Free Web NovelCale had finished his deal with the Demon King, so he immediately said what he wanted.
“First, let’s get the gray sickness under control.”
“Is that the path to the peace you want?”
“Yeah.”
Cale answered the Demon King’s question without hesitation.
The expressions of the strategist, General Mol, the commander of the First Army royal guard, and the others watching him turned strange.
The Demon King gestured to the strategist and said, fгeewebnovёl.com
“Do as they wish.”
“...Yes, Your Majesty.”
The strategist did not bother mentioning that what Cale wanted was currently the Demon King’s castle’s highest priority as well.
“......”
Because from the way Cale was staring at him, it felt as though his thoughts had already been seen through.
Rather, Strategist Ed felt as though that gaze was reproaching him for “trying to turn his back on demon lives and strike a favorable deal.”
But Ed’s expression soon settled into calm.
He had already decided to become a fiend.
As long as I can take revenge on the heavenly realm.
He could do anything.
Even if that meant demons using demons as test subjects.
The Demon King looked at that strategist for a moment, but Ed did not notice as he spoke to Cale.
“We will proceed immediately. However, it will be difficult right now.”
Ed pointed out the window.
Cale’s gaze followed his hand beyond the glass.
The sun was setting.
“Let us do it when day breaks tomorrow.”
Why the need for that?
Cale thought that, but the words that followed brought a sharp glint to his eyes.
“It was not a simple Three Calamities case.”
Of the three disasters so called, one was the corruption of chaos.
“I will explain once we go to the restricted zone where the infected are.”
The strategist’s gaze turned toward General Mol and the commander of the First Army royal guard.
“I’ll do it.”
At that gaze, General Mol raised his hand before he knew it and stepped forward.
The commander of the First Army royal guard looked at Mol with a strange expression. It was curious to see Mol step up without hesitation when he usually found such things bothersome and only enjoyed schemes that struck people in the back.
Receiving the puzzled gazes of several demons, Mol closed his mouth and waited for the strategist’s answer.
“...Very well. Since General Mol is acquainted with them, I will leave it to you. You will likely be better at explaining as well. I will make preparations.”
At that moment, the Demon King opened his mouth.
“Siz, you go too.”
“!”
The royal guard commander froze.
Me too?
Irreverently, she almost asked that without meaning to.
Siz looked at the Demon King, then bowed her head to the Demon King, who was not looking at her.
“Yes. Understood.”
On the other hand, Mol flinched when he received the Demon King’s gaze.
Why?
Why is His Majesty staring at me like that?
Just as he was about to wonder—
Grin.
The corners of the Demon King’s mouth rose, and he nodded with an entertained expression.
What is this?
Mol found it strange, but soon lowered his head under the Demon King’s gaze. For some reason, it felt uncomfortable to keep meeting his eyes.
At that point, Mol still did not know the meaning of that discomfort.
Woooong—
He only felt the vibration of the divine relic.
Meanwhile, the Demon King pretended not to notice the way Mol’s eyes had been shining toward Cale and withdrew his gaze from him.
“I will see you later.”
At the Demon King’s words, Cale asked,
“Tomorrow?”
He was asking whether the Demon King would attend the gray sickness purification ritual.
“I am not sure.”
The Demon King’s face had returned to listlessness.
“If I feel like it.”
Choi Han’s eyes twisted slightly at the Demon King’s words.
It was a ritual to save demons, and he would only come watch that if he felt like it?
Was that something the leader of a world should say?
“......”
But unlike Choi Han, Cale was facing the Demon King up close, and after discovering something hidden in the Demon King’s expression, he said nothing more.
There’s something there.
That attitude of the Demon King’s was not simply all that appeared on the surface.
Cale spoke to General Mol as he approached.
“Guide us.”
At that, General Mol nodded, then cautiously added,
“But do you not need to rest?”
His face was flushed scarlet from fever. The one who appeared to be his servant was wiping him down constantly, but cold sweat still beaded on his forehead.
On top of that, his breathing was labored.
He looked far too unwell.
Mol spoke with concern, in his own way, and Cale answered bluntly.
“Is now the time to rest?”
I want to rest too!
But setting aside the gray sickness, I feel like I need to purify my own body first before I can rest!
—I’m bloated.
The glutton was still suffering from indigestion due to overeating.
—...That is pitiful.
Pretending not to hear the stingy old man’s pity, Cale gave Mol an order.
“Guide us.”
Mol stared blankly at that firm figure, then quickly started walking under Cale’s sharp gaze.
Unlike his exhausted appearance, his eyes were truly clear.
The eyes that had not wavered in the slightest even before the Demon King were truly hard to forget.
Creak.
