But right now, those words were absolutely necessary. If one or two territories escaped, the Allied forces would disintegrate in an instant.

The man who had been contemplating the king’s seat all along was no longer there.

Now he was the supreme commander of the complete Alliance of Chaos, and soon he would be the king.

“We are going to Central. We need a central gathering point because we are an allied army. So, we must protect Central no matter what happens.”
“I will send the remaining forces from Robelo to support Central.”

“What’s next?”

“Next is Agila. We’ll strike Agila. Agila has an advantage in aerial combat, and the unpredictable nature of where they might invade is a significant variable. To fight them, we need to block Agila’s movements first.”

Someone let out a short sigh. The thought of facing Agila, with its sturdy and powerful forces, not to mention engaging in aerial combat, was already unsettling.

“Um… Can we really win in a full-on battle against Agila?”

The leader of the rabbit beastmen cautiously brought up what everyone wanted to say.

Honestly, I had been thinking the same thing… Even though we were an alliance, the number of well-trained soldiers was not large. We hadn’t trained together, and with the urgency of defending my territory, could we really defeat the Eagle Beastmen, born warriors, even with Edrish…?

Edrish leaned forward, supporting his upper body with his arms on the table. The candlelight created shadows on his broad shoulders.

“If you all follow me.”

A shiver ran through me from Edrish’s firm words.

In the end, my ominous premonition turned out to be accurate. We departed for Central without a moment’s rest.

Black… Bath… Bed… Comfortable toilet and freshly prepared food…

Edrish tried to leave me behind, but he eventually acknowledged that he couldn’t do his part without me to lift the curse.

Gosh, I thought it was fortunate that there was a curse.

Returning to the way we came was somewhat despairing, but right now was not the time to dwell on such things…

The only fortunate thing was that we could take the train. Since the weather hadn’t cleared yet, the time spent riding a horse wasn’t much different from riding a train. Thanks to that, I couldn’t go home, but I could sleep in a bed and shower.

So, after running for days, we finally arrived at Central.

Alright. As soon as we arrive at the accommodation this time, a bath, a bed, and a warm meal… Huh? W-what’s that?

I doubted my eyes.

The Central street, which had always been bustling with people, was deserted with only melting snow. And around it…

“Ugh.”

A sense of oppression filled the air. People were lying sparsely on both sides of the street.

No. These are corpses.

It was not just one or two. Just the ones in my sight were more than ten.

Why are they left on the street like this? Was there a fight?

At that moment, several carriages rushed toward us and stopped in front of us. Someone jumped out of the front carriage.

“Edrish-nim!”

It was Mogus. I had contacted him in advance, knowing that we would arrive in Central soon.

But his appearance was quite different from last time. He wrapped himself in a hood, leaving only his eyes visible. Could it be related to the current situation in Central?
“Since you came by train, I couldn’t send a letter in advance. Put these on first!”

Mogus handed each of us a hood. When we stayed silent due to not understanding English, Mogus stomped his foot.

“There’s a severe epidemic in Central right now! Please write quickly!”

“An epidemic?”

Only then did the bodies scattered on the street make sense.

“No, when did it start? Why on earth?”

“Now, please write first, and we’ll explain when we get to our house. This place is dangerous.”

Mogus pushed me into the carriage.

“So, did it suddenly start three days ago?”

“Yes, we can’t understand the reason. Truly… the symptoms are unprecedented. It’s not vomiting blood or the skin decaying. They just fall unconscious with their limbs stiffening. Then their skin gradually turns purple. Some die within an hour after falling, while others don’t wake up for three days.”

Wait a minute. Limbs stiffening and turning purple? A sense of déjà vu hit me.

I definitely read about it in a book. But the epidemic didn’t break out in Central; it was in Robelo. Unexplained deaths passed by, leaving a trail of casualties from one house to the next… Of course, I barely managed to stop it by doing all sorts of things.

Could it be that snake venom has spread to Central? That’s impossible. There shouldn’t be more snake venom…

“Is it certain that it’s contagious?”

“Well… It’s considered that way because the patients increase at such a fast pace. But it’s not certain. Not everyone living under the same roof gets infected.”

I turned my head and looked at Edrish. Our yellow-glowing eyes and gazes met. It was clear that he was thinking the same thing as me.

Damn it. I don’t know why there is more snake venom, but judging by the symptoms they’re describing, the possibility of snake venom is the highest.

I pressed my forehead firmly.

If there are already deaths, what should we do?