Chapter 170: |
Chapter 170
A foreign country far away from the Rafald region.
In a splendid castle, a beautiful woman with her face covered with cotton was sighing.
“You started mining magic stones in the Borison territory of the Rafald region?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
The knight, kneeling respectfully before the woman, tilted his head.
“But why do you ask me to find out such a thing?”
It was a valid question.
Because the Rafald region of the Kingdom of Houston had nothing to do with them.
“…?”
The knight tilted his head.
But he didn’t have any doubts.
The woman before his eyes was too noble for him to be suspicious.
‘There must be some deeper meaning to it.’
He just thought that.
After the knight left, the woman sighed deeply again.
“Ha.”
Was it because of the deep sigh? The cotton veil covering the woman’s face fluttered in the wind, revealing the figure inside, and an incredibly shocking face appeared.
It was the woman who poisoned the former Grand Duke Berard!
‘It has now begun. A terrible disaster will unfold.’
The woman, the ‘Saint of Hypocrisy’, had a cold face.
‘Why did ‘they’ do such a terrible thing?’
‘Them’.
Those who made her life a living hell.
‘I don’t know anything about ‘them’.’
I don’t know where the group is located, who they are, how big they are, what their purpose is, or even their name.
‘All I know is that they are terrible, demonic beings.’
‘…I wouldn’t have thought of doing that. After all, I became a devil by joining hands with them.’
The woman gritted her teeth.
‘Yeah, she was a devil too.’
Despite their praiseworthy appearance, no one knows how many ugly deeds have been committed with their help.
This was also the case in the Rafald region this time.
‘If I make such a mistake, I will surely fall into the worst hell.’
She knew she had no right to feel guilty.
She was the worst sinner, uglier than a maggot.
‘Could Raymond, if he were me, be able to prevent this disaster?’
She had that thought, but soon shook her head.
It won’t be easy.
‘Even if he possesses ancient secret arts, it is impossible. The disease that is about to spread is a terrible disease that has never existed in the world before.’
She had an eerie thought.
A monster that has never been seen before in the world!
That means the epidemic spreading through the Rafald region right now is something terrible.
‘Furthermore, once the mining of magic stones begins, they only have one month. They have to stop everything within that time. Once that time passes, it’s over.’
Just one month.
No, it had been more than two weeks since mining began, so the time left was much shorter. There were less than two weeks left.
Even Raymond couldn’t have solved everything in that short amount of time.
‘A terrible tragedy is going to happen. Alas.’
That hypocritical saint…no, the ugly witch worse than a filthy maggot trembled at the terrible sins she had committed.
* * *
Viscount Dorian arrived in the plague-stricken territory in a stately manner.
“Thank you for coming, Your Highness!”
“Never mind. It is natural for a healer to go where there are patients. Don’t worry anymore, my lords. I will treat the patients.”
The two lords felt greatly relieved at the confident voice.
‘Even if it weren’t for the Count Penin, Viscount Dorian would be able to cure this disease.’
It was worth thinking that way.
Because Viscount Dorian was one of only two AA-class healers in the kingdom.
“I am so glad you came, Your Highnees. Otherwise, I would have had to ask Count Penin for help.”
“Haha, well done. If you receive the wrong treatment, the patient will suffer. It would be better to refrain from asking Count Penin for treatment in the future.”
Viscount Dorian made disparaging remarks about Raymond.
Because the orthodox healers still disliked and looked down on Raymond.
Raymond’s fame has risen so much in recent times that it’s hard to speak ill of him, but he’s Viscount Dorian.
As the second-ranked healer in the kingdom, it was natural for him to look down on Raymond as a healer.
“Is that where the patients are gathered?”
The patients were gathered in a remote area of the territory and isolated.
“Yes, your highness.”
Viscount Dorian frowned at the patients.
The condition was not good.
A patient with a high fever and shortness of breath.
A patient who has lost consciousness.
There was even a patient who was screaming in an unidentified manner.
‘What is this strange disease?’
Viscount Dorian was troubled.
Although he was very knowledgeable, he had never heard of a disease similar to the one before his eyes.
Anyway, it didn’t matter.
If you get his powerful heal, you’ll get better.
‘It must be some kind of infection, judging by the high fever. A double-A grade heal can usually make it better.’
Phew!
A dazzling, dazzling light burst from the hands of Viscount Dorian appeared.
“Oh!”
People were amazed, and the moment the light reached the patient like a holy blessing.
“Keeeeek!”
The patient screamed.
Not only that, he twisted his body as if in pain!
“…!”
Viscount Dorian’s face hardened.
‘What!’
He had treated countless patients over the years, but this is the first time he had seen a reaction like this.
The patient received heals but it got worse?
‘That can’t be true!’
Pfft!
He unfurled his heal again, and the next reaction was even more dramatic.
“Kwaaah!”
With a single scream, the patient dropped his neck.
He’s dead.
