Even though the morning had dawned, Arundel buried her face in the pillow. She had stayed up late into the night reminiscing about the past.
‘Why am I suddenly immersed in memories… and they’re not even good ones.’
It’s all because of Hills! He shouldn’t have brought up Mary!
Arundel got up irritably.
She hastily dressed and went outside, but Hills was nowhere to be seen.
Arundel and the priests arrived at the barracks as usual. Arundel sighed softly and wrapped a cloth around her face.
The truth was, she was a bit tired of the endless treatments. The other priests probably felt the same.
Upon arrival and unpacking, Lucas offered her some jerky.
“Here’s your breakfast.”
Arundel accepted the jerky with a grimace.
The reddish jerky was dripping with oil, but Arundel didn’t find it appetizing.
Because she had been eating it for a week straight. The first time she ate it, she could understand why it was considered a delicacy.
But anything can get tiresome if you eat it continuously. Now, just seeing the color red made her feel sick.
Still, she knew she would be hungry later if she didn’t eat now, so she ate.
‘As long as it’s available, it’s fine.’
Arundel quickly resigned herself.
In the eastern region, characterized by its cool and dry climate, fishing and livestock farming were more developed than agriculture.
Even the little farming that was done was not easy due to the sea tides. Occasionally, potatoes or bread were distributed, but the days when jerky was served were overwhelming.
It was later discovered that Count Lillit was running a large livestock business, and the jerky produced was a famous delicacy in the eastern region.
Therefore, it was natural that the distribution rate of jerky was high. The mansion of Count Lillit was nearby.
While here, eating jerky was like a destiny.
“Priest!”
Arundel, who was chewing on jerky indifferently, turned her head at the sound of someone calling.
The couple she had treated yesterday appeared. The woman, who had been pregnant, looked healthy enough to walk on her own today, unlike yesterday when she looked like a corpse.
Arundel smiled happily and spoke.
“You’ve improved a lot.”
“Yes, it’s all thanks to you, priest.”
The man laughed heartily. He seemed relaxed now that his worries were gone.
“You were eating jerky. There’s nothing else to eat in a place like this. The farming is a mess because of the tidal wave, haha.”
Listening to the story, Arundel looked down at the jerky she was chewing.
“So, the staple food of the people in this region is jerky.”
“Of course, we eat fish and grains, but we eat a lot of jerky. Not only in this region, but most of the eastern region enjoys eating jerky.”
Arundel, who had been stroking her chin, suddenly raised her head and asked.
“How long has the epidemic been going on?”
“Well… I think it’s been about half a year. But why do you ask?”
Despite the man’s question, Arundel, lost in thought, did not answer.
Arundel had seen various epidemics over a long period of time.
An epidemic is a disease that spreads rapidly from person to person as a result of the emergence of pathogens.
But this epidemic, the source of the pathogen was not identified, and there was no known way of infection.
Then it was right to approach it fundamentally.
Most epidemics are transmitted through contaminated water or food such as crops.
If it spread so quickly in a fairly wide area like the eastern region, there was a high probability that there was a problem with what they commonly ate and lived.
Why didn’t she think of that sooner?
Arundel, who had been silent, asked the man.
“Is there anything else that people in the eastern region eat from the same distribution place besides jerky?”
“We usually drink groundwater from each region… Most of the food is self-sufficient…I think it’s only jerky when I think about it.”
Then a question arises here.
If jerky is the problem, everyone who eats it should experience symptoms, but some people get sick and some don’t.
The jerky she had eaten so far had no problems. If the prediction is correct, was there something wrong with the jerky eaten by the people who contracted the epidemic?
There is only one way.
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I visit your home?”
There was no other way but to check it out for herself.
****
“This is the place.”
The man stood in front of a shabby house and spoke.
“I’m sorry… The house is not tidy because you said you want to come all of a sudden… It’s very humble to welcome such precious guests.”
“It’s okay. We’re the ones who came suddenly.”
Lucas kindly smiled and replied.
Unlike Lucas, who was smiling gently, Arundel, who was next to him, looked displeased.
As Lucas said, there were ‘two’ of them, Arundel and Lucas, here.
Before coming here, Arundel, who was in a hurry, quickly left the barracks, but she thought that if she disappeared suddenly, other people would worry.
Arundel, who had quickly called Lucas, said.
[I will be away for a while today.]
[‘Is it okay… What’s going on?]
Lucas asked as if worried, seeing Arundel looking desperate.
[‘No. I just have something I want to check.]
Arundel spoke, taking off the cloth she had wrapped around her face.
[It’s not much, I think it will take a few hours.]
[Then I’ll go with you.]
Does he know where it is and is following?
Arundel, who had not yet revealed anything and thought it would be embarrassing if it was a false guess, politely refused several times, saying there was no need.
But Lucas, who insisted on going together, made Arundel lose.
As a result, they are now standing side by side in front of the house.
“Then let’s go in.”
The man opened the door and went in first.
“I’ll go and lay my wife down first. Please look around first.”
Arundel and Lucas nodded their heads. Arundel quickly looked for the kitchen.
Usually, food is stored in the kitchen or the food storage attached to the kitchen.
The house was small, so it was not difficult to find the kitchen. Lucas, who had been following silently, spoke for the first time.
