Infectious Disease

After the sun rose, the commoners looked at the notices posted all over the city.

Every one of them was utterly shocked.

Having received word that someone had attempted to summon a demon within the Royal Capital, His Highness Crown Prince Jem and Bishop Safi of the Church had led a search of the city through the night. They had ultimately found their target in the Beast Arena, slain 124 Cultists, and eliminated Karlra, the demon that had unleashed the Magic Disaster centuries ago.

The following evil organizations were also eradicated during the citywide search:

No. 411 Orla Street: A child-trafficking ring of seventeen people was found hiding here. All were slain.

No. 112 Third Avenue: Twenty-one followers of the Secret Wheel Society were found hiding here. All were slain.

A total of 946 criminals were eradicated in the above operations. Their heads have all been severed and piled up one hundred meters outside the north gate. Any citizens aware of other evil organizations hiding within the city may report them at No. 12 Glorious Road. The royal family will grant appropriate rewards.

"Demons?"

Such creatures had actually descended upon the Royal Capital yesterday?

Faced with this news, most commoners were stunned for a moment. They had only ever heard of such legendary creatures in all manner of tales. Beyond fear, they felt even more curiosity. Centuries of time and the succession of generations upon generations had long since blurred the concrete image of demons in their minds.

For a time, the news did not even feel particularly real to them. It stirred them less than the list of evil organizations below it.

Demons were simply too distant from their lives. Suddenly hearing such news was far less horrifying than discovering that there had actually been a Cultist den near their homes.

For the vast majority of people, so long as something had nothing to do with them, no matter how great or serious it was, it held little meaning.

It was precisely because Jem understood this that he had people list even the detailed addresses of the forces that had been eradicated.

Still, no matter what, wiping out so many underground forces in one go had shown everyone the royal family's resolve.

It was foreseeable that public security in the Royal Capital would rise sharply over the next few years, and these achievements would also provide ample support for Jem Woz's coronation.

Rain poured down in torrents on the deserted island.

Within the extremely crude settlement.

After being cast away on the island, the Duchy of Yar's army quickly restored order, since the basic framework of the force was still intact.

Wooden huts, bonfires, and barricades soon sprang up through everyone's combined efforts.

At this moment, Harry sat blankly inside an unbelievably crude wooden hut, enjoying the leisurely experience of heavy rain outside and light rain inside.

He desperately wanted to twist off Jem Woz's head!

The past few days had not been long, but as a noble, Harry had already experienced the hardships of primitive life.

Starting fires by drilling wood and eating tasteless food were one thing, but there was not even anything to wipe one's ass with in this damn place. They could only solve the problem with leaves and stone shards, something Harry had never experienced before.

Ever since someone had wiped their ass with some strange plant and suffered a rotting anus.

Leaves without fuzz or serrated edges had become hot commodities among the soldiers on the island, even sparking quite a few fights.

This was simply unbearable to Harry!

He could not believe that the elite force under his command had fallen to the point of fighting over leaves to wipe their asses.

If word got out, it would disgrace the Duchy of Yar's thousand years of honor entirely.

Ever since paper had become widespread, even barbarians knew to use paper to wipe their asses!

Grinding his teeth, he said viciously, "Jem Woz, you truly are vicious..."

Back then, he had thought exile to a deserted island would not be much of a problem, especially with his numerical advantage. Mere wild beasts and venomous insects were minor issues. Never had he expected reality to slap his face swollen.

Just as he sank into thought, pondering how to escape this predicament.

A rapid knock sounded in his ears.

The frantic frequency.

Made Harry feel that the crude plank door he had spent so much effort making might not last more than a few seconds before being knocked through.

However, he did not lose his temper, because he knew that only a few people would come looking for him at a time like this, and they were bound to have urgent business.

Thus, he helplessly hurriedly asked, "What is it?"

The other party answered in a flustered tone, "My lord, it seems an infectious disease has broken out among the soldiers. Many say their whole bodies ache and swell, and that they are dizzy and seeing stars!"

"What! An infectious disease??"

Hearing this news, Harry's expression immediately changed drastically. He stood up at once, pushed open the wooden door, and asked with utmost gravity, "Are you certain they have contracted an infectious disease?"

"Most likely. Over a hundred people have developed exactly the same symptoms. Many of them do not even know one another and have never eaten together. It cannot be food poisoning!"

After receiving confirmation, Harry's expression shifted constantly, like a Sichuan opera face-changing act.

Every soldier under his command had undergone years upon years of harsh training. Even the weakest among them far surpassed ordinary people.

