Announced Epidemic

“Thank you so much!” the doctor said gratefully. “If it hadn’t been for you, we surely would have died.”

Both the doctor and the girl, who seemed to be some kind of nurse or assistant, bowed before me.

“It’s fine, it’s nothing, I was just passing by,” I replied, and it wasn’t a lie. We were lucky to find them before something happened.

“Is everyone all right!?” someone shouted in the distance. It was Liz, running toward us.

“Liz!” exclaimed the doctor. “I’m glad to see you safe. How’s your sister doing?”

“She’s fine! Lately she’s been getting better and is a bit more stable,” she replied with a huge smile.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

After catching up on Lui’s condition, the doctor turned back to me.

“Young Naoya, allow me to introduce myself. I am Doctor Digory, and this is my assistant, Kara. Once again, thank you so much for saving us.”

“In any case, doctor, what are you doing in this place?” Liz asked.

Doctor Digory fell silent for a few moments, perhaps thinking about how to tell us, but eventually he spoke.

“To tell you the truth, I was sent a letter from the village of Penton.”

“Penton?”

“That’s the village we’re heading to,” Liz answered my question.

“I would recommend that you don’t go,” said the doctor with a serious look. “For some time now, the village has been prey to a strange epidemic…”

“They summoned the doctor to help, but on the way those Nolgoth attacked us and destroyed our carriage,” added Kara, the assistant. So the flying monsters are called Nolgoth.

The doctor’s warning was quite worrying. In my world, medicine is already quite advanced and under control, but even with all that there are cases of epidemics or even pandemics, like the one that happened years ago. A world like this, without such great technological advances—at least apparently—could indeed suffer much more from this kind of case.

“We have to,” Liz replied. “We need to pass through there no matter what, we’re heading toward the capital.”

Since Liz knows the road to the capital well, the fact that she says we have no choice but to go through that village worries me.

The doctor’s expression shifted from serious to even more concerned after Liz’s answer. How bad must the situation be there, for even a doctor to be this worried?

“Then… could you take us with you!?” his assistant exclaimed. “We’ve already been delayed a lot because of the monsters and our carriage is destroyed… We need to get to that village quickly!”

“Kara!”

“They’re going there anyway!” she retorted. “Wouldn’t it be better to ask them for help so we don’t fall behind any more!?”

She had a very good point. If not us, who knows how long they’d have to wait until someone passed by to pick them up, or how long it would take them to reach either of the villages on foot.

The doctor sighed at his assistant’s insistence, but he also nodded, making it clear that the girl was right.

“All right…” he replied with regret. “I’m sorry to ask you this, but could you take us with you?”

“Of course!” Liz exclaimed energetically. “You’ve helped Lui so much, it’s the least we can do.”

I can’t imagine how grateful Liz must be to the doctor. Her older sister is her dearest treasure, so anyone who helps her is sure to be well regarded by her.

“Kara, help me with the things from the carriage.”

“Let me help you,” I said, rolling up my sleeves.

“Huh? Oh, no, it’s not necessary! You must be exhausted after fighting those Nolgoth earlier.”

“Don’t worry, I fought against a golem—those things are nothing,” I replied, and moments later I began carrying a couple of boxes, taking them to our cart.

“A… golem… you say?”

At the doctor’s bewildered look, Liz placed a hand on his shoulder with the most empathetic expression.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

I couldn’t help but feel like some kind of oddity after hearing Liz’s words, but I didn’t stop and kept helping with the boxes.

***

After loading all the doctor’s belongings onto our cart, we were able to continue our journey. The space was somewhat reduced by the new boxes and the two additional people, but fortunately there was still enough so we weren’t cramped.

“How bad is the epidemic?” I asked.

Since we were going to pass through the place no matter what, at least I wanted to know how worrying the situation was. In the worst case, we’d have to leave the same day after restocking our supplies, or even leave immediately without replenishing anything…

“It’s terrible… At least a third of the village has already been affected,” Kara replied.

“According to the letter, the afflicted fall into a coma, but the truly worrying thing is that their bodies start to rot shortly afterward, even while they’re still alive…”

It was worse than I imagined.

Rotting while still alive? That sounds truly terrifying.

“And why does that happen!?” Liz asked.

“I have a hypothesis… but I need to see the afflicted with my own eyes if I want to make a true diagnosis.”

I thought the bandits from Liz’s village were going to be the most problematic part of the journey, but it seems things won’t be as easy as I thought.

The trip to the capital was supposed to be just passing through two villages before arriving, but if things are this complicated, it might even take us longer to get there than we expected.

What a bother…

Anyway, it’s not as if complaining now would change things. For now, I’ll just keep trying to meditate as we move along—it’s the only thing I can do at the moment.

***

As we moved on and the hours passed, the sun finally began to set. The meadows darkened, and the moon took its place in the sky.

We had already set up camp and the bonfire, and agreed that I would take the first watch for now. Liz wanted to insist, but when I reminded her of what had happened earlier with the Stalkey, she did nothing but resign herself to go to sleep, defeated by my words.

A couple of hours had passed since everyone had gone to sleep. Tonight was particularly quiet, and luckily there was no problem or strange feeling like the one we had when the Stalkey were stalking us. The most troublesome thing was the icy wind that made me shiver despite being near the fire.

Whoosh

“Are you cold?”

“Ah!”

The sudden question startled me. It had already been a couple of hours almost in complete silence, so a question out of nowhere was bound to surprise me easily—but in the end, it was only Liz.

“Sorry, did I scare you?”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry… Although, yes, I am a bit cold,” I replied, trying to warm myself by hugging my own body.

After confirming her suspicions, Liz stood up and took another blanket from our belongings, placing it over my back.

“Thanks. Can’t you sleep?”

“I’m not really sleepy, to be honest.”

We both fell into almost complete silence after that. However, it didn’t feel like an awkward silence. On the contrary, it was pleasant spending time with Liz, but I couldn’t let myself relax too much. There was still something I had to talk to her about.

“Liz, I…”

“Why didn’t you let me fight?” she asked, cutting me off. It seemed we were both thinking about the same thing.

Trying to choose my words as carefully as possible, I took a few moments to think clearly, which Liz seemed to respect. Eventually, I finally gave an answer.

“I don’t want to expose you to danger anymore,” I replied. “You almost died in the bandits’ cave… I was terrified. What was I supposed to say to Lui?”

I can still remember the immense anguish I felt when I saw her collapse to the ground after her attack. She definitely gave it her all without caring for her own life. We were lucky I helped mitigate it, but that’s all it was—luck. I don’t want to take that risk again.

“Lui told me to take care of you, and that’s what I’ll do… That’s why only I will fight. You’ll stay safe.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Of course I’m going to fight!” Liz exclaimed. “With my magic I can be useful!”

“And what if I can’t go to help you?” I argued. “What happens if you run out of mana and I can’t help you?”

Even if she was better with magic than with a sword, if by chance I wasn’t there when her mana ran out, then she would die. I’m not willing to go through that. I don’t want to endure another loss.

“I’ll take care of everything. You’ll stay back and keep safe.”

My words left Liz speechless. She wanted to say something, but the words just wouldn’t come out. Instead, her eyes began to well up, turning toward the ground as soon as she realized.

“I understand…” she said almost in a whisper. “Sorry for bothering you…”

After her apology, she went back to her sleeping bag. Watching her turn away like that made something ache in my chest. Seeing her with such a painful expression made me want to take it back, but I was already decided. I made a promise with Lui and with myself. I won’t let what happened with Clay happen again.

The night wind blew once more, moving the flames of the bonfire and the leaves of the trees. Strangely, my blanket no longer felt warm.