189 [3-46] Plague Maiden (2/2)
Even then, the numbers were limited and insufficient. Stockpiling for the imperial bureaucracy and the Blue Army soldiers is the priority, not for the common people.
There was even untruthful information that someone was selling the medicine through black channels on the condition that they would not cooperate with the Imperial Blue Army.
The Principality of Cadenis was beginning to be engulfed in a black vortex of confusion.
The Duchy of Cadenis was beginning to be engulfed in black chaos.
The supply troops that had delivered the military supplies to the Great Forest invasion troops were heading north, loading up the unloaded space with soldiers who had obtained leave.
Look at this.
A soldier, sitting on a suitable cushion in the rocking wagon, reading a newspaper with his luggage sitting on the back, shows the sensational headline to his fellow soldiers.
Surrounded by their personal belongings and equipment, the soldiers who had been enjoying their leisure time gather around. They were relaxed because they were in the process of being relieved of their duties and returning to the rear.
”'Signs of an epidemic in Cadenis'?
Is this the local paper?
They were at the camp this morning selling them.
The Empire of Caenis has annexed many surrounding countries, but even when a country is part of the Empire, it is difficult to completely remove divisions from private behavior.
It was not uncommon for a newspaper that once covered a single small country to be incorporated into the empire, but receive government permission to become a local newspaper, specializing in local and regional events (i.e., with content that was much the same as before).
The Kamurkhaan Daily that he was holding was a newspaper published in the former Kamurkhaan region, now part of the Empire, north of the Principality of Cadenis.
In the paper, the symptoms of the disease were described with frightening illustrations, and there were also comments from experts who suspected the involvement of the ”Rose Princess of Hell” who appeared in the Great Forest of Goosenfall, as well as the shortage of medicine due to the increase in the number of infected people in the Principality of Cadenis. ...... It is not wrong to suspect that demons and monsters are involved in the epidemic (although it is usually a false accusation).
It's the kind of disease that can easily kill people, right?
”Oh, ......, that was a close one. It's a good time for a vacation, really.
I don't know. By the time we get back from vacation, it's gonna be even worse.
Then I'll ask to be reassigned. Leave the front lines to the second-class subjects.
No doubt.
The soldiers laughed as if they despised something.
They were all born and raised in the Empire of Caenis, but the people of the newly conquered and incorporated nations were treated as lower class until they obtained their vassalage through hard work. This was also the case for conscripts into the army.
It was the role of the ”second class subjects” to do the dangerous work on the front lines.
If the epidemic spreads further in the future, there will be more 'second class subjects' in the troops of the Great Forest.
There's enough medicine for all of us. Anyway.
But we don't know what will happen if it goes on too long.
”It's not good enough for the army to be safe. If the plague spreads beneath their feet, they won't be able to move people even if you throw money at them.
”Whoa. You're a smart guy, you know that?
”Well, if they send medicine from home, they can cleanse a small country like Cadenis.
”Well, if they send medicine from home, they can cleanse a small country like Cadenis.
In general, they are other people.
They were optimistic that they were in a safe zone and would be protected even if something happened to them.
This assumption was probably correct, but at least they were not strangers.
There was a glowing eye in the dim light of the corner of the carriage.
A vest-wearing, cap-wearing rat sat between the luggage in a human-like pose with his arms folded, listening closely to the people.