Ron pushed the wheelchair, and Cale moved along with his companions, General Mol, and the royal guard commander Siz.
The Demon King quietly watched Cale’s disappearing figure, then leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.
Creeeeak, thud!
The hall doors closed.
The Demon [N O V E L I G H T] King and Cale could no longer see each other.
*****
Creak. Creak.
Sitting in the wheelchair, Cale came out of Telia’s lord’s castle.
“It is quiet.”
As the ancient dragon Eruhaben said, it was quiet.
“Even though this is the market.”
Even though this place was the largest market, right next to the central plaza of city of Telia.
Cale opened his mouth.
“Are both the plaza and the market under control?”
“Yeah.”
Mol opened his mouth.
The central plaza was covered in sunset. In the direction leading from there to the market, the sky was gradually turning navy as night fell.
“The first person to develop gray sickness was a fruit merchant.”
Everyone focused on Mol’s words while scanning the surroundings.
There was no one.
Aside from the Demon King’s army, not a single ordinary resident of the territory could be seen.
The city seemed dead.
“At midday, the fruit merchant’s eyes turned gray, and suddenly his face, arms, and other parts of his body became stained gray as his veins bulged.”
“Mm.”
Eruhaben let out a low sound.
He had heard through Cale that those compatible with chaos could germinate the seeds themselves and trigger gray sickness.
...An ordinary merchant.
But the target had been an ordinary merchant.
“There must have been quite a few witnesses.”
“There were.”
Mol answered Cale’s words and continued.
“It happened so suddenly that the nearby merchants and residents simply stared blankly at the sight.”
Of course. If your neighbor’s body suddenly changed like that, who could react quickly?
“But in that brief time, the merchant’s entire body became stained gray, his veins twisted instantly, and his skin began to rot.”
A stench had covered the area in an instant.
“And then his body burst.”
“What?”
For a moment, Cale wondered what he had just heard.
Mol said it once more.
“The merchant’s body burst.”
Cale was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Seeds.”
Mol continued with a hardened face.
“There was a reason the Order of the God of Chaos called them seeds. The infected person whose seed germinated was swallowed by gray sickness in an instant, his body swelled, and then it burst. And it scattered those seeds in every direction.”
There had been a reason the Demon King’s side had urgently sealed off an entire city and requested a meeting with Cale.
“It scattered seeds? How?”
Aurora, who had been silent, opened her mouth.
Beside her, Young Master Jimon was trembling as he listened. All of this was the future that would have happened in his castle, his territory.
“When the merchant’s body burst, the remains of that exploded body covered the nearby demons.”
“Damn.”
Eruhaben let out a low groan and slowly closed his eyes.
“Everything stained gray covered the nearby merchants and residents, and everyone it touched was infected with gray sickness.”
Hoo.
Mol let out a brief sigh, then continued.
“Fortunately, aside from the first merchant, the secondary infected are not spreading gray sickness quickly. So far, no one among the secondary infected has burst.”
Mol added,
“We presume that such rapid progression is possible only in the case of demons in whom seeds were planted. However, judging by the current rate of progression—”
Mol looked at the setting sun.
“Tomorrow night. Once it passes midnight tomorrow, we predict they will burst as well.”
That was why Mol could not help being grateful that Cale would perform the purification ritual tomorrow morning.
There was a reason the strategist had said he would prepare the purification ritual immediately rather than staying beside Cale to check on him.
“How many?”
At Cale’s question, Mol answered,
“There are fifty-one secondary infected.”
“Mm.”
Aurora let out a low sound.
That was a lot.
More than expected.
“They were infected even if a single drop of the merchant’s blood touched them.”
At those words, everyone’s expressions hardened.
Gray sickness.
Its infectivity was beyond imagination.
“The people who were nearby but have not yet shown symptoms of gray sickness number around one hundred fifty. They are also being isolated separately at the moment.”
Moreover, the location was the largest market, right next to the central plaza.
And even within that market, it had been a famous fruit merchant in an area with heavy foot traffic.
It had been midday, the time when the market was most active, so in a major city, the fact that only this many had been infected could be called fortunate. The number was possible only because the market had not been particularly busy that day.
“What happens at night?”
At Cale’s question, Mol stopped walking.
The market was very quiet.
Every shop was closed, and there was not a single light.
No, there was light in one place. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
<Sunshine Fruit>
A shop with its doors open, unlike the others, left in a mess as though something had exploded.
They passed that place and walked a little farther to a building that came into view.
<Telia Merchant Association>
“We used the merchant association building as the isolation space.”
Demon King’s army soldiers stood before the building with a frostlike air of vigilance.
When they saw Mol and Siz, they bowed their heads and quietly stepped back.
