"HEEEEEAAAJHHHHHAHAHAHHA"
Everyone in the tavern heard a scream as loud and guttural as the roar of a beast that had been mortally wounded. A sound so horrible and animalistic that everyone in the tavern was forced to stop, even Matt, with the sharp pain from his wound, even briefly stopping his whimpering when he heard that sound.
"HEEEEAAAJHHHHHJJHHJAAAAHHA"
They heard the scream again, soon followed by the sound of a huge body falling to the ground accompanied by more screams, screams of pure pain that seemed to come straight from a person's soul.
When the knights looked towards their lord, they saw that he had gotten off the half-naked girl and was rolling/fidgeting on the floor of the tavern.
It would even be a comical sight if it weren't for the foam and blood coming out of its mouth, eyes, ears and nose, with black veins spreading every second across its big fat body.
"HEEEEAAAJHHHHHJJHHJAUUUUAAHHHAHUUA!!!!!!!!"
Another fierce roar came from the nobleman's throat, as he choked on his own saliva and blood. Everyone was static and scared, no one understood what was happening, even Constance still on the ground could appreciate the fact that she had been saved by witnessing the raw brutality of the scene in front of her.
And Matt even felt the pain of the cut and felt the blood leaving his body, he was sure that the blood was no longer flowing with such force, he could have sworn that he felt it literally frozen in his veins and refused to flow and end part of this frightening spectacle. Even though he, unlike his sister, was enjoying the nobleman's suffering a little.
A feeling shared by several of the villagers present, including Hannah.
However, this feeling was overlaid by the fear of what was unfolding in front of everyone.
No one could say for sure how long it took for the screams to stop, or how long it took them to realize that they had stopped. Maybe a few minutes, maybe hours.
But regardless of that, everyone had a common thought.
"""What just happened"""
Hannah only realized that the screams stopped thanks to the pungent smell of Matt's blood, and the slight whimper that he would utter again.
"Argh...uggh, ahh"
Hannah soon took action and took off her coat and placed it on Constance, but before she could go towards Matt again someone had already passed her.
Two men came from the entrance and as soon as they saw Hannah with Constance they headed towards the fallen young man. One was a man of medium height with a modest beard, light brown hair and a strong physique that indicated a profession that demanded a lot of the body. The other was a little bigger with a mustache, black hair with some hints of white and an average physique being strong but with a little more fat, but far from resembling the darkened corpse nearby.
These were respectively Ivan, Matt's hunter and mentor, and Gerard, Matt and Constance's father. Moments later a woman came with a basket and knelt next to Hannah and took Constance in her arms, saying words to calm the young woman while the men tried to stop Matt's bleeding, this was Agatha, the brothers' mother and the only midwife in the village. .
While some villagers were still trying to find some meaning in what had just happened, others were already leaving to call for more help, the knights were also trying to quickly find some meaning in what had just happened, having no more success than the villagers. Among them, the one who was most concentrated was the 2-star captain.
Without anyone noticing, he knelt next to his master's body, not paying attention to the young women and woman near him, and analyzed his employer's corpse as best he could.
So he can be sure of two things.
His employer was definitely dead, even if anyone could tell. He did not die a peaceful or quick death, which again everyone could imagine.
The captain was sure that his employer could have stopped screaming sooner than anyone imagined, but he was still alive and had still been tormented tremendously before he was allowed to die.
The question now was what had he died for?
Poisoned drink or food? Probably, but if that were the case, everyone would have suffered the same fate, and the chances of a small village having access to a poison that would cause this type of reaction were low, to say the least.
A disease? Possible, but much less likely, no disease would attack in this way and kill so "quickly", even if it had its origin in the decay that was slowly corroding the world.
For the captain, there was only one answer left.
"Magic"
He murmured quietly, but could still be heard by everyone in the tavern except the two men looking after young Matt. Magic was not something taken lightly, not in the kingdom, on the continent or the world. As far as the captain knew, there were just over 300 magic users spread across the known kingdoms and empires, not counting the elusive magicians, bandits and black people, but even when adding them the count would rise to just over 1,000 magic users.
This gives you an idea of how rare the presence of magicians was in a world that was slowly falling apart, and the chances of finding one of the magic users in a village in the middle of nowhere could very well be lower than the previous two.
With quick thinking, the captain was sure that it must have been some type of poison, made exclusively in this remote village, however unlikely it was, it would not be the first time that a village had a darker specialty. He then quickly got up and went in the direction of greatest suspicion in this case, drawing his sword he reached out and pulled the girl from her mother's arms.
"Answer me now!!, what kind of poison did you use?!!! How did you make my master ingest it?!!!!!"
He asked quickly and fiercely, both to the girl and all the villagers in the tavern, without a trace of the scorn from before. When the knights heard their captain's voice, by reflex they also took off theirs and assumed combat positions.
"Answerew me!!!"
The captain barked looking at all the villagers, some who still hadn't recovered from what they saw until he shouted. As none of the villagers spoke, he thought quickly and, signaling only with his eyes, the captain ordered one of his knights to set an example for the men helping the injured young man.
But before the knight could get close enough or anyone of his knights could warn him.
"AAAAHHHHHRREHHHHEEGGGHHAAHA"
The approaching knight also let out a bestial roar like the noble before, blood and foam quickly appeared, and his veins also turned black, he knelt down and continued shouting.
"AAAGGGFFFHHGFFHHHGGGWWGG"
Another knight also roared, and fell to his knees, then one more, and more, and more.
In moments the tavern, a place that should be a place of conversation, laughter, some raised voices and the occasional fight in a small village. He became the center of a cacophony of screams of pain, fear and horror.
All the knights except the captain were kneeling, hugging their bodies, prostrate or writhing on the ground.
All the captain could do was stare in disbelief at the scene, if the sight of the nobleman screaming and shaking had been a nightmare, this must be what the camps of the damned would be like in the dark kingdom of Harnom, the dark lord of death.
Slowly the screams died down, one by one, just as they had begun. Slowly a blessed silence emerged from the terrifying screams from before, much to the relief of the villagers.
But the captain, thanks to his training, had a little sharper senses than an ordinary person, and he could hear and feel what the villagers couldn't, he knew that his knights weren't dead, they just had no voice left to scream, their ropes permanently destroyed vocals.
But they still moved their lips and so he could see that they were begging, some were begging to live, others were begging for it to end, others were just begging maybe for forgiveness maybe for nothing, but in general he was sure he saw everyone begging for death.
The captain did not know when he had dropped his sword, or when he had knelt. He just looked up into space and thought of the craziest possibility he could, much crazier than exotic poisons, mysterious diseases or magic coming from natural forces.
In the only explanation of why this was happening, why his men and his lord ended up like that and none of the villagers had even uttered a peep of pain and how a young man was still alive even after a direct cut with a sword.
"A Divine Punishment"
The girl who had knocked out one of her knights said quietly, but in the silence of the tavern it could be heard with complete clarity, even by the people outside.
Yes, that was also the conclusion he reached, and just when he was about to beg for his life, the captain also felt the punishment.