Joachim gladly accepted Zich’s offer. In their current situation, 

they needed as much help as they could get

. On the other hand, Hans and Snoc 

were

 frightened about the epidemic, but Zich 

hit

 the back of their heads and lessened some of their fears.

“Hans, you won’t have any problems with 

your

 amount of mana! Do you think I made your training that easy? It’s the same for you, Snoc! Do you think someone who made a contract with a m

agical

 beast will die from a disease? I have never heard a contractor dying 

for

 such a stupid reason. So throw your worries away and focus on working!”

Besides everything else, Hans and Snoc had great faith in Zich

’s 

skills and training. Thus, they 

casted

 their worries aside and began to help with the work around the camp. However, the fear of contracting a disease wasn’t the only struggle workers had 

to deal with

 in an epidemic.

“Ugh…!”

Snoc groaned, seeing the corpses com

ing

 out of the village. Hans had a bit more experience than him, but 

he 

also responded similarly.

“Hm, they didn’t die peacefully.”

Zich looked down at the corpses below him. There were severe rashes and pus all over their bodies. Their eyes, which were incapable of closing, were yellow, and all the hair on their head was gone. Amputated black regions 

indicated

 that th

ose

regions

 had become rotten and 

fallen

off

. The pungent odor coming off the corpses seemed to numb his senses.

“Blaargh!”

“Ugh!”

Eventually, 

Hans and Snoc began to 

gag

, and the soldiers who brought in the corpses glanced at them. However, the soldiers didn’t say much since they had gone through a similar stage 

like

 Hans and Snoc.

“Please put this in the pit over there.”

Following the soldier’s words, Zich lifted the corpse and left Hans and Snoc alone for a while. He 

was giving

 them some time to get used to the situation.

‘Of course, if they 

stay like this

, I will kick their butts.’

For now, Zich thought it was fine to let them 

enjoy his

 generosity. Then he went to the pit while holding all the belongings and felt a faint trace of heat coming 

out

 from the hole. Inside the pit, there were ashes of scorched tree branches mixed with burnt corpses.

They were at an incineration plant. As if it was recently 

built,

 there were some fresh corpses piled on top, and Zich threw the corpse he was holding in it. A new corpse was added to the pit, and after staring at the corpses, Zich shook his head.

‘This is quite serious.’

An epidemic was already a very serious matter, but looking at the state of the corpses, the epidemic looked worse than usual. Zich headed back to the village. As soon as he stepped inside, he heard all kinds of groans and screams across the area. Doctors and priests were shouting while soldiers were running. It almost felt as if he was 

o

n the front lines of a battlefield.

“Are you a bit better now?”

After throwing up for a while, Hans and Snoc seemed better and walked towards Zich like zombies.

“S-Sorry, sir. We couldn’t hold it in no matter what…”

“This is too awful.”

“Among the villages impacted by epidemics, this one is 

definitely the worst

 one I

’ve seen

.”

Before his regression, Zich had seen places hit by

 epidemics a couple

 of times before, but this place seemed to exceed even Zich’s experience. It was a merciless environment for Hans, who had only killed monsters, and Snoc, who had just begun his journey. But unfortunately for them, Zich had no intention of letting them rest.

“

Both of you have 

rested well enough. Why don’t you help around the village now? I mean, you guys aren’t thinking such a cute thought 

like

 playing while

 I

 work, right?”

If they had even an inkling of such a thought, Zich intended to change their cute thoughts into a terrifying nightmare. Hans and Snoc shuddered

and instantly got up. Although the fear of

diseases and nasty corpses still clouded their minds, they 

were more afraid of facing

 Zich’s wrath head-on. Hans

and Snoc

 knew

 Zich’s personality

 from

 training, and they quickly moved.

After watching the

m

 help the 

closest

 people around the

m, 

Zich began to also help 

the people around him.

*     *     *

O

nce 

night fell,

 they were finally able to rest

. Some might have argued that there was no daytime or nighttime during an epidemic, but Joachim was accommodating for the three who had just started work. 

And as he was also very satisfied with their efforts, J

oachim invited the three of them to dinner. Zich accepted the offer and took Hans and Snoc to Joachim’s barrack at the designated time.

Inside the barrack, dinner was already prepared for them. As the frontline

 of a raging

 epidemic, the meal wasn’t fancy, but no one complained. Nobody in the group was so out of their senses to complain about their meals in a situation like this.

“We didn’t prepare much, but please eat a lot. If 

this is

 not enough, we will get you more.”

 Joachim said while smiling. The meal was plain but quite satisfying.

“Although I told 

the three of you

 before, I am thankful for your help. To tell you the truth, we 

needed more

 workers.”

Joachim smiled. As a smile 

appeared on

 his off-color, fatigue-stricken face, he looked more like a patient. Joachim looked so sickly that Hans and Snoc suspected that he 

might have also been 

infected.

“I don’t think we did much. I’m relieved that we were able to 

offer

 some help.”

“No, you really helped us a lot. How many people do you think are willing to come to a place like this? We are struggling to get the most important people such as doctors to come here, so it’s even rarer to find volunteers who are willing to come on their own accord.”

P

riests could 

heal cuts or external body injuries 

with their holy powers, but for matters like an epidemic, they needed doctors. Holy power didn’t work on diseases, and the priests

 currently helping out the epidemic here

 possessed medical knowledge.

“It’s because most people value their lives. By the way, the state of the corpses 

looked

 terrible. What kind of disease is it?”

