The world was a series of variables.
“Ooh! Pious Sir Shatien!!”
“Blessings! Give us blessings.”
“Please let me hold your hand just once. This poor child…”
Who could have predicted that the poor would approach like this, hoping for a miracle?
At most, they thought a band of bandits or a group of deserters would attack.
Perhaps that was why the mercenaries, including Miles, simply blocked the swarming poor with their bodies while looking at Shatien.
“W-What should we do, Shatien?”
“They keep pushing in. Captain! We can't block this.”
“If it's hard to say, should I just take care of it? Just keep your eyes closed. I'm telling you, I just need to strike someone's neck as an example.”
Miles said something that would cause a major disaster.
If he did that, the aftermath would be uncontrollable.
Shatien shouted urgently.
“That is enough. Just open the path.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“Dammit. How can I cast out the poor who came because they are in pain? First, open the path and accept them.”
“Hah, fuck...”
At that, Miles scratched his head vigorously.
He looked at the poor as if it were unpleasant, then eventually nodded and shouted to his subordinates.
“You damn rascals! Didn't you hear Shatien? Open the path quickly!”
Then, grumbling, he rested his axe on his shoulder and spoke to Shatien.
“In exchange, I'm definitely guarding you. Understood?”
“Mm. I understand.”
“Right. Good. Get close around Shatien quickly! You never know.”
“U-Understood, Miles.”
The moment the mercenaries who were blocking access stepped back, the poor rushed toward Shatien in a swarm.
Every single one of them was in a state of skin and bones, reaching out their hands and struggling to hold Shatien's hand just once.
Knowing that might be difficult, some struggled just to touch the hem of his clothes.
It was a literal mess.
“It is the power of reputation. Sir Shatien. The pious knight? Ho-ho.”
“Do not tease me. Branch Manager Marhen. Ugh.”
Shatien sighed as he held the hands of the poor one by one, who were reaching out hoping for a miracle.
It would have been nice if it ended here, but the procession of the poor was endless.
He was trying to soothe them while the unit advanced slowly, but it looked like they wouldn't be able to leave this area within today.
“It seems we should rest before going, right?”
“Yes. We should. Branch Manager Marhen. I should also send a messenger to Viscount Ragnarsson in advance.”
“I will tell the merchant members too. Well... since it has turned out like this, shouldn't we try to make a real miracle? A miracle of a heartwarming story.”
“......”
This mess is exactly because of that! Unaware of Shatien's aggrieved inner thoughts, Branch Manager Marhen somehow looked very joyful.
* * *
Since things had turned out this way, there was no helping it.
“Stop the march. Prepare to camp in the area.”
Shatien immediately ordered the mercenaries to build a camp.
Since they couldn't move while surrounded by the poor, it was better to set up temporary tents here and look after them.
“Branch Manager Marhen, can you help me with something?”
“Anytime. Just say the word and I will follow your orders. Hee-hee.”
“...I want to use some of the food the merchant group has. Please grind the wheat and barley finely and make it like porridge.”
Most of the poor were in a state of starvation, having not eaten properly.
If he carelessly gave them wheat bread, they might get sick or even collapse.
Furthermore, the food they currently had was insufficient to fill the bellies of this many poor people.
No matter how much he felt sorry, he couldn't just give away all of his own food.
‘Porridge is the best for sharing among many with a small amount of food and providing a moderate feeling of fullness.’
While doing so, Shatien slowly recalled Mage Agpiel, who had restored the village contaminated by a curse in the past.
At that time, Shatien had become Mage Agpiel's servant according to their agreement, taking charge of various chores and learning how to treat infectious diseases.
According to Mage Agpiel, there were largely two things in such a large scale plague situation.
-A large scale plague phenomenon is one of two things. A curse or an infectious disease. A curse has no clear causal relationship in its circumstances, and it is difficult to hide the traces of an evil mystery. One who deals with mysteries like you will be able to notice immediately whether a plague phenomenon is a curse or an infectious disease.
-Then what should be done after that?
-What else. If it is a curse, you just need to destroy the source and the medium of the curse, and if it is an infectious disease, you must prepare to treat the infectious disease. In fact, the two solutions are fundamentally the same. Only the process is a bit different.
He was mischievous, but Mage Agpiel was a fairly decent teacher.
He was not stingy in sharing his wisdom and knowledge.
“Miles!”
“Huh? Why. Do you have a job for me?”
“Please separate the poor. Into those with illnesses and those without.”
“Sniff, is there a need to go that far? They are people who will disappear on their own anyway.”
“Since we've come this far, shouldn't we do it properly? Miles. I'm asking you.”
“Sigh... being needlessly soft-hearted. Seriously.”
Though he grumbled, Miles followed Shatien's order immediately.
“Hey! Hey! Move out of the way quickly!”
“You there! Don't hide! Man! We aren't trying to kill or kick anyone out, so come on!!”
Soon, not long after, the group was divided into the sick and the general poor according to Shatien's instructions.
The sick, who at first wondered if they were going to be killed, felt relieved upon realizing that wasn't the case.
People from the merchant group took the dirty clothes and began to boil and wash them in hot water, and the excessively contaminated clothes were gathered in one place and burned away.
It was a job that consumed quite a bit of manpower and resources, but it had to be handled from the start.
“Dig pits too. Stop them so they absolutely cannot do their business anywhere else.”
“Egh. Dammit. Do we have to care about this kind of thing too?”
“If you want to catch an infectious disease, then ignore it.”
“Hey... no. As if. Heh heh heh.”
And after finishing the preparations for treatment to some extent like this, Shatien finally decided to start proper treatment.
“Branch Manager Marhen. Do you happen to have some honey?”
