Reincarnated as the mother of an otome game's villainess?!

Chapter 36. La Voz Dormida.

(From Rosanne)

Erzi approached us, followed by her husband.

—Rosanne, Maxwell, I recognize your souls. I would like to have heard what you have to say before making a statement to everyone else, but the information seemed to have already spread quite a lot. Could you please tell everyone about your findings?

—I am not a lecturer, but I'll try to explain it as best as I can —Maxwell said, turning towards the crowd—, Good evening, I am Maxwell Conrad, I have been supervising the operations at the improvised hospital, dealing with those affected with the disease that suddenly spread through our country. The treatments we have been using have been effective so far, but only to slow down the progress of the symptoms. We don't have a cure, and every day, we get more and more people afflicted by it. If the situation continues as it is, we'll be overrun in less than two weeks.

When the doctor finished, nobody spoke. The tension could be felt in the air, and even the temperature seemed to have lowered considerably.

—There is one hope, though. We need to find a certain person, a young girl, who is the key to cure this sickness for good. All we know about her is that she is about 5 years old, with blond hair. Up until now, her whereabouts were completely unknown, but we have figured that she is living near one of the radio towers that are currently being built in the northern territories. We need to send a search party to each one of them.

One of the nobles, a minister I think, raised his hand.

—Your Highness, how sure can we be of this information?

Erzi took a look at me and smiled.

—I will bet my life on it. Consider what you just heard as my own words.

—In that case —a soldier spoke— I will assign my best men to this task. I am afraid I can't take too many out of their current duties, as they are already helping care for the afflicted. How many towers do we need to check?

—There are nine being currently built, with three more that were recently finished. There is yet another, but this one was finished almost half a year ago, so I don't think we need to consider that one as a priority target.

—To be able to find her fast, we would need to look at those twelve objectives at the same time. I think I will be able to spare three to four soldiers for each one.

—The adventure guild will support you, dear —a woman spoke with bravado—, we might only be able to find two or three adventurers capable enough for each group, though.

—Th-the merchant guild will provide transport and provisions —a short man said nervously.

In turn, the rest of the people gathered there also offered to help. I was very moved by seeing everyone pitching up to help without expecting anything in return. However, when it was the turn of the cardinal to speak, I felt a chill run through my spine.

—The kid is said to be the saintess, so she will have divine energy within her —they said, with a voice so gentle it didn't sound human— We can sense this power, so we will accompany your groups and help you find it faster.

I didn't feel any bad intention in their words, but I had a bad feeling about it. I tried to convince myself it was just my own bias, and didn't say anything. Everyone else continued to discuss the details of this massive expedition, while I tried to blend with the wall. The northern territories were considerably far away, they would need to depart as soon as possible. Moreover, they were in high terrain, the rivers became too shallow and sparse to travel through them. At least part of the travel would have to be done in land carriages. After about half an hour, everyone but their Highnesses, Maxwell, and I, had left to fulfill their part of the preparations.