Disease and a Dusk-Bound Heart

Before autumn even arrived, and before spring had passed, the population of the Northwind Province began to suffer from food shortages.

The effects of last year's Orc War are beginning this year; the lack of food means even the serfs are too weak to cultivate the land.

To be precise, people started starving to death during the warmest time of the year.

At first, the nobles didn't pay much attention to this matter. They were still immersed in speculation and discussion about Ryan. The Northern Kingdom's Braveheart Guild and the master of Frostmourne gave the nobles quite a shock.

The nobles realized what was happening ten days after widespread starvation had begun.

The large number of deaths brought about a large number of diseases, and some nobles suffered as a result.

In Barony of Becker, soldiers with coarse linen covering their faces and their noses wrapped in layers of cloth stared sharply at the middle of the road as horrified slaves pushed carts laden with corpses toward the Wilds canyon.

The corpse had been dead for some time, and dirt and maggots were exposed in the crevices of the body, causing the surrounding soldiers to take two steps back and then scold the slaves to get away from the area as soon as possible.

"Damn it, get these diseased corpses out of here!"

The knight roared and cursed, and the slaves lowered their heads and quickened their pace, but this did little to improve the knight's attitude.

Because Baron Becker fell ill and was bedridden, the once lively Baron had visited another nobleman's collection a few days ago, and on the day he returned, his three maids were screaming incessantly. A certain Dragons -strengthening potion from the Northern Territory Merchant Guild had received unanimous praise from the nobles.

But the unexpected happened so quickly: one of the maids was sick and brought the illness to the nobleman.

So he fell ill.

The Baron's illness was a major event for the entire territory, and the fact that he had been in a coma for several days before slowly waking up caused widespread panic throughout the territory.

After more than a dozen people died, the butler finally found the source.

"Eating corpses?"

This news chilled even the usually ruthless butler to the bone, and he fell ill.

The steward's illness was caused by fright, and after that, the matter was handed over to the knights and soldiers who represented the military.

Under intense suppression, the truth came to light.

"There wasn't enough food. The slaves ate everything they could throughout the winter, and the arrival of spring made them even hungrier while they were working."

"Some slaves set their sights on those corpses."

At first, they ate the corpses of Orcs.

Because the knights have recently been keen on fighting the Orcs, the Orcs they kill are used by the knights to judge their own combat strength, the gap between them and the Eight Knights, and also the gap between them and that noble lord who wields Frostmourne.

They measured themselves against the rumors that a knight who could match the nobleman wielding the ice-blue longsword was worthy of establishing his own noble surname.

The knights killed the Orcs, but the slaves disposed of the Orcs corpses. The slaves had been starving all winter and had been eating inhuman food all winter.

Orcs are beasts too... right? They thought to themselves, hunger making them lose their minds.

Then, the first batch of dead people began to appear. Most of these people died because they could not accept eating strange things and starved to death.

Perhaps it's human nature to be like this, or perhaps it's because the flesh of Orcs carries a savage element.

In short, the children among those who died also became food.

This is still not the final point where trouble arises.

The root cause is that the human immune system weakens during this process.

They began to contract diseases because of food, the environment, and rotting corpses.

Gradually, the disease began to spread.

Until even noble lords were harmed, the vicious army began to forcefully take over all government affairs.

Starvation, disease, murder—perhaps this land was already cursed to be restless. The Northwind Province, having ended years of chaotic war, was now facing a brand new disaster.

Similar disasters were discovered in more than 80% of the noble territories throughout the entire Northwind Province.

Hunger is killing people, disease is killing people, soldiers' weapons are killing people, and even this land itself is showing great malice towards humanity.

The vitality of food is insufficient; simply put, only five out of ten seeds may survive, or even fewer.

"This will be a disastrous year."

"The punishment from the Deities."

Some older, experienced nobles panicked and began to spread ancient, passed-down wisdom, and started praying to the Deities.

Fortunately, they still retained their sense of reason, and instead of praying to the Lord of Dawn, these nobles prayed to the God of Light.

Nobles usually only had one solution to this kind of problem.

That is killing.

Kill all the sick people, kill all the suspected sick people, and the survivors will have enough food and enough open space.

Next year, all these disasters will end because there are fewer people.

This is the ancient solution used by nobles; it may not be the best solution, but it is certainly the most perfect solution under the current circumstances.

Solving the population problem solves the disaster problem.

They killed a group of people, using their deaths to sacrifice to a great being, and thus received the forgiveness of the Deities.

