Chapter 262: The Daughter of the Navy Barony 2

The monastery in Margrave Calvert's domain—it was an ancient sanctuary steeped in history. Though the surrounding village was modest in size, devout souls gathered there to live in devout service to God. They welcomed orphans and the sick with open arms, generously supported by the Margrave Calvert of that era.

Monasteries came in various sizes, but this one was fairly substantial, housing a correspondingly large number of monks, orphans, and patients. That said, there was constant turnover among the orphans and the ailing, and unfamiliar faces were a common sight. Yet the monks paid it no mind, accepting it all as the will of God.

Those who arrived at the monastery were guided by God's hand, and those who departed did so by His divine providence—or so everyone believed.

Yet all of that ended when the terrifying pestilence struck.

“If I remember correctly, the first victim was a woodcutter. He was brought in after suddenly falling ill. At first, there was a lump at the base of his arm, but black bruises rapidly spread from that spot across his entire body, and he passed away three days after arriving.”

With a somber expression, Brother Dieter recounted the events haltingly, dredging up the painful memory.

When the first patient was brought in, nobody realized at first that the illness was the Black Death. However, upon seeing the man's skin turn pitch-black, an elderly monk recognized it for what it was. After that, everything unraveled in the blink of an eye.

“Once we realized it was the Black Death, we instructed the villagers not to go near anyone displaying similar symptoms, even if they were family. Even so, news still reached the monastery. After the woodcutter came a hunter. At the time, monsters had been proliferating in the area... so I believe those whose livelihoods brought them into contact with monsters were the first to fall ill.”

The Black Death was believed to be caused by the miasma emitted by monsters. Indeed, all those who initially contracted the pestilence had entered the forest for their work. From there, the affliction spread to family members who shared close quarters with them.

“Before long, monsters began appearing in the village itself. It was somewhat manageable during the day, but as dusk approached, miasma would hang thick over the entire settlement.”

Rumors spread like wildfire to neighboring settlements through merchants who had visited the village. Terrified villagers attempted to flee to neighboring villages, but the surrounding communities adamantly refused to take them in. Instead, viewing them as harbingers of disease and calamity, neighboring villagers shot arrows at them from afar, leaving their corpses exposed to the elements.

Stay in the village and succumb to the disease, or flee to neighboring lands only to be slaughtered—either way, there was no tomorrow for the villagers.

“Roughly two-thirds of the villagers lost their lives before the contagion finally stopped spreading. Almost all the men in the prime of their lives perished, dealing us a devastating blow, but...”

Even so, neither the villagers nor the monks gave up. The fact that the miasma emitted by the monsters was beginning to thin rekindled a spark of hope in their hearts.

“However, that hope was swiftly extinguished. In the aftermath of the Black Death, we could barely till the fields, and our livestock had dwindled... and so I traveled to this very monastery to ask if they could spare a few heads of livestock and some crop seeds. Under normal circumstances, we should have sought aid from neighboring villages, but the mere mention of where I came from was enough to get me turned away.”

Perhaps recalling those dire days, Dieter gave a weak, exhausted smile.

It was undoubtedly a harrowing memory he wished never to recall. To be rejected—and even hunted—by neighbors who should have lent a helping hand must have been excruciatingly agonizing for a mind and body already worn ragged from battling the Black Death.

The monastery where Dieter lived had not escaped the evil clutches of the Black Death either. With their once-abundant numbers drastically reduced, Dieter had set out alone from the village toward Navy Monastery. Because he gave what little food he had to weakened children, he made the arduous trek barely staving off starvation. If anyone discovered he hailed from the plague-stricken village, other settlements might have killed him on sight. Thus, he avoided all human contact as much as possible. He had to secure the seeds and livestock needed to keep the surviving villagers alive.

Avoiding the main highways, he had occasionally run into monsters along the way. It had truly been a journey fraught with mortal peril.

“And yet... while I was away, the village—”

Dieter bit his lip. He clenched his fists tight and squeezed his eyes shut as if enduring unbearable pain. After holding himself still for a moment, he let out a long, thin breath. Taking several deep breaths to steady himself, he continued in a voice stripped of all emotion.

“Someone set fire to it, burning the entire place to the ground. It blazed through the night, leaving behind nothing but ash and charcoal.”

Dieter had learned of the tragedy just as he received a few heads of livestock and crop seeds from Navy Monastery and was preparing to depart. In his stunned disbelief, the only course of action left to him was to return to the village and see with his own eyes whether the villagers were safe.

“There was nothing left. The homes where the villagers lived, the barns... all burnt without a trace. Atop the smoldering black earth lay what appeared to be human remains. The monastery had been reduced to a pile of rubble. Not a single person... not a single soul was left alive. The only survivor... was me.”

Dieter had visited the neighboring villages. If none of his fellow monks or villagers had survived, he did not care if the neighboring villagers killed him on the spot.

At times, stones were hurled at him, bruising and cutting him. Yet Dieter refused to give up searching, until he was finally forced to accept the grim reality: not a single villager had survived.

“Afterward, through the kindness and grace of the abbot here, I was taken in and allowed to stay.”

Having finished his explanation, Dieter fell silent. A heavy, somber atmosphere settled over the room. Both Clyde and Riley were lost in deep contemplation with grim expressions, and Liliana pondered the matter as well.

Naturally, the official reports from that time still existed. They had already reviewed the contents in advance. According to the records, the culprit who set fire to the village was listed as unknown.

