---

I pressed the accelerator deeply, and the engine roared.

The vehicle, letting out a sound reminiscent of a wild beast’s cry, raced unstoppably along the black asphalt road. The route commandeered by the Military Government Headquarters for transporting supplies and troops was completely empty.

Thud! As we hit a deep pothole, the vehicle jolted violently. Lucia, who was sitting in the passenger seat, momentarily soared into the air before being thrown back down onto her seat.

After passing through the checkpoint, I turned the wheel, and finally, my destination began to come into view. I parked the vehicle in an area that looked like no one would ever drive through, then quickly jumped out and dashed down the road.

The destination was the site of the collapsed underground waterway where battles had taken place.

Where Camila and Francesca were.

“Stop, stop! You can’t go in now!”

Ignoring the Guard Forces blocking the way, I sprinted towards the scene where the two were.

As my footsteps came to a halt and the soldiers accompanying me grabbed me to prevent entry, what I saw was—

Patients on the ground, coughing up blood like they were about to burst, and Imperial Army soldiers suited up in protective gear.

—

Episode 12 – The Strongest Magician in History

It didn’t take long for the Guard Forces surrounding us to back off.

An executive who received a message from the higher-ups had come running and dispersed the soldiers aiming to subdue me. That handler was none other than me.

With Lucia by my side, I could roam the scene freely without anyone stopping me.

“Camila! Francesca!”

Feeling the tense atmosphere in the air, I immediately started looking for Camila and Francesca.

Fortunately, finding the two was easy. The striking combination of red and purple hair made them stand out anywhere.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“You’ve arrived, Colonel.”

I encountered them inside a military tent set up on site.

Camila crouched in front of a magic-powered stove while Francesca sat on a chair with her legs crossed. The sturdy fabric shielding them from the cold and snow made their tent seem like a world apart from the chaotic outside.

It looked very peaceful.

“Are you both okay?”

Looking at the two with a bewildered expression, I asked, and Camila opened her mouth to reply.

“As you can see, we’re perfectly fine. For now.”

Camila shrugged her shoulders with her arms wide open.

Then Lucia, who rushed into the tent, swiftly turned her head to check on the two. With her disheveled blonde hair quickly tidied up, a fit of divine energy surged from her. Behind her, the half-open tent flap let in violent coughing and retching sounds from outside.

I pointed outside with my thumb and spat out, “It’s complete chaos out there.”

People were coughing aggressively as if they had contracted a virus, and then suddenly, they were vomiting blood. Not just one or two, but I must have seen dozens already. Furthermore, heavily armed soldiers in protective gears were wandering around for some reason.

“What on earth is going on?”

“Underground.”

Francesca, who had her eyes closed with her legs crossed, gently unfolded her arms.

“The problems started underground.”

“Underground? What do you mean by that?”

“I’ll explain in detail, but first…”

Her slender finger pushed open the tent flap. Francesca assessed the situation outside with a serious expression while scanning the faces of our group.

“Let’s move to a different spot.”

—

Just in the short moment I exchanged a few words with Francesca, the situation seemed to worsen. People coughing violently were now visible everywhere. Some were coughing up blood or retching up clots of blood.

While the symptoms were generally similar among patients, their statuses vastly differed.

Some were firefighters, while others were military police. Occasionally, there were civiles in safety boots and work clothes mixed in with them.

Among them were a few who seemed to be struggling to move; whenever one of them caught the attention of soldiers in protective gear, they would take them somewhere. I couldn’t tell where that was or why, but the situation here clearly appeared grave.

Immediately after leaving the tent, I led the group to search for the safest possible location.

There, I could finally learn the full story of what had transpired.

“So workers who went underground suddenly had issues?”

“Yes. They were the first to show symptoms.”

Currently, we were in one of the major cities in the Northern Regions.

Here, along with Lucia, I had uncovered a demon hidden within an Inquisitor’s body, and with the support of Saint Veronica and the Cult, we fought against these demons.

