I found that he was pondering why his most 'charming' smile raised his intimidation all the way to level seven. Does it mean that if he showed an angry face others will think that he is happy?

"Tears of goddess within your temple was tampered," I continued while trying to suppress my laughter from his train of thoughts, "and because none of you have bothered to check what you offered to these people a few villages are already a history..."

"Oh no..." the face of priestess palled immediately and she quickly looked at the people behind her.

In theory, as a priestess she could heal them with her magic but judging from her reaction, it was probably beyond her power to heal this many.

"No worries," I pointed at the bottle in Phoenix's hands, "See that... mmm... yellow gross stuff?... No way I would drink that thing... good thing that we have Tristan to encourage. Anyway, this will help their bodies to identify the virus... mmm, the source of disease, and deal with it completely in a matter of minutes..."

The cure was, in a manner of speaking... a set of instructions how the body should fight the virus. Normally, this was not something a cure can do, but for someone that shares the knowledge with a boyfriend on a regular basis through the blood.... or other liquids, this was actually not that hard to achieve. After all, with my body manipulation, there are few in an entire world that know the inner workings of a body better than me.

The moment I memorized the structure of a virus the hardest part was actually to make necessary corrections for every race that wasn't an elf or a cat beastkin... and while it could be argued that I was a human once as well, the DNA of one from this world and the one I came from was... different.

Which is why I needed a bit of blood.

"But let's put that aside, for now," and as I said this tossed another vial to Phoenix, "Wolf beastkin."

Just like the previous bottle with a cure, the vial and all its contents were created from a handful of soil and moist in the air.

I then faced the priestess once more, "There is something that I could use your help with."

"What could be more important than saving their lives?" the priestess immediately asked with her gaze now glued to the potion I just created.

I was surprised at how easily she was convinced. What if what I just said was a lie and the real virus was the supposed cure? Well, perhaps from her perspective with a dragon by my side there was simply no point for me to even bother... if I really wanted them dead it could be achieved with a more direct approach.

"Making sure that it's not in vain?" I replied and looked in the direction of a village cemetery, "There is a necromancer involved and while this might be a completely unnecessary precaution, I think everyone would be more than happy if the dead buried there have no sudden urge to visit their relatives."

*

Eventually, Zaos with the others also reached the village, but by then everyone was already given a treatment. At first there were a few that were still hiding inside their house, children their parents tried to protect, but soon their own parents brought them to us.

When people started receiving messages about leveling up their disease resistance, it wasn't that hard to believe that what we said earlier was the truth.

"Thank you for your help," Zaos approached me after exchanging a few words with the priestess.

By the way, all this time the priestess has used her magic to 'bless' the land at the cemetery. It was only a temporary solution and a really dedicated necromancer could probably bypass even this, but I don't think that a large scale ritual, which would be needed in that case, is possible to ignore. Anyway, it was better than nothing.

"What can I say," I smiled mischievously, "Father always told me that it's very wise to put important people in debt to you."

"Debt?" Zaos raised a brow, "Oh... I see... Once we are back I will see to it that you are adequately compensated..."

"But I don't lack any money," I smiled again, "Let's just say that you now owe me a little favor. Perhaps one day I will need some help from a..."

"Kitty," Phoenix joined the conversation, "Be a good girl and don't blackmail Grand Master of Templars in front of everyone."

"Hey, even champions don't work for free..." I started to object but he stopped me by placing his finger on my lips and after one look at people behind him whispered so they can't hear him.

But it was of course not the case for a certain templar, after all, as an elf, his ears were quite sensitive.

"You should do that once we are out of prying eyes..." and with his words, a pair of champions nearby burst into a laughter.

*

Once we returned to the temple at Einhold City I learned that the initial force of templars, a trump card our group was supposed to 'summon' in an emergency, was now busy escorting the priests to the villages closest to their temple. It was a silly notion to assume that today's events were limited only to the places we just happened to visit.

