Chapter 63 - Sixty-Three ... A Sealed Council

Chapter 63: Chapter Sixty-Three ... A Sealed Council

Chapter Sixty-Three ... A Sealed Council

"Then what exactly does it mean to wield magic? From what you’ve said, it doesn’t sound as though there’s much you can actually do...?"

It was a question that could easily have been rude, so Jan asked it carefully.

"Hm... It’s nothing much."

Fortunately, Agphiel didn’t seem to mind.

"I can make potions that heal all sorts of wounds, or bestow the forest’s blessing to resist fire, or hasten the growth of all kinds of plants."

Jan’s jaw nearly dropped.

No matter how he looked at it, that didn’t sound like "nothing much." Wondering whether he’d misheard, Jan looked at Agphiel, but the old mage was completely unruffled.

"Ah! I can control plants too! I can freely command vines and grass and the like to raise walls or move them about."

"A-and that’s nothing much?"

"Well? Isn’t the magic nobles want the kind that foretells the future, or controls the weather, or calls down thunder and lightning and bolts of fire?"

"Er... well, that’s true, but..."

No matter how he looked at it, that seemed incredible... But Jan couldn’t quite bring himself to say so out loud.

A plague leaves its marks behind.

Wherever a plague had swept through, the aftermath was always grim. The roads were closed, and the air was forever thick and acrid from burning the dead. The black smoke creeping upward was a wound that could never be washed away. In that sense, the canton that Jan and his army reached bore every mark of the plague.

"This is dreadful."

"Oh... The beautiful canton is ruined."

"Wh-what... What is this!"

At the canton’s dreadful state, Captain Lampard nearly leapt out of his saddle. Who would have thought that prosperous canton would come to this? It was where his own house had its roots, so it hit Captain Lampard all the harder.

"Calm down, Captain Lampard. We can still set things right here, starting now."

Comforting Captain Lampard, Jan sent a messenger to let the canton council know he had arrived.

But unexpectedly, the messenger couldn’t get into the canton council at all and came straight back to him.

Jan frowned as the man returned so quickly.

"I-I’m sorry, my lord."

"What happened?"

"The canton council has forbidden entry into the inner city."

"What?"

"How rude!"

A noble, a great noble at that, had come to them, and they’d slammed the door in his face! This was a grave insult, serious enough to justify a war.

Thanks to that, Bishop Graham and the officials under Jan were all furious.

"My lord, let’s turn back at once! There’s no need to help these people."

"Ah! That’s right. This is a grave insult!"

"Now, now, calm down. There must be a reason."

If they were ignoring custom, there had to be a reason for it. Calming his subordinates, Jan looked at Agphiel. Since the mage had been given full powers by the canton council, he was the ideal person to find out what was going on.

"Hm, that’s strange. Let me go and see for myself. I’ll apologize for their rudeness in their place."

"No need, Master Agphiel. I’m sure there’s a reason."

"Heh heh. You really are an amusing lord. Well then, I’ll be back."

With an apologetic look, Agphiel headed for the council’s inner city. After some time had passed, he came back looking just as bewildered.

"Hm... They say they’ve all caught the plague and are in critical condition."

Jan stared at him.

What on earth did that mean?

Why would every member of the council that ran the canton city catch the plague? This wasn’t the first plague they’d lived through, and council members, of all people, knew very well how to avoid one.

And yet they’d all caught it?

"Huh? What’s going on?"

"What, have they really been cursed or something?"

Everyone asked in disbelief. But the one most bewildered was Agphiel. He had gone to the trouble of bringing Jan here, only to put him through something as absurd as this!

It was a stain on his own honor. But what could he do? It had already happened.

"Ahem... I don’t really understand it either. They say the plague has spread all through the council, and that’s why things are the way they are. They’ve sealed it off completely so no one can get in. Since they’ve given me full powers over the city to treat the sick, they’ve told me to bring the plague in the city under control first."

"Huh..."

It made no sense at all, but since that was what they said, Jan decided to accept it.

Surely they wouldn’t cause trouble with a great noble like him for no good reason. The plague must really have broken out inside.

’Surely they haven’t actually been cursed.’

At the thought that crossed his mind, Jan could only let out a small laugh.

"Well, things have turned out strangely, but for now we’d best do what needs doing."

"Quite right, Master Agphiel."

Having come all this way, it would be awkward to go back with nothing to show for it. They had set aside their planned schedule to come here, after all.

Since things had come to this, if he helped Agphiel purify the canton city, he would at least win the people’s trust.

’And the mage’s gift will be a bonus, of course. Heh heh.’

Once the situation was sorted out, people quickly began to move.

It was the same work they had done until they were sick of it in Captain Lampard’s village. They found a clean source of water, set aside the filth from the sick to be burned, and isolated and sorted the sick by their condition. Next, of course, they brought in huge cauldrons, added salt and sugar and the like to make the restoring draught, and handed it out to the sick.

Gradually, the plague that had spread through the canton city began to die down.

"Hm, it’s calmed down quite a bit."

"It’s all thanks to you, my lord. Thank you."

"Thanks to me? Nonsense. There’s the Great Sage Agphiel over there, and there are my vassals who serve under me and have helped with the work. Without them, how could this crisis have been brought under control?"

"Ohh! Truly..."

"My lord..."

At that, the city’s dwarf administrators and Bishop Graham, who had come along beside him, burst into praise, their voices full of emotion.

Most lords would claim even the smallest thing as their own achievement. And yet here was one who had accomplished something this remarkable and was still so modest!

It was the very picture of a true sovereign, the kind that only appeared in the heroic tales bards sang.

Of course, watching them, Jan thought they were very easy to handle.

’Since no other noble bothers doing this, it’s a cheap and very effective method.’

To see them fall over themselves at a few kind words like that. He wasn’t giving them money or positions, so he could do it dozens of times over.