“Honey? I have some packed among the trade goods. Why? You aren't planning on feeding it to them, are you?”
“Ahem. I'm not going to feed it all to them. Just mix it in clean water...”
“You aren't going to pull out even the roots of my merchant group and give them to the poor, are you?”
“My, as if I would do that.”
Roots, my foot.
I'll probably pluck out at least a hair.
Shatien shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, received the honey, and prepared to make a proper medicinal drink.
-In any case, most diseases eventually depend on how strong one's own life force is. So most diseases eventually depend on how strong you can make the patient's life force. In that sense, this liquid can be a very excellent treatment.
He wondered if treating a disease depended too much on the individual, but it certainly had an effect.
People who drank the potion made by Mage Agpiel generally groaned, but eventually overcame it all and moved about normally.
‘I believe he said to mix honey and salt in clean boiled water and feed it to them...’
Shatien employed people while recalling the memory of that time.
He boiled water thoroughly in a large jar and added the honey and salt he received from Branch Manager Marhen to adjust the concentration.
While doing so, he scooped up water and drank it to check if it was being made properly, but it seemed that felt different to others somehow.
“They say the pious Sir Shatien is praying.”
“No? They said it wasn't a simple prayer. They said it's a prayer of consecration.”
“Is he perhaps making holy water? For us?”
“Ahhh... O benevolent and pious knight, Sir Shatien.”
A great wind was blowing among the poor before Shatien even knew it.
And this absurd wind reached its peak when Shatien finally made the potion for recovery and distributed it to each of the sick poor.
Not long after, as if by a miracle(?), the sick shook off their illnesses and rose.
“It's a miracle!!!”
“He has manifested another miracle.”
“?”
“Ah, O pious Sir Shatien!”
“We praise you!”
“??????????????????”
For Shatien, it was simply flabbergasting.
* * *
“What? Sir Shatien is captured by the poor?”
“It is not that, but he stopped for a while to comfort a group of poor people he met.”
“Huh... isn't that the same thing! Besides, was that group of poor people not a group created by the infectious disease spread in the area? Just how did you manage things that they block the march of a noble coming at my request!”
Viscount Ragnarsson shouted while looking at the official next to him.
Then the official spoke while sweating profusely.
“I-I am sorry. Since some cities are expelling the poor who caught the infectious disease out of the city...”
“Are you giving that as an excuse right now?”
Viscount Ragnarsson growled.
Cities casting people out to find their own way to survive is something that could happen, but shouldn't they manage the expelled poor well?
It wasn't just because they blocked a noble's procession coming and going.
Think about if those poor people had not blocked Sir Shatien but moved to another region and spread the infectious disease. It was a truly horrific matter.
Especially since the civil war had just ended, the public order was already messy.
“Please calm down, Excellency Ragnarsson. Anyway, isn't that not the important part of the matter. Shouldn't we first dispatch manpower to support Sir Shatien quickly? He is a guest invited by the Viscount in name, and it doesn't seem to be proper etiquette toward a guest.”
“Ah, right, that's true.”
Only then did Viscount Ragnarsson nod.
“Then send people quickly. Since he is treating the poor, it would be good to support him with doctors and some food to aid them.”
“W-We will prepare those. In fact, we have invited doctors specialized in infectious diseases to the city. It seems we can send them immediately.”
At that moment, the city officials spoke up quickly, not missing the chance.
It was a struggle to earn points somehow. Of course, it didn't work on Viscount Ragnarsson at all.
“Do you call that speech? Do not take credit for what must naturally be done! Rather, tell your council. That they must fulfill their responsibility for the matter they caused. If there is news that the infectious disease spreads to other regions, I will hold the city responsible for that crime.”
At the shout of the angry Viscount Ragnarsson, the officials bowed their heads and trembled.
Then, a person who had been quietly listening to the story stepped forward.
It was a Bishop dispatched from the Church.
“Hoho. Please calm down, Viscount Ragnarsson. It's not as if they did it on purpose. Our Church will also add its strength to this matter. To Sir Shatien, who is helping with the city's infectious disease and the poor.”
“Oh, the Bishop is?”
“Yes. How laudable is it. Is Sir Shatien, who looks after the weak, not truly a model of a knight. As one who serves God's will, I will gladly help.”
The Bishop had heard the story from the monastery knights in the past.
Therefore, the Bishop liked Shatien's actions even more. Of course, from the perspective of Viscount Ragnarsson, who didn't know the inside story, it was quite uncomfortable.
“Sounds good. Your help will be appreciated. I will also send a court physician separately.”
While saying that, Viscount Ragnarsson called the court physician and gave secret instructions.
“The Church's intentions are suspicious. You step forward first to help Sir Shatien treat the infectious disease and be careful so that the Church's influence doesn't spread needlessly in the area.”
“Understood, Excellency Viscount.”
The Church was already trying to raise its influence in the North.
Viscount Ragnarsson wondered if their active behavior was another intention to rally the people's forces.
And such thoughts of Viscount Ragnarsson seemed to hit the mark exactly not long after.
“I, I saw a miracle. O... dear God.”
“?”
The clergy who had been dispatched to Sir Shatien by the Bishop's order were all returning with ecstatic expressions and speaking nonsensical stories.
‘I knew it.’
But soon, when the plague doctors sent from the city said the same thing, Viscount Ragnarsson couldn't help but feel something was strange.
“O God! Excellency Viscount Ragnarsson! A miracle has been manifested.”
“????”
And the final blow was the words thrown out by the court physician he had personally dispatched upon his return.
“E-Excellency. A miracle has been manifested where holy water that received a blessing treats people.”
“????????????????????”
Just what on earth is happening within my territory? Viscount Ragnarsson was becoming even more flabbergasted.
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