Throne of the North.

Chapter 484: Disease and Declining Heart

The people in the Borean Province did not wait until autumn; before spring was even over, they began to run out of food.

The impact of last year's orc war began this year. With no food, even the serfs had no strength to farm.

To be precise, people started starving to death during the warmest time.

At first, the nobles did not care about this matter. They were still immersed in speculation and discussion about Ryan. The Northern Brave Guild and the master of Frostmourne gave the nobles a great shock.

The nobles did not react until the tenth day after people began to starve to death.

A large number of deaths will bring a large number of diseases, and some nobles will suffer.

In Baron Becker's territory, soldiers had sackcloth on their faces, covering their noses in three layers. They stared fiercely at the middle of the road, where slaves with grim faces were pushing carts towards the wilderness canyon, with corpses piled on the carts.

The corpse had been dead for some time, and dirt and maggots were exposed in the cracks of the corpse, causing the surrounding soldiers to take two steps back and then scold the slaves to hurry up and get away from here.

"Damn it, take these sick corpses away quickly!"

The knight cursed loudly, and the slaves lowered their heads and walked faster, but this still did not make the knight's attitude much better.

Because Baron Becker was ill and could not get up, the once lively Baron visited the collection of another noble lord a few days ago. On the day he came back, he made the three maids scream. A certain dragon potion from the Northern Chamber of Commerce was well received by the nobles.

But an accident happened so quickly. One of the maids fell ill and brought it to the noble master.

So he fell ill.

The Baron's illness was a serious matter for the entire territory. In addition, he was in a coma for several days before slowly waking up, and the people of the entire territory were in a panic.

After more than a dozen people died, the housekeeper finally found the source.

"Eating corpses?"

This news made the originally cruel butler feel cold all over and then fell ill.

The butler's illness was caused by fright, and after that, the matter was handed over to the knights and soldiers representing the armed forces.

Under the high-intensity suppression, the truth came to light.

"There was not enough food. The slaves ate everything they could eat throughout the winter. The arrival of spring made the slaves who were working even hungrier."

"Some slaves have set their sights on those corpses."

At first, they ate the corpses of orcs.

Because the knights have been keen on fighting against orcs recently, the orcs they killed are used by the knights to judge their own combat effectiveness, the gap between themselves and the eight knights, and also the gap between themselves and the noble lord holding Frostmourne.

They measured themselves against the rumor that the knight who could match the nobleman wielding the ice-blue sword would be qualified to carve out a noble surname of his own.

The knights killed the orcs, but it was the slaves who dealt with the orcs' bodies. The slaves had been hungry for a whole winter and had eaten food that was not suitable for human consumption.

Orcs are also beasts... right? They thought so, and hunger made people lose their minds.

Soon after, the first batch of dead bodies began to appear. Most of these dead people died of starvation because they could not accept eating strange things.

Maybe it's human nature, or maybe it's because orc meat carries a barbaric element.

In short, the children among those who died also became food.

This is still not the final point where trouble arises.

The source is that human immunity has become weakened in this process.

They began to contract diseases from food, the environment, and rotting corpses.

Gradually, the disease began to spread.

Until the nobles also fell victim to this, the vicious army began to take over all government affairs by force.

Starved to death, died of disease, and was killed. Perhaps this land had long been cursed and could not have peace. The North Wind Province, which had ended several years of chaotic war, ushered in a new disaster.

Similar disasters were discovered in more than 80% of the noble territories in the entire North Wind Province.

Hunger is killing people, disease is killing people, the soldiers' weapons are killing people, and even this land shows great malice towards humans.

The vitality of food is not enough. Simply put, only five out of ten seeds may survive or even less.

“This is going to be a disaster year.”

"This is the punishment from the gods."

Some old and experienced nobles panicked and spread the ancient experiences and began to pray to the gods.

Fortunately, they still had some rationality in their blood. These nobles did not pray to the Lord of Dawn, but to the God of Light.

The nobles usually have only one solution to this kind of thing.

That is killing.

Kill all the sick people, kill all the people suspected of being sick, and those who survive will have enough food and a sufficiently open environment.

By next year, all these disasters will end because there are fewer people.

This is the ancient solution of the nobles. It cannot be said to be very good, but it is indeed the most perfect solution under the current circumstances.

Solving the population problem means solving the disaster.

Killing a group of people and using their death to sacrifice to the great existence was forgiven by the gods.

