Chapter 82: Black Death: Miracles Arrive [VIP]
"——Sir! Stop!"
A sudden noise came from behind him. The scruffy, skinny man turned around with a look of disbelief, like a starving man attracted by freshly baked bread. "A three-cornered hat? A musical instrument on your back? You're a bard?!"
"Is it strange?"
the young bard asked, puzzled.
He stood by the fountain in the middle of the street, with a slender figure, and most of his face was covered by the shadow of the brim of his hat. Only the hazy starlight could show that he had almost luxurious white skin, beautiful lines of chin and neck, and shiny brown curly hair close to his shoulders.
"Even two months ago, I wouldn't have found it strange to encounter a bard on the road at night, but now... now..."
The man murmured in confusion, "Ted, the only people who dare to travel late at night these days are the unfortunate souls who have no choice but to go out. They are idiots, lunatics, and desperate people who have lost hope and want to reunite with their families in the underworld as soon as possible... and you... you are obviously none of those things."
"I'm a bard who came here by accident."
"Yeah?"
The man, who looked like he hadn't showered in at least a month, scratched his greasy hair, took a deep breath as if making some kind of resolution, and said to the bard, "Where do you live? I'll take you back."
"No. I don't have a place to stay in Ted."
The bard said embarrassedly, "I came to Ted to seek refuge with my friend, but he, his family... I have nowhere else to go now..."
"I see."
The man said in a low voice: "...Come to my house! I'll treat you to a drink... the last bottle of wine in my collection..."
"Thank you, you're such a nice person."
The bard spoke with emotion, following the man into a dim alley lit only by starlight.
…
…
This is the heart of Tedder City, the capital of the Dalavian Autonomous Territory. It is only three streets away from the Winter Castle where the Duke of Dalavia lives. It used to be the most prosperous area in Tedder City, bustling with people coming and going both day and night.
Unfortunately, due to the ravages of the Black Death, even the most prosperous areas of the city of Tide are now deserted during the day and as quiet as death at night.
In the alley, almost all the doors were tightly closed, and sad cries could be heard from behind the doors.
On the streets, pedestrians were even fewer than stars on a rainy night, and most wore mournful scowls and walked hurriedly. The few who wandered the streets, despite warnings, had glazed eyes like the walking dead, or raved madly and incoherently...
During the day, you could still see horse-drawn carriages with the Twin Gods logo on them distributing food and water to residents on the road, but at night the only ones left were carts transporting corpses.
According to regulations, corpse collectors are required to wear black cloaks, amulets of the god of medicine and the twin gods on their chests, and bird-beak masks on their faces to prevent their faces from being seen by death and to prevent the highly toxic air from entering the body again through breathing.
The bodies piled on carts, ready to be transported to the suburbs for cremation, were wrapped in black cloth according to custom. However, due to the sheer number of dead, most bodies could not be properly and completely wrapped. Blackened, spastic, and twisted arms and legs fell through the cracks in the cloth, drooping limply under the starry sky...
(……)
Because Duke Adlon of Dalavia refused to meet with him or even let him enter the country, and was unwilling to open the channel to receive medical staff and daily necessities from Gora, Xiao Yun had to sneak into the city of Ted again as a bard with the assistance of the magician sent by Yaris. Recalling what he saw and heard along the way into Ted, a strong sadness surged in his heart.
(The situation in Taide, the capital of Dharavia, is so dire, and the situation for people living in other areas of Dharavia will only be worse.)
(If it were Yaris, he would lament that the Black Death was becoming the ruler of Dalavia. It spread its black wings and ravaged the land wantonly, pushing everyone to the brink of death and collapse. The city wandered in the twilight of despair, like a sun about to burn out...)
【--careful! 】
Yaris's inner voice suddenly rang in his mind.
Xiao Yun looked up and found himself being led into a dark alley by a man who claimed to be willing to take him in, and—
The man suddenly stopped, pulled out the dagger hidden in his arms, and rushed towards him!
"——God! Forgive me!"
Bang!
In a split second, the man was subdued, kneeling on the stone slab, his wrist twisted behind his back, and the dagger slipped from his numb hand.
"Ah! W-What's going on?!"
The man raised his head in pain and found two dark human figures looming beside the bard who had restrained him.
"Mage! You have a mage protecting you! You are not a bard! What are you!"
“
The bard smiled gently, his elegant smile covered by the shadows and in the moonlight was terrifying.
“
“I, I…”
"All right,
Xiao Yun let go of the man, who quickly rubbed his bones that were almost broken with pain and pleaded weakly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know you..."
