Chapter 189: Ergotism (1)

After kicking Lohengrin's migraine medicine out of the deliberation.

The stock market exploded at the news of the clinical trial manipulation.

It wasn't a metaphor; it literally exploded.

I was passing by the stock exchange, and it looked like a full-blown riot had broken out.

— "Why is there no buy wall?!"

— "What is this... They said it was going to bounce back just yesterday!"

— "What? This place was a Lohengrin subsidiary too?!"

— "Sell it! Even if it's cut in half, no, cut down to a tenth, just dump it all right now!!"

— "Are you crazy?! What kind of lunatic would buy Lohengrin right now?! There are absolutely no buy orders!"

— "Beidel, you fucker!!!"

A portrait of a middle-aged man I'd never seen before was burning on the street.

Listening to the people's outcry, it seemed the owner of that portrait was named Beidel.

The empire's stock exchange had truly turned into a pandemonium of hell.

Countless shareholders were tearing at their hair and screaming.

People were foaming at the mouth, scattering their stock certificates—now mere scraps of paper—into the air.

"Hmmmm..."

Gregor, who had been closely observing the crowd, let out a groan.

"Lord Saint, did you perhaps see that over there?"

"See what?"

"It's a relief you didn't see it. Phew... I wonder how long we can keep it a secret..."

"?"

Gregor shook his head as if it was nothing.

Anyway.

The aftermath of Lohengrin's downfall didn't end there.

The emergency ward was overflowing with patients too.

I had heard that emergency rooms can get busy when stocks plummet.

But to think I'd experience the Black Monday incident in another world.

Thanks to that, I could really feel that the aftermath of this incident was bigger than I thought.

However, aside from that, the issue with the new medicine wasn't over yet.

Lohengrin's new medicine sample (LWGN-0004).

Even after rejecting the medicine during the deliberation, I scrutinized its ingredient analysis table again and again.

Seeing me like that, Perisia asked in confusion.

"The cover-up has been revealed, and it's already been excluded from the deliberation. Is there perhaps another reason why you continue to examine it?"

"Isn't it because if you just remove the toxicity, it can be transformed into a useful migraine medicine?"

Gregor tried to guess the reason for my actions from the side.

But unfortunately, it was an incorrect answer.

"The ergot alkaloid used as the raw material for this drug cannot have its side effects improved no matter what process it goes through. This medicine can absolutely never be used."

You'd be better off telling them to take aspirin than consuming this medicine.

That would be far safer.

"Risking cardiac fibrosis just to treat a migraine is absurd."

Therefore, I have no lingering attachments to this drug.

Its medicinal effect is ambiguous at best, yet the side effects are far too strong.

And so, without resolving their doubts, I continued to focus on this medicine.

A short while later.

"Ah, just as I thought."

After clinging to the analysis table for several days, I was able to reach a conclusion.

I had a bad feeling when they said they used an ergot alkaloid for medicine.

And sure enough.

Putting the explanation aside for now,

I abruptly asked Perisia a question.

"Perisia, in the history of the empire, is there any incident where a sudden witch trial occurred on the scale of a village or territory?"

"The Church would have more detailed records regarding witch trials. I can check with my superiors..."

"There are. There are approximately fifteen cases."

"?"

As soon as a topic related to the Church came up, the Gregor Wiki reacted.

It's hard to imagine just by looking at his muscular figure,

but that guy is surprisingly knowledgeable when it comes to Church matters.

When he curated the art exhibition in the Holy City last time, we all experienced a massive wave of cognitive dissonance.

"Out of the fifteen cases, are there specific conditions you are looking for, Lord Saint?"

"Please look for instances where an entire community of ten or more people sharing basic necessities was suddenly swept up in collective madness."

"If that's the case, there would be the tragedy of the western Serium territory."

"Serium territory?"

At Gregor's words, Perisia also nodded as if she remembered.

"That incident is famous, so I remember it as well. It was a tragedy that occurred decades ago in the territory of Count Serium, which had been maintaining a relatively stable frontline on the western front."

"That's correct. The citizens of the territory suddenly exhibited mass hysteria, an event that led to the territory's downfall."

