~Chapter 22~
“I overheard the maids talking. Anyway, the important thing right now is that the Imperial people suspect our family.”
After calming her brothers down, Ivyn began to softly recite what she had thought out beforehand.
“I think the reason the Holy See is preventing our support personnel from entering is to further fan these rumors. Since we can’t openly investigate, it makes them seem more plausible.”
“That’s true.”
“I was already angry about that.”
Her brothers quickly agreed.
“I have a good method.”
“A good method?”
“Yes. Taking advantage of the Holy See’s position.”
The triplets’ gazes simultaneously focused on their youngest sister.
“What do you mean?”
“The bandit strongholds.”
Ivyn looked at her brothers one by one with her wisely shining blue eyes.
“Last time, the rescue team wiped out the bandit strongholds in the neighboring territories. Not just one or two, a huge number. The dead bandit corpses left there alone would number at least several dozen, right?”
“So?”
“The corpses are still all left there. It seems the Frontier Count hasn’t given the order for cleanup yet. Given the situation, manpower must be extremely lacking anyway. They didn’t die from the plague, so the bodies weren’t burned either.”
“Surely you don’t mean…”
At Ivyn’s words, Ron seemed to have a flash of insight as he looked back at her.
“To raise the dead and go into the plague-stricken village?”
“Fresh, sturdy male corpses that haven’t decayed! Perfect for supporting manual labor, right?”
“But the Holy See bastards are blocking Kinzello family members from entering the area, aren’t they?”
“That’s only our family’s ‘people,’ isn’t it?”
“……!”
“I don’t think the edict ‘explicitly’ stated that the undead can’t enter either, am I right?”
The triplets and Ron looked at each other’s faces.
“Aren’t there goblin mines nearby too, brothers?”
“Ah, right, there’s a big one.”
“How many live in there?”
“At least a few hundred.”
It was the moment the brothers’ intentions became one.
“So you’re saying we should raise undead to help clean up the village?”
“Right. Undead don’t catch the plague, so they could be much more efficient in terms of manpower management. And we can deploy the main goblins around the village perimeter to monitor and prevent infected people from crossing elsewhere.”
“We can also have them handle tasks like administering medicine and checking the status of patients in the quarantine zone!”
The problem was the reaction of the Holy See soldiers.
“But would the Holy See soldiers gladly accept our proposal? Even if our intentions are good, they’re bound to oppose the use of undead.”
Ivyn was aware of that too.
Looking at her brothers who had fallen into new contemplation, she gave a slight smile.
“We have to make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
To be precise, an offer that Theodore, the holy knight in charge of field command, can’t refuse.
* * *
The entire Cori Village was shrouded from morning till night in the smell and smoke of burning flesh.
At the temporary disease response center in the village center, Holy See researchers worked day and night analyzing samples to find the cause, but they hadn’t yet found a clear cause or solution.
“Where is the very first point of origin?”
Fulbert, the Frontier Count of the eastern border region, asked with a serious expression.
He was sitting across a small table from Theodore Raitner, the holy knight in charge of field command, in the meeting room.
The report was being given by an elite researcher from the Holy See.
“We suspect the waterway flowing along the village outskirts. Irrigation for crops, drinking water for livestock, plumbing for residential areas using water from the waterway… It seems the villagers were naturally contaminated as the water flowed.”
“What are the symptoms?”
“This disease starts with headaches and nausea in the early stages, but gradually shows symptoms similar to sepsis. The time from onset to death seems to vary individually.”
“Current total death toll?”
“One-third of Cori Village. The rest are currently in quarantine.”
“Hmm……”
A sorrowful sigh escaped from the corner of Fulbert’s lips.
The old count’s dim eyes were directed at the holy knight Theodore across from him.
Even before the count could say anything to him, the old Frontier Count’s face was already filled with displeasure.
“After the Cori Village lockdown, before you guys arrived, any living thing that tried to leave the village was shot dead. I was taught that’s how to deal with a plague.”
Shoot with crossbows, then pour fuel and cremate on the spot.
One of the basic principles of plague response.
However, what displeased the old count was that since Theodore began field control, this basic rule hadn’t been followed at all.
