44 - Quarantine Section
...There are quite a few women too, huh.
Since this is a fortress where knights are stationed, I can understand there being more men. But there were also a lot of women.
...Wasn't there something about Jean-Jacques' usual prostitutes?
I'm pretty sure that phrase was mixed into the reports I overheard at Aurelia's house.
...If the prostitutes got infected, then of course it'd spread in no time.
Alf, who knew the range of Jean-Jacques' movements, must have done well by giving orders to close the brothel, secure the prostitutes, and issue quarantine measures as soon as he noticed Jean-Jacques' infection. There are a lot of people housed in the quarantine section, but at least they've managed to prevent it from spreading through the whole city.
...As I thought, I feel like cleaning should come first.
There were traces suggesting they'd done some sort of cleaning, but whether it's a matter of the number of rooms or the reluctance to get close to the sick, it's a disaster that wouldn't even pass muster for a cleanliness-loving former Japanese person like me. There's dust visible in the corners of the rooms, and laundry is piled up in the corners as if they only wash when there's nothing left to change into.
...Ah, they just flipped the sheets over pretending to change them. That's meaningless!
The number of caretakers is overwhelmingly insufficient compared to the number of infected. They seem to have some basic concept of hygiene, but perhaps because the caretakers are mostly men from the Black Knights, all the work is sloppy and hard to watch.
...I've seen people on TV say they flip their socks inside out and wear them another day, but I never thought I'd see someone actually do it.
In Japan, that would earn you a scowl, but maybe it's different here. Or maybe their senses are numb from being too busy.
...Looking around quickly, that's it. There's a severe shortage of caretakers.
The bloody bandages not being changed, the sheets being flipped and reused, the laundry just piling up. In short, it's just a lack of people. Keeping things clean should prevent certain illnesses to some degree, but as it is, even if they can contain the disease, all they can do is wait for it to get worse.
...I'll ask Alf-san if they can increase the number of people.
The state of the quarantine section here is a problem that comes before my living habits or anything else. I wonder if Alf is still on the first floor? I head down the stairs. I look around the first floor quickly, but I don't find Alf.
...Did he already go back? He is the vice-commander, an important person after all.
I decide to peek into the room I was told to enter before going into the quarantine section, checking the entrance. Inside the room there's a simple bath, a changing screen, and the disinfectant the Sedovara Church supposedly provided. When entering the section you don't really need to, but when leaving, you have to cleanse your body with the bath and disinfectant to avoid bringing the disease outside.
"Alf-san, are you in there?"
Just in case he's changing, I call out while knocking. There's no answer from inside.
...Did he already go back?
Thinking that, I peek inside and see a single Black Knight standing in front of the door leading outside. He's keeping watch to make sure no one from the quarantine section escapes outside on their own.
"...Why are you in a place like this?"
"Huh?"
At the voice coming from behind the screen, I tilt my head and turn my whole body toward it. Standing behind the screen was Jasper, who had visited the mansion with the group in white coats the other day.
"Um, Chaspar-san"
"It's Jasper. Ja-sp-er"
"Cha-sp-er-san"
He makes me correct it several times, but I just can't say "Jasper-san." For me to pronounce it correctly, Jasper's name is a little too long.
"...Drop the 'san.' Just Jasper."
"Elders, calling by name only, no good."
"Not being able to say someone's name properly is worse, isn't it. Come on, try it."
Calling an older man I'm not close to by name only... as a former Japanese person, that's really hard for me. But since he himself said it was fine, I suppress my inner reluctance and try dropping the 'san.'
"Jasper... shan"
...Huh? Did I say it?
Well, I did stumble on 'san' as 'shan.' But calling just the name, I managed it properly.
"Jasper, Jasper... Chaspar-san"
When I got greedy and added 'san,' it went back to 'Chaspar' again.
...I wonder, is it because I try to add 'san' that I stumble?
Just to test, I try calling a name I'd never say without the honorific.
"Leonardo... shan"
...Ah, I said it. It seems like when I drop the 'san,' I can say it properly.
Feeling a little happy about this new discovery, I try repeating the names. If they're not here, there's no problem dropping the 'san.' After practicing saying Jasper and Leonardo a few times, Jasper suddenly grabbed my head.
...Ah, right. We were in the middle of a conversation.
"Jasper... shan, why, are you, here?"
"That's my line. Why are you in a place like this?"
Jasper's tone is completely different from at the mansion. I guess today he doesn't need to be deferential. I still have a strong sense of intimidation around him, but if we're just dealing with each other professionally, he seems like an easier person to get along with.
