Ch.140Identification System

While this incident has been concluded as merely an attempt at impersonation and false accusation by one of the village farmers, it would be even more troublesome to assume that only such minor issues will occur in the future.

Moreover, our village is highly likely to be targeted by “Gluttony” precisely because of my existence, and if one demon sets its sights on us, the possibility of others interfering to disrupt that demon is also very high.

In other words, now that we’ve had this preventative measure, it seems wise to prepare countermeasures against internal cultists in advance.

However, these countermeasures are something that countless scholars of this world couldn’t perfectly recreate despite racking their brains. No matter how much I try to think about it alone, there’s a very high possibility that this problem will ultimately remain unsolved.

‘What should I do….’

In truth, it’s not that there are no methods available. This world has easily over several dozen ways to detect cultists, and some of these are actually used as identification methods in various countries.

The question is whether we can apply these to all the villagers, who numbered 200… now reduced to 193. That is the biggest problem we currently face.

For example, the holy water and detection magic currently used in the village are widely known, and consequently, countermeasures against them have become commonplace among cultists.

However, not only is the cost of mass-producing holy water far from trivial, but more importantly, our village priests cannot spend all day solely focused on detecting cultists.

From the beginning, they are dispatched from the Pantheon to our side and have no command authority. Considering their contribution to reducing the number of deaths in the village, it feels inappropriate to pull them into this task.

Especially the village priests led by Priestess Joanna are crucial for treating various minor ailments and injuries.

Healing magic prevents bacterial infections through wounds—one of the most common causes of death in this era—and sacred magic that cures diseases instantly remedies most non-magical illnesses.

If we were to invest such personnel’s magical power solely in cultist detection, it would inevitably lead to numerous deaths without magical support….

‘…No, this isn’t right.’

Having perfectly realized that following this option would inevitably invert priorities, I immediately erased this option from my mind and began a more luxurious contemplation.

To burden the priests, who are already overworked casting healing magic every day, with such a trivial matter—it’s not only a choice I’m extremely reluctant to make as a human being, but also one that cannot be considered wise from a public interest perspective.

Especially in this era of poor hygiene, epidemic control concepts, and desperate medical standards, priests’ healing magic essentially replaces modern medicine by contemporary standards.

Of course, it’s not exactly that the discipline of medicine doesn’t exist in this era.

Even though there is a substitute in sacred magic, this substitute isn’t bestowed upon everyone whenever needed, and sacred magic also varies in effectiveness depending on the user’s capability, leaving many injuries and diseases untreatable.

For instance, in cases of severed limbs where the part is lost, anything less than intermediate-level magic cannot regenerate the part, and apprentice priests’ magic struggles with healing internal organs.

Particularly, some diseases in this world inherently resist sacred magic, and treating such magical diseases is extremely difficult without medical methods….

Most regrettably, the medical arts of this era are at a medieval level. Far from having even minimal concepts of disinfection or hygiene, bloodletting based on bizarre theories like the four humors is commonplace.

Of course, in terms of pharmacology based on experience and data, there are magical plants and herbs that are quite effective, but the problem is that the ratio of quacks to proper doctors is at least tens to hundreds of times higher.

These quack doctors often make money by selling fake medicines, flaunting medical licenses issued by some territories or countries for money—essentially peddlers.

However, unlike these peddlers, there are doctors in this world who genuinely act with good intentions, and a considerable number actually exist who distribute medicines they’ve made at their own expense for free.

Yet the vast majority of these are madmen for whom the term “quack” would be too generous.

A significant number of doctors are merely glory-seeking intellectuals who want to be praised for their medical skills, but the medical arts they practice aren’t exactly normal either.

They uniformly prescribe bloodletting for any disease, claiming to remove “bad blood,” and unlike normal doctors, many are motivated by personal curiosity rather than healing, making most of them abnormal.

Especially those who sell unverified medicines containing substances like mercury—these people, based on good intentions, are perhaps more troublesome than evil ones, making the priests preferable.

Therefore, in most situations, instead of consuming Gretel’s healing potions which deplete resources, the priests are overworked using healing magic….

‘…Hmm?’

At that very moment when I finished this train of thought, a method suddenly occurred to me that could solve both issues: the overworking of priests and the monitoring of cultists.

‘…Couldn’t we use the Sunday service time?’

In other words, using the Sunday service time, which most villagers attend, for regular monitoring combined with scheduled healing sessions.

Although the exact reason why such a system exists without any Abrahamic religion or Genesis is unclear, in this world a week is still 7 days and Sunday is the weekly holiday.

Typically, on Sundays, regular prayer meetings (services) are held at temples, and most people attend these services unless they have some special circumstance.

Of course, many come not out of religious devotion but to receive holy water and bread from the temple, yet regularly attending often leads to genuine faith as they truly feel something.

From the beginning, regular services (prayer meetings) in this world transcend simple religious activities or ceremonies; they are sacred rituals that allow each believer to feel the presence of their deity.

Humans find solace for their souls in this process, building resistance against corruption and greatly enhancing their spiritual stability, providing psychological comfort….

I formulated a plan to use these meaningful regular service times as an opportunity to simultaneously handle both healing and cultist detection.

The fundamental reason priests are overworked is simply that they have too many tasks.

Religious events including regular services, production of temple goods like holy water, management of temple facilities including cemeteries, counseling for worshippers’ concerns, and confessions.

Each element severely taxes either the body or mind, and on top of that, people who irregularly come seeking treatment further exacerbate this fatigue.

Of course, it’s undeniable that treating injuries from accidents or reducing a baby’s fever cannot be postponed.

But at the very least, isn’t it somewhat problematic to cast spells for treating muscle pain or minor colds?

As they say, continued kindness leads to entitlement. The free medical service provided by the Debona Temple with pure intentions has, at some point, turned into a demand for healing at the slightest discomfort.

Therefore, to address these issues, I propose handling most non-serious problems collectively on weekends, specifically using area-of-effect healing magic to treat them all at once.

In fact, most minor pains or fatigue can be healed with a single healing spell, so it’s naturally much more efficient in terms of magical power to treat everyone at once with area rituals at the end of the service.

With a few additional measures, these sacred healing magic rituals could incorporate cultist detection effects while also making the priests’ busy schedules run much more smoothly.

“…How about this method?”

“While we would need to discuss this on our end, I personally think it sounds quite good, Lord Alzar.”

Especially when I conveyed this opinion, Priestess Joanna expressed a positive response to my suggestion, so at this point, I was confident that this matter would be resolved in a very positive direction, and I smiled faintly.

However, at that time, I had no idea.

That another incident would break this tranquility… in such a short time.