Our group on another hand, or should I say Aurora... tried to track down those responsible for switching the flasks at the altar... or at least that was the plan. Not long after Aurora started working at the task I received a call from Tia.

The moment her holographic projection has formed I was greeted by a shriek, "Melissa! This is horrible! Those bastards... they... they have killed Elmor..."

Killed?!... But... that's impossible! They should have been safe inside the capital.

I quickly checked her coordinates through the catbit and saw that she was still at the Arena.

"Kitty, wait!" Phoenix shouted, but was a step too late as using Tia's catbit as a beacon I already teleported next to her.

Or at least that was my intention.

Apparently, the enchantments of VIP lounge Tia with the others was at prevented me from getting there directly and I appeared next to the building of a guild.

But that was hardly a problem. With the limit break active I rushed inside at the full speed occasionally using phantom shift to pass through any obstacles on the way.

When I finally reached the VIP lounge I expected to be greeted by the sight of a bloody battle - Harbingers, or someone following their orders, attacking my friends. In one scenario I even imagined the templars that were supposed to guard them to turn the sides.

There was none of that.

Even Elmor, the supposedly dead minotaur, was now standing right in front of me... alive and breathing. His armor, if you could still call that thing an armor, has seen better days, but other than that there wasn't a single scratch on his body. Other than templars, who were startled by my sudden appearance, the rest looked almost... bored. Well, all except maybe Tia.

"Hey, what happened?" she looked at her catbit with frustration. "Have I accidentally ended the call?"

"Idiot," Darson snorted not far from her, "Thanks to you she is already there."

"Oh!" Tia looked in my direction. "I haven't even noticed when you returned. Where is the leader by the way? No, wait, forget about that. Can you believe what those bastards did to my... mmm, to our party member?"

"That was his own fault," Darson spoke again. "Powerful ranged weapons in his possession and to use swords?"

"Do you know how much ammo that thing uses?" Elmor replied seemingly without a care, "Besides, I like it more close and personal."

"And because you like it more close and personal you lost to a bunch of kids and now need a new armor. We were supposed to slaughter our way to the top and yet you managed to lose at the preliminaries. Preliminaries!"

"Hey, that was six against one..." Tia started to defend him.

"Just like when it was Turion's turn," Darson replied, "but was that a problem to him?"

Well, it doesn't take a genius to realize that Elmor has lost a match during the tournament and was one of many participants that experienced the process of 'resurrection' firsthand.

But I had no time to complain as soon many screams and yells reached us from the exit and when I felt the presence of Tristan through our bond it wasn't that hard to guess who was the cause of that. Must have followed me with teleportation using our link... and just like me probably couldn't get there directly.

"Is everything alright?" just as I started to rush to the place where the screams were coming from a ghostly projection of Phoenix appeared right in front of me. Judging from a grin on his face Phoenix already knew that all of this was a false alarm.

"How did you knew?" I asked and barely avoided from colliding with a few staff members of the guild, probably followed me after I charged in.

"Have you even considered to check their status?" he replied with a question, "Anyway, I am already within the temple here at the capital. Try to avoid getting into any more problems before I reach you. Just using this unsanctioned teleportation is a bit problematic, but it's not a too serious offense and should be possible to gloss it over, but it's hard to tell if someone wouldn't use this as a chance though."

"That... might be easier said than done," I replied when finally reached Tristan, just in time to witness a griffon crashing into a wall.

"~OUT! OF! THE WAY!~" with each word Tristan sent a strike with his claws at another griffon in front of him. Each hit was blocked by a transparent barrier but it wasn't without an effort and cracks were already spreading all over the surface.

"Tristan, stop!" I quickly shouted before he knocked out the second griffon... third, I quickly corrected myself when looked to the side.

"~SIS!~" Tristan cried in joy when saw me.

He then looked at griffon in front of him, back at me, blinked a few times and, "~THEY STARTED IT~"

Hmm, if teleportation within the capital was just a little problem, then I think that attacking elite troops of the Council was... a huge one.