“Was that enough?”
Biyom drooped down on the chair he sat on. A satisfied smile appeared on his face. He was on the chair that his father, Count Dracul, used to sit on. He couldn’t have been happier to sit on this chair which was a symbol of authority and power. He had always looked up to this chair in envy.
As long as he sat on this chair, everyone in the Dracul estate bowed their heads towards him. But the best thing about it was that he could now harass Joachim—the sole object of adoration from his parents. Biyom could never forget the anger he felt when he heard people murmur that the second son was a much better fit for the Count’s position if only he wasn’t so frail.
‘But that’s over now. In the end, the throne is mine!’
Biyom stroked the chair’s arms lovingly, but as he did this, he soon remembered the chair’s original owner.
‘That old fart. I wish he would just die.’
Biyom’s mouth twitched into a smirk as he thought of Count Dracul lying sick on his bed. Biyom had no love for his family. Joachim was simply an obstacle in his life.
“Hey, Shalom. How is the old man?” Biyom asked the butler next to him. Shalom had served the family for a long time. After the Count collapsed, Biyom left all matters concerning the Count’s care to Shalom. Biyom wasn’t even interested in his father and hadn’t visited the Count for a long time. All he did was ask about his father’s condition from time to time.
“He is still unconscious, sir.”
“No signs of improvement?”
“Unfortunately, no, sir.”
To hide the corners of his mouth, Biyom exaggeratedly rubbed his cheeks.
“That is quite worrisome. Father should wake up quickly.”
Biyom spat out words that he didn’t even mean. Shalom bowed his head like he was sorry.
“But is this really all right? You know, the epidemic.”
Biyom’s look of self-satisfaction was quickly replaced by an anxious expression. Even Biyom was worried that the epidemic might invade the castle.
“Of course,” Shalom replied firmly. “If we think about the report that Sir Joachim sent us, the diseases spreading in the countryside were as severe as they could possibly be. However, the disease going around Ospurin is not up to that level. I went through it in the past as well.”
“Really?”
“Sending Sir Joachim to infected villages to get rid of him is helping us now. Since he has gained a lot of experience, he would be able to retain this level of an epidemic.”
“Hmph! Are you saying that trash is useful for something?”
At the mention of Joachim’s name, Biyom’s mood worsened.
“Was there a need to call him to the castle? I could have just given him the mission immediately. What if they really were the ones who brought in the epidemic?”
Shalom sighed in his mind, but he didn’t show it.
“There are still some voices who sympathize with Sir Joachim who had continued to go around to infected villages.”
“There’s a treacherous group like that?”
Treacherous? Biyom was standing in place of his father, but he wasn’t even the Count yet. Furthermore, Joachim was also the Count’s son, so it was unreasonable to say that those who sympathized with Joachim were disloyal. However, an argument like that didn’t work on people like Biyom.
“While it is true that there are many fools, humans are naturally foolish creatures. Sir, it is also the responsibility of a person in power to appease and soothe them.”
“Hmm, I see.”
A person in power—those words sounded sweet to Biyom.
“They also probably feel anxious that an epidemic is spreading around Ospurin.”
“How could they feel anxious just by that? What scaredy-cats…”
Did Biyom have the memory of a goldfish? Or else, he wouldn’t have forgotten about how he reacted to the epidemic in Ospurin a couple of minutes ago. Still, Shalom continued to bow his head without mentioning it.
“Since your lordship personally issued this command, they won’t be able to say anything more about this matter. They have to repress their complaints about this and live on.”
“Well, good. I understand your reasoning for bringing him into the castle. But what happens if that guy successfully stops the epidemic in Ospurin? Then what are you going to do?”
“Since he would have made a worthy contribution, we can give him a sufficient reward and send him back to the countryside. There are still more villages suffering from epidemics.”
“Yeah, I see.”
Biyom snickered. A feudal lord with common sense—whether they were clean or corrupt— wouldn’t have been glad that an epidemic was spreading around his estate. However, Biyom was pleased about the epidemic since it could get rid of Joachim. And because Biyom was so preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn’t notice Shalom’s chilly, cold glare.
* * *
Shalom went inside a large and fancy room. The castle was immense and luxurious to help preserve the family’s dignity, but even among the compartments in the castle, this room was special. It was Count Dracul’s personal room.
In the middle of the room, a man was lying on an ornate bed as big as a room; he was the lord of the Dracul estate. Although the Count had managed the estate with his strong charisma and outstanding skills, now he was an ill man with a sickly appearance.
“Stay outside for a bit.”
Shalom told this to the maid who was nursing the Count. The maid bowed her head and left, and only the Count and Shalom were left in the room. Shalom stared down at the Count on the bed, and only the sound of the Count’s faint breaths could be heard in the quiet room.
Shalom ruffled through his clothes and took out a small bottle. When he flicked the bottle cap open, a tiny amount of liquid swished inside. Then he took the bottle to the Count’s face and tilted it under the Count’s nose.
Drip!
The liquid instantly vaporized and went into the Count’s nose. The Count’s face turned all red, but the next moment, he regained his color as if the change had never taken place.
“…All this is your karma.”
It was difficult to understand what Shalom meant. After saying these words, Shalom turned around and left the room.
* * *
Joachim ran to work against the epidemic as soon as he got out of the castle. His close associates and Zich’s companions followed him from behind. The area where the outbreak occurred was in the southwestern part of Ospurin.
“How is the situation?” Joachim asked.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like Biyom interfered with the task forces at Ospurin, and all the soldiers there followed Joachim’s orders.
“We locked down all the areas where an infected person was found and blocked the entrance!”
“Where are the locked-down areas?”
