Chapter 246

“That madman!!”

Logan’s thunderous roar shattered the short silence.

Most of the party, lost for words, gazed at him in a daze.

“It’s still morning; it’s not too late. Knight! Send a messenger to stop the massacre!”

“Yes!”

“Change the orders given to the soldiers. Completely quarantine the villages with the outbreak. And gather all the patients in one place!”

“Yes! Understood!”

The decisions were made swiftly within the Rafutan Domain, and the party moved quickly.

But when Logan’s party arrived at the village where the patients had been gathered, they were greeted by the sight of dozens of corpses stretching out before them.

“Be damned, these wretches!”

“They will be punished by the heavens!”

Wails and cries filled the air as villagers mourned.

“And me too, damn you! Oh my heavens……!”

Among them was a woman, embracing her child’s corpse, her face saturated with crimson weeping.

The soldiers, having formed a heavy barrier in front of her, hurriedly stepped aside to let the approaching party through.

“Sir Hamel. The people in the back, who are they…?”

“You! Didn’t you get the order to stop?!”

“We ceased the attack as soon as we received the order.”

One solider, apparently a superior, reported pale-faced to the knight of the Rafutan Domain. However, with the king watching from behind, Knight Hamel drew his sword with a fearsome expression.

Sliiing.

“Disobedience to orders is a grave crime, Gerik.”

“Sir Hamel!”

“Stop!!”

Logan roared, unable to stand the tragic farce in front of him. The soldiers and the knight hesitated.

Haaah.

As Logan sighed, Knight Hamel swiftly prostrated himself.

“My apologies, Your Majesty.”

“His… Majesty?”

“Kneel! His Majesty the King is present!”

With that shout, the atmosphere in the village flipped once again.

“Atten-hut!”

“Lo-loyalty.”

“Loyalty!”

The soldiers and knights, now standing crisply, awkwardly saluted, while the villagers murmured amongst themselves.

“The… king?”

“Why is the king here…?”

“Damn them, they should be punished…”

“Hey, lie down, man!”

Even amidst the sorrow and anger, confused villagers began to prostrate themselves due to the knight’s command, turning the grim scene into chaos.

‘Is it because of the plague, or are they out of their minds?’

Logan, too weary to express his anger any longer, simply walked past the soldiers. As he moved through piles of corpses and weeping villagers, he encountered another horrifying sight.

Those whose faces were only blushed with red were considered in better condition. Skin that had turned bright red with rash spots protruding through, a patient, wheezing heavily, scratched at their skin, causing blood to seep from the cracked flesh.

“It’s hot, itchy.”

More alarmingly, some patients, unaware of their condition, mumbled deliriously as they scratched their wounds. There were even worse cases, with people losing consciousness, blood and foam leaking from eyes and ears.

“Save my mother, please help her!”

A quick-witted, crimson-skinned child ran towards Logan.

“Stay back, child!”

“But, please save her, elder, please!”

A desperate plea from a restrained child, behind whom a woman, presumably his mother, reached out her hand with strenuous effort. It was evident from the blood and pus trickling through her cracked skin that her condition was serious.

“Bishop Ilia, I leave it in your care from here.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Responding to Logan’s words, the clergy stepped forward among the villagers.

“We have come from the temple. Please come forward in order if you have symptoms of the illness.”

The dazed villagers beheld Bishop Ilia in her stark white church robes.

‘What is all this…?’

In a village ravaged by corpses, reeling from a recent massacre accentuated by a plague outbreak, now with clergymen arriving the likes of which they had never seen before, the villagers were understandably at a loss in an unending sequence of bewildering events.

Interpreting their expressions, Ilia spoke again with a gentle voice.

“There will be no further attacks from our soldiers. We are here to heal the plague. Please come forward if you are symptomatic!”

At Ilia’s compelling appeal, the villagers, shaken by the sudden disaster, began to stir. And then, amid them:

“Let’s go, too!”

“But, Sir Gilbert, maybe after the priests have given them treatment…”

“We’re not mages like Sir Gilbert, you know.”

“Hey! Did you forget what His Highness ordered? If we show symptoms, the priests will cure us first. Trust in them! Our mission is the most crucial.”

“Heheh…”

Reluctant healers hesitantly moved into the village. They meticulously verified and documented the known symptoms, allowing the priests to commence treatment. Based on those records, healers would then find methods to alleviate the symptoms, whether it involved herbs or something else. This was a relief effort devised before arriving in Rafutan.

– Divine power can indeed cure all, but there is a limit to how much priests can draw upon. The reason plagues could ravage even in ancient times when the temple boasted far greater influence.

Thus, now that they were accompanied by priests, they had to develop a cure within the Rafutan Domain. This was Gilbert’s claim, and Logan actively embraced it because, as he argued, it could certainly stop this crisis.

“From today, prohibit inter-village travel. Quarantine the domain village by village and wait until the relief team arrives. Food and daily necessities will be supported by the relief team.”

“Yes!”

