This incident occurred during the time Zich was devastating the world as a Demon Person, not yet a Demon Lord. As he usually did, Zich and his subordinates fought against another enemy force and completely decimated them. Since this happened so often, Zich didn’t remember every single one of these events. However, there was one scene that he vividly remembered.
Horrifying corpses were spread all across a wide plain. It was hard to differentiate whether this was hell or reality while looking at the sea of corpses and dark blood everywhere. Blood flowed all over the ground and gathered together to make a giant pool of blood; even among the pools of blood, there was one pool that was especially big—it was large enough for ten people to fit in.
Surprisingly, there was a person inside this enormous pool. As if he was taking a bath, he completely soaked himself in blood and sometimes played around with the blood by splashing it around.
[Are you doing that disgusting hobby again?]
The person inside the pool of blood—Joachim—stopped at Zich’s words. He gave a bright smile and turned around.
[Is it you, boss?]
[Yeah, yeah. It’s your boss.]
Zich scowled as if he was seeing something gross and slowly walked towards Joachim. But Zich didn’t look too normal either as he kicked the corpses in front of him while walking forward.
[As I have told you many times before, this is not a hobby. I’m healing. If you soak your whole body in blood, someone told me you can get healed from various diseases and light migraines.]
[Who the fuck said such ridiculous nonsense? It’s so creative, I want to put a knife in their brain.]
[A doctor told me that.]
[He’s definitely a quack. Who’s that bastard? Tell me who he is, so I can destroy him for you. If you paid him some money, I will also get it back for you. No, I will even get him to pay you interest.]
[He’s probably dead. No matter how great you are, it’s not possible for you to go all the way to the underworld to beat up just one person.]
[Tch! He fled to the underworld to run away from his responsibilities. Doctors these days don’t take their calling seriously.]
It was ironic of Zich to say this, since the people around him had started calling him Demon Lord instead of Demon Person. However, Joachim didn’t reply; instead, he dropped more blood over his shoulders. He seemed disinterested in Zich’s words and focused on covering his whole body with more blood. As Zich stared at him, he clicked his tongue and thought:
[‘This guy is definitely not sane.’]
Even though Zich was surrounded by crazy people, Joachim and some of his other subordinates were a par above everyone else.
[‘The only one sane is me. I have to stay sane to lower our group’s total insanity level. It’s so embarrassing.’]
Of course, if anyone heard what Zich was thinking, even Joachim who was bathing in a pool of blood would quickly deny Zich’s claims. How can you of all people say that I am insane? he would say. But even after he earned the title of Vampire and was feared by many, Joachim still couldn’t read people’s minds.
[Do you want to try coming in?]
Joachim wrongly judged that Zich wanted to try his blood bath and offered him a spot in his pool. He spread his arms wide and actively tried to spread his hob—no, his “healing” technique to everyone around him. Of course, Zich had no desire in the slightest to join Joachim.
[Okay, let’s just say that crazy technique of yours is good for the body. What part of your body is hurting so much that you have to soak your body in blood every time we go to battle?]
[It’s because I’m weak. Don’t I look weak from a glance?]
[Yeah, you look like you are about to die, but weak? Didn’t you just defeat 5,000 soldiers by yourself?]
[I can’t believe so many people ganged up on someone who looks as weak as me. Really, the world is so harsh these days.]
How can he be so shameless! Zich’s body shook at Joachim’s outrageous statements. He even felt like he lost to Joachim a little bit; Zich had been confident about his ability to hurt his opponents’ mentality by his shamelessness, but he felt as if he was nowhere near Joachim’s level.
[Okay, okay. Just do whatever you want.]
[Thank you, boss.]
Joachim put his back against the wall of the blood pool.
[Pweh, feels so good!]
[…]
Even Zich was made speechless in front of Joachim’s hobby—no, “healing” technique—and Zich stared at him for a long time.
* * *
‘I can’t believe that Joachim of all people has hemophobia…’
Maybe Joachim was joking or trying to trick him by giving a fake weakness.
‘No, but why would he try to do that to someone he just met?’
Even if there was another reason for him to lie, Joachim’s pale face seemed to indicate that he was not lying.
But Joachim misunderstood Zich’s statement and asked with a dejected look, “…It’s pathetic, right?” He seemed embarrassed about his hemophobia.
“You hate your own constitution?”
“How can I like it? Because of this constitution, I suffered so much.”
It didn’t seem like Joachim would explain how he suffered, and even Zich did not know much about Joachim’s past. Before he regressed, the only thing Joachim told him was where he was from. Moreover, Zich also didn’t put much importance on people’s pasts, so he hadn’t bothered to ask him about his past.
But since Zich knew what Joachim would become in the future, he said with complete assurance, “I don’t know when it will be, but I’m sure you will get over your hemophobia.”
“Thank you.”
Joachim thanked Zich, but he didn’t sound convinced. However, Zich stressed each of his words so Joachim would know that he was telling the truth.
“I’m not just saying this. If it’s you, I’m sure you can overcome your constitution.”
Zich was sure of it. Joachim would overcome his constitution to the point of bathing himself with blood in every battle. Joachim nodded his head in surprise at Zich’s confident tone.
