Gacha Kingdom Building-Chapter 232: Unrest

Licia's grim message through our psychic link made me depart from the southernmost part of the continent and immediately head towards the north, where I last had a report from her.

Without Angelica, this journey could've spanned several days, but thanks to her, we were expected to arrive in a matter of hours.

As glad as I was for this...

The anxiousness built up inside me uncontrollably, and I could do nothing but prepare my heart for what was to come.

Angelica: "Miwen-"

Miwen: "...Ignore them. Cass, give me a hand."

Cass: "On it."

I don't believe any of us were acting normally during the voyage.

Cassandra stayed quiet during the journey, and Angelica focused completely on arriving as early as feasible.

Unfortunately for us, high tensions caused by a certain dragon within Hamperlon's territory led to the implementation of several anti-dragon measures.

Among them were the ballista and net launchers, but occasionally, we had to deal with mages, warriors, and archers trying a lucky hit on Angelica.

Even with that accounted for, the path passing through enemy territory was still the shortest, and with Cassandra and me to cover her, these attempts didn't cause Angelica to slow down even a tiny bit.

However, although she suffered no damage, the journey was incredibly tiring.

She spent the entire night awake, flying with limited movement thanks to Cassandra and me riding her.

On top of that, she still had to avoid several attacks from the ground...

I could hardly blame her for being tired, and although she did her best to hide it, we could tell she was losing speed and altitude, making herself an increasingly easier target.

Eventually, it became too much for us, and a few attacks started to hit her.

Thankfully, her scales and healing magic prevented any damage from being substantial or interfering with her duty.

And throughout all of that... She never once complained.

That night, I realized just how tough and committed this girl really was.

Miwen: "...What the hell?"

As if to signal me that the worst had yet to come, upon arriving at our destination, we were shocked to see a scene unlike any other.

The ground before one of the castle's gates in the direction of what we assumed to be Hamperlon's camp was covered in ice, even though we had not heard of snow falling in the area.

From Angelica's back, we could see that the ice almost reached their camp, which now lay abandoned with weapons still on the ground, telling us the tale of a desperate and haphazard attempt to flee.

Even more shocking, covered in a thick layer of ice, the castle walls we were supposed to defend had to have doubled in volume, at the very least.

Men worked tirelessly on the inner side, chipping away the ice with swords, pickaxes, and whatever tools they could find, attempting to make way and facilitate movement and access to the towers.

And yet... There was something else even more eye-catching.

From the ground, crystals made of ice had sprawled everywhere, without rhythm or reason.

Corpses pierced by their spikes still hung from their edges, while others created an eerie picture as desperate and screaming men could be seen trapped inside them, their backs turned to the castle, showing that their last attempt at surviving was escaping.

The smallest of these crystals could easily contain two or three men inside, and their spikes numbered anywhere from six to twelve, depending on the formation.

Most interestingly, their colors varied a lot.

Some were light blue, near white. Others completely lacked the blue hue, adorning a spotless white color.

But... The most distinct had to be the red ones.

The light blue and the white ones seemed to have been made by the same person. They seemed transitory... But the red ones had such a vivid color that it was easy to assume they weren't even the same spell, much less cast by the same person.

Almost like they were something else entirely, their height towered over the castle walls, and some seemed defiant to the sky, their spikes making them taller than even the castle towers behind. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Each held at least 5 corpses inside... But it became hard to tell from a distance...

Men were also working on removing them and the corpses they held.

I saw for a moment how slow and tiresome the work seemed, but also how many people were taking part, and the idea that there were even more ice crystals before we arrived frightened me a little.

The initial shock was quite high, but I couldn't waste time dwelling on it, and I asked Angelica to land on the ground, where we met with Agatha.

The girls I had assigned to this mission were not answering me, so Agatha was my only source of information.

Unfortunately, she wasn't present to see the whole ordeal either, and thus, had to rely on Gullard's and other knights' second-hand testimony as well.

Agatha: "This way..."