"I, helping. Quaran-tine, section, checking."
When I ask "And Chaspar-san?" he corrects me again, saying just Jasper is fine. Since he himself said it's okay, I'll gratefully take him up on it, even if it feels a bit awkward, and call him by name without honorifics.
"Me... After that, one of your servants properly reported to the church, so as a result I got sent here as collateral damage."
"Report, collateral damage?"
"You remember that old white-robed geezer who yelled at you, right? The commander was furious about that and lodged a complaint with the church. Something like 'I admire your dedication to research, but yelling at a little girl is hardly appropriate.'"
Leonardo's words, coming from someone who had provided valuable research material, were taken seriously within the Sedovara Church. Because of that, Jasper and his team, who had wanted to start researching Japanese as soon as possible, were all sent to the fortress's quarantine section. Apparently the Sedovara Church had also acknowledged that more help was needed.
...Huh? Wait a minute. So this is the number of people AFTER reinforcements?
Aren't there way too few caretakers? I mentally complain, and then I realize something.
...Alf-san, when he talked about my living habits and infection prevention... could it be?
More likely than not, the original caretakers who neglected prevention must have gotten infected with the disease. From the outside, it might look like "if you care for the infected, you'll get infected too."
...Well, of course no one would want to help care for them then.
I feel like I've found the source of this negative cycle. Judging by the sloppy work of the remaining caretakers, they'll probably catch the disease soon too.
"...Well, as far as I'm concerned, being able to see the specimens directly means it's not such a bad arrangement."
By the way, the white-robed elders who caused Jasper to have his research taken away and be sent to the quarantine section on assignment apparently just shrugged it off and are happily dissecting the bodies stored underground. To put it politely, even if it's for the study of the human body, opportunities to dissect corpses aren't that common, and a victim of a rare infectious disease is even rarer. As an ordinary person who's not a doctor, I think it's necessary, but I don't want to think about dissecting bodies.
"It was Wards' disease, right? Did you, find, anything out?"
"About how the lungs and esophagus are also covered in pox... do you want to hear that?"
"I don't, want to."
I accidentally imagine it and grab the front of my clothes around where my esophagus would be. A body covered in pox is tragic enough, but I don't even want to imagine pox covering the insides of organs.
"Wards' disease has different names in different countries and regions. Baahm cough, Himarsen disease, Genberg disease, Greenwich pox... all the same disease. Pox appears after a high fever, and the more you scratch, the more they spread. There are records suggesting that once infected, you never get infected again, but frankly, there are too few survivors to confirm."
"If you, get infected, you won't, get infected again?"
"That's just what the records say. Unfortunately, there's no way to verify."
...Come to think of it, Japan had that too. Diseases where once you got them, you'd never get them a second time.
I think I heard it from my mother when I got chickenpox in elementary school in my past life. That once you've had it, you won't get it again. I vaguely wondered back then if such diseases really existed.
...Huh? Then wouldn't that work out perfectly?
It feels like a lightbulb suddenly went off in my head. I look up to confirm my idea, and just then, Alf enters the room from the quarantine section door.
"Tina, you were here. I thought you might not want to help out here after all..."
"Alf-san, I have, a question!"
I cut off Alf's words so I don't forget what I thought of. Even a good idea is useless if it can't be carried out.
"Leonyaldo-san, said. At first, only knights, got medicine. Then, people who got better, are there?"
"...We gave medicine to the Black Knights showing early symptoms of infection, and indeed a few have recovered. They're scheduled to return to the squad after observation, but...?"
"Those people, give them to me."
"Huh?"
As Alf blinks, Jasper beside him also seems to have noticed. If those who've been infected once can never be infected again, then there should actually be a fair number of usable people in the fortress.
"People, not enough. Recovered knights, help."
Times like this, I find it frustrating that I can't speak fluently. I have to search for each word in my head, so it takes time, and my speech is halting and doesn't convey my intentions smoothly. But if I stop talking in fragments, I stumble over my words, and then it's even harder to understand.
...Conversation practice, needed! Super needed!!
Frustrated by my own lack of words, I stamp my feet impatiently, and Jasper, who seems to have noticed the same thing, adds an explanation. Once Alf understands Jasper's explanation, he acts quickly. As if he can't spare the time to disinfect himself, he leaves a message for Leonardo with the outside guard and heads back into the quarantine section. On the first floor are those who have already been given medicine and those suspected of infection. Among them, those who've been given medicine and are recovering can be used as hands.
