Chapter 501 - Chapter 22: The Dream of Great Unity
In the end, I stayed in Primordia for three more days.
If Theresia-sama's recovery becomes faster, the number of people suffering from the plague will decrease even a little. I also made magic circles and scrolls for magic water to be sent to Sertogne. And, as I do at any facility I go to, I had them select several patients with relatively severe symptoms and cast it directly myself.
As for Lloyd-sama's senior fellow disciple, he was urged by the bishop who had come from Sertogne to have it cast on him directly, but the person himself stubbornly refused, saying he preferred to be treated the same as other patients. However, since he was clearly someone with severe symptoms, I ended up casting it anyway. As a result, his condition seemed to improve significantly, and his ears, which were almost completely deaf, became able to hear a little. Apparently, it wasn't that the organs themselves were damaged, but it turned out that he had extreme hearing loss as a result of the area around the ear holes being blocked by scabs and such. Then it's an experiment, I said, and when I cast it with all my might while covering both his ears with my hands, scab-like things came falling off, and he became able to hear reasonably well.
I also did an experiment to see if his eyesight would return with Sight, but this didn't improve, perhaps because of the lack of Black Stones, just like how lost limbs don't grow back.
"What a wonderful miracle! I have learned anew that one must not give up on anything. The Goddess is truly a wonderful person, rich in suggestions!"
Saying so, he is offering prayers to the Goddess.
Usually, it's a prayer of gratitude to the Goddess who bestowed the magic, but it's somehow different.
What does he mean by 'rich in suggestions'?
Both Sianya-san and the bishop who came from Sertogne are tilting their heads.
"Ah, did the talk jump too far? It seems that when I think too much only inside my own head, I end up being self-centered, which is no good."
In short, the fact that he became unable to hear wasn't a symptom of the illness, but rather because scabs formed inside his ears and blocked the holes.
In other words, if the scabs were cut away... just thinking about it makes my back crawl... and the holes were kept open, he wouldn't have become unable to hear. Of course, provided that no adverse effects occurred as a result of cutting away the scabs.
Since his eyes were damaged first, he apparently thought his ears were damaged too. It was only after casting the magic bestowed by the Goddess that he realized that was a mistake. That was what he meant by the Goddess's suggestion.
Rather than the Goddess's suggestion, I think it's just that humans didn't notice, but I probably shouldn't say that. In fact, there are records of extreme hearing loss as a symptom of just a disease. Unless one cuts the ear, one cannot look inside.
"Illnesses always have a cause. Whatever it may be, it should be possible to prevent and exorcise it. The reason we cannot is because our research is insufficient; we just need to overcome it through the experience of many years, decades, no, hundreds or thousands of years. For a researcher, leaving one's research results to posterity is the greatest duty."
He's saying it's no good to just cling to the miracles the Goddess gives. He's not considering personal honor or profit at all. This person is surely someone worthy of being told what I heard from the spirits.
"Um, I have friendly relations with various spirits."
"Oh. Spirits, you say. I have heard that Guillaume-sama, the first King of Sertoria, was also like that."
"According to those spirits, the cause of illnesses is extremely small living things that are invisible to the eye."
"Extremely small living things?"
"Yes. They say mold and such are also like that. Those are entering the human body."
"Hmm. The spirits' claim is that mold is a living thing, and such small living things doing bad things to the human body is what illness is, right?"
"Yes."
He bit onto that, saying it's interesting.
Just as I thought. This person isn't bound by established concepts or notions at all. He surely doesn't believe for a moment that the incantations of Church priests who strive in their duties every day are what cure illnesses.
"Then, is Anti-Sepsis magic that exorcises those small living things that do bad things?"
"Yes. To be precise, they say it beats them."
"Not just exorcising them, but it can beat them?"
"Yes. As a result, the cause of the illness is removed from the body, and it's said that one can regain their original healthy state."
"How, how!"
He's leaning forward.
He really bit onto it.
The person is a patient. It's not good to get him too excited. I should calm down here and proceed with the talk logically.
For example, mold grows on bread. Bread with mold on it isn't delicious at all even if you remove the mold, and it becomes a cause for an upset stomach. It's the same as poison. If this were a human body, the part of the human body where mold grew would change in quality and lose its original form. With athlete's foot, the skin peels off and becomes a wretched state, itching occurs, and severe cases even bleed. Athlete's foot medicine is effective because it exterminates the mold by soaking the moldy foot in medicine.
Then, what is mold?
They are just living desperately in their own way, but as a result, they have the role of returning those with life and form to the soil. Large living things die and return to the soil, plants grow thick with the nutrients obtained from the soil, animals that eat those plants grow, even larger animals eat them and grow, and eventually, they die and return to the soil. Mold lives within that large circulation. Of course, humans are the same.
