A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 243: Chapter 193 Plague_1

Originally, Duanmu Huai had planned to get rid of that idiot early on and then resolve the civil war in Bartonilla, but to his surprise, when he arrived at the battlefield, the guy named Malobode had already been killed!

And the one who killed him was none other than the “love is a light, green until you are scared” Green Knight!

Speaking of which, how did he forget him?

Watching the Green Knight, holding up Malobode’s head in triumph, Duanmu Huai also slapped his forehead. He had heard that the Lake Goddess Fairy was gone and subconsciously thought the Green Knight had disappeared as well. He didn’t expect him to show up at this moment, and even be the founding emperor of Bartonilla… which was indeed beyond Duanmu Huai’s expectations.@@novelbin@@

However, in any case, the issue in Bartonilla was now resolved. The king assured Duanmu Huai that after resolving the civil war, he would lead reinforcements to the Empire to resist the attack of the Chaos Army.

However, Duanmu Huai’s mission was not yet complete. The Green Knight hoped that Duanmu Huai could check out the situation in the Southern territories—reportedly, they were infested with rats and plagued by disease. The Green Knight didn’t want Bartonilla to be caught off guard by a rat outbreak either. But the Southern territories were independent and not within the scope of Bartonilla…

His reasons were the same as the Imperial Emperor’s. Perhaps all emperors and kings share this trait.

Fortunately, Duanmu Huai had initially considered the rat infestation to be of greater importance. If it were not for the Bartonilla matter, he would have left already. Now that the Green Knight was in charge of wrapping things up, he unceremoniously handed over the task to the Green Knight and took the others to the Southern territories.

However…

“So tragic…”

Standing at the city gate and looking at the city ahead, everyone looked surprised.

There was no one at the stands outside the city gates. Rotten fruit was everywhere, and the entire city was silent. The dirty and muddy streets, and the sealed wooden doors and windows everywhere, all gave off a stench that made people want to vomit.

“It’s the plague.”

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai’s face darkened.

“The plague?”

“Yes, a common tactic used by the Ratmen, and it’s the most annoying thing.”

Saying this, Duanmu Huai gritted his teeth. The Skaven Ratmen were most adept at driving rats to spread the plague and viruses to every corner of a city. Humans could perhaps exterminate Ratmen, but they were helpless against the virus. Under the influence of the plague and virus, the number of soldiers who could fight gradually decreased. Once the city’s resistance was completely broken, the Skaven Ratmen would come flooding out, destroying the entire city.

“Master, why are some doors marked with crosses?”

Sitting in Duanmu Huai’s arms, Bambi curiously pointed to the side and asked. On both sides of the street, some house doors had large crosses painted on them with white paint, which looked strange.

“That represents that there are patients inside. Generally, they would only be locked inside the house and left to their own devices.”

“Why… Aren’t the priests supposed to treat these patients?”

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s words, Lorena asked in surprise, and Duanmu Huai shook his head.

“They can’t keep up. You are a priest as well. You know that the power of the clergy is limited. You may be able to heal hundreds of patients a day, but can you keep up with healing thousands or tens of thousands?”

“In that case, why not ask God for help?”

“…only they know that.”

Duanmu Huai shook his head. The method used by the Ratmen, which is also commonly used by devotees of the God of Plague, can be simply described as piercing through the bottom limit of the healthcare system. No matter whether divine arts or science are used, the number of patients they can treat is always limited. Once this limit is exceeded, the entire healthcare system would completely collapse. Even in highly developed interstellar worlds, this can’t be avoided. Not to mention a medieval-like world like this.

In fact, there have been many cases where due to the inability to provide timely treatment, in order to prevent the world from falling into the hands of the God of Plague, Judges issued extinction orders—to spite them, I won’t give you what you want, it’ll be your death.

As for the other issue… well, Duanmu Huai said he’d like to ask about it too.

Honestly, Duanmu Huai really doesn’t understand. Why do gods, as opposed to evil deities, always seem stingy when it comes to showing miracles? In this regard, the Nine Spirits of the Sky Province seem very indifferent. The divine statues are right there, anyone can go and ask for a blessing. Although the blessing itself isn’t particularly strong, it can indeed make people feel the power bestowed by the deity.

This is also why despite there being only nine spirits in Sky Province, there are more believers than followers of the Demon God.

After all, given a choice, people still prefer to take the right path.

Yes, when there’s a choice.

On the contrary, the deities here, from Duanmu Huai’s perspective, seem stingy. They don’t reveal themselves in ordinary times, and they all play dead in an emergency. Truthfully, Duanmu Huai was quite concerned about the situation in Bartonilla. After all, with the Lake Goddess Fairy missing and the Lake Goddess acting like a dead person, even if he defeated the rebels, there would surely be a second Fallen One to stand up.

