Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Epidemic
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Plain City.
Central Government Office.
"A fever is spreading?"
Defense, public safety, finances.
Clothing, food, housing.
He had checked and rechecked all the essential areas.
Yet the problem had erupted somewhere else entirely.
"The number of refugees suffering from high fevers is increasing. It appears to be... an epidemic."
People who had lived on the continent had come to the island.
With the change in environment, they seemed to have caught a local disease.
He had heard something similar before.
They always said to boil water before drinking it when traveling abroad and to wash your hands thoroughly.
The farther the region, the greater the risk of exposure to endemic diseases.
Locals who had lived there forever were fine, but travelers lacked immunity, so they had to be careful.
"How do we respond to something like this?"
On Earth, you'd just go to the hospital.
If it was serious, the state would step in for quarantine.
So how did they handle it in this world?
"Usually, they dispatch priests from the temples."
Priests.
They were both religious figures and medical practitioners.
They healed people with divine power.
In some ways, it was superior to Earth's medicine.
High-ranking clerics could even regenerate severed limbs.
The problem was,
There were no priests on the island.
There hadn't even been a temple until he built one.
Bringing priests from the continent was an option, but it wouldn't be easy.
Priests hated Monster Island to begin with.
"That won't work. Even if we manage to bring them, it would take too much time."
"There was an epidemic in the village next to where I lived."
"And?"
"There was no temple nearby, so knights stepped in to provide treatment temporarily."
"Knights?"
"Knights don't usually... well, most illnesses don't affect them."
Isaac called them knights, but
they were more precisely mana users.
Mana didn't just strengthen power or speed.
It enhanced overall physical capabilities.
Including immunity.
"Relay this to the city guard mercenaries. Tell them to send mana users to Plain City. Commission the mercenary guild as well. Recruit mercenaries to manage the epidemic. Minimum requirement: sword users."
"Understood!"
For now, he isolated them in large groups.
He planned to do finer sorting once the mercenaries arrived.
Instead, he focused his efforts elsewhere.
"All food must be boiled before eating. Only boiled water is allowed for drinking."
All provided meals were switched to soups.
Vegetables,
meat,
even bread was soaked in water and boiled.
Only then was it distributed to the refugees.
"Wash your bodies every day. Wash your hands at least five times a day."
He emphasized hygiene along with the food.
In the meantime,
mercenaries began arriving one after another.
They entered the refugee camps where the plague had spread and sorted the patients.
Symptom severity ranged from mild headaches
to loss of consciousness.
Near the refugee camp.
Temporary Quarantine Headquarters.
"So, there's a folk remedy used around here?"
"Yes. It goes like this..."
Isaac explained the folk remedy.
The refugees had fallen ill near Plain City.
So local folk remedies had a good chance of working.
And even if they didn't, humans had their own natural immunity.
"Use folk remedies on those with mild symptoms. As for the severe cases..."
Severe cases were likely to die without treatment.
There were no medical professionals like priests available.
Instead,
"Use potions."
"My lord?"
Including Isaac, everyone gathered there wore shocked expressions.
It was a natural reaction.
Potions were that expensive.
As strange as it sounded, a single potion could cost more than one refugee's worth.
But what could he do?
They had come all the way from the continent.
They worked on his farms.
They were his people.
Beyond these emotional reasons,
it made economic sense to treat them too.
Information spread quickly among the refugees.
The news of the epidemic would reach those still on the continent.
He needed to show them definitive treatment to reassure them and draw them here.
'Population is money.'
The more they came and worked, the more his income grew.
So.
Even if it meant heavy spending now, he had to do it.
"Ahem, for now, dilute the potions with water. If there's no effect, increase the concentration."
Of course, he had to economize where possible.
.
.
With the mercenaries
and potions deployed,
the epidemic began to stabilize bit by bit.
Near the refugee camp.
Temporary Quarantine Headquarters.
"Isaac."
He called Isaac while reviewing the epidemic-related expenditures.
"Yes, my lord."
"Isaac."
"Speak, my lord."
"You did dilute the potions with water, right?"
