The Crown Prince That Sells Medicine - Chapter 192
The Crown Prince That Sells Medicine Chapter 192
Episode 192. The inside story of the dead (1)
“Why? why? These days, the number of people dying from coughing sickness in Kranos has decreased significantly, right? Shouldn’t it be like this? “This can’t be happening?”
This is the outskirts of the border city of Kranos. Inside a cave located in a dark corner of a vast wasteland. There, Necromancer Cartu muttered in embarrassment.
“Why? “How can this happen all of a sudden?”
Flap!
He nervously took off his windbreaker. Today is also a waste of time. It’s already been ten days. They searched the entire wilderness, but could not find a single body that was laid out for burial.
It shouldn’t be like this.
There’s a setback in the plan.
“Isn’t that so?”
he asked, gritting his teeth. Of course, there was no one here in the cave who could answer his question. At least there were no people.
“…Roll!”
Zombies that were once people made sounds similar to answers. Am I hungry? Or is it that intelligence has disappeared and we just react instinctively? I can not know. Because there is no way to have a conversation. Kartu thought it didn’t matter.
“It’s a big deal. Big deal. It can’t go on like this. If this has been going on for 10 days, it’s going to be difficult. know?”
“…Gurruk!”
Zombies that react inside the cage whenever you speak to them. In each cage, about 100 zombies were crowded together like chickens in a coop. There were 30 such cages. An army of zombies numbering approximately 3,000. Everything was his work.
But Cartu shook his head inwardly. 3,000? This isn’t enough. There is no chin. At least 6,000 bodies must be collected. Only then will you be able to achieve your great cause.
‘Only at that level can we compete with the empire’s punitive forces.’
Cartu shook his shoulders in shock. This was because a memory from dozens of years ago suddenly came to mind. The attack I received at the time. The imperial subjugation force. That was the first persecution he experienced as a warlock.
It was from then on. He lost his teacher, lost all his classmates, and survived alone. I had to live a wandering life while stubbornly hiding my identity. In the process, I developed my skills through self-study. The ambition in my heart also grew.
It was an ambitious plan to build an empire by warlocks, for warlocks, where warlocks would not be persecuted.
‘Why don’t we use a human corpse? Isn’t it just a piece of dead meat anyway? The essence of black magic is to recycle it for good, so why should it be persecuted?’
Cartu honestly couldn’t understand.
A corpse is literally just a corpse. He thought that even if he was once alive and loved and laughed, after he died he would just be a piece of rotting meat.
So it was.
He was fascinated by black magic using corpses. Black magic was considered reasonable magic. I also thought that if we used it well, we could solve most of the irrational and chronic problems prevalent in human society.
You can use the corpse.
All farmland and workplaces. Even the battlefield. You can use a corpse instead of a living person. Then there will be no need for the living to suffer and shed blood and sweat.
The food and resources produced through the work performed by the corpse should be distributed equally. The same goes for all kinds of labor. There will be no need for people to bleed and die on the battlefield. The war will also be carried out by corpses.
In other words, the empire he wanted to establish was an ideal, equal country run by the labor of corpses. How to become a citizen of that country? All you have to do is pledge to donate your body to the country after you die. Then everyone alive will be able to enjoy a comfortable and comfortable life like paradise!
‘But stupid people are blaming their feelings and rejecting that rational path.’
The more I thought about it, the more I laughed.
The road to paradise is open right before your eyes. There is a reasonable way for everyone to live in peace and happiness. They are like foolish and inferior people who live their lives rejecting things just because they feel bad.
Cartu wanted to enlighten such people. So it was. He used the knowledge and skills he had developed through self-study. An army of 3,000 zombies was trained.
At that time, Kranos was the perfect environment for training a zombie army. Because it was a border area, it was suitable for hiding and increasing power. Endemic coughing diseases always caused more than a certain number of deaths.
Lastly, the region’s unique ‘pungjang custom’ was the most decisive.
‘Thanks to this, it was very easy to steal the body.’
People here did not cremate or bury their bodies. Instead, after a grand funeral, the body was brought to the wilderness. I put it down in an unnamed field in the wilderness. This was the traditional funeral culture of this place, where the body was returned to the wind, birds, and nature.
Moreover, the people here never looked back or returned to the bodies they had put down in the wilderness. When the bereaved family came to see the body, it was thought that the deceased would have lingering feelings in this world. It was also believed that the dead who remained so lingering would not be able to ascend to heaven and would become ghosts wandering the earth.
It was thanks to that.
It was so easy to steal a corpse. Because no one checked the body again. It almost felt like a custom created to train one’s own zombie army!
‘I wondered if there was another place like this in the world. But… I haven’t seen any bodies since a few days ago. I’ve never had anything like this before.’
Even after wandering around the wilderness all day, the body could not be found. In the end, all that was recovered over the course of ten days were three or four corpses that had died of old age.
I was puzzled at first.
I thought it was just a coincidence.
But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed not to be true. There is some reason for this. Otherwise, it made no sense that no body had died from coughing disease for 10 days. Because this has never happened before.
“….”
Cartu was lost in thought for a moment.
The conclusion came easily.
“…you there.”
He looked back at the zombie cage. Where his gaze was directed. There was a relatively fresh(?) zombie there that was recently created.