But now that the Green Knight is going to take the blame, let it be.

In Duanmu Huai’s view, believers generally fall into two categories.

One type includes those who don’t usually believe, but turn to religion in emergencies.

The other type of believer, in Duanmu Huai’s view… is basically similar to buying insurance.

Simply put, they pay a sum of money regularly and then, when in danger, expect the insurance to come into play. It’s pretty much this kind of thinking.

If not, why would people devoutly worship gods? Perhaps there are those who seek inner peace, but most people clearly are not such high monks.

When you’ve diligently paid insurance premiums for decades and when the time comes that you need it, the insurance company tells you that they don’t cover your situation–you’d probably be tempted to smash the insurance company’s office in anger.

Many fallen believers harbor this kind of sentiment.

That’s why, most of the time, it’s better not to believe in unreliable deities at all. Look at associations like the Cathedral Church Group that Lorena belongs to. It’s a very reasonably organized religious institution. If something happens, the Deity steps in, and the believers will think of asking their deity for help in the first place–not a desperate begging for a miracle to happen, but more akin to a reflexive instinct to call the police when faced with a bad guy.

In comparison, this type of religious relationship is much healthier.

Well, for those unhealthy religious relationships… it’s like this.

“Burn him!!”

As Duanmu Huai and his party were walking along the street and reached the town square, they saw a crowd gathered around a man wearing a priest’s robe. The crowd held torches and pitchforks, with some soldiers standing aside. They were throwing rocks and other things at the priest, causing his head to bleed. Although the priest tried to speak, he was constantly interrupted by the angry mob.

“We don’t want your Sigma! Get out!!”

“Sigma is our Guardian God!”

Hearing the roars of the mob, the priest raised his voice.

“He is our protector!!”

“To hell with your Sigma! To hell with your protector! If the protector was any good, my daughter wouldn’t be dead!!”

A peasant woman yelled and forcefully threw a stone, hitting the priest. And there were plenty of jeering peasant men beside her.

“Where was your so-called ‘glory of your god’ when we needed it? Why didn’t he stop the plague? Why did so many people die? Sigma remained indifferent? He doesn’t care whether we live or die!”

“You brought the plague to us!!”

The surrounding people erupted in anger at this moment.

“You led this city to destruction! All this was brought by you! Seize him and burn him!!”

“Sir Knight, should we… help?”

Ann was not there. Bambi was too scared to speak by the violent mob. Ogis, as always, sat on Duanmu Huai’s shoulder, not paying attention to these things. She probably wouldn’t care even if the priest was burned alive in front of her. Audrey stood silently behind Duanmu Huai, it was unclear what she was thinking.

Only Lorena seemed a bit uneasy. As a fellow clergy member, she naturally couldn’t bear to watch a priest being burned alive.

“Alright, leave it to me.”

Duanmu Huai didn’t want to watch this farce any longer. He coughed, took a step forward, and then roared.

“Get out!!”

The thunderous voice instantly shocked the entire square. The mob turned around, and when they saw Duanmu Huai, they instantly went pale. Screams filled the air as the mob scattered like rats, and some of them even fainted on the spot due to the shock.

Well, looking on the bright side, it’s no different from when a pop superstar steps on the stage. There are always fans who faint during such events.

It seems that my charm is approaching the level of a superstar.

With this thought in mind, Duanmu Huai approached the priest who had just wiped the blood from his forehead. The priest was startled at first when he saw Duanmu Huai, but immediately saluted when he saw the Holy Grail Emblem on Duanmu’s chest.

“I can’t believe I’m seeing a Holy Grail Knight here.”

“I didn’t expect to find a priest of Sigma here… This isn’t the imperial territory.”

The Southern territories are next to Bartonilla. It makes sense for Duanmu Huai as a Holy Grail Knight to pay a visit, but it’s hard to understand why a Sigma priest would come here.

“I heard about the plague in the Southern territories, so I specifically came here to spread the glory of Sigma… but as you can see, sir knight, they’re deeply affected by the plague and they’re not thinking clearly. They could find a way to survive by dedicating their faith if only… ”

Well, this highlights their incompatibility.

Upon hearing the priest’s words, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes.

For those who are suffering from the plague, as long as Sigma can perform miracles and eradicate the plague from this town, they would immediately become devout Sigma believers.But this priest believes that they must first demonstrate their devout faith before they can possibly receive Sigma’s glory…

However, for those people who have already lost almost everything, this is clearly meaningless.

“Anyway, let’s find a place to talk.”

Duanmu Huai looked around.

After all, the situation seems even more complex than he imagined.