The entire Kingdom of Megaris was celebrating the birth of their prince. The previous King and Queen, who were leisurely traveling in a nearby territory of a family friend, returned to the capital as soon as they heard the news to see their grandchild, the next heir of Ivanovs. There was a grand naming ceremony for the little prince, and all the nobles and important personages of the kingdom were invited.

As wished by Lady Clarisa, King Theron personally named his son.

Prince Keiren Ivanov, the direct descendant of the King and the only heir of the Kingdom of Megaris.

For an entire month, the people of the kingdom were in a festive mood, and even the travelers and the merchants from outside could feel the happiness of the locals whenever they were doing trade with the kingdom… but it was not going to last long. A disaster was on its way towards Megaris to disturb its current peace and put the strong kingdom through hell.

Months passed by…

The unusually hot summer would be ending, and the Kingdom of Megaris would be welcoming the beautiful season of autumn. However, none of those in the palace could appreciate the cooler temperature nor the lovely sight of falling leaves on the pavement.

Inside the Grand Palace, King Theron was sitting on the throne with a frown on his face as he listened to the report being read aloud by his aide. He wasn’t the only one frowning. The members of the royal court also had terrible expressions on their faces as they talked about the issues of the kingdom among themselves.

“You are saying that the ships that sailed with the grain from Othinia went missing? Again?”

The one in charge of the trade sighed. “Indeed. This is the third time in a row. Since last month, none of the trading ships were able to arrive in Blackhelm, and the investigation team dispatched returned last night. From the statements of the surviving sailors, the ships were reportedly destroyed by the new whirlpools that appeared on the sea route.”

The Minister of Treasury shook his head. “We have already sent payment on this, and we can no longer afford to buy more in preparation for food stocked for winter. We are still low on budget after the massive spending we made to protect the borders from Thevailes and rebuild the destroyed forts and towns in the west three years ago.”

“The problem was that summer was especially terrible this year, and there was a drought in the South. Many of the rivers are drying up, and even the wells from the villages only turn out sand instead of water. The crops being locally grown in Megaris wouldn’t be enough to feed a city, much less the entire kingdom. We would have to rely on the land trade we have with Griven and Abetha.”

“Abetha won’t be trading with us because they’re withholding supplies for their impending war with Hatha.”

“Then, Griven?”

“We already communicated with their Minister of Foreign Affairs, and we are trying to establish policies to entice more Griven merchants to come, but due to the plague in the south-eastern border, these merchants are getting afraid to cross borders even if the stored grains they have begin to rot on their own.”

“Tsk. I cannot blame them since it’s a strange pandemic. Even the elite scholars and physicians we sent over were unable to find the cause, and they could not find a cure as a result. At most, they could only prevent the symptoms from worsening. Three cities and dozens of towns are already abandoned, and the scared citizens are fleeing eastward, to be more precise, many are heading here to the capital.”

“Oh no, we have to stop them and quarantine them! What if the plague enters the capital? The citizens here would suffer and die! Thousands of deaths were already listed in the official reports from the affected territory lords of the South and West. If we allow them to enter—”

King Theron had a heavy expression on his exhausted face.

Whirlpools, plague, drought…

These were natural disasters that could not be prevented, their aftereffects only addressed so that the damage would be kept at the minimum. If there were pirates and sea robbers, he could send an army to purge them, and if there were only poor harvests, he could simply open the kingdom treasury and buy food supplies elsewhere to distribute to the affected area.

However, he was helpless when none of the measures being taken seemed to be working.

People were dying due to the strange plague and the lack of water, and to make things worse, the entire kingdom would probably experience a food shortage .

King Theron could only massage his forehead. “Order all the territory lords and the nobles from the rank of Count and above to convene in the palace within three days. We will have an assembly to discuss how to address these problems.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

However, human effort proved to be useless. Not even a week after the assembly, people living in Blackhelm started to fall sick without a reason. Despite the measures taken to stop the plague, it still spread to the North and West, even reaching the capital city of Megaris. King Theron tried his best to handle the situation but there seemed to be nothing more he could do when even the physicians found themselves dying from the disease they were trying to cure.

The royal palace soon had to open their storehouses to distribute food and supplies to the inhabitants of the city. However, due to the number of refugees exceeding estimates, the order and security within the city started to fall.

Even the sheltered royals living in the palace could see with their own eyes the effect of the drought. At first, they realized that the water level of the palace lake was falling. It didn’t even take a month for it to completely dry up, leaving only muddy pools of water at the bottom. The fishes and other aquatic animals were dead already. Even the water on the grand river where the port of Blackhelm was located was considerably low, causing many of the large ships to be unable to sail.

It was a scarcity of water which never happened in this kingdom since it was founded.

Seeing her husband tormented by these issues even at night, Esther was also troubled with worry. She couldn’t understand what was happening in her kingdom.

“Your Majesty, King Theron had gone to see his parents. The old king is not doing well,” Lady Tyra informed her. “King Esteban seems to have caught the plague, though it was still in its infant stages.”

Esther nodded and said with a frown, “This is not just a natural disaster, Tyra. There is something more to this.”

“What do you mean, Your Majesty?”

“Didn’t you feel anything different?” Esther asked.

Lady Tyra went silent for several seconds.  “I did, as if there was some unknown force around but I couldn’t understand what it was,” Lady Tyra replied.

“Everyone looks affected but us two,” Esther commented and the reason was obvious that these two were not any ordinary humans.

“Today, I heard Prince Keiren had a fever,” Lady Tyra said.

Not waiting for a moment, Esther spoke, “Shift to my bedchamber. I will try to keep it safe from whatever it is.”

“I have received your order, Your Majesty.”

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