episode_0089

Episode 89. The Golden Ring Surrounding the Eyes (1)

****

I remembered a medical class I took as an undergraduate student, taught by a gray-haired old professor, which I had taken while playing on my cell phone.

It was a class about neurotoxins.

1692 America. Salem Witch Trials.

In academia and popular culture, it has been treated as a representative example of pre-modern barbarism, mass hysteria, and the horrors of mob psychology.

It is commonly known as a barbaric incident in which innocent people were accused of being witches and killed in absurd ways, but some have proposed a different theory: ergot poisoning.

The new theory suggested that this was the full story of the events: a complex explanation that was not simply a matter of mob psychology, but a mix of medicine and geography.

When rye is infected with ergot fungus, black fungi grow on the ears. It is called ergot because it looks like horns on barley.

Ergot contains several types of toxins.

One is called ergotamine, a toxin that can cause vasoconstriction. If consumed in large quantities, it can cause numbness in the hands and feet, and even gangrene.

But I don’t think the people in the duke’s house ate that much rye.

There are other grains, so why would you eat so much rye contaminated with ergot? You probably just ate it once or twice before.

I guess he just ate some. He didn’t show any signs of gangrene. Anyway, ergot toxin isn’t just ergotamine.

There are several neurotoxins besides ergotamine, but there is one that even the general public knows by name.

Lysergic acid diethylamide.

A substance commonly referred to as LSD.

So, because of the hallucinogenic properties of ergot, people mistakenly believe that they are under a witch’s curse, and because of the vasoconstrictive effects of ergot, gangrene occurs and fingers fall off.

So that’s how we started hunting witches.

This explains everything. The original historical Salem witch trials, and the curse that has been placed on the Cerulean dukedom for the past few weeks.

Symptoms of ergotism appeared mainly in young women who were relatively small in stature, had weak immune systems, and were relatively timid.

This is why only the Duke’s maids and three daughters showed symptoms. It is also why various symptoms such as hallucinations and convulsions appeared.

It all makes sense.

There might be some mob mentality involved too.

“You’re addicted to ergot.”

“What is ergot?”

Istina opened her eyes wide.

“Grows when grains are infected with ergot. Usually attached to ears in the shape of horns, and causes hallucinations or convulsions when eaten. ”

If you’re lucky, it might be mentioned in some herbalism textbook, I’m not sure though.

“That could really be true!”

The hallucinations and symptoms caused by ergotism have led to the current series of hypochondria and ghost sightings. It’s already fall now…

The rye that was contaminated with ergot, and the direct effects of ergot toxin, are likely to have disappeared. Now, all I have to do is explain this to the people of the mansion.

There are currently no physiological diseases, and the root cause of the hallucinations, convulsions, and confusion is rye contaminated with ergot harvested in the spring.

The conclusion is that this, combined with complex factors such as stress within the mansion, led to the unusual situation of serial malingering.

It was a very long and confusing deduction.

“But. Can you prove this?”

“I don’t know. You might find rye contaminated with ergot, or you might not.”

Since the rye contaminated with ergot was harvested in the spring, it is likely that it has already been eaten or thrown away. Still, let’s try to find it.

****

The mystery was over, and now all we had to do was find the rye contaminated with ergot. We went back to find the butler who had gone back to work.

“Mr. Anderson.”

“Ah. Would you like some dinner?”

“No, that’s not why I came. Do you have any spring harvested rye at the mansion right now?”

Anderson thought about it for a moment before answering, though he had a feeling that rye was the problem.

“Well, I guess there is.”

“Can I see it?”

“Rye?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I understand.”

But what does ergot look like?

I know that ergot is poisonous, but I have never actually seen it in real life.

I said it was a horn. If you look for it, you won’t find it. A few minutes later, Anderson came back from the storage room behind the kitchen with a sack of rye.

“I ate it all. There’s only a little left.”

Still, I’m glad that there’s at least some left.

“You should look for ergot in your rye, because ergot toxins can cause illness.”

“Oh my, is this disease caused by rye?”

“That’s what I see now.”

I don’t know yet.

Me, Istina, and the butler. The three of us sat down and looked through the rye. Surely there would be some kind of structure that could be called a horn?