Therefore, the credit will also fall on the gods.

For a time, a wave of killing swept across the entire North Wind Province. The knights began to swing their swords towards humans. In just less than half a month, the methods used by the violent organizations demonstrated the cruelty at the world class level.

For the safety of the nobles, the knights would rather kill ten by mistake than let one go.

And according to past experience, this process will last for half a year to a year and will only stabilize in winter.

In Ryan's view, the significance of this time point is that the germs brought by the rising temperature in summer and the reason why the germs are difficult to spread when winter comes.

He tried to stop it, but it was no use. Ryan's voice hadn't been heard for long before the nobles' killing had already begun its most brutal stage.

And Ryan didn't have any good solution. He couldn't ask the nobles to pay for extraordinary potions to save people, nor could he ask the nobles to focus on health safety and food supply issues in their own territories.

This all involves wealth and cognition.

First of all, the nobles would not use a large amount of wealth that would cause them to go bankrupt to save others. Secondly, even if the nobles had the ability to do so, they would never think that the lives of the peasants were worth the wealth in the hands of the nobles.

The value created by slaves is limited. The price of a slave in the slave market is very cheap. If they are short of people, they can buy them. The cost-effectiveness of this is far greater than saving people.

When facing orcs, the nobles were very afraid of death, which led to them being able to work together to fight against the enemies in the north, because the orcs would not show mercy just because they saw the nobles.

By the same token, the nobles were also afraid of disasters caused by disease. In the past, when there were priests of the Dawn Church, death from disease was a very common occurrence, just like the probability of an infant dying was greater than the probability of a person dying of old age.

They are afraid, so they use all means.

Ryan couldn't do anything, but he also did nothing.

A cavalry force of about three hundred men left the Frozen Territory and appeared on the land of the North Wind Province.

"Burn all the bodies and all the clothes they were wearing!"

The duration of the disease is often not due to the survival time of the virus. Under the high-intensity killing of the nobles, those infected would have been killed by the soldiers' swords long ago.

The duration of the disease is often due to greed or the helpless choices made by the lower class population.

They needed clothes, but they didn't know who to rob from, and they didn't know where to get linen for weaving. The clothes on the dead were the few opportunities for these people to buy them for free.

Not to mention slaves, even civilians who have gained some freedom and human rights would not give up the opportunity to strip clothes from the dead.

Diseases often revive and are passed down through this opportunity.

The dark cavalry exudes a sharp majesty. Compared with last year, this year's Bucks Corps gives people a heavier, more powerful and solid feeling than ever before.

Especially after fighting with the dragon, everyone was more or less stained with the dragon's blood and the mental state formed after the confrontation with the top hunter.

The psychological pressure brought by these intangible forces is terrible. Even the knights in Baron Becker's territory couldn't help but feel the oppression in their hearts and dared not refute the orders of these knights.

"I once followed them on the battlefield to charge at the orcs. Why did they become so terrifying? Is this the extraordinary army in the hands of Lord Baron Ryan?"

The knights' breathing became heavy. The scene before them of 300 knights silently reining in their horses, yet making the whole world dare not breathe loudly, was such a heavy shock to them.

This is a hundred times more attractive to the knight than those dirty women.

"This is Lord Ryan's order. All the bodies, all the clothes, and even the houses, are to be burned."

"You have no choice if you want to be free from the disease."

Michaela, who was in the lead, grasped the hilt of the long sword. He came with Ryan's will and would not allow these noble soldiers to bargain.

In fact, Michaela hoped that these people would rebel, so that he could execute Ryan's will in a more direct way, and then return to the Frozen Territory and Nidhoggr faster. He hoped to face those terrible dragons again.

Unfortunately, seeing this terrifying cavalry army, the Baron's knights had no further ideas. As the sky turned gray due to the black smoke from the fire, Michaela also led the army away.

"Only the flame bestowed by light can dispel the damned disease!"

As he entered more noble territories, Michaela's methods changed slightly, and he began to use the God of Light's skin as an excuse.

"Baron Ryan once received the oracle of light, so he had the miracle of light that His Majesty the Emperor needed. He knew that the light emitted by the blazing flames could dispel the plague!"

"The Bucks are carrying out Ryan's will. Anyone who resists will be regarded as an enemy of the Bucks."

Michaela swung the knight's sword in her hand, and the terrible force directly split the tree in two vertically.

More than 90% of the nobles in the entire North Wind Province cannot possess such a powerful force.

