Chapter 246
Chapter 246
The temporary relief team Logan had assembled arrived in Raphtan Territory just four days after leaving the capital.
Typically, larger groups move slower, yet this thousand-strong contingent had covered a week's distance for ordinary travelers in mere days—proof of their urgency.
But the first sight that greeted them upon arrival was beyond anything they had imagined.
"M-Mom...?"
"Son, don't fall asleep. Understand? Just hold on a little longer."
"Just... just a little more..."
Faces gaunt with exhaustion.
Families—each member pale and haggard—trudged toward the riverbank, arms laden with bundles of belongings.
Yet what awaited them at Raphtan's border was not freedom, but the grasp of death itself.
"Captain! More of them coming!"
"Damn it, why won't they just die quietly?! Why do they keep—?! Shoot! Kill them!"
Soldiers lined along the riverbank nocked arrows toward the approaching figures.
At their captain's command, the men bit their lips and drew their bowstrings—but not before a dozen corpses, already riddled with arrows, lay strewn ahead.
"Loose!"
Thwip-thwip-thwip!
A volley followed the order.
"Agh!"
"Honey!!"
A man collapsed. A woman carrying a child screamed and fell to her knees.
"Ugh! W-Wait! Here...!"
Trembling hands.
Even with an arrow embedded in his thigh, the man fumbled in his coat and pulled something out—a merchant's identification badge.
Though nothing about them suggested merchants, the badge looked genuine.
"Damn it, you soft-hearted fools—! You're not even aiming right?! Bastards!"
The captain glared at his men before sighing and shouting at the wounded man.
"Where'd you dig up that fake?! Don't come any closer! Turn back! No Raphtan resident leaves this territory!"
The man's face darkened at the captain's roar.
Despair crashed over him—even the merchant's pass, bought with his last coin, was useless.
There's no way back now...
Returning would only brand him a fugitive, inviting punishment.
And worse than punishment—
No. He could never go back.
Either way, death awaited.
Then—
"Please, my lord! If we go back, we'll die!"
A desperate plea, wrung from his last reserves of strength.
But—
Damn it all. How did it come to this?
The captain wasn't acting out of cruelty.
The orders from above were ironclad—and not without reason.
And he, too, was a family man.
The thought of the plague reaching his home was a nightmare he refused to entertain.
"P-Please, at least let my son through! He's still healthy! The cursed disease hasn't reached our village, and they say children don't catch it—!"
Blind to reason, the man babbled desperate lies.
"Don't mock me! Final warning—turn back or die!"
At the captain's icy ultimatum, the man's expression hardened with resolve.
"Then kill us! Let's see how well you sleep after slaughtering innocents!"
You idiot, you think we want to do this?!
Can't you see the corpses piling up right in front of you?!
Gritting his teeth, the captain barked,
"What are you waiting for?! Shoot! If he wants to die, grant his wish!"
The soldiers clenched their jaws and raised their bows again.
Another volley loomed.
"Honey!"
A black rain of arrows descended toward the immobilized man, his shielding wife, and their unconscious child—
Just before tragedy could strike—
Flash.
A sudden burst of golden light.
The arrows froze mid-air.
Amidst the stunned silence of soldiers and the bewildered family—
"Explain this. Now."
A knight with crimson eyes, radiating murderous intent, stood before them.
"No injuries. The family is unharmed."
After hearing the priest's report, Logan turned his blazing glare back to the captain.
"You were ordered to seal the borders—not massacre your own people! You damned lunatics—!"
Flames of fury flickered in Logan's eyes as he listened to the kneeling captain's explanation.
"W-We only shot those trying to flee! Most were warned first—"
"Silence! I saw you aiming to kill from the start. Dare you lie to me?!"
"T-The lord's orders, Your Majesty! Normally, we'd miss on purpose and warn—"
"Enough. Who do you serve? Your lord will answer for this."
"Kelroman Viscounty, Y-Your Majesty."
"Kelroman?"
"This is Kelroman's territory, Your Majesty. It borders Raphtan to the west."
Logan nodded at the knight's clarification.
"My group heads to Raphtan. We will end this plague. Tell Kelroman to meet me there and lend his support. If he refuses..."
Crack.
Starting from the tree stump Logan sat on, the ground split as if struck by an earthquake.
BOOM.
"Eek!"
A nearby tree exploded into splinters, sending soldiers scrambling back in terror.
Though royal authority alone could compel obedience, Logan preferred a more direct warning.
"The Kelroman family will be erased."
