The Crown Prince That Sells Medicine

The Crown Prince That Sells Medicine Chapter 397

Episode 397 He knows the answer (1)

It hurts no matter where you look.

It hurts even when I close my eyes.

As I tremble and close my eyelids, the scene I just witnessed appears clearly as if it were branded with a brand.

People of the frontier. My people. Those I had to protect. Their miserable corpses approach one by one and cry out as if in a whisper.

It’s unfair.

How did we end up like this?

“How on earth did this happen…”

Margrave Alkantar Asrahan barely managed to utter a single word, trembling with shame.

Two days ago, we had to leave in a hurry after receiving urgent news of a disaster. And today we arrived at the scene of the disaster. Are there any words to describe this place? Disaster scene? It seemed like it would be too easy a word to describe this place.

“The main soldier’s survivors have not been confirmed.”

The voice of the head of the investigation team reporting was also steeped in sadness. Perhaps the word “devastated” would be more appropriate.

A village of zero survivors.

no.

A place that was once a village.

Now there is no trace of life left here. Everything was on fire. It wasn’t just the residents. Livestock. Dogs, sheep, pigs and chickens were all rolling around.

Even sparrows and crows that had no particular connection to the village were no exception.

“….”

Even the crow is dead.

“Investigation leader.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Do you have any guesses?”

“…sorry.”

The head of the investigation team, the margrave’s nephew, shook his head heavily.

Deep wrinkles appeared between the Margrave’s eyebrows. It was embarrassing. In fact, he too was confused. This was because it was not a very normal scene.

“It’s definitely not an attack by a band of bandits. If it were those guys who did it, they wouldn’t have committed such indiscriminate killings. To them, both people and livestock would have been seen as money.”

“I guess so.”

Indeed, it was so.

If this had been the work of a band of thieves, they would have at least taken away the young men, women, and children rather than killing them. Slave trading through human trafficking always makes money.

The same goes for livestock such as sheep and pigs.

“As the lord had guessed, there were no traces of any tampering with the items in the house. So… could it have been done by guys from across the border?”

“Harmion?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“no. “I guess it’s not Harmion.”

The Margrave shook his head.

Harmion.

Representative of a coalition of neighboring countries that have bordered Magentano for generations. A country that is mentioned as a candidate who can at least compete against Magentano, which has no rival. But I was confident that they had nothing to do with this incident.

“It is possible that they organized a small elite detachment from Harmion and crossed the border. In fact, informal small-scale conflicts like that sometimes occur between us and them. But for that to be the case, this incident… crossed too many lines. This is too much. “From Harmion’s perspective, there would be no clear benefit to be gained by doing something like this against us Magentano.”

“Rather, it will only arouse hostility and caution among border area residents.”

“I guess so. In times of emergency, what good would it be to instill antipathy and caution in advance among people who could become residents of the occupied territory at any time? “It’s not their fault.”

“What if…”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. “Maybe it was the work of an unreported, powerful monster.”

The Margrave muttered in embarrassment.

The head of the investigation team frowned.

“But the bodies are too clean to be the work of a monster.”

“Were there any signs of predation?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“….”

The Margrave’s eyes became even more perplexed.

It wasn’t an attack by a band of thieves.

It is not a terrorist attack in a neighboring country.

It’s not even about hunting monsters.

Then what is it?

How should we interpret this situation to prevent further disasters? The Margrave’s sense of despair became more intense as he looked around the scene more closely.

“….”

gulp.

It was strange.

The more I looked, the more strange it became.

Although the bodies of the residents were burned, there were more bodies in a posture that was not crouching forward. In other words, it meant that they were burned as corpses after they died for other reasons.

In general, when a person dies by being burned, the muscles of the entire body shrivel. This is because there are usually more muscles in the front of the upper body, so the upper body leans forward.

There was something more strange.

Unlike people and livestock, the bodies of sparrows and crows were not burned. What it implied was also significant.

This meant that birds and insects came to eat the body and then died for some reason.

‘Why on earth? wherefore?’

Moreover, why is it that all the plants in the surrounding villages are withering? The more I looked at it, the more bizarre and suspicious it became.

I even had the irrational guess that it was as if a powerful, invisible curse had swept away the village.

‘No, no.’

The Margrave quickly shook his head.

He is the person responsible for the change. He is a keeper. So, in any case, you should not lose your cool-headed judgment.

You must make decisions based on reason and intellect. curse? no. If you use such a vague excuse as a shield, you will not be able to prevent future actions.

It was then.

“this way! There is something!”

There was a small commotion among the soldiers who were investigating the village. The margrave quickly ran towards it. And I was able to find it.

A path leading outside the village. Impressive traces are clearly left along the path leading into the forest.

It was a scorch mark.

Traces as if something with great heat had moved. All the trees on both sides of the road withered. The grass on the ground was blackened.

Some parts of the dirt floor even had glass crystals visible, as if they had melted and hardened in the high heat.

The trail led deep into the forest.

“everyone. set.”

The margrave quickly gathered his soldiers. He then ordered a rapid march, leaving only about 20 soldiers in the village to collect the scene.

“From now on, we will pursue the beast as a subjugation force, not as an investigation team.”

I don’t know what it is.

But it must be stopped.

You have to catch it.

That’s what you have to do.

The Margrave sent a messenger to his base, the Margrave Emperor, ordering reinforcements of troops. And together with the 500-strong investigation team, we began tracking the traces of the beast.