During that process, the underground waterway collapsed, causing the ground to sink and buildings to fall apart. I understood that there had been casualties due to the aftermath of the battle.

What we had just witnessed was the scene being cleared of the collapsed underground waterway.

“Actually, calling it a cleanup might be a bit misleading. For the Military Government Headquarters, finding the demon buried below is far more important than restoring the damaged infrastructure. That’s actually the main objective of the operation.”

Francesca, brushing her hair back, spoke in a cynical tone.

“The first people to show symptoms were workers who had gone underground. They were in charge of clearing debris to allow the crane to lift the stone piles.”

At that moment, as Francesca was speaking, she suddenly frowned her lovely brows.

“However, when they exchanged shifts with the next group of workers, those workers were acting strangely.”

“For instance?”

“They were sweating profusely, unable to walk straight, and could barely concentrate on conversations. Sometimes they would just stare blankly into space. Then they’d cough and suddenly start collapsing one after another.”

The workers who came up after finishing their shifts all complained of similar symptoms: dripping sweat, chills, unsteady steps and postures, etc.

Given the severe abnormal climate in the North, it’d be easy to dismiss this as exhaustion and chills from the biting cold, but the symptoms of impaired concentration, vomiting, coughing up blood, and fainting couldn’t rightfully be considered mere fatigue.

That wasn’t the only problem.

“Right after the workers who had finished their shifts collapsed, the workers still underground began showing similar symptoms as well. Were they from the Fire Department? The military? I don’t remember their exact affiliation, but they were personnel dispatched by the Military Government Headquarters.”

“And then what happened?”

“Nothing much after that.”

As soon as the new batch of workers started showing similar symptoms, the commanding officer of the Imperial Army, responsible for the site’s response, made the call. Every soldier under his command was required to wear protective gear, seal off the collapsed site, and control the movement of people.

What I heard from the Imperial Ministry of Defense was that there had been a strange new infectious disease spreading in the North before, and having experienced the demons attacking in bizarre ways, they seemed to have acted swiftly in response.

“Thanks to that, it seems the number of symptomatic people was limited to just dozens. The commander made a wise judgment.”

Francesca finished her explanation with a calm voice.

Though I learned the details of the incident, questions still lingered in my mind like ink stains on paper. Why were people showing these symptoms? What had happened underground? And more.

I racked my brain to figure out the cause of the incident.

I touched something like a glass, and the workers might be coughing up blood due to the leaked gas. We can’t completely rule out the possibility of a plague, but…

“Isn’t the outbreak too fast for a plague?”

Camila, who had been sitting in the corner, swung her legs like she was on a swing.

“I’m no expert, but following my sister, I’ve been to various places under the banner of Doctors Without Borders or the Red Cross. Symptoms vary from disease to disease, but assuming it’s a plague, it doesn’t make sense that only the workers who were working underground are showing symptoms now.”

“That’s true…”

Dismissing the idea of a plague, Camila presented a new hypothesis: a chemical leak.

Although she couldn’t explain how the chemicals leaked or what substance they had been exposed to that caused such symptoms, it sounded much more plausible than the sudden outbreak of a plague.

“Then maybe a chemical substance leaked from underground?”

But,

“No.”

Francesca sharply dismissed Camila’s speculation with a shake of her head.

As Camila pouted and stuck out her lips, her conjecture fell flat in the face of facts. Francesca rested her hand on the armrest and slowly pressed her finger against her temple.

“It’s not gas or chemicals that’s causing this. It’s neither a plague. Rather, I think the cause is something a bit closer to… superstition.”

“Superstition? What do you mean by that?”

“Think about it. What’s lying down there?”

“…….”

Though she didn’t say it out loud, the only person who didn’t know what was buried underground was Camila.

A demon.

“…Are you saying that’s the cause? Are you serious right now?”

“Women have good intuition, Colonel. Especially if they’re magicians with developed senses. Haven’t you seen it once at the department store?”

