Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 249

“Take a breath and tell me slowly. What is it? What data?”

Gilbert rushed in, his face red and out of breath. He held out some papers.

“‘Listen!’ he gasped, and began to explain.”

“Well, remember the Lesta Boom, the plague from seventy years ago? There was a territory in the east that suffered no damage at all!”

“What?”

“Fifteen territories in the east were devastated, but in the Grant area, far to the east, not a single person died.”

Gilbert’s eyes shone as he held out the data, but Logan frowned as he read it.

“…Maybe the plague just didn’t reach that far?” Logan thought. *Unless you are right in the middle of the sickness.* It didn’t seem right to say a place at the edge had stopped the plague.

However.

“This data only records the situation of Grandia… Oh, I’m sorry. The situation of the Maclane Kingdom is recorded, but when combined with the old data collected by our guild, this information was very important, maybe even a huge clue.”

“Meaningful?”

“At that time, five western territories of the small kingdom alliance beyond the Grant territory were also destroyed by Lesta Boom. Here, around here. Then, if you look at it this way…”

Gilbert draws a circle. Following that circle…

“Huh?!”

“Grant territory is the only place where no one died in the entire area where the plague spread.”

This information was very important, maybe even a huge clue.

“If we investigate and find out what in that territory prevented the plague, we may be able to stop this plague for sure.”

“…I will order an immediate investigation into the Grant territory.”

“I, I will go myself!”

“You yourself?”

“Grant territory is about two days north of here. I can go and come back.”

Looking at his confident expression, Logan was conflicted inside.

To be honest, the most unnecessary manpower to overcome the plague in the Laphtan territory right now was himself and the knights.

It seemed better for him to investigate himself than the healer Gilbert, but when he recalled the conversation he had with Bishop Ilia yesterday, it didn’t seem like a good idea.

– Is there anything I can do myself? I’m a superhuman, you know.

– …Your Majesty, just being here is helpful.

– What do you mean? Useless flattery…

– It’s not flattery. Just the fact that Your Majesty is staying here gives strength to the people. This is because it means that the kingdom has not given up on them. But conversely, if you leave before the plague is suppressed…

‘It will appear that I have given up on the plague. That makes sense.’

The position of king was only inconvenient at times like this.

“…Okay. Do so. However, leave the other healers here. Some of them are already showing symptoms.”

“Ah… That’s, right. I see…”

Gilbert couldn’t hide his embarrassment even as he answered that way.

“Take the knights instead, force users above the intermediate level have never been infected with the plague…”

“Your Majesty. Knights will be helpful, but people with knowledge of medicine or herbs are better. Or even personnel specialized in investigation… I will request it from the guild in the capital…”

“Ah, there are suitable personnel for that. Don’t worry and head straight to Grant.”

Logan cut off Gilbert’s worries and continued.

“I will attach professional personnel besides the knights. They will find their way there from Grant, not here, so find out as soon as possible why the Grant territory was safe.”

He was a little suspicious, but how could he refuse the king’s order?

“…Yes. Your Majesty!”

Gilbert, a 4th circle magician and doctor, immediately left the Laphtan territory with five intermediate knights and began heading north.

“Stop!”

“Whoa, whoa!”

Neigh!

“Who is it?”

The soldiers guarding the Grant territory’s gate stopped a group of horsemen rushing in.

Their calm attitude, unlike the soldiers of a rural territory, stood out, but…

“It is the order of His Majesty the King! Baron Larry Grant must obey His Majesty’s command!”

Even they had no choice but to rush into the castle with a changed look the moment the knight who came forward shouted.

And not long after, Gilbert and the knights were able to meet the owner of this territory.

“Haha, you must have had a hard time. People from Laphtan…”

A middle-aged man with an angular face and a solid physique smiled awkwardly at Gilbert.

The king’s envoy from a territory where the plague had spread.

It would be difficult to accept it in a good way no matter how you looked at it.

‘Don’t tell me they’re asking us for support…’

Gilbert was too worried to think about making the baron feel better.

“Baron. I will ask you directly. I know that 70 years ago, this territory was the only one that was not affected even though the plague was rampant in this area. We have come here to find out why.”

“Hmm?”

Larry Grant’s expression changed to bewildered at those words.

“Did such a thing… happen?”

A sigh-inducing situation.

Gilbert’s eyebrows twitched with worry.

The only good thing was that a helper really came not long after.

“I’m Damian. I’m from the royal investigation team. My men and I will help Duke Gilbert with his mission.”

“…Nice to meet you.”

Gilbert initially had a suspicious expression, but the brown-haired, blue-eyed man seemed to be a master of information gathering, at least.

Because he had gathered information about the territory that even the owner of the territory, Baron Larry Grant, did not know in just half a day.

The problem was, they couldn’t find anything special about the area.

“The local specialty… is just apples. We have that in Laphtan too.”

Gilbert rummaged through the data that Damian had investigated and grabbed his head.

“What else?”

