I Stopped Simping and the Heroines Lost Their Minds

Chloe reached the worker seconds after he collapsed. The clean cloth she had grabbed from the first-aid table already covered her mouth as she dropped beside him.

His breathing came in short, broken pulls. Dark grit clung beneath his nose and at the corners of his mouth. Chloe checked his chest, throat, and limbs, but found no external wound for healing magic to close.

Arthur arrived beside her. Before he could kneel, Chloe thrust one arm across his path.

"Get the visitors away from the dust. Clear a path for Beatrice."

Arthur turned without arguing. He grabbed a clean cloth from the open kit, tied it over his face, and began moving the nearest families away from the pavilion.

The others reacted almost as quickly. Felix abandoned his lockbox and directed the crowd toward the clear side of the courtyard. Cedric reached the edge of the spreading grit and raised a curved wind barrier that held most of the remaining dust away from the spectators.

Emily and Alicia covered their mouths before entering the barrier. Working from opposite sides, they eased the cracked display flat so it could not fall again or spill more powder from its hollow center.

Leon gathered the uninjured workers and formed them into a line across the rear of the courtyard. His voice carried over the panic, giving the crowd somewhere to move instead of allowing everyone to surge in different directions.

The path opened just as Beatrice arrived with the infirmary cart.

She stopped beside Chloe and looked over the worker. "What do you have?"

"He inhaled the dust," Chloe reported. "His breathing is shallow, he can barely hold himself up, and there’s grit around his nose and mouth. I haven’t found an external injury."

Beatrice passed her a breathing draught and helped move the worker farther into clean air. Chloe rinsed the exposed skin around his face, supported his head, and gave him the draught a little at a time rather than pouring it into his mouth.

His first breaths remained shallow. Chloe kept one hand against his chest and waited.

The next breath came more evenly.

Beatrice watched long enough to confirm the improvement, then pointed toward two other workers coughing near the barrier.

"Keep him here and monitor his breathing. Call me if it worsens."

Chloe nodded and remained beside her patient while Beatrice moved to the others.

Arthur returned after the nearest visitors had been cleared. He looked toward the cracked display and took one step in its direction.

"Arthur."

Chloe did not raise her voice. She did not need to.

He stopped.

"Keep the cloth over your face and wait for Elena. You are not inspecting that yourself."

Arthur lifted both hands and stepped back beside Felix.

Across the courtyard, Beatrice glanced over while treating one of the other workers. She saw Arthur standing back where Chloe had ordered him to remain, then returned to her patient without intervening.

Elena arrived with two faculty members carrying an isolation cover. They lowered it over the damaged display, sealing the cracked crystal and the remaining dust beneath a clear barrier.

Once the cover was secure, Arthur and Elena checked the delivery tag still attached to the wooden base.

The reseller name matched the one beside Tolan’s shipment in the guild records. The academy, however, had purchased the decorative crystal through a different wholesaler.

The material had passed through at least one additional set of hands before reaching the fair. That was enough reason to preserve every record connected to the crate, but not enough to identify where the contaminated stone had begun its journey.

Sylvia arrived and took possession of the manifest. Felix stood beside her, copying the reseller, wholesaler, crate number, and payment entry into a fresh page of his ledger.

Arthur watched two staff members carry another coughing worker toward Beatrice’s cart.

"Garrick could reach the reseller before nightfall."

Elena refused without taking her attention from the sealed display. They still did not know how many crates were affected, and sending someone to the merchant immediately could warn him before Sylvia finished copying the records.

She pointed toward the workers being treated across the courtyard. The exposed people came first. The seller could wait until the dust was contained and every relevant name had been recorded.

Arthur looked from the isolation cover to the infirmary cart. He disliked leaving the reseller untouched, but he stayed where he was.

The academy closed the courtyard. Cedric maintained the barrier while the remaining decorative crates were covered and moved away from the public areas. Sylvia collected the delivery records, and the exposed workers were taken to the infirmary.

The visitors left slowly, escorted through the far gates while staff dismantled the nearest booths.

By the time the last families were gone, the Founders’ Fair looked less like a celebration and more like an abandoned market.

Arthur found Chloe behind the pavilion after the courtyard had emptied.

She stood over the open field kit, returning bottles and folded cloths to their proper places. Her hands had begun shaking now that nobody needed her to keep them steady.

Chloe picked up a bottle of wound wash, secured it inside one of the leather loops, then removed it again and placed it in the same loop.

Arthur watched her repeat the movement before taking the supply box from the table.

"Come on."

"I’m fine."

Her answer came automatically. Arthur did not challenge it. He carried the box while Chloe closed the kit and followed him out of the courtyard.

They made it halfway through the dormitory corridor before she stopped.

The academy had become quiet again, leaving only the distant noise of staff moving equipment outside. Chloe pressed one hand against the wall and released a slow breath.

"I don’t want to be alone yet."

Arthur shifted the supply box beneath his arm. "Then you won’t be."

Chloe led him to her room and unlocked the door. She placed the field kit on her desk while Arthur set the box beside it.

The room was neat, though several medical books and loose pages occupied one side of the bed. Chloe closed the door, turned the lock, and remained there for a moment with her back against the wood.

Arthur started toward the desk chair.

"Sit," she said.

He looked at the chair, then back at her.

Chloe removed her healer’s coat and hung it over the bedpost. Her hands were still trembling slightly, but her voice no longer was.

"For once, Arthur, you are going to sit quietly and follow my instructions."

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