Shifting course toward using both recovering patients and already-recovered knights, the number of caretakers doubled. With this momentum, I want to thoroughly clean the quarantine section.
...Well, a little girl like me has no persuasive power, so I'll have to explain to Alf-san or Jasper first and get them on board.
Once they agree with my opinion, the adults Alf and Jasper will give orders to other adults, thus pushing forward the reform of the quarantine section. Starting with small things, I begin cleaning, and some of the infected who still have a bit of energy help me. Maybe it's because there's no one to care for them, so they feel they have to do it themselves. There are too many things bothering me, but I lack the arm length and height. When that happens, I unhesitatingly ask the reinforced Black Knights for help. Since the Black Knights are commoners by birth, many of them are friendly. When I ask, they willingly help out.
As I was sticking my hands into everything, the Black Knights ended up taking over the work since they were faster than me. It seemed like there were enough hands for cleaning, so I turn to the piled-up laundry. According to Jasper's instructions, I should wash with soap to remove dirt, then soak in disinfectant before hanging to dry. Naturally, lacking arm strength, I put sheets, water, and soap into a tub and stomp-wash them. I've seen this washing method in TV shows and anime from my past life, but I've always wondered if it's actually effective.
...I can't help but think scrubbing on a washboard would get the dirt out better.
Lifting the hem of my dress and stomping pat-pat on the sheets, a tantalizingly attractive thigh suddenly slid into view from beside me.
"With such prim and proper stomping, even the dirt that could come off won't."
Saying "This is how you do laundry," the woman who barged in energetically started stomping. The sheets sloshed with each stomp, making it hard to even stand.
"Wahh!?"
I fall on my bottom and tumble out of the tub, and hear laughter from behind me. Looking up, a different woman from the one who barged in is standing behind me holding a large tub.
"You planning to wash all of this? Even if the sun sets, you won't be finished."
"One by, one, I wash. Someday, it'll end. Make it, clean. Disease, will heal."
The loud-voiced woman I'm meeting for the first time scares me a little, and my voice gets quieter. But I conveyed what I wanted to say. No matter how much there is, I just have to wash them one by one. If you stop washing because you can't see the end, then all that's left is dirty sheets piling up.
While I'm gesturing and trying to explain, the loud-voiced woman finishes preparing the washing. She puts several sheets into the big tub and stomp-washes them. Since my tub was taken, I prepare a smaller tub and stomp-wash the sheets one at a time. Since I'm small, it's probably faster to wash them one by one in a small tub than to wash several at once in a big tub.
As we wash side by side, the women laugh at my lisp. But unlike Leonardo, the women don't just end it at "cute lisp." They teach me nursery rhymes from this world that toddlers sing, and sing along with me.
...So this is the kind of songs children here sing to practice speaking.
Come to think of it, I've never sung lullabies with my mother in this life either, because I was embarrassed about making mistakes.
...My trouble with speaking is completely my own fault, isn't it?
I can't help but realize this, and I reflect on it internally. I really should be a bit more proactive about practicing.
...With Leonyaldo-san, even if I mess up speaking, he'll just say cute cute anyway.
Though because of my pride as an adult human, I can't honestly take "cute" as a compliment. But when Leonardo uses "cute" for me as a little girl, it's 100% a compliment. I don't need to twist it and feel uncomfortable.
As I'm absorbed in washing sheets, it seems to be getting near evening. Alf comes looking for me.
"Tina, I'll take you back now."
"Is it, already, that time?"
Alf is supposed to pick me up and drop me off, so since he's come for me, I have to stop working. As I wonder what to do about the half-washed sheets, the loud-voiced woman offers to continue.
"Little miss, aren't you from here?"
"I came, to help. At night, I have to, go back."
"Huh? You came here from outside the fortress? Were you properly told? That right now, this fortress is containing a scary disease."
I have to answer properly for this woman who looks at me with a worried face. For Alf's sake. To make it clear that he didn't trick me into coming to the quarantine section. That I came after being properly informed.
"I heard. But Alf-san, said they needed, help. So I came."
"Hmm?"
Making curious faces, the two women look at each other. Maybe it's strange that a child would willingly come to the quarantine section after hearing the explanation.
Leaving the washing to the women, I return to the room by the entrance. In the bath prepared there, I wash myself clean from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, and finally wipe my entire body with disinfectant. I remove the clothes and mask I was wearing today, which will go through tomorrow's wash. I put on the change of clothes that was prepared, put on a new mask just in case, and I'm ready to go home. Going through the back gate the same way I came, I sneak back to the lord's mansion.
The women who helped with the washing were the professional prostitute ladies.