Episode 72 Red Death (1)
Vikir recalled the past a long time ago.
Suspicious outsiders that Balak’s hunting crew saw recently and daggers with snake-shaped patterns pass by in my mind.
‘…Come to think of it, that incident happened around this time.’
Here, ‘the incident’ refers to the ‘red death’.
A terrifying contagious disease that, once caught, is covered with red spots all over the body and causes vomiting and diarrhea.
This red death spread throughout the jungle in an instant and killed a staggering number of natives.
The Red Death, which was rampant on a scale comparable to the Black Death that circulated in the Empire in the past.
This terrifying plague literally flooded like mad and reached the territory of the empire.
That was until Camus, Empress Dowager of the House of Morgue, erected a wall of fire to prevent it from spreading to the borders of the Empire.
In addition, the saintess Dolores, who was dispatched from the Sacrament of Faith Quo Vadis family, cured the patients by displaying her unique powerful divine power.
However, the scope of the treatment was limited to the Empire, and the natives who lived in the Red Sea and the Black Mountain had to suffer over 40% of the death damage.
These circumstances worked in favor of the Baskervilles.
The savage tribes played an important role in the flood ecosystem of Red Mountain and Black Mountain, but when those who were generally in the position of predators disappeared, the lower monsters multiplied abnormally, and eventually a monster wave occurred, resulting in a rapid increase in civilian damage.
As the number of monsters increased, the influence of the Baskervilles, who guarded the border, increased significantly, which further strengthened Hugo’s political position.
‘I can’t see that.’
So Bikir was thinking of stopping this plague.
Well, I’ve heard a lot about the tribe called Balak.
Meanwhile.
Inside Balak, the old and the young were at odds with each other.
There is no sign of an end to the conflict between the older generation, who believe that the plague must be prevented through rituals, and the younger generation, who believe that the village should be abandoned and moved to another place.
“…”
Chief Aquila frowned and was silent.
She, too, did not seem to want to leave this village where the tombs of her ancestors were buried.
And the sorcerer Ahheman understood Aquila’s psychology well.
“How can we abandon this holy place, where the remains of our ancestors are buried! Moving is out of the question! We’ve been here for nearly two hundred years already!”
There are more than one hundred remains of our ancestors who are kept in the holy places around the village.
If they migrated, how to manage and care for them was Ahhemman’s core argument.
However, Iyen, who represents the younger generation, also does not back down.
“Then, if the plague strikes and all the children die? Then who will take over our future? If all the seeds of the future disappear while trying to take care of the remains of our ancestors, who will be responsible for the future of the tribe?”
Already, Balak’s children die well.
Usually, women in Ballak have children from the age of 14 and give birth to a new child every two years on average.
The problem is that more than half of them die within the first month of life. Only 20% of infants survive beyond 3 years.
Most children die from malnutrition, plague, war, hunting accidents, etc.
In addition, since the mother also died during childbirth or from the aftereffects of childbirth, Ballack’s birth rate is remarkably low.
If you turn to ‘red death’ here, there is really no answer. Indeed, only a bleak future awaits.
Aquila, unable to see the tribal members in the middle of a generational conflict, opened her mouth.
“The question is how the ‘red death’ will arrive.”
What is the Red Death? Why are you attached to humans?
If this question is not resolved in advance, countermeasures are fundamentally impossible.
To the agony of Chief Aquila, various answers came back from various places.
“Curse! It must be a curse!”
“Wrong! This is an eye-transmitting pestilence!”
“The spirits of the prey are retaliation!”
“It must be because you ate a strange-looking mushroom!”
“The ancestors are angry because they neglected to take care of their tombs!”
“There must be worms that carry poison!”
“God has abandoned us! God of the forest!”
“Imperials brought the plague!”
The people of Balak don’t know or don’t know.
It’s because it’s a virtue to give an answer even if it’s a sham.
It was with a good heart that he didn’t want to disappoint the person who trusted him and asked the question in the first place… but in this situation, it wasn’t very helpful.
“……Hmm.”
When Aquila frowned and expressed embarrassment.
A hand came up quietly.
Bikir. He met Aquila’s eyes and opened his mouth.
“I know how to stop the Red Death.”
* * *
About ten days have passed since then.
A monster tied to a rope was struggling
.
Goblin The smallest and weakest of the monsters classified as human-type monsters.
