Chapter 376: Intermission – Developments in the Handal Union

Hi all! I’ll be returning to the Tue Thu Sun release schedule for now since I managed to catch up a little. Hope it lasts!

Editor: Tseirp

“Your Excellency, it’s been confirmed that it’s the Djinn Bug.”

“What an unpleasant report.”

Lord Aubrey, the Union Governor, responded to Aide Lamber’s report with a frown on his face.

“Be that as it may…. I can’t exactly make up a false report to shy away from it.”

Lamber also frowned and shook his head slightly.

“Is it the one I think it is? The one the Kingdom’s folklore officer confirmed?”

“Yeah. Viscount Rashata Debuo, Folklore Officer of the Central Temple in the Royal Capital. He is the one who directly confirmed the outbreak of the Djinn bug in the Kingdom’s Kona village previously. Since we sent a delegation alongside the Kingdom to the Western Countries, our relations have improved, and they let us into the site. It appears the delegation was well worth the high cost.”

“Well, we only paid for it… but I’m fairly certain that our hardship is nothing compared to what His Majesty Roberto Pirlo, who is actually on the ground must be going through.”

Lord Aubrey said with a wry smile.

It was none other than Lord Aubrey who begged the former king, who was now in his mid-seventies and enjoying a comfortable life, to go on this grueling journey to the west.

Knowing that, Aide Lamber shook his head again, slightly.

“The Djinn in Kona village… later broke out of its seal, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. Of course, the Kingdom has not announced it, but it seems certain from the information we have gathered.”

“Yet there’s no indication that the Djinn who broke out of the seal went on a rampage.”

“That’s right. It didn’t get sealed away again… and seems to have flown away to the west.”

As Lamber explained what Lord Aubrey remembered, Lord Aubrey looked down and began to think about something.

Meanwhile, Lamber said nothing.

Arranging the papers on the desk.

After a while, Lord Aubrey opened his mouth again.

“My memory is a little fuzzy, but… there was a record of a Djinn sealed near the border of the Kingdom and the Union that went on a rampage, wasn’t there?”

“You remember correctly, sir. Legend has it that it was sealed away by King Richard of the Kingdom.”

“Well, even if it’s just a legend… it’s that much of an existence none stood a chance against unless they were such a great hero right? I really don’t want such a menace on the loose again.”

“Its revival is only a matter of time I’m afraid…”

“Maybe in a hundred years or so, fine. I’ll be long gone by then.”

“Passing the hot potato to our children and grandchildren…”

“By then, I’m sure they’ll have invented magic and alchemy tools that can defeat even a Djinn with a single blow.”

Lord Aubrey said, nodding repeatedly, not believing it at all.

Lamber, who has been his assistant for a long time, knew that Lord Aubrey did not believe that, not one bit.

Though he knows that….

“I’m afraid that’s just wishful thinking.”

“…As stiff as ever I see, Lamber.”

Here’s how Rashata made his confirmation.

Nilpha, a city in the western part of the Union.

The city is famous for its wine.

Vineyards stretch as far as the eye can see, and merchants come from all over the Central Countries to buy wine.

This year, however, the vines were infested with an insect never seen before.

They were about the size of a pinky fingernail.

They had ten legs, and when crushed, they produced a blood-red fluid….

Once these insects latch on, the trees die quite quickly.

Insect experts in Nilpha as well as the surrounding larger cities were called in, but no one could figure out what the bug was.

No effective measures were found and they resorted to squashing the bugs one by one as they were found… and the situation continued for several months.

The situation changed when an inspector visiting from Jayclaire, the capital city of the Union government, came across the insects.

The inspector, Asser, was an old magician who was about to turn seventy years old.

He had long since retired from active service and was spending his time leisurely in the suburbs of Jayclaire when he was consulted by his protégé, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

Nilpha’s wines were facing a crisis. If the situation persisted, he said, bottling of wine would be close to impossible and tax revenues would suffer.

Asser did not care about the tax revenue, but he was very concerned that his favorite wine, Nilpha wine, would become harder to get.

Therefore, he asked the Union government to temporarily reinstate him as an inspector to deal with the ‘unidentified bugs’ plaguing Nilpha.

And the higher-ups in the Union government wholeheartedly gave their approval.

As was evident from the fact that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue was a disciple of Asser, many of Asser’s disciples had risen to quite high positions in the Union government or in the countries that made up the Union.

And those disciples knew that Asser possessed a wealth of knowledge that was incomparable to an average magician.

The reason for that was that Baron Asser once served as a famous folklore master, or that he was the chief magician of the Union when he was active and had memorized all kinds of forbidden books… various rumors were abound regarding him.

Some even claimed that the famous Explosive Blaze Magician of the Empire was a disciple of Asser… of course, this was dismissed and laughed off as idle gossip.

Anyway, it was well known to his disciples that Asser’s knowledge was extraordinary.

When Asser arrived in Nilpha city… to be precise, even before entering the city, he entered the vineyards that surrounded the city.

His attendants hurried after him, but he did not care about that.

Asser had come to save Nilpha’s wine, and he understood that his priority was to understand the current situation, and the best way to do that was to see and figure it out for himself.

As luck would have it, he was able to see a bug that had just been found.

“This is… it can’t be…?”

It looked like the insect Asser remembered.

However, he had never seen it in person before.

It resembled an insect in a book shown to him by the lord he once served.

It had ten legs, and when its legs were spread out, it was about the size of a pinky fingernail.

And then….

When he squashed it, a blood-red fluid came out.

“It’s the same bug from the book that my lord once showed me…. But I never thought…”

Asser’s forehead wrinkled deeply.

If indeed, that was the bug, the ‘Djinn Bug’, then….

It is said that the Djinn bug is one of the familiars that is used to amass strength for a sealed djinn when they’re about to revive.

Djinns gather their power in various ways, one of which is using the Djinn bug.

In other words, a sealed Djinn was trying to break its seal.

“I need to verify this immediately.”

Asser muttered to himself and headed to the Nilpha lord’s manor to contact the Union government.

After further discussions within the Union government, it was decided to have the Kingdom’s Folklore Officer, Viscount Rashata Debuo, confirm the matter.

The Viscount then made his way directly to Nilpha to confirm that it was indeed the Djinn bug.

Thus, the report was delivered to Lord Aubrey, the governor.

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