WFLRN 34

Chapter 34

A Tense Carriage Ride

A newspaper headline read: “The New Automatic Carriage from the Magic Tower. Will it Start a New Trend?”

With its emphasis on higher speeds and better stability than a traditional carriage, the automatic carriage was similar to a car. It could operate entirely on its own, without any external force. It hadn’t been on the market for long, and yet someone was already riding one. It probably wasn’t cheap…

“The young lady knows her stuff. My family…”

“Old man, that’s enough, isn’t it? You always say that quietness shows a person’s dignity, so why are you so flighty today?”

Ron cut off his grandfather, who had opened his mouth with a proud expression as if to boast. The grandfather’s expression hardened, as if Ron’s words had hit a sore spot. But Ron ignored him and looked indifferently out the window.

The atmosphere inside the carriage instantly turned frigid. Vendia felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.

Hahaha. Please drop me off.

A Grave Matter

“Your Grace.” A knight approached Denross, who was scanning the area.

“Over here, too… Ugh… I apologize, cough, I’ve caught it.” The knight’s face, which had been formally reporting, turned deathly pale. The stench was so overpowering he couldn’t hold back his dry heaving. It was a wonder he had held it in for so long.

“Ugh, so much coughing… It’s horrible.”

“Mmph, I just can’t… bleh!”

More than half of the knights nearby were already coughing, dry heaving, and groaning in agony. Several of them were even throwing up.

This tiny, uninhabited island located next to the northern Saint Island had once been lush and green. Now it was a desert filled with nothing but ash. In the center of the island, a pungent smoke that stung the eyes filled the area and even covered the sky.

Crackling.

The sound of burning, which had been going on for hours, echoed through the forest in place of the now-dead insects. The flames, fueled by the black lumps, didn’t diminish; they burned even more fiercely. The smoke and stench from the fire were holding back even the most esteemed knights.

“Sir Klein! Sir Klein, snap out of it!” A knight’s urgent voice cut through the smoke.

Denross calmly turned his eyes without any sign of distress. Another knight had collapsed to the ground. This was the third one. The previous two had collapsed complaining of headaches from the smoke and stench.

But this time was different. Klein had fallen without any warning and was now having a seizure.

“Everyone, step back.” The knights, who had been hesitant due to their fear, quickly cleared a path.

Denross knelt beside Klein and checked his condition. The seizure was causing Klein’s breathing to become unstable, and he was on the verge of suffocating.

“Take off his uniform immediately.”

“Yes? Oh, yes, yes!” The two nearest knights ripped off Klein’s tight uniform.

Denross took a small bottle from his breast pocket. A blue liquid in the transparent bottle rippled.

“Mouth.”

“Yes!” A knight who understood the order opened Klein’s mouth with both hands.

“Ugh, a-ah, h-heave…” Another knight pressed down hard on Klein’s shoulder to hold him still, as his body writhed.

With two men holding him, Denross poured the liquid from the bottle into Klein’s mouth. Half of the liquid spilled and soaked into the ground, but fortunately, the other half made it down his throat. Having confirmed this, Denross motioned for the knights to move back and laid Klein on his side. The color quickly returned to Klein’s deathly pale face. His unstable breathing and convulsing body gradually stabilized. A few minutes later, Klein, now fully recovered, was taking deep, heaving breaths.

“Take him to the barracks.”

“Yes, Your Grace. You’ve gone through a lot.” The knights supported the limp Klein and headed toward the barracks.

Denross stood up.

“W-what if we lose our lives like this!”

“Don’t say such unlucky things!”

“Damn it! Look at the situation! This is the third man! It wouldn’t be strange for someone to die!”

“Shut up! I can’t die here! My little bunny children and my wife are waiting for me, longing to see me!”

“Do you think you’re the only one with a family?! I have no intention of making my wife a widow, either! But look at the state of things now!”

The two knights’ conversation instantly caused an uproar among the others. Everyone was agitated by their lingering fear and anxiety.

This was the Shadow phenomenon. It was a term used to describe slimy black lumps that were neither liquid nor solid, with a texture like mud, that covered the ground. The lumps killed all the nature they touched. Flowers, grass, trees, insects, and even animals. It was named as such because where the lumps passed, only darkness remained, as if a shadow had fallen. Laughably, humans were an exception. Even if the shadow touched a person, they would not lose their life.

The shadows kept spreading if not stopped. They squirmed forward like worms, endlessly moving sideways. And when small lumps touched each other, they absorbed one another and created larger lumps. The larger the lumps grew, the more destructively they killed nature. The only way to get rid of the lumps for now was to burn them.

But burning had many disadvantages. The pungent smoke and foul stench created when the shadows burned caused knights to collapse one after another, as they were doing now.

Denross had been investigating this phenomenon with the Royal Knights, focusing on the northern islands. Over the past three weeks of finding and burning the shadows, he had discovered that the shadows mostly came from the sea and spread to the land. Carried by the current, the shadows were now spreading from the islands to the territories in the northern region.

Squirm, squirm.

At that moment, something touched Denross’s foot as he checked for any unburned shadows, ignoring the agitated knights behind him. A lump the size of a fist squirmed and crawled forward, only to be stopped by his shoe. As if it knew its path was blocked, the lump spread sideways, trying to go around his shoe.

Plop.

But he showed no mercy. He drew his sword and stabbed the very center of the shadow. The shadow, which tried to flow up his sword like a slime, was thrown into the blazing fire.

“Your Grace, I know it’s presumptuous to say this, but I hope you’ll listen.” The副副knight commander, Luiron, approached Denross and bowed respectfully.

“Speak.”

“It seems the continued injuries are making the remaining men uneasy. Morale has also dropped significantly. They miss their families. I was wondering if you might consider giving them a few days of rest and stopping the search for a while.”

Family. Family, huh. A face suddenly came to his mind. Denross, who had been staring at the pleading Luiron, finally spoke.

“I am returning to the capital.”

“Oh, is that so? Then I’ll prepare a ship and carriages immediately.”

“Luiron.”

“My apologies, Your Grace.” Luiron, whose face had lit up with joy, quickly hid his expression and bowed his head. He had no excuse for losing his composure in front of his superior.

But the question he heard was unexpected. “Do you know how long it takes to get from the North to the South?”

“From here, Your Grace?” He raised his head in surprise, and Denross looked at him intently, a silent confirmation.

“It depends on the territory, but it takes at least four days by carriage to reach the South.”

At that answer, Denross’s blue eyes sank into thought, and then a flat voice was directed at Luiron.

“You and the others go on ahead to the capital. I have a place to stop by.”