Chapter 64

Did something happen?

No, I was just taking a stroll in this bright night and found you awake.

Now that Joachim mentioned it, Zich noticed that the moon was especially large and bright today. Even a person who didnt normally stroll for a hobby would have felt a strong urge to go on a walk.

What made him become a Demon Person?

Currently, there are too few clues. But it must have been something huge for someone who has hemophobia to start using an ability like Blood Domination.

Sir, how is the Counts condition? Zich asked to grasp Joachim's current situation.

You must have heard the rumors. To tell you the truth, his condition is not very good. It has been half a year since he fainted, but he is still unconscious. I am very worried about him.

Zich could see that Joachim was clearly worried for his father. At the least, it didnt seem like Joachim was the type of son who wanted his father to die to gain more power.

Its probably different for that bastard Biyom though.

I guess thats why the first son of Count Dracul has full authority.

Well, he is the oldest. Of course, he should take it.

But Joachims voice had a hint of bitterness to it that indicated his negative feelings towards Biyom. From then on, Zich continued to ask about Joachims current situation. Of course, Zich was indirect in his questions since he didnt want to raise Joachims suspicions.

Many conversations passed between them, but Zich wasnt able to gain much information. However, it wasnt all useless since he gained assurance that his guesses had been correct.

The Count lost consciousness half a year ago, and he is still bedridden. Biyom Dracul took that chance to grasp power, and he is now pushing Joachim and his forces to the edge. Its a common story.

If he looked around the world, Zich would be able to find at least dozens of similar stories. Then Zich suddenly came up with a funny thought.

Should I play a trick and make Joachim Dracul succeed as the Count?

It wasnt a bad thought.

Then, I can fuck over Biyom at the same time.

The best way that Zich liked to play with people was to give them a false sense of hope and quickly take it away; but he also liked the method of taking away what his opponent wanted or valued the most.

I should stay next to Joachim and make him the Count. At the same time, I can beat up the assassins whod probably come to make Joachim into a Demon Person and extract information from them.

It was a plan that perfectly suited Zichs tastes. If he wanted to carry out this plan, Zich had to establish a greater sense of trust with Joachim. He couldnt simply remain as the traveler who helped Joachim greatly; he had to become a confidant who Joachim trusted enough to confide in about the next course of action.

With that in mind, Zich talked to Joachim all night. He lacked time, especially considering that Joachim would likely be confined in his room again when he returned to Ospurin. However, Zichs worries about lacking time disappeared when Joachims task force received another order from the castle. It was a shitty order that told them to relocate immediately to another village hit by an epidemic.

* * *

Soldiers skillfully blocked the roads leading to the third village and separated the infected villagers from the uninfected villagers. Their bodies were now accustomed to the work. After they separated the villagers into different zones, they began to give out treatments. However, since they had failed to save the first and second village, no one was hopeful about their ability to save the third village. And they began their work with low spirits.

In addition, there were significant casualties among the task force. Although the soldiers and caretakers had taken extra precautions when dealing with the patients, some were infected. If most of Joachims task force couldnt control mana and didnt have a strong immunity towards diseases, they might all have died like the villagers. Naturally, peoples morale was at rock bottom.

Then, they realized that the disease spreading in the third village was different. Its deterioration rate was slow, and symptoms werent as severe as before. It was a terrifying thing to discover a new disease with a high number of infectants, but everyones faces were bright. They hoped for survivors this time.

But even that hope soon disappeared. Although the diseases deterioration rate was different this time, in the end, its fatality rate was also 100 percent. Just like that, the third village disappeared. And something that happened three times was bound to happen another time; an epidemic spread in another village, and the task force forced themselves to move once again.

As he moved the corpses again, Zich scowled.

This is definitely weird.

Not only was it strange that there were so many outbreaks, the infection and fatality rates were way higher than normal. Furthermore, all the villages were at a considerable distance from each other. If the epidemic had spread across closeby villages, the trend was understandable, but that was not the case.

It almost seems like someone has purposely staged it.

Zich analyzed the information he al