"I still held hope that if I bought enough time we could find a cure, but news of the epidemic reached the imp

"I still held hope that if I bought enough time we could find a cure, but news of the epidemic reached the imperial army. They were ordered to quarantine the entire area, and our guardians became our jailers overnight. The settlement was sealed off by a triple cordon of guards. We continued mining gemstones like before, but the traders took advantage of our situation and raised their prices. People were dying, but the town lived on as the empire kept sending a new workforce for us — branded criminals."