Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: You Can't Stop the Rot (1)
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“This is—”
I brought the glass close to the fireplace and checked its contents.
It was definitely water inside the glass, but something about this water bothered me.
‘Preserved rations might have spoiled, but the food looked too fresh for that.’
If it had been spoiled food, Dana Wood never would have been able to stomach enough of it to puke like that.
“This water bothering you?”
Dylan walked over as I held the glass up to the firelight and shook it around.
Dana Wood’s retching had become like background noise to daily life by now, so it barely registered anymore.
“For now, the food Cadet Wood ate doesn’t look like it could spoil easily. White bread can’t be preserved, right? It must’ve been baked fresh last night or this morning for distribution, and the rest is jerky and stew. From what I can tell—”
I hadn’t even finished speaking when Isaiah snatched up the tray, his eyes gleaming.
Of course, there was no surefire way to pinpoint the exact problem with the food, but at least the smell and color were unchanged.
“Doesn’t look spoiled. And these aren’t the types to go bad quickly anyway.”
If it wasn’t the food, then only one thing was left.
Drinking water.
Just then, I recalled an incident from my days living in the capital.
‘The sanatorium where I stayed was halfway up the mountain, so we had no major issues, but the village down below…’
The river’s sewage treatment back then had been abysmal. Polluted water flowed into the river, and the villagers who used it for drinking water all came down with food poisoning and sepsis, dying en masse.
“Dana Wood, when did you fetch the drinking water?”
Dana looked all but passed out.
Even so, she’d staggered to the bathroom, locked herself in, and refused to open the door no matter what.
She struck me as the subtly prideful type.
After much coaxing from outside the door, Dana finally mumbled a reply.
“—Ughh… this morning?”
I bombarded her with the same questions over and over from outside the bathroom until I finally pried that one answer out of her.
“As expected, the drinking water’s the problem. We drank what we’d fetched yesterday. Please tell the other cadets not to drink any water. Hurry.”
“Got it. Theodor, can you pitch in too?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll take the first floor.”
“Appreciate it. I’ll head to the second.”
“Then I’ll handle the third. I’ll tell Arthur to notify Thorn Crown House too.”
Judging from the earlier commotion, the cadets in Wooden Cross House must have suspected something wrong with the rations and avoided the food entirely.
That would’ve left them filling their stomachs with water instead.
Which meant this was potentially even worse than spoiled food.
‘Damn it, of all things, the drinking water.’
I rushed up to the third floor, where Arthur was waiting at the entrance like he’d been expecting me.
“Arthur. Head to Thorn Crown House right now and make sure no cadets drink the water. Something’s wrong with it.”
“…The water?”
“I’ll explain later. We need to notify Silver Chalice and Black Lily too—”
“I’ll do it.”
Arthur threw on the robe hanging from the coat rack at the entrance, took a step back.
Then, instead of heading for the stairs, he leaped straight over the railing, landing silently at the entrance below.
Stunned by the flawless landing that didn’t make a sound, I shook it off and hurried to knock on doors, shouting as I went.
—Bang bang bang!
“The drinking water’s contaminated!”
“The drinking water?”
“Pass it to the next room! Dorm leaders, gather at the entrance!”
With that, I focused on pounding on the doors of rooms that still hadn’t opened amid the commotion.
“What?”
“What’s wrong with the water?”
“Dylan! Rosemary’s suddenly throwing up—”
“Send her to the infirmary. If she can’t make it on her own, get a servant to help.”
I spread the word as quickly as I could, but already the second and third victims were cropping up.
A dozen minutes later, some thirty confused cadets had gathered at the entrance.
Rooms where the dorm leader couldn’t come had sent a substitute cadet, and rooms where no one could make it had been covered by a neighbor’s proxy.
“Dana Wood was acting strange, so we investigated a bit, and it looks like the drinking water’s the issue.”
“Looks like?”
“It’s not confirmed. Ideally, we’d test the water quality first, but I didn’t want to risk anyone drinking what might be contaminated.”
No sooner had Dylan finished than grumbles rose from the crowd.
‘This is bad…’
My worst fears were confirmed.
The relentless storms and sporadic fasting had frayed the cadets’ nerves, leaving their psyches unstable.
“Just boil it, right?”
Someone in the crowd demanded an answer.
Dylan’s patience was wearing thin.
I cut in before he snapped.
“If it’s biological contamination, boiling might handle it, but it could be something else.”
Dylan swallowed his anger with visible effort, shrugged, and added to my point.
