Chapter 17 : Mask Of The Red Death – (3)

As I entered the old town of Berrington, I could smell the scent of blood vibrating from every direction, and I winced.

It was due to the plague of death brought by the vampires.

“How is it? Can you smell it?”

“The smell of blood is so overwhelming that it’s difficult to catch the scent of the vampires.”

“You’re saying it’s difficult, but not impossible.”

“Right. I’ll try.”

I am Lily’s retainer.

That means I carry some of the blood of the ancient ones.

A minor vampire’s scent is nothing that I can’t detect with focus.

“Let’s start by asking around.”

The undertaker nodded his head as if he approved of my attitude.

So, the undertaker and I walked through the old town of Berrington.

Rue and Camilla were absent.

They seemed to be preparing a separate tracking spell in the basement of the guild building.

Apparently, using magic in the streets could easily lead one to be labeled a witch, or so they said.

“I heard you beat Rue almost to death.”

Just as I was focusing on my sense of smell, the undertaker spoke up.

“Do you hate that girl?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if you hated Rue, that’s why you beat her.”

I tilted my head at his question.

“No. I simply crushed the one who started the fight. I’ve only ever fought like that since I was young, so I don’t know how to hold back in a fight.”

Just as I had advised Sophia, I always went into fights with the intention of killing the opponent.

I couldn’t survive otherwise.

More than anything, Lily was with me.

I had to protect her from harm in the heart of the lawless city.

It was a way of life I had naturally adopted.

Venom.

Perhaps that was why the priest didn’t kill me but took me to the guild.

If that’s the case, it’s better to use that to my advantage.

Breaking a leg during my initiation, smashing Rue’s face, advising Sophia—all of these actions came from that way of thinking.

“Hm. Well, if you say so, I guess it doesn’t matter,” the undertaker said, looking in the direction of the guild building.

“Right. It wouldn’t hurt for you to know this, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rue is a victim of a witch hunt.”

“…What?”

When I frowned, not understanding his sudden statement, the undertaker smiled bitterly.

“Literally a witch hunt. Rue’s family had magical talent. The problem was that they didn’t know about it, and they never officially became mages. They were just going about their everyday lives when, with just a gesture, the door opened. It was apparently some basic mana manipulation.”

So, she awakened as a mage without intending to?

I could easily predict what the undertaker would say next.

“Ordinary people fear the unknown. If you use magic, the mystery of it, there’s no telling what will happen. Her parents were the first to be burned at the stake, and Rue herself was next. Coincidentally, the guild master passed by and saw the scene, taking her into the guild.”

“…Witch hunt.”

I couldn’t not know that.

Just recently, my sister Lily was on the verge of being burned at the stake in Stormgate for the same reason—labeled as a witch.

The difference was that Lily was a vampire, while Rue was a real witch.

When I fell silent, the undertaker shrugged.

“Bottom line is, don’t be too harsh on that kid Rue. The guild master seems to want to have her team up with you in a squad.”

“Camaraderie is important, right? A hunter’s life may end without anyone knowing, but it’s better to have at least one person who will mourn your death. That’s a hunter’s way of having a funeral.”

Only then did I understand why this man was known as the undertaker.

Shared misery.

It wasn’t just Sophia who had that experience.

Luerin also had something in common with Lily.

“Lily, I miss her.”

It was a casual mutter that slipped from my lips.

“Lily? Who’s that?”

“My younger sister, whom I’ve been separated from.”

The undertaker shrugged.

“Sorry to hear that.”

He didn’t ask any further questions.

The situation in Berrington was dire.

The deeper we went into the old town, the more the acrid stench of burning filled the air. Frowning, the undertaker explained.

“That’s the smell of burning corpses.”

“Burning corpses?”

“The homeless living in the old town don’t have any family. If they leave the corpses of those who died from the plague lying around, there’s a great risk of spreading the infection. It’s more convenient to burn them as soon as they die.”

As the undertaker had said, there were corpses covered with black cloth lying in every alley, all waiting their turn to be burned.

