<h4>Chapter 86: Ahheman''s Treachery</h4>
Ahheman ventured down from the special raised area after a long service. His body was soaked in sweat from the relentless penances he had been making for the past couple of days.
As he descended from the special raised area, he noticed that the entire town was deserted and chuckled to himself.
"... probably gotten the gue by now."
In truth, he had known in advance that the Red Passing wasing to Bk.
More interesting things had urred. In fact, it was Ahheman himself who had helped Leviathan unleash the Red Passing on the wilderness.
He had been in touch with the outside world for a long while.
Whether it was assisting the Leviathans in conducting clinical trials of new drugs or toxins on unwitting locals in the water, or aiding and abettingmon families in their unfair trade practices.
In exchange for Aheman''s secret supply of locals to test toxins and drugs on, the Leviathans would freely provide him with new toxins or medications, which in turn would solidify the power of the shaman.
The shaman''s authority was established by subtly administering poison to harm a target and then using the medication to cure the target to gain their trust.
Chaos and remedy.
If someone did not submit to him, he would secretly poison them and make them sick.
Not only would this poison the patient, but also their family and loved ones.
In the close-knitmunity of Bk, this was simply natural.
Only when the patient''s life seemed in danger would Ahheman intervene.
He would perform a convincing ritual, administer an elixir, and cure the patient, and their loved ones would be his devoted followers.
The man''s authority was unchallenged, and his loved ones bowed before him.
Recently, he had felt the shaman''s power waning, and he was on the verge of a crisis.
The younger ones, including the chief''s daughter, Aiyen, had never been sick or harmed, so they did not know how to respect the shaman''s authority.
This had been exacerbated by the recent arrival of the Stranger, an unwee neer from the Realm.
Youngsters would go hunting without the blessings of the shaman, and other rituals were considered unnecessary and strange.
Then came a proposition from the Leviathan family.
"I''m considering conducting arge-scale epidemic study on the water."
Ahheman swallowed hard at the words of the Leviathan''s messenger, who was cloaked in a dark shroud.
The Leviathan''s messenger provided him with the microorganism of the Red gue and its antidote.
He was to spread the gue when the time was right, and administer the antidote when necessary.
Through this trial, Leviathan hoped to control the poption of the Red and Dark Mountain locals and gather clinicopathological data to pave the way for new ventures.
By actively participating, Ahheman sought to elevate the power of the shaman in thend.
So he secretly released the Red Passing into the river and drowned countless people in it.
Now that the gue had struck and everyone was wandering in the wilderness, he would make a grand entrance, release the cure, set out to rectify what was happening, and partake in the power of a tribal leader.
Even the arrogant youths who had looked down on him would now admire him with respect and awe.
''... I''ve even infected my granddaughter, just to be sure.''
The situation was perfect: he had made his own granddaughter a gue victim to avoid suspicion that he had deliberately released the toxin and positioned himself.
This was Ahheman''s n.
As he walked to the center of town, he couldn''t help but scratch his head.
The town was mostly deserted.
The sick, their families, and friends were inherently vulnerable, searching for a ce to rest.
They had put all their faith in the ritualist, yet no one hade to greet them.
"Are they all gone already?"
Ahheman frowned. Had the gue been so severe that it had wiped out all of Bk?
That would be a problem. They should just be wiped out to the point of death. One must be alive to be a follower.
Ahheman stitched the sack containing the antidote he had received from Leviathan to his side, then quickly crossed the town square.
But the dwellings around him were deserted.
Only a frog croaked in a depleted pool on the ground.
Then.
Ahheman froze in his tracks.
Thick smoke was rising from a corner of the town.
And he could see every face he knew gathered there.
All the people of Bk were there, together.
Laughing and talking joyously, picking at stores of meat.
"????"
Ahheman''s mouth dropped open.
How? How could they be so alive, when he had surely seen them in the throes of red death just moments ago?
He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, but it changed nothing.
And the woman before him, stirring the boiling pot with a spoon, was none other than his granddaughter, Ahul!
Ahheman''s jaw dropped even further when he realized that his granddaughter waspletely healed.
He turned back to the incredible scene.
He ran into the evening glow, crossed the town boundary, and headed for the water source—the same river where he had released the Red Passing.
"... Huck, huck!"
Running like the wind, he arrived at the water source in a matter of moments and was once again horrified.
The water source, which should have been contaminated by the Red Passing, was still flowing with clear water.
The white salt shoal was still there, with carp swimming up the waterfall.
Monkeys that should have been infected and killed by the Red Passing were bouncing around in the trees, and the children of other ns who hade to catch the carp looked healthy.
There was no sign of death anywhere.
"''Absolutely no way, how... !''"
Ahheman pulled at his hair.
Then.
"Why, are you surprised to see so many of them alive?"
There was a voice that cut deep into his lungs.
He turned his head, angry.
Then, a boy appeared behind him.
Vikir. His red eyes gleamed at Ahheman.
Meanwhile.
Vikir had led Bk''s warriors here, including Aiyen and Ahun.
Aiyen remembered vividly everything Vikir had said to them.
"When the ritual ispleted, Ahheman will check on the locals, and when he sees that they are well, he will run right back here.
Since he was the one who spread the red death across the wilderness.
Vikir had heard of Ahheman''s misdeeds before his rpse.
He couldn''t recall Ahheman''s name, but he could vaguely remember that he had a contact in Bk who had spread the Red Demise, and that the contact was an old man in the shaman''s house.
"The enemy and about half of the locals of the Dark Mountains were killed then.
To satisfy his greed, Ahheman waited for the gue to reach its peak.
He nned to appear gloriously and be the savior of the entire wilderness.
But Ahheman failed.
The gue had spread uncontrobly, and most of the patients were dying in droves.
The massacre that followed was so horrific that it was recorded in the history of the realm.
It was the helpless and vulnerable civilians who were dying due to personal interests.
But the rightful use of poison and medicine is a shaman''s way of control, Ahh
eman had gone too far. And for too long.
"... What is it?"
Ahheman scowled at Vikir with wary eyes, but he said nothing.
All of Bk''s warriors had already surrounded him.
Young and old alike, they all stared at him. With deadly eyes.
It was infuriating to Ahheman, who expected to be viewed with respect.
"How did they cure the gue?"
Ahheman was speechless.
Then.
Someone stepped in front of him.
His face went white as he recognized the man.
The Night Fox, tribal leader of Bk. Aqu gazed down at Ahheman with a furious re.
She held a piece of paper, an official report that she had personally received the previous night when she went to the Realm.
"Blessed House Quovadis has dered a crusade against Fanatic Leviathan, using him of artificially creating and releasing a gue known as the Red Demise. This is a promation demanding the truth about the Red Passing."
"Is that so, and why did you send it to me... ?"
"Shaman. You find it strange, don''t you, why the gue that the Leviathans have been studying has erupted here in Depths?"
"I, I, I don''t know. I just emerged from the special raised area holding a sacrifice for theplete recovery of the n members... ."
Then Aqu raised her hand, interrupting Ahheman.
She exchanged a nce with Vikir beside her before speaking.
"No part of that. I would like to see what''s in that sack at your waist."