Chapter 243

**Chapter 243: Plague (疫病, plague)**

The word for a widespread epidemic disease that spreads rapidly with a high mortality rate.

And in the history of the continent, there were even empires that crumbled due to just one type of such a plague.

Therefore, it was inevitable that the Kingdom of Maclaine would be thrown into chaos.

“Plague?! Where?!”

What is this sudden news?

‘This kind of thing never happened in my previous life.’

Logan was filled with bewilderment that spanned his past and present lives as he exclaimed.

“Southeastern Rafthan territory. Four days ago….”

“Why on earth?!”

And to happen at this time of all times…

As he listened to Damian’s report, Logan bit his lip so hard that it bled.

He was currently pushing himself to the limit to strengthen the nation’s defenses, and now, this unexpected calamity from the rear had the potential to completely topple all his plans.

“We must take action as quickly as possible!”

“With just the royal family’s power, it is uncertain if we can stop its spread. We need the help of the nobles too!”

“Convene a great council! Right now!!”

The confidants who had heard the news expressed their concerns about the severity of the situation, and Logan’s command was soon dispatched to the nobles.

The nobles living in the estates of the capital were hastily gathered.

As nobles, they felt as though a fire had fallen onto their feet—or more accurately, as if a fire had started to engulf their homes.

“What on earth is going on all of a sudden….”

“The end of days, truly.”

“The old saying goes ‘when a king is lacking virtue, calamities arise’….”

“Hey! Do not speak such ominous words!”

The nobles gathered in the council whispered anxiously among themselves.

Then, soon after.

– Announcing the arrival of His Majesty the King!

At the shout of a knight from the outside, the nobles suddenly hushed and focused their attention on the main gates of the council hall.

Thud, thud.

With brisk steps, Logan crossed the center of the grand hall and sat on the throne, letting out a brief sigh before he surveyed his surroundings.

“Thank you all for coming at such short notice. An unexpected situation has arisen, and an urgent meeting has been convened to seek your cooperation. Prime Minister, report the situation.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Roberts Floyd stepped forward and began to read from the lengthy document in his hands.

“A week from today, in one village of the Rafthan territory, a corpse was discovered, having bled from all bodily orifices. And within just three days, about thirty others with identical symptoms perished. Additionally, a hundred more residents are experiencing troubling symptoms of high fever and skin rashes.”

“Just three days?”

“Madness…!”

“How can this be happening?!”

Even for a contagious disease, it was unbelievable: from infection to death in just three days.

The council was once again abuzz with incredulity.

“Quiet, quiet! Let him finish speaking!”

While the nobles were sufficiently aghast, Roberts Floyd’s report had not yet concluded.

“The Temple suspects that this plague is similar to the Lestabum that ravaged fifteen territories in the east of the kingdom seventy years ago. There were some reservations about it being exactly the same….”

The other part of his speech hardly reached the ears of the already agitated nobles.

An epidemic that had toppled numerous territories in the past; just the resemblance to it was enough to convey the danger.

“Is there a cure?! What about the priests?!”

“We must request assistance from the Temple right away!”

“We have to quarantine the Rafthan territory!”

The council hall started to become as noisy as a marketplace.

“Quiet!!”

With a slam of his armrest, Logan quickly subdued the heated atmosphere.

“Prime Minister. What’s the current status of the plague?”

“Currently, Rafthan territory has quarantined the village and restricted all access. However, two days ago, another village reported its first case showing early symptoms.”

Logan clenched his eyes shut despite having heard this report before.

“Specific symptoms?”

“High fever accompanies a burning redness over the entire body, and within a day, victims lose consciousness. Three days later, they vomit blood from their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth until they die.”

Mournful groans began to spread throughout the council hall.

“As you have heard, the situation is extremely serious. I intend, with the combined support of the royal family and all of you, to end this crisis as quickly as possible. Any opinions regarding this matter should be voiced.”

Logan spoke of support measures, however…

“Your Majesty. No plague in history has been completely conquered.”

It was Zache Juan who was the first to voice a pessimistic opinion.

“I understand that it can be treated with divine power.”

“There are limits to what the priests can do. If the plague spreads, we are without answers.”

“Then what do you propose we do?”

“…We must mobilize the country’s resources to quarantine Rafthan territory, and burn everything within it to the ground.”

“What did you say?!”

A terrifying proposal to exterminate an entire territory.

However, many nobles assented to this radical nonsense.

“That’s correct!”

“If sacrificing one territory saves the fate of the nation, it would be a profitable deal!”

“I fully support this!”