I silently observed the scene and then cautiously asked,

“The plague… it’s the disease spread by vampires, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Are we safe?”

If it’s an infectious disease, it’s risky for both me and the undertaker, who are walking around here. This question slipped out of me. The undertaker nodded nonchalantly.

“Yeah. It’s dangerous. We’re exposed to the plague as well.”

“Then…”

“Don’t worry. The symptoms don’t appear until a few days later, and if we kill the vampire responsible for spreading the plague, it’ll naturally cure everyone in the city who’s suffering from it.”

So, if they kill the vampire responsible for the plague, they can save all the residents of the city suffering from it?

As I listened carefully to the undertaker, a thought crossed my mind.

“Wait a minute.”

“Hey, undertaker.”

“What is it?”

“The fact that the symptoms appear in a few days means that we can’t let the vampire go unpunished, right?”

“You’re sharp.”

The undertaker smiled faintly.

“We’re on borrowed time.”

I realized then that there wasn’t a single sane hunter among us.

The time left for us was just a few days.

I didn’t want to die, choking on my own blood from the plague.

I resisted the urge to continue the conversation with the undertaker and focused all my attention on trying to catch the scent of the vampire.

“Hmm…”

“…Can you smell anything?”

The undertaker crossed his arms, his brows furrowing more sharply than before.

Despite Camilla confidently claiming to have a good nose, I was still unable to detect the scent of the vampire.

“Well, I understand. It’s impossible for an ordinary human to find a vampire just by scent. Only someone at the level of a priest could do that.”

“…No, I can find it. Please, just give me a little more time.”

Feeling the pressure, I kept trying to smell it.

At that moment, I caught the scent.

It wasn’t the scent of a vampire.

In fact, it was more of a fragrance.

“Undertaker… there’s a strange scent.”

“A fragrance?”

“Flowers? Herbs? Something like that.”

“Here?”

The undertaker furrowed his brows.

The old town of Berrington was a hellhole, littered with charred corpses.

It was clearly suspicious for a flower fragrance to be wafting through such a place.

However, despite the suspicion, what greeted us at the source of the smell was a man wearing a mask.

“That’s…”

“A plague doctor.”

At the undertaker’s words, I looked at the man in front of me.

A mask resembling the head of a crow.

A cloak with frayed edges.

In his hands was a traveling bag.

From every angle, he looked like a doctor.

I had seen plague doctors in Stormgate before, but none looked as professional as the man in front of me.

It was then I realized that the source of the herb fragrance I had smelled earlier was the plague doctor’s mask.

He had filled the beak area with herbs and other medicinal plants—likely a folk remedy to prevent the plague.

“This place is dangerous. The plague is spreading.”

The voice coming from under the mask was disturbingly distorted, but there was no doubt he was concerned for us.

The undertaker, seemingly easing his suspicions, sighed deeply and spoke.

“Isn’t it dangerous for you as well? What brings you to the heart of this old town?”

At the undertaker’s question, the plague doctor nodded slightly.

“There are patients there. I couldn’t just leave them.”

A doctor walking into danger to save patients…

It’s rare to find such professional dedication in this age.

It seemed the undertaker felt a certain degree of admiration for the man.

“We’re heading to the source of the disease. Do you know anything about it?”

After a brief pause, the plague doctor spoke.

“I heard this from a patient. It seems the first infected person appeared in the old town, at the cathedral.”

“The church?”

“Yes. The priest there complained of pain and scratched the spots that appeared on his body. At first, the clergy thought it was the stigmata, but they soon realized something was wrong. He bled from all over his body, then disappeared.”

“Hm.”

After hearing the plague doctor’s story, the undertaker fell silent, then looked at me.

“Aiden, what do you think?”

“That priest is suspicious.”

“Yeah, I thought the same.”

If the plague was a disease spread by vampires, it would make sense to suspect the first infected person as the culprit.

Most importantly, the priest didn’t die—he just disappeared.

“Take us to the cathedral. I’ll pay you well.”

So, we decided to head to the cathedral.