It was now being tortured by water, hanging upside down with its arms and legs tied to ropes.
[Gaaaa! Pooh! Kyaaaaaagh!]
The goblin repeats being dipped into a large pot full of water and taken out.
The goblin, who had struggled and ran rampant for a long time, suddenly calmed down at some point.
Before long, red spots began to appear on the goblin’s skin.
The goblin vomited in water and stopped the fuss just now, baring its teeth.
And it is a slow shudder at the death that is to come.
Meanwhile. Balak’s warriors tossed the red-dead goblin onto a greased pyre and set it on fire.
There was no room for sympathy, since it was a nasty monster that kidnapped and ate human children anyway.
Before long, the goblin caught in the red death was burned to death.
Then Balak’s warriors turned their attention to the next goblin.
In front of him was Iyen, holding the rope to which the goblins were bound.
“Bikir. Is the red death really contagious through water?”
Bikir, who was next to her, nodded at her question.
“Yes. Polluted water is the biggest cause. But as long as you boil the water once, there is no problem.”
“Really? You mean?”
Iyen looked at Vikir with a gaze full of trust.
Then, another pot containing the same water was dipped in another goblin to be compared.
OK.
[Kieh!]
The goblin died right away.
Bikir said with a hand on his forehead.
“When the water cools down, put it in.”
“Oops.”
Ayen also hit her forehead with her hand.
Soon, the water boils again in the pot.
When the bubbling water cooled completely, Balak’s warriors dipped the goblins in it.
Even after ten days, the incubation period of the red death, this goblin did not become ill.
Then, all of Balak’s warriors, including Chief Aquila, admired it.
“You’ve found a way to overcome the Red Death!”
“The answer lies in the water.”
“You mean you can stop the plague just by boiling water and drinking it?”
“Bikir! You are the hero of our village!”
The eyes of praise, respect and adoration pouring down.
Old people are proud and young people look up to them.
By nature, Bikir doesn’t like to be in the spotlight like this.
However, when congratulating or praising, it is the custom of Balak to be sure.
Bikir responded with a wave of his hand to their praise and appreciation.
“Anyway, you have to be careful with the water. It shouldn’t even get into the mucous membranes of your mouth or your eyes. You can also get infected through the respiratory tract, so be careful of the water mist at dawn.”
Always boil water to drink. Avoid access to wetlands if possible.
Just by following this simple rule, the incidence of the red death is greatly reduced.
It is common sense not to come into contact with the excrement or corpses of the sick.
“What do you not know?”
Vikir did not respond to Iyen’s words of admiration.
Aquila said.
“Let the hunters spread the teachings of Bikir to the other tribes. Beware of the water.”
At that, everyone nodded. This is because it is good for as many people as possible to know.
Eventually, Aquila got up from her seat and approached Vikir.
Bikir quietly bowed his head.
When I first met her, I felt the weight of a huge mountain range pressing down on me.
But now I didn’t feel that pressure at all.
I feel the warmth and coziness as if I came to my hometown, and the benevolence as if a real mother welcomed me.
Aquila said with a gentle smile.
“Thanks to you, I can see a little bit of a way out of the crisis. I really appreciate it.”
Looking at her current expression and voice, you would never think of this woman as a ‘fox in the night’.
In response, Bikir simply bowed his head.
at that time.
“Heung! The rainy season is coming soon, so how can I get away from the water!”
There was someone who questioned Bikir.
Shaman Ahheman. He was glaring at Bikir with a hardened expression.
The other day, he had misdiagnosed the side effects of the drugs brought by the merchants as curses, so he was even more anxious.
Vikir’s assertion that the red death is not a curse, but an epidemic and can be sufficiently prevented, seems to have made a judgment that his position is threatened.
However, Ahhemman’s point was not entirely wrong.
When the rainy season comes, the rivers will overflow and countless drops of rain will fall.
The atmosphere would be full of moisture, and if countless aquatic creatures crawled out to the ground to spread the plague, there would be no chance to survive.
There were certainly limits to the prevention method of boiling water to drink and wash.
Balak’s warriors murmur.
Ahheman smiled in repentance as he saw more and more agitated people.
……but.
“We have to do civil works before the rainy season comes.”
Bikir was still taking the next step with a nonchalant expression.
dimension.
It was a necessary task even for Bikir’s future plans.
