T*ash of the Count's Family

Gray sickness infected.

Who currently knew the most about them?

“Aaaah!”

“D-Don’t push!”

It would be those who had gathered the most information on the infected.

The demons in the Emergency Countermeasure Headquarters.

Then who feared them the most?

“Damn it, why all of a sudden!”

“It’s going to—going to burst!”

It would be those who had encountered the infected the most and watched their changes with their own eyes at every moment.

Mika city barracks.

The soldiers there were now terrified and at a loss.

“Damn it!”

General Mol spat out the rough words without realizing it.

Because of the prophecy that would come to Mika and Midi, he had left Cale’s side and was commanding the soldiers.

“Calm down!”

He shouted, but the chaos did not lessen.

It could not be helped.

“Ugh, uugh—!”

A short while ago.

They had been confirming infections in the barracks and, at the same time, trying to have an early meal before evening came.

But then, one cook who had been handing out food suddenly clutched his head and began twisting his entire body.

“Ugh, uuuu—”

Because he was a cook, he wore boots and an apron, covering his whole body.

The moment his hand turned gray, the atmosphere among the territory soldiers, who had been flustered and wondering what was happening, began to change rapidly.

“Move aside!”

One knight affiliated with the Demon King’s castle, who had been controlling the area, hurriedly approached the cook and took off his shoe.

It was gray.

And it was rotting at an extremely fast speed.

That was when the knight heard another cook beside him retreat in terror and speak.

“H-He was definitely fine just a moment ago!”

That cook was in charge of managing the cooks here, and he had definitely checked properly.

Everyone nearby understood what those words meant.

“Everyone, fall back!”

The knight shouted that and hurriedly tried to move the soldier.

“Grrk!”

But the soldier began to thrash.

“!”

The knight’s eyes widened.

Gray was invading past the soldier’s collarbone and up to the lower part of his neck.

Chaos was corrupting him.

It’s fast!

The spread of this infected person was faster than any case he had heard of or seen until now.

“Grrk!”

On top of that, the soldier’s thrashing grew even worse.

And pus began oozing from the rotting gray skin.

“!”

The knight hurriedly stepped back.

His current clothing was not enough to protect him from that pus.

“Aaaaagh!”

That was the moment the barracks began to be swallowed by fear.

The contagion speed was visibly, terrifyingly fast.

“H-He’s going to burst!”

Those words that someone shouted became the spark.

The soldiers and knights dispatched from the Demon King’s castle remained somewhat calm, but the soldiers from Mika’s territory were soaked in fear and plunged into chaos.

“No—”

How did the infected behave?

During the day, they slept as if dead, like corpses, while their bodies slowly rotted like corpses.

Then when night came, they turned into monsters, lost all reason, screamed, and tried to attack the uninfected.

They had seen it.

Of course, they had heard that this could be purified, but Mika’s soldiers did not have enough trust in the bastards from the Demon King’s castle to believe what they said at face value.

“Aaaah!”

“Move! I said move!”

Soldiers threw away even the food trays they had been eating from and tried to flee.

Through them—

BOOM!

The ground trembled.

At that vibration, several of those fleeing fell or stopped in shock.

Then they looked at the place where the vibration had begun.

“Compose yourselves.”

General Mol stood there.

One of the Demon King’s eight armies. A general who even held the alias the Hand Behind the Back.

At his cold gaze, the soldiers swallowed and stopped moving.

However—

“Aaaaaagh!”

The cook’s body was now turning gray past his neck and up to his mouth and nose.

“Everyone, fall back according to orders!”

Mol shouted to the soldiers.

At his gesture, the knights swiftly split in half. Some directed the soldiers’ retreat, while the rest surrounded the cook.

They had covered their entire faces with cloth except for their eyes, and they wore gloves on their hands as well.

“Suppress him!”

Mol said that, but his brow furrowed.

Damn it!

His nose.

As chaos turned the cook gray up to his nose, it was heading toward his eyes.

Something like this had happened in mere minutes!

Horrible!

This gray sickness was truly horrible.

It did not show the same contagion pattern in everyone. It applied differently to each person.

That made it difficult to respond.

It was a chain of variables.

“Aaaaagh!”

The cook twisted his body in agony.

Unlike ordinary infected, who quietly lost consciousness, he was showing symptoms similar to the first infected.

“Where is Cale Henituse?!”

In the end, General Mol had no choice but to mention that name.

His aide hurriedly answered.

“We sent an urgent message to Midi’s lord’s castle!”

Damn it!

Why did it have to be Midi?

It would take time for that man to come here from there!

“General!”

One of the knights who had gone out to suppress the cook spoke with a stiff face.

When Mol looked at him, the knight shook his head.

“If we handle him wrong, we have no idea what might happen!”

One eye was turning gray, and even the skin around it was rotting gray.

If that body burst while they were suppressing him, there was no telling how horrible the situation would become.

“Fall back according to orders!”

“To the east!”

“You, to the nine o’clock direction! Stay in formation!”

“If someone falls, grab him and take him with you!”

All over the area, orders rang out to the soldiers retreating from this place.

But there were too many.

There were far too many troops in the barracks.

