Chapter 137
Chapter 137
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Traces (5)
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Galen and Lilia, having restocked their supplies for the journey, headed straight to the church as soon as the sun rose the next day.
"You've arrived?"
Diana had already prepared the carriage.
It wasn't the church's carriage. On the outside, it looked ordinary, but the interior was meticulously crafted—a high-end model that didn't draw attention. It had most likely been provided through the Kalia Merchant Guild.
Matching it, her appearance had changed significantly from yesterday. Her face hadn't been altered overnight, of course, but her clothes had.
Simply swapping her neat white clerical robes for a drab gray robe had completely transformed her aura.
Galen wasn't surprised to see it. He'd heard about it beforehand yesterday, and Lilia, who had come with him, was also dressed in ordinary clothes instead of her robes.
"I'm truly sorry for imposing even this on you, Bishop Lilia. But it's best if we move as discreetly as possible..."
"It's fine! I've done it before."
"R-Really?"
"This outfit? I bought it back then."
For most clergy, clerical robes were a source of pride, something precious.
But the Holy Knight Order often engaged in covert operations, so they were quite accustomed to going without robes. Diana was unfazed.
Lilia had also shed her robes once before while investigating a black market in the northeast, so she didn't feel much resistance. A slight awkwardness was inevitable, though.
"We'll be counting on you."
"Yes. Leave it to me."
"I'll do my best!"
Bargah offered a brief word of encouragement to the two bishops. Galen, standing a short distance away, met his eyes and exchanged a light nod.
Soon, the carriage departed.
The direction was west.
The Southwest Archdiocese lay to the west of the Southern Archdiocese, so it was only natural.
Inside the carriage carrying the three of them, Diana explained their destination.
"Bishop Lilia, this is your hometown, so you're probably well aware. There isn't much usable land in the East. Aside from the coastlines, it's mostly mountains."
"That's right!"
"The Southwest is similar. The difference is mountains versus forests. The Great Forest covers most of the Southwest."
Just as the vast mountain range stretching from the Southeast, blanketing most of the East and reaching into the Northeast was called the Great Mountains...
The immense jungle region enveloping nearly the entire Southwest was known as the Great Forest.
To be more precise, the Southwest Archdiocese had been defined around the Great Forest and its surroundings from the start, so it was inevitable.
"The Great Mountains at least have valleys here and there, plus abundant buried resources. But the Great Forest has none of that. It's just... a land of death."
"Pardon? It's a forest, though?"
"It's quite different from the kind of forest Lilia imagines."
Galen, who knew from his past life's knowledge just how dangerous a jungle could be even without having visited the Southwest, chimed in.
"Hot, humid, plants so dense it's dark even in daylight, swarming with poisonous herbs and insects, mystery plagues..."
"Eek."
"You know your stuff. Brother is right. And on top of that, there are unique fiends that only inhabit the Great Forest, so by human standards, it's a land of death."
They could harvest plenty of timber, and some clearing was gradually progressing from the edges, but compared to the Great Forest's total area, it was a drop in the bucket.
Along with the North, which was too cold for humans to inhabit, the Southwest had the sparsest population and was the poorest economically.
"In fact, during the great plague seven years ago, the eastern Southwest suffered heavy losses too. The western South took far more damage, but that's just because of the population difference—not because the plague was milder there."
"Huh? Brother, didn't you just say the Great Forest has plagues?"
"Not guaranteed, but the risk is high."
"Then, could a plague from the Great Forest have spread through eastern Southwest to western South?"
"It's not impossible. If Archdiocese hadn't found those traces, we might have dismissed it as such."
Diana nodded at Lilia's question.
"Truth be told, those traces were found only once back then, so we can't be certain it was magic. Plagues, big and small, are awfully common worldwide. We can't assume a culprit behind every one."
"True."
"That's why this mission is especially crucial. Our current target is the northern Southwest, where the damage is spreading just as rapidly as during the great plague."
"I hope the Church's judgment proves right."
Galen murmured softly.
"I don't know what their intent is with such nonsense, but once we crush them, it won't happen again."
And as a bonus, he could pick up a new spell.
This one seemed rather sinister, so it wasn't all that appealing, but learning it would prove useful someday.
For instance, if used on fiends instead of people, mass slaughter wouldn't draw ire. At the very least, it could serve as a defense against similar magic.
Outside the Oceanis sphere of influence, the name "Gem" hadn't truly spread yet.
For once, that was a relief. The culprit wouldn't hide first.
The carriage departing Valzam carried only three, but there were more companions who simply weren't visible.
"I've sent the team members ahead."
Diana said.
"This mission prioritizes rapid information gathering across a wide area. No need to stick together."
"Aren't we going too leisurely, perhaps?"
"It's fine. The carriage isn't slow, and factoring in compilation time, it's sufficient."
No matter how capable Galen and Lilia were, they only had two bodies. They couldn't cover a widespread plague alone.
