The next morning.
A string of urgent gasps and screams shattered the morning calm.
"Th-That can't be true, right? The ground beneath our feet, the houses we live in, even the utensils we eat with—they're all poisonous!"
"What White Kingdom Flevance? It's clearly the Toxic Kingdom Flevance!"
"Don't panic too much. The newspaper says Amber Lead's toxicity is weak. Unless it accumulates over decades or centuries, it won't have much effect in the short term."
"I don't care! I don't want to stay in this damn place for another second! I want to go home. I'm going home right now!"
"Everyone with Lead Disease dies in unimaginable agony! It's terrifying! What if it spreads to us... No, no, I can't stay here! I absolutely can't stay in this place!"
"The newspaper says the disease isn't contagious."
"Even if it isn't contagious, no one can keep living in this country!"
Similar words spread to every corner of Flevance, prompting the local residents hiding inside their homes, too afraid to go out, to pick up the discarded newspapers from the ground with trembling hands.
If the foreign travelers had merely been panicked and helpless after reading the newspaper, then the citizens of Flevance were filled with endless fear and boundless fury.
"Haha! Hahaha! How ridiculous! So the white patches on our bodies, the misfortune and suffering we endured, weren't some so-called curse at all. They were the precious 'inheritance' our ancestors left us!"
"Look! The newspaper says that a hundred years ago, the government had already sent specialists to conduct tests and informed the royal family of the results—that Amber Lead contained toxic components. But... why? Why have we known nothing for an entire century?"
"They didn't want to give up the profits Amber Lead brought them, so they hid everything. It