At Francesca’s words, my gaze instinctively turned to the end of the table where Camila was still swinging her legs.

As our eyes met, she flashed a slight smile, but I turned my head back to Francesca.

“Yes, I’m aware that magicians have developed senses. But is there any evidence?”

“Evidence…”

Her eyelids lowered as a pair of violets disappeared from view.

“I think I don’t need to explain that in detail.”

When Francesca opened her eyes again, her gaze suddenly fell on someone.

“Isn’t that right, Saint Lucia?”

“…….”

“Do you have the silver cross you showed us last time with you?”

“Yes, here it is.”

Lucia, who had been quietly sitting, displayed the cross hanging from her neck. It was made of silver. Although not precisely crafted, it was one of the sacred artifacts of the cult that could vaguely sense evil energy.

After confirming the shining cross under the light, Francesca nodded.

“I’ll give you a detailed explanation later. For now, if we take that cross to those who are experiencing symptoms, we might be able to discover something.”

“That’s not a wrong idea.”

Lucia nodded in agreement with Francesca’s claim.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Gently lifting her brilliant blonde hair, she removed the cross from her neck, holding the silver cross tightly in one hand and rising to her feet.

“Let’s go check it out.”

With a serious expression, Lucia rose and intended to walk out of the barracks to see the afflicted with the cross. However, for safety reasons, the priests around her stopped her, and a high-ranking officer in protective gear stepped in to carry the cross and seek out the patients instead.

And moments later.

The cross presented by the heavily armored officer was so blackened that it was hard to believe it was ever silver.

The fact that this cross revealed was only one.

“…….”

The demon buried beneath the stone rubble was still very much alive.

Alive and kicking.

*

Lucia’s cross detected the evil energy.

Whether the foul energy came from the demon, the necromancer’s corpse, or from remnants left at the scene, it’s uncertain, but it’s clear that this foul energy turned the area into chaos.

“If the foul energy is the cause, that’s a relief. If it had been a plague, oh boy…”

Veronica, having heard the news, burst onto the scene with the local priests.

Arriving in a small tactical vehicle from the Imperial Army, whose source was questionable, she leaned against the hood and scanned the area disdainfully. And she was wearing luxurious sunglasses, of course.

“The Military Government Headquarters is curious about what to do next; what should I tell them?”

“Um—well, it doesn’t seem infectious. While the foul energy could harm people, it doesn’t have contagious properties! Just keep the area controlled and prevent people from going underground for the time being.”

“And how long will that last?”

“Until the purification work is complete, of course.”

Fortunately, the source of the unfortunate events that occurred on-site was found not to be a plague.

Veronica deployed a large number of local priests to prepare prayers for the patients and to begin a large-scale purification operation.

Work to recover the collapsed sewers was halted, leading to complaints from several officers in the Military Government, but when confronted with the possibility of sending people into a place where foul energy lingered and risking someone’s life, they finally shut their mouths.

Commander Mikhail generously provided all necessary supplies and personnel for the purification efforts. The Imperial Army set up a barracks on-site and began sorting the patients, calling upon chaplains and magicians to assist the local priests.

“Is this finally the end?”

Seeing Veronica strutting around in sunglasses in the dead of winter, I casually remarked to her.

“Hmm…”

“What’s with that? You’re making people anxious.”

“To be honest, I don’t know what will happen from here either. Fighting demons isn’t exactly a walk in the park… I’m currently pestering the Inquisition for any information they might have. Just wait. Those folks will find a solution.”

“When will that be?”

“Well, they’ll probably figure it out eventually?”

“…….”

As I glared at her half-joking answer, Veronica poked me playfully in the side with a mischievous grin.

“Don’t worry. You think it can get worse from here?”

That seemed like her attempt to lighten the mood, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile. It felt like her words could come back to bite us.

Sure enough.

Not long after that, I heard news that patients started appearing even among the Imperial Army units stationed to manage the situation.

It was just three days before the new year.

 

---