Winds of Plague (XI)
Following Junon's advice and pouring endless patience into the process, Senia finally succeeded in crafting the medicine.
To test its purity, she placed a single drop onto a captured rat; immediately, the creature suffered violent spasms of rejection. While its true efficacy within the human body remained unverified, one thing was certain: the remedy would trigger no adverse side effects.
To explain the situation, Senia laid out everything that had transpired to the Siren Elder.
"Hmm... So the man you speak of belongs to your team, and by some strange twist of fate, Lumia is currently under his protection?"
"You understood correctly."
"Good heavens... What an astonishing coincidence."
The fact that the person most deeply bonded to Lumia was protecting her—and that he was currently confined to the cellar as part of this stranded detachment—left the Elder thoroughly stunned. When Junon had first brought up the Penarive barony, the old man had secretly harbored doubts. Yet here was undeniable, irrefutable proof.
Now that Senia was confirming the exact same tale, there was no longer any reason to remain suspicious. The Elder promptly ordered the two guards standing watch outside to bring Cain before him.
Had I trusted him from the start, we might have settled things far more smoothly and even borrowed his counsel, the old man mused, his heart heavy with regret as he thought of Junon.
Just then, Senia spoke up, her voice uncharacteristically tentative.
"Since it's just the two of us while they fetch Cain, there is something I must mention... Something that troubles me."
"Troubles you? I see nothing here to take issue with."
"I'm not talking about the humans from the Principality."
"Then do you mean the isolated unit stationed here?"
Senia shook her head once more.
"The ones I'm worried about aren't the humans. It's the Sirens in this settlement."
"Hm?"
Still failing to grasp her concern, the Elder raised an eyebrow.
With only the two of them present, Senia seized the opportunity to address the disturbing symptoms she had observed among their kin throughout this encounter.
"The Sirens right now are—"
"May we enter, Elder?"
Unfortunately, the timing could not have been worse. The two guards sent to retrieve Cain knocked on the door, cutting her off.
"...I'll tell you later. Let's bring Cain in first."
"Very well. Come inside."
"Human, step forward."
At the signal, three figures crossed the threshold. Yet from the moment the door swung open, Senia felt a subtle, unsettling friction in the air.
Though the Elder likely hadn't noticed, the guards were flanking Cain uncomfortably close, hovering over him with excessive wariness. What was more, escorting a single prisoner required only one guard, yet two had gone. Outside, there were bound to be even more.
"I intend to speak with him in private. You two may take your leave."
"...Understood."
Just as I thought.
No matter how hard people tried to conceal their inner thoughts, true emotion inevitably bled through their actions. As the guards hesitated before stiffly bowing their heads and exiting, Senia caught the rippling undercurrent of sheer turmoil rolling off them.
Still, now isn't the time to bring it up.
Speaking of it now would solve nothing. The root of their unrest was obvious: the presence of humans locked in the cellar, compounded by the ever-looming threat of the Devourers. There was no need to prioritize one over the other; solving both crises would naturally quell their agitation.
"So you are Senia's comrade. Would you mind giving a brief introduction?"
"I am Cain, serving as the Third Vanguard of Tembris. Lumia and I owe each other our lives. Beyond that, I am not at liberty to disclose my circumstances."
"I see. I am the Elder of this village. I ask for your understanding that, due to our own circumstances, I cannot share my name either."
"Understood."
With that, the brief exchange of courtesies concluded. Neither side harbored any overt hostility toward the other's first impression. Uninterested in tedious preambles, both wished to cut straight to the chase and address the reason for this summons.
A glass vial shimmering with a brilliant azure glow was held out toward Cain by the Elder's hand, inaugurating the true conversation.
"I was told Lumia has contracted the Lemterte Plague. Is that correct?"
Before long, the interior of the Grand Duchy became overrun with afflicted patients.
What had initially been brushed off as mere unsightly blemishes had rapidly spread, transforming into gruesome discolorations that coated the skin and inflicted agonizing torment. Agonized groans echoed endlessly through every ward, and before long, the first fatality occurred.
"...Monstrous."
The sudden appearance of demonic beasts within the hospital rooms had bewildered everyone. Yet the moment a corpse was confirmed, one could easily deduce what had transpired without even needing an autopsy.
Who could have ever imagined it? Not a single soul had conceived that rodent-like beasts would tear their way out through the flesh of living humans.
Even Dahlia, who had been tirelessly researching the Scourges, only reached absolute certainty after witnessing the horrific culmination of the disease firsthand.
"The provisional designation is Scourge, but notice will be given of their official designation: Devourers."
These creatures were not suicidal attackers; they were gluttonous predators.
"Disseminate this operational protocol strictly to high-ranking medical personnel first. If the general populace learns of this immediately, it will trigger uncontrollable mass panic."
"In that case, won't our treatments be delayed...?"
"If fear infects the populace, every other institution will be paralyzed alongside them. I will attempt to concoct a drug capable of suppressing the symptoms, so until then, do not release this under any circumstances."
"Understood..."
The truth of the Lemterte Plague could not be made public just yet.
