episode_0347

“What is the problem?”

“The location is not suitable to sell this. People here have no money. As you know, didn’t food prices rise because of the locust swarms? “If we sell these here, no one will buy them.”

Who wouldn’t say they’re people at the top, but their analytical skills are amazing.

“This is not a product we sell to make money.”

“It’s not about making money?”

“Actually, at first I was thinking of giving it away to people for free. However, I was reluctant because I felt like if I did it that way, there would be people who would take advantage of it.”

The people at the top frowned at my words.

“Why on earth do you do such a useless thing?”

“Is it because I am overflowing with love for humanity?”

“yes?”

“The reason is that we don’t know. What I hope is to sell this at a price that ordinary people can easily purchase. But we shouldn’t make it too cheaply and end up enriching other people, right?”

“You have to set a reasonable price.”

“This shouldn’t be sold like that. No matter what price you set, merchants will rush in and buy it. And it will be sold at a high price elsewhere.”

“It’s not ready yet, so it will be sold at the same price elsewhere. Then, the merchants who bought a lot of goods from us will also know. “It was useless.”

The people at the top seemed to have complicated thoughts.

It seemed difficult to understand that they were giving this to commoners for free when they could make huge profits.

But what can you do?

‘I told you to follow any order I give you, regardless of whether you understand it or not.’

Well, I guess they wanted to make me do something strange.

And the orders I gave were probably more outrageous than they imagined.

“Can you do it?”

“Are you able to handle the quantity?”

“I can handle it.”

They can’t even imagine how many combat rations have been accumulated by delivering goods to the upper level so far.

“All right. “If we want to sell this in earnest, we need to prepare.”

Setting prices for items was a problem, we had to find a store, and it was obvious that there would be a huge crowd, so we needed to prepare for that.

If I had moved alone, these were all things I would have had to worry about.

‘I guess it helps that Erintina assigned someone.’

Thanks to them, I will be able to comfortably hand over work and worry about other things.

Since the epidemic was not limited to this village, I planned to look around other villages to find out the beginning of the epidemic.

* * *

Tadak-tad-tad-tad-

“It should cook quickly.”

“dad.”

“Uh, okay. Just stay a little while. Dad will feed you plenty today. “It must be delicious, right?”

“It’s gross.”

“Still, I have to eat. The taste isn’t bad. “This is also meat in its own way.”

If you are hungry, you should at least chew the dirt.

As I was digging into the dirt and chewing on tree roots, a thought occurred to me.

Tree roots cannot survive the winter.

I’m starving to death, so shouldn’t I eat something?

If you change your mind a little, you might be able to get a lot of food.

This is because there is a prejudice that people cannot eat it.

‘You die this way, you die that way, but dying is the same.’

If I was going to die anyway, it was better to just eat my fill and die.

So I decided not to regret it.

“Damn, it’s not even cooked well. “Is the fire too small?”

He put what was left of the tattered flesh into his mouth.

“Daddy!!”

Despite my son’s complaints that he wanted me too, I chewed the flesh hard and swallowed it.

“it’s good.”

“please give me too. I will eat too. me too! me too!”

The son was so excited that he tried to put his hand into the fire.

He hurriedly blocked his hand and put a piece of flesh into his son’s mouth.

“Mashisu!”

My son’s sunken cheeks were moving for the first time in a long time.

“Hehe, is it delicious? My pretty baby. Eat a lot. “Let’s eat this to our fill.”

“huh! “Give me more, Dad.”

“okay. Hey, eat it. Dad will bake it again. “I brought a lot.”

But their happiness did not last long.

“Sniff-what smell is this?”

“It smells like something is baking.”

They weren’t the only ones starving.

“Bah, eat quickly. hurry. “Put it in your mouth!”

“cellar! “Ugh!”

He stuffed the flesh into his son’s and his own mouths.

And those who eventually found them cried out in astonishment.

“Hey, you crazy guy! What are you doing?!”

“Spit it out! Hey! Spit it out! “What are you doing to the child?!”

He swallowed the flesh and spoke to those who screamed at him to spit it out.

“This is how you die! I’m dying like that! It’s the same, so what’s the problem if you eat your fill and die! Don’t stop me! “If you’re not going to give me something to eat, don’t stop me!”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“Huh!!”

My son started crying in a serious mood.

In the end, the hand that blocks us loses its power.

“Wow, you crazy guy.”

“okay! I’m so hungry I’m crazy! “It’s very savory and delicious!”

“Do we really have to do this?”

“Is there any other way to survive without dying? At least I can eat this because I have it now. “If it rots soon, you won’t be able to eat it!”

Did I fall for the persuasion?

No, exactly, I wouldn’t have been able to overcome my hunger.

