A Flat-Chest Believer Reincarnated in a World Where Women with Small Breasts Aren't Treated as Women ~ I Ended Up with a Flat-Chested Harem. - Chapter 29

By early afternoon on the day after we left the Gustique estate, we finally arrived at our destination, Kanshura.

We pulled the horses to a stop in the plaza just past the wooden gates and carefully dismounted. My entire body was stiff and aching. I focused hard on keeping my balance as I put both feet on the ground.

Beside me, Risty also managed to dismount successfully, though she was trembling slightly as she stood.

Diagonally behind us, Kudell was collapsed on the ground. She had managed to get off the horse, but couldn’t stand upright. I was glad I had made her hand over the microscope. Steeling myself, I walked over to Kudell and offered my hand to help her up. In a weak voice, Kudell said, “I’m sorry, Lord Folca.”

The journey had been grueling. We had ridden hard from the Gustique estate, switching horses several times along the way, but unlike the horses, we couldn’t swap out our tired bodies. Everyone was exhausted.

“Mother, Lyla, are you alright?”

I called out to my mother and sister, who had been riding toward the back of the group. Both of them had successfully dismounted as well.

“I’m fine. I’m quite good with horses, you know.”

Mother smiled. From the outside, she looked as composed as ever. However, as her son, I could tell by the slightly strained pitch of her voice that she wasn’t as fine as she claimed.

“I’m perfectly fine!”

Lyla, on the other hand, seemed genuinely unfazed, smiling brightly. My sister was stronger than I thought.

But now, the real challenge lay ahead of us.

A group of men came running toward us, and I recognized the young man leading them. His distinctive dark brown hair marked him as Bondre, the eldest son of Count Rendolf.

“The esteemed members of the Gustique family! We are eternally grateful for your speedy assistance. To think you would arrive so quickly… and Lady Risty as well! Words cannot express our gratitude.”

“Lord Bondre, we are all subjects of the same king. It is only natural to help one another. Now, can you brief us on the situation?”

“Thank you, Lord Folca. Please, follow me.”

Guided by Bondre, we led our horses and walked through the town.

Even though it was the middle of the day, there were hardly any people outside. Occasionally, we would see someone drawing water from a well, but other than that, the town was eerily quiet.

Before long, we arrived at a large mansion.

“This is the residence of the Kanshura magistrate. We are using it as the base for our plague response.”

We tied the horses in the mansion’s courtyard and headed inside. Everyone entered a room that appeared to be a conference room. In the center of the room was a table with a map of the surrounding area spread out on it.

“We are deeply grateful for the assistance from the Gustique family. Now, allow me to explain the situation.”

Bondre pointed to a specific location on the map with a thin wooden pointer.

“This is Kanshura, where we are now. We’ve already seen a significant number of cases here. Based on the symptoms, the physicians believe it is Green Fever. The disease has been confirmed to respond to purification magic, but our household only has one mage capable of purification, and they ran out of mana almost immediately.”

I nodded and said, “I see.” It was good that they had confirmed the disease could be cured with purification magic.

Through research conducted at The Lab, we had discovered that purification magic selectively destroys harmful bacteria and viruses within the human body. How it decides what is harmful remains a mystery; such is the inexplicable nature of magic. Purification was effective against most diseases, though there were rare cases where it didn’t work. We suspected that in these instances, the pathogens somehow evaded the magic’s “harmful” classification.

“Have you implemented travel restrictions?”

“Yes. We’ve blocked off the main roads and issued travel bans on nearby towns and villages. The red markers on this map indicate towns and villages where cases have been confirmed.”

I studied the map. The infection had spread but was still largely confined to a specific region.

It seemed Count Rendolf’s household had acted appropriately. With proper allocation of resources, we should be able to contain the outbreak.

“How severe is the infection in each area?”

“The northern town and three nearby villages are in dire straits. The southwestern region has fewer cases. The rest of the area seems to have similar infection rates across the board. A messenger recently arrived with news that a support unit from the royal capital is heading to the southern town of Videla, so that area should be covered.”

The map included rough population estimates for each town and village. Kanshura, where we were now, had around 3,000 residents, making it the largest town affected by the outbreak. The second-largest was Videla, where the royal capital’s forces were headed.

“And what about the personnel from Count Rendolf’s household?”

“The mage who can cast purification magic is currently resting and should be able to resume working tomorrow. Most of our regular soldiers have been assigned to roadblocks and monitoring movement between towns. We have about 20 soldiers available for other tasks, and 8 magic soldiers are on standby.”

“Lord Bondre, may we incorporate those forces into our teams?”

I was confirming if it was alright for us to take command.

Since the plague outbreak was happening within Count Rendolf’s territory, technically, his household should be taking the lead. However, we couldn’t risk exposing the full extent of the Gustique family’s magical capabilities—especially my own and Risty’s mana reserves. Given that secrecy, it made sense for the Gustique family to take charge.

“Of course. Additionally, if you require additional manpower, feel free to command the townspeople as needed. I will prepare the documents to delegate the authority.”

It seemed that Bondre understood the reasons behind this arrangement and readily handed over the authority. It was a relief that things were moving quickly.

“Understood. One more thing: we need barrels and carts. Can those be prepared quickly? Anything capable of holding water would suffice, even if it’s not a traditional barrel.”

“We can have 20 or 30 barrels ready right away, along with about 10 carts.”

Perfect. The barrels were to hold “Holy Water.” As long as we had that, even regular soldiers could substitute for Holy magic users.

With the resources secured, it was time to strategize.

I began mentally allocating personnel.

“Risty and Kudell, I’ll leave this town of Kanshura to you. Mother and Lyla, please take care of the one town and five villages to the southwest. Benit and Lazdam, you both head to the village east of here. As for the others…”

I assigned each task and their respective guards.

“Send regular soldiers with ‘Holy Water’ to the many small settlements. I’ll go to the northern town and three villages where the situation is worse. I’ll only need Rita as my guard.”

The northern region had the highest concentration of patients, so naturally, I would handle it with my large mana reserves. Risty, with her similarly high mana, would stay in Kanshura, which had the largest population. The southwestern region was more spread out but had fewer patients, making it suitable for Mother and Lyla, who could use death magic to disinfect large areas and Holy Water to handle the actual healing. It was a solid plan.

Everyone nodded in agreement. There didn’t seem to be any objections.

“Alright, let’s begin immediately.”