Gabrio grimaced at his first patient. He moped his face and showed his professional demeanor. “Sit down, please,” he said. He took out the pliers from his doctor’s bag. He also pulled a syringe to which he plunged inside a corked bottle.

“It hurts, Doc.”

“It sure does.”

Four of his front teeth were cracked. The bottom teeth were chipped. “What happened?” Gabrio examined the teeth closely.

“Fell after climbing this ancient scaffold. Damn thing was old and rotten that almost broke my neck.”

“That so?”

Gabrio took a step back and watched him with both hands on his hips.

“Doesn’t look like you broke anything. Anything other than your teeth hurting?”

“Don’t think so, Doc.”

Gabrio nodded. He took this shiny silvery tool and tapped on his tooth. “We got to remove your teeth. Are you okay with that?”

“I am, Doc. It hurts as hell.”

“Okay,” Gabrio took the syringe, “open your mouth and let me administer this. It’ll numb the pain for an hour or two.”

“What’s that?”

“Anesthetic. It’s pretty luxurious or would you prefer I pluck them out with my plier?”

“Go ahead, Doc.”

The man said eagerly. Gabrio demanded he open his mouth as he injected the anesthetic on his gums. He told the man to wait and let the drug kick in. After a while the man’s jaw slacken as he told Gabrio that it was already numb. Or at least when he tried to say it while not forming proper words.

Gabrio tapped the teeth with his dental mirror before taking his dental nippers and excavator. He motioned for Robert to hold the man down while he started taking out four of the man’s teeth. The man clearly didn’t feel a thing and after the procedure. He talked funny. Almost like he was riding in the clouds.

“I feel funny, Doc.”

“That’s the mixture of Coca and Jasmine, friend. It’ll go away. Now I’m going to feed you some concoction to make sure that you don’t get your mouth infected. So no eating hot soup or stew and try not to put your damn finger on it. Ah, also, put this in your mouth.”

Gabrio grabbed a slice of ginger from one of his tin containers.

“Ain’t that ginger?”

“Course it is. Chew on it or put it below your mouth. Helps in making sure that your mouth ain’t infected. Understand that?”

“Got it, Doc. Thanks for this,” he said as he left.

Robert watched the man go before asking. “So do you style hair as well, Doc?”

“I do. Funny thing is that I had more business plucking teeth and grooming folks who want to look good on the ladies. Though I ain’t sure if I’m good at doing this. Barely anyone knows that I do haircuts as well and I’d prefer if they don’t know either.”

Robert snorted. He walked out of the tent before stretching his limbs. “Been four days and so far we got folks either falling from railings or having their heads banged on walls. No monsters for now and our worst worries are the damn folk trying to eat them mushrooms.”

“That’s been a problem that many of my colleagues here can agree with.”

Folks are really curious about the world. When they see something they couldn’t help but put the damn thing in their mouth. Gabrio hated the idea. He had to cut up two adults to find an antidote to one of the poisonous mushrooms that they ate. After having five patients eating the same damn mushrooms, he had Robert send a message and have them put up a sign not to eat the damn mushrooms and avoid death.

Gabrio made sure to emphasize that they are poisonous and that they’d be lucky if they are alive by the time they get help. So far that was one of the main concerns of the fleet other than the exploration taking a damn time.

With Terin and Caldor leading the way. They were able to reach a part of the city that was mostly made of iron, bronze, and steel. Even the folk that came down with them felt that it was a waste of resources. Nonetheless, everyone was setting up pulleys and lifts while the living trees pulled the metal out of the floor and walls for the folks topside to melt.

Many of the folks were happy with the smiths and gunsmiths eager to make use of the metal to develop new weapons. One of the weapons that they were making were these pistols with revolving barrels. One of the smiths from the sister grand-galleon started making this while making use of the paper cartridges.

He even got hold of one of the prototypes. With the hammer pushing the needle through the paper cartridge to strike a percussion cap at the base of the bullet. It could fire five rounds though the smith said that the needle after a fifty or so strikes needs replacing. He started thinking of making it so that it’ll only need the hammer to strike the base of the bullet and it’ll fire. It was a fancy design and was far more efficient compared to the single-shots that Gabrio had been wielding.

Even Robert, who usually prefers a bow, was impressed by the iron. Though it’ll take a lot of refining before it can be used well in the field. Then again some of the single-shots that they were using had a habit of exploding or the powder being wet so that they don’t fire. Nonetheless, they were far better than the pistols that took about a minute or two to reload. Even they were thinking of refining the cannons and making them shoot not only once.

There were many innovations and Gabrio guessed that most of them happened because there was a need for them to happen and that most folk are bored while in the middle of this voyage. What else can they do in the middle of the damn great seas?