"Yes, we mixed and distributed potions with water."
"Aren't you using too many potions?"
Isaac's head snapped up.
"Pardon...? We... we did adjust the concentration slightly based on symptoms as you instructed, my lord."
"Then why are the expenditures..."
He swallowed the rising anger.
Look at this extravagant expenditure report.
Mercenary commissions.
OK. Fair costs.
Firewood for boiling water.
OK. Reasonable amount.
But the potion purchases were way too high.
"You ordered the potion use, my lord..."
Their eyes met.
Startled, Isaac bowed his head.
He let out a small sigh.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't Isaac's fault.
He wasn't even angry at Isaac now.
He was just mad at the potion purchase costs listed in the report.
"Isaac, go do your work."
"Yes, my lord."
Isaac quickly bowed and left.
"Those thieving bastards at the Gray Mage Tower. How can they sell potions this expensive? Scoundrels."
Potion prices on the island were cheaper than on the continent.
"Maybe even severe cases could be treated with folk remedies?"
He was the one who had ordered potion use.
"I said dilute with water, not increase the concentration."
He was also the one who had told them to vary concentrations by symptom.
Shrrrip.
He tossed the expenditure report in his hand.
The more he thought about it, the more it felt like shooting himself in the foot.
"I need a solution."
Treatment costs would keep piling up until the epidemic ended.
"No way..."
A dark thought crossed his mind.
What if epidemics broke out in other refugee camps too?
He had taken in so many wanderers that finances were already stretched.
If treatment costs kept draining money...?
"No. I need countermeasures. Countermeasures."
.
.
He inspected the refugee camp personally.
It was lunchtime, so smoke from boiling soup rose from spots all over.
"Boiling the water too?"
"Yes. We're only providing boiled water."
He toured the camp,
checking their health and living conditions.
But...
"Why are they only washing with water? Didn't we provide soap?"
"Well..."
Isaac trailed off awkwardly.
"Isaac. I'm asking why."
"Washing hands with soap feels... a bit off to them."
Soap in this world had a foul smell.
Because of that, it was mostly used for laundry.
"They still need to use it."
Public service announcements on Earth featured soap often.
Stuff like washing with soap kills 95% of germs,
or you won't catch colds if you wash with soap.
It showed just how effective soap was.
Such great soap, and...
'Come to think of it, I don't use it either.'
"The smell is pretty bad."
After washing with this world's soap, your body felt dirtier.
How did they even make it smell like that...?
"They won't use it even if we tell them to, right?"
"Probably not. Washing their bodies with soap feels really awkward to them."
"Got it for now. Let's head back."
"Yes, my lord."
Back at the quarantine headquarters,
he continued pondering.
Soap's efficacy was outstanding.
He had no intention of denying that.
The problem was that this world's soap smelled outstanding too.
In the worst way.
"How the hell do they make soap that reeks like this? Hey!"
"Yes! Young Lord!"
"Summon the soap makers."
About two hours later,
three men arrived.
They were all soap makers from Plain City.
"Why the hell does the soap smell so foul?"
The men glanced at each other.
Then the oldest one spoke up.
"Well... because it's soap?"
"No, why does soap have to smell like this?"
The man shrank back.
Then spoke again in that posture.
"That's... If you're asking why soap smells like soap, I don't know what answer to give... My apologies, Young Lord."
The conversation was going nowhere.
Probably because they had different ideas of what soap was.
He stood from his seat.
The soap makers shrank even more.
He walked past them toward the entrance.
"What are you doing? Come on."
"Pardon!? Yes! Young Lord."
With the soap makers in tow,
he visited the soap workshop.
"Explain how you make soap."
"Ah... yes. Young Lord, soap is..."
The maker pointed to ingredients as he explained the process.
"There are two main ingredients. One is oil, the other is lye."
He detailed how to make the oil and lye,
then combined them.
"...Mix the prepared oil and lye like this, then dry it."
The long explanation ended,
and he understood the source of the smell.
'It was the animal fat.'
He had identified the problem.
Now, what to do about it...