He took the zombie out of the cage. A large mat and an old hat were placed on the zombie. Then, the zombie’s appearance somehow resembled that of a homeless beggar or vagabond.
“I think you should go to the city instead of me and be my eyes and ears.”
“…Rolling?”
The moment a strange green light appeared in Cartu’s eyes, the zombie turned into his puppet.
♣
“Your Majesty, I don’t want to be a puppet or a toy kept in a safe box.”
It was while walking around town to select a site for a long-root licorice farm that Damian made a bold statement.
“What do you mean?”
Rachiel leaned against the back of the carriage and frowned. However, Damian’s expression as he looked at me did not show the slightest wavering. The guy said as if he had made up his mind.
“It’s exactly as you said. majesty. I am a sword wielder. This is the person who uses that sword to protect His Majesty. That is why I am by your side. But why are you trying to put me in a place where I can’t protect you these days?”
“….”
Damian’s gaze became even more furious. I thought I had made the right decision. I was able to realize it at the same time.
‘Tsk. He noticed.’
Rakiel clicked his tongue inwardly. It was true that they were trying to keep him(?) in a safe place. That way he won’t be in danger. Because the terrible being lurking inside him won’t open his eyes. Because the world will not face the risk of destruction.
So I decided to keep it as a flower in the greenhouse. That was the purpose of having him as an escort in the first place. The crown prince’s side would be relatively safer than the harsh outside world.
But I can’t believe he’s already figured out our intentions. This is difficult. He might become dissatisfied and just resign and leave.
Rakiel, who felt a strange sense of crisis, quickly responded.
“Write it. “Are you really complaining because I’m intentionally putting you in an inconspicuous place?”
“It’s not a complaint, it’s a protest and a request.”
“Do you want me to use you in a more precious place?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Hmm. “Isn’t the illusion a bit excessive?”
“…yes?”
Damian is shocked. I shamelessly recited the prepared line to him.
“What is your mission? “Are you escorting me?”
“That’s right.”
“But are you the only one protecting me?”
“That’s…”
“No, right?”
“….”
“There is a Royal Guard and a special forces unit. You are one of those special forces. Right?”
“you’re right.”
“But why are you trying to do it all by yourself?”
“I’m not trying to do it alone…”
“Nothing. “That’s right.”
“….”
“Do I want to become less safe? Am I a pervert? No. Of course not. So, I am pursuing the most efficient deployment and utilization of the entire personnel of the Royal Guard and Special Forces. In the meantime, you may be away from me for a while. “Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right.”
“yes? Right?”
“…yes. “But there it is.”
“But what?”
“Not long ago. “When you were collecting long-rooted licorice and were attacked by a giant snake, if I hadn’t gone to your place, you would have been in greater danger.”
“Oh, I admit that. “It’s true that I made a mistake.”
“….”
“So they didn’t hold you responsible for disobeying orders?”
“but!”
“What else?”
“Sometimes I feel like I am becoming a flower in a greenhouse.”
“….”
Oh, that’s right.
Rakiel smiled, hiding his sinister true intentions.
“Hey, I’m jealous. “I also want to try growing flowers in a greenhouse.”
“majesty. “I am serious.”
“know. “I’m serious too.”
Rachiel leaned her upper body forward, which was leaning against the back of the carriage. I stared at Damian’s face across from me.
“I understand the frustration and alienation you feel every time you are excluded from escort duties. Please refer to it in the future. And I promise you one thing.”
“A promise?”
“I will never be the first to abandon you. “Until I die.”
“….”
Are you a little surprised?
For a brief moment, the guy’s eyes faintly wavered. I soon regained my usual calm, but I was unable to hide that brief moment of embarrassment.
That’s enough.
It’ll be okay, at least for the time being. I won’t complain again. So, I need to think about it a bit. He may be dissatisfied from time to time in the future. To prevent that from happening, I need to think of a way to naturally keep him away from danger.
It was around the time when I was thinking…
‘uh?’
Rachiel, who was looking out the carriage window without thinking, was shocked. I saw a strange person. The moment I saw that person, I felt something abnormal that I shouldn’t have seen. At that moment, I said it without realizing it.
“stop. Stop the carriage.”
I stopped the carriage.
“What’s going on?”
I was tense at Damian’s question. Instead of answering, I got off the carriage. I took a few steps towards the person on the street I had just seen.
There was a beggar there.
He looked like a typical vagabond. It was sitting sprawled out in a corner of the road. His body was covered with a blanket, and his thick hair was sticking out through a gap in his worn-out hat. A dented tin can containing a couple of coins was also placed in front of the beggar.
If there is a standard(?) for a beggar, wouldn’t it be something like this? But Rakiel didn’t care about the beggar’s appearance. Instead, he tilted his head and asked the beggar.
“Excuse me, but I have to ask you something. I have a unique way of feeling the flow of mana, so I sensed it even when I didn’t want to. That…”
“….”
The beggar is still cowering.
Rakiel cast a pinpointing look at the beggar, almost filled with confidence.
“I don’t think it’s from there?”
“….”
“You got it right?”
“….”
flinch!
The beggar’s, or rather zombie’s, shoulders bounced in embarrassment.