Episode 20. The Plague God (2)
“Plague? You mean she caught the plague?”
“That’s what they say. I saw Lord Gebel drawing a golden barrier.”
The fact that the inquisitor who had entered the monastery had caught the plague became known quickly. There was no need to say anything; Gebel was already drawing a golden barrier to block passage, and Yebuhareu was preparing a prayer ceremony to treat the plague.
Preparing a prayer ceremony to treat the plague might have sounded like nonsense to a modern person. But in this era, it was a given, and even the most effective treatment method.
However, the one who had spread the plague within the monastery had been preparing for a very long time. It was doubtful whether prayers would even work.
Because Yebuhareu had kept this fact in mind, he was preparing bloodletting treatment. The monks had also prepared their own countermeasures against the plague. Those countermeasures amounted to rubbing dried herbs on the face or tying chicken feet to a string and hanging them around the neck, but still.
In fact, most of these acts had nothing to do with the Codex of Light, so one could see that even deeply devout monks were unconsciously influenced by superstition.
But there was one thing Aijak could not accept.
“……All the leeches died?”
“Yes.”
Yebuhareu, who had been performing bloodletting treatment on Isolde, was bewildered. Over the past few days, they had drained blood in the first stage, and when trying to treat again in the second stage, all the leeches had died.
In the monastery’s basement, they had been raising medicinal leeches in a water tank for such cases. But those leeches had all disappeared, and in their place, only black water sloshed about.
“How did this happen?”
Unable to say honestly, ‘The tentacles ate them all,’ Aijak decided to roughly make something up.
“I put the leeches that had fed on the bloodletting into the container, and overnight they all melted away and disappeared. Perhaps it’s because of the plague? Wolves and bears catch it too, so it’s not like leeches are immune.”
Surprisingly, this excuse worked. By the biological common sense of this era, leeches were something closer to liquid than animals. In fact, what was in the water container was dregs made by grinding up a few leeches that the tentacles had mostly eaten and absorbed the plague.
[You have devoured the ‘leech’.]
[Through the ‘Predation’ privilege, blood absorption efficiency increases.]
[Stamina recovery ability increases slightly.]
He had obtained an unwanted and unexpected Predation privilege, but since leeches digested quickly, it didn’t seem like it would help much.
Yebuhareu groaned at the news that all the leeches were dead.
“It’s hard to go find leeches in the middle of winter…… Should I draw blood directly?”
‘No, these people are really……’
Before Yebuhareu could do anything crazy with his quack medical knowledge, Aijak quickly stepped forward.
“Abbbott, may I help a little?”
Yebuhareu looked at Aijak with a puzzled expression.
“You?”
“Yes. Actually, I have read some foreign medical texts before. Lord Gebel and I will handle the basic nursing and menial tasks, so it would be better for you monks and the Abbot to focus on the prayer ceremony instead of worrying about bothersome matters.”
It was a simple division of roles.
It would only be a hindrance if the monks tried to treat the patients. But since the prayer ceremony was not without effect, they only needed to devote themselves to that.
Aijak intended to focus on disinfection and treatment, which fell under ‘menial tasks.’
Yebuhareu stared at Aijak for a moment, then soon nodded.
It was an era where holding a saint’s hand once was believed to have a higher chance of cure than receiving a doctor’s diagnosis. And in this era where miracles existed, such a belief wasn’t necessarily wrong.
The plague was already spreading slowly among the monks. The children had been isolated to avoid infection, and even Gebel was beginning to show symptoms of the plague.
But Aijak, who had personally carried Isolde here, hadn’t so much as coughed, let alone caught the plague.
Thinking that it might not be because he trusted Aijak’s knowledge, but rather because Aijak had divine protection, Yebuhareu permitted his actions.
“Very well. We shall devote ourselves to prayer, so we leave this in your hands.”
***
Aijak immediately began quarantine measures.
First, Gebel, who could be considered a close contact, was isolated in his own room. It was a natural measure, as Gebel was actually beginning to show early symptoms of the plague. And all of Isolde’s belongings, the core source of the plague, were gathered and completely burned.
When the monks worried about burning an inquisitor’s clothes, Aijak explained calmly.
“It is a measure to purify the plague with fire.”
The plausible words convinced the monks as well. They burned everything else that might carry the plague.
Fortunately, the monks gladly followed the words of Aijak, who was only sixteen.
There was reason behind Aijak’s actions, and though vague, they also aligned with traditional superstitions.
‘So they don’t have zero concept of epidemic prevention.’
Just the fact that they isolated people showed they at least had the concept of avoiding an area when plague broke out.
Aijak additionally made them wash their hands before every meal, and adjusted the monks’ robes so they could cover up to their noses. It couldn’t replace masks, but at least it could prevent spit from flying everywhere.
“You want us to separate the prayer ceremony locations?”
“Yes.”
Aijak went so far as to interfere even with the prayer ceremony. Rather than everyone gathering in one place to pray, he requested that they divide the ceremony between those showing plague symptoms and those who were not.
In an era where it was common sense for patients and caregivers to travel the country together on pilgrimage to find a statue of a saint with healing powers, separating the prayer location seemed like something the monks would reject. He had intended to turn the chapel, where prayers took place almost twenty-four hours a day, into an isolation facility.
“There is no reason a prayer ceremony must take place only in a cramped corner. If one follows the logic of the Codex of Light, it is right for healthy people to raise clearer voices under the sun.”