The council hall quickly descended into chaos, with nobles shouting and veins popping in their necks, until Logan’s imposing presence, as an Aura User, silenced it in an instant.

“Are you saying that we should annihilate a territory of over thirty thousand inhabitants because of a plague? Is this what nobles should be discussing? Have you forgotten your blue-blooded duty to protect our land?”

“But the plague is a disaster that can bring down a country, Your Majesty. You must end it with a few sacrifices before it spreads!”

“We shall suppress it before it gets to that point! Not extermination, but salvation—propose measures for that!”

Logan’s strong voice again brought silence to the hall.

But then a deep voice from right below the throne broke that chilling silence.

“Command the lords near Rafthan territory to seal the borders, prioritize support for the lacking military forces.”

The statement from the Sword Duke caused a stir in the hall.

Logan narrowed his eyebrows and gazed at his master.

“Duke. Don’t tell me you are also advocating for extermination?”

“Of course not. I am merely suggesting that we cut off the possibility of contagion and commence rescue operations.”

The Sword Duke drew a clear line between his advice and the other nobles’ opinions.

His stance caused many nobles to frown subtly, but one among them, Zach Juan, instead allowed a meager smile to creep across his face. However, an instant later, he managed his expression well, but not before his smile had already caught the Sword Duke’s discerning eyes.

‘That man…’

Just when the Sword Duke’s brow furrowed.

“Dispatch requests to the Temples for priests and secure the quarantine of the territory. Relay my will to the surrounding lords and command their support in troops, food, and necessities! Every noble must provide supplies and funds for relief aid! Any shortfall will be covered by the royal household!”

“Your Majesty?!”

Dwayne, who had quietly been listening from a corner, was taken aback by the declaration, but even that was not enough to calm the anxieties of the listening nobles.

“If it spreads to another territory….”

“Our land is not that far away….”

“Could this turn into a major disaster?”

Whispered worries among the nobles did not escape Logan’s ears.

Each of them was only considering their own position.

It was not something that the newly anointed King Logan could fully understand, but seeing their behavior, he could not help but feel disgusted.

“Boom!”

“I have already made a decision! The royal family will spare no effort to curb the plague and save Rafthan. I expect voluntary cooperation from all of you, the noblest of aristocrats!”

As Logan stood to conclude the grand council meeting.

“Your Majesty. I regret to speak out of turn, but if the plague does spread, it will become a disaster for our nation. Then, we may regret not having reprimanded Rafthan earlier, but it would be too late.”

Zach Juan, concerned, voiced his opinion in a remarkably loud tone.

And a cold smile formed on the lips of Logan, who was gazing down at Zach’s fastidious face.

“Are you saying that I would be held responsible if that happens?”

The audience’s eyes were drawn to this exchange, and Zach Juan’s sharp gaze began to waver.

“No, I would not presume to….”

“Do as you wish. But remember, any noble or king who abandons his people, regardless of the situation, is not worthy. If you truly are a noble, do not forget your duty, and choose your words with care!”

“…I will bear that in mind.”

With Zach Juan’s expression hardening, the council meeting came to an end.

* * *

“Uh-huh, it’s disheartening, to finally have some respite after all that business with the Mana Cultivation Farming Method and other matters….”

“So you’re suggesting we shouldn’t help the territory struck by an epidemic that’s left it in ruins?”

“Who, who’s saying that? It’s just that this damned fate is so suffocating. Why is nothing ever simple?”

Dwayne slapped his chest in frustration, and Logan, feeling that this was a perfect representation of his current mood, let out a long sigh of exasperation and clutched his head.

‘There was never such an event in my previous life. Damn it, what went wrong?’

An unforeseen worst-case scenario seemed to rekindle the headache he thought had just started to subside.

Plagues have always been called calamities because their origins are unknown.

Now, instead of looking for the cause, it was right to focus on finding the solution.

“First, sort out the relief supplies and food to be sent to Rafthan territory, focusing on what the nobles are pressured to provide. With a cause, they will have to cough something up.”

“…Yes.”

“Dispatch priests and military forces to accompany them. And is there anything else we can do?”

“There is also a guild created by those known as healers. To be honest, they don’t have the visible efficacy of priests, but the common people without money often seek them out instead of priests.”

“Ah! Right, they exist.”

“Then we’ll also request their support?”

“Yes. Put in a request to them, and let them know we will reward them generously for their aid!”

“Yes, understood.”

And so, while the royal palace was busily planning actions to relieve the plague, within the Grand Temples of Grang, dangerous opinions started to surface that would cause a stir if they were made public.

“Who would volunteer to go as far as Rafthan to treat a plague with no end in sight?”

