I channeled mana over my glove and placed my hand on the dirt floor.
The ants that had been scurrying nearby changed direction, milling about confusedly before swarming in unison onto the glove.
Even after I shook my hand once, the ants climbed right back on.
"Are the ants contaminated too?"
"Yes."
Contaminated insects hadn't appeared in the protagonist's visit either. The protagonist had inspected some restricted areas while hiding his identity, but back then he was just happily hunting down contaminated vertebrates.
"Good thing we came. Let's find out why the insects are contaminated."
"You don't think they experimented on insects too?"
"Many things are possible."
Was there any reason to specifically catch moths and ants and take them away for experiments? And not just one or two, but entire colonies?
Of course, there could be reasons we don't know, but it was more reasonable to assume the entire area was contaminated.
I brushed away the soil in a spot without ants. The dirt didn't crumble apart but clung wetly and clumped between my fingers.
"High moisture content."
"The rain probably hasn't dried yet. There's a swamp nearby too."
This was problematic.
With the trace amounts of mana washed away by water, we couldn't tell if this came from contaminated animals or was evidence of an attempt to contaminate the area itself.
"Let's head to the swamp."
After walking for a while and catching a bunch of contaminated rats along the way, we finally reached the swamp.
Sitting on the bank and dipping my hand into the swamp, a different flow of energy swirled around my fingertips than before.
Leo muttered.
"The soil here isn't in a proper state from the start. It's a wonder it hasn't spread further."
"The cause must be the swamp."
That's how it was in the novel too.
I got up and walked along the elongated swamp that stretched like a stream.
Sure enough, with each step I could see contaminated animals half-submerged in the swamp, dead.
I sat on the bank again, touched my wand to the swamp's surface, and channeled divine power to purify it.
Unless we uprooted the source of corruption, we'd have to purify it periodically, but we had to at least do this much for now.
The problem was, the swamp remained, so why were the insects contaminated unlike in the novel?
Ultimately, it meant the insects weren't contaminated by the swamp.
'The novel is already starting to change bit by bit.'
Now, we had gathered all the information we could get here.
"Leo, let's head back."
"Already?"
"I want to investigate a bit. Since animals occasionally breach the barrier, insects might be able to too."
"Since this is a low-level restricted zone... they could probably breach it."
Leo answered nonchalantly, then couldn't help but frown.
"There must have been incidents where biting insects got out and caused trouble. Let's find out when problems occurred."
* * *
"Strange symptoms?"
"Yes, has anyone complained of unusual symptoms within the last month? Unexplained illnesses or sudden pains that came and went briefly are fine too. Also, any stories about insects or bugs, no matter how trivial, please tell me everything."
Back at the office, I unfolded the notebook I brought and prepared to jot down the manager's words.
"Nothing particular like that.... Oh, if it's about bugs, I did hear complaints about mosquitoes buzzing around in cold weather. They were grumbling a lot about why autumn mosquitoes itch more than summer ones."
Since this was the empire's northernmost region, from this last week of October onward, the weather was already like midwinter.
It wasn't suitable for mosquitoes to live.
"Anything else?"
"Not within my knowledge, no."
I closed the notebook and stood up.
"Thank you for your answer. Then I'd like to look around the village for a bit...."
At that moment, before my words even finished, the door burst open.
People in uniforms entered and lined up against one wall.
At their visit, the manager rose from his seat with a frozen face, hesitating.
The people bowed respectfully toward Leo.
"Welcome to Mephen, Your Highness Crown Prince of Bavaria."
* * *
"...This is awkward."
After the other party left the room for a moment, Leo muttered at a volume only I could hear.
He did look genuinely awkward.
We hadn't sent word of our visit anywhere to avoid precisely this situation.
These people who suddenly barged in were from the local baron's household.
The baron was away from the region on military business, so his aides had come here to pay their respects to the noble visiting the region.
Listening to their explanation, we moved to the baron's mansion as they suggested.
While having tea with the aide, I brought up the questions I had asked the manager earlier.
The aide stroked his chin and drew out his words.
"Strange symptoms... well. One of the servants in this mansion did have a skin condition that worsened."
"Since when?"
"I heard it started about two weeks ago."
"Was he bitten by any bugs?"
"That happened afterward, but there was also talk of blisters from bedbug bites that still haven't gone away. I heard about it just the other day when I introduced a doctor."
I nodded and wrote the details in my notebook.
'This will be hard to figure out.'
Minor symptoms like these, people usually just let pass, so it's difficult to remember them specifically.
"Was there some problem in the contaminated zone?"
"Just investigating. Thank you."
Then, someone knocked and entered the room.
"Lord Heinz has arrived."
"Ah, I'll step out for a moment. Please make yourselves comfortable."
"Yes."
After the aide left, silence continued.
Looking over my notes, I spoke to Leo.
"This isn't easy."
"Tell me about it. There are many suspicious stories, but it's hard to be sure if they were caused by contaminated insects."
"Hmm..."
What to do.
Then Leo immediately continued.
"Let's go check the village now. If insects have come out this far, they must have reproduced a while ago. We need to find out where they're breeding and if there are signs of contamination."
"That seems to be the only way."
We had to return to school in a few hours, so we needed to move quickly.
