“Shop owner, notify the village’s leader to bring all the villagers to the village yard.”
Someone in the group spoke in the voice of a powerful person.
With his powerful leader aura, the guy in the griffon armor was maybe the leader.
“Huh…such an eyesore” The leader looked at Merlin and Jerald scornfully.
“Soldiers, get these dirty rats out. It is bad enough to be sent here; take them to the other villagers. Hurry up!” The leader ordered his subordinates in a discontent voice.
With the power of Lemegeton Eye, Merlin could detect that this pompous man’s power was at the top-end section of the sorcerer level. He was another high-ranking wizard that Merlin had met and even more skilled than that Milazz, the Twisted Lazz.
Having received the order, they followed it immediately.
But before they had a chance to, Merlin said,
“No need to, we will get out by ourselves.”
Merlin did not want to cause any trouble right now. He just wanted to watch this soap opera scene and see how the kingdom people would handle the situation.
Merlin helped Jerald up and walked out obediently. Noticing Jerald’s condition, they suspected that he was infected. So, surely, they did not wish to touch the diseased one. The two kids leaving, therefore, was a good thing for them.
Shortly, everyone in the village gathered in the yard. The ones with the disease and those without were evidently separated.
Merlin noticed the people who had a severe case of crystal disease; their arms, legs, and some parts of their bodies were crystallized into solid masses. Their faces showed that they were in pain and piteous.
The symptoms of this disease were that when someone got it, they seemed like they just got normal flu, a headache, and aches all over their bodies. But when time went by, those aches would turn into pain. And the most terrible pain would lie where their flesh started to turn into crystals.
Some people who could not tolerate it would even commit suicide. However, some of them did not even have a chance to do so when the disease spread so quickly that their whole bodies turned into crystals. And when that happened, they would be suffering from something worse than death because they had to live in the crystalized body without being able to move until they died, or someone destroyed the crystal.
The kingdom people led by the guy in the griffon armor marched into the big yard like those with authority.
“Who is the leader of this village?” A soldier shouted.
“I, Sedan, am the leader of this place. And as the leader, I have to thank all of you for sacrificing your precious time to help our village.” The village’s leader said with gratefulness because his village was going through a crisis at this moment.
A lot of villagers evacuated because they were scared of the crystal disease. There were only a few people left; they were those who had already been infected or those who could not let go of the village.
Soon, this place would become an abandoned village in the middle of the forest.
“Here is Lord Exel, Baron of Cesena,” said a soldier introducing the commander to the villagers.
Lord Exel stepped to the front lazily; which clearly showed that he did not want to do this mission.
“Alchemists, check their condition quickly.” He did not even glare at the villagers; he just indifferently ordered his subordinates. His voice was the voice of boredom.
Hearing Lord Exel’s command, the alchemists started doing their job immediately. Their examination process was careful because although they all were excellent healers, they could not underestimate the crystal disease.
They checked both the healthy and the sick ones for they were afraid that there might be some people who got infected with the symptoms unshown in the group. They even took some pus and flesh for the diagnosis.
Jerald, the boy that Merlin had helped, woke up during that time. His eyes were scanning all over the yard; shortly, they started shaking when he found his mother, who was also brought to the assembly at this large yard.
Little Jerald struggled hurriedly heading to where his mother was.
The reason Jerald was risking his life in the forest had to be because of this woman who got the crystal disease at the front.
Seeing that, Merlin could guess what Jerald was trying to do; he did not stop the boy. Merlin only watched and let Jerald do whatever he wanted.
Half a day later, the alchemists’ diagnosis was finished. Their faces were full of worry; many of them seemed uneasy. Facing the crystal disease made it hard for them to smile.
The alchemists, looking serious, went to consult with Lord Exel.
After an hour had passed, loud arguments slipped out constantly.
Then, Lord Exel and his followers walked out of the accommodation, which meant that they got the conclusion to this.
Not a word came out of Lord Exel; he only raised a hand and pushed it out as a sign.
In no time, all the soldiers were surrounding the villagers. Because of this siege, it was hard for someone to slip out.
“This might be cruel for all of you, but for our kingdom, do not blame me. You guys must sacrifice for the whole.” Lord Exel paused, then continued, “All of you here cannot go anywhere. Soldiers, kill them.”
After Exel’s order, the villagers felt as if they had been struck by lightning. Commotions and tumultuous cries came occupying that huge yard; a lot of them got beaten up by the soldiers trying to corner them together.
The alchemists could not watch the scene in front of them; they turned away to the other directions to avoid the villagers’ pitiful eyes.
Surely, the conclusion of that meeting came out as their death sentence.
Not long after, all the villagers were rounded up together.
Lord Exel wanted to burn them to stop the disease from spreading out.
It was the best controlling method for the spread of infectious disease now. Because from the opinions of the alchemists, this crystal disease was hard to cure. And they were not sure if there was anyone else in the healthy group whose symptoms were not showing yet.
Therefore, they needed to get rid of every villager to prevent this crystal disease from getting out in a wider range and causing damage to the kingdom.
Fireballs were lighted on every soldier’s palms; even Lord Exel did so too. They wanted to completely vanquish this disease.
However, right at that moment, a boy in a white cloak got up and walked out of the crowd of villagers.
His appearance really astounded everyone because his walk was not stepping on the ground; he was pacing in the sky.
Every step got higher and higher.
His walk seemed like he was climbing strong stairs.
Shortly, the boy in the white cloak stopped walking; he looked down like a mighty figure.
Barely with his eyes gazing upon, everyone got struck by a bizarre pressure coming out of the child. Even Lord Exel could not resist this feeling.
The silence took over the place for a long while; finally, Merlin began doing something.
His eyes and manners showed that he was full of mighty-figure power. Those mysterious eyes stared at Lord Exel; he said,
“Your solution disappointed me; I could not accept your ineffective way of work. If I am still here today, right in this place…” Merlin looked at him with disdain and continued, “I will not let the villagers die.”
His short statement almost froze everyone. Although those words were filled with arrogance, unfortunately, it seemed like this kid was qualified to say them.
The aura sensed around the boy made the soldiers scared to even breathe loudly.