"At the time, the Count was temporarily away from the territory for an expedition. As if they had been waiting for it, the citizens claimed the Countess and the Young Lady were 'witches who consorted with demonkin and sold out the citizens,' and hung them both on the stake for execution by burning."

Perisia and Gregor took turns exchanging information, continuing the conversation.

"The Count, who returned from the expedition, suffered a mental breakdown, massacred the citizens, and subsequently disappeared."

"According to the subsequent investigation conducted by our Church, there were no grounds for suspicion of witchcraft regarding the Countess or the Young Lady."

There was absolutely no logical way to explain the citizens' actions.

If the Count had died and the Countess became a widow, there might have been a way to explain it.

Because a significant portion of false witch accusations were aimed at seizing wealth.

However, this tragedy was far from something like that.

The Count had merely stepped away for a moment; he wasn't dead.

In other words, the only explanation was that the citizens had suddenly gone insane for no reason.

"As of now, we speculate that there was involvement from black sorcerers or demonkin."

I didn't even need to ask why they thought so.

No matter how much weaker the Countess and the Young Lady were compared to the Count.

That still didn't mean they were people the ordinary citizens could subject to a witch hunt.

Yet the fact that they were dragged to the stake could only be explained by external intervention.

The question was 'how'.

"However, this is nothing more than speculation; how the demonkin or black sorcerers managed to control the citizens remains unrevealed."

"It was black sorcerers. Specifically, the involvement of the Hallucination School."

"...Excuse me?"

At my answer, question marks popped up above Gregor and Perisia's heads.

Feeling the two gazes demanding an explanation, I felt a sense of satisfaction for the first time in a while.

'This is the thrill of explaining the conclusion first.'

Unkindly skipping the process and just giving the answer makes you look really smart.

After savoring those gazes for a moment, I provided the lacking explanation.

"It's a textbook case of 'mass ergotism'."

"Ergotism...?"

"I mean ergot poisoning. It's a disease that occurs when you eat bread mixed with black, grain-shaped mold that grows on wheat or rye."

Ergot poisoning is a disease with a long history, just like diabetes.

People inevitably ate the blackened grains and then got sick.

This causal relationship itself had already been known for 600 years.

It was just that, like diabetes, the underlying principles and pathophysiology hadn't been identified.

"Are you saying ergot poisoning can cause this phenomenon?"

Therefore, this reaction from Gregor was natural.

"I've never even heard of ergot poisoning having these kinds of symptoms."

"That's because no one has ever categorized the symptoms of ergot poisoning."

It's the same with diabetes.

In modern times, the fact that you can go blind, your kidneys can fail, and your feet can rot from diabetes is practically common sense.

But it wasn't in this world.

Someone might know it as a disease that makes you urinate frequently.

A slightly more knowledgeable healer might know that your feet can rot.

But no one knew the fact that it could make you go blind or ruin your kidneys.

That is, until I categorized it for them.

"Ergot poisoning can present with not only vomiting, headaches, and convulsions, but also hallucinations. Any specialized healer handling detoxification at the Meyer Infirmary would know this."

This is specialized knowledge from here on, so civilians might not know it well, but...

Ergot poisoning has inherently included hallucinatory symptoms.

"For reference, if you properly utilize these hallucination symptoms, you can make a drug called LSD."

"LSD...? I've never heard of such a drug."

"It's a drug I named."

"...Have you perhaps made it?"

"During the process of developing morphine, I briefly made it and then disposed of it."

"...Not opium, but... you can make drugs from grains...?"

Perisia's gaze turned sharp.

I think she had that exact expression when glaring at a gang member caught making drugs in a back alley.

Then, she carefully asked a question.

"By any chance, can you create other drugs besides morphine and that LSD?"

"...A few exist, but I will submit them as an academic paper to the military later."

"Please make sure to do so."

The conversation got a bit sidetracked, but...

Anyway.

As you can see, the ergot fungus can also serve as a raw material for drugs.

However, LSD was an absolutely useless drug for medical use.

That's why I hadn't introduced it to the world.

But even without me introducing it, it seemed there were black sorcerers who had already awakened to this purpose for the ergot fungus.