A soldier handed him a map that marked all the places in Ospurin. All the southwest areas were colored in red; they seemed like the area where the epidemic was spreading the most. It wasn’t as large as Joachim thought, and a sense of relief passed across his face. But his face quickly stiffened again, and he sharpened his focus.
“What are the symptoms?”
“Coughing, fever, rash, vomiting, loss of appetite, and so on. The doctors say that there’s a high chance that the disease is Igram.”
Igram was one of the diseases that appeared periodically in the city; it wasn’t one of the terrifying diseases that Joachim had witnessed in the villages. However, Joachim didn’t relax since it could be another disease with initial symptoms similar to Igram.
“What is the total number of casualties?”
“Counting yesterday’s numbers, the total is sixty.”
“When did it start?”
“We don’t have the exact date, but we think it has been at least two weeks.”
Sixty people in two weeks—that meant thirty people died per week. The face of the soldier giving the report was filled with fear and despair. As people lost their strength and motivation, there could be more casualties. Yet, Joachim felt hope.
‘That’s all?’
In comparison to the diseases he had seen, the disease in Ospurin seemed—it didn’t seem right to say this but…it was like an angel. If the disease’s symptoms were similar to the one he had seen in the villages, Joachim thought he would have to forcefully empty out the entire city. Of course, he would only be able to do that with Biyom’s permission, and it wasn’t guaranteed that Biyom would allow it.
“Maybe this time…!”
Joachim thought that they could beat this damn disease. He energized himself again and gave out orders.
* * *
‘He is young.’
Zich thought like an old man as he watched Joachim passionately work to overcome an epidemic.
‘Then should I start moving too?’
They returned to Ospurin. Unlike the time they were stuck in a countryside village, they had many more options in the city.
‘For now, I will move with the assumption that Fest is here.’
Zich glanced at the state of the patients.
‘It’s a normal infectious disease.’
It was ridiculous to attach the word ‘normal’ to an infectious disease, but when talking about Fest, the story changed. Besides, Zich had witnessed all kinds of terrifying diseases in the past too.
‘There’s even a person who fully recovered this time.’
Of course, the disease that Fest spread didn’t kill every infected person. However, everyone who overcame Fest’s disease had considerable power or was treated with special medicine. Even from the rumors, Zich had never heard of an ordinary person recovering.
‘Medicine only worked in the beginning too.’
When people found out about Fest’s existence and diseases spread, there was a great effort to find appropriate cures. Quite a lot of medicine was quickly made to fight against Fest’s early diseases. Yet, as medicine and cures progressed, Fest’s diseases also progressed.
‘Later on, there wasn’t even a medicine to fight against the infectious diseases.’
Fest was a truly horrifying Demon Person that the whole world feared. But the disease in Ospurin wasn’t like Fest’s notorious diseases. Zich thought of the disease’s symptoms again.
‘I think it’s really Igram.’
It might be a “normal” infectious disease that had existed since ancient times instead of Fest’s infamous diseases.
‘It could really be a normal disease.”
Yet, Zich also knew that someone like Fest, who controlled all kinds of different diseases, would also have no problem using a disease that already existed.
‘However, Fest is not someone who would do that.’
There were so many gruesome diseases; for what reason would Fest spread such a normal disease? If Fest was doing something that they normally didn’t do, it was likely that Fest was scheming something. And there was no way that Fest’s scheme would benefit the city. But Zich knew that even the worst situation could turn into an opportunity if used well enough.
‘If I disclose Fest’s scheme or kill Fest and give the credit to Joachim, it would help him in becoming the Count.’
From the first place, Zich was planning to kill Demon People (unless they were special cases like Snoc’s), so if he used Fest to achieve his plans, it didn’t sound like a bad idea.
‘They are not helpful to anyone anyways, so I should use them to help others.’
A person like Joachim deserved to get Zich’s support and achievement; he was someone who dragged his frail body into situations that could kill him and worked his hardest to stop the epidemic.
‘The problem is that Joachim might not want to take the credit.’
If Zich thought of Joachim’s personality, there was a high probability that this could happen. However, that didn’t pose a great problem. Zich could prepare the right timing to let Joachim contribute or make Joachim think he was the one who uncovered Fest’s plans.
‘First, I have to find what kind of person Fest is. That’ll make it easier for me to plan.’
Even before his regression, the only ones who knew Fest’s identity were Glen Zenard and his party. Besides that, there were only fragments of information about Fest. Since Fest had created so many terrible and horrifying infectious diseases, there were rumors that all sources about their personal information had been burned up, but even Zich didn’t know the real truth of the matter.
‘If only Fest was like Sude who naturally had something eerie about him.’
However, Zich didn’t have big expectations. Even if he had many experiences under his belt and his intuition was polished as a result, he couldn’t find out everything with just his intuition. In the first place, nothing was more uncertain than intuition. Most of all, people like Fest never did anything that could bring up suspicions.
‘It can’t be helped. If I can’t find Fest, I have to make that guy come out. I already have something good in mind.’
Zich knew the cure to Igram. Before his regression, when Fest’s diseases had turned the world upside down, all kinds of doctors, magicians, holy priests, and other intellectuals worked together to stop the epidemic; and during that time, one of the diseases they successfully solved was Igram.
‘Because Joachim was interested in infectious diseases, I also picked up a couple of things while looking over his shoulders. I can’t believe that’s helping me now.’
Perhaps, the incidents that were occurring right now were what made Joachim interested in infectious diseases.
‘Since there isn’t a cure for Igram right now, if I make a cure for it, Fest will probably show interest and try to make contact with me. I can also gain Joachim’s trust simultaneously.’
The first thing Zich now had to do was show people that he knew the cure for Igram. Zich made his move.