Perhaps thinking along the same lines, Riley slowly spoke up.

“I am sorry for making you dredge up such painful memories. I realize it is cruel of me to press further, but would you be willing to answer another question?”

“Yes, whatever you wish to ask,” Dieter replied.

Dieter nodded quietly. Offering a gentle, comforting smile to soothe the monk, Riley posed his question.

“The reports state that, regrettably, the culprit was never found. Even mere rumors would suffice—did you hear of any information that might point to the perpetrator?”

Dieter blinked in slight surprise at the unexpected inquiry. After appearing to think for a moment, he gave a nod.

“Come to think of it, I heard a child in a neighboring village say something curious.”

“What did they say?” Riley asked.

That village was a regular stopping point whenever travelers traversed the highway leading to the royal capital.

“They said there was a strange traveler who wasn't a merchant.”

“A strange traveler? Did the child mention any specific details?”

“He was dressed entirely in black and seemed to be concealing his face. While his clothes were plain, the child mentioned his shoes were polished to a brilliant shine... so that detail stuck in my memory.”

No one from the royal capital ever went out of their way to visit the incinerated village or its neighbors. While peddlers heading directly toward Margrave Calvert's personal domain occasionally passed through, there were few noteworthy settlements along the route, so hardly anyone ever traveled that path.

“Polished shoes... That makes it highly likely he was a nobleman or a wealthy merchant,” Riley muttered.

Riley's mutter was spoken at a volume only Liliana could hear. Liliana glanced sideways at him.

“Despite the presence of that man, the arson was presumed to be the work of neighboring villagers. In the end, no one was ever caught—why do you think that was?” Clyde asked.

Dieter knitted his brows in distress. Soon, however, he blinked as if realizing something. In a hesitant tone lacking confidence, he gingerly continued.

“Actually... that single child was the only person who claimed to have seen the man. The child said the man stayed at the local inn, but the innkeeper claimed they didn't have a single guest that day—”

That was not all. Every single person residing in the village testified that they had not seen any man dressed in black. In the end, the child's claim was likely dismissed as nothing more than a young child's wild imagination.

Liliana knitted her brows.

(A child's words are not necessarily reliable, but if it were true... that sounds remarkably like illusion magic.)

Liliana often used illusion magic herself to conceal her presence. However, among illusion spells, those classified as forbidden arts included magic capable of manipulating human memories. If that individual had used illusion magic to tamper with the villagers' memories, it would explain why no one else testified to seeing him. The child who spoke to Dieter had likely been overlooked by the man, escaping the spell's influence.

If that man in black was a wielder of forbidden arts who had gone out of his way to set fire to the plague-stricken village... that could serve as evidence that the Black Death had not been a natural outbreak. Furthermore, there was the surge of monsters in the surrounding forest at the time—which had dwindled as the Black Death subsided.

In reality, the Black Death was caused by a specific pathogen. Yet there was absolutely no evidence that the miasma emitted by monsters and the Black Death were unrelated.

A shudder ran through Liliana. Feeling warmth upon one of her hands, she cast her gaze downward. Resting atop her lap, her hand was gently enveloped by Riley's, who was looking at her with a tender smile.

“Was there anything else unusual before or after that?” Clyde pressed further.

Dieter furrowed his brow, lost in thought. He seemed to be racking his memory with all his might, but nothing came to mind readily.

Just as Liliana and the others began to wonder if there was nothing more, a hesitant voice broke the silence.

“Um...”

The one who spoke was Emilia. Speaking up in the presence of high-ranking nobles clearly took an immense amount of courage on her part, as her expression was rigid with tension. Clyde, however, gently encouraged her to continue.

Taking heart from his gentle manner, Emilia swallowed hard and addressed Dieter.

“If I remember correctly... wasn't there a rumor about some orphans suddenly going missing?”

Dieter's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting to be addressed by her. Soon, however, he nodded.

“Ah, yes. A mass disappearance... if you could call it that. Usually, whenever someone vanished, it was just a few troublemakers, but that time, even well-behaved children disappeared, causing quite an uproar. However, the Black Death broke out immediately afterward—”

“And so you were unable to search for the children's whereabouts,” Clyde finished for him.

“Yes,” Dieter confirmed.

Dieter nodded with a dejected expression. There was no question that the fate of the missing children still weighed heavily on his heart.

“Even then, there was talk of going to search for the children once the Black Death subsided... But before we could put that into action, the village was set ablaze. Besides, we had to secure enough sustenance to survive before we could even think of searching for them.”

Even if they found the children and brought them back, returning them to a village starved of provisions would only mean starving to death. Even the surviving adults had only enough food to make surviving the winter a desperate gamble.

In the end, it had become impossible to search for the vanished children. Dieter had thought of them from time to time, but after seeking refuge at Navy Monastery, he had his hands full just managing his own life and duties there.

With so much time having passed now, he had no choice but to accept that finding them was impossible. There was no telling if they were even alive, and even if they were, they would already be standing on their own two feet. Calling out to them now after all these years might only prove a burden.

Though Dieter's explanation made sense, Liliana felt a persistent sense of unease.

(A simultaneous disappearance of children...)

And then the sudden influx of monsters, the outbreak of the Black Death, an unidentified man in black, and a village torched to the ground as if to destroy all evidence.

(Is it reading too much into things to believe these are all connected?)

Liliana sank deep into contemplation, completely unaware of Riley's probing gaze studying her profile from the side.

—-

Toc