Summarizing what the spirits taught me, it becomes like this.
"Then, humans contracting illnesses is also part of that circulation?"
"I think so. Carnivores hunt and eat herbivores, right? Isn't it the same as that?"
"I see. The circulation of living things... Interesting! What an interesting way of thinking!"
He got even more excited.
It's bad for a patient's body to get excited.
I soothed him, saying "there, there," and decided to go see the sea together.
He has a somewhat longing expression, but it can't be helped.
The isolation ward in Primordia has carriages for patients. It's a consideration so that people who cannot walk to the sea can also go to the top of the hill overlooking the sea. There's a dedicated coachman wearing bat waterproof clothing, but he's actually a former patient. Among those who were fully cured from relatively mild cases, those who wished to work at the facility are recruited and hired. (T/N: 'Bat waterproof clothing' refers to gear made from the hide of Giant Bats, known for its water-repellent properties.)
Regardless of plague patients, it seems many who came for treatment of just a disease wish to work at the facility because they are concerned about their appearance. The Liberator King is hiring such people by assigning them to roles such as agriculture, hunting, fishing, and working at the facility. It's currently still small in scale, but the ideal is for the facility to eventually become self-sufficient.
"It seems the Liberator King has changed after overcoming the previous war."
While being shaken by the carriage, he's asking Sianya-san.
The King of Primordia I know is his form after he had already established his reputation as the Liberator King. He looks like he wants to abdicate so badly, and even now, official events are informal.
"Since his elder brother, the predecessor, was a warrior who was not inferior to the predecessor before him, who was a hero."
He's Edward-sama's father. That blood has been firmly inherited by his son, Edward-sama.
"Originally, this land had a unique sense of independence. Since the time the ancestors of us people of Sertogne were pursued by the West Coast nations and fled the White Island, it's a national character that somehow held its ground by utilizing the steep border lines and the coast. By welcoming a king from the new group of nations on the East Coast, the land of their ancestors was secured. Therefore, there was inevitably a wall between the royal family and the powerful nobles. The predecessor and the one before him easily broke through that wall with overwhelming military force as a background, but that was something special. It would be impossible for an average king."
"Yes. Successive kings seem to have paid sufficient consideration so as not to offend the powerful nobles."
Was that so? I didn't know. Since he executed the powerful nobles who tried to defect to Engrio all at once, I thought he was a strong-arm type who takes a hardline stance. Since he had a gentle feel, I had arbitrarily thought that people are not what they seem, but it seems that was an arbitrary assumption.
"He made a great decision. Because he was able to successfully deal with those who only thought of their own profit, he became a wise ruler whose name will remain in history."
"Until then, he seemed to have been suffering quite a bit. At that time, if they had come under the rule of Engrio, the power map of the White Island would have changed significantly."
"If that had happened, Engrio's momentum would have strengthened on the White Island."
If Primordia had come under Engrio's rule, Engrio would have invaded Regnentes and then Sertoria from there. If they had been invaded from three sides including the sea, Sertoria would have been in considerable danger as well. To prevent that, they even literally crushed the border fortresses.
"However, my father... the King of Primordia says this. Even if they had come under the rule of King Seldic of Engrio as they were, the living standards of the serf class would have risen."
He apparently even says he doesn't know which would have been better. Is that why he wants to abdicate?
"Sianya-dono, how would that be?"
"..."
Sianya-san tilted her head slightly.
"King Seldic's measures will certainly raise the living standards of the general populace. However, that should also be mainly in the directly managed lands. It hasn't been thoroughly implemented as far as the great nobles who own territories in the provinces. If that political change caused by the collusion of some nobles with old-fashioned ideas had gone as the Engrio side desired, wouldn't it have been impossible to change the consciousness of those nobles?"
"That... certainly, might be so."
Sianya-san's eyes sparkled brightly.
"Isn't it? After all, the Liberator King is a magnificent king worthy of having his name carved in history."
"If the King hears those words, I'm sure he will be very happy."
"You may tell him that I said so. After all, if the political change in your country hadn't happened as it actually did, my life would have also ended. Thanks to that, I have become energetic like this, and the path to grand unity, which was a long-standing pending issue and which I thought was just a dream after all, has opened up. For the sake of the future, I must praise the Liberator King and get on his good side."
"Ufufu. I will convey those words just as they are as well."
"I'm counting on you."
The two of them are laughing.
Duke Harmonia was also like this, but people from Sertogne have a strong sense of playfulness.
During the three-day extension of our stay, I was casting Anti-Sepsis on Theresia-sama once a day. Apparently, the effect showed, and she became more energetic day by day.