"Y-Yes! Understood, Your Majesty!"
Tch.
An unpleasant situation, but he couldn't raze everything yet.
Priorities first.
With supplies potentially insufficient, requisitioning resources from neighboring nobles before the second relief shipment arrived was prudent. And since he'd witnessed this atrocity firsthand, none could feign ignorance.
But then—
"It's not just us..."
A faint mutter from behind Logan—likely thought unheard—twisted his lips into a bloodthirsty smile.
"Kelroman Viscounty, Gencis Barony, and Perona Barony—all three bordering Raphtan—are employing the same method."
Within moments of pausing their march, scouts returned with reports from all directions.
Thus, Logan grasped the neighboring lords' stance on the crisis.
"Sealing borders and shooting anyone who tries to cross?"
"...Yes."
"Simply driving them back wasn't satisfying enough?"
"They fear even contact might spread the plague to their soldiers."
Sigh.
The sigh came unbidden.
I understand. I do.
Then Bishop Ilia's words resurfaced:
-The common factor is one: rampant hunger and poor sanitation.
Right. This was the time to—
"Food."
"Pardon?"
"Tell all three territories. They are to send maximum aid to Raphtan. If their efforts disappoint me, I will hold them accountable for slaughtering my people without cause."
"I'll dispatch messengers."
As Victor bowed, three knights galloped off in different directions. The group then entered Raphtan Territory with grim expressions.
"You honor us with your presence, Your Majesty. My deepest gratitude."
Baron Eric Raphtan had waited outside the outer walls and prostrated himself the moment Logan's banners came into view.
His plump cheeks contrasted starkly with sunken eyes and dark circles—undeniable proof of his stress.
Yet—
"After the recent tax reforms, he raised his territory's levy to 80%."
The whispered report just before arrival left little room for sympathy.
Still, blaming a man who merely followed orders solves nothing.
Was it selfish to want to shift responsibility?
Logan scoffed at his own thoughts and cut to the chase.
"Current status?"
The baron's reply bordered on a wail.
"Twelve villages report infections! Despite isolating the sick, it keeps spreading! And yesterday morning, even an inner-city servant showed symptoms—!"
His piggish sobs grated on Logan, who interrupted,
"Countermeasures?"
"Six villages were wiped out. The rest are under military quarantine. Since yesterday, even the inner city has been sealed."
Logan lifted his gaze to the castle.
Slightly larger than MacLaine's during its decline, Raphtan's inner walls couldn't enclose much.
"Since we're here, we should examine that servant first."
Bishop Ilia followed Logan's gaze and nodded.
But—
"Your Grace. Before you heal them with divine power, may I examine the servant first?"
Gilbert, the middle-aged Healers' Guild representative—and a 4th-Circle mage—stepped forward without fear.
Records showed no high-level mana or force users had ever died of plague. His confidence was justified.
Logan nodded and turned back.
"Well? Baron, where are they?"
"W-Well..."
Eric Raphtan's evasive gaze stirred unease—until a shout erupted from behind his soldiers.
"T-The baron killed all the inner-city servants! Even my sister—!"
A grief-stricken roar.
Logan's face contorted.
"Is this bastard truly insane? These were people who served him for years—slaughtered on mere suspicion?!"
Back inside the inner city.
The baron, dragged kicking and screaming into the great hall, knelt where the stench of blood still hung thick.
Too terrified to even dispose of the corpses, they'd left the bodies to rot.
Disgust painted every face in the group.
"I-I just wanted to live...!"
His flailing now resembled a pig's—a diseased, wretched pig.
"Tch. Can't just execute him either..."
Logan's sighing lament drained the color from Eric Raphtan's face.
"S-Spare me! I only acted to stop the plague's spread!"
From what he'd done alone, this man was unfit to be nobility.
But executing a territorial lord over dead servants would invite fierce backlash.
Especially since Logan had arrived under the pretense of aid—bringing vast resources.
Killing the baron now?
It would only give neighboring lords cause to rebel openly.
"...Lock the baron in the dungeons. Damage control comes first."
Priorities mattered more.
Perhaps relieved to escape death, Eric Raphtan didn't resist as knights dragged him away.
His fate could be decided after the plague.
"You. Knight."
"...Yes, Your Majesty."
"Guide us to the nearest village. One with patients."
"That's, um..."
His hesitation bred dread.
"Don't tell me—?!"
"This morning... the baron ordered the extermination of all infected villages."
The knight's hushed reply followed Ilia's horrified cry, plunging the hall into icy silence.