Extra's Revenge: Reincarnated As A Slave-Chapter 74: Fall Of The Desgarron Family (Part 2)

Dreyfus Desgarron sharply opened his eyes.

He could sense something wrong.

’What’s this?’ He stared at his two hands and frowned deeply. ’What is happening?’

He could feel his body trembling.

Something was wrong with him, physically at least. It was as though maggots were invading the recesses of his flesh, but there was no such thing.

The discomfort just felt similar to that.

’Is this... Order Art?’

He quickly sat upright and examined his body.

He felt it—an incompatibility.

’It’s too faint to detect. It must have blended in with everything, even the air, but I can sense the effects on my body.’ His frown became even fiercer as he felt his heart racing.

Somehow, his body had been infected with an Order Imprint.

This was something that would very strongly affect beings of chaos like himself. After all, Nethers were made in the image of the Ancient Chaos God and were largely incompatible with Order.

Only half-breeds could balance the existence of both Order and Chaos within themselves, but even they could not have an affinity for both.

This was just how incompatible the existence of both Chaos and Order Art was.

’My body is finding trouble rejecting it, which means it has had a lot of time to seep into my existence. But for me to have only noticed at this juncture... how subtle was the influence?’

At this point, Dreyfus stared at his wife right next to him and narrowed his eyes.

Then, he touched her.

The moment he did so, he understood!

’She has also been affected! Oh no... don’t tell me!’ At this point, he jumped to his feet and hurriedly woke her up.

"Dear, what is it? Ah... what is... what is this feeling?"

It didn’t take her very long to notice the changes in her body and the grave weakness that was now assailing her.

"Don’t try using Chaos Art. It will only worsen the situation. We need to get out of here and see a physician."

Order Art infection was deadly to Nethers. If left untreated, it could prove fatal.

The opposite was also true.

This could also explain why, despite their hatred for each other, these two races maintained their lanes and didn’t cross the boundary.

It could also be the reason behind the Sunlit Order’s existence.

After all, their true Leader was an Aether, but they were the ones sent to execute the plan.

What could this mean?

The Aether backing them would be infected with the excess Chaos in the Land of Nether the moment they stepped in.

Unless they had a way to resolve this issue, they would die very quickly.

Of course, there were ways to prevent and even cure these problems. One of them was what Dreyfus and his wife, Lady Beatrice, were trying to access.

If they hurried, they could make it to a proper establishment and get the attention of a physician in time.

One could wonder why they didn’t have such treatments in their abode, but the answer was fairly obvious. Such an infection was not only incredibly rare, it could not have happened in the Noble Manor, where so many security measures and detection mechanisms existed.

Besides, Beatrice and Dreyfus were very powerful individuals, not only politically but also in Ancient MajiK.

They had even just returned from the front lines just recently.

These people were strong.

Not only would they have detected such a defect early, but they would have been able to get rid of it on their own if it was still in its early stages.

But now... It was already too late.

They required the attention of a professional.

"We need to inform Augustus of this. He could also be infected."

"You think so? That would mean we contracted the infection here. But why wouldn’t our security systems warn us?"

"Because..." Lord Dreyfus turned to his wife with a shaken expression. "The security measures have been deactivated."

"W-what?!"

The Family Head’s expression turned very grave.

Just now, he had tried to remotely observe the Desgarron Manor for any signs of infection or poisoning among the guards, but found himself unable to do so.

Why was this happening?

As Lord over the Desgarron Family, he had full access to all the facilities.

That meant he could use them any time.

It wasn’t as though his access was even being restricted. Rather, the systems themselves were unresponsive.

"Our security systems have been breached somehow. I can’t link to anything. All the areas of the buildings are blind. There is major interference... almost like..."

At this point, Dreyfus Desgarron gasped in realization.

"The entire Desgarron Manor has been infected with the Order Art. Our own symptoms are a small part of the boy as a whole. We are being attacked by the Aethers!"

This assumption was born from sound reasoning.

Although the conclusion was incorrect, Dreyfus had every reason to believe this was the case, and due to the urgent nature of their predicament, there was no time to explore other answers.

Besides, even though his deduction wasn’t spot on, it was close.

The leader of the Sunlit Order was an Aether.

How else could the Cursed Ones have gotten their hands on those gems and assaulted the manor of a Noble so brazenly.

"The Aethers? What should we do?"

