Work Prophet
Chapter 368 - 126: Powerful Curse

Chapter 368: Chapter 126: Powerful Curse

Rats, as one of the most detested creatures on Earth, have managed to survive to this day with increasing numbers, thanks to their astounding breeding and environmental adaptation abilities.

Being targeted by such adversaries was not a good sign.

Just as Li Yu had said, if the enemy stopped being fixated on attacking Teacup Castle and turned their attention elsewhere, it was impossible to defend the expanse of Green Field.

After all, Li Yu couldn’t equip every estate and farmland with electric fences.

However, this didn’t mean the Arias family and the Double Rest Sect were completely out of options.

It was now certain that the rats were under someone’s command, and if commands were conveyed by sound, the commander obviously couldn’t be too far from the swarm.

Hence, if they could detect the commander in time and capture them, they would be able to address the rat plague fundamentally.

Realizing this, Li Yu promptly changed his strategy.

Moreover, he mobilized the surrounding believers; he printed out snapshots of the uninvited guest from that night and posted them in all the villages.

A reward of one hundred Divine Country points was offered for reporting information, and capturing the person would yield a thousand Divine Country points, equivalent to half a red-brick house on the spot.

The only regret was that, because the person was always tightly wrapped in a cloak, the drone had not captured his face, but his build and height were accurately recorded.

As long as he appeared again, those villagers desperate for Divine Country points would surely recognize him at a glance.

However, in the days that followed, the mysterious cloaked figure and his horde of rats never resurfaced.

Instead, another uninvited guest arrived at Ireya’s castle.

"If you’re here to persuade me to donate money to that ’Life Goddess’, you might as well save your energy," the Lady said to the dust-covered Royal Family member before her.

"I can defeat your rat army once, I can defeat it a second time. If you don’t believe me, just try me. I’ll be waiting here in this castle. Just break through my defenses and those two thousand gold coins will be yours on the spot."

Miss Rabbit played a little trick; she, too, was worried about the rats running wild in Green Field, so she first used provocative words to focus Leo’s attention as much as possible on Teacup Castle, hoping to engage him in a drawn-out battle there.

But to her surprise, the latter simply shook his head and said, "I have nothing to do with those rats."

The Lady let out a sneer, "Then who was it that warned of a rat plague in Duolin City? And you certainly didn’t lack money after Duolin City was attacked. I heard that many families who previously refused to donate, sought you out afterwards to settle their debts."

"I am the Emperor’s specially appointed envoy, tasked with fundraising in the West. Certainly, I must make efficient use of all resources at my disposal to fulfill my mission. But whether you believe it or not, I am indeed not with the Life Church," Leo explained.

"Then why are you lurking around my territory instead of continuing to collect money from those frightened families?" Miss Rabbit looked the envoy up and down, "The rats have been repelled by me, you can’t possibly still fancy scamming money from me."

"Of course, I’m not that naïve," Leo said, "In fact, I gave up on getting money from you a long time ago, it’s too difficult."

The final three words from the Royal Family member were said with emotion, "As you said, there are still quite a few in the West who are scared enough by those rats to pay up, it’s easier to keep asking them for money.

"I even advised Greta to stay away from Green Field, but unfortunately she didn’t heed my advice."

"Greta?"

"Yes, the one who commanded the rats to attack your castle a few days ago."

"Ha, your fox’s tail is finally showing, and you still claimed you had no connection to that person."

"I am not very familiar with Greta, I serve His Majesty the Emperor, and she is from the Life Church, but considering the significant overlap in what we are currently doing, we indeed had a few brief conversations. Usually, it’s her who comes to me."

"About three days ago, she came to me again, wanting me to contact Prophet Merlin. That’s also why I am here now."

Leo said all this in one breath, and then licked his somewhat dry lips.

"I am, after all, a member of the Imperial Family, and I’ve come all this long way, yet you refuse to even offer me a drink. Is this how the Arias family treats its guests?"

The Lady let out a cold snort and ordered the Maid beside her, "Go pour him a cup of well water."

"Well water, are you serious?" The member of the Imperial Family widened his eyes.

However, the girl’s next words left him speechless again.

"My wine cellar was attacked by those rats a while ago, and the alcohol inside was destroyed. Now, there is only well water available, so make do with it."

Leo knew the Lady was spouting nonsense with her eyes wide open. He didn’t believe that Arias family’s wine stash could have been completely pilfered by those rats, leaving not a single barrel untouched.

But the excuse was perfect in that at least half of it was true. The attack on Teacup Castle was a fact, and Leo could not refute it, so he had no choice but to drink the well water.

After taking a couple of sips of the well water, he continued, "This time I am not here to urge for a donation, but rather to bring you money."

"You, bringing us money?" Ireya’s ears perked up, displaying a look of doubt and curiosity.

"That’s right, to be more precise, it’s Greta who has sent me to deliver the money to you." Leo held up three fingers, "She intends to pay you three thousand Gold Lions in exchange for Prophet Merlin lifting the curse."

"Curse, what curse?"

"Greta’s rat army suffered significant losses during the attack on Teacup Castle, but the greater loss actually occurred after their retreat. Especially in the past few days, the rats mysteriously started dying in large numbers," Leo explained.

"At first, Greta suspected the rats had been poisoned, but after she fed the dead rats to wild dogs, and the dogs remained unharmed, she realized her rats were under a curse – a very powerful one at that."

If Li Yu were here, he would understand what had happened.

The rat poison available on the market nowadays is mainly anticoagulants, specifically the second generation of anticoagulants. Li Yu had the Maids mix these poisons into the stored food after discovering the rats, as another means to exterminate the vermin.

Once the rats entered the castle, they feasted voraciously. However, the toxicity of this rat poison is very low and does not take effect immediately; it usually takes 2-5 days before the rats show symptoms of lethargy, thirst, slow movements, and eventually die from ruptured blood vessels.

Moreover, due to the weak toxicity, wild dogs wouldn’t show any obvious symptoms unless they ate a large amount of the dead rats.