The traces continued endlessly.

Following the trail, I had to witness rampant scenes of death every day.

A burned reed field. Streams and ponds of which nothing survives. A yellow, dried-up coniferous forest. Destroyed villages and the corpses of residents strewn about. Even the small base fortress that collapsed.

Likewise, the 3,000 reinforcements who joined after the Margrave and his 500-strong investigation team discovered eight villages that had been annihilated and two fortresses that had collapsed in ten days.

Even the second fortress discovered was a base fortress where 300 quite important troops were stationed on the border. But again, there were no survivors.

No matter where you look, there are nothing but burnt corpses of soldiers lying around. The stone wall, which melted and then solidified in the unidentifiable heat, silently conveys the terrible tragedy.

“….”

The Margrave gritted his teeth with a miserable look.

Unidentified pleural effusion.

I wanted to catch it.

I wanted to destroy it.

But it didn’t work out the way I wanted. Even though I had been chasing him for ten days, I still couldn’t even get a glimpse of him.

Is it because he moves so fast? It wasn’t. This was because the marching speed on this side was slow. As we chased after him for ten days, our speed gradually slowed down.

“My lord. It is impossible to continue like this. “The soldiers’ condition is serious.”

“Know.”

“More than half of the soldiers are vomiting in the morning and evening. “There are many people who complain of dizziness as well as headaches and tinnitus.”

“….”

The Margrave clenched his fists until they were crushed.

Did I manage my soldiers this weakly? How could the strong soldiers of the Margin Baekryeong show such disgrace after only ten days of marching?

A sense of self-reproach rose.

he ordered.

“But the situation is what it is and there is nothing we can do about it. “Increase the marching speed.”

“…All right.”

The investigation team leader, his deputy, also bowed his head and obeyed the order. Actually, I wanted to let the soldiers rest right away.

But I couldn’t. It was a situation where villages and fortresses were being massacred by unidentified beasts almost every day.

‘Just a little… just a little patience will do.’

The Margrave ground his teeth. In fact, he had been in an unusual physical condition recently.

Although he did not show it in front of his adjutants or soldiers, he vomited like the soldiers this morning.

I couldn’t figure out why. Just like that, every time I got lost in doubt, the images of dead birds in the village came to mind, but there was no place I could guess better.

All I could do was strengthen my resolve and strengthen my will to pursue.

It will be the same today.

Fulfilling my responsibilities.

That alone will be my mission.

“All armies!”

The Margrave gave the order to move, struggling to keep his voice from cracking. No, I was going to get off. However, a single shout that came from somewhere was one beat faster than his command.

“for a moment! stop!”

“…!”

uh?

A cry resounded loudly over the walls of the ruined fortress. It was a somewhat familiar voice. It was natural. Because it was the voice of the crown prince.

‘why?’

Can the crown prince’s voice be heard from here? On the day I received the urgent news of the disaster, I requested you to stay safely at the Margin Baekjeo. So I was barely able to stop the crown prince from wanting to leave together.

But why… did I witness him here riding a Minotaur, kicking up dust?

“…majesty?”

The Margrave greeted the crown prince before anyone else with a devastated heart.

“majesty. How could Your Majesty be in a place like this….”

“How could you be in a place like this? “I came because I have something I need to tell you quickly.”

“yes?”

“Stop your advance immediately. “Get rid of all the troops here.”

“Pyaerani? Where on earth do you mean?”

“To a safe place.”

“….”

So does that mean it’s not safe here?

The Margrave looked at the crown prince with puzzled eyes. Then he discovered something unexpected.

The crown prince ran with incredible momentum. It was true that a group of people were belatedly following behind the dust he had raised.

‘They…’

The Royal Guard and Special Forces, the crown prince’s direct bodyguard. And these were the soldiers he had left behind to repair the villages and fortresses that had suffered tragedy.

However, the Margrave did not ask the Crown Prince why he had brought the troops he had left behind. He was quick-witted and remembered what the crown prince had just said.

And I was able to guess why the crown prince had taken out all of the on-site reconnaissance troops and brought them in.

“Do you mean to say that those sites were still dangerous places?”

“Did you notice? After all, this is why I like you.”

“If you do that, here too…”

“Same. We need to get all of the troops here at least 10 kilometers away. right now.”

“….”

The crown prince’s command was firm.

The Margrave looked at the Crown Prince with stern eyes.

Honestly, he couldn’t guess why the crown prince rushed here in such a hurry or why he was making such a fuss about this place being dangerous.

However, he did not doubt the crown prince. he thought.

He said that the crown prince he watched was not a reckless person. Rather, he was a very scheming person. Although he sometimes had a tendency to push things forward before explaining anything, in hindsight, most of the time, his decisions were right.

That’s why I can believe it.

‘It will be the same this time too.’

The Margrave decided to obediently follow the Crown Prince’s instructions. But at the same time, I was still curious. he asked.

“I understand, Your Highness. “May I dare to ask His Majesty the reason for ordering a priority withdrawal of troops in a situation where it is urgent to track down the culprit of the incident?”

“of course. “The reason why we need to withdraw all of our troops right away is…”

Rakiel responds quickly.

He looked up.

I saw the dark red warning message that had been floating in front of my eyes from before.

[WARNING!]

[High-risk levels of radiation (radioactive ray) are detected nearby. warning! WARNING! To prevent radiation exposure, we strongly recommend that you immediately take radiation shielding measures and leave the danger zone!]