For intel gathering at least, it was far more efficient to rely on the Kalia Merchant Guild's vast network and the Church's local influence.
The fastest transmission method was still relays of horses, so even by carriage, they had time to spare.
"We didn't bring you two for minor tasks anyway. Leave those to us."
"Understood."
That said, neither Galen nor Lilia had consciences lax enough to sightsee leisurely.
The slightly hurried carriage crossed the border between South and Southwest after ten days.
"Team leader."
In a nearby small city, one of the three team members awaited them.
"Were you waiting here?"
"Yes. Things seem off on the return path, so I wanted to report quickly."
"That bad?"
"Here are all the reports so far."
Diana took the documents from the team member and read them carefully. Her expression darkened progressively.
She set the papers aside momentarily and rummaged in her bag. Out came a thick sheet of paper, folded neatly despite its size.
Unfolded on the inn table, it revealed itself as a map.
The bottom marked the Great Forest, a rough line above it delineated the Western Archdiocese. Left end was the sea, right end bore the name of their current city.
In short, a fairly detailed map of northern Southwest Archdiocese.
Diana took a pen and jotted the reported damage sites onto the map. Even Galen and Lilia, without reading the docs, grasped the situation from the numbers alone.
"Hmm..."
"Oh my..."
Galen let out a low groan, Lilia covered her mouth. Diana, having transferred everything, sighed heavily.
"The Church only noticed the plague a month or so ago. And it's spread this much already. New reports are likely coming in even now..."
"We're aggregating from villages with even small churches or guild informants as much as possible. But in hard-hit villages, even they perish, complicating accuracy. Isolated ones wipe out before seeking aid."
The team member added gloomily. Lilia, lost in serious thought, spoke up.
"First, we need to confirm that definitively. The traces. Let's check the nearest village."
"Good idea. The plague's spread direction is like this, so heading there..."
Consensus formed quickly.
The team member departed to gather more intel, and the group, wary of the plague, dismissed the coachman.
Not a bishop's duty, but Diana volunteered to drive.
Two days later, they arrived at the target village.
Outsiders in a plague-ridden village wouldn't be welcomed, but clergy were a universal key. Flashing the holy mark turned hostility to courtesy instantly.
The village church was small, served only by a deacon without a priest. Fortunately, the situation wasn't dire.
Lilia tended critically ill patients with miracles, while Galen and Diana checked milder cases.
Treatments done, they reconvened at the church.
Lilia's face was clouded.
"I can't sense any traces."
"Same here."
Galen looked grim too.
First tries don't always succeed, but this felt different. They'd expected traces.
Diana asked cautiously.
"If I may, could you have missed it?"
"Doubt it."
Galen tilted his head, pulling a vial from his pocket.
Droy's blood, brought for comparison, still carried that faint unease.
"Maybe because it's a mage's blood? Villagers are commoners?"
"Not sure. But if there was such a difference, the Archbishop would have noticed..."
"True, she wouldn't have treated only mages."
No ready answers emerged from pondering.
Harboring unease, they left the village.
Subsequent villages yielded the same: no special traces.
Meanwhile, reports poured in from team members, the plague unrelenting, heightening anxiety—until one day.
"Ah!"
In a large village that had over a thousand souls before the plague, Galen and Lilia finally found traces.
Not just one or two—multiple patients' blood showed it consistently.
Doubts that even the Archbishop might be off-base vanished instantly.
Lilia, drained for days, perked up. Galen, reviewing accumulated data, pointed to a spot on the map.
"Next, here."
Traces appeared in the next village, and the one after.
Three in a row wasn't coincidence. Diana's eyes sparkled.
"Found a clue?"
"Not sure if right, but compare the dud villages and hits' conditions."
"Conditions?"
Studying docs per Galen's words, Diana's eyes widened in realization.
"Damage ratios?"
"Yes. Big villages naturally have high deaths, but proportionally higher than others."
"If not coincidence, then places the culprit passed through personally...!"
"No idea how they spread it, but covering everywhere manually? Probably targeted spots, letting rest spread naturally. Duds natural, hits deliberate?"
"Brother, something else now that you mention it."
Lilia, reading other docs beside Diana, spoke.
"Villages wiped out entirely. Not far from big ones—day trip away."
"Sister makes sense too. Isolated spots don't call for help and perish, but outsiders rarely go, so low plague odds."
"One or two coincidental, but overlapping? Suspicious."
They reexamined the map. Diana's meticulous transfers made it clear.
Linking high-ratio villages near wiped-out ones...
A jagged line crossed the map vertically.
"The culprit's path so far?"
"Intensive search should yield something."
Lilia and Galen exchanged. Diana groaned.
"We must hurry."
"Pardon?"
Galen queried, puzzled by the obvious.
Diana extended the line on the map with her finger.
It stopped near the top edge.
"If this is their path, a bit further up reaches Kairoan."
"Kairoan?"
"Southwest's largest city, gateway to the West Archdiocese."
Diana said gravely.
"If it falls, the West is at risk."