Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 237 Corruption Plague
Golden City, the capital of Saint Valen.

After an early autumn rainstorm, the whole city was filled with a damp and rotten smell. Even the freezing temperature that dropped sharply at night could not dispel this turbid and dull feeling.

The lower town where common people live is always chaotic and noisy at night. A large number of bars and brothels that are only open at night light up brightly, using cheap drinks and the sweet smell of cosmetics to desperately attract customers wandering the streets.

The drink was cheap, low-quality sour ale, and you could get a large glass for two copper coins. The woman standing on the street corner soliciting customers didn't ask for much either. It only cost thirty copper coins to take him to a hotel for the night. If you couldn't bear to pay for the hotel, you could just follow the woman back to her place for twenty copper coins.

Benjamin pushed open the door of the tavern and immediately spotted a drunken burly man huddled at a table in the corner. He frowned, walked over quickly, grabbed him by the greasy, dirty collar, and shouted, "Damn it! It's not even dark yet, and you're already this drunk? Have you done what I told you to do?"

The drunken man grinned and said, "Ah! Benjamin, why are you here? Come on, sit down and have a drink with us!"

This guy, nicknamed "Rat King", is one of the gang leaders in this downtown area full of taverns and gambling dens. He has about dozens of minions who work for him to make money, as well as a large number of pickpockets, beggars and streetwalkers under their control.

"Stop talking nonsense. I'm not here to drink with you today." Benjamin pushed away the drink the waiter brought and whispered, "Where's the person I want? It's been a week, how come I haven't seen anyone? Are you taking it seriously?"

The Rat King was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and said with a wry smile, "There's been a lot of trouble in the Lower City recently. The higher-ups are keeping a close eye on us, so it's not convenient for us to take action..."

Benjamin said angrily, "Then go to the nearby countryside, or a more distant town. In short, if you take the money, you have to do the job, or you'll pay me back!"

Facing his childhood friend and former city guard captain Benjamin, the Rat King didn't dare lose his temper easily. He could only patiently say, "Go outside? Those country folk are much more barbaric than the city folk. As long as they can have a bite to eat, they will never sell their children easily..."

He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Benjamin, who on earth are you working for right now? If you don't tell me the truth, my brothers and I won't dare to go all out..."

Benjamin did not answer, but raised his hand and gently pointed out the window, allowing the Rat King to see the towering church bell tower not far away through the tavern window.

The Rat King sighed, "Alright, I'll do my best. Even if the rewards aren't great, I'll use the homeless children and beggars under my command to make up the difference. Don't worry, I won't embarrass you in front of the bigwigs. But as for the reward..."

Benjamin snorted coldly, held up two fingers, and chuckled, “Double. My superiors don’t care about the price. As long as the person sent is satisfactory to him, this is definitely a good deal for you!”

……

But before the Rat King and his minions could start running this good business, they ran into a difficult problem.

A strange epidemic suddenly broke out in the royal capital.

At first, everyone thought it was just a common cold epidemic, because the weather this year was indeed colder than in previous years. Even though it was just the beginning of autumn, Saint Valen, located in the north-southwest, already felt a little cold.

But when those unfortunate people who were inexplicably infected with the disease soon died on the streets, people gradually discovered that something was wrong. Although they still had symptoms of coughing up blood and weakness, dark green moldy spots appeared on the skin of the corpses, and their abdomens were abnormally swollen. They would burst with a bang if poked lightly, and the fishy internal organs flowed all over the ground along with a large amount of green water, which made people feel both disgusted and chilling.

This is definitely not an ordinary cold epidemic!

More and more people developed the same symptoms, and the interval from onset to death was extremely short. Within three to five days, these people lost their lives in extreme pain. People who had contact with patients and corpses also began to develop the same dark green mold spots on their bodies. Neither herbal dressings nor bloodletting could cure it.

Fear quickly spread throughout the lower city of the royal capital. More and more believers went to the cathedral in the lower city to pray and seek help. The church's low-ranking priests and pastors also held several holy water masses and holy light ceremonies, but there was no effect on alleviating the disease.

The royal capital had to directly close the gate between the upper and lower districts to prevent the strange disease from spreading to the upper district and the royal court. After all, nobles and dukes of noble status lived here.

The same epidemic gradually broke out in the villages, towns and farms around the royal capital, but there were no churches or parishes in the remote countryside. A large number of sick civilians flocked to the royal capital in an attempt to seek treatment and help, but were ruthlessly blocked outside the royal city by the city guards.

Finally, on the eve of the situation being out of control, the bishop of St. Valen's Cathedral stood up.

He publicly declared that it was the necromancers and the evil alchemists who were secretly responsible. Their secret magic laboratory in the royal city had an irreparable leak, which released the horrific corpse plague and infected a large number of innocent civilians.

