"Eh?" Tristan tilted his head with his gaze fixed on the blue screen that floated in his view. "Why the fourth task? Why not a special task?"
A few days ago, when Tristan approached 20 farmers who asked him to help them with their problems, the system gave him a special task to ignore them.
The circumstances were similar to those of that day. Now, the mother requested that he remove her daughter out of the brothel, and the system informed him that his fourth task was to ignore the woman.
The special task and the fourth task had the same task. Tristan ignored the farmers and the woman. It was just that the name of the task was different.
Another difference was that when Tristan got a special task, he would get a special reward if he carried out the task and a penalty if he failed.
Then, now, the fourth task would not give him a reward, but if he failed, he would receive a penalty.
Tristan would not repeat his mistake. He would carry out the fourth task. He just needed to ignore the woman.
"Why the fourth task? Why not a special task?" Tristan repeated his question, even though he knew the system would not answer, and let his mind be filled with guesses.
"Your Majesty, please help my daughter." The woman's shout startled Tristan, who was lost in his thoughts.
Tristan turned his head back, looking at the woman who was trying to fight off the five soldiers who were blocking her way to him.
The white stallion with the golden mane that Tristan was riding was walking slowly, following the horse ridden by the general next to them.
The people who were standing along the street to greet their king all looked at the woman with pity, and then they glanced at their king, who ignored the woman.
Tristan held the reins tightly as his gaze returned to the front. He didn't care what people thought, but deep down, he pitied the woman's 12-year-old daughter, who was sold by her father to a brothel.
Tristan didn't need to ask the woman about her daughter's job or why she begged him to help her get her daughter out of the brothel.
"The system's tasks require me to ignore my conscience." Tristan growled, but he was much more afraid of the penalty.
At that time, the system had given him two days of poor luck; if he deliberately failed the fourth mission, he had no idea what kind of penalty he would face.
Tristan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly with his eyes closed. When he felt calmer, he said, "I won't regret it."
The two knights behind Tristan just stared at each other. They were confused as to why the king didn't respond to the woman, who was still crying and calling out to him. Too bad they couldn't help the woman because that would be the same as defying the king's orders.
"We have arrived, Your Majesty." The general pulled the reins to stop his horse as they arrived in front of a dark and deserted house.
The house was heavily guarded by soldiers. Except for the physicians, no one was allowed to enter the house. It was the king's edict to prevent people from becoming infected with the horrible sickness.
Everyone accepted the king's command because they did not want their region to become the epicenter of a terrible disease epidemic, as happened in one of the Kavar Kingdom's areas.
"They are sleeping, Your Majesty." The physician opened the door to the room a little.
An unpleasant smell came out of the room. Even though they had covered their noses with a cloth, the stench could still be smelled.
"Physician Jennifer and I gave them sedatives and sleeping pills," said Physician Joseph.
The couple slept side by side on the bed. The room relied on the moonlight that came in through the ventilation gaps, although even so, Tristan could see them clearly.
The man was t-shirtless. Meanwhile, Physician Jennifer covered the upper part of the man's wife with a white sheet of thin cloth.
The big lumps on their bodies continued to ooze pus, which smelled terrible. Their mattresses were saturated in the yellow liquid.
Tristan's nose furrowed, and his stomach wanted to throw up his lunch. He had to restrain himself from vomiting.
"Does the disease make them itchy?" Tristan asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Physician Joseph nodded. "They scratch their bodies brutally. That makes the flowing pus mix with their blood."
Physician Joseph looked at the sleeping couple with pity. "They screamed in pain. Physician Jennifer and I were struggling to stop them from scratching their bodies. Luckily, I brought sedatives and sleeping pills."
Tristan winced. He couldn't imagine the pain they were in. "How long will the sleeping pills last?"
"Three hours, Your Majesty," said Physician Joseph. "They'll wake up in two hours. We can't give them sedatives or sleeping pills all the time."
"Do whatever is best for them." Tristan looked at Physician Joseph. "I entrust them to you and Physician Jennifer."
"We will do our best, Your Majesty," Physician Joseph replied, feeling flattered and glad for the king's trust.
"Take good care of yourselves and don't let yourselves get infected."
"We were very careful, Your Majesty. We touched them with gloves and covered our noses with cloth," said the physician Joseph. He firmly believed that he and his wife would not be infected with the purulent and red-eyed disease.
It was not yet clear how the sickness spread.
The physicians speculated that they should not touch the lumps and pus without gloves, avoid looking at their red eyes, avoid smelling the terrible stench of pus for too long, and cover their noses with a thick cloth.
***
Tristan had not eaten. After seeing the lumps and pus on the 30-year-old man's body, his hunger disappeared immediately.
However, Tristan had to eat so that his stomach would not growl while he slept, and he also had to appreciate the innkeeper who had provided dinner for him and his two knights.
Tristan enjoyed his dinner and alcohol quite a bit. He was thankful that he didn't throw up every time his brain brought up the couple who had contracted the terrible disease.
The entertainment given by the innkeeper also made Tristan feel as happy while sitting there.
This was Tristan's first time eating and drinking while watching two women in provocative attire dance with their bodies writhing, teasing the males watching.
Tristan gulped the saliva. Seeing the two women dance while blinking at him and staring deeply made him forget about everything that had caused his headache for a little while.
Then his eyebrows knitted together as he studied the faces of the two women seriously. They seemed to be teenagers.
Tristan remembered Laureen. His half-sister was 11 years old, but she had a tall body. Meanwhile, the two dancing girls were short and thin. He couldn't tell how old they were.
The woman who had begged him to get her daughter out of the brothel flashed across his mind. Tristan's eyes widened.
Maybe the woman's daughter worked at this inn, or maybe one of the girls dancing to entertain him was the woman's daughter.
"Why am I thinking about something like that?" Tristan shook his head, shaking the complicated thoughts out of his mind.
He shouldn't forget that the system had given him the task of ignoring the woman. Even though he didn't get a reward, he would get a penalty if he failed.
Tristan was aware that many girls aged 12 and up were sold by their parents to pay off debts or were forced to work to support their family's finances.
It was difficult to persuade everyone in this world that girls, too, should attend school and allow their daughters to pursue their goals.
"Ah, how tired." Tristan arrived at his room, which was not as big as his room in the palace. He was not complaining, in his previous life, he was used to sleeping in cramped rooms, both in houses and in prison.
"Your Majesty, the innkeeper gave you a gift to accompany you to sleep," said the knight Aiden after he knocked on the door and the king invited him to speak. "Will you accept it?"
"Okay?" Tristan was confused as to why the innkeeper gave him a gift.
Tristan sat on the edge of the bed, and then he immediately stood up in shock as Aiden's knight opened the door to his room and a woman in a long, sleeveless light blue dress stepped into his room.
"Holy shit." Tristan swallowed. He was suddenly nervous.