Chapter 46

The candlelight’s shadow trembled uneasily over Rian’s face. The Argos report in his hand pierced his heart colder and sharper than any sword.

‘Eastern border of the Empire, Karnak Village… an unknown plague… soil turning gray…’

Every clue pointed to a single name: ‘Ashen Worm cult.’ The vile aura of the Ashen Worm they had encountered in the forest, seemingly corrupting existence itself, had now shown its gruesome face within the Empire’s territory.

Rian rose from his seat and walked to the window. Outside stretched the peaceful night view of the prosperous estate after the harvest: warm lights bleeding from distant village houses, the occasional laughter of the estate’s people. And inside the manor were his most precious family in the world.

‘I don’t need to be a hero.’

Rian repeated it to himself. He had no desire, none at all, to save the world, to defeat a demon king, or to carve his name into history—the very things he had craved in his previous life. What he now wanted to risk his life to protect was only this small peace, the warm everyday life with his family.

But he also knew that if this plague was left unchecked, that fire would one day become a conflagration that would consume everything he held dear.

‘I cannot act directly. The moment I appear in Karnak Village, I’ll draw the world’s attention. Remaining an unknown hero is a luxury. I just want to remain the estate’s ordinary second son.’

There was only one way. Instead of taking up the sword himself, he would move the hands of those who wielded the world’s largest and most powerful blades.

Rian returned to his study and summoned Kael.

“Kael, send every ‘eye’ and ‘ear’ in Argos’s eastern branch to Karnak Village.”

A cold light shone in Rian’s eyes.

“I need everything about that plague. Who the first victim was, what they ate and drank, who they contacted. The exact location where the plague began, the degree of contamination in the soil and water, the last movements of the missing residents. Don’t miss a single speck of dust. And… secure samples of the contaminated soil and plants from the site, without attracting anyone’s notice.”

Kael felt the weight behind his master’s orders and vanished without a sound.

For days, Rian shut himself in his study. Vast streams of information arrived in real time via Argos, along with secretly obtained contaminated samples. He mobilized his past life’s biology and chemistry knowledge and this world’s Magic to begin analyzing the nature of the plague.

At last he composed two detailed reports. The content was similar, but he altered tone and perspective completely depending on the recipient.

The first report was sent to the Court of Holy Kingdom Artemis.

‘To the Merciful Representative of the Light. An unnamed priest from the East reports with tears of blood. The plague raging in Karnak Village is not a mere disease but a blasphemous curse that denies the laws of life itself. It cannot be purified by ordinary divine power; on the contrary, it seems to feed on divine power and grow stronger. Please dispatch the kingdom’s most powerful orders of paladins and high clerics who possess the power of purification to remove this shadow of evil from the land.’

The second report was sent to the capital’s royal mage tower, Archmage Velleius.

“To the esteemed Master of the Magic tower. A humble scholar studying magic in the East sends this trembling missive. The plague in Karnak is a new form of ‘parasitic plague magic,’ unlike any known necromancy or curse. It spreads in spore form mediated by mana particles and absorbs the host’s life force to exponentially proliferate. If this magic’s spread is not contained, it will become a catastrophe that shakes the Empire’s mana stability to its foundations. I beg the magic tower’s wisdom to analyze and respond to this unknown threat.”

Rian handed the two anonymous letters to Kael.

“One to the kingdom, the other to the capital. Use the most clandestine routes so the source can never be traced. Let fierce lions fight the lions. We will only slightly change the wind’s direction so our home’s fence doesn’t catch fire.”

After finishing, Rian left the study. In the parlor his father and mother were drinking warm tea and chatting, and Lily was playing on the carpet with a newly acquired doll.

Rian quietly sat beside them. On the surface it was just a family’s ordinary evening. But beneath that peace, nobody knew that a single boy had moved the giant chess pieces of two great powers of the continent.