"May I have your name?"
“Karl…”
"Are you a local?"
"yes."
"Locals..."
Xiao Yun took out a handkerchief and wiped off the dirt that was accidentally stained when he subdued the man: "How long has it been since you last took a shower?"
"Already...since a month and a half ago, I have...
"So death is a kind of relief for you, right?"
"No! I swear I don't want to die yet! I want to live!"
Carl choked up and said, "I know I shouldn't do this, but I, I have no choice... My wife and children both contracted the Black Death. Their skin, which was once as smooth as milk, became rougher than tree bark, and the color turned a terrible blue-black... Everyone said that patients would die faster if sent to the quarantine area, so I hid them... I wanted to save them... I..."
"You want to rob me of my food?"
"...I, I want to kill you."
Carl whispered, "They say that if you smear the blood of healthy people all over the body of Black Death patients and then feed them human flesh, they will be cured..."
"You actually go out on the streets and kill people because of this superstition?"
Xiao Yun was speechless.
He told Carl seriously, "Neither blood nor fresh human flesh is a panacea. They simply don't have any healing or life-saving effects!"
"...What if? What if human blood and human flesh have an effect on my Dina and Annie?"
Carl stubbornly insisted, "They're dying, dying! If I still can't find someone suitable tonight, I'll cut off my own flesh and blood to feed them... There's no hope anyway, so why not... die together as a family... We can still be a family in the next life..."
At the end of his speech, the man knelt down and cried loudly.
“…”
Xiao Yun sighed.
(Those who share this sentiment are evidently not uncommon in Dharavia.)
(The fear of death and the love for their families made them, who had little medical knowledge, cruel and superstitious. They hunted living people in the hope of a lucky break, hoping to use fresh blood and flesh to heal their loved ones and themselves...)
(If this continues, not only will the Black Death epidemic become more and more serious, but healthy people who could have survived will also be killed because of these folk superstitions...)
"——Just go!"
Xiao Yun said.
He took a bag of food from the mage and handed it to the man who hadn't eaten a full meal in a long time. "Take this food back to your wife and children, and eat your fill yourself. Only by eating well can you have the strength to endure this terrible disaster."
“…Thank you! Thank you!”
Carl knelt and gratefully accepted the food.
Under the starlight, he saw that the mysterious bard was wearing two gem rings on his left hand, one of which was shaped like the twin god rings worn by the temple priests.
Could it be that—
He is——
“You, you are…”
"Shh-"
…
After Carl left, Xiao Yun glanced at the magician behind him. The latter understood and slowly merged into the wall.
Xiao Yun took off the instrument on his back and wandered around the streets of Ted where death was lingering.
…
…
At dawn, three tall cloaked figures walked out from different corners of the street and came to Xiao Yun, who was sitting by the fountain in the middle of the street tuning the piano. They took off their hoods, revealing slender faces with elf-like pointed ears.
"Owner--"
"How is it going?"
"The Twin Temples and the Temple of Medicine in the city of Teide are now thronged with people begging for asylum and miracles. The temple priests must do their utmost to maintain daily order... In addition, due to the severity of the Black Death, the priests of the Dark God, fearing that they would be misunderstood by the public as the culprits behind the spread of the Black Death, have fled Teide en masse..."
"The three cremation sites outside the city are now all operating at full capacity... Between yesterday afternoon and this morning alone, at least two hundred bodies were burned. The trees in the suburban woods have been completely felled, even the roots dug out..."
"The situation at the quarantine hospital was bleak... Everyone—doctors and patients alike—was exhausted and desperate. Truckloads of bodies were secretly transported out the back door..."
"...The situation is more serious than I expected."
After listening to the observation reports of the three Ya tribe members, Xiao Yun couldn't help but smile bitterly. "At this point, what is Adlon insisting on? Doesn't he know that Dalavia is about to fall? It's impossible for him to survive this disaster on his own?"
"...Unfortunately, so far only the Yahweh and Hamites have naturally developed resistance to the plague... If the Shem and Sioux also had resistance, I would lead my army to capture Dalavia without hesitation and impose military control over the entire infected area!"
Xiao Yun murmured.
He couldn't bear to watch Dalavia die, and he couldn't even imagine a future where the Dragon Emperor's conspiracy would succeed.
(The entire Western Continent, and indeed the entire world, is forced to face a hopeless doomsday... and I... wait!)
(Yaris said that with the power of God, he could use his consciousness to cover the entire Western Continent and temporarily enter a state of omniscience and omnipotence... And the system in my body possesses energy comparable to that of a star... Combining the two... and adding magical hypnosis, perhaps... it can...)
