Chapter 147 — Defying Fate (1)
Roan shook his head.
"Don't jump to conclusions. This is also the first time I have seen someone corrupted by the power of the Corrupted Land. I cannot tell whether he has been fully cleansed by my power, or if his symptoms have merely subsided."
Tension surfaced again on the faces of the knights surrounding the Emperor and the Duke.
"When Yurus guided me beyond Birektum last time, he was caught in a sandstorm. He coughed after that, and I thought it was simply because of the sand."
The Duke's expression turned grim, and the knight bowed his head deeply.
Because the Emperor was an outsider, Yurus had not bothered to hide his cough, at least in front of Roan.
A trusted knight's deception.
The Duke could not hide his disappointment.
"When I infused him with my power, the coughing subsided. That thought came to mind, so I did the same thing now. But this magic has a time limit. It remains uncertain whether he is completely healed or if the corruption will resume once time passes."
At the words that the current state might only be temporary, the knights stirred.
The Duke let out a light sigh.
"...I shall confine him, interrogate him, and observe."
Just then, a stretcher arrived.
The knight who had been called Mome bound Yurus with a rigid expression. Though he could not walk due to injuries to both ankles, Yurus was secured just as he was to the stretcher and taken elsewhere.
"The duration of this magic is roughly five to six hours. If he remains lucid after that, it would be fortunate... No, I do not know. Is this truly a fortunate thing?"
What would have been a better end for him?
It was impossible to know.
Ordinarily he would have been killed, but now, clear-headed, he would have to pay for the crimes he committed while enthralled by the power of the Corrupted Land.
There was no way he had willfully succumbed to that malevolent power. For a knight living in the East Yellow Territory, traveling back and forth to the eastern desert was an inevitability.
It was only that even one who had honed himself enough to rise to vice-captain of the East Yellow Territory Knight Order could not resist the malice that had stubbornly ensnared him.
Even though Roan had healed him,
his life could not be saved in the end.
Simply because he had gained life in this land.
Gloom settled upon Roan's face.
The Duke spoke up as if pressed for time.
"As Your Majesty says, there is a time limit. I shall swiftly interrogate him to confirm whether yesterday's incident was also Yurus's doing."
Just as the Lord of the East Yellow Territory was about to offer his greetings to the Emperor before heading to where the knights had disappeared...
A single new torchlight could be seen approaching rapidly from beyond the field, waving back and forth.
Roan and the Duke turned their heads almost simultaneously.
"Sir, please help! Oh, Your Majesty and Your Grace were also present...!"
The human who had come seeking the knights threw himself flat to the ground in a fluster, stunned by the unexpected presence of such high personages.
The voice was urgent.
At the foreboding feeling,
Roan's eyes sharpened.
"What has happened."
"Diobe needs immediate treatment! She has already lost much blood."
While the Duke turned to Roan with a bewildered look, the Emperor was already moving before he had even finished hearing the answer.
Behind the running Emperor,
the Duke followed after giving orders for the knights to call an apothecary.
The human who had come to fetch the knights panted as he ran alongside them, cutting across the field.
"Diobe."
The humans who had surrounded Diobe hastily bowed their heads upon hearing Roan's voice. But Roan did not register them.
Even before he entered the tent, what 'Detection' had sensed was the presence of fading life force.
The deep crimson blood seeping from Diobe's abdomen filled Roan's vision.
"...Your Majesty."
Because one of the farmers was pressing firmly on her stomach to stop the bleeding, Diobe endured the pain and called Roan in a whisper.
"How did this happen?"
Someone among the farmers surrounding them gave the answer.
"It was a raid. Diobe was stabbed with a blade while confronting them...."
"Here? You mean these lodgings were raided?"
"Yes... Your Majesty."
"Was Yurus alone in guarding this place?"
The Duke asked the knight who had followed him in. The knight answered with a rigid face.
"No. There were soldiers standing night watch alongside him. However, they were all k—...."
In an instant, the sharp-eyed Duke waved his hand. It meant there was no need to say more, as he could understand without hearing it.
The Duke asked as if to close his mouth.
"The apothecary."
"They are coming from the castle. For now, the knight order is bringing the highest-grade medicine we had in the barracks, so please wait a moment."
The knight replied, not knowing where to put himself.
It seemed the knights staying nearby for the Emperor's guard had kept some medicine just in case.
"Diobe."
Diobe could not give any answer and only gritted her teeth.
Her firmly sealed lips, not even letting out a groan, had turned deathly pale.
Roan felt helpless.
'Damn it, even though I learned Divine Magic....'
Despite possessing the power to protect people from an absurd curse, he could not use the kind of power a human priest would have employed with ease.
He had not yet grown enough to learn healing.
Roan's brow furrowed with self-reproach as he gazed at Diobe's pallid face.
Because it was painful to keep looking at her face, Roan lifted his head and looked around.
The humans' lodgings were a shabby large tent.
The quarters, where over ten beds were lined up facing each other, were worlds apart from Roan's own.
Since Diobe was an administrator brought by Roan, she was also a guest of the Duke. She could have used a comfortable single bedchamber.
Was power that could not protect the people around him so utterly helpless?
For the first time since coming to Evirgio, Roan felt a profound sense of despair.
"Your Majesty."
Just as the Duke, reading the deep despair on the Emperor's face, carefully addressed him,
a new presence was sensed through 'Detection'.
Roan urgently turned his head toward the entrance.
"I have brought the medicine."
A knight, who seemed to have tumbled off a Ker, rushed into the tent. He pulled out a medicinal pill from the pouch at his waist. A strong herbal scent wafted out.
