Chapter 181: Migration ( 31 )
Rowan was already devastated by the death of one infant and was trying his best to calm his nerves, to think rationally, so as not to act recklessly in front of his people.
He was beyond furious and deeply saddened inside.
He bottled this up behind a calm expression.
However, just when his heart was about to settle on the thought of losing one baby, two new sorrowful screams from other women reached his ears.
Rowan had been squatting as he consoled the mother.
When he heard the two screams, his eyes widened, and he stood up.
"What is happening again?" the soldiers complained; they were just as tired as Rowan.
Rowan looked around and placed the infant gently on the bed, close to the grieving mother.
"I'll be back," he said to her in a gentle voice.
He turned to Blaze; Blaze knew what to do immediately.
Both of them zoomed out of the room, heading in the direction of the voices.
Fortunately, the cries were coming from the same area, making their journey easier.
Sprinting at their peak speed, they reached the location in a matter of one minute.
There were two houses closely beside each other.
The cries came from the two houses.
Rowan moved into the closest house, opened the door, and was greeted with a scene similar to the first, with the addition of a father beside the mother, both looking really worried and dejected.
"Lord Rowan," they both greeted him with shaky voices.
"I don't know what is happening; my baby is not responding anymore," the woman tried to speak calmly, but her voice was shaky, revealing her nervousness and worries.
Rowan didn't even have to look at the child this time to tell it was dead.
"My condolences," he told the two parents with a pained expression on his face.
His words were like a bomb of reality; they dropped into the ears of the parents and exploded, igniting all their sorrowful emotions.
The mother knelt on the ground and began crying, while the man stood with wide-open eyes.
"My baby can't be dead. Just a few hours ago, he called me 'Dada' for the first time and laughed with me," said the father.
Rowan looked at him and shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but you have to realize and accept your loss. There is nothing you and I can do," he replied.
"But..."
The father tried to speak; tears were beginning to gather in his eyes.
The death of the baby he had been working hard on the farms to care for was not a reality he could accept easily.
Rowan understood just how he felt. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay with him much longer.
Thankfully, the neighbors of the couple arrived one after another, giving Rowan the chance to leave.
He left the house and went to the one beside it, where another mother and father duo were grieving the death of their baby.
Rowan was beyond angry seeing the dead babies and the grieving parents.
He wanted to lash out and unleash all his anger so badly.
But he had nothing to release it on.
He had to bottle it up.
The village would be plunged into another sad day at dawn. He had to be prepared to console his people.
"My baby is not dead!"
The new couple were just like the last, refusing to accept their fate.
Rowan didn't even have the time or mindset to console them at this point.
He only dropped the harsh bomb of reality on them and left the job of consoling to the neighbors who arrived soon after.
He left the vicinity at once, with Blaze.
Blaze noticed the unnatural calmness of his master.
As a pet, he could feel a little bit of his master's emotions, so he knew just how angry and sad he was.
At this point, in Rowan's mind, the only scene replaying was one of him torturing the bastard plunging his village into this sort of chaos.
The scene in his mind was chaotic and bloody, a deep contrast to the calmness on his face.
After leaving the vicinity of the two new deceased babies, Rowan didn't even bother strolling around the village anymore.
He went straight to his home.
He walked past a few soldiers on the road; they tried communicating with him, but Rowan didn't reply.
Rowan even sent Blaze back into the Divine Beast Plain; he gave him some E-rank monster cores before sending him away.
"Darling," Riela was awoken by Rowan's entrance.
She was very far away from the commotion, so she wasn't aware of it.
Rowan gave her a gentle smile and lay beside her. "Go back to bed."
Riela nodded gently; she adjusted her body and rested her head on his chest.
She could not detect any changes or negativity in his emotions.
She fell asleep a few minutes later.
Rowan remained awake, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.
His fists were clenched.
'When I get my hands on that bastard, even God won't be able to save him from the torment I will make him go through!' Rowan swore.
'When I am done awakening, I don't mind the pain that comes with quick leveling! I'll undergo it and endure it with all I've got in order to get stronger and capture the bastard doing this!'
Rowan made cold declarations to himself inwardly.
---
The next morning quickly arrived in Winterseed.
The gloomy news about the death of three infants during the night had already reached every ear in the village, plunging it into more sorrow.
The villagers rushed to the village square, hoping for some words from their beloved Lord Rowan.
It was only a few minutes after dawn, and the village square was already filled to the brim with worried villagers.
Gloomy looks were plastered on everyone's faces.
Even the little children wore gloomy expressions.
Topics about the deaths and the mystery surrounding them were being discussed by the villagers.
The soldiers who had been actively guarding the border at night were present; they all appeared worried.
Especially Captain Roland.
He could be seen standing with his wife.
Roland had a worried expression on his face.
The death of the babies made him more worried and concerned about his own baby.
Everything wasn't natural!
Even if his baby was perfectly healthy, given the mysterious events of unplanned deaths, dying was not impossible.
'Where is Lord Rowan?' he thought.
Even though Roland was older and naturally more emotionally mature than Rowan, he still felt the strong need for Rowan at a crucial point like this.
Clarissa, his wife, was also worried, just like every other villager.
"My baby... no!!"
"Why did this have to happen?"
"I returned home from guarding the village, only to be greeted with the corpse of my own baby! What am I living for in this world now?"
The parents of the dead infants were in the middle of the crowd, crying their hearts out.
Many villagers gathered around them, consoling them.
Some extremely emotional villagers could not help themselves and also joined the couple, beginning to cry.
The entirety of the village square was gloomy and scared.
At the entrance of the village square, Riela, unaware of the events, was shocked to see the crowd gathered there.
"What's happening?" she asked herself.
She wondered why there was no one at home on her way down here; only now did she understand the reason.
But she was curious as to why they were gathered.
She walked into the village square; she was immediately affected by the gloomy atmosphere, causing her curiosity to pique.
She succeeded in walking through the crowd and made her way to the front, where she was greeted with the corpses of three babies laid on a clean cloth on the ground, as well as the grieving parents gathered around them, weeping.
Her expression crumbled immediately as she witnessed this. What happened? she thought.
How did the babies die?
So many questions were in her mind.
She noticed one of the young ladies consoling the crying mother; she was one of her apprentices. She approached her and inquired about the situation and was greeted with the news that they all died during the night.
"Lord Rowan was at the scene? Didn't he inform you?" the young lady asked.
Riela shook her head solemnly; only now did she understand why Rowan was unnaturally gentle last night.
Just like the other villagers, she became extremely gloomy.
While everyone was gathered at the village square, grieving and awaiting the arrival of Rowan.