They had to administer neutralizers first to those with the heaviest exposure and the most severe symptoms, buying whatever precious time they could until a true cure was formulated.
To think... That was the true purpose of their biological structure all along.
Throughout her extensive research, she had discovered that these Devourers lacked digestive organs entirely. Requiring no conventional sustenance and feeding solely on magical power, these parasitic fiends slowly hollowed out their human hosts from the inside.
Once they had gorged themselves on the host's entire pool of mana, the grown spawn used that stolen power to swell in size, ripping through flesh and bone to break free.
That was the horrifying reproductive cycle of the Devourers.
Muniherr... I think I finally understand why you acted as you did.
Without offering a single word of explanation, he had completed minimal reorganizations, left the seemingly sound soldiers of the subjugation force behind, and ventured back into the depths of Utulum Forest.
Initially, she had questioned why he had not taken those apparently uninjured soldiers with him. But upon looking closer, every single one of them had been drenched in the bodily fluids of Devourers—the true carriers of the plague. The men he had selected to re-enter the forest after reorganizing had been carefully screened to ensure not a trace of infection lingered upon them.
Her husband had undoubtedly uncovered that crucial intelligence during the campaign and acted accordingly.
Even so, what could she truly accomplish here?
Though she now understood that the Devourers invaded human bloodstreams through self-destructive bursts to feast upon mana circuits, buying time was the absolute limit of her abilities. Unless a viable cure could be developed, humanity was essentially doomed to mass slaughter at the hands of the Devourers.
"..."
Lebrant Academy Student Roster
Her gaze lingered intently on the register.
The oracle uncovered within the temple was tied directly to Lebrant Academy. Between the two lay the future of the Grand Duchy itself. The meaning hidden within that divine message was something only those who had lived through the Decisive Battle of Mirum could comprehend.
The one who lost everything.
The oracle had pointed toward Lebrant Academy while imparting those precise words, accompanied by the inscription of a magic circle once wielded by the savior of mankind. There was no mistaking it. Whether by the geometry of the circle or the prophecy's text, it mirrored the very power she had witnessed with her own eyes during the Decisive Battle of Mirum.
A seventh type of mana that defied conventional categorization.
It was a herald foretelling the advent of the wielder of 'Alkaid'.
Biting her lower lip, Dahlia put her protective gear back on and resumed her research, as though refusing to let despair touch her spirit.
Never. I will never let you end up like them.
To keep the tragic past from repeating itself, she was more than willing to bleed every drop of sweat and effort she possessed.
By all rights, I was entirely out of place.
I couldn't return to the cellar, and as a human, I was hardly a welcomed sight to the Sirens. Yet whether due to the Elder's decree or the presence of Chireu snoozing peacefully in my arms, the Sirens merely glared at me in passing, never daring to cause any trouble.
I almost feel like I'm receiving preferential treatment.
At the end of the day, I was just as human as the rest—no different from my classmates locked in the cellar, or the fool whose rash mistake had driven the detachment here in the first place.
Even so, they showed remarkably little suspicion toward me. The Sirens of this lakeside settlement seemed convinced that, at the very least, I harbored no intention of doing them harm. Naturally, it was nowhere near the deep bond of trust they shared with Senia, but it was far better than hostility.
"Still, how did it even end up like this?"
The truth was, I was currently waiting on a mother and daughter. Right after my conversation with the Elder concluded, Nella had looked visibly dissatisfied, but I never expected her to pull such a mischievous stunt.
It was a relief that she hadn't spread the news across the entire village, but Nella's mother had adamantly insisted on treating their benefactor to a proper home-cooked meal. Yet of all times, they had completely run out of ingredients. Just a few minutes ago, she had urged me to wait, strictly forbidding me from coming along to help because she would return shortly.
"Even taking that into account... this feels off."
She had mentioned stepping into the southern forest for a brief moment, but surely it shouldn't take this long. At a dead sprint, the distance was barely a minute away. The fact that she hadn't returned was deeply unsettling.
This won't do. I need to move.
There was a distinct chance she had run into trouble.
The moment I gently set Chireu down and rose to my feet—
"Chirr! Chirrr-k!"
The little creature snapped awake, shrieking in sheer alarm.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!
Without warning, a violent tremor ripped through the earth.
No. This isn't an earthquake...!
It was the reverberation of something colossal violently breaching the bedrock. I had felt this very tremor once before in my past life. This was...
No way.
It can't be.
There's no way that monster could appear here right now.
Rumbleeee—!
It makes no sense.
Yet the closer I drew, the more sickeningly certain I became.
Why? Why now?!
The steadying tremors only reinforced that horrific, familiar sensation. This couldn't be happening. Please, let me be wrong!
"Eeeeeeek—!"
Following the piercing scream echoing from right ahead, I broke through the trees toward the epicenter of the shockwave.
There, a monstrous silhouette resembling a towering mountain of jagged rock had already bored a colossal crater up from the subterranean depths.
Only a single curse slipped past my lips.
"Fuck..."
The beast that Tembris should have slain long ago—
The apex source of this entire plague—
Why the hell was Shanberesh of the Plague standing right here?!