Bishop Roop Teian of the god of trees and life, Agni, frowned as he said this, causing many other bishops to nod in agreement.

“Looking over the records related to that Lestabum plague, there were instances where even mid-tier priests from the orders perished. It implies that sending lower-rank priests could be dangerous….”

Bishop Praha’s comment of the god of earth and death, Adga, only hardened the expressions of the other bishops.

Low-ranking priests could die.

This meant that only high-ranking priests would be safe, which were usually just below bishops in the hierarchy.

To send such high-quality personnel to some remote backwaters indefinitely? It was preposterous.

“Nevertheless, if the plague spreads, the country will be shaken. As children of god, we must fulfill our duty.”

Bishop Ilia of the god of seas and changes, Amonda, and the council’s sole female bishop, was the first to speak words befitting of a priest, but it only served to plunge the others into deeper contemplation.

“Hmm. Let us first sort out the priests each order can send. After that, I will relay it to the king.”

Grand Archbishop Pamien Gernheim, of the god of water and agriculture, Aiyon, finished the meeting with those words, and…

After Logan saw the list of dispatchable priests provided by the Temples, he grasped his head in frustration.

“Eighteen people? And only one senior priest? This is madness…!”

Logan’s voice trembled with suppressed rage.

With a city of thirty thousand people plagued by disease, sending a mere eighteen priests was as good as tossing a stone into a river—an utterly inadequate effort.

“Fortunately, the Healer’s Guild has more than 300 volunteers….”

“Enough. Prepare the knights immediately; we are going to the Great Temple now!”

“Excuse me?”

Leaving a perplexed Dwayne behind, Logan set off straight for the Great Temple of Grang.

* * * The northern part of Grang’s Outer City.

Past a particularly luxurious street that barely fit with the common Outer City where its everyday citizens lived, lay ‘Temple Street,’ where a series of magnificent temples stood in a row.

The nine temples, made of pure white marble, shared a single enclosure, and the people of the Outer City tended to avoid the street, circling around other roads instead.

This was the irony of temples built to carry out the will of the gods among the secular citizenry, which the common folk avoided.

‘Well, even in my past life, people without money could hardly imagine receiving a priest’s healing.’

Having just recalled how this had not changed since his rebirth, Logan galloped his horse to the front of the temple, followed by his contingent of knights.

“Y-Your Majesty?”

The unscheduled visit of the king, accompanied by knights, without warning.

The faces of the soldiers guarding the front of the temple turned as pale as the temple’s exterior walls.

“Inform the Grand Archbishop that I have come to visit in person.”

“Yes, yes! Please wait just a moment!”

The soldiers at the temple’s entrance panicked and hurried inside, and in short order, Logan was facing the Grand Archbishop.

“It’s been a long time, Grand Archbishop.”

“Ah, the honor of having Your Majesty visit us personally after so long…”

“Increase the number of priests being sent to Rafthan. Eighteen is woefully insufficient!”

Cutting off the Grand Archbishop Pamien’s amiable greetings, Logan immediately got to the heart of the matter.

The Grand Archbishop, with a strained smile and eyes darting away, hesitated to answer.

“We also have our considerations to keep in mind… Ha ha ha.”

Watching the unbearable levity with which the Grand Archbishop responded, Logan frowned openly.

‘As ever, in past and present, what moves these priests is only one thing.’

Swallowing a sigh, Logan decided to play his trump card.

“The royal family will show its utmost sincerity.”

“Sincerity, you say…?”

“One hundred million gold coins in donations. How about that?”

It was an offer that would have caused Dwayne to faint on the spot.

A hundred million gold.

An amount on par with the annual budget of a middling count’s family.

Beckoned by this colossal sum, even the Grand Archbishop’s eyes wavered.

“Hmm, with such consideration shown by Your Majesty… we shall see. Let me coordinate opinions with the bishops again.”

‘Are you kidding me?’

To coordinate opinions meant that they would have to start discussions all over again.

Logan had not offered this huge amount of gold expecting a lukewarm reaction like this.

If the plague spread, the kingdom could fall. If the territory where the plague emerged was eradicated, the backlash that would follow would be unmanageable.

Moreover, they were in a situation where nation’s resources needed to be directed toward preparing for another catastrophe a few years away.

It was vital to suppress the plague as soon as possible.

Therefore, Logan suggested an incredibly bold move that the Grand Archbishop could not easily dismiss.

“I myself will go to Rafthan. The royal family will muster all efforts to help! I request the aid of the Temple as well!”

His declaration caused the Grand Archbishop’s eyes to widen, and…