Because of the meal time and the full inspection, too many had been gathered here of all times.

Especially since soldiers who had not yet heard the news were still pushing inside, making the chaos even worse.

“What is it? What’s happening?”

“Damn it! An infected? Move!”

Also, this was Mika.

They were not soldiers from the Demon King’s castle. Rather, this was hostile ground.

That was why the soldiers listened even less.

“Damn it!”

In the end, Mol moved.

THUD!

His body descended between the cook and the knights surrounding him.

“Fall back!”

He shouted while looking at the cook.

“I will take him and move!”

There were no combat mages here.

If there were at least mages, they could put up a shield and try to stop this somehow.

Every one of them had gone out to investigate the residents of the territory.

This is the only way.

Mol decided to take that cook away from here.

“General, it would be better to just dispose of that cook—”

The moment one knight shouted that, Mol raised his voice.

“Don’t say something so absurd!”

Because Mol had excellent talent for betrayal, he was rather good at reading the eyes and atmosphere around him.

Kill that cook here?

If he did that, what would those fleeing Mika soldiers think?

They were running away because they were afraid of the cook, and yet they were not thinking of saving him either.

Still, they would say the Demon King’s castle did not even try to save the cook and killed him.

Because the Demon King’s castle had previously killed the territory soldiers here even when they begged to be spared and said they would surrender.

Karma.

That was why Mol had to act differently.

“I will take this man to Midi! I will have him healed there!”

He deliberately said it loudly even amid the chaos.

So the fleeing people would hear.

So everyone would hear.

Of course, what he thought inside was different.

I will try, but if I cannot—

He would act as he had said.

But if that was impossible.

Then it cannot be helped.

He would make the cook burst somewhere without people.

There is too little time.

Woooooo—

Energy surged around Mol’s body.

His body moved toward the cook. He reached out.

To grab the thrashing cook and leave this place immediately.

At the very least, he needed to go somewhere without demons.

“Aaaaagh!”

As he looked at the agonized cook, at the gray eyes stained by chaos and the remaining eye slowly becoming stained as well.

As he looked at the weeping cook’s eyes and the fear and pain inside those eyes.

Mol bit his lip.

Woooooo—

The divine relic in his robes reacted, but he ignored it.

He reached out.

Just before he grabbed the cook by the nape of the neck.

FLASH!

Mol flinched.

His gaze turned toward the direction where the sound came from.

A magic circle appeared, giving off black light.

It was a teleportation circle.

—Human, we’re not late!

As he heard the voice of Raon, who was invisible.

There was one wheelchair placed atop the teleportation circle.

Cale Henituse was there.

The moment hope appeared on the faces of Mol and his knights.

“Good.”

Cale said that in an indifferent tone and met Mol’s gaze.

Then he looked around.

He could feel that the space was full of chaos, dread, and terror.

But.

There was only one infected person.

And.

“That expression is good.”

He told Mol and the knights one more time.

“I’m telling you to keep it.”

Mol, the knights, and the soldiers affiliated with the Demon King’s castle who had come from Telia showed hope and joy when they saw Cale amid the chaos.

This should be enough to try a festival.

There was food too, was there not?

Food was all around them.

Though he could also see trays tossed aside as they fled.

“We should be able to have an enjoyable early dinner.”

Mm. Of course.

“Aaaaagh—”

He had never tried purifying an infected person who was having a seizure like that.

But there was only one.

Yes. It’s not bad to experience in advance what I’ll have to do at night.

This current situation.

It was a situation worth trying purification in.

Swoooooosh—

Wind blew in.

It also sounded like waves.

“Ah.”

A knight let out an exclamation.

He closed his eyes.

It was coming.

A nostalgic fragrance.

It was the scent he had smelled in the city of Telia.

That wind, which called forth a joyful, happy moment.

No, should it be called a wave of gray mist?

Gray smoke, warm and clear, yet carrying longing, began from Cale and spread in every direction.

“Grrk—”

The infected person who had been convulsing flinched.

The moment the gray smoke covered his body.

The eyes that had been covered by chaos and stained with fear and pain looked at Cale.

A red-haired man sitting in a wheelchair with a pale face.

This gray wave blowing from him was different somehow.

“......!”

“!”

The soldiers who had been fleeing, those who had been running with their backs to the cook, stopped moving because of the wind coming from behind them, the sound of waves, and the gray mist.

They were feeling the same thing as Mol and the knights.

Unlike gray sickness.

Inside this soft gray.

They recalled precious joy from their memories, something different from fear.

It was not that their extreme fear was pushed away entirely. But when a fragment of memory briefly visited them, and when that memory was joy.

They could feel warmth circling their fingertips.

“Ah.”

Someone lost strength in his legs and sank to the ground.

He saw gray light emerging from himself.

Tiny gray particles.

The particles blooming from each soldier all held the same light and the same size.

Mol and the knights were no different.

All those lights rode the gray mist and headed toward Cale.

Creeak. Creeak.

Cale slowly approached the cook, rolling the wheels of his wheelchair.

Then he handed the gray mist covering him back to the cook.

“U-Uuu—”

The seizure had stopped.

But he still could not properly accept this situation.