“There was nothing special about the staple foods, houses, and clothing materials of the residents that you asked me to investigate. It’s almost the kingdom average.”

Gilbert could only sigh at Damian’s words.

‘There must be something special? There has to be?’

According to the knowledge that he, or rather the guild, has been researching, areas with strong resistance to special diseases must have characteristics that distinguish them from other places in terms of their vegetation, diet, and housing.

‘The possibility that the guild’s data is wrong… there shouldn’t be.’

His tightly closed lips could not soothe his anxious mind.

It wasn’t just a matter of not being able to complete the mission.

His future as a healer depended on this chance. His whole life’s work was on the line.

Yes. Opportunity.

“If I can cure this epidemic, people will stop calling me a quack priest. I have to prove the Healers’ Guild can help everyone.”

To do that, he needed data. Power came from facts.

He didn’t want to think his idea might be wrong.

He needed to explore paths others had missed.

So.

“Demian, I want to speak with the oldest people in this territory.”

“The elders?”

“I need to find things that existed here seventy years ago but have disappeared now.”

“I understand. I will ask Baron Larry Grant for help.”

The day after they arrived, Baron Larry Grant helped them. They met the oldest people in Grant Territory.

However, the process wasn’t easy.

First, there were fewer than ten people alive who were alive seventy years ago. They lived in different villages around the castle.

Moreover.

“Seventy years ago? My mind’s not what it used to be,” the first old man mumbled, shaking his head slowly. “This place hasn’t changed much. Just fields and trees, same as always.”

Gilbert sighed. Many of the older people they spoke to were like this. They understood the question, but their memories were faded, or they simply didn’t think anything important had changed in their quiet village.

And sometimes.

“I’m old, so my memory is hazy. But who are you? Ah, 70 years ago? I’m old, so my memory is hazy. But who are you?”

“”. Unfortunately, they often got frustrating answers.

However, after repeated searches, they found some helpful answers.

However.

“When I was young, hunting was popular.”

“Hunting?”

“Yes, especially deer. There were many deer in this area, and they would plow up the fields and chew up the crops. So, when the time came, people would gather and hunt them.”

“Deer?”

“And now…?”

“After doing that for decades, they disappeared, as if their seeds have dried up. So, we don’t hunt them anymore.”

The frail old man, who was ninety this year, gave almost the only useful answer.

Of course, it didn’t seem to mean much.

“What does deer hunting have to do with the epidemic?” Demian asked.

He was right. Did killing deer cure the epidemic?

Or did having many deer prevent the epidemic from spreading?

These ideas sounded like nonsense without deeply studying the theory or examining the data.

As Gilbert’s face became worried, the last old man they visited told a story that caught their attention.

“Deer hunting disappeared for a different reason. It wasn’t because there were fewer deer.”

“Yes?”

“Back then, the customs here were a bit… strange, so the temple gave us a warning. That’s why it disappeared. There are still many deer.”

The old man, who was over eighty but still strong, answered Gilbert’s question with clear eyes.

“Strange customs?”

“Well, that’s hard to say. The temple warned us sternly about blasphemy…” He seemed to be watching something.

‘This is it!’

Demian and Gilbert felt the same way. A ray of hope shone on their faces.

“Please tell us, elder. We have nothing to do with the temple. We’re not here to blame anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter if I do. I only did it once when I was young. But the priests told us not to even mention it because it was considered impure…”

“Impure things must be chased away with shining things. Here, I’ll give you a charm. Please, elder, tell us.”

Gilbert urgently offered a shining charm.

A 5-gold coin completely blew away the old man’s impure energy.

“Ahem. Well… back then, we had a custom of drinking deer blood when they were hunted. Everyone in our territory would have drunk it at least once. It was done to chase away impure things and wish for a long life, but the priests said that was even more impure, and it disappeared after that…”

Deer blood.

The moment he said those words, Gilbert and Demian’s eyes flashed.

“Deer blood?”

[Yes. It is worth trying.]

“Hmm… It sounds possible, but are there many deer here?”

[There are plenty of deer in Grant Territory. Once it works, we’ll capture many deer from here.]

“Alright. We have nothing to lose.”

Logan nodded at Gilbert’s report. Immediately after that, the knights of Raftan Territory began searching the territory’s mountains for deer.

“Why deer all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know. The nobles must be bored.”

“As expected of the King…”

The public, already worried about the epidemic, reacted negatively to this news.

But three days later.

Scritch.

Logan carefully slit the throat of a collapsing deer and collected the blood.

“Here. Drink this.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

A man with tears in his eyes knelt and looked up at Logan.

The man’s face was red and covered in pus.

He was seriously ill.

In Raftan Territory, the number of seriously ill patients was rapidly increasing in places where the priests couldn’t reach.

If deer blood didn’t work, many people would die in just a few days.

‘It absolutely must work.’

Logan’s strong wish pressed down on the man.

The man reluctantly picked up the bowl filled with deer blood and began to gulp it down.