Chapter 121
The Yami Kingdom.
This is a poor and desolate little country.
Even in the royal city, there was no sign of prosperity or liveliness—the houses were low and the environment was damp. Walking on the streets, one could smell the stench of feces or decay, and almost every corner was covered in filth.
Rats, fleas, and insects crawled around in the chaotic garbage.
In some places, they even disregard people passing by, brazenly and boldly displaying their presence under the sunlight...
People have clearly become accustomed to this and turn a blind eye, only scolding and angrily kicking and cursing when these rats and insects are about to crawl onto their feet.
It snowed in the Desinia Territory, but here it has rained lightly for three consecutive days.
The sun has finally come out today.
The sun hung high in the sky, the muddy ground was gradually drying, and the stench of feces or rotten flesh, which had been slightly suppressed by the smell of rain and mud, began to spread again...
On the dirty streets, apart from the vendors hawking their wares and the people hurrying by.
Many people, dressed in rags and emaciated, lay by the roadside, or leaned against stained walls, their faces ashen and haggard...
They no longer even shied away from the filth, only asking for a place to rest.
Even surrounded by rats and insects... in the face of hardship, pain, and disease, this is no longer something to worry about.
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Light Green, accompanied by several servants, walked through the chaotic and dirty streets to a similarly chaotic port.
After waiting there for a while, they finally spotted a fleet of ships approaching on the rippling river—the ships drew closer and finally stopped at the harbor, where the crew lowered the gangplank...
Light Green pulled down the black cloth covering half of his face, revealing a handsome but slightly weathered face.
He asked the messenger who disembarked, "Have you bought the potion?"
Yotun, the envoy from the Yami Kingdom and also a subordinate of Prince Nitaya, exclaimed with delight, "We've bought it! We've bought it!"
"Not only did we acquire the herbal medicine at the lowest price, but the Desinia lord also gifted us a newly developed drug, and moreover..."
Before he could finish speaking, a loud eagle's cry suddenly rang out from the sky.
A huge, snow-white shadow streaked across the ship and even the ground.
Immediately, a magnificent eagle swooped down onto the ship's side, its sharp talons tearing two holes in the hard timber, and its beautiful blue-gold eyes looked at Light.
Exclamations erupted from all around, and people working or waiting at the port looked on in astonishment.
Even the boatmen, who had witnessed such scenes many times along the way, couldn't help but turn their gaze to the huge, beautiful birds once again.
After the initial panic, it has now turned into admiration.
Light looked surprised; this wasn't...
He couldn't help but look at the envoy Yotun, and asked, "How did the lord of Desinia's eagle follow you to the Yami Kingdom?"
Yotun then repeated what Cyrus had told him earlier.
He explained, then exclaimed, "This Lord of Desinia is truly kind-hearted! I was able to buy back the herbal potions at a low price thanks to his generosity and magnanimity."
"Oh, right, before I left..."
Yotun said he told the Lord of Desinia about Light Green's affairs in the Yami Kingdom.
Light was taken aback, then nodded and said it was alright.
He was no longer a king, no longer possessing a noble status; now he was nothing more than a wandering knight.
The boatmen continuously unloaded boxes filled with herbal medicines or the latest drugs from the ship, which were then counted and neatly stacked into the found wagons by servants and attendants, and tied tightly with ropes...
Finally, after the move was completely finished, it was all over.
Light Yotun began to leave the port and head into the city, with horse-drawn wagons following behind, driven by servants.
"How is Prince Nitaya?"
Yotun realized that he had been away from the Yami Kingdom for so long and didn't know what the situation was like in the capital.
The decision to travel to the Desinia Territory to purchase herbal medicines was proposed to the king by Prince Nitaya, but the king did not take it seriously, while those in the prince's camp were even more determined to stop or oppose it.
It was no easy feat for Yotun to lead his knights and servants on a voyage.
Light: "He's been taking medication for some time now, and his condition has improved somewhat, but the others..."
The situation is not optimistic.
The Yami Kingdom two princes: the elder prince Kuntat and the younger prince Nitaya.
The two princes are half-brothers.
After the death of the eldest prince's mother, the king remarried, and the second prince Nitaya, was born to the current queen.
Therefore, the two princes of the Yami Kingdom were not on good terms.
The Queen recently passed away due to illness.
Prince Nitaya, overwhelmed with grief, also fell ill.
There is medicine in the palace.
However, the second prince's illness had not yet fully recovered, and several other members of the royal family also fell ill, including an uncle who was close to the second prince, Nitaya.
The medication was consumed excessively.
Even though the servants were ordered to continuously purchase medicine from outside, the sick people showed no improvement. During this time, several servants also developed symptoms such as coughing and chest pain...
But because they had no money or ability to buy the medicine, the servants soon died in the palace, and their bodies were later dumped outside the city.
At this point, even the king showed signs of falling ill.
So the king became afraid.
At the suggestion of the eldest prince Kuntat, he forbade the sick from staying in the palace. At the same time, he used his royal power to collect a lot of medicines and control them, not even sparing physicians of some reputation.
Light had previously traveled to the Yami Kingdom and befriended the second prince Nitaya. Seeing that Nitaya was not only seriously ill but also being suppressed by the eldest prince Kuntat, he began to help him.
Within the Yami Kingdom, there are only a few small, insignificant merchant guilds.
These merchant guilds acquired goods from the Empire and transported them to the Yami Kingdom for sale, at prices that more than doubled.
Prince Nitaya's condition has not improved.
He needed to take medicine to maintain his health, but the king ignored him, and the eldest prince continued to suppress him, so the herbal medicines almost never reached the second prince.
