Chapter 78.2

“Are you asking us witches to handle it?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll do my best, but I’m not confident. The witches and I barely have any mana left as it is.”

“I, along with my company, will assist you. I’ll handle the plague itself. I just need you and the other witches to handle the black sorcery part of it.”

“How are you going to handle it? No matter how good you are at healing, treating thousands of patients and stopping the plague’s spread is impossible.”

“It’s not impossible. It just costs a lot of money.”

Arad pulled something out of his subspace bag.

“This is called the Arad Medi-Kit. I made it the moment I heard a pandemic was starting.”

What he pulled out was a small box, about the size of a notebook and as thick as a finger.

“It contains the medicines, ointments, and disinfectants I personally developed.”

“Wait, you made a cure?!”

“Calling it a cure would be an overstatement. Without the black sorcery component, this plague is just a regular flu.”

“Still, that was fast.”

“Are you going to sell that kit as military supplies?”

With the expectant gazes of everyone on him, Arad began explaining the Medi-Kit.

“This box contains not only medicine for the current flu but also simple illustrated instructions on how to prevent diseases and treat wounds to avoid infection. We plan to mass-produce it in two versions — one for home use and another for professionals like healers.”

“Opportunity truly comes from crisis… If we handle this situation well, the number of Northerners dying from disease or injury will be drastically reduced.”

“The population of the North will grow exponentially too!”

Isabelle and Balzac inspected the Medi-Kit with sparkling eyes filled with curiosity and excitement.

“Oh, and the name Medi-Kit can be changed to something else. Mary’s Care or Renslet’s Blessing wouldn’t be bad options.”

“!!”

“There’s no reason for witches to be the only ones involved in treatment. With this Medi-Kit, even the Renslet Church, which has no divine power, can make meaningful contributions.”

Hearing this, Arina’s eyes lit up with sudden realization.

“That’s it! Why didn’t I think of that sooner? I’ll inform the Renslet Church right away.”

She had decided to use this opportunity to solidify the presence of the Renslet Church in the hearts of the Northerners.

***

When a terrible plague spreads, people naturally turn to faith.

But those who stand in opposition to that faith face persecution.

The most infamous example of this is witch hunts.

“The healing spells and sorcery of the Northern witches are quite remarkable.”

“That’s why so many black sorcerers have tried to stir up trouble in the North, only to fail time and time again thanks to the witches.”

Isabelle and the witches, who had taken root in the North, did their best.

For nearly 200 years, they had fought against black sorcerers behind the scenes of history, battles that the Northerners knew nothing about.

“According to rumors, the Frost Knights were also created by witches.”

“That’s no rumor — it’s a fact. The leader of the Frost Knights has been the Grand Witch of Spring for over a century, and many of the key figures within the Frost Knights are witches. That alone is proof enough.”

On the surface, it seemed like the witches were just conducting strange experiments, playing with spirits, and farming.

But beneath it all, they lived more fiercely than anyone.

“We have to deal with the witches. We need to drive a wedge between the witches and the Northerners.”

“We need to make the Northerners see the Renslet Church as incompetent and distrust the witches.”

“No matter how skilled that sorcerer Arad Jin is, he’s powerless without the witches.”

These words became the foundation of the current operation.

The Imperial Royal Family, the Imperial Church, and the black sorcerers of the Devil’s Den — these three forces had come together for an unprecedented joint operation.

They unleashed the Black Sorcery Plague.

And to ensure the witches couldn’t act out, they even brought out Haran’s corpse.

Unlike the Imperial Royal Family, however…

“God, witness our decision! Forgive us for the sins this action will bring!”

The Imperial Church had never planned to use Haran’s body from the start.

“Was it really a good idea to hand over Haran’s coffin to the Devil’s Den? I still have doubts about that decision.”

“That coffin was originally a cursed item we were never supposed to open.”

Although the church had possession of Haran’s cursed remains, they had never used them until now.

“Still, the witches have been useful to us. They’ve been keeping black sorcerers and barbarian druids in check for years in the North.”

“Not just that. They’ve also played a key role in keeping the Royal Family’s influence in check.”

While there were moral reasons behind this decision, the real reason was political advantage.

Leaving the witches alone was more beneficial to the church.

“Witches are more useful when they’re confined to Renslet. That’s why the First Archbishop spared Isabelle and 49 other witches.”

If the witches ever went extinct and the Northern Grand Duchy decided to replace them with black sorcerers, that would be far more troublesome.

“I just hope the black sorcerers from the Devil’s Den don’t grow stronger from this whole Haran corpse fiasco.”

In fact, there wasn’t much the church could do with the body of a Grand Witch.

Haran’s corpse was only useful in the hands of skilled black sorcerers like those from the Devil’s Den.

“That’s why it was a card we never intended to play… but now we’ve gone this far.”

The church, which had kept Haran’s body locked away for so long, had now partnered with the Imperial Royal Family to unleash it.

It was all because of the recent, unsettling growth of the North.

Archbishop Teresia of the Imperial Church gazed northward with an irritated expression.

“God may have created everything for a reason, but I never expected that barren northern land to become so important.”

When the North was nothing but a burdensome backwater, the church didn’t care about it at all.

None of the clergy of the Imperial Church had any desire to go to the savage, untamed North.

Because of this, although the church always called for the elimination of witches, they never truly acted on it.

But looking back now, it was clear that this had been a major miscalculation.

“Damned Northerners. I really can’t stand them.”

Northerners were prideful, stubborn, and rebellious by nature.

They knew very well how much the Imperial Church had ignored them over the years.

That’s why they refused to accept the church.

Instead, they quietly worshiped their ancestral spirits, which granted no divine power.

They even embraced the witches.

More recently, they had gone even further and established the Renslet Church — a ridiculous heretical religion.

It was a step far beyond the line.

Grit

While thinking about the North, Teresia ground her teeth without realizing it.

Bwoooooooo—!

At that moment, the strong blast of a horn echoed in Teresia’s ears.

“Finally moving the army, huh? How swift of them.”

Her gaze shifted northward, toward the Imperial Palace, where the sound of the horn had come from.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Canbraman is always so full of needless worries. For someone who criticizes his son for being soft, he’s hardly any better.”

“Archbishop, there are ears everywhere.”

Unable to endure it any longer, one of the cardinals spoke up, cautioning Teresia.

“I suppose I should at least give them a proper send-off. After all, the church is part of this northern expedition too.”

Smirking at the cardinal’s worried expression, Teresia began walking toward the Imperial Palace.

“Let’s go. To the plaza in front of the palace where the Northern Relief Army is gathering.”

“Yes, Archbishop.”

“Oh, but before that, let’s visit the Spring Palace, where our ever-cautious and oh-so-prudent emperor is hard at work.”

With a confident stride, Archbishop Teresia led the procession of white-clad clergy.

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