Antiques

Mallory was guided towards a room in the house and she asked. "What is this room used for exactly."

The man responded. "This is the main room we use to eat together but we have moved since you gave that warning."

Mallory closed her eyes for a while then when she reopened them, she pushed the door open and she was shocked to see the strange deathly aura lingering in the air. "Do you have anything to cover our mouths while we enter? A cloth will do for now."

Although she did not fear being affected by the aura since it would only affect those that lived around it for a long time, she did not wish to breathe it in because it would be unpleasant to have within her body.

Mallory had a vague suspicion on what was the cause then her eyes locked onto several objects within the room where the source of it all was.

When she had gotten a cloth to cover her mouth, she entered the room and studied the place where the strongest auras were but she did not touch them or get too close.

After she had finished her observing, she came to a conclusion and left the room.

Mallory closed the door and then spoke to the middle aged man. "I am afraid that you may have to call a mage which has a cleaning, cleansing or purifying spell at hand. If not then you will have to have some items removed and possibly destroyed or cleaned up so they can no longer harm others."

The middle aged man frowned. "What do you mean? The only items I have inside are my fathers prized antiques, he and his friend are in the antique business you see… many of those were gifts and were quite rare."

Mallory understood the situation and replied. "I do not know enough about antiques and their overall values but I do know a thing or two about the potential dangers involved in them if they are made of certain materials or they have not been properly managed before being sold. If you are not careful then all kinds of diseases or harmful substances can linger in the area where they have been placed. The aura in particular that I can sense from several of them is the aura of death."

In novels that Mallory had read in her previous life, the aura of death could be described as death qi or corpse poison but there were more rational explanations which could he used to explain it to ordinary people.

The middle aged man went pale. "How could there be an aura of death on it?"

Mallory explained. "While items usually do not have an aura unless it is a magical item, there can be lingering auras that come from other places that attach themselves. A lot of antiques are often newly discovered in dungeons, old ruins and there are some which are dug up from graves but do you know what they have in common?"

The middle aged man understood and turned paler. "You mean these have not been checked before being gifted to my father? They have been around the environment where corpses have been rotting and decomposing…"

Mallory nodded. "Those factors added along with the buildup of dirt, dust and other environmental factors have seeped into the antiques over a long time so when they were placed in an open space, some small traces would linger in the air. I recommend that the room be aired out and cleaned after you decide what to do with them."

The old man heard what she had said so he came closer. "That cannot be, my friend is much more skilled than my with appraising antiques. He could not make such a mistake. Could you possibly be wrong?"

Mallory sighed. "If you do not wish to believe me then my journey has been wasted, please listen to my advice or your family will die a slow death. You have already got many symptoms from breathing in the foul air so you need to be treated immediately."

The old man replied. "We have seen a doctor but they could not see the problem. We were just told to rest."

Mallory found it all a little odd. "I do not mean to pry but is that doctor perhaps a recommendation from your friend or do they have any form of connection?"

Mallory believed that the friend was not so nice as he seemed to the old man and everything was part of some scheme.

While the old man may not be as skilled as his friend, his friend should have much more experience and knowledge in that area.

His friend should not make a mistake like that and the most suspicious part was that he made the same mistake several times as he sent more than one antique which was harmful.

If there was a hidden plot then an unskilled or already bribed doctor would be unable to give the correct diagnosis.

The end result would be the family dying a slow death while being unable to find out the reason behind it while the friend gets whatever they were after.

The most likely would be full ownership of the business so Mallory couldn't help but pity the family who had such a cruel friend.

The old man remembered something. "When I was complaining about my health.. he did recommend someone and we have not seen anyone else."

The middle aged man grit his teeth as he understood the situation. "What did we do to deserve this?"

Mallory sighed. "Malice can come in all kinds of forms. Not everyone can recognise it even though it is right in front of their face."

The middle aged man asked. "What should we do now?"

Mallory pondered. "You need to privately investigate this with someone of authority and there may be things that will lead you to other wrongdoings too so you cannot rush it."

The old man looked serious as he asked. "Do you think this could run much deeper?"

Mallory nodded. "If he has many dangerous antiques to just gift away then he must be buying them from grave robbers or tomb raiders and possibly selling them to others too. It could just be you who got a bad batch but what if he is deliberately not cleaning them and selling them quickly to make quick Valis? We cannot just rush to have everything investigated and exposed so soon as the business and your friend may be the root of the problem."

While the family was the only known group that was confirmed to be ill by herself, there could always be others somewhere where she could not see.

The old man pondered over the situation and agreed. "We cannot let him get away with this. He needs to be punished for his crimes."

Meanwhile Mallory was crossing her fingers together and praying internally. 'Please be right, please be right.'

If such a harmful business and individual existed and if she played some part in them being brought down then she would be rewarded handsomely with Excelia based on the scale of the potential damage she had prevented and the lives saved.

So far she had saved a family but it could potentially be more if she was correct in her assumptions. "If you do not know anyone then I can ask someone in my familia to help out."

The old man bowed. "Thank you!"

The middle ages man escorted her out and walked her most of the way towards her familia where she arrived back at her room where she felt the many warm currents enter her body as people were benefitting from her talismans.

She arrived in front of Oars after leaving the room and asked. "Oars, can you or one of the familia with connections to the city look into something for me?"

Oars looked curious. "What is it and why should I help you?"

Mallory smiled as she said. "You prioritise the safety of the city and its citizens above all from what I hear so this may be something small or big but it is damaging to peoples lives. The criminal must be punished."

Oars looked serious. "Tell me about it."

Mallory looked relieved as she explained. "So this is about antiques and a family.."

As she went into the details and what she had guessed from the minor details, Oars looked at her proudly and slapped her shoulder. "Hahaha this familia has a wide variety of people with different areas of knowledge. Investigating a single shop and one person should not be difficult. What about the family?"

Mallory answered. "They will handle their affairs and hire a mage to clean the space for them but they have yet to make a decision on how they will deal with the dangerous antiques. There is also the doctor which is involved too which should be connected in some way whether it be directly or indirectly.

If he works with the criminal then they could be doing more bad deeds together but if he received a bribe and lied then there may be other bribes he has taken so he is not qualified to be a doctor anymore."

Oars nodded and went to gather up several members of the familia then went to search for some people in the city guard or security to join them in investigating the case.

Although it did not seem all that important of a case, there were many strange deaths or events lately in the city which could not be so easily explained and one of the caused may have been found by Mallory.

Most of the deaths were those in important positions, business owners or partners and some strong individuals.

Each of them had a small or crucial role within the city and without them, the city would soon collapse under the pressure of external and internal attacks.

Oars had discussed countermeasures with Seshat but Seshat had already calculated that unless something is discovered soon then Visa City would be on the path to ruin.

While those things were being investigated, another day had passed and Mallory had her status updated by her goddess.

Within two weeks her magic had went up from I to E rank and her agility and dexterity were getting closer to H rank.

With her rate of progress, the expected rewards that were coming from the sales of her other talismans during the day and the reward from the results of the investigation would help go towards her next update so she was looking forward to it.

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Name: Mallory

Familia: Seshat

Level: 1

Strength: I (20) +20 -> I (40)

Endurance: I (16) +24 -> I (40)

Dexterity: I (29) +36 -> I (65)

Agility: I (29) +36 -> I (65)

Magic: I (34) +400 -> E (434)

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Skill: [Apotropaic] [None] [None]

Magic: [None] [None] [None]

Curses: [None] [None] [None]

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