Therefore, the credit will also fall on the Deities.

In an instant, a wave of killing swept through the entire Northwind Province. Knights began to wield their swords against humans, and the methods of the violent institutions demonstrated the cruelty of this world's class system in less than half a month.

For the safety of the nobles, the knights would rather kill ten innocent people than let one guilty person go free.

Based on past experience, this process will last for six months to a year, and things will only settle down in winter.

According to Ryan, the significance of this time point lies in the fact that rising summer temperatures bring germs, while the arrival of winter makes it difficult for germs to spread.

He tried to stop them, but to no avail. Before Ryan's voice could be heard for long, the nobles' slaughter had already entered its most brutal phase.

Moreover, Ryan didn't have any good solutions. He couldn't get the nobles to spend money on extraordinary medicines to save people, nor could he get them to focus on hygiene, safety, and food supplies within their own territories.

This all involves wealth and cognition.

Firstly, nobles would not use a large amount of wealth that could bankrupt them to save people. Secondly, even if they had the ability, they would never think that the life of a peasant was worth more than the wealth in the hands of a noble lord.

The value created by slaves is limited. The price of a slave on the slave market is very cheap. If they are short of people, they can buy them. The cost-effectiveness of that is far greater than saving people.

When facing Orcs, the nobles are terrified of death, which allows them to unite against the enemies in the Northlands, because the Orcs will not show mercy just because they see nobles.

Similarly, nobles also feared the calamities of disease. In the past, when there were priests of the Church of Dawn, death from disease was a common occurrence, just as the probability of an infant dying was greater than the probability of a person dying of old age.

They were afraid, so they used every means possible.

Ryan couldn't do much, but he didn't do nothing either.

A force of three hundred cavalrymen left the Frozen Earth Territory and appeared in the Northwind Province.

"Burn all the corpses, and burn all the clothes they were wearing!"

The duration of a disease is often not determined by the survival time of the virus. With the high intensity of killing by the nobles, those infected would have long since died from the soldiers' swords.

The duration of disease is often due to greed, or the helpless choices made by the lower classes.

They need clothes, and they don't know who they'll rob, or where they'll get the burlap they'll weave. Clothes from the dead are one of the few opportunities these people can buy for free.

Let alone slaves, even ordinary people who have gained some freedom and human rights would not give up the opportunity to strip clothes off the dead.

Many times, diseases resurface and are passed down under these circumstances.

The dark-skinned cavalry exuded a sharp and imposing aura. Compared to last year, this year's Stag Legion gave off a more solid and powerful impression than ever before.

Especially after fighting the Dragons, everyone was more or less stained with the Dragons's blood and the spiritual energy formed after clashing with the top hunters.

These intangible forces can create terrifying psychological pressure.

Even the knights within Barony of Becker felt a tightness in their chests and dared not disobey the knights' orders.

"I once followed them into battle, charging against the Orcs. Why have they become so terrifying? Is this the Extraordinary Legion under Baron Ryan's command?"

The knights were breathing heavily. The sight of three hundred knights silently reining in their horses, yet making the whole world afraid to breathe loudly, was a profound shock to them.

This is a hundred times more attractive to knights than those dirty women.

"This is Lord Ryan's order: burn all the corpses, all the clothes, and even the houses."

"You have no choice but to get rid of this disease."

Mikaela, the leader, gripped the hilt of his longsword. He had come with Ryan's will and would not allow these noble soldiers to bargain.

In fact, Mikaela hoped these people would rebel, so that he could more directly carry out Ryan's will and then return to the Frozen Earth Territory and Nidhogg more quickly, hoping to face those terrible Dragons again.

Unfortunately, upon seeing this terrifying cavalry army, the Baron's knights had no further thoughts. As the sky turned a hazy gray with black smoke from the fire, Mikaela led his army away into the distance.

"Only the flame bestowed by light can Dispel this damned disease!"

As Mikaela entered more noble territories, her methods changed somewhat, and she began to exploit the power of the God of Light.

"Baron Ryan received Divine Oracle of light, and thus the Miracle of Light that even His Majesty the Emperor desired came into being. He knew that the brilliance emanating from blazing flames could Dispel plague!"

"The Bucks will carry out Ryan's will, and any resistance will be considered an enemy of the Bucks."

Mikaela brandished her Knight's Greatsword, and the terrifying power cleaved the tree in two vertically.

Such power is something that over 90% of the nobles in the entire Northwind Province cannot possess.

Along with such remarks, some nobles became less resistant and began to burn everything related to disease.