“So this is a good chance to make use of nature. You all learned this in class, right? What to do if you’re stranded naked in a downpour like this.”
Dylan was referring to collecting rainwater, filtering it through a shirt or similar to remove sediment, then drinking it.
Of course, we all knew that much.
The problem was the freshmen who’d just enrolled and the upperclassmen who still had the mindset of kids.
A freakishly tall cadet with a fierce face and blond pompadour hair rang the bell at the entrance and bellowed.
“Servant! Get over here!”
Respect was the baseline when dealing with servants, but with all these noble brats from prestigious bloodlines, guys like this popped up now and then.
Feeling my insides boil, I exchanged a look with Dylan.
“What’re you gonna do, call a servant in this storm? Have them fetch more water? Infirmary beds aren’t infinite—you’ll learn that the hard way.”
Dylan said that, then shook the bell again to add ‘no need to come.’
Apparently, the dormitory’s design funneled sounds from the entrance straight to the servants’ lounge.
Everyone knew about the special acoustics placed throughout, which was why we avoided sensitive talk once we stepped out.
“Don’t push your luck and end up in the infirmary. Just wait. Someone’s notifying Black Lily House, so the Student Council will be here soon.”
“That damn Student Council.”
Someone else tacked on a snide remark.
Dylan shot a glare at the voice and clicked his tongue.
The disgruntled cadets were far less cooperative than before. I couldn’t let Dylan shoulder this alone anymore.
“Have you all forgotten your oaths already?”
[I pledge, for the sake of all, we for the kingdom, with loyalty and faith to choose what is best for the whole.]
To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the oath, but right now, no line fit our situation better.
Rampant individualism was fueling distrust across the board, cracking the foundation of trust.
“You haven’t forgotten how the Student Council came to be, have you?”
“…”
The grumbling cadets clamped their mouths shut.
The mood hadn’t softened, but we’d kept it from boiling over.
“First Chancellor Sir Alexander Pat once misjudged, sending Swordmaster course cadets to face magical beasts unarmed. They died pointless deaths. Sure, soldiers follow orders without question. But we’re still students. We have to function as soldiers, but we deserve protection as students too. That’s why the Student Council exists.”
One of the first things we learned in our initial year.
The half-divine Aegis royal birth myth to instill patriotism for the nation, the mindset of a cadet, and the history of Aegis Academy.
That was also when we properly learned about the Student Council.
At this point, with all normal classes done and everyone awaiting remedial sessions, no cadet could claim ignorance.
“While we get the Student Council, you lot can quietly collect rainwater and boil it, or scrounge pre-this-morning water from other rooms. I won’t stop you.”
I spoke more harshly than usual to rein in the chaos, and thankfully, it seemed the right call.
The cadets pouted like they still had gripes but didn’t push back further.
Dylan flashed a crooked grin, then shouted toward the second-floor hallway overlooking the entrance.
“Eliya! While I’m gone, compile a list of cadets down with stomachaches. We need a headcount.”
“Ugh.”
I recalled how Eliya had griped that Dylan had ‘pierced his nose’ with nagging.
From what I could tell, if Eliya wasn’t blatantly slacking or complaining, Dylan probably wouldn’t ride him so hard.
I gave Dylan’s shoulder a pat.
“Let’s go. We need to find the servant who brought drinking water to Dana Wood.”
The storm was raging, but we had no choice.
Arthur was way faster than me and would’ve already headed to Black Lily House, so we likely didn’t need to bother the Student Council ourselves.
After asking around, we tracked down Dana Wood’s assigned servant and learned the morning’s drinking water had come from the pump north of the dormitory.
“Damn, in this rain, not sure what we’ll figure out.”
The cold, driving rain hammered down on us.
Raincoats beat umbrellas in this weather, so we’d both changed into them.
Trudging through the sucking mud, we reached the pump the servant mentioned and inspected the area.
“The pump itself looks fine. No rust, mechanisms in good shape.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t seem like the source to me either.”
Then I spotted something suspicious under a tree about ten meters from the pump.
Amid the rain-slick mud, one spot was distinctly sunken—the soil loose and a different color, like it had been recently dug up and refilled.
“…”
Dylan followed my gaze and spotted it too.
Without a word, we both headed straight for the spot.
—Thwack!
Dylan cast his signature spell, flipping over the mound of dirt.
Words failed to describe the stench that hit us next.
A visceral corpse reek, the kind that instinctively repulsed you, assaulted us so fiercely it made my eyes water.
What we found there was a pile of rotting ingredients slathered in suspicious filth—and the polluted water trickling out from it.