"Bilan, Bilan, wake up, wake up..."

Bilan vaguely heard someone calling her, but she couldn't respond. At this moment, she only felt like she was in a bottomless lake and constantly sinking, sinking into the eternal darkness. 

"Bilan, wake up, please, wake up..." 

"That voice again..." 

Bilan tried hard to condense her scattering consciousness. She wanted to wake up, and she wanted to respond to this urgent call. 

Because of her willingness to answer the familiar call with all her heart, Bilan felt like she had stopped sinking farther, and her body began to float to the surface little by little, and finally, she was able to open her eyes...

"Bilan, thank god you finally woke up!" 

Bilan vaguely saw the scene in front of her, a young face weeping with joy while softly calling her name.

"Dickie..." 

Bilan squirmed her lips faintly.

Only then did she realize that she was lying on Dickie's back and was being carried forward by the boy. 

Bilan's first reaction was to ask Dickie to put herself down. However, her body was so weak that she could hardly even move her fingers. Under such circumstances, Bilan blushed and pretended not to care about it and asked in a low voice: 

"Where is this? What's wrong with me?" 

Dickie didn't notice the girl's embarrassment, and he quickly explained the current situation to Bilan: 

"We stayed in the white tower until the afternoon, then you suddenly fainted and had a high fever. In desperation, I run out of the white tower to find medicine, and then I found out that Lord Casser just led a group of soldiers to disperse the lunatic believers. But now, almost all the villages and towns around Dolez city have been infected with the disease; still, the Lord knight is helping the refugees who are not sick. So now we have gathered with refugees from three other towns and are on our way to Dolez." 

"What happened to the child..." 

Bilan immediately remembered the little boy she had rescued, so she asked Dickie a little anxiously. 

"He...was sick..." 

Hearing Dickie's vague answer, Bilan stopped talking. She already knew what the result of the child was. In Pheren, the most humane way to deal with ordinary people with infectious diseases was to isolate them in a remote area and let fate take over. 

Dickie was carrying Bilan on his back and was walking a little behind the main group. Suddenly Bilan once again realized another problem. 

"Dickie, how come I suddenly fainted?" 

Bilan was a little confused about her sudden loss of consciousness. As a fourth-level apprentice mage, her physique was definitely not as fragile as it seemed on the surface, and it was practically impossible for her to get this tired from running a little harder. 

Dickie did not answer Bilan's question for a long time. Bilan, who was lying on the boy's back, clearly felt his body trembling slightly after hearing her question. 

"Dickie..." 

"Bilan...you are also...sick"! 

Hearing Dickie's almost inaudible answer, Bilan only felt that her mind had become blank. As a professional, she should be immune to all common diseases; therefore, the first word that came to her mind was "magical disease." 

Magical disease, an extremely terrible thing! There were some truly horrible magical diseases that even powerful professionals always tried their best to avoid. 

Bilan suddenly realized that she was too close to Dickie, and thinking how she might transmit this terrible magic disease to Dickie... 

"Dickie, quickly put me down..." 

Bilan tried her best to twist her body in an attempt to come down from Dickie's back. 

"Bilan, Bilan, it's okay. It's possible that one out of a hundred people will get immunity, and I'm immune to this disease. And even if it was not the case, I won't abandon you, Bilan." 

Dickie said to Bilan in a serious tone. 

"Dickie, you...are an idiot." 

Tears came rolling down Bilan's face, so she had to turn her head to avoid Dickie's sight. 

Both of them became silent for some time. 

In order to divert her attention, Bilan, who finally calmed down, began to observe their surroundings. Now the large mob of refugees, led by a small group of soldiers, was walking towards the city of Dolez. Among the refugees, there were many old, weak, sick and disabled people. They limped and walked numbly, with confusion and despair on their faces. From time to time, the cryings of children could be heard, which made people even more anxious in this wilderness. 

"Dickie, didn't I get sick? How could I be allowed to join the refugees?" 

Bilan suddenly thought of this question. It stood to reason that her family would not be able to influence such a big event, so shouldn't the sick ones like herself be abandoned? 

"Well...Which lord's disciple are you? The Lord Knight specially ordered to bring you with everyone. This plague spread through physical contact, so as long as you stay away from the other refugees, it will be fine." 

Dickie said these words very frankly. In his opinion, it should be a matter of course to take sick people with them; because to him, it was easier to catch the sickness than to abandon the people he cared about. 

Bilan was silent. Now she suddenly realized why the expressions of those people looking toward their direction were mixed with disgust and fear. 

"In their opinion, she is a dangerous alchemy bomb, right?" 

Bilan thought with sadness. 

"And she also implicated Dickie." 

Seeing Dickie, whose sweat dripped on the grassy road but still carefully carried her on his back, Bilan felt for the first time that the boy's figure was so powerful and tall and that she was so small and weak. 

Mira and Casa, as always, slowly sank into the distant horizon, but suddenly with the setting suns, some riots erupted in the refugee group. 

Teams of soldiers quickly rushed into the group and pulled out dozens of old people with inflexible legs. 

"No...you can't do this." 

"My grandpa, grandma, where are you taking them?" 

"Stop it. What are you doing?" 

Several strong city guards were seen throwing the old people roughly on the grass-covered ground and then threatened them with spears to prevent them from returning. Sad crying could be heard amongst the refugees for a while. Seeing all these, many young people's eyes became red with anger, and some of them even were secretly planning to seize the weapons from the soldiers. 

Seeing this scene, Dickie also frowned, and just as he was planning to stop the soldiers' atrocities. 

A short officer stood up and shouted at the rioting refugees: 

"Enough, whoever is not obeying the rules, it doesn't matter who you are, I will kill them." 

The loud voice shocked the refugees. 

"It's a professional..." 

"A professional..." 

Seeing a professional, the chaotic people gradually calmed down. 

"I want to tell everyone a bad news!" 

The officer said in a heavy tone:

"The food we are carrying will be used up in three days, so within these three days, we must rush to the city of Dolez, or everyone will starve to death together, And because of this, we have to make some sacrifices unless you all want to die on this grassland." 

The words of the officer silenced the refugees, and Dickie, who was about to rush to stop the soldiers, also froze in place. 

The officer was right. The speed of these five to six thousand refugees, with the weak, sick and disabled, was definitely not comparable to that of a carriage. Generally, it took at least three days to get from a nearby town to Dolez City at the walking speed of ordinary people. But because of the old and disabled people, the speed was reduced. If nothing was done, it would take as much as one week to reach Dolez, while the amount of food was only enough for three days. 

"Dickie, there is nothing you can do. We have no other choice." 

Bilan gently covered Dickie's clenched fist with her small hands. Although she was also very uncomfortable psychologically, but she had to accept the cruel reality. 

"You are right, Bilan. We have no choice." 

Dickie gently touched Bilan's hands, indicating that he understood, then lowered his head sadly and continued to walk forward.