"That's why I sent Mikaela."

"Baron Becker is ill, Baron's family is in a state of panic and leaderlessness. The knight can carry out Mikaela's orders because he is powerful enough."

"But we can't suppress nobles with force. We need to use more political means to deal with them. Those ignorant noble lords won't care about the threat of a knight captain."

"They only enjoy the pleasure of compromise."

In the Frozen Earth Territory, Ryan received the message from afar and smiled as he spoke to Brandt.

The latter nodded in response:

"You made the right decision to send him."

Ryan fell silent for a long time, then shook his head and said:

"What kind of world is this that I would think that the arrival of this disease is incredibly beneficial to me?"

"You agree, am I right?"

"At least 20% of the population in the Northwind Province will die from this disease."

"Did you even know that this chronic disease is actually a remnant of the war?"

"We resolved the war of blood and fire, but war is not like that."

Ryan thought to himself that he used to be a benevolent lord.

But now it seems to have become somewhat cruel, with everything geared towards profit.

Is it the change brought about by the dragon blood? It must be; he has recently bathed in a lot of dragon blood.

"Damn Dragons."

Beside him, Grand Mage Macken looked at Ryan with a strange expression.

"As a nobleman, as a lord, as the Monarch of this territory, you are more indecisive than I have ever seen before."

The Grand Mage Macken said that, as an old man, his eyesight was as sharp as an eagle searching for prey the same color as the snow in the sky.

"I have more things to consider than before."

Ryan explained it this way.

"No, you were too young before."

Grand Mage Macken shook his head, refuting Ryan's reasoning.

"You were too young before, and the ambition of young people is terrifying. They never think they will fail, especially nobles. As a non-eldest son of an earl, you have not received a complete noble education."

Not only in this life, but in his previous life he was just an ordinary person, Ryan thought to himself. Aristocratic education was something that was completely foreign to him.

"As you learn more about the world, you begin to reject your initial ambitions, and like everyone's growth path, your ambitions are no longer so broad."

Grand Mage Macken looked at Ryan with his aged eyes and told him that Mages were like that too.

"Every Mages begins by stepping into the ranks of Great Being. A Mage Apprentice may think he can become Deities, but a Legendary Mages will only perceive that the gap between himself and Deities is like that between an ant and the Sun."

"You are like Mages, but you are a nobleman."

As Grand Mage Macken said this, he added a final sentence.

"It seems you've suffered some setbacks recently."

That's true, but the blow didn't come from outside, but from Ryan himself.

To be precise, it was the power of the Dragon Emperor's Blessing that allowed Ryan's soul and thoughts to soar and expand, enabling him to process countless pieces of information in a short period of time.

Most of these pheromones have stagnated due to the inactivity of the soul, but they still subconsciously influence Ryan.

For example, he gradually began to realize his current strength and the gap between himself and those Great Being.

For example, Ryan felt like he was getting stuck.

The other nobles in the Northwind Province longed to integrate into the Noble Circle of the South lands. Ryan had not shown such a desire, but that did not mean it did not exist. He also wanted to bring his own power into the most prosperous center of human civilization in the South.

However, he was never able to cross the Winged Gorge.

He is powerful enough and has been in this world for many years, but he is still confined to this small territory of the Northwind Province, and he has not even gained absolute power over this land.

He was indeed thinking more deeply: the administration of the Frozen Earth Territory, the plan for the Great Wall of the Northlands, the extent to which he could compromise and win over the interests of the nobles, and how much support the two kingdoms could actually provide him.

These are all things he needs to think about, and similarly, these things are beginning to suppress his ambitions.

"Is there any way to solve this?"

"This is your heart, and even the will of the Deities cannot change it."

Grand Mage Macken shook his head, while Ryan fell into thought.

"So you feel my heart isn't pure enough?"

"Have they lost their initial vitality?"

Ryan thought for a moment, then opened the Planar Gate and headed to Nidhogg.

"The whole problem shouldn't be difficult to solve."

"I'll just eat one more Dragon Heart."

Ryan said this, marveling at the power and usefulness of the Dragon Heart.

"Great, I have that option."

The Dragons killed by the Frost Dragon Arryris do not devour their hearts like the Frost Giant do.

"The perfect Dragon Heart."

Not long after, Ryan received a broken heart brought back by the army. It was still beating, and the bright red heart was radiating a strong energy and a terrifying aura. It was better than the previous Dragon Heart fragments and was about one-third the size of a complete Dragons Dragon Heart.

(End of this chapter)