"You can either feed this to her or crush it onto the wound."
"Diobe. Open your mouth."
Roan, having received the medicine, supported Diobe's head, but there was no reply.
Diobe's condition had worsened significantly compared to just a few minutes ago, when Roan had arrived here.
Her breathing could still be heard faintly, but her cheeks, which had lost even more color, were now as white as if bleached outright.
Several farmers watching nearby lamented.
Seeing that, the Duke gave his advice.
"Your Majesty. The pill must be applied to the wound. Please give it to me."
Roan handed the medicine to the Duke without delay and spoke to the people around them.
"Clear the area. Only the Duke and I will remain."
Her clothing had to be removed to apply the medicine to the wound. After confirming that everyone had withdrawn, Roan tore through the middle of Diobe's clothes without hesitation.
The simple tunic dress Diobe had been wearing was already ruined, soaked in blood.
When the clothes were hitched up, the marks of dried and clotted blood were crusted thickly over her fair skin, now revealed. Seeing the wound, Roan let out a groan without realizing it.
"...It's deep...."
The wound from the blade was not large outwardly, but it continued to gush bright red blood in surges.
Roan pressed down firmly on Diobe's gaping wound with the cloth one of the farmers had been holding in place. But from beneath the already crimson-soaked cloth, blood trickled down in streams.
It was impossible to tell whether it had freshly seeped from Diobe's wound or had been squeezed from the cloth.
The Duke, who had been chewing and grinding a medicinal pill beside him, spit it out and spoke.
"Your Majesty. It will be all right. Even if it is deep, this medicine will be enough. Please remove your hand for a moment."
Although he had never directly treated soldiers, the Duke was hardened by countless battlefields. He pressed the medicine he was holding into the gap of the wound as soon as Roan removed his hand, with practiced familiarity.
Roan's eyes went wide with shock.
"Hhk...!"
Diobe's eyes flew open wide.
What burst from her mouth was a scream.
"...Aaah... agh...!"
The pain of having the wound pried open was more than even her patient nature could endure. Roan bit his lip and reached out to place his hand on her forehead.
Pain-reducing magic.
In place of the healing magic he had not yet learned,
this was the best Roan could do for her.
A faint light vanished from his fingertips and seeped into her.
Diobe's howling began to subside.
The Duke, who had inserted the medicine into the wound and was clamping it shut tightly, once again looked at the Emperor with surprised eyes.
Diobe fell quiet again as if she had lost consciousness.
From outside, the presence of many people could definitely be felt, yet all was silent, as though they were all holding their breath and listening intently to the sounds inside the tent.
Only the sound of footsteps, hurriedly gathering the soldiers slain by Yurus, reached them from time to time.
"Your Majesty."
Several minutes must have passed.
It was the Duke who spoke first.
Roan, as if only now coming to his senses, lifted his head, which had been blankly staring at Diobe, and fixed his gaze on the Duke.
"May I keep Diobe with me?"
"...Hm?"
Roan's eyes narrowed.
A distinctly perceptible goodwill from him.
"I have taken a liking to this human."
The wound the Duke was pressing no longer seeped blood.
"Should I bring more humans to the city, someone will be needed to manage them, and above all... she is my type. A woman who knows how to throw herself to protect another is not common."
At the sight of the Lord of the East Yellow Territory looking down at her and smiling, the tension left Roan as well, and he involuntarily chuckled.
Talking about women in a situation like this.
The Duke seemed certain that Diobe had overcome the brink of death.
"You intend to make her a candidate for your wife."
"Yes. Though if that happens, she would be the ninth."
He knew the great lords kept several wives, but the ninth.
Roan looked at the Lord of the East Yellow Territory with a slightly appalled expression, but the Duke merely glanced once at the Emperor with a nonchalant face and then turned his eyes back to the wound.
The Duke carefully lifted his palm away.
Astonishingly, the torn wound had closed, leaving behind only a disfiguring scar.
Roan's eyes rounded.
As expected, the medicine of this world was a miraculous power rivaling that of healing magic.
The presence of Diobe as felt through 'Detection' was unmistakably clearer than before.
Roan, having let out a sigh of relief, replied with a weary yet gentle voice.
"Not possible."
"...."
The Duke wore a slightly regretful expression. As the Duke looked away from the wound to look at him, Roan met his yellow eyes.
"She is mine."
"Ah, forgive me. Then she is already...."
"No. For now, it is only my own thinking, but...."
Roan, who had quickly replied to the Duke's question, felt inwardly embarrassed. It felt as if he had been forced to confess a one-sided love.
Diobe's Affection was plainly visible,
but she had not spoken of her feelings to him yet.
So as things stood, it was no different from Roan liking Diobe all on his own.
"I liked Diobe from the very beginning. That's why I abducted her."
"...I beg your pardon?"
The Duke's mouth fell open at Roan's extreme statement. But Roan retorted in earnest.
"So the Duke has no chance. I have no intention of giving her up. Give it up."
The Duke, who had opened and closed his mouth several times as if about to say something, eventually let out a bitter smile.
"...Understood. Your Majesty."
Roan stared blankly down at Diobe's face. Color was slowly beginning to return to her face that had been like a sheet of white paper.
"So this is what the lodgings for humans are like. Staying in such a place with males must have been a harsh ordeal for her."
"...I shall see to it."
"Tonight, I intend to take her to my quarters and observe her condition. When the apothecary arrives, send her to my room."
"Understood, Your Majesty."
Roan carefully lifted her into his arms.