A bold idea gradually took shape in Xiao Yun's mind.
…
…
“…You dreamed about it too?!”
"Yes, I dreamed it, I dreamed it very clearly!"
"Really?"
"I remember every detail of the dream. I have no doubt about it."
"But how could such an incredible thing actually happen..."
"I'm just as confused as you are... Even though I saw it with my own eyes, I still have doubts..."
"What are you doubting? The content of the dream or the dream itself?"
"I don't know...Ted City has completely lost hope now. That dream...even if it's a devil's conspiracy, I want to take a chance and believe it..."
"Me too... I have no hope, but dreams give me hope..."
"I sincerely hope that tomorrow in my dream will come and we can all be saved..."
“…”
A dream, or rather, a monster called "Dream", suddenly descended upon the city of Ted.
People who followed the lord's call and locked themselves in their homes to avoid the Black Death, patients and doctors who stayed in isolation hospitals desperately waiting for death that would come at an unknown time, and city civil servants who delivered goods on time every day... at noon, they all fell into the same lucid dream.
The dream only lasted a short moment, but the content of the dream was so clear that it seemed to be engraved in my mind.
"…Maybe we should go to the place mentioned in the dream."
"What if the dream is false, a demonic conspiracy, and we obey the dream and head to the place in the dream... The Duke said that large crowds could lead to the Black Death..."
"Possibly! Possibly! Do we still need to care about possibilities in this situation?"
"Yeah, in this situation, whether or not I'm infected is already unclear... But that dream, if that dream is true—"
"If dreams were real—"
"If the miracle in the dream really happens——"
"Stop it! Stop it!"
"But--"
"Think about it, if dreams are real, and the person in the dream really appears at the dream location on time, wouldn't that be a miracle?"
"But... I hope it's true... I have no other choice! I want to go to that place. Even if the carriage that appears at the appointed time is a carriage to hell, I don't care..."
"perhaps……"
“…”
Everyone was whispering about the "dream" that suddenly came, full of magic and incredibleness.
The discussion about that "dream" swallowed up the entire city at a speed comparable to a tsunami.
But this is only natural.
In the city of Tad, healthy people are forced to stay at home, waiting for hope that may appear at any time. Doctors in the isolation hospital are more desperate and sad than the dying patients of the Black Death. Civil servants employed by the city hall drive horse-drawn carriages numbly and half-dead to distribute supplies to the whole city and move the dead from their rooms to carts...
Everyone was exhausted and desperate, longing for a miracle from the bottom of their hearts.
Of course, not everyone welcomes this sudden and suspicious "dream".
At least--
Duke Adlon and most of the people around him in Winter Castle believed that this was a conspiracy.
"There's no doubt that this sudden 'dream' is a dark conspiracy carefully instigated and planned by Yaris! Only he has the ability to do this! This son of the devil!"
Duke Adlon cursed with gritted teeth, "I even suspect that he was the one who spread the Black Death to Dalavia!"
"Your Excellency, your guess is a bit..."
The Chief of Staff expressed distress. "Although His Highness is indeed... as the High Priest and a precious descendant of the Holy Family, he has always been caring towards the lower classes of society. During his time in the capital, he and His Majesty argued over the common people almost every day. I don't think His Highness would do something as crazy as spreading the Black Death to Dalavia! There's no need for that!"
"That... well! Actually, I can't say for sure that the Black Death in Dalavia was related to him... But I am sure that the sudden outbreak of the Black Death was a conspiracy... A terrible conspiracy against the entire empire..."
Adlon, who refused to admit his serious personal prejudice against Jarris, said emphatically, "Jaris is too hypocritical. He always has a fake smile on his face! I will never trust this devilish child who killed his father at the age of twelve! He hasn't harmed Grand Duchess Anna yet, it must be because he wants to use this action to prove to the world that the death of the previous Holy Grand Duke had nothing to do with him!"
"——Your Excellency the Duke has a point."
The staff officers agreed with a wry smile and brought up the old matter again.
"The Grand Marquis of Gaura and his convoy carrying aid are now waiting at the border. He said he has a way to help Dalavia overcome its difficulties—"
"Tell him to go back with his stuff!"
"But--"
"I don't want anything to do with Yaris!"
"... Your Excellency the Duke, Dalavia's current situation is very serious. You should—"
"I don't need it!"
Adlon's attitude was extremely tough.
