Once again, Rufu woke from unconsciousness. He silently watched Qin Ran before him, and the familiar pain in his neck made him choose silence.
This was not the first time he had been knocked out.
Nor was it the second.
During the journey, he had woken up more than once.
And every time he woke, as long as he opened his mouth, he would be knocked out.
The repeated blows had made Rufu wonder whether his neck had been broken.
Being unconscious had also caused Rufu to lose his precise sense of time. He could only judge by the hunger in his stomach that they were now very close to Gold Fief.
At this distance, anything they said would be too late.
In fact, the next moment, Rufu realized the situation was even worse than he had imagined.
Through the carriage window, he saw column after column of smoke.
Clearly, in a fief like Gold Fief, which had no farmland, there could be no such thing as burning straw. The stench of scorched fat in the air, along with the people covering their mouths and noses, explained everything.
"Has it already broken out?"
Rufu murmured.
Then, the grief on his face could no longer be concealed.
It was as though he had seen his homeland's destruction.
Qin Ran, meanwhile, remained calm from beginning to end.
In his Perception, the corpses being burned before him were merely the tip of the iceberg.
The Rotting Plague that made Plague Force stir with excitement had already enveloped all of Gold Fief, and it was spreading into Yote Plain at an extremely rapid pace.
That speed exceeded the rate of natural spread.
"Man-made?"
"Or...?"
The speculation in his heart made Qin Ran's expression grow even calmer, while the carriage began to slow.
Gold Fief