The cook seemed to be losing his reason, yet human emotion remained in his eyes as he desperately looked at Cale.

Cale took that cook’s hand.

Around Cale and the cook, gray mist—no, a galaxy carrying gray light—settled down.

“What has been created shall soon vanish—”

His voice continued.

Only Cale’s voice filled that space.

And when every word came to an end.

“—and return to its original form.”

The gray galaxy seeped into Cale’s and the cook’s bodies.

“Ah—”

With a short exclamation, the cook closed his eyes as if losing consciousness.

His collapsing body slowly floated upward.

And, as always—

Drip. Drip.

The moment transparent gray droplets fell to the ground and seeped in.

The spark that would have created terrible chaos and fear vanished.

A cook with a gentle face was asleep.

“......”

“......”

No one could say a word.

Not the Demon King’s castle soldiers, who had already experienced this once in Telia.

And not the Mika territory soldiers, who were seeing it for the first time now.

None of them dared open their mouths.

Tap.

General Mol quickly stepped forward and caught the cook’s body as it tried to fall from the air.

He looked at the cook’s unharmed appearance, then turned his gaze toward Cale.

“!”

And he flinched.

Cale’s brow was furrowed.

Something did not look good.

As expected—

Was there a side effect to healing an infected person in the middle of a seizure?

Mol’s face hardened.

And Cale—

—That water looks refreshing.

He suddenly heard the gluttonous priestess whining.

—My stomach feels stuffy. I want to eat something cool.

What was wrong with her?

Cale had to feel an inexplicable unpleasantness as he heard the gluttonous priestess speaking more than usual today.

But he looked at his other arm, which had become slightly less gray, then raised his head and looked at Mol.

“!”

Mol flinched.

What’s wrong with him?

Cale wondered why this bastard was acting like this, but it was none of his business.

Cale wanted to keep the final step of purification properly, if possible.

“A banquet may be difficult.”

His voice was directed at Mol, but everyone was listening.

“Still, we can have a joyful dinner, can’t we?”

Would that not become a small festival too?

They would be able to hold joy in their hearts and feel its afterglow.

“A meal should be eaten comfortably.”

Yes, of course.

A meal should be eaten comfortably.

Just as Cale was feeling satisfied.

“......”

“......”

The Wanderers Cho and Ryeon.

The two Wanderers had secretly entered Mika city barracks, only to freeze.

The gray mist that had seeped even into them.

And the memories and gray light that had risen.

For a moment, they could not think of anything.

Because a precious memory from a very long time ago, before they became Wanderers, had surfaced.

“......”

The tips of Cho’s fingers trembled.

The Wanderer Ryeon held her younger brother’s hand.

Her hand was trembling the same way.

They lived on as Wanderers, but they had never once been happy.

They merely lived.

For those two, the time when they had been joyful, the time when they had been happy, had come to mind.

“......”

“......”

When neither of them could say a word.

At that moment.

“Heh.”

Cale laughed.

And the same laugh—

“Heh.”

“!”

“!!”

Came from above Cho and Ryeon.

A young, clear, and vigorous voice.

“Found you.”

Cho and Ryeon raised their heads.

The two Wanderers could see dark blue eyes.

The young black dragon had not released the invisibility over his body. He released only the invisibility over his eyes and looked at the Wanderer siblings.

“Heh.”

Then he laughed.

“This time, I didn’t miss.”

The black dragon spoke vigorously.

“Thank you.”

While the two siblings were dazed, they had lowered their guard.

A person appeared in front of them.

SHING.

Choi Han drew his sword and looked down at the two siblings.

“Heh heh.”

“It has been a long time.”

And on the left, Clopeh approached them. On the right, the ancient dragon Eruhaben approached.

The two siblings had taken the bait properly.

At last, they had found the Dragon King’s strings.

—Human, we found them properly!

At Raon’s report, Cale smiled with satisfaction and looked up at the sky.

His face soon hardened.

The hot sun was sinking.

The sunset would come soon.

Sunset was not far away.

As Cale’s face hardened.

“......”

“......”

The faces of the Wanderers Cho and Ryeon hardened as well.

And Choi Han approached them.

Woooooo— Woooo—

While holding black force.

The siblings possessed Transparent-grade individualities.

They were stronger than Choi Han.

He absolutely could not lower his guard.

He had to capture them in one strike.

Just as Choi Han thought that and was about to use his power.

“M-Me, me—”

The Wanderer Cho.

Ryeon’s younger brother hurriedly approached Choi Han on his knees.

He even shook off his older sister’s hand.

Then he grabbed the hem of Choi Han’s pants.

“Show me again!”

A new emotion had been driven deep into the face that had been dazed.

“!”

When Choi Han flinched.

“I said show me again! What you showed me just now!”

The Wanderer Cho cried out.

His older sister Ryeon could not say anything. She knew very well what scene her younger brother must have seen.

“Show me our m-mother’s face! Show me! No, let me hear her!”

The Wanderer Cho clung to Choi Han and shouted recklessly.

“......”

Choi Han was flustered.

“Heh heh. As expected.”

And Clopeh, wearing a meaningful expression, laughed low and murmured softly.