***

Gabrio stayed in the tent while making sure that everyone was tended to. It was only when the silver light from the skies were reflecting on the mirror that there was a commotion. Gabrio was told to hurry up to the entrance and it was then that he saw one of the groups who went exploring torn apart by these claws that he had to raise his voice after a long time of being meek and gentle.

“What the hell are you folk staring at!? These men need help! Get the damn stretcher ready!”

With his voice thundering aloud. The men carried the injured back to the tent. The rest were taken to the other tents while he started cleaning the wounds. He observed that most of them had been clawed by something small. These claw marks seem to be protruding and long and at the same time causing their wounds to swell.

Gabrio thoroughly cleaned the wounds before applying some of the merchant spirits that they’ve been applying on the wounds. Spending ten minute each on the wounded. Gabrio went to the last patient whose wounds were rotting.

“This is a problem,” Gabrio muttered. Even Robert who had been tending to wounds felt disgusted at the sight of this rotting and swelling.

“Reminds me of the damn plague.”

“It does… doesn’t it?”

Gabrio frowned. He took his notes and started writing the details. He tore the page off his notes and handed it to Robert.

“Get this to Perlshaw and tell them that some of these might cause problems for the folks. We need to be careful!”

“Are you sure, Doc? Some folk might get scared by this.”

“Better then. If they’re scared then they’d be wary of what may happen to them. Look Robert, I’ve been in Fort Rava, I live there and seen awfulness that makes one stomach turn. And swelling like this is dangerous. I’m not taking chances no matter what.”

A drowned world and an isolated community buried under ruins and water. Stagnant water and rats plaguing and eaten by these creatures. These creatures might feel nothing when consuming such rodents or whatever it was that makes these wounds. However, the people of the fleet, who come from a different continent would have no resistance! He doesn’t dare to think of what may happen and if the other surgeons had seen plague and diseases. They’ll know when to worry.

Robert who saw his expression nodded. He took the notes with him and hurried along to report what Gabro discovered. Meanwhile, Gabrio stayed with his patients, watching how their wounds changed and how effective the medicine was.

The more Gabrio observed. His face crumpled. His eyes sternly watched how some of the wounds tore through the skin and rotted them from inside and out. Gabrio stayed next to a patient while keeping his magnifying monocle trained on the wounds.

Rotting and festering. The smell of the wound became worse as time went on. Gabrio waited eagerly until he heard hurried steps coming from the entrance of the cove. He went out, took his monocle off, and saw many more folk coming out clawed.

The soldiers who were guarding the entrance didn’t dawdle. Immediately carrying them to the tent where they lay on the cots sprawled on the ground. With his knees on the ground. He tended to the wounded for hours. It was only when Mana arrived from the Island that he felt refreshed with her using her Artes to assist him.

When dawn’s light pierced through the tent walls. Robert arrived with a letter from the base.

“Everyone got the order, Doc,” he said.

The letter is composed of a result found by the surviving members and the reports made by Caldor Ando and the Blinder of Light. Some parts of the city they explored were certainly harmless, but there were parts, not a huge part of the tunnels, that were flooded with a certain fog that many of them had judged as toxic. The creatures that plausibly attacked them came from this place and are coming out, attacking the fleet-kin.

Other than that. The letter allowed them to keep the patients in check and separate them from the others. With the letter ,Gabrio asked Mana to watch over the patients as he and Robert went back to the Grand-Galleon to get proper equipment.

Taking the luggage. Asking the craftsman and smiths to have them create equipment that could be used by the medical staff. Because of this news the folks who were eager to visit the Cove lessened. Those who were eager to risk their lives had to wear beak-masks and round tin cans that contained charcoal, paper, and sand.

Robert who carried around his bow on his shoulder observed the area. Everyone here was selected and were proven to be professional. Despite some of the slacking rules that the fleet have. One needed to be reminded that the Reconnoiter Company was still led by the Grand Admiral and everyone who does not obey is subjected to laws of the fleet.

No non-fighting personnel would dare to fight and disobey. Especially when the ones guarding the entrance to the cove and to the boats were stubborn professionals that would not hesitate to shoot the legs of their fellows if it meant they’d stay back.

Gabrio preferred it this way as well. Since it means that if his guts was right, then they would have to take a good look at this drowned world and assess it far more thoroughly on how to proceed.

Truthfully, Gabrio hoped that the worst thing that would happen to these folks were getting their teeth plucked or having their faces swollen after hitting their heads. But a wound that looked like it was rotting and reports of toxic gasses coming out of the tunnels? Gabrio knew that their exploration of this place would slow down quite a lot.

They have to make a choice.

Harvesting these resources or losing good people.

That was something that this fleet would truly consider first before acting.