“What does it look like?”

“Black horn.”

“I’ll tell you when I find it.”

A long time passed like that.

“Hey!”

Istina screamed.

“What did you find?”

“I think it’s this.”

Istina showed me a black granule the size of a fingernail. I guess it was ergot.

The grains were black and much larger than other rye grains. They were also elongated like horns.

Because it grows on the heads of grain, it is said that in pre-modern times, people did not think that it was not grain. They probably just thought it was a strangely shaped rye grain, these people too.

“Found it.”

The culprit of this situation.

I was impressed with Istina, but the butler standing next to us was looking at us with eyes that asked what on earth we were talking about.

Well, I haven’t explained anything to Anderson yet. I guess I’ll have to explain it to the butler too.

****

We moved back to the living room. Istina carefully packed the ergot. I sat down again, facing Mr. Anderson.

“So. This ergot thing can cause hallucinations and convulsions, and girls see ghosts, have seizures, and all of that is because of this?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“Oh my. Are you in a lot of pain?”

No, I don’t think so.

“No. Get some advice this time, and avoid contaminated rye in the future, and you’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad you’re getting better. But what do you mean by getting counseling…? ”

It’s hard to explain. It’s hard to explain in detail without mentioning that it’s a mental illness.

“Uh. First of all, it means that psychological stress can worsen symptoms such as convulsions, seizures, and headaches. He also said he had hallucinations.”

“Oh, that would be true.”

Fortunately, we got through it without having to mention the fake illness. Butler, you may be more naive than I thought.

“But do I have to worry about ergot every year?”

“There is a high possibility that it will disappear next year.”

Ergot also grows under specific conditions.

It’s not something you can make grow every year.

If it were easy to grow ergot, criminals would be busy setting up LSD farms. I’ve seen people secretly growing poppies or marijuana on the news, but I’ve never seen anyone growing ergot.

It’s difficult.

Even though the mystery was solved, the butler’s expression was still dark. Why?

“Okay… … .”

“What are you worried about?”

“I know it’s selfish, but I feel like I have some responsibility.”

Anyway, most of the symptoms that those guys are showing now are just mental illnesses. How can they take responsibility for a disaster that was completely unpredictable?

“I will explain it to the Duke.”

“Thank you.”

More than that, I’m wondering how much I should talk about faking illness. Should I tell the people in the mansion that it’s almost like that?

Or would it be better to just gloss over it? Patients would definitely want the latter.

There are all sorts of things that are bad for your health in the mansion, and you could just say that you got sick because of ergot and move on.

“To conclude, the children of the Duke family will probably be fine soon. They just need to get rid of a few things that are bad for their health at home.”

The butler nodded.

I opened my mouth again.

“More than that. I have one more thing to say.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t think the damage from ergotism is limited to the three princesses. I wonder if it’s worse among the servants.”

The butler teacher couldn’t answer this question easily. It’s something that needs to be thought about a little more.

“Please bring the sick person to me later. First, let’s go see the third princess.”

****

The process was a bit long, but most of it was resolved. We came to meet the third daughter of the Duke’s family.

First, the second princess was concluded to be faking an illness, so wouldn’t the third princess also be faking an illness?

“This is the room of the third lady that I couldn’t go to earlier. The third lady was sick the longest.”

“Let me take a look. Where does it hurt?”

“I don’t know exactly either. Ask me.”

The previous two had definitely been in sore spots, but things were a bit different here. The third daughter’s room door was also tightly shut.

The name written on the door sign is Elizabeth.

Knock, knock. I knocked on the door first.

“May I come in-”

Oh, that’s strange. The door opened by itself, and I locked eyes with the third princess, Elizabeth.

Unlike the previous two, he opened the door himself. It was Miss Elizabeth who looked like-

The eyes were so large that it seemed like they were actually the eyes of a cat. The pale blue eyes had golden rings surrounding them.

Oh, that’s strange. A golden ring?

“Fuck, this is surprising.”

That can’t be. All my reasoning up to now can’t have been wrong. It’s strange.

“What’s going on?”

“Let’s talk.”

A golden ring around the eye. A doctor would know what the disease was right away. Now I know. Everyone in this mansion, every single one of them, was trying to deceive me.