The symbol of the Codex of Light church was the sun. So was it right to mutter prayers in a corner while entreating the Codex of Light?
Aijak spoke in a tone of reproach.
It was an arbitrary interpretation, but Yebuhareu also deemed it correct.
“Very well. We shall do so.”
Fortunately, Yebuhareu and the other monks followed his words willingly.
It was partly due to the fact that he had no symptoms despite being in closest contact with Isolde, and partly due to the mysterious charm Aijak himself possessed.
Moreover, having already built trust with Aijak, they had no reason not to listen to his earnest requests.
‘Please, let this method work.’
In fact, the monastery was already a massive isolation ward now that the plague had spread. Under these circumstances, burning belongings or isolating people might have been meaningless. But he hoped that simply separating patients by symptoms and being mindful of cleanliness would have some effect.
Fortunately, Aijak’s measures were yielding some results.
Before Aijak implemented quarantine measures, the plague had been spreading rapidly among the monks.
But once Aijak took action, the number of new infections decreased, and the worsening of symptoms slowed as well.
‘It’s only temporary.’
If Yebuhareu’s prayer ceremony proved effective, they might be able to drive out the plague. But before that, some might die or suffer severe aftereffects.
To solve the problem, they had to eliminate the root cause.
***
Isolde was still unconscious, groaning in pain.
Aijak examined her condition. Her affected areas were still full of blisters and gangrenous wounds. He wondered if they needed to be amputated, but it was a difficult method given her weakened state.
It was thanks to the healing prayer ceremony that she was even holding on.
The prayer ceremony was certainly boosting Isolde’s healing power. However, it wasn’t enough to cure the plague. All Aijak could do was stop the bloodletting treatment; the rest had to be left to prayer.
‘This isn’t good.’
He had heard that Gebel and the other monks were the same. The prayer ceremony was preventing death from infection, but it couldn’t prevent the infection itself. The quarantine measures Aijak was implementing were also only temporary; if the fatigue dragged on, the plague could spread again.
If more and more people caught the plague, the prayer ceremony wouldn’t be able to exert its power properly either.
‘I wish the Codex of Light would just throw down some power and cure everyone before then.’
This was a world with magic, gods, and miracles; how hard could it be? The problem was whether the patients, especially that heretic inquisitor Isolde, could hold out until they were purified.
He couldn’t rely on miracles.
What Aijak had to do was not pray, but act.
After checking that there was no one around, Aijak drew out his tentacles. The squirming tentacles crawled over Isolde’s body.
‘This feels strange.’
He did feel like he was doing something he shouldn’t, but it was necessary.
The tentacles began scanning Isolde’s affected areas. Countless teeth quickly gouged and devoured the rotten parts, the gangrenous wounds, and the blisters. It was a method of removing only the parts harmful to the body.
Though Aijak had decided never to eat humans no matter what, this was on a微妙 borderline.
‘So it’s like a kind of bloodletting with leeches, right?’
Aijak shook his head at the thought that he was performing the bloodletting treatment he had considered so stupid. Each time a plague-infected part fell away from Isolde, she twitched and trembled.
Shortly after, bright red blood flowed from Isolde’s wounds, but the infected parts were gone. Unable to obtain medicinal alcohol or disinfectant, this was the best measure available.
There, Aijak utilized the Predation privilege of the leech once more.
[Through the ‘Predation’ privilege, blood absorption efficiency increases.]
[Stamina recovery ability increases slightly.]
The tentacles gushed fluid, covering Isolde’s wound. It was made from having consumed her blood and flesh. Though a temporary measure, the fluid imbued with recovery ability covered the wound, and the affected area healed.
‘I think I’ve done enough nursing.’
Aijak wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead.
But he couldn’t stop here. This was merely defense.
The Codex of Light might soon deliver a powerful blow, but Aijak had no intention of sitting quietly believing that God would take revenge.
“It’s about time there were results.”
Aijak murmured and headed to the corner of the room. There, a mouse lay as if dead.
It was a mouse whose brain had been paralyzed after being infected by the Parasite from Beyond. Aijak activated the ‘Scion of Chaos’ privilege on it.
[Scion of Chaos / Requires the ‘Parasite from Beyond’ privilege. The parasite immediately devours the host and explodes in growth, metamorphosing into a ‘Scion of Chaos.’]
The moment Aijak activated the ability, the mouse began convulsing violently. Soon, the mouse burst with a pop like a water balloon.
From within the horrific remains, something crawled out as if inside and out had been flipped.
It resembled a mouse at first glance, but upon closer inspection, tentacles writhing in all directions were crudely imitating the form of a mouse.
This was the Scion of Chaos.
[Master.]
A short and crude message was delivered to Aijak. It was a message sent by the Scion of Chaos. Perhaps because it had used a mouse as its medium, the Scion of Chaos could only use short, simple words like this.
Aijak gave the Scion of Chaos a piece of Isolde’s flesh.
“Find the source of this plague. It definitely started somewhere on this mountain. We need to know who the bastard is trying to screw us over.”
The Scion of Chaos wriggled its tentacles, then swiftly snatched the flesh Aijak held out. The creature swallowed the flesh with a mouth located somewhere unidentifiable, then scurried into a mouse hole.
Since the plague had begun, Aijak had steadily been taking this measure; he hoped the results would soon show.
***
[A nameless chaos watches you.]
That night.
[Master.]
Aijak opened his eyes at the suddenly heard message.
[Plague. Source. Found.]