"The tragedy of the Serium territory was caused by the hallucinogenic effects of an ergot alkaloid. During a long siege defense, the ergot fungus spread through the stored grain, and someone used that contaminated grain to induce mass ergotism."

The territory at the time would have been in a state akin to having a massive LSD party.

Well, it was before it was processed, so 'a hallucinatory state of mass ergotism' would be a more accurate expression.

And the citizens in this state could be transformed into witch hunters with just a little incitement and magical intervention.

"The hallucinating citizens must have genuinely believed the Countess and the Young Lady were witches."

"So that's why they committed such a horrific act..."

Soon, Perisia's gaze turned toward the bottle.

Toward the bottle containing Lohengrin's new medicine, made from the ergot alkaloid.

"Then, is this also the reason you investigated this medicine, Lord Yulian?"

"Yes, that's correct."

I felt rather suspicious when they said they made a medicine out of ergot fungus.

Even to me, the ergot alkaloid was an excellent catalyst for black magic.

Because there are many things you can do with just that one component.

So I investigated it just in case they had played some trick with it...

"This is a medicine extracted from the ergot alkaloid. However, there are impurities mixed into this medicine that absolutely shouldn't be there."

I rolled the medicine bottle in my hand.

"It was quite clever. They designed the process so that when the ergot alkaloid was processed into medicine, it would mix in as if it were a naturally occurring impurity."

"But weren't there no reports of hallucinatory symptoms?"

"It wasn't enough to cause immediately noticeable hallucinations. However, if this impurity accumulated in the patients' bodies through long-term use, they could induce a mass hallucination with just a slight trigger."

It was a rather brilliant design.

If they had mixed hallucination-inducing components into another medicine, they would have been caught.

But it would be easy to include hallucinatory components in a medicine that refines an ergot alkaloid.

People would steadily accumulate the hallucinatory components without knowing anything.

And when the time was right, they would have been able to recreate the tragedy of the Serium territory.

"The intention is far too obvious. If it were a normal pharmaceutical process, it would have definitely been filtered out."

"B-But, Lord Saint. Is there no possibility that Lohengrin's researchers were simply incompetent or made a mistake, failing to filter out the impurity?"

Gregor suggested another possibility with a face of disbelief.

It wasn't that he was defending Lohengrin.

He was simply bordering on denial at the terrifying reality that the tragedy of the Serium territory might have been recreated.

But unfortunately, that possibility was also low.

"No. In a normal refining process, any component that induces hallucinations is absolutely removed."

The process of making the drug is structured specifically toward filtering out the hallucination-inducing components.

In other words, if they had intended to make this drug properly, these were substances that could not have been mixed in from the start.

"It is not a substance that would be left behind by mistake in a proper process. Though, even if it were a mistake, it would not be at an acceptable level."

"If that's the case..."

"This is merely my deduction from here, but Lohengrin's researchers likely failed to realize the true nature of this impurity. Because they wouldn't have the knowledge to do so."

If they had known, they would have been even more careful to filter out these components.

It's more accurate to say they were deceived.

"The black sorcerer that Lohengrin brought in must have designed the process in a way that made this impurity's integration inevitable."

Well, this is a trick I could easily pull off too.

If I secretly slipped a poisonous substance into the Viagra manufacturing process right now, no one would even know, right?

The information gap between the designer and the producer in biochemistry is just that massive.

"Please make contact with the military. Tell them that not only did they violate the ethics of life magic, but it appears they have also broken a taboo."

"Understood."

Perisia hurriedly contacted the military.

At that moment, Gregor, who had been listening silently with a hand on his mustache, spoke up.

"I have one question, Lord Saint."

"Is there something else you're curious about?"

"What on earth do those black sorcerers stand to gain by doing this? What benefit is there for them in spreading hallucinations throughout the whole country?"

It was a good question.

At first glance, the actions of these black sorcerers would look like nothing more than stirring up trouble.

And in reality, they probably did have that motive to some extent.

But there was another reason why they were using the ergot fungus like this.

"They can create witches."

"...Witches, you say?"

"Witches frequently use ergot."

Witch.

