I took Eight with to Sagami Co. in Straheim. If I continued to loiter around Straheim, it was guaranteed I would vent my anger on soone. For the ti being, Eight would be living in the imperial capital.
Now then, tonight, a ceremony would be held in the imperial capital for conferring the title. It was a group awarding ceremony, so no absences or late arrivals were allowed. In addition, I still had so things I had to do here in the central district.
All of today's plans required to reveal my true identity. I took off my mask and pendant and moved to my room at Sagami Co.'s branch, which was located in the central district of the imperial capital.
The imperial capital was divided into seven districts, with the central district, where the imperial palace was located, at its centre. During the past month, I had visited each of the districts and built a branch of Sagami Co., and the expansion plans were steadily progressing. I had sowed the seed, and now all we had to do was just provide them nourishnt and increase its expansion gradually.
Outside the glass windows, the scenery of the largest and most beautiful city in the imperial capital of Lemuria was spreading out.
As I left the trading firm, the spring sunshine gently enveloped my skin. The crisscrossing boulevards, several tis as wide as Straheim's, and the stone buildings stood in regular rows. Even though I was estranged from art, I could recognize these historical buildings at a glance. It was truly one of the wonders that mankind had built.
While looking at the map that was included in the material given by Sieg, I headed toward the destination.
"Here?"
It was the site of Duke Krüger, who held the title of the most powerful person inside the bloodline aristocratic faction. I was expecting sothing more glamorous, but it turned out to be an ordinary mansion like the ones in Sutherland and Straheim.
Certainly, it was futile to have more room than necessary when they weren't going to be in use and the effort required to clean them every day would be ridiculous. In this respect, a mansion of this size could be maintained with a minimum of manpower. It made a lot of sense.
Hmm. I felt like I could get along with the head of this residence.
I walked up to the middle-aged gatekeeper.
"I am Grey Ines Navarro, and I have requested a eting with Mia Cyrus' mother. May I please speak to the Duke of Krüger?"
I put my hand on my chest and bowed politely.
"So boy, you co here to et Miruru-san?" He narrowed his eyes and continued staring at . "I will contact them so wait a while here."
He headed to the mansion slightly running.
A few minutes later, a fearso gentleman with red hair and a fierce face erged from the mansion. He was not a servant at all, not only because of the magnificence of his clothes but also because of the dignity he exuded.
He'd been an attendee of the Imperial Conference in Sutherland. Judging from his position, he should be in a very high position, but he was silent from beginning to end during the eting. He had accepted, without particularly supporting or opposing, the absurd plan that Cyrus and the others were advocating, which was nothing but tradition. In a sense, he had left a deep impression on , and I rembered it.
He was probably the warlord, Horus Krüger, that Caesar had ntioned.
"Grey Ines Navarro, my pleasure to et you."
He put his hand on his chest and bowed, but his eyes widened in surprise. That was even more so for the subordinates and servants standing nearby.
It was because Warlord Horus was down on one knee in front of .
"Great Guide of our Empire. Welco to our world."
He was the person who governed military affairs, after all. The person who held all the power of the imperial regular army. Moreover, as a duke, he was essentially on the side of the noble families. He should have been in a hostile relationship with , who was a rural area noble.
"I beg you, please don't do this. I am not in a position to be treated that way by you."
"Then so be it."
He stood up, placed his hand gracefully on his chest and bowed.
"This incompetent Horus will guide you to Miruru."
With that proclamation, he started walking.
In an indescribably awkward atmosphere, I walked into the mansion.
The place he guided to was a corner room on the top-most floor of this residence.
"It's dangerous from here, so take this."
Warlord Horus gave a cloth. I guessed he wanted to put it in front of my mouth. It was a substitute for a mask.
I tied the cloth around my mouth and entered the room.
Several n and won were lying on the bed. All of them had pale expressions and were coughing.
Warlord Horus led to a woman lying in the centre of the bed, whose body had been reduced to skin and bones.
The main symptoms are a cough, weight loss, fever, hemoptysis. It seems to be spreading to others, so perhaps this is—
"Tuberculosis? No, pulmonary tuberculosis......"
"Yes, you aren't mistaken."
Pulmonary tuberculosis: an infectious disease caused mainly by the bacteria of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
According to Sieg's data, only a few months ago, one of the servants had been infected in the city, and it spread to several people in the mansion. Mia's mother, who was physically weak, must have been the first to get infected.
Of course Mia hadn't been inford of this matter. It was really a blessing that she was currently living in the students' dormitory and not in a position to apply for a visit. If she saw this scene, she wouldn't be able to train very well.
In this world, where human rights were a di a dozen, it was standard practice to burn down a house with a tuberculosis outbreak, including the family.
This Warlord Horus here was searching for the cure without abandoning the servants. He seed to have quite the character.
Now, let's get the most important thing out of the way.
"You are Miruru Cyrus, right?"
"Yo......u.....a.....are?"
"? I'm your daughter’s teacher."
"Teacher........"
In a fuzzy consciousness, Miruru parroted back.