The delighted Theresia-sama gave me a bag containing a considerable number of gold coins as payment for the trouble of arranging the purchase of magic water and the use of magic. I make it free for use at treatment facilities, but since Sianya-san told me to take it, I decided to accept it gratefully. There was also talk of whether to appoint me as a knight of East Liber, but it seems to have fallen through because I'm a heathen. The reasoning feels somewhat unpleasant, but since I could be satisfied with the result, I let it be.
A meeting between Lloyd-sama's senior fellow disciple and Theresia-sama also took place.
Theresia-sama had requested the meeting.
Thanks to becoming equivalent to ultra-high-level, casting Anti-Sepsis toward the patient in advance also serves as an infection control measure, but just in case, I had her wear waterproof clothing made of bat hide.
The meeting between the two began with thanks for facilitating the sale of magic water to East and West Liber, but before I knew it, it became a place for him to preach the mindset of a ruler to Theresia-sama.
To Theresia-sama, who lamented like a military person that if the damage from the plague is great, the units won't function and the war cannot be continued, he admonished her that the real problem is the mass death of free farmers and serfs, who are the agricultural workers and the foundation of the national economy.
This part probably means that she is a princess after all. For royalty and nobility in a country where the class system remains strong, they might think of serfs especially as beings that just spring up on their own.
"Since it's a duty of the citizens, it's unavoidable to increase taxes even slightly for the continuation of the war."
"No, no, you must not have such a way of thinking."
"Why is that? It's something every country is doing."
"Therefore, isn't it that no country can stand out?"
"If we don't increase taxes, we cannot strengthen the army."
"A king exists to protect the citizens. And the citizens swear loyalty to receive that protection and head to the place of death according to those instructions."
"If so, they should follow even if new taxes are imposed for the continuation of the war."
"They are following because they will be punished by the tax collectors if they don't pay the taxes. Suppose such a land is occupied by a new country. If they don't have to pay the new taxes, the people of that land will easily swear loyalty to the new king."
"Shouldn't such traitors be thoroughly punished?"
"If they know they will be thoroughly punished, they will thoroughly oppose the previous king. If that happens, the losses to the army will also be great. Why must one go through such hardship to take back what was originally their own territory?"
"Then, what should be done?"
"It's simple. It's enough if East Liber is a country that protects the lives of the people. With just that, the citizens will swear loyalty to the king and fight viewing the armies of other countries as invaders."
"By what can it be said that one protects the citizens?"
"What humans, no, all living things fear is death. Many people dying in large numbers at once. There is nothing as terrifying as this. Plagues, wars, famines—preventing such matters as much as possible through policies. If this can be done, that country can be said to be a good country that protects the people."
He seemed to be preaching the mindset of a king endlessly, but I don't know if it will be reflected in the national administration of East Liber.
However, as a representative example of a country that protects the lives of the people, the name of Sertoria was mentioned.
If the King, who does nothing but grumble during banquets, heard this, he would surely be delighted.
Class of 175 Management Scale Latest (Excluding personal assets such as cash and jewels)
・Stores: Main Store (Nakanohara, Kingdom of Sertoria), Second Store (Village near the Sertoria border in eastern Regnentes),
Third Store (Royal Capital of Sertoria), Fourth Store (the Flatlands), Temporary Store (Primordia)
・Right of Free Passage and Right of Free Commerce: Medioland, Regnentes, Finis, Northern Gram, Primordia, Engrio
・Special Border Passage Permit: Primordia
・Fields: 8 fields (including buildings with farm functions)
・Livestock: Goats, sheep, pigs, a few
・Contract Animals: 8 honeybee colonies
Chapter 20 End
This marks the end of Chapter 20.
Thank you very much for reading this far.
As is often the case with chapters without monster subjugation, the growth of bookmarks and evaluation points for this chapter was mediocre. On the other hand, I was truly happy to reach 300 bookmarks and 1000 total evaluation points on the third anniversary of the start of posting (to be precise, I was 3 days late). It gives me the motivation to continue writing despite the low-altitude flight. Thank you very much.
From this chapter, it becomes Part 5, and a part of the continent has been added to the protagonist's range of action. One thing I should mention, though it will be a spoiler, is that the development will not be... like the protagonist flying all over the continent. It's better to say she will have involvement. Therefore, in Part 5, the range in which the protagonist activities is still the White Island... and a little bit of the continent.
Now, regarding the future posting schedule, I am currently in the middle of writing Chapter 21. However, since I have a certain amount of leeway, I think I can post without taking a break. Therefore, one side story on Friday. And I intend to post the first episode on Monday after the weekend and maintain a pace of three episodes per week thereafter. I look forward to your continued support.
During the hiatus until the posting of this chapter, and during the posting period of this chapter, I received new bookmark registrations, evaluations, and likes. Thank you very much. Please continue to support the Stray Priest in the future.