Chapter 316

Aegir POV

Rafen . Mansion .

Alright, Ill read it .

Celia opens up the urgent letter sent by Leopolt .

Its a letter he made an effort to send me, so I also called Tristan, Polte, and Myla for an emergency meeting .

If he talks about how delicious his dinner was yesterday, Ill rush over and steal Nina from him .

It seems there is an outbreak of a disease in Vandolea . The sickness is spreading throughout their entire country and its highly likely that it has already made its way into the temporarily occupied territory as well . Its possible that it will soon spread to our land too . Is what was written .

A disease?

Another troubling issue .

Polte holds her head in concern, while Tristan sighs .

To domestic affairs officials, disease is the seed for worry .

It usually originates in the unclean slums of a city, then spreads like an annoying weed .

If left alone, it could take over an entire city, inviting complaints from the citizens, stagnating trade, and reducing the overall energy of the region .

Considering the situation of the refugees, a disease could have been expected

In any case, we cant leave this alone . If the refugees are infected with the disease, the residents will instantly increase their resistance against them . If youre sending a rearguard to maintain order, do you want me to take command?

Myla is already willing to handle it .

Wait, everything hasnt been read yet . So what is he requesting for?

The army led by Leopolt has military doctors and they have a certain amount of medicine .

Does he want more medicine because they dont have enough or does he want reinforcements like Myla brought up?

Celia quickly reads the rest of the letter .

The countermeasure for the disease is eh!? T-this is

Celias eyes open wide and she stops speaking .

I snatch the letter from her .

Lets see here . Requesting permission to lock down national borders immediately and get rid of the groups infected with the disease what is this guy thinking?

I left Leopolt in charge of the army for the purposes of intimidation and protection .

The refugees might be infected, but he doesnt have to go so far as killing them .

No, thats not all . He didnt write requesting permission to get rid of the refugees infected with the disease . The way he wrote that, hes implying that if the disease spreads to the residents of our territory, he would also kill entire villages of them .

Has he gone insane?

He might have lost his mind after Nina got stolen by other guys .

Theres more . It looks like hes written about the details of the disease .

Celia starts reading from the second letter .

The name of the disease is fire pox . 90% of those infected die within three days . The speed at which it spreads is extremely fast, going from one infected to a hundred in three days . Not even within a month, all of Vandolea has been infected . And

Celia adds that all sorts of medicine was used with no cure found .

Everyone, including me, goes silent .

Let me see that please .

Tristan and Polte takes the letter from Celia to confirm it for themselves .

If this is from refugee testimonies, wouldnt it be a bit of an exaggeration?

What Myla said is reasonable .

Untrained soldiers and the populace tend to overstate what they see .

However, I dont believe thats the case . Its hard to believe Leopolt would use unsubstantiated rumors as a basis for his report .

No, the source of information comes from a domestic affairs official from Vandolea who escaped and mixed in with the refugeesmoreover, hes the one who administered the countermeasures for the disease . Well, I dont think that person would be presumptuous enough to believe random stories .

Tristan is making a serious face for once .

Lets confirm this right away .

Call the messenger from Malt over .

If my gut feeling is right, the pressing matter should be the same issue we are facing .

Celia stands up and quickly runs to the room next door where the messenger is waiting .

about time .

The messenger from Malt has an unhappy face . I understand that hes angry for being kept waiting .

But Leopolt also sent an emergency letter and I felt it was more apt to address that issue first . Forgive me .

I will now present Her Majesty Celestinas message

Is it about the nasty disease?

The messenger stops mid-sentence after I bring up the topic .

As expected

The disease is attacking the south border as if chasing after the refugees .

Which means Malt, who is south of us, is naturally encountering the same problem .

This confirms how widespread the disease is .

Why do you dont tell me, has it spread to Hardlett-samas territory as well!?

The messenger bends forward in panic .

I dont have reason to hide it from him .

No, not yet . However it has reached our national borders . How about Malt?

The messenger slowly and thoroughly reports the situation on his side .

According to him, cases of the disease was already confirmed within their territory .

It originated from a group of refugees who crossed the border a week prior, and it was tragic how they all died, but soon after, those who looked after them, including the doctor, and those that buried them got infected and fell ill .

The number of cases grew quickly from a handful to several hundred, and there was nowhere near enough medicine or doctors . Knowing how fast it spreads, the entire country would be infected in no time! And thus, that is why I have come to request Hardlett-samas assistance I also present the official letter from Her Majesty Celestina .

The letter from Celestina handed to me by the messenger has neat letters written in simple sentences you would expect from a child . She wrote things like lots of people died after getting sick, everyone is sad, please help us .

I have definitely received the letter . We just so happened to be discussing this issue . Well come up with a reply soon so have something to eat in the meantime .

After the messenger stepped away, everyones faces became even more serious .

It is clear that the severe illness is rampant .

If its true then were in trouble . With a 90% death rate and no cure, this is something exactly out of a nightmare .

Mylas looking pretty serious too .

There are legends where a vicious disease that caused an entire nation of people to perish in the past .

Tristan agrees with multiple uh-huhs . It doesnt seem like hell take advantage of the confusion and go to sleep today .

Ive only heard stories about such diseases, what should I er if I recall, that textbook contains something

Polte is visibly flustered .

Shes acting just like a rookie commander . I feel bad, this matter might be too heavy of a burden for her .

I guess we have to wake Adolph . This is no time to be bald .

I thought it was perfect timing to let him rest, but now things are different .

Even Tristan has a serious look, and the horrible feeling I got before getting Leopolts letter is continuing .

I dont have evidence, but something is telling me the actual situation is worse than we think .

Ill go slap him awake .

Ah

Polte looks on in concern as I head to Adolphs room .