"Listen well. I am not a saint, and I have no intention of saving soone who has no will to live."
There is no such thing as a disease that can lie on the floor for several years and not worsen or improve. If she was truly suffering from an incurable disease, she should have gradually wasted away without needing to suffer from this kind of tuberculosis.
And yet, until she contracted TB, her symptoms had always remained in a constant state of badness. It wasn't like she was currently faking her illness. By nature, the immune system of an organism was severely weakened by stress. Especially in humans, who have a well-developed cerebral cortex, the immune system is easily affected by the ntal state. It is often said that sickness cos from the mind. This is a very apt analogy.
Most likely, Miruru's stress wasn't due to unaccustod household work. Being thrown away by her beloved husband. That was what it ca to. In short, she had lost all hope for living in this world.
No matter how much you try to treat a patient in this condition, there is no aning when they don't have any will to live.
"Please........look after Mia."
I wondered why. I was really disgusted by her attitude.
"So you are now relying on other's strength this late? You really are a good-for-nothing person. This might be harsh to say to a sick person, but I will say it now. How you turn out in this situation is completely your fault. You are just reaping what you sow. If you are abandoned by soone you love, why don't you have the will to rise in the world and turn around by force before wetting your pillow?"
"He.....will not..... abandon us..."
This was the first ti I saw Miruru's objection.
"Are you trying to run away from reality? But have you ever considered how much Mia is suffering and worried about you while you are in your delusion and running from reality like this?"
"Mia is..........."
"Yeah, it's admirable. In order to support and give you a better future, she has been studying hard in her small body even while almost crying the whole day."
"To support......? Why?"
"It's probably due to your frail body. Why do you think a sickly pretentious drag like you is getting treated in such a luxurious mansion? Everything has its equivalent exchange. It's an exchange for cutting down her future hopes."
"It's a....lie."
"That's the reality."
"It's a lie!"
She scread loudly and vomited blood.
"Are you sure? At this rate, you are going to die as a burden, aren't you?"
"Yes......"
A few words spat out of her mouth.
"While pushing the responsibility on your daughter."
"No......."
A large, hot, bead-like liquid trickled down Miruru's cheek.
"You will just crumble to dust, without knowing the true motive of your husband. Are you really satisfied with this?"
"I don't!! I want to live! I don't want to die! I want to et Mia. And him too!!"
She shouted even while her face was ssed up with tears and running snot.
"These words, don't forget them. Listen, your illness will be cured. Stay strong!"
Shouting loudly with so much strength that it echoed inside the room full of patients, I held Miruru's right hand and invoked the recovery magic.
◇◆◇◆◇◆
I cast the recovery spell on all of them, which greatly relieved their condition.
This could earn us a certain amount of ti. Recovery magic did not travel back in ti, but rather accelerated the abnormal cell division in a certain direction to reach a state that was rembered as normal.
That was why we used the wisdom of civilization, which was currently being developed at Sagami Co. It was a thing that was considered to be the greatest discovery of the 20th century: antibiotics.
Currently, Sagami Co. was developing several antibiotics and had actually succeeded in developing several strains of them.
One of them was streptomycin, which was extracted by cultivating a large amount of fungus that lived in cold seasons such as winter and autumn. We had not yet succeeded in concentrating it sufficiently to produce it massively, but there was enough for a cure.
In this regard, intaking streptomycin through the digestive tract was inappropriate so as a rule, it was injected by a direct syringe into the muscle. An appropriate amount of this intramuscular injection should be given twice a day for the first three months, and then twice a week thereafter. We had developed a glass syringe and a 23G-gauge needle at Sagami Co., and I'd explained how to use them in front of everyone.
"Will they be cured with this?"
Warlord Horus asked the obvious question as he sat in his living room, sipping down a bowl of hot water.
"With all due respect, it should be within half a year of continuous treatnt."
Tuberculosis is not a disease that can be cured imdiately. It requires long-term, continuous treatnt, but at the sa ti, it is not a disease that can never be cured.
If the symptoms are severe, a complete cure may take two to three years, but in this case, the recovery magic had restored the lungs and other vital organs, as well as the patient's bone marrow, and the immune system was expected to recover as well. Therefore, it was estimated that the patient could be completely cured in about six months of treatnt.
"I can't believe it. It's a deadly disease that kills several thousand people a year in the empire alone, pulmonary tuberculosis!! If it were that easy to cure, there would be nothing to worry about!"
The white-haired man, who seed to be a doctor, spoke out loud in denial. Naturally. If I were in his position, I'm sure I'd agree.
However, he was a doctor. Doctors believe in science. Healing and research are ends and ans to them. They are inextricably linked. The stronger the desire to save, the greater the need for research. There is no way they can resist it.
"In that case, you are welco to confirm it with your own eyes."
With that said, I stood up from my seat. I had already given him the suggestion. The rest was up to him. My job here was done.
"Lord Grey, in all honesty, you are more than what I have imagined," Warlord Horus stood up and put his hand on his chest. "As the owner of this mansion, I am really grateful for you to help the servants."
He bowed his head deeply.
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