As Mol opened the entrance door to the merchant association, he turned back for a moment and explained.
“For reference, there is no particular problem as long as your body does not touch them, so you do not need to worry about contagion.”
At midday, when gray sickness first broke out and the secondary infected appeared—
“The infected all lost consciousness and collapsed in the order their eyes turned gray.”
Demon mages and Demon King’s army soldiers whose entire bodies were covered had moved the infected into the merchant association building.
“If we had not had information on gray sickness, we would have been thrown into chaos in that situation.”
But General Mol had immediately reported to the Demon King’s castle about the gray sickness he had learned of thanks to Cale.
As a result, they had been able to respond somewhat quickly.
I am grateful.
It was something to be grateful to Cale for.
Mol did not bother mentioning that.
“But many people must have witnessed ‘gray sickness.’”
At Cale’s next words, the expressions of Mol and the royal guard commander Siz hardened.
“Yes. The city is currently under control, but that news will spread everywhere somehow.”
For now, the information about the disease had already spread within the city, and the residents were gripped by extreme fear.
Even if they wanted to take it lightly, the Demon King had personally come, and the Demon King’s direct army was controlling movement throughout the territory while advising everyone to stay home. Everyone had no choice but to be afraid.
And this news would spread outside the city no matter how much they tried to stop it.
That is why the initial response is important.
Mol glanced at Cale.
This was why the Demon King’s side had no choice but to treat Cale favorably.
“But what does night have to do with it?”
At Cale’s next question, Mol stepped into the merchant association.
There was light in the corridor, and the corridor was built so that the interior spaces on both sides could be seen through windows.
That was why they had chosen this place as the isolation space.
“That is, mm.”
Mol hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.
Gray sickness and night.
“When night falls—”
He could not continue.
Bang!
With a roar, the corridor glass shook.
Mol said before he realized it,
“Night has fallen.”
The sunset had faded, and night had arrived.
Woooo—wooo—
Window glass reinforced by magic.
Beyond that glass window—
No. On that glass window, two hands appeared.
Bang! Baaang! Bang!
Those two hands pounded against the glass window.
Thud!
Eventually, the being who slammed his forehead into the glass pressed that forehead against the window and stared into the lit corridor.
Cale’s eyes met that being’s.
A demon with gray-stained eyes.
As the demon’s upper body stained gray and rotted, he bared his teeth and cried out fiercely like a beast.
Like a predator targeting prey.
“Mm.”
“Damn—”
As his companions let out groans one by one and their faces hardened—
At the hour when night had arrived—
Bang!
Baaang!
Thud, thud! Thud!
The rooms existing on both sides of the corridor.
From every one of them came the sounds of glass windows, doors, and walls being struck.
“They are all secondary infected.”
Mol spoke with a hardened face.
“They turn like that when night falls.”
Cale watched the infected with their gray-changed eyes and thought,
They’re like zombies.
They looked somewhat similar to zombies.
Bang! Baaang!
Bang!
Thuuud, thud!
With the roars, the secondary infected began to howl.
The more they heard those howls, the paler Aurora’s and Young Master Jimon’s faces became.
In their minds, they were imagining these infected covering the Demon World. As leaders of their respective forces, the most horrific worst-case scenario came to them all the more naturally.
And as the faces of Siz and General Mol also hardened—
“It’ll work.”
Cale’s indifferent voice reached everyone.
Still flushed with fever, breathing hard, he looked at the infected.
—Cale. It will not be difficult.
The Ancient Tree was speaking.
“I can purify them all tomorrow.”
Cale gave Mol an order.
“Prepare a feast tomorrow morning.”
Purification of Chaos.
It was time to draw out joy from within chaos.
Tomorrow would be the time to purify the gray sickness victims and the corruption that had entered Cale’s own body.
*****
And that time soon arrived.
The sun rose, and the gray sickness victims who had howled all night lost consciousness once more.
Central plaza.
Everyone staying in Telia Castle had gathered there.
The residents who had been holding their breath.
The families of the infected.
Demons working at the lord’s castle, or demons who had come from the Demon King’s castle.
And before them, a small feast table had been prepared.
Their gazes touched on the platform set up in the center of the plaza, and on the many somethings laid on stretchers atop that platform, covered with cloth.
“......”
“......”
They could not say a word.
They merely held their breath and watched the mood around them, under the dagger-sharp presence and hardened faces of the Demon King’s army surrounding the central plaza.
Even though there was a feast table before them, there was not a single trace of a festival atmosphere anywhere here.
Creak.
Into that place came a red-haired man in a wheelchair.
In Cale’s eyes were reflected the endlessly clear blue sky, and beneath it, the demons filled with terror and fear.