With their physical constitution, they should basically have been incapable of falling ill, much less contracting infectious diseases. Yet nothing was absolute. On rare occasions, there could be an exception: an extremely dangerous disease had arisen in this place, one powerful enough to affect warriors far beyond ordinary humans.

For them, with absolutely no medical conditions, that was unquestionably a lethal danger.

Though there were several doctors attached to the army on the island, they did not even have medicine. They were basically useless.

Ordinarily, the best way to deal with such a situation was to isolate and kill the infected.

Strangle it in the cradle before the fire spread!

But Harry also had to consider another matter: what consequences would such an action cause on this deserted island?

These soldiers had already accumulated many grievances after suffering defeat and being exiled to this island!

Harry could still keep them under control only through his past authority and ingrained habits.

If, at such a critical juncture, they discovered that Harry intended to abandon their comrades to die, then, with the rabbit dead and the fox grieving, they would very likely mutiny!

That would be an even greater danger to Harry, and he could not help but consider it carefully.

After pacing at the doorway for a while, he solemnly instructed the guard reporting the news, "Choose a remote location. Gather all the sick patients there first, then bring the doctors to me. I have something to ask them!"

Having received the order, the other man immediately seemed to find a pillar to lean on, his expression sharpening.

"Yes!"

Watching the other man's retreating figure, Harry's serious expression immediately turned somewhat worried.

He had not actually thought of any solution.

He could only isolate them first, then pretend to do everything in his power to treat them. Whether it worked or not, he had to put on a show first!

Though without even medicine, any treatment would be wasted effort...

But so long as he put on the appearance, it should be enough to placate the soldiers...

For anything more detailed, he would need to hear the doctors' opinions.

After all, they had no medicine, but they still had experience.

If they believed there was still a chance to save them, Harry had no reason to sacrifice those soldiers.

More than two months later.

The middle-aged officer responsible for monitoring the deserted island and preventing those on it from building ships to escape stood on the deck of a warship, gazing at the lifeless island in the distance.

His heart held nothing but chill and fear.

The settlement that had been built on the island not long ago was now nothing but a stretch of charred ruins.

Ever since more than ten days ago, the Yar Army on that island had, for some reason, completely descended into madness.

Like the most frenzied beasts, they knew neither fear nor timidity.

All kinds of methods of slaughter had been displayed in their hands, sending chills down the spine of anyone who watched.

There was no longer a single living thing there besides countless rotting corpses.

Unless those monsters hiding in the corners, avoiding the sunlight while constantly wandering about, did not count as living things...

Those terrifying malformed monsters had begun crawling out of the piles of corpses one after another two days ago.

They stood around five or six meters tall, their forms like balls of flesh casually kneaded together by demons, assembled from all kinds of rotting chunks of meat. Deformed limbs and faces were scattered irregularly across their bodies, pustules and slime covered them from head to toe, and every step left behind decaying pus on the ground. Merely seeing their appearance was enough to make one want to vomit.

The officer desperately wanted to order the warship beneath his feet to open fire and destroy those twisted monsters that polluted the world, but in the end, he did not act rashly.

After something like this had happened, he absolutely had to inform Jem Woz. Without his orders, no one dared make a decision in his stead.

Besides, the officer himself doubted whether cannon fire could kill those monsters...

Although they had not shown any ability to swim for the time being.

If they truly enraged that group of monsters and caused them to swim over to attack the ship, or swim elsewhere...

The officer could not imagine what would happen then, so his greatest hope now was to stabilize the situation here before it worsened...

After listening to the report from the soldier before him, Jem Woz set down the letter personally written by the man's commander.

He had roughly grasped the situation.

After frowning and thinking for a while, he instructed the soldier, "Go rest first. I will give you a letter tomorrow. Take it to your commander then."

"Yes!"

Watching the soldier leave, Jem rubbed his temples lightly and slowly sighed.

The letter from several days ago had merely reported that the people from the Duchy of Yar were slaughtering one another, so he had not taken it to heart.

Now, it seemed that if he left that place alone, it would definitely cause enormous trouble...

That afternoon.

Sitting on the windowsill, Orsaga calmly asked, "You mean the disturbance there has already drawn the Church's attention and needs to be dealt with, correct?"

Jem nodded and answered respectfully, "Yes, my lord. The anomaly there has already been discovered by passing ships. If it is not cleaned up, it will absolutely bring a great deal of unnecessary trouble."

Orsaga smiled and said without concern, "If that is the case, then do as you wish. In any event, I have already obtained what I needed."

After receiving Orsaga's approval for the proposal, Jem quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Understood..."

Watching Jem Woz leave, Orsaga shook his head slightly, revealing a faint, mocking smile.

Weakness was the greatest sin...