Hans and Snoc stopped eating; they remembered the corpses

’

 gruesome appearances

 and lost

 their appetite

.

T

hey immedi

ately 

let go of their eating utensils. However, Zich stopped them.

“Eat. To work, you need stamina. Even if the food doesn’t go in, force 

it

down

 your th

roat 

and digest it.”

The two grabbed their eating utensils while looking teary. Then they began to unwillingly stuff food into their mouths. Joachim 

smiled bitterly

 while watching the two and responded

, 

“I don’t know. Even the doctors say that they

’ve

 never seen a disease like this. And seeing the multiple, different symptoms among the patients, they say that they think more than one disease is spreading.”

I

n a situation where he had to juggle multiple difficult 

issues

 at o

nce, Joachim’s head hurt.

“This is a

 significant

 and dangerous 

problem

. 

However,

 in comparison to 

our situation

, I feel 

that

our 

military aid and general support are lacking.”

Although 

Zich and his compan

ions had appeared out of the blue, Joachim’s soldiers welcomed them openly now because 

they were skilled helpers. 

T

h

is meant the

 place 

lacked

 human resources to such a high degree that they 

even welcomed 

mysterious strangers.

 One might think that the situation became so dire 

because 

few

 people 

volunteered

 to help, but this was an epidemic. 

With

 the slightest mishap, 

an

 epidemic could spread across the entire region and cause astronomical harm. Families in the region 

had

 little or no choice but to dispatch people by force

 like

 th

is

 troop that must have also 

been forced to move here

.

Joachim 

smiled weakly

. By that expression, Zich realized that there must be a deeper story.

“Sir!”

Somebody came in 

a hurry

.

“What is it?”

“We found a patient with new symptoms!”

Joachim’s face stiffened. He got up abruptly and walked out of the barrack. Zich, Hans, and Snoc followed him.

A couple of torches burned outside 

the

 tent and illuminated the area. Inside, they saw a couple of doctors and priests huddled around 

an infected 

person with serious expressions on their faces. The 

infected 

person’s condition was severe and unsightly; they didn’t have a rash or pus on their body or a rotting body part like the other patients. They

 were bleeding a tremendous amount of blood

. It almost seemed like they were releasing blood instead of sweat from 

the

glands

 all over their body

, and t

he clothes they were wearing were soaked with blood and stuck to the patient’s body.

Drip! Drip!

B

lood slid down the patient’s hair and dropped from the ends of their hair strands. It was difficult to 

estimate

 when 

the

 patient was brought to this place, but the floor was already wet with blood.

“This…is…”

Joachim bit his lips 

from shock

 at the patient

’s state

.

“…What happened?”

“The patient was one of the villagers 

quarantined

 in another area after receiving an assessment that they weren’t infected.”

“What about the progress of the disease?”

“Symptoms began to appear around sunset. And after that, the patient’s condition took a turn for the worst at an alarming rate and progressed until this state.”

“Um…”

Joachim became lost in thought for a short moment. Then, he immediately began to give orders.

“For now, record all of the patient’s symptoms. Then quarantine everyone who lived in the same place as the patient and burn the building they stayed in. Investigate everything—what the patient did after quarantine, who they contacted, and what they ate. Ah, and burn this place too.”

“Yes, sir!”

After receiving the command, everyone 

moved in unison. 

Zich stared proudly at Joachim who handled the situation smoothly in 

a

 short amount of time. Joachim was much weaker than 

the time

he

 had created chaos around the world with Zich. 

Some of his actions showed his inexperience

, but Zich 

was able to catch 

glimpses of Joachim’s future self. Thus, Zich began to feel a bit sentimental as he felt like he 

was meeting his

 old friend

 again.

‘Ye

p

, that’s right. 

As expected

of

 a guy who used to be my 

subordinate 

before 

I regressed

.’

After resolving the situation, Joachim approached Zich.

“Although I invited you to a meal, I couldn’t properly serve you one.”

“I’m not such a 

dunce to

 complain while knowing the situation. But is this all right?”

“Sorry?”

Zich stared at Joachim’s face. Joachim’s sickly face still looked like he was suffering from at least four to five chronic diseases, but it looked considerably worse than before. He was extremely pale. If there had been a light source around them, Joachim’s face would have reflected the light and made him look like a bodiless ghost with only a floating head.

“Your complexion looks very pale.”

“Ah, that is…”

Joachim wiped his face one time, then he looked up at the sky and let out a sigh.

“

This is

 something you will 

find out soon

 if you keep 

working

 with us, so I will just tell you in advance. This isn’t a matter related to the disease. This is something I am personally weak against.”

“What is it?”

“It’s blood.”

“Sorry?”

“Blood. I have hemophobia, and I am terrified of even a paper cut. The last patient’s condition just triggered my phobia again, and if the darkness 

hadn’t 

properly covered the patient, I would have probably fainted.”

Looking a bit ashamed and humiliated, Joachim spoke while avoiding Zich’s gaze.

‘…What?’

Zich looked at Joachim like he couldn’t believe 

him

. It wasn’t because he was looking down on Joachim. He had no intention of mocking someone for having hemophobia, but he was shocked 

that Joachim of all people would have hemophobia

.

‘Joachim Dracul has hemophobia?’

Before 

his

 regression, Joachim Dracul

 worked as one of Zich’s four subordinates by the nickname 

Vampire, and his skill was ‘Blood Domination.’