“Even if infected, the residents of Cori Village are still human. Indiscriminately executing infected patients is clearly an act with ethical problems, and we are currently doing our best to…”
“Ethics… what?”
Interrupting Theodore’s words, the old count openly sneered.
“Serfs are the private property of the state and nobility before they are human, private property! What nonsense are you spouting now?”
“What I learned in the Holy See is not how to kill people, but how to save them. We cannot execute all patients who haven’t yet reached death simply because they are carriers.”
“No, what if it spreads to adjacent villages?! Are you going to take responsibility for all those losses?!”
“I didn’t come here to minimize your losses, Count. I came here to prevent more human casualties.”
Theodore answered solemnly in a low, unwavering voice.
“Hah!”
Count Fulbert’s expression crumpled into chaos.
He seemed frustrated, as if facing an immense, impenetrable wall.
“So, if we just herd the infected and watch, will some clear solution emerge?”
Fulbert, heated to the tips of his hair by Theodore’s composure, shouted in an angry voice.
“The research priests are currently doing their best to uncover the cause and treatment, Count.”
“Don’t beat around the bush, speak plainly! Plainly! Ultimately, what is it? That holy power doesn’t work on this plague, that’s what it is, isn’t it?!”
“…….”
The old count’s words had a point.
Since the Holy See’s establishment within the empire, the method of treating diseases with holy power—a divine blessing—had established itself as one of the most reliable solutions for various diseases.
Of course, it didn’t mean it perfectly cured or purified in all cases, but it was certainly the most effective among available means.
But what about the current situation?
Patients infected with the plague weren’t even showing signs of recovery.
No wonder the old count’s anger was bursting.
The Holy See also felt helpless.
They were trying to inject the light of the divine into the patients’ bodies to eradicate the pathogen, but for some reason, there was no reaction.
Moreover, consider how much holy power is consumed in treating the plague.
Not all the priests dispatched to the field possessed holy power as powerful as Theodore’s.
That he couldn’t actively assist the research priests’ investigations was also due to these reasons.
Just as the meeting room atmosphere had grown heavily somber…
*Knock knock.*
Someone urgently knocked on the meeting room door.
“Come in.”
Once Theodore gave permission, the door opened carefully, and a young soldier entered.
The soldier’s face was flushed red.
“……Th-the youngest daughter of the Kinzello family has come personally, Sir Knight.”
Upon hearing the soldier’s words, Theodore’s face stiffened instantly. He looked as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.
“Who?”
“Ivyn Kinzello… sir.”
The soldier slowly muttered, catching his breath as if forcing himself to utter a name he shouldn’t.
It wasn’t just Theodore who was stunned.
Count Fulbert’s face also showed bewilderment.
The daughter of that family, rumored to be behind this horrific plague, has appeared at the scene herself?
“No, what on earth… Sir Raitner, shouldn’t we arrest that person immediately?”
The old count ground his teeth and looked at Theodore.
He was ready to mobilize the soldiers he brought if an arrest order wasn’t issued immediately.
However, the order Theodore gave was unexpected.
“……Have her enter.”
“What?”
The old count looked at Theodore in surprise.
“Let her in. We need to hear why she’s voluntarily returning on her own two feet.”
Theodore said decisively.
“But they might be the culprits, to call them in so recklessly…”
The old count shook his head in objection.
“If they are behind it, we absolutely must not miss this opportunity. What we need most right now is information.”
At Theodore’s answer, the dissatisfied expression on the old count’s face deepened.
He didn’t like this stuffy holy knight, whom the majority of the empire’s people fanatically supported.
But wasn’t the control of the current situation in this fellow’s hands?
The old count had no choice but to sigh and answer sulkily.
“Damn it… But we must be thoroughly on guard.”
“That goes without saying.”
After briefly answering the count, Theodore ordered the soldier again.
“Go and bring Ivyn Kinzello.”
“Yes, Sir Knight.”
The soldier bowed and left the meeting room.
A short while later.
Ivyn Kinzello entered the meeting room.
Under the light orb on the wall, what was revealed was Ivyn’s lush purple hair and innocent blue eyes reminiscent of hydrangeas in midsummer.
‘To come back to this place on her own two feet.’
Theodore felt like letting out a hollow laugh at her audacity.
