CH 101

Okay. This was very slow. :v Wish I could have done more, but I got distracted too easily >>

(Author’s note: This work does have a warning tag, don’t get me wrong.)

Healing magic is not effective on 『illnesses』. And, every single 『illness』 is associated to one thing, the 『Fourth Demon Lord』. — Which was 『common knowledge』 to every single person.

To bring about disease, can be thought as the 『Fourth Demon Lord’s』 Magic power, — The unique ability one has, and was called as such as it was similar to the naming of 『Raw magic』.

That, which was officially called 『Magic Impairment』, drives the flow of 『energy』, such as the target’s mana and life force, mad. Since one would be interfering with that which had been put into disarray, it made it difficult for it to be healed directly by magic. Depending on the circumstances, there’s a chance that 『magical』 interference would make it worse.

Due to that, through the combined usage of medicine, to restrain the symptoms, and if possible, through recovery magic similar to 『Stamina Recovery』, it would extract the influence caused onto the body by raw magic. Whilst that was happening, one could do nothing but wait until the body’s original 『energy』 flow came back.

There were some diseases other than 『Magic Impairment』 on which recovery magic would be effective, but those would not be visible at first glance, and would require one to inquire help from an experienced organisation, such as 『The Indigo God (Nili’s)』 Shrine.

Restless, and slovenly lying on top of the large bed he was assigned to, Dale threw away the thick book he had in his hands.

“Ahhh…. I’m sick of this….”

For the purpose of nursing himself back to health, Dale had already been obediently resting for the last three days, and was now sick of it.

“I wanna move my body…. If I take my sword, I’ll obviously be caught…. but if it’s just training then….”

Normally, even when he was staying at the Duke’s manor for his job, Dale would, using a book or similar, secure the absolute best environment, aka. The Duke’s house, and come into contact with brand new information.

It was his 『duty』 for dealing with those nobles, who would look down on people based on the most minor of things. He had no plans of giving them any opportunity to take advantage of.

Due to that, with the support of the education that he had once received from Teacher Cornelio, even now he would have times when he would continue his 『studies』.

Nevertheless, he had come to be sick of this situation where that was all he could do.

“Alrighty then…. Quietly…”

“The moment you say things like that, I get contacted by my servants.”

Opening the door and coming into the room without a care, Gregor says, sounding exhausted.

Dale had long since noticed Gregor’s presence.

Which is exactly why he was rolling around as if he was doing it on purpose, whilst looking towards his friend acting as if he was shocked.

“I’m bored.”

“Even if the effects of the raw magic was treated by Rose’s 『Divine Protection』 so that its heavily restrained, the fact that it’s not completely healed, is something you should understand right?”

“Isn’t it because I understand that I’m resting….”

“The two infected as well, who you isolated due to your judgement, seem to be starting to recover well as well. Rose seemed to be admiring your actions.”

“Back at home, in the countryside, we didn’t have 『Nili’s』 Shrine so…. For the sake of protecting ourselves, we had to be a little familiar with medicines and pathology.”

That was once, a part of the education he had received as 『The next Clan head』. As the leader who should be protecting the entire clan, the education that Dale received was very broad.

And the piece of land that would allow for such education as the norm, the clan known as Tisroh, was feared by those around its vicinity.

Their profound knowledge was also an influence as to why they won the favour of Duke Eldishtett, someone who emphasises merit.

“Although, it feels sort of like we were outwitted by the 『Second Demon Lord』. I have been told that the one who had been responsible for covering this incident up for his own safety, has been apprehended up by father.”

“Somehow, I feel like I can sympathise for that guy….”

“We have checked the surrounding villages, but it doesn’t seem like any anomalies, or any infected had appeared. It was probably the result of them keeping a careful distance, and not showing their curiousity towards what was clearly something strange.”

“In a certain sense, blocking off the streets for the sake of creating a cover up, might have helped us.”

Dale, who arrived to the Royal capital from Kroix, had been assigned to work immediately.

He was to confirm Rose’s testimony, where she stated she had encountered 『The Second Demon Lord』 after being kidnapped and taken away. Thus, there would be a chance to encounter the 『Demon Lord』 by going forward. Additionally, this was where the scouting unit would normally be sent forth, but it was decided that it was necessary to have Dale go along, someone with the powers of a 『Hero』.

The village that was mentioned within Rose’s testimony, had its roads sealed, and had become 『non-existent』.

In a span of a night, all the villagers had been massacred, and it was clearly an abnormal situation where even those who went to check up on the place didn’t come back. It seems the nobles in charge of ruling over this region, who were 『servants』 to Duke Eldishtett, had chosen to hide that fact instead of checking up on the situation or reporting it to the country.

