A day later, a servant can be seen running hurriedly inside Baron Kar's Manor. His whole body was drenched in sweat while a worried look hang on his face
Baron Kar's Manor was definitely bigger and of higher quality than Baron Ram's home
This Baron might be corrupt and evil but that is exactly the reason why he has much more wealth than Ram
After all, the corrupt have more ways that they can use to earn money compared to other people
His citizen's sufferings brought him more wealth than people that has territory similar to size and strength as Kar's territory
Along the way, the servant bumped into other servants but he still didn't stop. His body was filled with so much urgency for him to care about other things
When the servant finally arrives at his goal, he immediately opened a room's door. Completely forgetting all about etiquette that might cost him his life
When the room was flung open, the scent of herbs, beasts body parts, and all sorts of other things assaulted the servant's nose
It makes his head a bit dizzy due to the pungent smell but he doesn't care about that
The servant ignored all sorts of bottles with strange substances inside them as he stared at the only person inside
"My Lord! Emergency! An emergency has appeared!" The servant said hurriedly before his body shuddered in fear
Baron Kar looks at the servant as if the former wants to kill him. His ugly and old-looking face with a vicious expression on it terrified the poor servant
He felt like someone drowned him in a pool of cold water. The sense of death entered his instincts making him very fearful
"What is it? If your emergency isn't important, I'll kill you!" Baron Kar said with a murderous tone
In front of him was a failed poison potion. He should have succeeded in creating the potion but the servant interrupted him
What a waste of time and precious resources!
"M-My Lord, i-it's really a big e-emergency. A-a terrible plague appeared in Acre Town. The plague's transmission rate is too fast and a lot of people are already infected!"
To other Nobles, this is really a big emergency. They might despise commoners but they can't also change the fact that their income also mostly come from people in their territory
The better the condition of their territory and people, the more the Nobles can earn. However, that is currently not as important as the thing that Kar is currently doing
He might be a member of the Dark Heart Sect but his standing was very low. He is the lowliest kind of member
To continue receiving their protection, he must work his old bones for the Sect
Kar is forced to regularly 'donate' a certain amount of potions every single month. On the surface, it was a donation but in reality, it is an exchange
Since Kar is indirectly receiving protection from the Dark Heart Sect, he naturally must also give them benefits
There were a lot of members in the Sect far stronger, influential, and wealthier than him
He was nothing in front of the Sect. To keep his status, he can only regularly donate potions to the Sect
The Sect will then sell the potions he provided and they will put the money into their own pockets
There is no free lunch in this world. Baron Kar is barely managing to keep his status as a member of the Sect. If he doesn't donate potions and act subservient to the Sect, he will lose their protection
When that time comes, with the number of enemies he has, Baron Kar might not live for a long time
"Just have my servants and guards deal with that. If you don't have a choice just quietly execute the infected to stop the plague from spreading"
With just some of his words, Baron Kar already sealed the fates of a lot of people. The manner he said such cruel words were too casual as if it was the most normal thing to do in the world. It doesn't sound like it was human lives that he was talking about
"B-But My L-Lord!" The servant wants to explain that there were already a lot of people infected but Baron Kar rudely cut him off
"Just do as I say and stop questioning me if you don't want to die. No one should disturb me for a few days even if the sky were to fall tomorrow!" With that, Baron Kar uses magic to slam the door of his room shut leaving the servant that was unsure of what to do
If the plague was just in its early stage where there are only a few people infected, they can really just kill some people or isolate them
However, the current number of infected was already too high. The servant wants to explain the situation further but the threat of his own death causes him to kept his mouth shut
No matter what, his life is still the most important thing for him. The servant can only do as Baron Kar said
The Baron's men were mobilized to prevent the plague from spreading further
At this time, Reif was lurking around Baron Kar's Manor. He was listening to the servants to know what Kar planned on doing
Reif might only be a 2nd circle mage but his mastery over his magic is far higher compared to others. Even 3rd circle mages cannot discover his presence
Not to mention, this place is not really expecting an intruder to sneak in
When Reif learned what the servants planned on doing, he can't help but sneer
Reif might not like power struggles but it's not like he was clueless on things regarding that
He has already forgotten the fact that he too joined a lot of power struggles in the past. But after reaching the peak, there was no need for him to do that anymore since there were no other people that can threaten him
But now, Reif is forced to join the fight of power struggles again. After all, most cultivation resources are hoarded by the Nobles in power
If Reif wants to earn as much as possible, his targets should be people like Nobles, Merchants, Organizations, and if possible even the Royal Family
After witnessing what happened to Ram's family, Reif realizes that only in joining power struggles like this could Reif benefit
In the past, he can just get anything that he wants. But now, he must work hard to gain even just a few hundred gold coins
Fishing in murky waters such as this one is one of the fastest ways to gain wealth
—-
After three whole days, the plague was already spread into almost all the citizen in Acre Town
If it was a normal plague, it won't spread this fast. Sadly, Reif is making sure that it would spread as fast as possible
Despite the Baron's men doing their best to stop the plague from spreading, what can they do?
How can these people isolate the infected if it was the majority of townsmen? How could they also kill the infected when there were too many of them?
The economy instantly hits rock bottom. The damage in this town was even far severe than the damage that the Hanga Town had received
This is already a town almost isolated from the outside world. No merchants were willing to come and sell their merchandise here
Since it was only a few days since the plague started, it still hasn't reached the ears of the higher-ups of the Spring Rise Kingdom
No matter what, this was still the life of a few thousand people. The town is also part of the Empire
Even though the Empire wouldn't put much effort into such a small and unimportant territory, they at least wouldn't turn it into a ghost town where no one was alive
After three days, only then did Baron Kar exited his isolation. But what met him outside his room was complete silence
There were no servants like usual. There were also some dirt in the Manor as if they weren't cleaned
It might have been only a few days since the plague started but this is still a Mansion. It can still house a few tens of people. If no one or too few people are maintaining it, it was easy to get the Manor dirty
Baron Kar frowned at this sight and he walks for some time before he finally saw one of his maids
However, this maid was barely standing up while holding a broom. She was coughing from time to time and it looks as if she would pass out any time from now
"You, what is happening here? What happened to the other servants?" Baron Kar asked the poor maid that instantly jolted in shock
After seeing the Baron, the maid was both relieved and fearful
"M-My Lord... t-the servants... t-they can't move anymore" the maid forced out those words causing Kar's frown to deepen