The church also stated that no current treatment method can resist this horrific corpse plague. Even if the infected are bathed in holy light, they will soon reach the end of their lives in extreme pain. However, the church will never sit idly by. They have reported the situation to the headquarters of the Church of Light, the City of Grace, Goris, as soon as possible.

His Holiness the Thirteenth Pope has led the cardinals and high-ranking priests in tireless efforts to develop a divine potion that can mitigate and contain the symptoms of the epidemic. The Archbishop has also sharply criticized the Union branch in the royal capital, Jinhui City, stating that they shamelessly shielded and condoned the evil spellcaster who caused the mass illness and death of civilians and must bear full responsibility for this.

For a while, all spellcasters in the royal capital were in danger. Under the dual pressure of the church and the nobles, the Federation branch was forced to launch an internal investigation and arrested a large number of ordinary spellcasters living in Jinhui City, regardless of their identity as necromancers.

……

On the central street of the upper city, the Union's branch in Saint Valen is closely adjacent to the Alchemy Exploration Society's workshop.

Federation officials in formal robes sat in a conference room in the branch hall, engaging in heated discussions with colleagues from the Exploration Society who had hurried over to meet them.

"This disease has absolutely nothing to do with the Necromancer, and it couldn't possibly be an experimental accident caused by an alchemist!"

"If this plague can't even be cleansed by the priests of the church who are skilled in healing arts, will the necromancers still be oppressed and expelled by them, and attacked and killed at will? They have long ago, out of revenge, unleashed the plague into the Papal States, turning it into a plague paradise, right?"

The gray-haired head of the Federation branch spoke up, "No matter what, the most urgent task is to report this matter to Alaye headquarters as soon as possible. We alone cannot resist the pressure from the church and the nobles. Even if we don't find any concrete evidence, I'm afraid they will soon take direct action against us."

The high-ranking alchemist from the Exploration Society who had come to discuss the matter with them nodded in agreement. "His Majesty the Grand Duke has dispatched his personal guards to surround our alchemy workshop and severely restrict the alchemists' personal freedom. Even if we wanted to leave Jinhui City now to avoid the spotlight, it's too late..."

The most troublesome situation is that the instigator cannot be found. Compared with the church's reputation among the people, the Federation has no way to reverse public opinion in this incident and can only bear the loss temporarily.

The branch director turned to look at a young spellcaster in the conference room who had remained silent throughout. He said in a deep voice, "Mr. Durt, what are your thoughts and suggestions on this?"

Durt Holden frowned slightly, looked up at the anxious people in the hall, and said sullenly, "I sent a letter to Daes yesterday. If nothing goes wrong, I'll receive a reply tomorrow. My uncle has close ties with Alaye and should be able to get us timely help..."

The supervisor sighed upon hearing this and thought to himself: I hope we can hold on until help arrives.

……

"Magic Shield" Fran McCaughlin took a thick stack of letters from his assistant. These were private letters delivered directly to him by the magic messenger.

"Huh? Why did that nephew of Fell's send me a letter from Saint Valen..."

Fran waved his hand and took out a small letter opener. He cut open the envelope with a private wax seal and casually scanned a few lines of the content on the letter.

"Someone! Come quickly!"

The assistant came and went in a hurry, looking at his boss who looked anxious in confusion.

"Hurry up and find the branch report that Saint Valen sent a week ago! It's the document that reported the unknown epidemic in Jinhui City!"

Since its establishment, the Spellcasters' Union has always been strict on the outside but loose on the inside. Except for most matters related to the invasion of demons, all other matters are handled by the various internal departments, without the need to report to the Supreme Council and the three chiefs.

Meetings will only be held to vote on resolutions when unfavorable events occur in the war in the Evil Moon Mountains, or when there are disputes involving multiple forces.

This has led to most of the federation's internal officials being extremely bureaucratic and lax in their work style. Unless the battle report is sent via an expedited line, even an expedited document with a red stamp will take several days in their hands before they can get a reply and process it.

The outbreak of an epidemic in a city is too common in the eyes of spellcasters who are always arrogant and do not have in-depth contact with the secular world. The situation where the branches of the Church and the Federation in various countries argue with each other and blame each other is even more common. As long as there is no direct confrontation or conflict, most of the time they just casually deal with it.

"An unknown plague of corpses. The Church claims it was caused by necromancers and alchemists, who were shielded and condoned by the Union. Grand Duke Saint Valen directly ordered the siege of the Union branch in Jinhui City and the mass arrest of ordinary spellcasters in the capital. The Church also dispatched combat priests and Knights of the Judgment Army to assist..."

Fran hurriedly read the report that had obviously been neglected and put aside after it was submitted. She felt her heart sink and had a vague bad premonition.

The church is directly trying to provoke hatred among secular nobles and ordinary people against the spellcasters of the Federation!
(End of this chapter)