I Am The Only Witch Hunter-Chapter 372: Vibrio Cholerae

"What are we doing, Lord Satterblade?" Ruben asked.

The army had set up a commanding tent for the lords to sit in and discuss their battle plan. Siderius sat in the upper most position.

"We're waiting for them to die." Siderius said.

"How?" Another Lord spoke up.

Lord Asmon chuckled, "I think I know what he wants to do. Grey Ward is the most fortified castle in the entire north because of its geographical characteristics. We would lose a lot of men if we fought our way inside. So I suspect Lord Satterblade wants to starve them out."

Siderius nodded, "Something like that."

"But wouldn't he have prepared enough ration for months. Maybe even years? If we wait, the South would catch wind about what happened and send reinforcement. Then we'll be doomed." Another Lord spoke up.

"That's correct. But you forget one thing."

Siderius stood up and put up the map of the Grey Ward. It showed the narrow mountain range with the Grey Ward in the middle. Siderius pointed to the river flowing from above the mountain down to the range.

"Grey Ward's main water source is this. We might not be able to starve them out. Even if Arlow didn't bring enough ration, a human could survive for at least a few weeks without food. But they can't survive a few weeks without water." Siderius said.

"So you suggest we'll cut off the water source? It's a big river. It won't be easy."

"We will do no such thing. What we do is much easier. We will contaminate the water source. The water source would contaminate the land below. This will make the earth toxic and make even the wells inside the fortress become completely… Unusable."

Siderius grinned widely.

"Lord Satterblade… You scheming bastard." Lord Asmon laughed out loud. "We can definitely do that."

"There is a problem though. I suspect Grey Ward would have their own storage of water. We might need a few more weeks for it to run out." Lord Arist rubbed his chin in deep thoughts.

"They won't be able to hold onto those water reserves for long." Siderius smiled.

Under Siderius' order, his group of apprentices went to the top of the Grey Mountain.

Roland squatted down at the river bank and took out a small glass bottle.

"Master really is… ruthless." Roland said.

"What is the poison Master wants to put into the water, Rolan?" Henry said.

"Not a poison. But a bacteria called Vibrio Cholerae. It will cause a disease that makes the body discharge as much water as possible to get rid of the bacteria." Roland said.

"Is there a cure?" Ashe said.

"Not really. There is a way to lower the symptoms and stop the body from releasing too much water. But the Grey Ward definitely doesn't have that. They could only do the normal treatment. Which is to keep the body hydrated with normal water." Roland said.

"A lot of people are going to die. Even innocent people." Rea said.

"That is the cost for war."

Roland opened the bottle and poured the liquid inside the river. With only one source of water, the entire Grey Ward would soon be infected with this bacteria. They would have no other option than fight their way out. Or die within the high walls of their fortress.

The disease appeared right on the next day. A few people who used the water in the river to shower began to experience extreme diarrhea. Their waste wasn't brown, instead it had a white color like milk.

Arlow didn't pay much attention to this. Diarrhea was a very common illness and should be gone after one or two days on their own. He continued to keep his alert high and made sure his army was ready for any attack.

But Siderius didn't attack. The wait stretched to the third day. More and more soldiers started to have diarrhea. Even servants inside the castle had caught the disease.

Arlow felt that something was wrong but he didn't know what. He ordered for the patients to be isolated and to use the clean water in the wells instead of the river.

But the bacteria had already spread to the dirt. Even the water in the wells caused diarrhea amongst his subjects.

There were around 2,000 soldiers inside the castle. On the fifth day, 200 of them had caught the disease. The number went up every day and it grew exponentially.

After a week, 1,000 of the 2,000 soldiers had caught the illness and couldn't stop discharging that milky liquid from their bottom.

At the same time, Siderius had ordered the soldier to host a party not too far from the gate of the Grey Ward. They were just out of range of arrows and other artillery weapons.

On the gate of the fortress, the soldiers of Grey Ward widened their eyes as they witnessed the enemy feasted and drank all sorts of high quality food and drinks. They had wine that smelled so good even the soldiers inside the fortress could smell it. They had many campfires and roasted entire chickens and pigs upon it. The fire columns reached to the sky, delivering the alluring smell of food.

Soldiers inside the Grey Ward couldn't help but gulp involuntarily.

On the eighth day, Siderius ordered people to hold up a sign. It said, "Surrender now and you shall have food and water."

It struck into the mentality of the soldiers. More and more soldiers inside the fortress had caught the illness. Waste was everywhere. They couldn't be contained. Those non-process waste contaminated the fortress even more, causing even more people to fall sick. The vicious cycle never ended and soldiers kept finding themselves fighting the illness over and over again.

Then it began, a group of soldiers deserted from the fortress and rushed to Siderius' side and surrendered. They didn't care if he lied. Because they would die anyway.

But he didn't lie. He took them in and fed them, allowing them to feed with his soldiers at the party where the Grey Ward could see everything.

The Grey Ward was broken. More and more soldiers deserted from the fortress and switched sides. They couldn't bear the disgusting waste all over the fortress and the lack of water.

On the tenth day, most of the soldiers inside the fortress had fallen ill. The rest had deserted. Even Arlow had caught the disease himself.

Then Siderius attacked the fortress.