Chapter 74

Chapter 74

[Translator – Clara]

[Proofreader – Lucky]

Episode 74: Red Death (3)

A fierce storm howls through the jungle.

The tent walls flutter noisily.

Inside the tent, a fire was lit.

Dimly, it casts a reddish glow on the bed.

Ahul, a girl who had just turned fourteen, lay there, whimpering.

[TL/N: Ahul is Ahun’s younger sister]

Faint spots on her skin, the Red Death! It was slowly consuming her body.

Ahul’s older brother, Ahun, pleaded with Vikir, his face filled with concern.

“Please, Vikir! Please save my sister!”

“......”

Vikir approached without saying a word, looking at Ahul.

Red spots on the skin, uncontrollable bowel and bladder movements, soaring body temperature, joint pain, swelling in the throat, armpits, and groin. All these were signs of the Red Death.

“Why did this happen?”

“She went to the swamp to help in bringing wood for construction... then...”

Ahun answered in Ahul’s place.

Ahul must have gone deep into the marsh for wood and got infected.

“What should we do, Vikir?”

Aiyen asked with a worried expression.

But once someone was already infected, there was little Vikir could do, even if he were a healer. Prevention was something anyone could do, but treatment was the realm of specialists.

Just then, the tent’s flap flapped open.

In came the shaman, Ahueman.

As soon as he entered, he glared at Ahul and Ahun.

“You brats are quite something! Not even listening to the old man’s words and wandering around!”

Ahueman shouted, spitting as he spoke.

“You are tempted by this damn Imperial, so it’s no wonder you ended up like this! It’s only natural that things turned out the way they did!”

“Grandfather! Your words are too harsh!”

Ahun stood up abruptly but received nothing but a slap in return.

With a red mark on his cheek, Ahun slumped back down and couldn’t get up again.

Ahueman looked down at the fallen Ahun with a disdainful gaze.

“No different from your worthless parents.”

“......”

Eventually, tears welled up in Ahun’s eyes.

While Aiyen sighed, thinking, “Here we go again.”

“If you have a cure, then say it.”

Vikir spoke up.

At his words, Ahuheman snorted, and Ahun widened his eyes.

Ahuheman forcefully pushed Vikir’s chest and left the tent.

“Anyway, flood control alone won’t completely stop this epidemic,” Vikir thought. What about the other tribes that hadn’t done flood control? To prevent the spread of the Red Death and stop the Empire’s revival, even thwarting the threat of Baskerville required a more fundamental solution.

Clunk! Stepping on floating logs, Vikir crossed the river in one swift motion. Due to the abundance of floodwaters, he could run across the river, making the journey shorter.

Right at that moment, Vikir abruptly stopped on the riverbank. Rain poured down on this night, and a shadow extended in the water’s reflection, following him.

When Vikir turned to look, he found Aiyen, soaked to the bone, standing there, breathing heavily.

\

“Why are you following me?” Vikir asked. Aiyen was about to reply but closed her mouth.

“What’s the point of following me?” Vikir told her not to follow.

“I don’t want to.”

“I told you not to follow.”

“But I’m your master!”

Aiyen shouted with her still-childish voice. But Vikir, with a cold gaze, drew the line once more.

“Repeating myself three times is unusual, you know?”

“...”

“If I say not to follow, then don’t follow.”

Seeing Vikir’s gaze, Aiyen froze in place as if shocked.

“How can you look at me like that?”

A muffled question emerged. Vikir didn’t answer. In response, Aiyen struggled to say something.

And among many things, she brought out only selected words.

“Where are you going?”

“... Even if you’re going somewhere, at least tell me.”

“No.”

“Why are you taking Pomeranian?”

“...”

“Why don’t you leave her with me?”

A situation where it was unclear who was the master and who was the slave. Well, Aiyen knew it from the beginning. It was something she had felt since she first saw his face behind the iron bars of the slave traders, the first time she saw him on stage.

That she would live the rest of her life under him.

In the pouring rain, Aiyen suddenly realized this fact. She trembled, her voice soaked with emotion.

“Then at least answer me this.”

“...What?”

When Vikir asked, Aiyen finally managed to speak after taking a deep breath.

“You’ll come back, right?”

“... Naturally.”

Hesitation in her voice, an air of anxiety, restlessness, and heaviness hung in her tone. This time, even Vikir responded with a solemn answer.

“Of course.”

With that response, Aiyen’s expression finally relaxed. She exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Keep your promise.”

“... Sure.”

Vikir nodded his head.

Before long, the hunting dog once again pierced through the dawn. The darkness swallowed up even the distant silhouette. And Aiyen watching him, with tears in her eyes.

[Translator – Clara]

[Proofreader – Lucky]