The Chief of Staff sighed and reported, "Priest Seth said that in response to His Highness Yaris's call, temples across the country are now collecting supplies for Dalavia. The first batch of supplies and volunteers will arrive at the border by tomorrow morning at the latest."
"I--"
"Your Majesty the Duke!"
The staff officers collectively interrupted Adlon: "Those who donated supplies to the temple and volunteered to help the epidemic area during the most dangerous time are all devout and kind believers. Do you have the heart to refuse their kindness?"
"Furthermore, within Ted City, all kinds of daily necessities are in serious shortage. Food and clean water can only last for five days at most! The situation in other areas... will only get worse..."
"——Is the food supply in Ted City already so tight?!"
"Yes."
The official in charge of grain storage management cried, "Compared to two weeks ago, the number of people collecting food each day has decreased by nearly one-fifth, and each person's daily food supply is only two-thirds of what it used to be. Yet, the wheat is still... Because we prioritize burning the bodies of those infected with the Black Death, we're running low on firewood even for baking bread."
"Because no one has walked out of the isolation hospital alive, many people are now refusing to hand over their relatives infected with the Black Death to us. They hide the patients at home and smear them with mud stolen from temples, believing that this will gain the gods' protection..."
"Last night, a corpse collector from the South District was passing through an alley when he discovered a corpse with its back completely peeled off... It's said that many people superstitiously believe that applying fresh human skin to a patient's festering and deformed body can...can..."
"--how so!"
Adlon was shocked.
He knew that the situation in Dalavia was bad due to the Black Death, but he didn't expect it to be so serious!
"Who is spreading such absurd and barbaric superstitions?"
“I can’t find out…”
The staff officer lowered his head and whispered, "The Dalavians are desperate. To keep themselves and their loved ones alive, they'll try anything, unless, unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless they see hope of defeating the Black Death."
"Victory over the Black Death?"
Adlon laughed dryly three times. "In the past five thousand years, no emperor or king has ever successfully defeated the Black Death! Right now, the only thing I can do is close the border and wait for all those infected with the Black Death to die and the Black Death to disappear on its own!"
"So I will never open the border to let aid into Dalavia! I hate Yaris, but I don't hate him so much that I want him to lose his only brother! I also don't want the believers who respond to the call to send aid to Dalavia to be infected with the Black Death."
"The only thing I'm thankful for now is that Adrian wasn't in Dalavia when the Black Death broke out..."
Adlon added.
"So... how do we deal with the 'dream' thing?"
The chief staff officer pointed to the clock tower outside the window and said, "The time agreed in the dream is almost here."
"Haras, you, a graduate of the Royal Academy and a mid-level mage, actually believe in that 'dream'?!"
"I don't believe in 'dreams,' but—for so many people in the city to have the same 'dream' at the same time—such an incredible thing couldn't possibly be a spur-of-the-moment prank by a passing mage. In fact, a mage who can cast such a powerful spell must be more powerful than the three greatest mage masters of the world!"
"You suspect—"
"If the one who caused so many people to have the same dream at the same time isn't a true god, then it must be the demon that pushed Dalavia into the abyss of the Black Death. We must seize this opportunity to find the truth, capture the demon, and save Dalavia!"
"--I see!"
Adlon stood up and said, "I'll go there myself!"
…
…
The moment predicted by the "Dream" is about to come.
The Balvia Square that was promised in the "dream" was not crowded with people.
- Although almost everyone wants to know whether the miracle predicted in the "dream" will happen, there are only a very small number of people who dare to walk out of their homes, walk through the streets shrouded in the shadow of the Black Death, and arrive at Piazza del Balvia to witness the miracle that may happen.
Besides, the entrances and exits of Balvia Square had already been blocked by the Duke's Knights.
The Duke, who firmly believed that the "dream" was a conspiracy carefully designed by the devil to push Dalavia into the abyss of the Black Death, was determined to use military means to kill the invincible enemy and rescue Dalavia.
Therefore, as the appointed time approached, the Plaza de Balvia was not only not crowded, but even very empty.
Apart from the fully armed Adlon and his knights, the only ones left were the Black Death patients who, driven by the desire to survive, rushed here with their last breath and waited for a miracle.
They lay in the square in all directions, their limbs black and twisted, their lips swollen, tears streaming from the corners of their eyes, their throats gasping and howling in pain.
…
As the appointed time drew near, the square became eerily quiet.
There was no loud noise, no quarreling among the crowd, everyone was silent, even the dying patient swallowed his wails.
——Everyone wants to know what will happen next, and is deeply worried that what is about to happen will not match their expectations.
In the agony that was almost torture, people waited silently.
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