* * *
Everyone continued their efforts to stop the spread of the epidemic. Priests and doctors worked desperately to save patients’ lives, and soldiers worked hard to prevent the spread of diseases by burning down infected corpses, houses, and furniture.
However, the situation didn’t get any better. The villagers in quarantine kept getting sick, and those who became infected had a very low survival rate.
The fatality rate was almost 100%. Even Zich shook his head at how severe this disease was. As the doctors and soldiers also got infected and died, the situation turned for the worse; and they didn’t receive much support from their estate either. At this rate, it seemed as if the people who came to aid the villagers hadn’t come here to prevent the spread of diseases but to die with them.
On the other hand, the supporters didn’t give up easily. Joachim gave out clear orders and instilled hope into people’s hearts; he and his soldiers, with the priests and doctors, did their utmost best to bring relief to the villagers.
Moreover, Zich was a critical factor in letting them continue their support. Even on this day, Zich went up to the mountains and caught a large number of animals for people to eat. The patients and all the people who took care of the patients needed to conserve their stamina. People needed stamina to recover, and it was also harder for people to get sick when they ate well. Therefore, it was a very important job for someone to consistently bring food for people to eat and maintain their stamina.
Since the soldiers’ estate sent barely any resources, food supplies were also low. Before Zich, many people would get infected and die as a result of losing stamina. Even though Joachim and his soldiers were all very skilled fighters, sword and hunting skills were of totally different categories that utilized different sets of skills. Thus, people welcomed Zich, who brought food to them, with open arms.
In addition, bringing food was not the only thing Zich did.
“This is a Purin leaf.”
The Purin leaf that Zich brought was long and wide, so people could use it for bandages when they were running low on them.
“Solberri fruit, Durogu root, and Dic’s stems are all here.”
Zich also brought in plants that doctors needed, so his popularity increased even further.
“Sir Zich is even knowledgeable about medicinal plants!”
Snoc was amazed at Zich’s various abilities. While Hans kept his amazement to himself while following Zich’s orders, Snoc outwardly showed his admiration for Zich continuously. There was a huge difference between someone who was forced to follow Zich and someone who followed him willingly.
“You should also learn this. There’s no harm in knowing about this.”
“Yes, sir!”
Snoc stared intensely at the medicinal plants that Zich brought and tried to carve them into his memory. Nowem also shoved his nose close to the plants to remember them by his sense of smell. Although Snoc’s eager attitude was a great ingredient for his progress, no matter how hard he worked, he couldn’t beat experience.
“Here it is.”
Hans had learned how to identify medicinal plants while traveling with Zich, and he was already pretty skillful at finding useful plants. He soon proved himself to be of great help to Zich.
“Senior, you are also amazing!”
“Ah, yeah. It’s because I learned a lot from Sir Zich.”
Hans’ voice was awkward as he said this because he felt overwhelmed by Snoc’s admiring eyes. But it was not a bad feeling, and the tip of his mouth quivered upwards. Overall, with the help of Zich and his companions, people worked their hardest to save infected patients and prevent the spread of the disease. However, no matter how hard they worked, it was impossible for them to save the village.
Whooosh!
The village was swept by an enormous fire. The temporary ward, the doctor and priest’s hastily made shelter, and the wooden fence that surrounded the whole village—everything was swept by the crackling flames.
The fire had not been an accident. Under Joachim’s orders, the soldiers started a fire because there was no need for this village to exist anymore. All the villagers were gone, and there was no reason to leave a disease-infested village alone.
“I still can’t believe not a single person survived.” Hans watched the village burn to the ground and mumbled with mixed emotions. When he was in Steelwall, he sometimes received news of infectious diseases spreading around in the country. He also heard people say that the circumstances of some places were becoming very serious. But he had never heard of a case in which not a single person survived, like this village. In the end, all of them failed to save the village.
Joachim, the leader of the task force, and all the doctors, priests, and the soldiers had pensive, sad looks on their faces. The towering flames in front of them were stark evidence of how all their efforts had gone down the drain. To make matters worse, some of their comrades had fallen ill and passed away so the morale was as low as it could possibly be.
“In the end, it turned out like this.”
Joachim walked towards Zich and his companions. Even though Joachim was walking towards them, his gaze did not depart from the village even once.
Zich replied, “What a pity.”
“It is a pity. The lives lost, the village on fire right now, and all the efforts that we made. Everything is a pity.”
‘This Joachim is definitely different from the one I knew.’
Zich watched Joachim stare at the village with tearful eyes. The Joachim he knew in the past would have never been consumed by emotions because he was unable to save people—instead, he would have been consumed by emotions because there would be no people to get blood from. It seemed as if something in the near future made Joachim completely transform.
“If we didn’t receive help from the three of you, we wouldn’t have lasted this long. For that, I want to thank you again.”
“It was no problem at all. The reason why I’m traveling all over the world is so that I can do kind acts. Therefore, I’m happy to be of help to all of you.”
Joachim was filled with admiration. “You are a very admirable person.”
“I reported our situation, so we’ll probably get a return order soon. If it would be all right with you, I would like to invite all three of you to my place. I want to express my thanks in this way at least.”
“I’ll gladly accept your invitation.”
Zich also didn’t want to separate from Joachim yet, so he readily accepted his invitation. However, even after a day and several days later, an order requesting their return did not arrive. They had no choice but to stay near the devastated village.