Legend

"... mmm..."

Ray, sleeping wrapped in a futon in her bed, wakes her torso moaning with thighs....... but at the next moment we go back inside the duvet again.

Stay put for a few minutes. Are you finally getting your consciousness straight, Ray, waking yourself up from the futon again.

"Uh... oh, yeah, you did"

Look around and figure out where you are in what looks like an unrecognized room.

A level of accommodation that falls somewhat compared to the evening wheat pavilion, which is settled in the city of Gilm. Naturally, there was no such thing as a magic item for heating, and the room was surrounded by cold winter air.

It was an inn guided by the guild master Seyce, but in the first place the city of Gilm, like the big merchants and aristocrats coming along the border, and the city of Barr, which is somewhat close to the border but in the end is only a country. Considering that, even though it is the finest accommodation, the adequacy and comfort of the facilities naturally do not extend far to the former. According to what Ray told me from Seyce, it seems quite famous when it comes to cooking, but at any rate, the city of Bahr is currently sealed off and can't cook elaborate food more than it is on a food and distribution basis, and for a further reason I couldn't expect to eat.

"Well, I guess that blockade will be lifted soon,"

The special effects of exorcism basically work overnight. I mean, I don't know how many people are on drugs made since Ray arrived yesterday, but by no means a small number of people should be recovering from Devil's Fever.

"... Now you did say that Sasanas was coming or something. Do you want to just finish your breakfast before then?"

Get dressed and familiar, even as you sigh at the thought of the black bread, which was hardened so that the preservation served in the dining room the night before, or soup containing little vegetables or meat.

Ray and Seto, who had bought and eaten to satisfy their appetite, were not enough for a meal originally served at the wheat pavilion at dusk. Naturally, it can't be enough for a meal to be distributed, and we can't just eat the various dishes that are in the mysteries while everyone is eating equally poor meals.

(At least we need to eat in a blind place. Anyway, I have to make sure Seto's meal is safe.)

He sighed and went down to the ground floor, whining inside but saying it would also be harder than having to find out what caused the Devil's Fever with Sasanas.

It was very cold when I woke up and got out of bed, but it also disappeared to the other side of my brain the moment I put on my dragon robe.

"Good Morning"

A pale young man in his 20s bows his head and greets Ray as he descends to the ground floor.

This young man, he may not be the person who originally runs this inn, but an adventurer. However, because the parents who run the inn collapsed due to Devil's Fever, they were now entrusted with the inn as a surrogate.

The pale complexion would be the tiredness of my parents' care. Ray lowers his back to his seat in the dining room, judging so.

"Go ahead.... That said, I can only serve this much food"

What was served was a glass of wine diluted with water, a hard, hard-baked, hard-boiled black bread that was also eaten yesterday, dried meat and bean soup.

I would have soaked the bread in the soup and softened it before eating it, but Ray chewed it straight into the bread and forcefully chopped it with the power of his strong jaw.

Ask what you cared about after swallowing bread as you saw the face of a young man with a flashing face.

"How are your parents? The pills must have gone through, right?

"Yes, and thanks to Ray for staying at this inn."

Yes, Ray's stay in this inn meant that Seyce was using his authority as an Alliance Master to give him the magic fever special effects yesterday. It's an inherently dependent act, but Ray can be described as the savior of the city of Barr. It is an inn where such a person can stay, but this is why I wanted to get proper service. In addition, if this matter is cleared up, there will be people coming to the city like the previous recoil, so there is a goal to keep the inn available for this purpose.

That said, now the original owner of this inn still remains asleep in bed. The effects of the special effects have already restored the symptoms of exorcism, but the doctor decided that it would be better to restore a little more health due to the previous exorcism.

"As far as I'm concerned, I want this matter cleared up as soon as possible. That way you'll be able to eat good food."

"Ha. I'll tell your father and mother later. However, when it comes to cooking delicious dishes, it will be difficult to procure ingredients unless you finish the rationing system."

"Right. Well, I guess so. I'm sorry I stopped calling. Take your meals to the other sick."

"Yes. Now excuse me"

The just baked and hardened black bread is bad for digestion, so I drop off taking a soup-only breakfast and pack the meal in front of me into my mouth. The father of a young man who is a cook in the first place also tastes like only amateur cooking because he is falling down from a demonic fever, so he chews the bread, pours it in with soup, and cleans up his meal so that when he drinks wine he can almost say it's obligatory.

And when I put all the meals in my stomach, someone showed up in the dining room just in time.

It's Sasanas, the person Ray met yesterday when he came to the city of Barr. Hands up gently, deciding that the Deer logo must have dropped by as promised yesterday.

"Hey, Mr. Deer Logo told me about you. We're gonna find out what's causing that fucking disease."

"... this is the dining room, right? Be careful what you say."

While exhaling, bring the last remaining wine to your mouth and the meal is over.

"Ha, what are you talking about? You're the only one in the dining room in the first place. You don't have to worry about it."

The tone that tells me that was a pretty shattered story compared to when Ray met in front of the front gate yesterday.

"With that said, the main entrance must be sealed off, but what's going on with the meal or something?

"Oh, there's no problem with that. When it's time to eat, they throw bread and cheese in bags from inside the city. I knew Mr. Deer Logo would be awesome because he blocked the city and even though he had food on the distribution system, he was turning it around properly."

"Enough to be entrusted with acting as lord. I don't think you can do it without excellence."

"Come on, you must. Well, I hear the lord here was under pressure to take all sorts of problematic action and force him to leave it to Mr. Deer Logo from someone up there in the middle.... Well, that's anyway. Even if I said I'd look for the cause of Devil's Fever, how exactly would I look for it?