“Sibaal!!”

He spat out a strong curse and pulled out a piece of flesh from the ‘thing’ the man was riding on.

“hey! it’s crazy?”

“He’s right. “It’s better to eat and die than to die without eating!”

“Anyway, that’s a bit… . And what will you do when you die? Are you going to die of hunger?”

“I just need to make sure my body is okay before I feed my family.”

“are you okay. “I didn’t discover this, but some people are already eating it like this.”

“what?! Is that real?”

“Okay, you idiots. “You guys are late.”

“But there were no problems?”

When I heard that other people were eating it too, I was upset, but quickly changed my mind and became intrigued.

“I heard I had a stomachache so I went to the medical center and got some medicine. “That’s it.”

“really?”

No one knows that it is better to have a stomachache from eating a full meal than to be sick from being hungry.

“Do you want to try it too?”

“… … .”

“You say it’s not bad?”

Cough-

A familiar feeling of hunger comes.

And the hungry commoners could not resist the temptation in front of them.

* * *

“hello.”

A few days have passed since I arrived in this city.

We were going around the surrounding villages asking about anything special, but still no one showed any suspicious symptoms.

“Are you here again?”

“yes.”

Perhaps because I came here often, the therapist was now talking to me and smiling easily.

Fortunately, every time I came, I brought some pretty useful herbs, and they accepted it with a smile.

“It looks like there are quite a few people at the medical center.”

“Ah~ Everyone came because of stomachache. “I don’t know if I ate something wrong, but my stomach keeps hurting. I need some medication.”

“Are you asking for medicine for a stomachache? “You mean all the people over there?”

It is clear that they are commoners, as their behavior is not that good.

“Most of them are like that. “Because I had nothing to eat, I picked up various things and ate them and got sick.”

“Oh~”

Since there was nothing to eat, I picked up anything and ate it, and if it caused a stomachache, it’s completely understandable.

It seemed like there was a need to hurry up preparations to sell combat rations.

“Are you in a situation where you can’t get anything to eat at all?”

Was it to the extent that the commoners were so upset because they couldn’t find anything to eat?

“Everyone didn’t get much money because the farming failed. But haven’t the prices of food ingredients risen tremendously? Even if you have money, you can’t live, so what can the common people do? “Even if you work all day and come back, you actually have nothing in your hands.”

The amount of money received decreases, and the cost of food materials increases.

In the end, there is no other answer than starving.

Even though I worked all day, I couldn’t even make a living.

‘It’s a sin to be born a commoner.’

Ouch! Wow!

“oh my! “Oh my!”

At that time, one of the commoners who was waiting to be treated for stomach pain suddenly became nauseous and started spitting out something.

The therapist who was talking to me hurriedly approached the vomiting patient.

“Ugh… Sorry, sorry. “I will clean everything up and leave.”

“What are you cleaning up? “You just vomited blood!”

“Yes, yes?”

If I had just vomited normally, the therapist wouldn’t have been so freaked out.

Even though it was dirty, it was something I had to get used to when seeing patients at the medical center.

However, a commoner who was complaining of stomach pain suddenly vomited blood.

So I was scared.

The man who vomited blood looked confused and then fell to the floor.

I thought I was among the people moving to get treatment.

‘I finally found it.’

I was embarrassed because I didn’t get anything for several days, but I finally saw the beginning of the epidemic.

I had to find out what was causing my stomach pain.

“Ugh? “Are you gone yet?”

“The person who vomited blood. “What happened?”

“Is this the unique patient you were talking about?”

“Yes, that’s right. “This is the first time I’ve heard of someone complaining of abdominal pain before vomiting blood.”

“I don’t know what disease you’re looking for, but it might not be it. Although vomiting blood is rare, there could be many other causes.”

Since I wasn’t asking questions for a day or two, the therapist seemed to be vaguely aware of it.

Are they worried about something and are they asking if there are any unusual patients?

When an infectious disease breaks out, the people who have the hardest time are medical workers.

However, it was difficult to pretend not to know when there was so much evidence in front of your eyes.

“… “Isn’t it unusual for two people to suffer from the same symptoms?”

Wow! Wow!

“Hi!”

“Hey, this person is also coughing up blood, right?”

The start of an infectious disease is sudden.

It was an instant for one person to become two, and it was also an instant for more patients to arise.

“Holy shit!”

This was clearly an epidemic.

The condition of the patients began to increase one by one and deteriorated rapidly.

“Oh my, it’s a boat…!”

“Week-!”

“Kolok kolok!”

At first he had abdominal pain, then he vomited blood, and his body began to boil with fever.

The patient, who began to suffer from torticollis and constantly vomited blood, died before anything could be done.

The death occurred three days after the first outbreak.