CHAPTER 839: CHAPTER 839: STUCK IN A DREADFUL PLACE

Arabella knew though that not being able to see him for months again would be difficult. She was truly grateful for teleportation spells.

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The smell of burnt matter filled the air and thick smoke darkened the sky.

Yet, more fires were created everyday.

No, they had to be maintained.

They had to keep burning.

The sky had been gray in this part of Valeria for days now even without winter beginning yet.

The flora in the surroundings had dyed out. No, they had been cleared up to be burned so they won’t keep becoming nourishment for the pests.

Several territories looked desolate in a matter of days.

Ashes blown by the wind kept falling like snow everywhere.

The air was dusty and heavy with all the particles floating around.

They had been burning crops for days but they still had to keep burning more as the infectious diseases and malevolent pests grew even wilder when the crops they preyed on were gone.

Now even normal plants were infected with disease and getting ravaged by pests.

The small critters flying around and creeping up everywhere were so numerous that even a lot of knights and magicians couldn’t eradicate them all easily.

The magicians had to focus on magic barriers as well to prevent this disaster from spreading further.

Ferdinand sighed heavily as the sound of people crying in hopelessness greeted his ears again.

They had assured the people as much as they could that supplies would come from Riva.

But seeing their crops burned and the normal plants getting infected or eaten by pests as well scared the people no matter how Ferdinand and the knights tried to assure them everything will be alright.

That for now, this is what they needed to do to stop the pests and diseases from further getting out of control.

Instead of thanks or cheers, they received suspicious stares and audible murmurs of unpleasant things as the situation kept worsening despite their presence here.

Ferdinand heaved another sigh as more crying greeted his ears.

These were the times that their sharp senses did not do them well.

He and his race would have felt better without knowing what the people truly thought about all the effort and hard work they had been doing here for the sake of these territories and the neighboring ones.

Ferdinand had observed this scenery from afar repeatedly a long time ago.

But he was never directly involved with it so he simply watched from afar and observed what happened without having to do anything or having to feel anything about it.

However, this time, he was emperor of these territories so he was directly involved in it.

And as Emperor, he had to do something about this when all his skills and abilities were suppressed and forbidden to be used.

Even his knowledge of the past was something he could not tap with the magic spells that limited what he could remember and reveal.

Everything he should have been able to do to easily solve this problem was forbidden.

He had to simply make do with what was here and what could the humans of this era do.

He was from a generation long passed and he was not allowed to intervene in the challenges of the present that he could easily solve with something from the past.

If not for meeting Arabella, he would once again be hating on having to be awakened from his supposed eternal slumber only to be limited this much.

’I want to see her,’ Ferdinand could not help but miss his wife.

They hadn’t seen each other for days.

Just a smile from her and a warm hug would make this heavy feeling in his chest go away.

She had sent him a letter the other day and when he saw the kiss mark on the paper, he wanted to go home, kiss her on the lips, and hold her tight.

He kissed the same spot repeatedly and focused on her lingering scent to temporarily escape the sound of crying and murmurs about them.

He was aching to go home but he needed to stay here to keep the knights and magicians morale as high as possible in this depressing place.

The knights and magicians were getting demoralized with the heavy mood the locals have.

It was understandable for the locals to be depressed at seeing their hard work of months get burned in the end.

But all those were infected with disease anyway.

It wasn’t like they could still consume them.

Ferdinand and his men were simply here to ensure all of it was disposed of properly and ensure it did not spread further.

It would have been left rotting in the fields or served as nourishment for the pests if they were not burned.

And yet the locals were acting like Ferdinand and his men were the villains here for burning all the crops and plants in the area.

It was simply something they had to do.

They were doing their best to protect these territories but with the locals looking so depressed, it was as if all their efforts were for naught.

Most of the knights and magicians had been sleepless for days but seeing the tearstained face of the people and their unwelcoming stares made them feel even more exhausted than usual.

It made them feel useless like everything they had done was worthless since the people were still unhappy.

Thus, even if Ferdinand was aching to go home. He could not leave them here.

A lot of the knights were barely holding since he was still here with them in person instead of just going somewhere else more comfortable and just sending a knight commander here.

The magicians had also begun drinking more mana potions than recommended since their numbers were diminished for the war with Crux to be completed with the Prudencians’ safety in mind.

Thus, the magicians here were heavily overworked. And the suspicious look and unwelcoming gaze the people were giving them was not helping at all.