A few days had passed since the incident.
We had finally discovered a way to detect the parasites.
I was never going to forgive the Ghouls.
The key to everything turned out to be the moment I vomited blood. Those donuts—the ones that made my teeth chatter just by remembering the taste—contained aromatic spices that had wiped the parasites out. In my case, they had nested in my stomach, which was why I’d ended up coughing up blood.
Because I had been in such poor condition, they suspected I’d been infected with the Fatal Disease the Ghouls carried, and my quarantine period had been extended.
I hated it. I’d survived so many brushes with death, only to die so easily from a disease on a distant expedition? Was I Alexander the Great? I refused to accept that. No measly germ was going to kill me!
Wait, was it a virus or bacteria? Different organisms? Whatever—I wasn't dying! Fortunately, I used the Empire’s nanomachines to make short work of the bacteria. Oh, they didn’t handle viruses? Antivirals... right. Microbes were complicated. Once I had the proper medicine, I just relied on Auto-recovery to pull me through.
Meanwhile, Tatiana had been treating people using my Mimicry ability. She was currently racking up a massive following of believers in the Ogre God Nation, our own military, and Latarnia. She told me to watch my back once she got out of duty, but it couldn't be helped. It was a political strategy. She was just shy.
Tatiana was kept busy with Kevin and One-oh-one. While Kevin and One-oh-one acted as medics, Tatiana played the role of the Saint. She threatened to kill me if I called her that again, but I kept telling her it was all for the performance.
Tatiana came to my room every day to complain, even though I wasn’t the one in overall charge.
"I want to quit being a Saint!"
"I know, I know. But we can't stop now. Not this."
If she quit now, a riot would break out. Even the Latarnian government claimed that the unrest hadn't expanded solely thanks to Tatiana. Currently, the "Eat Traditional Food to Exterminate Parasites" Campaign was underway in Latarnia.
Specifically, it focused on that one spice. Apparently, it had such strong reproductive power that it was usually treated as a weed. The Ogre God Nation and the Empire were buying it in bulk. It wasn't like they were being price-gouged, though; Latarnia’s traditional cuisine had actually been on the verge of extinction because people liked the Ogre God Nation’s food better.
To us, they both just tasted like "spices," but there was a significant difference. Was it the fish sauce? Latarnians really loved their fish sauce. I wondered if the Empire’s soy sauce would sell well there, too.
Latarnia had started the "Let's Eat Traditional Food" campaign for its citizens, but it hadn’t been going well. That was where the Empire came in. As slaves to capitalism, we were experts at creating advertisements. I mean, Ikkyu-san... the viewer ratings were insane. Ad slots were being fought over in an auction system. We kept churning out ads for them. I would’ve refused if it were weird propaganda, but since the goal was parasite eradication, it was fine. Surely, they wouldn't go straight from traditional food to radical Nationalism... or so everyone thought.
But this turned out to be bad. Well, it was a good opportunity for the Empire, but the impact reached an extreme range. The Latarnians—whose patience was already thin—finally snapped.
A Mass Parasite Inspection was conducted for every Latarnian citizen. The Ogre God Nation, the Imperial Fleet, and the Battle Dome were included as well, along with the Pirate Guild—though only Lord Eyens's faction participated.
The results were shocking. Ninety percent of the pirates were infected. Furthermore, the Latarnians who had been trading with those pirates were also heavily infected. Some had already become Ghouls, while others were on the verge of turning.
Latarnia had a Burial Culture, and unlike the Empire, they didn't have a habit of visiting graves frequently. In other words, people had been turning into Ghouls and "rising" from their graves without anyone noticing. It was terrifying. The Latarnians had simply assumed there was some kind of fatal disease going around. They had overlooked the truth due to a combination of their culture and insufficient medical technology. I suppose the Empire’s medicine was just more advanced.
By comparison, the Ogre God Nation had very few infections. Analysis suggested this was because they didn't trade with the pirates. It was clear now: the Ghouls had played at being friendly with the pirates to use their ships as carriers, spreading the parasites via mosquitoes.
It was incredibly malicious. I was speechless at such villainy. Naturally, Latarnia was beyond enraged—to the point where the population had actually gone quiet. The air was thick with the silent consensus that they had no choice but to kill them all.
With expressionless faces, they began a total offensive on the planets under the Ghouls' influence. They used the same Biological Extermination Missiles they’d used to annihilate the Proone. Lord Eyens was also livid. Not only had his trade routes been ruined, but he’d lost face. Honestly, I think the loss of face bothered him more. He ordered all pirates to exterminate Ghouls on sight.
As for the Ogre God Nation, not just Saria, but even Saria's Papa came out in a massive rage. Despite having almost no infections, they put on quite a performance. They clearly wanted to destroy the Ghouls. Public opinion shifted firmly toward Ghoul Subjugation.
The problem was that Latarnia had already been destroying Ghoul nests everywhere, yet the Ghouls showed no signs of decreasing. If anything, the number of infected Latarnians was increasing. The government was at its wit's end. It wasn't an extinction-level threat yet, but it was enough to topple the current administration. They were working against a deadline now.
Despite everything, we still didn't know what the "Mainland" the Ghouls mentioned was. We didn't even know what the word referred to in the first place. I figured it was the main body of the nest, but we had zero intel.
I was finally discharged from the hospital around this time. It had been my longest stay yet. Our countermeasure against the mosquitoes was pure brute force: Kevin’s spider drones. Controlled by a simple AI, the spiders roamed the ship to hunt mosquitoes while keeping an eye out for Assassination Drones.
I tried one of the donuts again.
"My head doesn't hurt."
"So that's how it is, then," Wifey said, watching me carefully.
Apparently, eating them while infected caused a massive headache. They were way too sweet and had that weird spice flavor, which I didn't care for, but at least my head didn't throb. I managed to finish it.
"It seems everyone is doing the Parasite Challenge now."
Relieved, Wifey ate a donut as well, but one was her limit.
"I'll go make something else."
"I'm counting on you."
I decided to bake some crepes. I worked alongside Nina-san in the kitchen.
"Leo-kun, you're quite handy."
"I'm just making sure I can survive if I ever get fired from the military."
"I think a riot would break out if they ever fired you, Leo-kun."
The batter finished cooking.
"Wifey, do you want yours sweet or savory?"
"Sweet!"
I loaded it with whipped cream, ice cream, and cut fruit, then drizzled fruit sauce over the top.
"All done!"
One-oh-one was already there, standing next to Tatiana in a "give me some" pose.
"I'm making more now! Take this one to Wifey first."
"Yes, sir!"
Those were the events of the last few days. We still hadn't figured out the compatibility with the Zork network, and that was when the bombshell was dropped.
The Latarnian Ambassador spoke during a meeting, his voice strained.
"Zork discovered some ruins. Would you like to investigate them?"
Things had been turning into a sci-fi horror story lately... but this wasn't going to be the scary kind, right?
Wait, why was the Ambassador looking away? Hey!