Lady Beatrice began to panic, but her husband remained calm despite his own shock.

"We need to gather our forces and retreat for now. We are not in optimal condition for combat, and exerting ourselves will only worsen our condition."

"Agreed. We need to grab Augustus. Then the loyal stewards like Mariam, Fernand, Kilian, Logan and the other Head of Staff Affairs. But what of the treasure vault? We can’t leave it behind for the enemy."

"The priority is to retreat. Even if the Aethers have the upper hand, they won’t be able to breach the vault easily since it has security measures separate from the rest of the manor."

"But—"

"We can transport it remotely once we get to a safe location. My main worry is you and Augustus. Thankfully Amara is still in transit and hasn’t yet arrived."

Upon hearing this, Beatrice jumped to her feet and began to panic even more.

"W-what if they also attacked her while on the road? Right now, she is... she is..."

"All the more reason why we have to get out of here quickly." Dreyfus held the face of his wife, giving her a reassuring smile despite the sheer discomfort and weakness in his body.

"O-okay..."

"Come on! Let’s go!"

The panicky woman followed her husband as they used an Artifact to quickly teleport into Augustus’ room.

The young man was naked and was heavily mortified once he saw his parents.

However, he didn’t have time to dwell on his embarrassment once he felt strange sensations within his body.

He didn’t need his parents to explain what he was feeling since he graduated from the Academy, but he was still nearly crippled by the sudden realization.

"Come on, there’s no time!"

Dreyfus had to snap his son out of this reverie and give him orders.

"Take these. They’re Artifacts that should slow down the infection and make you feel better. We have to get Logan and the others. After, we’ll retreat."

"But why can’t we retreat now?"

"Just in case we encounter enemies on the way there, those people can serve as our protection. It’s their duty in moments like these." Beatrice quickly explained to her son, hurrying him while he dressed up.

Once he wore his trousers and nearly unbuttoned his shirt, a loud knock echoed in the door and Logan quickly burst in.

"Young Master... a-aahh... Great Lord and Great Lady of the—"

"What are you doing here?" Lord Dreyfus immediately questioned, his eyes narrowing on the mustached man’s sweaty face.

"I noticed an Aether Infection and confirmed some of the wards are already dead, having the same disease. I came to quickly check on the Young Master before informing you."

Dreyfus nodded.

The explanation made sense and satisfied him.

Unlike him and his wife, Augustud was very weak and would be more vulnerable in a situation like this.

’I fear our internal affairs could be compromised and some of our staff may have been planted by the enemy, but Logan shouldn’t be one of them...’ Dreyfus didn’t simply think this without proper reason.

Apart from Logan’s many years of service, the fact that he quickly came to check on Augustus despite also clearly suffering the infection as well, made him reliable.

’Now I just have to check if one or multiple of the others is the rat.’

"We are being invaded by Aethers. We need to gather the rest of the Chief Staff Members and retreat for now. None of us are in any condition to fight."

"I understand. If anything happens, we will surely protect you all with our lives and ensure your safety." Logan bowed with deep respect.

Dreyfus saw this and smiled.

This act made him all the more reassured.

"I trust you. Now come!"

Dreyfus Desgarron once again used his Artifacts to transport to the other rooms where he found the infected staff members.

He even helped alleviate their conditions.

This wasn’t solely out of the kindness of his heart, but also because they would be better meat shields because of it.

’My strength is rapidly shrinking. I can still use Soul Art, but only to a limited degree. It seems the infection is spreading even faster now.’ Suppressing his worry, he huddled everyone together—a total of fifteen people—and used the Artifact to teleport again.

This time, they reached a hidden chamber within the mansion, with a door that led to the far east of the manor..

"It’s the closest location to our designation." Dreyfus explained before urging everyone to hurry out of the room.

Unfortunately, the Artifact could only teleport them through the building.

This was the current state of their manor.

Utterly tragic!

"I’ve managed to spot some of the attackers. They seem to be obscuring their identities with silhouettes. A pointless venture, and rather strange of Aethers to resort to..." Dreyfus spoke while they all retreated.

He had activated new Surveillance Artifacts just for this purpose.

It was to ensure his family’s safety but also confirm the identity of the enemies. Even while running, he split his attention between the invaders and his allies.

Unfortunately for him, while he was busy with all of these things, he could not identify the enemy in their midst.

Logan... a member of the Sunlit Order.