Chapter 64 - Sixty-Four ... The Well of the Wealthy

Chapter 64: Chapter Sixty-Four ... The Well of the Wealthy

Chapter Sixty-Four ... The Well of the Wealthy

"By the way, has there been any backlash from the citizens?"

The canton city was so large that the soldiers he’d brought weren’t nearly enough to control all of it. And the supplies he’d brought were nowhere near enough to heal the whole city either.

So whatever they lacked, they had procured on the spot within the canton city. They had drafted citizens who were still healthy, gotten the materials they needed supplied to them, and even taken soldiers along to collect "voluntary" donations from the wealthy and powerful.

Given all that, Jan asked just in case, to check on the people’s mood. After all, grievances that built up in unexpected places were what caused trouble in the end.

Of course, the dwarf administrators seemed to find his caution rather absurd.

"Pardon? Who would ever dare... Heh heh."

They scratched their heads and waved their hands, flustered.

"Not a single citizen of the canton has any complaint about what you’ve done, my lord."

"That’s right. Who would dare raise their voice? No one could say a word against someone who puts himself at risk to lead the way, in lands that aren’t even his own, my lord!"

"Hmmm..."

Should he believe these fellows?

When he thought about it, they had exactly the mindset of the ruling class here... There was every chance they read "grievances" as "the natural order of things."

As Jan eyed the dwarf administrators through narrowed eyes, Agphiel, who happened to be passing by, tossed out a remark, apparently finding the sight pathetic.

"You’re remarkably careful for a noble. But sometimes a noble needs to act like one. Don’t fret over every little thing."

"Ahem... It’s not that... Don’t you worry about it, Master Agphiel?"

In truth, they had gone a little overboard with the mobilizing. It wasn’t his own domain, and it was a plague besides, so his vassals and soldiers had been let off the leash entirely.

Every time they met with the city’s powerful, another ring glittered on Bishop Graham’s fingers!

Of course, hearing Jan’s words, Agphiel only looked unimpressed.

"You saved them from death. They should naturally put up with that much. Besides, just as you said, that bishop friend of yours has a very colorful way with words."

"Hmm?"

"He’s become quite the master at moving the citizens by using your name. Every one of them sheds tears of repentance and makes an enormous donation... I’ve never seen tightfisted dwarves do that before."

Oh, dear.

As the saying went, old habits die hard. It seemed Bishop Graham had been going around the city squeezing money out of people.

When Jan glared at him, Bishop Graham let out his trademark laugh.

"Heh heh. I worked hard to collect it! I’ll bring some to you too, my lord."

"..."

"Don’t be too hard on the bishop. It’s turned out well in the end."

"And what do you mean by that...?"

"Like it or not, this faith of theirs will become a solid foundation for you, won’t it? The more people see you as devout, the less the Papal See and other lords will be able to ignore you. A lofty reputation is sometimes more powerful than anything else."

"Hmm..."

He truly wasn’t called the Great Sage of the Forest for nothing. Every word Agphiel spoke carried wisdom that pierced straight to the heart of things.

Of course, Agphiel didn’t seem to like the admiring look Jan was giving him.

"So stop worrying about pointless things and help me out."

"Why, has another problem come up?"

"In a city this complicated, would there ever be no problems? But this isn’t that kind of problem. The plague in the wealthy quarter keeps refusing to die down. If anything, it’s spreading."

Jan stared at him in disbelief.

In any time and place, the wealthy lived far better lives than everyone else. Clean streets, clean clothes, clean houses, clean water, fresh food, and so on.

People here might lack basic notions of cleanliness, but even so, this made no sense.

"Everywhere else is getting it under control, so why the wealthy quarter? Even the slums, where things are filthier, are calming down."

"Well, I don’t know either. That’s why I’m asking for your help, isn’t it?"

"Huh... Honestly."

"So, will you help or not? It’s more serious than I thought, so I’m going right now."

"Hm, then let’s go right away. It needs doing anyway, doesn’t it?"

"G-Gold-rank lord! It’s an honor to meet you!"

The moment they reached the wealthy quarter, dwarves from the merchant houses’ association came out and greeted Jan in voices full of emotion. One after another, they came up to him and took his hand. Seeing this, Agphiel spoke with a mischievous look.

"It seems you’ve fully become a saint now? Heh heh. You’re very popular. Excellent. Holy worker of miracles!"

"Ahem, stop teasing me, Master Agphiel. And the rest of you, let go of my hand and step back."

Grumbling, Jan shook off the merchants clinging to him.

"Ah, ahem. We’re sorry, my lord. You fool, I told you it was rude."