She was rather brief in her greeting, urging us to follow her.

And the place where she took us was... The castle's infirmary.

Numerous patients were resting in this area, but one bed was different from all the others due to its curtains, which hid the patients inside from view.

Agatha quickly opened them, revealing a few familiar figures, like Raella, our cute ghost doll, Licia, the girl who was too ashamed to look me in the eyes, and...

Claire: "Ugh..."

My lovely wife. A woman who is always happy to see me and ready to give me the warmest of greetings.

While neither of the girls appeared to be too happy to see me, with Claire even looking annoyed that she had to show herself to me in such a pitiful state, the opposite couldn't be more true for me, as just seeing them alive made my heart jump with joy.

Unfortunately... I couldn't say they looked well.

Their bodies were covered in injuries and... Other things.

Licia: "Sorry... She's in a foul mood..."

That was obvious at a glance.

Licia: "...It's because I did something bad to her, so don't-"

Claire: "I've already told you it's not!"

Still avoiding eye contact, Licia's voice sounded heavy, as if carrying a lot of sorrow, regret, and doubt.

On the other hand, even though Claire denied Licia's claims, she sounded furious.

I had not anticipated this when I saw the two resting together, but it was disheartening to-

Claire: "Sorry... I lied. I'm a little mad at you."

Oh...?

Claire: "My pride is... getting in the way. If we had stayed, best-case scenario, only one would have died, so... You absolutely made the right call. I'm just... Frustrated at myself and... I don't want to blame you. I just need time to think..."

To say I was caught off guard by it would be an understatement.

Claire has always been rather mature and understanding of others' feelings and positions.

However, when it comes to her own... She has more than a little trouble.

Hearing Licia tell me how things ended up this way, I understood how much Claire cared for her and how much she had grown.

She wields power with pride, so the honesty she showed us was difficult to achieve. It must have required a lot of strength and resolution on her part, but it made me quite proud.

Unfortunately, while discovering how things became like this helped, it didn't do much for me to understand what exactly we were dealing with when it came to her health.

Luckily, Agatha interjected to explain.

Agatha: "I suppose we should talk about the black spots first, but... Truth be told, Raella has been the one treating them, so I believe she should be the one to tell you about it."

A few minutes after Licia's message, I received a request from Agatha asking for one of the Saints or Angelica.

I couldn't trust Gabriella or Sabrina for anything to do with Claire and Licia, and with Angelica occupied working as my means of transportation, Raella was the only reasonable option left.

The doll that silently watched the two girls from the side moved her head and stared me in the eyes.

Her emotions were hard to read, as always, and she used her book to speak.

[The black spots you see on Claire's body are not disease or poison. They are a curse. Although I can't recommend avoiding contact with her more than I already did...]

Even though we still had to work on improving her expressions, it was easy to tell how annoyed she was at Licia, and her scolding seemed more like a plea to me to put some sense into that girl's head.

However, as cute as that was, it failed to distract me from the blood transfusion Claire was receiving alongside Licia's loving strokes to her head.

[It doesn't seem to be contagious. It only spreads on the body of the person affected by it. As for the effects... When I arrived, they were bleeding profusely, and aside from spreading, they also grew in size. I've been able to stabilize her situation by now, but... I'm afraid I don't possess the ability to undo the curse...]

Miwen: "...You think Isabella can do it?"

[Yes... As you know, curses are hard for me, and this one is likely the result of a Gift, so it's too complex... But I believe Elizabeth and Isabella can definitely remove it.]

Hearing, or rather, reading that, relieved me to no end.

Such a heavy weight left my heart...

Agatha: "Her other injuries aren't as bad. She suffered a deep cut to her arm, which is the source of the black spots, but she cauterized it. We want to be careful and not cause her unnecessary pain, so... She should be completely healed in about ten or so days.]

Miwen: "I see... And what about Licia?"

Agatha: "That's... We don't know."

Her words were harrowing, made worse by her cold, mechanical-like delivery that did nothing to alleviate the impact they had.