At first glance, the inside of the village was 『beautiful』.

It’s just that, there was an indescribable air of unease floating about. The stillness brought by the lack of even a single person, was extremely jarring in comparison to the obvious countryside scenery.

It was only once they had entered a building, that the 『abnormalness』 became exposed to them.

Every single corpse had been 『played with』.

It was like a child lining up their toys. Like they had been toyed with as they pleased. — Most likely, to the 『Second Demon Lord』, those were undeniably 『toys』.

Inside a certain house, a wall used as a canvas had been completely painted over, and that which had been pulverised to the point where their original form was not even recognisable, was being used as paint, in the name of 『art』. Seeing this, their group of them who were used to the battlefield, had a twisted, disgusted expression on their faces.

Everything, all the violence, depending on the location, was conducted only inside the rooms in the buildings.

Which is exactly why, they were just suffocated by a silence as if they had not seen this stage of massacre at first glance.

Having a stomach of nervousness, they arrived at their target — A villa which they understood from their investigation, had once been erected for a wealthy merchant.

The instant they opened the door, their judgment stalled for a moment, seeing the scene opening into something they had not expected.

It was the entrance hall that had become the stage of massacre for Rose’s kidnappers. There, an innumerable number of corpses — were missing.

It was cleaned up so that not even a single piece of meat remained, and there wasn’t even a single clot of blood on the walls. It was only the carpet that had been dyed completely black, which remained as evidence of what had occurred here.

And, not allowing them to feel the passing of time, was the pristine, uninjured corpse of a 『young girl』, decorated with luxurious clothes, sitting down, as if welcoming them.

A trap. The situation was clear.

Nevertheless, they had to get a confirmation from the 『girl』 that they had been guessing to be Rose’s maid.

–Thus, as expected, that was a trap.

That, which was crammed with highly concentrated 『raw magic』, had an effect similar to a disease grenade, and was scattering all over the place right in front of their eyes.

It was 『The Second Demon Lord’s Parting Gift』 for the one who had run away, having foresaw that, with Rose’s personality, she would definitely come back to check on the situation.

It directly attacked the first two scouts in the lead.

The remaining people in the back, with quick judgement worthy of their name as 『top class』, cast a simple 『Wall』 magic, and by doing it two-fold created a barrier to properly maintain the distance between them and 『the cause of the outbreak』, avoiding the danger.

In the end, there was no sign of the 『Second Demon Lord』, or any clue indicating where they went, and it resulted in them ending their search, with the current situation aka., 『The absence of the Second Demon Lord』.

Finally, they came to the same conclusion as the local lord, and decided to abandon this village. It takes a ridiculous amount of time before that high concentration of raw magic, that power, disappears. It would be possible if there were several high-ranking Priests from 『Nili’s』 Shrine, but even then, that was not something that could be accomplished in a day.

The one who treated the two who had fallen into 『Magic Impairment』, caused by the trap’s direct assault, was Dale.

High ranking Priests with Divine protections, have a special trait that make it difficult for them to fall to 『Magic Impairment』. Dale immediately judged that it was the 『best course of action』.

They – Dale, who was providing the treatment, and the infected two – separated by a carriage, returned to the Royal Capital — Towards the highest ranked Shrine of 『Nili』.

During that process, Dale had also contracted a mild case of 『Magic Impairment』. Nevertheless, there were many high-ranking Priests of 『Nili』 in the Royal Capital, beginning with Rose. This was the city, that had readied the most optimum environment for a swift recovery.

Because of that, the illness didn’t worsen, and in a condition where he essentially had no symptoms, Dale was forced into a boring lifestyle of recuperation.

“Have you contacted Kroix for me?”

“I’ve told them, the basic gist of things at least…. But I suppose it would be better for you to write up your own personal message.”

“Ahh….I’ve, uh… written reports, but I’m not that great with letters…. Besides, right now, it’s sorta, hard to send one, somehow….”

“….Did you have a lover’s spat or something?”

“N-no….”

There was a difficult to fathom tension present, but that had been a 『joke』, something that Gregor would rarely interrupt with. However, Dale had reacted way too strongly to that.

He got up from his bed all of the sudden, and jolted up Gregor, before lying back down.

With that reaction of his, and the series of strange actions starting from Dale coming to the Royal Capital before having been summoned for this time, Gregor had confidence that his actions — were due to his adopted child.

— Normally, Dale would be throwing a tantrum when he was summoned, not wanting to leave his adopted child, but he had come to the Royal Capital of his own volition. Just thinking about that, was 『abnormal』 enough for Gregor be full of doubt.

(Author’s note: It’s explained here that 『Recovery/Healing magic』 cannot 『cure illnesses』.)