Chapter 85: The Illiad (2)
Ahheman stepped down from the altar after a long ceremony.
His body was drenched in sweat from the nonstop sacrifices he had been making for the past few days.
As he descended from the altar, he saw that the entire village was deserted and laughed.
" ... must have gotten the plague by now."
In truth, he had known beforehand that the Red Death was coming to Balak.
Stranger things have happened. After all, it was Ahheman himself who helped Leviathan unleash the Red Death on the jungle.
In fact, he had been in contact with the outside world for quite some time.
Whether it's helping the Leviathans conduct clinical trials of new drugs or poisons on unknowing natives in the water, or aiding and abetting bourgeois families in their unfair trade practices.
In exchange for Aheman's secret supply of natives to test poisons and medicines on, the Leviathans would freely give him new poisons or new medicines, which in turn would establish the authority of the shaman.
The shaman's authority was established by secretly releasing a poison to poison a target and then using the medicine to cure the target to gain their trust.
Sickness and medicine.
If someone didn't obey him, he would secretly poison them and make them sick.
Not only does this poison the patient, but also his friends and family.
In the close-knit atmosphere of the Balak, this was only natural.
Only when the patient's life seemed to be in danger would Ahheman step in.
He would perform a convincing ritual, unleash a potion, and cure the patient, and his family and friends would become his devoted followers.
The man's authority is unquestioned, and his family and friends bow before him.
Recently, he has felt the shaman's authority waning, and he is on the verge of a crisis.
The younger ones, including the chief's daughter, Aiyen, had never been sick or poisoned before, so they didn't know how to respect the shaman's authority.
This had been made worse by the recent arrival of the Stranger, an unwelcome newcomer from the Empire.
Young people would go hunting without the blessings of the shaman, and other rituals were considered unnecessary and superstitious.
Then came a proposal from the Leviathan family.
"I'm thinking of conducting a large-scale pestilence experiment on the water."
Ahheman swallowed hard at the words of the Leviathan's messenger, who was shrouded in a black cloak.
The Leviathan's messenger gave him the pathogen of the Red Plague and his antidote.
He was to spread the plague when the time was right, and the antidote when the time was right.
Through this trial, Leviathan hoped to control the population of the Red and Black Mountain natives and accumulate clinicopathological data to break new ground.
By actively cooperating, Ahheman sought to elevate the authority of the shaman on the land.
So he secretly unleashed the Red Death into the river and drowned countless people in it.
Now that the plague has struck and everyone is wandering in the wilderness, he will make a grand entrance, release the antidote, put the situation to rest, and enjoy the power of a chieftain.
Even the cocky youngsters who had looked down on him would now look up to him with respect and awe.
'...I've even infected my granddaughter, just in case there was any doubt.'
The situation was perfect: he had made his own granddaughter a plague victim to avoid suspicion that he had deliberately released the poison and set himself up.
This was Ahheman's idea.
...?
As he walked to the center of town, he couldn't help but scratch his head.
The village is overwhelmingly deserted.
The sick, their families, and friends are inherently vulnerable, looking for a place to lean on.
They must have pinned all their hopes on the ritualist, but no one came to greet them.
"Are they all gone already?
Ahheman frowned. Had the plague been stronger than expected and killed all the Balak?
That would be a problem. They should only be sick to the point of death. One must be alive to become a follower.
Ahheman stitched the sack containing the antidote he'd made in Leviathan to his side, then quickly crossed the town square.
But the barracks around him were deserted.
Only a frog croaked in a drained pool on the floor.
Then.
Ahheman froze in place.
Thick smoke was rising from a corner of the village.
And he could see every face he knew huddled there.
All the people of Balak were there, all together.
Laughing and chatting merrily, picking at the heaps of meat.
"????"
Ahheman's mouth dropped open.
How? How could they be so well, when he'd surely seen them in the throes of red death just moments before?
He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, but it didn't change anything.
What's more, the woman in front of him, stirring the boiling pot with a ladle, is none other than his granddaughter, Ahul!
Ahheman's jaw drops even further when he realizes that his granddaughter is completely healed.
He turns his back on the unbelievable.
He runs at the moonlight, crosses the village boundary, and heads for the water source-the same river where he released the Red Death.
"...Huck, huck!"
Running like the wind, he arrived at the water source in the blink of an eye and was once again horrified.
The water source, which should have been contaminated by the Red Death, was still flowing with clear water.
The white salt sandbar is still there, as are the carp swimming up the waterfall.
Monkeys that should have been infected and killed by the Red Death are hopping around in the trees, and the children of the other tribes who came to catch the carp look healthy.
There was no sign of death anywhere.
"'No way, no how, how...!'"
Ahheman pulled at his hair.
The moment.
"Why, are you surprised to see so many of them alive?"
There was a jab that cut deep into his lungs.
He turned his head, furious.
Then a boy appeared behind him.
Vikir. His red eyes glowed at Ahheman.
* * *
Meanwhile.
Vikir had led all of Balak's warriors here, including Aiyen and Ahun.
Aiyen remembered clearly what Vikir had told them.
"As soon as the ritual is over, Ahheman will check on the villagers, and when he sees that they are well, he will run right back here.
Because he was the one who sprayed the red death across the jungle.
Vikir had heard of Ahheman's misdeeds before his regression.
He couldn't remember Ahheman's name, but he could at least recall that he had a contact in Balak who had spread the Red Death, and that the contact was an old man in the position of shaman.
"The enemy and half the natives of the Black Mountains were killed then.
To fulfill his greed, Ahheman waited for the plague to reach its peak.
He planned to appear at just the right time and become the savior of the entire jungle.
But Ahheman missed the mark.
The plague had spread out of control, and most of the patients were dying in droves.
The carnage that followed was so horrific that it was recorded in the history of the empire.
It was the helpless and weak civilians who were dying at the hands of the vested interests.
Though the proper use of poison and medicine is a shaman's means of control, Ahheman had crossed the line. And for a long time.
"...What is it?"
Ahheman glared at Vikir with wary eyes, but he did nothing.
All of Balak's warriors had already surrounded him.
Young and old alike, they were all staring at him. With murderous eyes.
It was maddening to Ahmed, who expected to be looked upon with respect.
"How did they cure the plague?"
Ahheman was at a loss for words.
Then.
Someone stepped in front of him.
His face went white as he recognized the man.
The Night Fox, chieftain of the Balak. Aquila stared down at Ahheman with a fierce glare.
She held a piece of paper in her hand, an official document that she had personally obtained last night when she traveled to the Empire.
"Holy House Quovadis has declared a crusade against Extremist Leviathan, accusing him of artificially developing and releasing a plague known as the Red Death. This is a declaration demanding the truth about the Red Death."
"Is that so, and why did you send it to me...?"
"Shaman. You think it's strange, don't you, why the plague that the Leviathans have been studying has broken out here in Dephts?"
"I, I, I don't know. I just came out of the altar holding a sacrifice for the complete recovery of the tribe members... ... ."
Then Aquila raised her hand, interrupting Ahheman.
She exchanged a glance with Vikir beside her before speaking.
"None of that. I'd like to see what's in that sack at your waist."
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