"The biggest obstacle has been removed. If Komoro still can't handle things, I'll have no choice but to replace my proxy sooner rather than later." Wang Yuan watched Komoro struggle up from the ground and thought to himself.
Of course, Komoro would have to be replaced. It was only a matter of when. Though Wang Yuan had Komoro firmly under his control for now, one should never underestimate anyone. As a person's power grew, so did their ambition.
One's position determined one's perspective. Komoro knew a great deal about Wang Yuan, after all. The fact that he didn't understand it now didn't mean he wouldn't in the future. This danger had to be stamped out at its root.
"First, I'll let him help stabilize the village. The villagers are less likely to rebel on a large scale if someone they know is in charge. Once Negary has taken root in their hearts, this Komoro, who knows too much, will have to be discarded." Wang Yuan drifted leisurely around, observing the village.
For now, Wang Yuan's main concern was figuring out what a man named Jacques intended to do. From his expression, he didn't look like he planned to submit, though that was only natural.
Before Wang Yuan and Komoro arrived, Jacques had been the one to benefit most. The hunting party's captain was his friend, and he was next in line to become the village chief. But Komoro had arrived bearing Negary's decree, killed the old village chief, and immediately seized much of the village's power.
For both public and personal reasons, Jacques couldn't give up. But with the plague threatening them, the villagers had all gathered around Komoro. Negary had already demonstrated its power, and Jacques believed that if he had openly resisted at the time, the villagers would have forced him to the ground.
Everything had happened far too suddenly, and they hadn't been prepared at all. The village chief, a man of great prestige, had been bitten to death in front of everyone. Jacques could only swallow his anger for now, plan things out, then step forward to resist Komoro and the so-called Negary behind him.
Jacques pushed open the door and took a deep breath. A smile quickly spread across his face as he walked in, laughing heartily. "Isabella, I'm home."
"You're back early today." A blonde woman with a prominent pregnant belly sat inside. She spoke gently. "I just heard some commotion outside. Did something happen?"
"Yeah, there's been a bit of trouble, but don't worry. I'll take care of it." Jacques smiled, his words full of confidence. He walked over to his wife and slowly crouched down, carefully resting his head against her belly. "Nara, Daddy's home. Did you miss me?"
"It's not that simple, is it?" The perceptive woman saw through Jacques's unease. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. I'm from the Tagule Family, after all."
"All right, things really are a bit bad." Jacques sighed as he looked at his wife. "Only Komoro returned from the hunting party. He brought a so-called messenger of Negary and its decree, then killed the village chief."
"Now he's gathering the villagers to make sure they offer their foreheads to Negary." Jacques gave her a brief explanation, letting go of his feigned confidence. "My reason tells me I should submit. That way, we won't be in danger."
"But my heart tells me that would be wrong." Jacques spoke gravely. "Dax and the others died without explanation, and the village chief was killed by their tricks. Yet the villagers are too afraid to stand up because of the plague."
"If I don't stand up either, I know I'll regret it. But if I do, and I really bring the plague down on us, I'll have failed not only the villagers but you as well." Jacques's eyes were full of helplessness. Faced with a wrong choice on one side and dire consequences on the other, he was torn by his decision.
"When you're faced with a difficult choice, choose what you believe is right." Isabella embraced her husband's head and spoke gently. "I'll support you."
"As for the Negary you mentioned, I don't think it's a god." Isabella smiled.
"Isabella, what do you know?" Jacques raised his head to look at his wife. He knew she wasn't one of the Kexi People, and her origins were far from ordinary. She knew many secrets.
"That so-called Negary might be an evil spirit." Isabella recalled something. "Evil spirits have all kinds of magical powers, but they're also severely restricted and can rarely appear in the world. Usually, they're mindless, though, so what you've told me doesn't quite fit."
"An evil spirit?" Jacques nodded.
"An evil spirit once appeared in my hometown. Many people died that time. It could control thick fog, and was called the Devil in the Fog. Many people disappeared in the mist. In the end, it took the Divine Grace Church's archbishop to purify the evil spirit and spread the light of the Lord's grace to the people." Isabella was a devout follower of the Divine Grace Church, but that didn't affect their relationship. Jacques respected her faith.
"Isabella, are you saying the Divine Grace Church has a way to deal with evil spirits?" Jacques seized on the key point in her words. He had never been particularly interested in the Kexi People's belief that everything was a god. He didn't object to relying on the Divine Grace Church to eliminate Negary.
"The Lord is almighty." Isabella smiled. "Even if Negary isn't an evil spirit, it's something very much like one. The Divine Grace Church has ways to deal with it."
Wang Yuan stood to one side, listening to their conversation and considering what he'd learned. "The Divine Grace Church? Is that this world's supernatural power?"
This was a low-magic world, but low magic didn't mean no magic. The woman called Isabella had spoken with such certainty. Her account might have been exaggerated, but it probably wasn't false. That suggested the Divine Grace Church had some kind of supernatural power.
"The Devil in the Mist she mentioned should be a lingering soul like me. A power that controls fog?" Wang Yuan took in the information from her words, thinking through the possibilities.
"Whatever the case, Jacques can't be allowed to stay." Wang Yuan watched Jacques, who was still deep in thought, and drifted slowly through the air. The Divine Grace Church had already formed an organization and was certainly much stronger than Wang Yuan. For now, he shouldn't provoke it.
Far away, Komoro was still conveying Negary's decree to the villagers when he suddenly felt an itch on his body. The two crows took flight and landed in another direction, leading Komoro that way.
Komoro didn't dare delay. He hurried after the crows and soon arrived at a house in the village. Inside was the village chief's granddaughter. She had been bitten and infected with the pathogen, and Komoro had confined her there under the pretext of preventing it from spreading.
Wang Yuan was also floating near the girl. She clutched the wound on her hand, her face deathly pale as she lay weakly on the ground, with a certain sickly beauty about her. But it made no difference. The Interference Force surged out. The girl clutched her head, her brows knitting together, and then all signs of life vanished.
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