Morning come slow. The sun rise grey and tired, like it don't want to look at the city either.
Kelser sit on a crate outside the healer tent. He haven't moved in three hours. His legs feel numb, but he don't care. Inside, Elara still working. She haven't come out since dawn.
Jian walk over, carrying two bowls of porridge. He look terrible. Dark circles under his eyes, clothes wrinkled, hair sticking up in weird directions. He hand a bowl to Kelser.
"Eat," Jian say. "You need energy."
"Not hungry," Kelser mutter, pushing the bowl away.
"Too bad," Jian sit down next to him, slurping his own food loudly on purpose. "You collapse, who gonna freeze the next poison? Me? I can barely freeze water in a cup."
Kelser take the bowl reluctantly. He stir the porridge with a spoon, but don't eat. "How many?"
Jian stop eating. He look down at his bowl. "Twelve sick yesterday. Two... didn't make it through the night. Old Man Hem and a young girl. Lily."
Kelser close his eyes. A heavy stone settle in his chest. Two more. Because he wasn't fast enough. Because he let a spy in.
"Their families?" Kelser ask, voice rough.
"Sad," Jian say simple. "Angry too. Some people blaming the tribe. Some blaming the council. Rumors spreading faster than fire in dry grass."
"And the prisoner?"
"Mina questioning him," Jian nod toward a small guard post nearby. "He talking now. Scared of Mina more than death, I think. But he don't know much. Just a middle man. He get orders from a dead drop. Never meet the master."
"Tian," Kelser growl. "It has to be him."
"Probably," Jian agree. "But proving it hard. And even if we prove it... what then? We march to the Heavenly Sword Sect and start a war? With our people sick? With half the city scared of their own shadow?"
Kelser look at his hands. They still trembling slightly. Not from cold. From rage. Pure, hot rage that he trying to keep frozen deep inside.
"I don't know," Kelser admit. "I good at fighting armies. I good at freezing swords. But this... this invisible enemy... I don't know how to kill it."
Just then, the tent flap open. Elara step out.
She look worse than Jian. Her face pale as snow, lips cracked, eyes red from lack of sleep. She stumble a little, and Kelser is there instantly, catching her arm.
"Elara," he say soft. "You need rest."
"No time," Elara shake her head, leaning on him for support. "The poison... it changing. The ones who survive, they getting weak. Their Qi channels blocking up. If we don't find an antidote soon, they gonna lose their cultivation forever. Maybe their lives in a few days."
"Is there no cure?" Jian ask, standing up.
"I making something," Elara say. "A purge tea. Strong Yin mixed with cleansing herbs. It help slow the spread. But it not a cure. We need the source. We need to know what exactly in that poison to reverse it."
"The prisoner say it called 'Soul-Rot'," Kelser say. "Made from corrupted spirit herbs and beast blood."
Elara nod slowly. "That sound right. It attack the soul connection to the body. Hard to fight."
She look at Kelser, her eyes full of worry. "We running out of time, Kelser. And the people... they losing faith."
As if on cue, a shout come from the square.
"Liar! Murderer!"
Kelser tense. He let go of Elara gently and turn toward the sound.
A crowd gathering near the fountain. Maybe fifty people. Farmers, workers, some refugees. They holding signs. Shouting.
In the middle, General Kael try to calm them down, but people pushing him away.
"We want answers!" a woman scream, pointing at the healer tent. "Our children dying! Where is the Ice King? Why he not save them all?"
"He a demon!" another man yell. "He bring this curse! He make deal with dark spirits!"
Kelser jaw tighten. He start walking toward them.
"Kelser, wait," Elara grab his sleeve. "They angry. Scared. If you go there with your aura, you might scare them more."
"I have to face them," Kelser say. "I can't hide while they scream my name."
He walk into the square. The crowd see him and go quiet for a second. Then the shouting start again, louder.
"Get out!"
"You killed them!"
"Traitor!"
General Kael see Kelser and look relieved, but also worried. "Lord Kelser, maybe you should—"
Kelser raise a hand. Silence fall again. Not magical silence. Just the shock of seeing him up close. He look tired. Human. Not a god.
"I hear you," Kelser say. His voice not loud, but carry clearly. "I hear your anger. Your fear."
He walk to the center of the crowd. People step back, making a circle around him.
"You say I killed them," Kelser point to the ground. "You say I a demon."
He look at the woman who screamed first. She look away, ashamed.
"I didn't put the poison in the water," Kelser say firm. "I didn't ask for this. But it happened in my city. Under my watch."
He pause, letting the words sink in.
"And that mean it my fault. Not because I did it. But because I didn't stop it fast enough."
Murmurs run through the crowd. Confusion. They expect him to deny. To get angry. To threaten them. Not this.
"I promise you," Kelser continue, looking each person in the eye. "I will find the cure. I will find the one who did this. And I will make sure it never happen again."
"And if you can't?" the woman ask, voice shaking. "What if they die anyway?"
Kelser feel the weight of the question crush him. But he don't show it.
"Then I will carry that guilt until my last breath," Kelser say quiet. "But I will not give up. Not today. Not ever."
He bow. Deep. Formal. A ruler bowing to his people.
"Please," he say, head still down. "Give me time. Trust me one more day."
Silence. Long, heavy silence.
Then, a small clap. One person. Then another. Soon, half the crowd clapping. Not cheering. Just... acknowledging.
The woman wipe her eyes. "Okay," she whisper. "One day. But if nothing change tomorrow... we leave."
"Fair," Kelser say, standing up. "One day."
The crowd start to disperse, slower now. Less angry. More sad.
Kelser let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. His legs feel like jelly.
"That was risky," Jian whisper, appearing beside him again. "Bowing to them? You the leader."
"Leader serve the people," Kelser say. "Not the other way around."
Elara come over, taking his hand. Her hand cold, but steady.
"One day," she say. "Can we do it?"
Kelser look at the healer tent. At the sick people inside. At the grey sky above.
"We have to," he say.
He turn to Mina, who just walked up from the guard post.
"Did he talk?" Kelser ask.
Mina nod. "Yes. He break. He tell us where the dead drop is. In the old sewer system, sector 3. There might be more poison there. Or clues."
"Take me there," Kelser command. "Now."
"What about rest?" Elara protest.
"No rest," Kelser say, starting to walk. "Not until we find the source."
He walk fast, determined. The fear still there. The doubt still there. But under it, something else. Something hard. Like ice formed under pressure.
He made a promise. And Kelser don't break promises.
Even if he have to tear the whole city apart to keep it.