Following such remarks, some nobles were no longer so resistant and began to use fire to burn everything related to the disease.

"That's why I sent Michaela."

"Baron Becker is ill, and the Baron's family is nervous and leaderless. The knight can carry out Michaela's orders because he is strong enough."

"But we cannot suppress the nobles with force. We need to use more political means to solve the problem. Those ignorant nobles will not care about the threat of a knight captain."

“They only accept the pleasure of compromise.”

In the frozen land, Ryan received news from afar and said to Brand with a smile.

The latter nodded and responded:

"You were right to send him."

Ryan fell silent, shook his head after a long time, and said:
"What kind of world is this, that I actually thought that the arrival of this disease would be extremely beneficial to me."

"Tell me, is this right?"

"At least 20% of the population of the Northern Wind Province will die from this disease."

"You know what? This disease is actually a legacy of the war."

"We resolved the war with blood and fire, but that's not what war is all about."

Ryan thought like this, and he believed that he used to be a benevolent lord.

But now it seems to have become a little cruel, and everything is based on interests.

Was it the dragon's blood that brought about the change? Of course it was. He had been bathing in a lot of dragon's blood recently.

"Damn dragon."

On the side, Master McKen looked at Ryan with a strange expression.

"As a noble, as a lord, as the king of this territory, you are more indecisive than I have ever seen you before."

Master McKen said this. As an old man, his eyes were as sharp as an eagle searching for prey the same color as the snow in the sky.

“I have more things to think about than before.”

Ryan explained.

"No, you were too young before."

Master McKen shook his head and refuted Ryan's reasoning.

"You were too young before. Young people's ambitions are terrible, and they never think they will fail. This is especially true for nobles. As a non-eldest son of the earl, you have not received a complete aristocratic education."

Not only in this life, he was just an ordinary person in his previous life, Ryan thought. Aristocratic education was out of touch with him.

"As you learn more about the world, you begin to deny your initial ambitions. Like everyone's growth path, your ambitions are no longer so broad."

Master McKen looked at Ryan with his old eyes and told him that it was the same for magicians.

"Every magician begins his or her life by stepping into the ranks of great beings. A magician apprentice may feel that he or she can become a god, but a legendary magician will only realize that the gap between himself or herself and a god is like that between an ant and the sun."

"You are like a magician, but you are a noble."

Master McKen said this and added one last sentence.

"It seems that you have suffered some setbacks recently."

This is true, but the blow did not come from outside, but from Ryan himself.

To be precise, it was the power of the Dragon Emperor's blessing that allowed Ryan's soul and thoughts to soar and spread, allowing him to think about countless pieces of information in a short period of time.

Most of these pheromones have stagnated due to the inactivity of the soul, but they still subconsciously affect Ryan.

For example, he gradually began to realize his current strength and gap, especially the gap with those great beings.

For example, Ryan felt that he was unable to move forward.

Other nobles in the North Wind Province were eager to integrate into the aristocratic circle of the southern lands. Ryan had never expressed such a desire, but it did not mean that it did not exist. He also wanted to bring his own power into the most prosperous center of human civilization in the south.

But he could never cross the Wing Canyon.

He is already strong enough and has been in this world for quite some time, but he is still confined to the small territory of Beifeng Province, and he has not even gained absolute power over this land.

He had indeed thought more, including the political affairs of the Tundra Territory, the plan for the Northern Wall, the degree of compromise and enticement of the nobles' interests, and how much support the two kingdoms could bring him.

These are all things he has to think about, and similarly, these things also begin to suppress his ambitions.

"Is there any solution?"

"This is your heart. Even the will of the gods cannot change it."

Master McKen shook his head, and Ryan fell into thought.

"So you think my heart is not pure enough?"

"Has it lost its initial vitality?"

Ryan thought about it, then opened the plane door and headed to Nidhogg.

“The whole problem should not be difficult to solve.”

"I'll just have another dragon heart."

Ryan said this, feeling impressed by the power and usefulness of the Dragon Heart.

"That's great. I have this condition."

The frost dragon Areris does not devour the hearts of dragon opponents he kills like frost giants do.

"Perfect Dragon Heart."

Not long after, Ryan received a broken heart brought back by the army. It was even still beating, and the bright red heart exuded rich energy and a terrible aura. It was better than the previous dragon heart fragments and was about one-third of a complete dragon heart.

(End of this chapter)