Episode 245: The group that Logan was temporarily calling the Plague Relief Team arrived in Raftan just four days after leaving the capital.
Usually, the larger the procession, the slower the speed. However, the fact that over a thousand people covered the distance that would take a week for an average person to walk in just four days meant that they moved very quickly.
However, the first sight the group saw when they arrived at Raftan Territory after traveling so breathlessly was something they could not have imagined.
“Uh, Mom…”
“Son, you can’t sleep. Understand? Just hold on a little longer.”
“Just a little more….”
At first glance, you can see tired and tired faces.
The residents of the territory, all with pale faces who looked like family, were moving toward the stream, carrying bundles of luggage.
However, what greeted them in front of the long stream that became the border of Raftan Territory was not freedom, but the hand of an envoy.
“Captain! Here we come again!”
“Damn it, they’re going to kill each other, why do they keep…! Why are you looking at me?! Shoot!! Kill me!”
Soldiers lined up along the stream were aiming their bows at people approaching from afar.
The soldiers who had received instructions from the so-called captain were biting their lips while pulling their bowstrings, and in front of the direction they were aiming, there were more than a dozen corpses lying around that seemed to have already fallen after being showered with arrows.
“Shoot!”
Faba Park.
Arrows are fired with the command of the captain.
“100 million!”
“honey!!”
The man collapsed and the woman carrying the child sat down screaming.
“Ugh! Now wait a minute! Here…!”
Hands trembling.
Even after being hit in the thigh by an arrow, the man took something out of his chest.
An identity card that proves you are a merchant.
No matter how you look at it, the group did not appear to be merchants, but their status cards looked quite elaborate.
“Damn all of you, you’re so weak-hearted… you don’t shoot properly?! Damn it!”
The captain, who was glaring at his subordinates and grumbling, sighed and shouted at the man.
“Where did you get something strange? Don’t come any closer! Go back! Raftan Youngjimin can’t go anywhere!”
The expression on the man’s face turned black as he was hit by an arrow at the captain’s shout.
A feeling of despair came over me as I realized that the merchant ID card I had spent all my money on did not work.
‘There is no way to go back now…’
Even if he tried to go back, he would be considered an unauthorized deserter and would only be punished.
More than anything, it’s scarier than punishment…
No. I can never go back.
Anyway, if you go back, you will die.
In that case….
“Help me, I’ll get better! If we go back, we’ll die!”
It was a cry full of desperate emotions, as if the last of his strength had been squeezed out.
but.
‘Damn it. How could such a disaster happen?’
I didn’t do this because I wanted to be the leader.
However, the orders from above were strong and had their own persuasive power.
Moreover, he is also the head of a family.
I didn’t want to even dream about the plague coming into my house.
“Ah, son. Please let him go out. This child is still healthy! That damned disease has not even come to our village, and there is no saying that young children do not get it!!”
The man, unaware of his own speed, spewed out unfounded words.
“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m warning you again. If you don’t go back, you will die. This is your last warning!”
Hearing that sharp warning, the man soon took on a firm expression as if he had made up his mind.
“I’d rather kill him! Let’s see if he lives well by killing innocent people!”
Who the hell do you think people do because they want to do it?!
You can’t even see the corpses lying right in front of you?
The captain gritted his teeth at the man’s answer.
“What are you doing? Shoot! I’m going to die, so I have to grant my wish!”
At those words, the soldiers gritted their teeth and raised their bows again.
Command given again.
“Shoot!”
Faba Park.
“honey!”
A pitch-black rain of arrows poured down on the woman, who was wrapping her arms around her immobile husband, and on the child who appeared to have fainted.
Just before the tragedy unfolds again.
Flashing.
With a sudden flash of golden light, the rain of arrows flying towards the family stopped in an instant.
The family, who were in danger of death, as well as the soldiers, were in confusion.
“What is this situation? I need to explain.”
A red-eyed knight with bloody energy appeared in front of them.
* * *
“There is nothing wrong. The whole family is fine.”
After hearing the report from the priest who treated the family, Logan glared at the soldier captain again.
“I just told them to seal the border, and then they shoot and kill the territory’s residents?! These crazy things…!”
A fire appeared in Logan’s eyes as he listened to the explanation of the kneeling soldier captain.
“They only shot other defectors. Most of them were warned first…”
“Noisy! I clearly saw that they were planning to shoot and kill them from the beginning. How dare you lie?”
“It was an order from the lord! But usually I miss the mark on purpose and give a warning…”
“That’s it. Are you a soldier of some territory? I will hold your lord responsible.”
“This is the Ke Keloman Estate, Your Majesty.”
“Kelloman?”
“This is the Viscounty of Keloman, Your Majesty. It is adjacent to the west of Raftan Territory.”
Logan nodded at the explanation of the approaching knight.
“I and my party will head to Raftan. And we will end the plague. Tell Viscount Keloman to come to my location and support me. If not…”
Uzijic.
Starting with the tree nest where Logan was sitting, the ground began to crack as if there had been an earthquake.
Kwaaang.
“Hey!”
Soon, the soldiers sat down in horror as they saw a tree that had been standing unharmed bursting open.
It could be seen as a somewhat excessive act for those who could enforce it with the king’s authority alone, but Logan wanted to deliver a more direct warning.
“The Keloman family itself will be destroyed.”
“Yes? Yes! Yes! I understand, Your Majesty!”
Tsk.
I didn’t like the situation, but I couldn’t turn it all over.
