Chapter 186: Mission Accomplished
Rhodes sent the children straight to the hospital in Manjusaka Town.
Meanwhile, Erza carried the captured Ghost to contact the local Council branch.
The doctors quickly prepared warm food for the children, treated their external injuries, and bandaged them up carefully.
Out of the fourteen children, eight showed symptoms of fever. Two of them, the brother and sister who had tried to escape but were caught, had particularly high fevers. The other four were not seriously ill, but still needed care.
After a flurry of treatment, it was already dark outside.
Even so, the children's parents rushed over as soon as they heard the news.
Parents from Poppy Town, even those who had lost their children, came carrying oil lamps, trudging through the snow to the hospital.
When the first group of parents arrived, Rhodes quietly slipped away and crouched alone in a dark corner outside the building. He was feeling afraid.
On the way back, he had learned from the children that a girl named Liz had been taken away by the black-robed cultists and never returned.
Thinking of the blood-drawn magic circle at the altar filled him with dread.
Rhodes could not bring himself to face Liz's parents.