How many people did I treat that day?
I knelt before the people being carried into the clinic, my hands outstretched. I channeled green light into them, quelling their tremors. I did this over and over, a tireless repetition. One person finished, then the next. And then the next.
I had long since given up on keeping count.
Before I knew it, the world outside the window was bleeding into a deep red. I had started in the morning, and evening was already upon us.
"Sister... with this patient, he’s surpassed a hundred..."
The woman assisting me spoke in a daze, as if she were witnessing a miracle.
A hundred people. For an average magic user, the daily limit for healing was supposedly five or ten.
In the morning, several others had been working alongside me. But one by one, they had exhausted their mana and collapsed.
"So many people, all by himself..."
I heard a murmur ripple through the room. The people in the hall were all watching me, their eyes filled with awe—and a deep, lingering concern.
My hands were shaking. The green light was noticeably fainter than before. I knew better than anyone that my mana was reaching its absolute limit.
"Lord Rein... that’s enough for today."
Mira placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and whispered into my ear.
"Just one more person," I insisted.
I reached out for the next patient, but before my hand could find them, the world suddenly plunged into darkness.
The strength drained from my limbs.
"—!!"
As I fell, Mira and Lina caught me from both sides. Within my fading consciousness, I could only hear their frantic, desperate voices.
◇◇◇
I didn't wake up until the following day.
When I opened my eyes, Mira’s and Lina’s faces were right there, hovering over my pillow. Their eyes were slightly bloodshot.
It seemed I had slept through the entire night. Apparently, even after I collapsed, those capable of detoxification magic had continued to treat people little by little as their mana recovered. I wasn’t the only one fighting. That thought gave me strength.
I tried to sit up, though I still felt lightheaded.
"Lord Rein. You’re still so pale... I beg of you, please... please, do not overexert yourself any further."
"I’m sorry, Mira. But if I don't give it my all right now, so many people will die."
"You are under no obligation to push yourself this far, Lord Rein!"
"—I..."
"I learned recovery magic for this very purpose."
"...I'm sorry. Just let me have my way this once."
Mira looked as though she were desperately fighting back tears, but she eventually gave a small, reluctant nod.
Lina watched us both intently.
Lina herself had been saved by my stubbornness. I think that was why she couldn't bring herself to say a word against it.
◇◇◇
When I returned to the clinic, it was overflowing.
Once word had spread that a cure was possible, the sick had been brought in from every corner of the city. People waiting their turn lined the hallways and spilled out the doors. A contingent of knights had been dispatched to prevent a riot, and the crowd surged like a restless tide.
However, only a handful of people could perform detoxification. Most of them had already exhausted their mana and collapsed by the time I arrived.
I set back to work, moving my hands to detoxify one patient after another. But as evening approached, my mana began to fail me once more. No matter how many people I saved, the line never seemed to shorten.
"Lord Rein. We stop here for today. If you go any further, you’ll collapse again."
Mira spoke with absolute finality. Supported by Mira and Lina, I tried to stand. But as I started to leave, someone grabbed my clothes.
"Sister, please! My child is still...!"
"My wife won't wake up! Please! I beg you, treat her!!"
Clinging hands reached out for me from every direction.
I had no choice but to shake them off. I wanted to save every single one of them, but I was empty. There was nothing left to give. The escorting knights stepped in, wedging themselves between me and the pleading crowd.
"...I'm sorry."
I whispered the words and hurried out of the clinic. The sound of people breaking down in tears echoed behind me. Even as those cries pierced my heart, I couldn't bring myself to look back.
A carriage was waiting outside the gate. I recognized the crest on the door immediately. It was the mark of House Ahrens.
The window slid open from the inside, revealing the Marquis himself.
"—Would you mind accompanying me for a moment? There is something I wish to show you."
He took us to the city’s granary.
In the gloom of the massive building, sacks of grain were piled high like mountains. The Marquis led us to a corner deep in the back.
"As you suggested, I had a thorough investigation conducted into what the victims had consumed. At first, I suspected the water, but the wells and shops used by the afflicted were all over the city."
He continued, his voice grim.
"The patterns showed that the wealthy were largely unaffected, while the poor suffered in droves. For example, in my manor, not a single person has fallen ill since the outbreak began, despite the chaos in the streets. What every victim had in common was—"
The Marquis looked down at a burlap sack at his feet.
"The cheap rye bread sold here. And within this grain, there was something that was not rye."
The pieces clicked together in my mind.
The white bread always placed on the table in our room.
"I'll be having lunch over there as well."
Big Sister Therese, who had gone to the Church and the orphanages every day to eat with the people...
—This was it.
The Marquis used a wooden measuring spoon to scoop some rye from the sack.
