Wizard: I devour the stars with swarms of insects.

The next morning, the first rays of dawn filtered through the curtains into the bedroom in the lord's hall.

Holman had just woken up and was being dressed and groomed by two pretty maids.

After all, opportunities to enjoy this are not many.

Back when I was in the Wizarding Academy in the Black Forest City, as a third-class wizard apprentice, how could I possibly have the title of servant?

And... she's so young and beautiful, the most vibrant and youthful girl in her prime?

It is important to know that although in the society of secular dynasties, wizards held a high status and were respected and revered.

However, in the Black Forest City, where wizards and wizard apprentices were everywhere, he was just a low-level, ordinary third-class wizard apprentice.

Only now, after returning to the family's territory, can he assume the status of "young master" of the fiefdom as the eldest son of Earl Victoria.

Only then can one enjoy such "aristocratic" services, with warm and beautiful women attending to one another and waiting respectfully.

Just then, there was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Who is it?" Holman asked, disturbing his good mood for sleeping so early in the morning by knocking on the door.

"It is I, Master Holman, your most loyal butler, Alfred."

Alfred's voice could be heard from outside.

"What's wrong, Alfred? Is there something you need?"

Holman asked.

"Reporting to you, young master, Mr. Wayne just asked me to inform you that he has found the cause of the plague outbreak in the city and requests that you come over there."

"What?!"

Upon hearing Alfred's words, Holman immediately jumped out of bed, ran barefoot to open the door, his eyes wide with excitement, and exclaimed.

"You...you're serious?!"

......

The door to Wayne's room slammed open, and Holman rushed in, panting heavily, and grabbed the doorknob.

However, he was already filled with excitement and couldn't wait to ask.

"Junior Brother Wayne, you...you've found the cause of the plague?"

Now, the room is filled with a faint smell of medicinal powder, and there are several conical flasks and several glass test tubes on the table.

Wayne was holding a glass test tube filled with a light brown solution, which he was shaking.

Next to it was a small, burning stove.

Now, seeing Holman rushing in impatiently, he nodded slightly and said.

"Yes, Senior Brother Holman, the reason for the plague outbreak in Greyhawk Keep is none other than... it spread through the water source."

"What? A water source?"

Holman was visibly taken aback upon hearing this answer.

He then asked with some doubt.

"No, that shouldn't be the case. If it's the water source, then our family members and servants in the Lord's Hall also drink water from Greyhawk Keep, but none of them have been infected..."

"That's because the water you're using isn't from the same source."

Wayne said calmly.

Next, Wayne put down the glass test tube in his hand, put it back on the wooden shelf, and walked to the wall in front of him to the map hanging there.

Use a quill pen and bright red paint to circle certain areas on the map.

"I went to the site overnight to investigate. The reason you were not infected is because the water you were drinking came from the second ditch, so you were safe."

"Furthermore, it's not just you who are unaffected; the number of infections among all residents along this irrigation ditch is declining sharply."

"However, almost all the residents near the first canal's drinking water source have contracted drought syndrome... Brother Holman, look!"

Next, Wayne took a sketch from the table next to him and placed it on top of the map.

It was marked with some strange cylindrical bar charts.

"Junior Brother Wayne, what is this?"

Holman asked.

Then, when Wayne placed the blueprints over the map, Holman also noticed something amiss.

"This, this?!"

Upon seeing the bar chart Wayne presented and its correspondence with the locations on the map, Holman gasped in shock.

According to the bar chart statistics on the map in front of us, many of the citizens infected with drought are spread out in a straight line.

And it bypassed several streets and corners... like a terrifying plague "force" spreading and proliferating along a specific trajectory.

The towering bar charts, following this trajectory, resemble the ever-spreading death.

"It might not be very clear now, but if I mark a line on the map that almost perfectly matches this propagation trajectory... you should be able to see it, Senior Holman."

Next, Wayne used a bright red quill pen to mark a straight line on the map along the trajectory of the highest concentration of infections.

"This is... the route of the underground water pipes for the irrigation canal?!"

With his eyes fixed on the lines on the map, Holman observed them carefully for a moment, then suddenly realized what they were and blurted out.

"Yes!" Wayne said in a deep voice, "Senior Brother Holman, if you observe carefully, you will find that at certain points, the spread of the plague changes to a radial pattern, spreading outwards."

"That's because this is where some wells are located in the city!"

"Last night, I went to the site to investigate. There are a large number of citizens infected with drought disease around well number 4, as well as wells number 7 and 9 on Brodos Street. At the same time, the area around these two wells is also the most severely affected lockdown zone."

"Later, I followed the underground river channel where these three wells were located all the way to the end, and found that the area of ​​these three wells was independent of the underground river channels of the other wells and was not connected to them."

"So, the reason why your family members, servants, maids, and the like in your lord's hall haven't been infected with the plague is because the water you drink comes from a different channel."

"Furthermore, not only you, but also other citizens who drink water from this well have seen a significant decrease in the number of infections compared to those who drink water from the other well—almost less than one-tenth of the number. This is enough to show that the spread of the plague is related to the water source here!"

Wayne said with a burning gaze.

"Furthermore, in order to verify my deduction and avoid making absurd judgments blindly, I took some water from one of the wells in each of the two channels and conducted an experiment. Then, I saw the following results..."

Next, Wayne used a new glass test tube to take some water from a bucket next to him.

"This bucket contains water from the underground channel connecting those three wells..."

Then, Wayne took the glass test tube in his hand and took out some clear viscous liquid from a conical flask next to him.

I dripped it into the glass test tube in my hand and gently shook it.

A moment later, tiny, crimson-red, nematode-like creatures appeared in the glass test tube from which the water had been taken from the bucket.

They were gently swaying and swimming inside the glass test tube, seemingly full of life.

"Oh my god, this, this...?!"

Seeing the strange changes happening inside the glass test tube, Holman stood there stunned, his eyes fixed on the glass test tube in Wayne's hand.

"Junior Brother Wayne, what... what on earth is going on?!"