"The priests said if you hold a holy hand, your family will be blessed for generations."

"Can’t you keep quiet? His lordship will hear you."

"..."

Just standing there listening to the dwarves chattering away below his shoulders made his head throb.

Better to get it over with than groan about it.

It was getting to the point where he wondered whether he ought to put this "worker of miracles" title to good use, since things had come to this.

"Enough chatter. Show me where the plague is spreading. People are suffering even as we speak, aren’t they?"

"Ah, sorry! We’ll take you there right away. Please follow us, my lord."

The dwarves scurried off and began leading Jan and Agphiel.

"This is the place. The plague keeps spreading in this area and won’t go away. Even when we use the method you taught us, my lord, it just keeps..."

The place they arrived at was the site of a grand mansion belonging to a member of the canton council, one of the powerful men of the canton. Jan sent back the dwarf, who was sweating buckets and speaking as if making excuses, and looked around.

There was no sign of anything fouled.

Just as the dwarf had said, fouled belongings had all been set aside and were being burned, the sick had been isolated, and the water was being boiled clean before use.

"Hmmmm. Strange. Could it really be a curse?"

"Hk!? Truly, Sage?"

"There’s nothing fouled here, and there’s no path I can see that the plague could be spreading through."

Hearing that, the dwarves panicked.

"Eeek! My lord! Gold-rank lord! May we hold your hand again?"

The very man who was supposed to calm them down had made things even harder! Jan sighed inwardly.

"Enough, enough! Haven’t you had plenty by now? Besides, you haven’t even caught it yet!"

In the end, only after being hounded by the dwarves for quite a while did Jan manage to calm them down.

"Stop fooling around and go see the sick so we can check on them!"

With a sharp shout, Jan gave the dwarves their orders. There was bound to be something fouled. This was a disease that spread easily through water. In the middle of the city, the most likely culprit was a shared source of water, like a well.

Sure enough.

"Oh, there’s a well that everyone in this area shares, my lord."

The dwarf steward mentioned the area’s communal well. According to him, the whole neighborhood used it.

"Just as I thought. Then that well must be the problem."

"Hm? But don’t plagues usually spread through the air? This one did seem a little unusual..."

"No, Master Agphiel. This plague spreads through contact with fouled water. As long as you don’t touch fouled water, you won’t catch it, even with a sick man right next to you."

"Truly? Then why did you have the filth and clothing from the sick collected and burned separately? I thought it was to purify with fire because it spread through the air."

That was the common medical wisdom. No, for the times, it was actually fairly well-reasoned medical knowledge, the most rational conclusion one could draw from what people knew.

"Those contain water too, don’t they? Since it spreads through fouled water, a sick man’s body is, quite literally, a mass of fouled water."

"Oh? That does make sense. It makes sense indeed."

Agphiel nodded repeatedly. He seemed satisfied with Jan’s answer.

"Then we’d best examine the well first? No, wouldn’t it be better to just seal it off right away? They said it’s the only source of water, so that must be where the problem is."

"It probably is, Master Agphiel."

With that, Jan immediately had people seal off the well.

With the only communal well sealed off, people would have to go a long way around to draw water, but surely that was better than dying of the plague? Besides, if it was too much trouble, they would surely pay someone to do it.

This was the wealthy quarter.

The people here had more than enough money for that.

And not long after, the plague that had spread through the wealthy quarter vanished as if it had never been.

The problem had been the fouled well after all.

With the situation wrapped up, Jan stayed at the mansion for a while at the invitation of the steward who managed it.

As it turned out, the steward’s child had been at death’s door with the plague. Thanks to that, Jan and Agphiel were lavishly entertained by the steward and got to rest and eat good food for the first time in a long while.

As the feast warmed up...

"My lord."

The steward of the mansion carefully spoke up.

"There’s something I must tell you about the canton council’s situation."

"Oh? Go ahead."

Jan had been wondering about that anyway. Why hadn’t the council members shown so much as their faces, even with the plague nearly over?

In particular, he understood that the owner of this very mansion was a member of the canton council.

For the man to stay put even with a feast like this going on in his own home, there had to be something more to it.

But what came out of the steward’s mouth was not what he expected.

"The truth is, my lord, the members of the canton council haven’t caught the plague. They’ve been struck by a real curse."

"Pfft!"

"What did you say?"

The System’s messages appeared before Jan.

[You have learned the secret of the canton council. Choose whether to use this secret to threaten them, or to show mercy and save them. Whichever you choose, the citizens of the canton will follow you.]

[Notice: Depending on the outcome, your Infamy may rise sharply.]