A term used to call black sorcerers who wield hallucination-type black magic.

Their method involves inducing confusion with brilliant, dream-like hallucinations and controlling people's minds.

"By nature, it is difficult for a human to visualize a mental image of something they have never experienced. But the hallucinations caused by ergot easily allow them to cross that threshold."

They need ergot.

To use hallucinations as inspiration to wield black magic.

Just as a chimera sorcerer peels off their own skin,

and a plague caster uses their own body as a culture medium.

Witches, too, steep their own minds in drugs to elevate their level of mastery.

"The Round Table of Thirteen uses this ergot to screen for those who possess the potential to become witches. They then destroy their social foundations, leaving them with no choice but to be initiated into their ranks."

The tragedy of the Serium territory must have been triggered for that very reason.

Inducing a mass hallucination to single out the talents capable of entering hallucination-type black magic.

Then sparking a witch hunt to force them to inevitably hide in the underworld.

Once they had nowhere left to return to, their only option to survive would be to embrace black magic.

"It's like a massive screening test of sorts."

Basically Walpurgis?

I guess I could think of it like that.

Upon hearing the explanation, Gregor muttered with a shocked face.

"Good heavens... Are you saying they could commit such an act merely for screening?"

"Regardless, the point is that this new medicine incident could have been a witch screening test targeting the entirety of the empire."

"I understand perfectly. I will pass this on to the inquisitor as well."

Gregor hastily left the room with large strides.

A short while later.

The inquisitor and the inspector who had heard the news came to find me.

Without exception, their faces were pale with terror.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Lord Yulian. You saved us from what could have been a repeat of the Serium tragedy throughout the empire."

"Our Church would also like to offer our deepest gratitude once again, Lord Saint."

It was a natural reaction.

Migraines are a common disease.

A medicine for such a disease would have spread across the entire continent in an instant.

It probably would have become a household staple overnight, like the painkillers you buy at a convenience store.

Then, the inquisitor looked at me as if he had suddenly realized something.

He carefully asked a question.

"...However, Lord Saint. This might be an impolite question, but—how on earth are you so intimately knowledgeable about these things, Lord Saint?"

"Even if you say that..."

It was difficult for me to explain.

To begin with, it wasn't an idea I came up with myself.

The majority of my scenarios or deductions were closer to referencing 'incidents' that had already occurred in my previous life.

It's not like I systematically form deductions or hypotheses like Charlotte does.

I'm simply copying and pasting events from my past life just as they were.

Even if they asked me how I thought of this stuff...

'I'm just piecing it together, though.'

There's no way someone copying an answer sheet could provide a proper explanation.

But I couldn't risk revealing my true abilities by pointlessly trying to explain it.

So I glossed over it.

"It's a foundational technique, something I would teach to the second-year students learning Black Magic Defense Arts. Even if you ask how I know, it would be difficult for me to explain."

Then, the inspector, who had been listening silently, spoke.

"...The reason we came to you today is none other than to hear the absolute worst-case scenarios this ergot fungus could cause, just in case of any unexpected situations, Professor. Could you perhaps speak freely on this matter right now?"

I nodded.

Because this was a common occurrence.

Whenever traces of black sorcerers were discovered, the inspectors and inquisitors would visit me like this.

And they would ask me to provide the worst-case scenarios I could imagine.

Their reasoning was that while most black sorcerers never thought that far ahead, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

So, thinking nothing of it this time as well, I explained the scenario I had thought of.

"If it were me, I would have processed the ergot alkaloid into LSD and used it."

You can think of it as the difference between opium and morphine.

The ergot alkaloid is sufficient to cause hallucinations, but...

Its destructive power was nothing compared to LSD.

If they processed it into LSD, the hallucinations the witches saw would've been way more trippy, right?

Who knows.

Compared to using the ergot alkaloid as is, the initiation might become easier, and they might reach a higher level of mastery much faster.

And upon hearing this explanation, the inspector nodded and spoke.

"Thank you for... your continuous cooperation..."

For some reason, it seemed the inquisitor and the inspector kept reaching for the handcuffs at their waists, but...

I figured it was probably just my imagination.