The room was quiet down at once. It would be more right to say that both Cassius and Anton were left speechless while Tus and Eura who were standing together with Anton from behind looked like they wanted to complain about what Lucas had done.

 

“As I said, the spirit can help me cure the demon’s curse. So we need to head to Sansa right now and control the situation. So, fa-”

 

“Wait….”

 

Lucas was cut off from speaking and he looked at his father who was having difficulty digesting the information he had gotten to him. He decided to wait and give his father some time to murmur himself.

 

“How… ?”

 

Cassius had never seen a spirit summoner. In fact, he heard about it only a few times and this made him pretty sure that spirit summoners were too uncommon to exist. Even he, himself, didn’t know how to summon one as it was said that that information was top-tier and even the king didn’t know that deeply.

 

But his youngest son in front of him was saying that he had summoned a spirit. He didn’t want to believe that the white cat which suddenly appeared from the thin air was being said to be a spirit.

 

“Do you need any proof?”

 

Alexios noticed at once that the man in front of him was confused and didn’t want to believe his existence which made him pretty uncomfortable. He didn’t like it.

 

“What about I try cutting you down and healing you again?”

 

“What did you say?”

 

“Alexios… please don’t! And father, it is true that Alexios is a true spirit. I will explain about that later when we first finish the case of the demon curse.”

 

Lucas had to stop Alexios and Cassius, worried that they both would get into a fight sooner or later if he didn’t do so. The situation would not be too good if the swordsmaster of the kingdom and healing spirit fought.

 

But he was glad when both his father and Alexios decided to stop as well, with his father being quiet and Alexios just sitting on Lucas’s lap without talking.

 

“So, let’s head to Sansa now. If it were only me, big sister Maria would never let me step into the town. By the way, where is big brother Edwin?”

 

Lucas kind of expected that Edwin was not at home because every time Lucas went back home, his brother was the one who made the largest commotion in the mansion. But the mansion was too quiet.

 

“He went out to check the nearby towns. There were some small cities being affected by the curse so he went to administer those areas…”

 

A long sigh could be heard. Lucas could see that the duke whose eyes were once frightening in the cold was no longer the once he used to be when he talked about his son and daughter.

 

Lucas understood that his father would also like to be in charge of the situation but on the other hand, there were unusual behaviors of demons in the borders and the king made the duke to take charge of that case as well, making him unable to focus properly on the case happening within the territory, going back and forth with the territories when necessary.

 

In fact, the dukedom of Evandall was not as strong as before. The dark wave from 3 years ago, and also recent demons attack in the borders, added by this demon curse. There were also some sneaky nobles who didn’t like the political power of Evandall, trying to drag down the family when it was in dire situations.

 

 It was pretty surprising that the dukedom was still having the power. Lucas could guess that his father might be struggling so much currently.

 

‘Is the Evandall cursed?’ He wondered if such disasters were coming one by one because Evandall was supposed to be doomed originally.

 

“Lucas, are you sure that you will be able to cure the curse?”

 

“Of course, father. Don’t worry.”

 

“And your mana? Will it be fine?”

 

“Yes. Alexios’s mana is also with me so all in all, it will be ok.”

“That is, if you stop using it when my mana no longer supports you and listen to what I have to say.”

 

Lucas was almost startled  when Alexios, who was staying quiet all the time, suddenly interfered with a grumpy voice, gaining the stare of Cassius to them as well.

 

After that Lucas could see his father was thinking seriously and finally, he let Lucas do what he wanted since it was the best possible solution currently.

 

“But promise me that you would stop doing it when you feel like you can’t handle anymore. I will be watching all the time and if you don’t listen to your spirit, I will bring you back here even if I have to force you.”

 

Lucas could see that Cassius was firm in this and he also promised him to do so because it would be useless if he had mana depletion and died early. He decided that he should listen to Alexios about his limits.

 

“Anton.”

 

“Yes, Duke?”

 

“Prepare us to go to Sansa. And also…”

 

Cassius looked at Tus and Eura who were beside Anton all the time, noticing that they looked somewhat unsatisfied with the situation.

 

“You are Lucas’s servants, right? Make sure he wears long sleeve shirts and gloves.”

 

“Yes, Duke.”

 

After Cassius had ordered Tus and Eura, Lucas was explained by his father about the nature of the disease and also how it could infect one another. He listened patiently even though most of the information was given by him through Walter. 

 

“Do you guys notice that we are going to cure them?”

 

Alexios murmured alone, feeling that Lucas’s ears would be filled with useless precautions. 

 

“I mean…. Even if Lucas is infected, he could just cure himself…?”

 

But unfortunately, he was not paid attention to. To Alexios, it was the first time that his dignity was hurt like this.

 

***

 

The city of Sansa was silent and noiseless, losing all the lively features that it once had. It seemed that people were too afraid to go out of the house even with the protective clothing which made the city look like a dead town.

 

There were knights, guarding around the city from here and there, checking if there were any patients, all wearing light armors which didn’t even let a part of their body to appear. Lucas was glad to see this protectiveness although he felt pity for the knights somehow.

 

Finally, they reached the place where the infected people were being kept and treated. The knight guarding the entrance was stunned when he suddenly saw the duke coming to this area personally but he didn’t forget to give a salute 

 

They had to walk more before they saw the actual area but when Lucas finally saw the temporary hospital which was built for the infected people with the curse, he was stunned for a while. It was a large area but still it was filled with patients, groaning from the suffering and some, crying in despair because of their fate. 

 

Lucas didn’t exchange letters with Walter for just a few days but he didn’t realize the situation would become worse that much. Knights, healers and priests were doing their best to help the patients and also to calm them down but their efforts didn’t make that much of a difference since people were already afraid, thinking that they would definitely die sooner or later.

 

“Ah… this atmosphere of death. I don’t like it here.”