I stood up from my seat, then stopped immediately.
Hearing no footsteps from me, Leo turned around.
"What's wrong?"
"Leo, you should go alone."
"What now. And you?"
"I have something to do here."
There was a much more efficient method than walking around personally.
* * *
"Lord Nikolaus, we've passed a hundred people already."
"Please close it off around this point."
I couldn't keep being called an attendant or the blue-eyed hunter, so I created an alias.
I had obtained a room in the old monastery currently being used as a school.
'...Well, calling it a room feels off.'
It was a room, but... you could gather about 500 people here and give a speech.
They gave me this unnecessarily vast space just because I said a desk and two chairs would suffice.
"Ah, ah."
...It echoed, as expected.
I immediately got up and requested a room change.
The baron's vassal, who had been smiling proudly beside me, looked flustered and guided me to a room on the opposite side of the corridor.
It was about the size of a classroom, with a reception table and chairs placed inside.
"Good. I'll take this one."
"Are you sure such a cramped place will do..."
"It's much more to my liking than the previous one."
They probably wanted to choose a place that would photograph well for press coverage, but smooth investigation was impossible in a place where all sound echoed.
The vassal nodded lukewarmly, seeming disappointed.
"Then, Lord Nikolaus, I will send them in now."
"Yes."
Shortly after, an old man cautiously opened the door and sat before me with a moved expression. Then he clasped his hands and muttered something.
"Thank you, thank you, teacher. May God's blessing be upon you."
"...Ah, yes. Thank you."
I couldn't hide my bewilderment and barely managed to reply.
It was a bit awkward, but there was a reason for such words.
People here had no chance to encounter magic except from outsiders, and divine power even less so.
And I planned to purify people with divine power starting now.
It was a decision to call in those who had experienced strange changes recently.
Of course, some might come wanting to receive purification from a priest—since I use divine power, they'd see me as one—even if they had no ailments.
That was actually the plan, so no problem.
Focusing on treatment could act as a psychological barrier for those with minor symptoms, so it was better to frame it as religious charity rather than magical medicine.
By the time the people I faced exceeded fifty, I requested a break and briefly examined the records.
'One skin disease from mites, four people bitten by mosquitoes.'
The mite case wasn't an issue.
But the latter warranted attention.
They said they were bitten by mosquitoes starting two weeks ago; their skin turned purplish like a bruise, then returned to normal two days later.
"Let's resume."
I swallowed a headache pill and called out.
A little later, a young man entered carrying a baby in his arms.
"Hello, teacher."
"What brings you here?"
"My skin condition isn't very good. Actually, I came hoping you could look at my child, not me."
He showed me the baby.
'Hmm.'
The skin had turned a bluish-purple to an unsightly degree, and pus had collected in the joint creases.
Just by the color, the symptoms resembled those of the person who mentioned being bitten by a mosquito earlier.
"It's been a week since we saw a doctor, but no medicine seems to work. They say it probably needs magical medical treatment, but the cost is an issue..."
I recited a purification formula in my head and channeled divine power into the baby's pulse. The blue energy on one arm dissipated, gradually restoring the original skin color.
The young man, who had worn a gloomy expression the whole time, furrowed his brow and took a deep breath.
"...!"
"It seems highly likely to be a problem caused by mana."
I controlled the power to avoid damaging the organs; when I slowed the pace just a bit, the blue energy spread across the skin again.
After a prolonged struggle, I succeeded in extracting the contaminated mana from the entire body.
The young man clutched the now-normal baby and exclaimed.
"Thank you! Thank you so much. How can I ever repay this..."
"Just answer my questions. Have you seen any mosquitoes?"
"Mosquitoes? Yes. They didn't die off this year and are still alive now. No, I should say we thought they died but they reappeared... So last week, the villagers got together and turned over the area around the stream."
"Since when did talk of mosquitoes start?"
"I don't remember exactly, but I think it was around Saint Luke's feast day."
Mid-October.
That's about two weeks ago.
The fifth person with the same story.
"That's detailed enough. So, did they decrease?"
"No. They said since there aren't that many, just leave them be. Even after tending to the stream, nothing really changed..."
That can't be.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
It wasn't a matter of tending to the swamp around the stream now, but likely needing to burn down that entire restricted zone.
I hadn't thought much of skin color changing over a day or two, but seeing the baby's condition changed my mind a bit.
'If used well, this could spread massively.'
It was a usable thing.
For Pleroma, of course.
What if, instead of contaminated mana residue after experiments, they could directly load the experimental drugs or magic onto insects?
Or what if they could contaminate mana dozens of times stronger than now and use it as a weapon?
For Pleroma, it would be an unparalleled fortune and a turning point deciding the sect's great success. For the empire, it would be handing over the country as a revival experiment site to some pseudo-religion trying to find the formula for eternal life.
'The scale is bigger than I thought.'
And that meant the gains from solving this large-scale problem would be significant too.
I personally had no interest in the empire's safety handled this way, but it was a problem worth solving.
If done well, it could become Nikolaus's first achievement in building a support base.
Ding—!
'Route 1 — 〈Chapter 4. Constant Drops Wear Away the Stone (2)〉' begins.
「 Chapter 4. Constant Drops Wear Away the Stone (2) 」
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