‘There is such a thing as precedence and repercussion of things.’
Since the supplies you brought may not be enough, it would be a good idea to ask nearby nobles for various supplies until the second relief supplies arrive. Since he personally witnessed this incident, he would have no excuse to escape.
however.
“It’s not just us…”
A faint voice that he probably didn’t believe came from behind Logan as he turned around, creating an even bloodier smile on his face.
“All three, the Viscounty of Keloman, the Barony of Genchis, and the Barony of Perona, are taking the same approach.”
While the party stopped moving for a moment, the articles spreading left and right quickly brought in information.
Thanks to this, Logan was able to find out what the three territories adjacent to the Raftan territory thought about this incident.
“How do we seal off the border and shoot and kill the territory’s residents who try to cross it?”
“…yes.”
“You’re saying that just driving them out won’t satisfy you?”
“They seem to be worried that they might spread the disease to the soldiers just by coming into contact with them.”
Haha.
A sigh came out of my mouth.
‘I understand. ‘I understand.’
Then suddenly, Bishop Ilya’s words came to mind.
– They have one thing in common. Hunger is rampant and hygiene is poor.
Okay, right now….
“Food….”
“Yes?”
“Tell all three territories to provide as much food as possible to Raftan Territory. If they are not satisfied, I will hold you accountable for killing my people without permission.”
“I will send a messenger.”
The moment Viktor bowed his head like that, three knights left in different directions and the group entered the Raftan territory with heavy expressions.
* * *
“I am so grateful that you came to visit me in person like this, Your Majesty.”
Baron Eric Raftan was waiting for Logan outside the outer castle, and as soon as he saw the flag, he ran over and fell down.
The sunken eyes and dark shadows under his eyes that did not match his plump cheeks clearly showed how stressed he was.
“This is the person who raised the tax rate of the estate to 80% after the last tax measure.”
The whispers I heard just before arriving didn’t make me feel very sympathetic.
‘What can the cause-giver do by simply blaming those who followed orders?’
Is it too selfish to want to shift responsibility in this way?
Logan laughed at his own thoughts and asked straight to the point.
“The current situation?”
The answer to that simple question came back as an appeal that was almost like a cry.
“Infected people have appeared in twelve villages! Even though we quarantined the infected people right after symptoms appeared, they are still spreading one by one. And yesterday morning, resistant servants even showed symptoms…!”
The Baron is crying and shouting.
The sight of a pig crying didn’t look very good, so Logan cut the Baron off.
“So what should we do?”
“Six villages were annihilated, and the remaining villages sent soldiers to blockade the outside. They have not even entered the inner city since yesterday.”
At the Baron’s words, Logan raised his head and looked at the castle.
The castle looks a little bigger than Macline Castle when it collapsed.
Even if we were to say that the castle’s resistance is not that wide.
“Since we’ve come this far, it would be better to start by seeing the rest.”
Bishop Ilya says this as he looks into the inner room, following Logan’s gaze.
“Bishop. Before you heal with divine power, may I meet that acolyte first?”
A middle-aged man named Gilbert, the head of the Chisa Guild, slightly interjected.
Before being a healer, he was also a magician of the 4th circle, and as such, he was the first to step forward without fear to see patients with the plague.
In fact, there were no records of people with abilities above a certain level, whether mana users or force users, dying from the plague. There is a reason for Gilbert’s calm confidence.
Logan nodded slightly and looked away.
“Did you hear? Baron where are they?”
“That…”
I could feel some uneasiness in the sight of Eric Raftan avoiding my gaze, and a shout came from behind the lined up soldiers of the Barony.
“I, the Baron, killed all the servants in the castle! Even my sister…!”
A loud voice mixed with crying.
Logan’s expression distorted at that desperate voice.
* * *
“Is this guy really crazy? Even though they may have been together for years, he killed them all just because he suspected they were sick?”
I’m not resistant again.
The smell of blood was still in the air in the Daejeon where the Baron, who had been struggling to get in because he didn’t want to go in, was dragged by force.
It was natural that they did not even remove the bodies of the dead servants for fear of infection.
The faces of everyone in the group who looked at the kneeling Baron were full of disgust.
“I just want to live…”
The writhing figure now really looked like a pig.
A pig with a terrible disease.
“Ha. I can’t just kill this thing…”
At Logan’s sighing lament, Eric Leftan’s complexion turned white.
“Please save me. I was just trying to prevent the spread of the plague!”
Looking at what he had done so far, this guy named Eric Raftan was not qualified to be a noble.
However, the backlash would be too strong to punish a nobleman in a territory just because he killed an attendant. Moreover ,
Logan had visited the Raftan territory with numerous resources under the pretext of saving it.
Killing the lord in that situation?
It would have only given the surrounding nobles an opportunity to openly oppose rather than support them.
“… Imprisoning the lord . Lock it in. Fixing things comes first.”
It was more important to do what had to be done.
Eric Leftan, perhaps relieved that his life was at least spared, did not reject the driver’s hand pulling him.
The punishment for the bastard was: It won’t be too late to decide after the plague.
“There, the knight.”
“…Yes. “Your Majesty.
” “Guide to the nearest village. To the village where the sick are.”
“That’s over there…”
I could sense anxiety in the knight’s procrastinating attitude.
“No way…?!”
“The lord said in the morning. “You have ordered the annihilation of the village where the sick came from.”
As soon as Illya’s suspicious cry was heard, the low voice of the knight with his head bowed came out, and the Daejeon was immersed in cold silence.