With those commands issued, Logan set out to join the relief team at the frontline. Or rather, he tried to.

“Your Majesty. There’s no need for Your Majesty to…”

“We can handle it.”

“Please, over here. How could someone of your esteem…?”

People were frantically waving him off, telling him not to. Even without those protests:

“Your Majesty. We understand and appreciate Your Majesty’s divine goodwill, but for Your Majesty to personally tend to the sick would only inconvenience everyone here. Just being present is enough to provide great strength.”

Gilbert’s words seemed to resonate with Logan’s thoughts. Ultimately, he relinquished the idea of taking a front role, standing a few steps back to oversee the distribution of relief goods and food, watching the cooperative effort of healers and priests.

However, this also meant catching sight of less encouraging moments.

“Why should we cater to these commoners…”

“Picked the wrong lots. Damn it.”

“Just do enough to appear as if we’re doing something. No need to waste divine power on non-nobles and common trash.”

Voices that could make anyone question human decency, voices that did not belong to priests. The golden light flared in Logan’s red eyes.

‘Ha. Those bastards…?!’

Assuming they couldn’t be overheard, they whispered to each other, but regrettably for them, Logan’s hearing encompassed the entire village.

Stomp stomp.

“You there, priests. What were you just saying?”

Logan’s pointed finger drew the attention of the muttering priests, who flinched simultaneously.

“We were discussing how to heal the citizens of the domain, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, that’s correct, Your Majesty.”

They stammered, trying to justify their actions.

“Then you should be more diligent, shouldn’t you?”

“Yes, of course.”

“We’re on it!”

The priests quickly changed their attitude, in stark contrast to their demeanor moments before. But even that lasted only for a moment, and they were not the only ones.

“Huff, next.”

A priest named Tale reached out his hand towards a villager, closed his eyes, and concentrated for a long while, signaling the villager could leave with a gesture. However, the villager, a woman with a feverishly hot face, asked skeptically.

“Priest, it doesn’t feel any different…”

“Be quiet! What do you people know? Next!”

If it wasn’t a miracle exceeding ordinary expectations (神法), divine power would normally be invisible to laypeople. In truth, Tale was idly performing the bare minimum.

‘The priceless divine power that I’ve slowly refined should not be wasted on such peasants.’

Tale, a junior priest, had finally awakened his divine power after decades of rigorous study and prayer at a monastic school, embarking on a path deserving of nobility. Even a junior priest like him was entitled to the blessings of a god, not meant for mere plebeians.

To fully restore his spent divine power, Tale would need to fast and pray for three days.

‘Why should I go to such lengths for these people? If it were wealthy nobles, perhaps, but not for these.’

He was only here because he lost a draw. Of course, some of his contemporaries had already depleted their divine power and retreated to fast and pray. Not merely out of lack of compassion or because his character was detestable, but because he was saving his divine power.

‘There have been priests infected and killed by the plague due to depleted divine power. I’ve seen the records; would I be mad to heal for them? I need to survive.’

Had that colleague known, Tale was sure he would not have ministered to the people. Unfortunately for him, he was in the presence of one who could see divine power with his own eyes, the king.

“You! What on earth are you doing?”

A menacing voice rang out from close by. Tale turned pale with fright and looked up to see the stern face of Logan.

“Your, Your Majesty. I, I was healing the people.”

“Healing? It looked to me like you were just pretending.”

“But, divine power is usually invisible to the…

“I’m sorry, but I can see it.”

“What? That’s…”

“Do it again, heal that person. And if you pretend again, I’ll cut off those useless arms on the spot.”

The aura user’s voice was heavy with murderous intent, turning Tale’s face ghastly pale.

“Yes, of course!”

How could he think otherwise? Tale focused his mind and immediately began the ritual on the woman who was about to turn away.

Whooosh.

Tale broke out in real cold sweat this time, contrasting with the earlier situation. Conversely, comfort evidently washed over the woman’s face. Feeling lighter, she quickly rose and bowed.

“Thank, thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Next in line.”

Logan merely watched the next villager approach, tapping the priest Tale on the shoulder.

“I’ll be watching.”

At that chilling voice, Tale could only nod his pale face in acknowledgment.

Logan’s threats had just begun. After several incidents where he identified and directly confronted negligent priests, the clergy had no choice but to believe the king’s words about seeing divine power.

Naturally, the attitude among the priests began to shift. Regardless of being affiliated with the temple, they were fundamentally people of this kingdom and wouldn’t want to enrage their king.

However, not all shared this sentiment.

“I’m doing my best, Your Majesty. It’s unfair to pressure us this way.”

Fabian, the plump senior priest of the God of Water and Agriculture, Aion, bowed his head in front of Logan, seemingly truly aggrieved.

“Your Majesty, even as Your Majesty’s person, it’s unreasonable to coerce the priests of the temple this way!”

While bowing humbly, he seemed to wear an expression that was all too visible under his bowed head.

Observing him, Logan’s lips curved into a cold smile.