While the Kobolds had finally achieved some semblance of civilization within the Easteria Forest which was a part of the Ferias Territory in the Riastize Kingdom, a certain incident occurred in the Royal Capital.

Yes, as the records from the last 200 years indicated, it always started from the church.

“… Oh my, is it going to rain? That’s strange. It was so sunny just a while ago.”

It was just a little past noon, and the summer sun’s brilliant rays illuminated the lush lawn.

On such a sunny day, Ellen, a nun, was walking in the grounds from the chapel to her quarters when a raindrop-like liquid fell on her forehead.

She wiped the substance off her forehead in a casual fashion.

“Eh!? Is this… Blood?”

Surprised by the reddish-black substance on her fingers, Ellen immediately realized that it was blood.

In this era, the Holy Church healed the sick and wounded with Holy Magic to earn money via donations. Moreover, they also gained social status and power by promoting the act of saving lives.

Of course, the church congregation she belonged to was no exception, and she was used to seeing blood from performing healings.

“Blood… From the sky… It’s the Black Rain!!”

It was too late by the time Ellen realized what it was.

“Au, uaah… ah…”

Suddenly, her body became sluggish, and, losing strength, she collapsed right on the spot. Next came a high fever that consumed her mind.

“Ellen! What’s going on, are you alright!?”

“ELLEN!!”

Her fellow nuns and the deacon who noticed the oddity rushed over. 

“No, don’t come near… get inside… the building…”

She managed to squeeze out the words, but her colleagues who did not understand the situation continued to approach her. And so, the raindrops from the Black Rain fell on their heads too.

“Wha, a rain of blood… No way… Is this Alvesta’s doing!?”

“The blood got on me too… you’re kidding, right? Are… are we going to die?”

“N-NOOOO!”

The nuns and the deacon who were also rained on lost their composure. 

There was no clergyman from the Holy Church who did not know about “Alvesta of the Black Rain” after all…

This is because they are usually the first victims in the city whenever the tragedy hit. This information was something that had been shared in both the national and international network of the Church.

“Calm down, we still have not ascertained whether it is the same thing… guh, auugh!”

“Father! Uaaah… ugh…”

“Ah, ah… ugh, aah…”

The three people who were supposed to help Ellen also lost their strengths and fell to the ground as the high fever started to torment them too.

… a set of empty eyes watched them from above.

From the highest spire of the magnificent chapel in the Royal Capital, a mysterious person clad in black stood in contrast to the clear sky. Dressed in black from head-to-toe, its gender was unidentifiable as its face was covered by a white mask.

If someone were to look closely at the mask, then they would be able to see the madness lurking behind it.

However, no one had noticed them since earlier… is it because people tend to not look at the sky as they age?

“G-G-god’s…w-w-word…f-f-fools…j-j-judge”

The mysterious person in black whispered through their mask. However, there was not one soul who could hear them.

That day, more than a hundred people, including the clergymen and women, fell seriously ill at the country’s biggest church located at Selkram, the Royal Capital of the Riastize Kingdom, and reports of the emergency were brought to the Royal Castle…

……………

………

…

“Is this true… I won’t acknowledge this if your information is wrong, you know?”

“Y-yes, I will pay with my life should its contents be false! It coincides with old records where the first victims were people of the cloth, so I think the possibility is very high…”

This is no doubt a serious issue, and it would have been better if the report was wrong, but… The Court Mage, Ernesta Elballard, inwardly sighed as she received the report from her subordinate.

“Certainly, it’s not surprising that things like this would appear every once in a while. Rather, I would not be surprised that it appeared in the Royal Capital… Very well, I shall report this to my foster father.” 

“Lady Ernesta, I would like to send out a mage to immediately confirm the damage, but would it be alright?”

After thinking for a while, Ernesta gave her instructions.

“We do know that the source of the infection is the blood right? If it is really that bloodborne disease where blood spurts from the body in the end stages… Then, make sure to quarantine those who have been infected!”

“Yes!”

“Also, a gag order will be put in place, so please don’t say anything to the people involved either.”

“Understood. Then, I would like to excuse myself.”

After the mage’s subordinate bowed lightly and left the room, Ernesta threw herself on top of her desk and her beautiful silver hair spread out and glittered under the sunlight streaming in from the window.

“Out of all things to appear, it had to be Alvesta of the Seven Plagues…”

The Seven Plagues are monsters whose existences are currently classified as S-rank threats, especially those that humans consider dangerous.

Some are clearly not monsters, so it’s hard to classify them as such… but “Alvesta”, the creature spreading the sickness was known to speak the human language, so it could not be classified as a genuine monster…

If Ernesta had been an adventurer instead, then “The Tempest Witch” could have become a “Scarlet Gold” rank, which is rumored to be the highest rank that an adventurer could attain.

She could no doubt blow the Royal Castle to bits if she clad her arms in full-powered windstorms and slammed down her brass knuckle-equipped fists. 

It was obvious that her foster father would severely scold her if she did that, but…

Even if it were impossible for her to take it on alone, as the deputy court mage of the Kingdom of Riastize, if she utilizes the two hundred Magic Knights under her command, then defeating an S-ranked threat might just be possible. 

After all, the great heroes and great sages in the past had done it too. Most of them had also received support from the nation and defeated the threats with the help of their armies. 

“Ugh, how troublesome.”

However, Alvesta of the Black Rain was a particularly troublesome calamity-type threat, so she held her head in her hands.