“…”
“…”
A heavy silence fell on the room.
“This, this is…?”
The lords looked puzzled, and so did Viscount Dorian.
He got healed, but he lost his life instead?
“Oh, I think there was something wrong with the patient.”
“That’s right.”
The lords spoke awkwardly.
Heal is the power of great blessing!
It doesn’t make sense that you would get worse and die after receiving a heal like that.
It was reasonable to assume that the patient had a problem.
“… I will treat another one again.”
Pfft!
Heel was used on the second patient.
It was a heal that had been worked on even more delicately because of the work done earlier.
But the results were even more dire.
“Kwaaah!”
The patient clutched his chest and started to throb, then died.
“…”
“…”
A deathly silence fell upon the room once again.
It was a silence so heavy it couldn’t even be compared to before.
Of course, Heal is not an all-powerful force.
As they had seen, there were limitations for various reasons and there were many diseases for which it was ineffective.
But the effect was less, and there were no cases where the condition worsened like this.
As if it were not a blessing, but a curse of death.
“What is this…”
Someone swallowed and muttered.
“…Is this disease a curse from the devil?”
The devil’s curse.
Only then did they realize.
That this monstrosity was no ordinary contagious disease.
It was a terrible epidemic the likes of which had never been seen before.
* * *
Even though he received the heal, the patient got worse and died!
The people were shocked by the shocking incident.
A fear greater than anything seen before gripped the people.
“This is clearly a curse from the devil!”
“The devil’s curse has descended upon the land!”
Other healers besides Viscount Dorian also rolled up their sleeves, but it was the same.
All the patients that received heal treatment had their symptoms worsened.
Originally, humans felt greater fear of the unknown.
The people were thrown into a panic by the unprecedented disease that had never existed before, and an even worse thing happened.
The number of patients gradually increased and the disease spread to other regions.
A total of three territories were affected by the disease.
The entire Rafald region was turned upside down. The epidemic was clearly evident.
It was a terrible epidemic, the likes of which had never been seen before.
“If this continues, we will all die!”
“Save me!”
It was said time and time again, but the horrors of the pandemic are beyond imagination.
Even if there was only a slight suspicion of an infectious disease, people were burned to death, so the horror was indescribable when a terrible infectious disease of the likes of which had never been seen before broke out in three territories.
The villagers who witnessed their neighbors die fell into a panic and rose up.
“This can’t go on!”
“Back off, you Houston devils!”
There was a reason why the people were particularly angry.
This epidemic has been going on since the Kingdom of Houston took over.
Of course, this was a completely unrelated event, but the terrified people were unable to think logically and blamed the new lords for the outbreak.
“Because of you guys, the devil’s curse has come down on me!”
“We have to drive them out!”
The fear was so severe that some people even took up arms and rose up in revolt.
Thus the worst crisis broke out in the Rafald region.
* * *
[A quest has occurred!]
[Resolve the Devil’s Curse!]
(Medical Quest)
Medical Grade: Five Scalpels
Difficulty: Extreme
Quest Description: A mysterious plague known as the Demon’s Curse has broken out. As a healer, you must solve the plague!
Clear Condition: Resolve the plague
Reward: Bonus level up x4, 130 skill points
Perks: Prince
Raymond swallowed hard.
‘’An epidemic rose so suddenly? What is this?’
‘I never thought of that.’
‘I thought the recovery was going smoothly, but then this worst problem appeared.’
In particular, Raymond took note of the difficulty and grade.
‘Five scalpels?’
As he had seen, the medical level goes up as the disease becomes more difficult.
If it was a resident-level disease, it was around one (1) or two (2) scalpels, and after becoming a specialist, it was usually around ‘two and a half (2.5)’ or ‘three (3)’.
But it’s a five (5) this time.
Even the difficulty level was ‘extreme’.
There has never been a level of difficulty like this before?
‘How difficult of a disease is this?’
Raymond swallowed hard.
‘We have to solve this problem anyway. If we can’t solve this epidemic, my bet with His Majesty will fail.’
He noted the ‘perks’ section of the quest.
[Special privilege: Prince]
It meant that if he could solve the epidemic, he would be appointed as the lord of the Rafald region.
However, if interpreted the other way around, it also meant that if he failed, his appointment as a vassal would also be lost.
‘Anyway, that’s not important right now. A lot of people are dying. This has to be resolved.’
But the problem was that it wasn’t easy.
‘A contagious disease that gets worse when you use heal? What the hell is it?’
Although Raymond was well-versed in infectious diseases, he had never heard of such an epidemic.
‘Of course, here in this world, there are many more types of infectious diseases than on Earth due to the existence of subhumans and monsters, but this is the first time he had heard of this type of infectious disease.’
What is a heal?
It is a force that promotes vitality. Therefore, if you receive healing, your condition should improve a little despite whatever disease you have.
But why are their condition getting worse, as if the patients had been cursed?