Therefore, Light advised him to send his men directly to the Desinia Territory to make the purchase.
After all, the empire would raise the price of the potion if they knew they came from the Yami Kingdom, so it would be better to go to a more distant place.
Nitaya agreed and sent his subordinate Yotun to the Desinia Territory.
However, Nitaya had some concerns, so Yotun did not tell the whole truth when the Desinia lord asked why he wanted to buy herbal potions.
Perhaps because of the lingering cold, people in the city began to fall ill with fever.
Light hadn't noticed it much before.
But after Yotun left the Yami Kingdom to purchase herbal medicines in the Desinia Territory, the number of sick people in the city gradually increased...
Most of them were people living in poverty and hardship.
Some people didn't even have a place to live and could only huddle in the slums or anywhere else. As a result, Light often saw these people on the roadside when he went out...
Light had observed this from a distance while walking down the street.
He discovered that the symptoms these people were experiencing were not much different from those of members of the royal family—fever, cough, swelling in some areas, subcutaneous congestion, difficulty breathing, severe chest pain, etc.
Light was filled with doubt and uncertainty; thoughts kept flashing through his mind, but he couldn't quite grasp them.
During Yotun's absence, a member of the royal family died of illness...
After that, people began to die one after another in the city, but they were all poor commoners or slaves. Their bodies were then dragged away and thrown outside the city, and no one cared whether they lived or died.
Light, however, always felt uneasy about it.
Therefore, he suggested that Prince Nitaya should stay home and minimize contact with others.
His purpose in making this suggestion was twofold: firstly, to avoid conflict with the eldest prince, which could cause unnecessary trouble and invite further suppression.
Secondly, Nitaya's health is indeed not improving, and she needs to stay at home to rest and recuperate.
Nitaya accepted Light's advice and did not leave her residence again until Yotun returned.
Yotun went to see the second prince, Light.
Nitaya was a thin young man.
Recently, due to illness, he looked haggard, with an unhealthy flush on his face. There was a swelling on the side of his neck below his right ear, and the throbbing pain made him frown at any moment.
The room was filled with the bitter smell of medicine.
Yotun handed the pamphlet he was carrying to the second prince, and then explained the greetings from the Lord of Desinia and the request for a reply.
Nitaya, whose face wasn't particularly handsome but was still delicate, looked puzzled and then asked, "That eagle... cough cough, is it outside?"
His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, and he was struggling to speak.
Yotun nodded, then said worriedly, "Prince, I brought back many potions."
"This Lord of Desinia is very generous; he has also gifted us some of his latest researched medicine. The instructions for use are in the booklet. Would you like to try it first...?"
Nitaya nodded, then looked more closely at the booklet in her hand.
His gaze fell on a line of text. "A disease in which multiple people exhibit the same symptoms is infectious. Isolation and treatment are best implemented. Pay attention to hygiene... When you must go out, please wear protective gear, avoid contact with others, and remember to wash your hands and clothes upon returning..."
Following that were the burning of the bodies of those who had died from illness, street cleaning, and increased sanitation efforts...
If Nitaya had seen this text under normal circumstances, she certainly wouldn't have paid any attention to it, and might even have dismissed it.
But he was stunned, and even his heartbeat quickened slightly... because he felt that these words perfectly described the scene in the city of the Yami Kingdom at that moment.
"Your Highness? Your Highness... Nitaya."
Seeing him lost in thought, Light called out a few times, then walked over and placed a hand on Nitaya's shoulder, asking in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
Nitaya snapped out of her daze, "No... it's nothing."
"Yotun, get me paper and pen... cough cough, come here, I need to write a letter to the Lord of Desinia myself."
Yotun: "Yes, Your Highness."
The letter was finished shortly afterward.
Light took the letter and went outside.
After waiting for a while, he saw the large, snow-white bird with some light blue patterns land on the low wall in the courtyard, and then it demurely stretched out one claw towards Light.
Light understood, rolled up the letter, and stuffed it into the cylinder tied to Qing Tuan's paws. "All done."
The Qing Tuan then spread its wings and flew away.
Nitaya intended to give instructions based on the precautions written in the booklet.
He reported the important matter to the king, but the king dismissed it.
Nitaya was later ridiculed and mocked by the eldest prince Kuntat, for being foolish and making trouble out of nothing...
The eldest prince, taking advantage of his physical strength, snatched the booklet and tore it up. He then warned Nitaya not to interfere in the affairs of the royal city, as it was not his responsibility.
Nitaya was ill and had no choice but to restrain and instruct his own people.
What he didn't know was that Prince Kuntat had already dispatched another fleet into the Saint Airo Empire to purchase a batch of herbal medicines.
The ship docked at the Empire's port, but the first thing they threw out of the hold was four or five corpses found on the road... After the corpses, many rats that had escaped from the ship landed on the Empire's territory...
Cyrus soon received a letter from Qing Tuan.
However, at this time, the long-standing accumulation of diseases in the Yami Kingdom finally broke out uncontrollably, and almost overnight, many people fell ill.
After accumulating for some time, the disease spread rapidly, so quickly that no one had time to react.
--In the royal city of the Yami Kingdom, people began to die one after another, their corpses in gruesome states. Everyone was in danger, yet no one realized the problem.
Cyrus had just received the letter.
He was unaware of the situation in the Yami Kingdom after the Qing Tuan flew away.
However, he was almost able to confirm, based on some of the descriptions of illness in Prince Nitaya's letter, that the Yami Kingdom was very likely the origin of the epidemic.