The Winds of Plague (3)
"Haha, look at you. That grin's about to fly right off your face!"
"How could it not? When I get back, my beloved wife and sweet little daughter will be waiting for me."
"Daughter? You don't have a daughter... Wait. Don't tell me...!"
"The day we marched out, she told me she was pregnant and begged me to come home in one piece. That's why I've been fighting tooth and nail to make it back alive."
"Well, I'll be! Congratulations, man! Now that's what I call a blessing!"
Strange.
"What're you going to do with your subjugation bounty once you're home?"
"Hard to say. First off, I suppose I ought to treat the folks who fought beside me. We had our share of close calls, after all."
"Oh, please. Didn't one remarkably brilliant soldier swoop in right in the nick of time when life and death hung in the balance? You should start with him."
"...It got dicey, sure, but nobody was on the verge of dying. By 'remarkably brilliant soldier,' you just mean yourself, don't you? Fishing for compliments?"
"Haha. Busted, huh?"
"I'm grateful you stepped in, but that kind of bragging won't get you anywhere with the ladies."
Really, truly strange.
"Anyone who wants to eat, get over here now!"
"Can't we just eat later?"
"Oh? You think so? Let's see if you're singing that tune once you lay eyes on this!"
"Whoa...! Th-This is..."
"Caught fresh off the mountain today. If you drag your feet, every last scrap of meat's going to vanish. Choose wisely."
No matter how many times he looked around trying to make sense of what was happening, Junon couldn't shake the unnerving sensation.
The subjugation was drawing to its close. With victory firmly in hand, the soldiers were actually unwinding—a display so surreal it felt bordering on absurd.
"Sunbaeee—! Honestly, at least wait up for me!"
"..."
"Why are you running in such a hurry? Ah, don't tell me you were starving too, Sunbae?!"
She teased with her usual mischievous, playful grin, but Renias's words failed to reach him.
It's not here. None of it.
Just as Renias had said, not a single person among the subjugation force was gripped by panic.
Which made the situation all the more dire.
"I-It was just a joke, Sunbae. Why do you look so terrifying...?"
By this time, Senia should have sketched out the rat's internal anatomy for Professor Muniher, proving its undeniable connection to the Lemterte Plague.
That being the case, the beast's true designation—Devourer, not Scourge—ought to have been announced to the entire army, setting everyone on high alert.
Even knowing it would deal a blow to troop morale, Professor Muniher was the sort to lay out the cold, hard truth so no one let their guard down.
The terrifying symptoms of the Lemterte Plague that would soon, without fail, ravage their bodies.
The iron discipline and sharpened nerves born of realizing their ordeal was far from over.
And the somber humility of men prepared to face the worst-case scenario: death itself.
That was what the regressor remembered. That was the scene that should have been reflected in those dark eyes of his right now.
Yet... none of it had been revealed. Not to a single one of them.
Only one person possessed the authority to conceal such a truth. The person who stood atop the entire chain of command, overseeing orders, intelligence, and strategic decisions alike.
The only one who would receive the report first and wielded the power to disseminate it to the troops was the supreme commander of this subjugation force.
Professor Muniher... why in the world?
Even though Team Tembris had slain Shanberesh, the dregs of the plague had not been thoroughly purged, meaning encounters with the remaining beasts on their march home were inevitable.
The longer the skirmishes dragged on, the more the soldiers would remain exposed to the vector of infection, naturally hastening the onset of symptoms.
By the time they reached the Principality, it would already be too late. The commander should have clearly envisioned that horrific future—the soldiers gradually rotting away under the familiar blight of the Lemterte Plague.
The vector was the bodily fluid scattered by the self-destructing Devourers.
They might try to rely primarily on physical strikes to steer clear of that infection route, but could simple blades really handle those beasts?
Before the regression, cleanly severing the central nervous system to kill them instantly without spraying the blood laden with larval Devourers was an impossible ask for soldiers who had fought almost entirely with magic; taking up mundane steel hadn't even been an option on the table.
Which left only one path: technique.
In that narrow window of time, Professor Muniher had devised a countermeasure tailored to the Devourers.
A technique founded on the premise that if the beasts devoured human mana and destroyed mana circuits, one needed only to reverse the principle—rupturing the rats' internal circuits so they couldn't even trigger their self-destruction.
That was Anti-Cast.
Only a precious few could adapt to and wield the hastily created art, but that handful had proved enough to set foot across the Principality's border.
For that very reason, this exact moment should have been consumed by drilling Anti-Cast into the ranks. For the soldiers' survival, and for the future of the Principality.
Yet why had this decision been reached this time?
What could possibly be gained by withholding Anti-Cast?
After the previous timeline's failure had laid bare the truth of the Lemterte Plague, Junon had even braced himself to bear the bitter lash of their resentment...
Strange.
Something had gone profoundly wrong.
"Um... Sunbae?"
"...Sorry, Renias. I need to see the professor. Can we talk later?"
There was no other choice than to ask the man himself.
Thanks to Senia's Mana Eye, every member of Team Tembris was aware of the link between the Lemterte Plague and the Scourge.
Yet for some reason, the broader subjugation force remained completely in the dark.
"Keep this strictly between ourselves. If word gets out carelessly, it will shatter the soldiers' morale."
Professor Muniher, commander of the expedition, had issued a direct gag order to all of Team Tembris.
Still, human nature was not so easily governed.
Just one person... That should be fine. He knows how to keep his mouth shut.
Aris couldn't stop herself from chewing nervously on her thumbnail.
