To begin with, the whole nation of Kyou itself had a storied history yet not much wealth.
Even its nobility were said to live quite the humble life.
“There were only quite a few healers originally, so when the disease spread, there weren’t enough of them to go around. I’ve heard many a tale of people getting tricked by fraudulent healers or taking strange medicine that ended up making them worse.”
Gai-san’s father told us so with a sigh.
Things here might be more serious than I thought.
At that moment, Gai-san returned.
“Ah, Gai-san, how did it go?”
“The treatment was a complete success.”
A few moments later, a man who looked a lot like Gai-san emerged.
This man had hair though. Moreover, although he was emaciated, there were none of the warts peculiar to the epidemic.
“Myouken! Are you…?”
“Yes, I’m fine now, Father. Myougai has rid my body of all the warts and made me feel so much better.”
It looked like Gai-san’s healing magic worked.
However, based on how hard he was breathing, it looked like the process consumed an absurd amount of mana.
Seeing him like that, Gai-san’s father spoke with a solemn expression.
“……Myougai, it seems like curing even just one person has taken a great toll on you. In other words, your powers alone wouldn’t make any significant change against the epidemic which has spread so much already in the capital.”
“It would seem so.”
“If you’re not careful, you yourself might fall victim to it and quite possibly die. You do realize that, right?”
“I do and I’ve readied myself for that possibility…or so I’d like to say.”
“?”
At that point, Gai-san took something out of his vestments.
It was a cure potion.
“I’d like to show to you this medicine! This is the fabled potion made by the elves! This one is specialized to cure diseases. If one were to drink this, they are sure to recover from the epidemic in the blink of the eye!”
Gai-san made claims akin to some shady online seller, but despite it all sounding too good to be true, the effects he stated were real.
“A potion…? That medicine works against the epidemic?”
“I guarantee it.”
Gai-san confidently nodded.
For the people of Kyou, that must have been quite the unbelievable story. After all, we just heard that fraudsters have been selling shady medicine. However, thanks to the fact that he had healed his brother earlier, everyone including his father looked at the potion Gai-san was holding with beseeching eyes.
I decided to say something.
“Why don’t you give it a try for now? Is there somebody else here affected by the epidemic?”
“At present, only the servants are affected…but these are valuable aren’t they?”
“It’s alright. We’re mass-producing them at our village, after all.”
When the servant who was was afflicted drank a cure potion, as expected, it was very effective.
“With this, we have proven that the potion works against the epidemic. What’s next is for us to administer them to all of the afflicted.”
“To, to all of them!? Is that even possible…!?”
“Yup. We should have enough for a lot of people. My larger concern is that the afflicted are scattered all over the city…sure would be nice if we could gather them all in one place…”
“……then, how about you leave that to me? I’ll do something about it as member of the nobility.”
“Really? Then, please.”
A few days later, the afflicted have gathered in the shrines in various locations in the city.
“You gathered a lot of them.”
“Yes. I managed to have the Divine Emperor recognize the efficacy of that medicine and then issue a decree to the whole city in his name.”
Gai-san’s father said so, looking tired.
He must have worked himself hard to convince various people.
Despite being nobility, he apparently had a low rank and thus shouldn’t have been able to directly contact those at the top. In an imperial court as ancient as theirs, it would seem like political maneuverings were quite intense.
“Well then, let’s start distributing the cure potions, shall we?”