When I reach the door to his room, I encounter Natia .

Shes growling with some strange colored medicine in her hand .

W-whats wrong? You have a scrunched up expression

We have a little bit of a situation . I need to wake Adolph up immediately . Im sorry, but we cant wait for your hair-growing potion .

Eh!? Im close to completing it though .

Natia is holding a bottle of black medicine .

In the other hand is a normal rabbit .

I poured that hair loss agent on this rabbits head to turn it into a hairless rabbit . And then I applied this on it .

I look at the rabbits head .

I dont see any particular abnormalities, just the rabbits usual brown fur .

Ooh, it grew back!

Out of the four rabbits I tested it on, hair grew back on three

I take the bottle of black medicine from Natia .

If it worked three out of four times, its practically complete . Lets pour it on Adolph .

I was going to force him to wake up, but the root of the problem will go away with this .

When I open the door, Natia mumbles something .

The one failure was

Of course, nothing is going to be perfect . Still, the percentage of success is high enough .

Natia is such a perfectionist .

I jump into the room while she is still talking, though the door closes behind me, preventing me from hearing her .

The one failure turned the rabbit into a hairy furball

Ive entered Adolphs room without knocking .

Hes laying in bed, staring languidly at the ceiling . He doesnt have a single strand of hair on his head .

Adolph, this is no time to be sleeping!

As hes sleeping like a soldier, the first thing I do is pour that potion on his head .

I dont know the proper dosage so I use the whole bottle .

Thats cold!!

Adolph springs up .

Youre awake .

T-that was cold! What are you doing all of a sudden!?

I ignore Adolphs protest . Hes unexpectedly energetic, which is a good thing .

Take a look at this first .

I show him the letter from Leopolt and the letter from Malt .

Reading those two letters should be enough to wake him up completely .

Going out of your way to show this to me are you trying to finish me off?

Adolph makes a doubtful face and then I check the documents I handed him .

Sorry, I made a mistake . I wanted to show you this .

I accidentally showed him the blueprints for the new theater .

This is! This is no joke . To be sure, this is not a false report, right?

I didnt personally see it so I dont know the details . However Leopolt and Malt reported this at the same time . That should say something .

Adolph stands up from bed and washes his face with the water from a jug .

I guess he wants to feel awake now .

I cant be sleeping at a time like this . I will get ready right away .

Ooh, Ill call Polte and Gretel . You need the information missed during your rest, right?

Adolph shakes his head .

Thats not necessary . Polte-san told me about the situation here and there so I have a general understanding .

Oh, he got the report from Polte already?

Hes surprisingly spirited . I could have woken him up earlier then .

Are you embarrassed?

No, Im not! Anyways, I cant sleep now . Ill change immediately .

Adolph takes off his sleepwear .

Im not interested in a man stripping, so I proceed to step out of the room .

Adolph pats his head sadly while changing .

Its bothering you after all?

Not really!

You dont have to worry though . I slathered your head with plenty of hair growth medicine .

Your head will be full of fluffy hair in no time .

Natia approaches me as I exit the room .

D-did you really use that medicine?

Yeah, now hell have thick head of hair .

I return the empty bottle to Natia .

You used the entire bottle!? If it results in a bad outcome, what am I going to do

I return to the office first and wait for Adolph with Celia and the others .

For some reason, the pale-faced Natia also followed along .

Im coming in .

Adolphs voice can be heard at the same time we heard the knock .

It really has been a while since weve heard his voice in the office .

I grant the permission for him to enter while sipping on the tea Celia prepared .

Pardon me . Getting right to business if you dont mind, regarding the countermeasures for the disease

As soon as Adolph steps into the room, the tea I just filled my mouth with came leaking back out .

Gehoh, gahoh!

I end up coughing from being burnt by the hot tea .

Aegir-sama, keep it together! Adolph, are you trying to take revenge by assassinating Aegir-sama!?

Thats horrible .

Huh?

Celia rubs my back while staring daggers at Adolph .

Tristan holds up his tea and then freezes .

It hasnt been long since he woke up and that barren land on his head has turned into a lush forest .

G-good . It worked . I wouldnt know what to do if he turned into a hairball

Natia exhales a sigh of relief, then falls wearily on the sofa .

Look at your head .

Adolph looks puzzled . He came in a hurry so he probably didnt look at a mirror .

I put the office mirror in front of him .

This is-!?

His elegant hair is like strands of silk .

The beautifully wavy locks that reached down to his waist are like a work of art .

Luxuriant ahem, there are more important matters at hand .

Adolph clears his throat and then takes a seat .

He looked refreshed, like the evil spirit possessing his body was extracted .

Now, his ability should go up several levels .

What pretty hair Im jealous .

Kuh, going outside a lot will surely hurt!

Polte and Myla seem frustrated .

Celia also plays with the ends of her hair, so I ruffle it up .

Wah! Its all messy now!

Thats it for entertainment . Lets get back to business .

So Adolph, how would you respond to this?

Its been a while since Ive had to come up with measures for disease . Then again, something this brutal never happened before

Adolph does some thinking before speaking .

First we need to get a more accurate understanding of the present situation . A base should be setup on-site and Leopolt-san and I should camp there .

Everyone nods .

Celia tries to copy Myla by folding her arms, but she doesnt have the same gravitas and looks cute instead .

A place around the city temporarily occupied Kisatto, should be fine . The road is maintained there, so it should be easy to transport reinforcements or supplies from Rafen .

Without delay, Celia takes out a map and points to Kisatto . Im grateful how thorough she is .

Thats pretty far north . You wanted to be near the site so wouldnt it be better if the base was closer to the borders?

There are cities further south which the road passes through and the base could be