Her personality was one thing, but bearing an immense emotional debt toward Junon, she simply could not sit by and let this slide in silence.
"I don't even know why command was thrust onto someone as useless as me. But dozens, hundreds of people were dying left and right at a single word from my mouth."
"Just like you thought, I was nothing more than dead weight. But do you have any idea what it felt like to stand there and watch people die while I did nothing? Do you have any idea what kind of guilt it is to be utterly helpless, forced to beg others to fight in your place because you lost all your strength?"
Even now, the memory made her fingers clench tightly, crumpling the fabric of her collar.
One who remembered nothing, and one who remembered everything, bearing the crushing burden alone. The gulf separating their circumstances was unfathomably vast.
And among all his words, the one that pierced Aris's heart to its core was:
"What else am I supposed to do, though? Everything I know is incomparably more sickening and bleak than any of this."
It meant Junon's end had been anything but merciful. Whatever had unfolded afterward, only the lesser of two evils and the absolute worst had awaited him. That was why Aris still dreaded facing him.
And yet, she had to.
Even if she were met with scathing rebuke the second she found him, she had to tell him the truth.
Senia had deduced that most of the subjugation force was likely already infected with the Lemterte Plague.
If so, even if Junon had been stationed at the rear, he couldn't possibly be an exception. If she could urge him to take the mana neutralizer Senia had mentioned the moment they returned to the Principality, she could at least buy him some time.
It should be somewhere around here...
Searching for Junon's tent, Aris checked the nameplates, slipping quietly through the less conspicuous pathways.
Realizing she was heading down the wrong row, she rounded a corner—only to collide hard with someone, sending the other person tumbling onto their backside.
"Ouch... S-Sorry... Huh?"
"Are you al—Wait?"
Though both had collided, only one hit the dirt, owing entirely to the difference in their frames.
"Charlotte?"
"Aris-unnie?"
Recognizing one another, both stiffened, gears turning frantically in their heads.
Why is Aris-unnie here? Ugh... why did I say what I said earlier...?!
Charlotte's here...? This is bad...
There was no earthly reason for a familiar face to be wandering this far back. Aris wasn't the only one who had set out to find Junon to warn him about the Lemterte Plague.
Of course, both had slipped away after giving their teammates some flimsy excuse about having business to attend to, which meant they had both lied through their teeth.
"Charlotte...? What... brings you all the way out here? The lumber depot isn't in this direction..."
"What about you, Unnie...?"
"M-Me? Well... I heard an acquaintance of mine was assigned to the same unit as Junon... What about you?"
"I, um... was just wondering if there was anyone worth scouting for the merchant guild..."
They fumbled for excuses, but neither aligned even remotely with what they had claimed earlier, laying bare the fact that both were making things up on the fly.
Unable to violate the gag order handed down to their team, they racked their brains in silence.
The flustered standoff was cut short by the voice of a silver-haired beauty approaching their target.
"Sunbaeee—! Honestly, at least wait up for me!"
"..."
"Why are you running in such a hurry? Ah, don't tell me you were starving too, Sunbae?!"
From just around the corner, Aris and Charlotte froze, an involuntary gasp slipping past their lips.
Neither had ever met her in person, so this was their first time laying eyes on her.
Still, between the widespread rumors and an appearance dazzling enough to enchant man and woman alike, deducing her identity took zero effort.
"That girl... that's her, isn't it...? From the Lantana Ducal Family..."
"Uh... yes. Lenias Posterior von Lantana... one of only two members of the Arcab Party..."
Both spoke in dazed murmurs, entirely unconscious of their slack-jawed expressions.
For Aris, who rarely got flustered, and Charlotte, with her shrewd merchant instincts, to be reduced to such awestruck whispers said everything.
From head to toe, she looked as though every scrap of surrounding light had gathered solely to illuminate her figure; even under the dreary skies, the silver-haired girl seemed bathed in an ethereal brilliance.
She looked as if she had stepped straight out of the pages of a fairy tale. Stunned for several heartbeats, the two snapped their mouths shut with a soft, synchronized gasp.
"...Sorry, Renias. I need to see the professor. Can we talk later?"
""...!""
At the sound of Junon's voice, they finally remembered why they had come.
Their perked ears, slightly parted lips, and vacant stares snapped back into place.
Casting aside their earlier dilemma of what lies to spin, all their attention shifted to the scene unfolding just around the corner as they flattened themselves against the wall to eavesdrop.
"Okay... Um, but... about earlier..."
"Sorry. I was caught up in my own thoughts and completely missed what you said. I'll apologize properly later."
"Huh? Wait! Sunbaeee! Running off again... No, wait, at least he isn't mad...? Or could my prank have gone too far and he's just hiding it...? Hmph..."
With that, Junon strode away at a brisk pace and vanished from sight.
He had moved too fast to tail, but he had clearly stated his destination: he was going to see the professor.
Which almost certainly meant Professor Muniher.
With the target's destination confirmed, Charlotte and Aris finally gasped softly and turned their heads, their eyes meeting in awkward hesitation.
By this point, neither needed words to deduce who the other had come to see.
Sharing the exact same objective, all that was left was an accord.
"...You're coming with me, right?"
"Yes..."
The unspoken pact to overlook each other's lies was sealed in a heartbeat.
Behind Muniher, who stood gazing toward the distant mountains, the sound of approaching footsteps drew near.
You've come.
He didn't so much as turn his head. Hands clasped behind his back, Muniher simply kept his gaze trained on the far-off peaks.
When the footsteps came to a halt, he let out a faint breath and turned around.
"What brings you here, Junon?"
He had already known who it would be.