Among the normal grains, there were distorted, horn-like kernels scattered throughout. At a glance, the color matched the surrounding grain perfectly. But when I leaned in closer, I realized the surface was coated in a whitish powder, as if to hide its true color. When I carefully brushed the powder away with a cloth, a dark, purplish-black hue was revealed.
"What is this?" I asked.
The Marquis didn't seem to know either. He turned to the granary attendant standing nearby.
"Do you recognize this?"
"No... I don't. The white powder on the surface looks like common flour, but..."
"Were you aware this was mixed in with the rye?"
The attendant looked away, shifting uncomfortably.
"Yes... I noticed it. For high-grade wheat, we painstakingly sort out every pebble and insect-damaged grain. But this is the cheap rye for the poor, so we didn't go to such lengths... I thought it was just a bad batch and sent it straight to the mill..."
Just then, a tall man carrying cargo peered over as he passed by.
"...That black stuff. You see that sometimes on grain from cold regions. Doesn't usually grow around here, though."
He seemed to be from the mountains. This land was famous for its harvests, so it was unknown here, but perhaps it was a common sight in harsher climates.
"Is this the cause?"
"I don't know for certain yet," the Marquis replied. "First, let us confirm that this is indeed toxic. Will you assist me?"
"If it’s within my power."
At the Marquis's command, his subordinates brought over a mouse caught in one of the granary traps. It was scurrying energetically inside its cage.
They mixed the crushed black grain into some bait and placed it inside. The mouse ate it greedily.
We waited. Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on the cage.
Eventually, the mouse’s behavior shifted. Its body began to stiffen and tremble. It moved restlessly, eventually thrashing about as if scratching at the empty air. Its eyes were dilated, wide and round.
—It was exactly what I had seen in the victims across the city.
I held my hand over the cage. Enough time had passed that I had recovered just enough mana to heal a small animal. I channeled detoxification magic into the tiny creature.
The thrashing mouse suddenly went still. Its tremors ceased, and it began to scurry normally around the cage once more.
"That confirms it. It is poison... However, with the roads blockaded, what are we to do if our food supply is compromised?"
"Um... is it not possible to sort out the bad grains and keep the rest?" I asked. "If we used enough manpower, perhaps..."
"If it were possible, I would enlist the entire city to do so. But if even a single grain is missed, someone dies. We would have to be perfect, and in reality, things will be overlooked."
The Marquis stared at the mouse and the black grains for a long time. Then, he gave a curt command to his subordinate.
"Burn every sack of rye containing this poison."
"Are you sure, milord? If we burn the food stores now..."
"...I shall distribute rations from the Lord's Manor's private stores to run soup kitchens for the amount lost."
"But the stores at the manor are also running low."
"...Then we have no choice but to force them to lift the blockade. I shall fire message arrows to the besiegers explaining that this is poison, not a plague. However, they will likely assume we are lying out of desperation. Sending someone out to prove it would be a suicide mission. I can only hope someone out there will believe us..."
◇◇◇
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, I heard they were preparing to fire the message arrows, and I decided to go up onto the wall. I knew House Laufen and House Werl were among the besiegers, and there was something I had to try.
Mira clearly didn't want me going anywhere after I’d collapsed, but when she saw I wouldn't budge, she gave a small sigh and followed me.
Halfway up the stairs to the wall, I stopped and looked back.
Black smoke was coiling up from the center of the city. They were burning the tainted rye. People were gathered beneath the smoke—haggard, thin people with sunken cheeks. They watched blankly as their food was reduced to ash.
If this continued, they would all starve. I had to act now. I turned and finished the climb.
At the top of the wall, archers were launching message arrows with a rhythmic roar toward the bonfires in the distance.
I scanned the area near the fires. And then, I saw them.
—The banners of House Laufen and House Werl.
My chest felt a little warmer at the sight.
What I was about to do was a risky gamble. I knew from my letters with Katia that she often led her units personally. If she was under that flag, and if she believed in me, then I would win.
I scraped together every last drop of my remaining mana and held my hand toward the sky.
Green light flared from my fingertips. I wove the radiance into shapes. Magic Writing began to float in the darkening sky. Katia and I had used this light to communicate during my treatment several times. If it was Katia, she would know it was me.
"I CAN HEAL" "COME"
I wrote it again and again, pouring my hope into the light, praying it would reach her.
My arms felt like lead. The meager mana I had recovered was bottoming out, and a wave of nausea washed over me.
"That's enough! You have to stop...!"
Before I could collapse, Mira pulled me back.
With Mira and Lina supporting me on either side, I was practically carried down from the wall. At the edge of my darkening vision, the green Magic Writing was slowly flickering out.
I wonder... did I win this gamble?