“Do you need to find something? If we both look, we’ll find it quickly.”
“Jerky. I’m looking for jerky.”
Lucas did not ask why she was looking for jerky. Contrary to what she had expected, he silently followed Arundel without any questions.
“Here it is.”
Lucas, who had found the jerky stored in a jar, handed it to Arundel.
Arundel approached and examined the jerky.
‘Hmm…’
On the surface, it was no different from regular jerky. She knew it better because she had been eating it to the point of getting tired of it recently.
She also sniffed the smell by bringing it close to her nose.
It would be certain if she ate it directly, but she didn’t want to take that risk. Although the priest said she wouldn’t get sick, it was uncertain whether she, a counterfeit priest, would get sick.
Just then, the man who had laid his wife down and returned appeared.
“You said you were looking for something, did you find it?”
“Yes. I was looking for jerky and I found it.”
Arundel, holding the jerky, alternately looked at the jerky and the man and asked.
“Did you also eat this jerky, sir?”
“No. I have weak teeth, so I can’t eat jerky. So I mainly eat soft fish and potatoes.”
Arundel remembered the empty space in the man’s mouth. She had seen it briefly when he spoke, the man really had only a few teeth.
‘Then it makes sense that only the wife got the plague.’
The problem was, there was still no way to prove that this jerky was different from regular jerky. It was too dangerous to feed it to people to see if they would get sick or not.
For now, she had no choice but to infer the situation through conversation.
“Was there any difference between this jerky and the jerky you usually eat?”
“Yes, if you’re a person from the eastern region of the empire, you’re familiar with jerky from a young age…”
“Has the production place changed…”
Arundel, who wanted to grasp even a thread of a clue, asked.
“The production place is the same. Most of it is distributed from the barn run by Count Lillit.”
It was more suspicious that Count Lillit was producing it. But this was also just a suspicion, there was no evidence at all.
“Oh, there is a little difference.”
Then the man slapped his palm and spoke. Arundel hoped desperately that there was something special.
“What is it?”
“The expiration date is a bit longer…? It’s not long, but I’ve never seen it go bad.”
Upon hearing that, one of Arundel’s eyebrows rose.
“That’s very strange.”
Jerky is originally not easily spoiled. It’s natural because it’s a food made for that purpose. But it didn’t make sense that it didn’t spoil.
“Yes. I thought it was a bit strange, but in a situation where there’s nothing to eat, it’s a thankful thing that food doesn’t spoil, so I don’t think anyone thought badly of it.”
After that, Arundel went around the village and checked the food storage of the houses where there were plague patients.
As the man said, the common point of those who contracted the plague was that they all ate jerky.
Even if they lived in the same house, if they didn’t put jerky in their mouth, they seemed to be fine.
‘As expected…’
Her suspicions were becoming certainties.
Even with a little thought, they would have realized it was strange, but people who had a hard time eating and living would have wanted to deny it.
However, what is wrong must be corrected.
Arundel spoke to Lucas, who was standing next to her.
“We need to go to Count Lillit’s mansion right now.”
Lucas nodded his head.
Arundel and Lucas, who had borrowed a horse from a nearby village, increased their speed.
The wind harshly brushed past their faces.
“How did you know?”
“They say it’s dark under a lamp.”
Arundel replied indifferently.
“Why are you following me? Isn’t it more important to treat the patients?”
“I’m worried about Her Majesty going alone. The captain of the knights has returned to the temple, and it seems like His Majesty is busy too.”
What’s there to worry about? He has seen me using divine power.
She had poured out quite a lot of divine power when treating a pregnant woman. Of course, she didn’t use all her strength, but she knew better than anyone that her divine power was several times that of Lucas.
He was the first person she couldn’t figure out as much as Zion.
“We’re here.”
Before they knew it, they had arrived in front of the count’s mansion.
“Shall we go in?”
Arundel swallowed her saliva with a somewhat tense heart. Now that she knew the entity to some extent, even the building looked damp.
“There’s no one here.”
Lucas looked around and said. As he said, there was not a single employee in this large mansion today.
‘Zion.…should be okay.’
Arundel had no idea what Zion had been doing recently.
She only saw him occasionally in the evening. However, since he said he was looking for a way to solve the plague, she just believed his words.
Of course, she knew that he was not the kind of person to get hurt anywhere, but she just felt anxious.
Arundel and Lucas looked around the first floor. There was no sign of anyone anywhere. They knocked and searched around the rooms, but it was the same.
Without any results, they headed to the second floor. They knocked and opened each room, but the situation was the same.
‘This is the only place left.’
It was the last room. If it wasn’t here, they would have to look outside.
As they approached the door, a loud voice was heard.
“How dare you mention Lord Baphomet…You’re not someone who can talk about him casually!!”
At the excited voice, Arundel quietly listened. Lucas also came closer and listened to the sound.
“You’re not listening.”
There was not only Count Lillit in the room. There was someone else, and this voice was familiar.
Arundel, who was sure she knew the person, flung open the door. Zion’s surprised eyes met Arundel’s.
“Irina…?”
“Zion!”
As the sight inside the room came into view, Arundel’s eyes widened.
This was because Zion was pointing a fiercely glittering dagger at Count Lillit.