Sasanas asks as he sits in the chair in front of Ray.

Anyway, I can't predict the cause just because it's never happened before. Thasanus was right to point out that he needed some kind of guidance, even if he was looking for it.

"Honestly, I'm confident when it comes to combat, but you're not that good at using your head. Uh, right. First of all, the possibility that this city is different from the rest of the city... no, don't you?"

"Oh. It's usually meadows and fields that are around, and there's no particular difference from other cities like this. If you say the location, isn't it more like the city of Gilm where Ray came from than the city of Barr?

"Indeed."

The vast forest of demons, which somehow exists on the periphery and where the monsters of Rank A, Rank S are present, is also nearby. In the sense of a peculiar terrain, it would be overwhelmingly above the city of Barr.

"Then you say it's not a topographical problem?

"No. I know you can't throw away all that possibility, but you're only small considering it a possibility."

Ray snorts at the opinion of Southern.

Even for Ray, when he comes to this city on Ceto, he looks around him. It was immediately understood that there was no particularity in the sense of location.

And if there were a demonic forest-like presence nearby, Ray, who doesn't have the ability to sense magic, would have felt it, anyway.

"When that happens, how about that the Devil's Fever itself has adapted to be able to operate even in cold, dry areas?

"In such a remote place on purpose? If this is gradually spreading from the south, it's possible, but this time it's suddenly fashionable in the city of Barr, isn't it?

"... then someone spreads it intentionally or something?

"Where is it? Where do we gain from purposefully spreading demonic fever in a city like this in the countryside?... No, wait. Maybe."

Sasanas responding reflexively to Ray. But I twist my neck as if I came up with something the next moment.

"Do you have any idea?

"Though it's only one possibility. As I was saying, the original lord of this city of Barr is the owner of a background that caused all sorts of problems. Because of that personality, naturally the nobles of the other factions around them, as well as some of the nobles, are unfamiliar. If they had resented me in that relationship..."

It could be. I've seen a few nobles in this world. It was a terribly convincing story if I took it to Ray. Some of them are Dusker, the Larks Borderline uncle, and noblemen like Elaine, others like Custe, who are solidified in his pride as nobleman, and Ver, who gladly betray his country. Even if those faces pass behind his brain and he snorts unintentionally at the words of Sasanas, he shakes his head as little as he wants.

"No, I know you're resentful, but you won't be able to imitate the disease intentionally epidemic. Besides, if we had that means, how would we fulfill the condition that the key exotic fever itself is only prevalent in hot and humid places in the first place?

"... I see. If you think about it, surely you think too much. In the first place, if we had the means to do so, we would have done enormous damage around the capital of the Bestian Empire, not the nobility of the same country."

"Oh, sure... to..."

Bestia Empire. Unexpectedly stop the words in that word out of the mouth of Sasanas, Ray.

(When alchemy is developing, it should naturally also be highly technical. If the disease in this world is through germs as I know it, maybe we can do something about it with alchemy?

I whine inside and consider the possibilities... but eventually shake my head small and dismiss the opinion.

(In the first place, if you can do that, you don't have to bother setting up in the city of Barr, which is in the country. Like Sazanas said, the king's capital is a big city. We just have to use it. When it does, or is it an experiment to see if it actually works? If you do, you can only use it once. If you spread the word about the city of Barr, you'll be ready for any special effects anywhere)

"Ray?"

"No, it's nothing. Surely if the Bestian Empire were to set it up, would it be unlikely to set it up in this city? When that happens, is there anything else?

"Hmmm right...... thats about the guy I just said I can think of all the time"

"... will you change your mind a little bit"

"How do you think?

What are you talking about? Sasanas points his gaze at Ray, but Ray opens his mouth regardless.

"For example. Is there anything special about this city?

"What? No, so I told you earlier that there are no traits that seem to be particularly distinctive, right?

"That was a bad way to ask. Yeah, for example, what's this city's specialty?

"Hey, what we're talking about right now is looking for the cause of Devil's Fever, and we don't have time for souvenirs or anything."

"No, I thought that trait might have caused an epidemic of Devil's Fever."

……

To Ray's words, Sasanas looks like he's been poked in the face.

I don't know if you thought about that possibility even for Sasanas. I nod small, but eventually I twist my neck.

"Even if it's more likely. Then why hasn't there ever been an epidemic of Devil's Fever? It's been over 200 years since this city was created."

"Now, did it take time so far to get all the factors that make Demonic Fever endemic, or something mutative?... It won't be as likely, but we'll still have to do it from where we can, beyond not having a clue. So, what's this city's specialty?

"Well... it's not in any other city, it's just a specialty of this city, like distilled liquor."

"Distilled wine?

It was the knowledge I saw on TV and the whiskey my father was drinking when I was in Japan that passed Ray's brain when I heard the words.

(Was it distilled liquor with brandy or vodka? Sure, put it in a barrel of wood and save it and make it or something...... wait. Then where do you keep the barrels of wood? Individuals will make it in time enough in the house, but if you think of it as a specialty, you can't have that much space)

"Sazanas, where do you store the distilled liquor? He's definitely putting it in a barrel of wood, isn't he?

"Ah? Oh. Put it in a barrel of wood and put it in a dedicated storage facility...... hey, no way"

"You should try going more than it's possible. If there's nothing, there's nothing, and you can erase one candidate for the cause."

"... right. Then let's go quickly."

Nodding, the two stood up from the table and left the dining room.