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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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When the plague first spread in the Elven Forest, I had two concerns.
First, that they would refuse my treatment.
But with the Saintess herself infected, things were going to be much easier. I couldn’t help but feel pleased.
“Hmm…”
As we approached the Healing Tree village, I could see an aura of death spreading.
I had a feeling this might happen, but…
“This is strange… Until now, those with holy power haven’t been infected…”
I smiled at the bewildered Su-hwi.
The answer was simple.
The plague had entered its second phase, and a mutated strain had appeared.
“Hmm…”
“Will it be… alright?”
“I wonder.”
I looked at the village, shrouded in the aura of death. A few elves, panicked by the spreading plague, were trying to flee. They stopped when they saw Su-hwi and shouted,
“Chieftain! Chieftain!”
“My daughter! Our child!”
“My mother has a high fever and is coughing!”
“The priests, too…! What’s happening?!”
“Ah… aah…”
The Healing Tree tribe had been confident because of their holy power.
They had boasted that they could cure the plague, that they would eradicate it with the Great Divine Art.
But now that the second phase had begun, that confidence was crumbling.
“The Great Divine Art… wh- when will it be ready?!”
“Aah…”
Su-hwi, her face ashen, was at a loss.
She couldn’t handle the consequences of her own decisions, of her own pride.
“Please… please save her… please… please, my daughter…”
An elven woman, nearly out of her mind with grief, knelt before Su-hwi, clutching a young girl who was unconscious with fever.
Her breathing was ragged, her cough severe.
Her face was flushed, her ears drooping.
I examined the young girl, who was too young to possess any holy power, then looked at Su-hwi.
“What are you going to do? Try to heal her with holy power?”
“Ugh… ugh…”
Su-hwi couldn’t answer. Of course, she couldn’t. So far, the priests’ holy power had only been able to alleviate the symptoms, not cure the plague.
I shook a vial of medicine from my bag.
“Should I use it?”
“Ah… uh… yes.”
This was Su-hwi’s surrender. After she nodded, I took the young girl’s hand.
“A- Are you… the Sage…?”
“Yes.”
It seemed my name was known even in the Healing Tree tribe. I smiled at the woman, then checked the young girl’s condition and injected the medicine into her vein.
“Haaaaah…”
Her fever began to subside, and her coughing ceased. She quickly regained consciousness and hugged her mother tightly.
“Mama…”
“Aaaaaaah!! Rui! Rui!”
The other Healing Tree tribe elves stared in shock.
I had cured the plague, a feat even their proud priests couldn’t accomplish.
Of course, she wasn’t fully cured. She would need a few more doses.
But to have recovered so much from a near-death state was proof that my medicine was far more effective than the priests’ holy power.
“I- I… cough! cough! I need treatment… the medicine…”
A priest, his voice choked with pain, stumbled towards me. I examined him, then shook my head.
“…Huh…?”
His symptoms were different from the others. In other words, this was a mutated strain, and this medicine wouldn’t be enough to cure him.
It would only alleviate the pain.
But why should I waste my medicine on him? I was busy treating the elves without holy power.
“B- But…”
“You’re beyond the point where this medicine can help. Go back to the village for now.”
“W- What?! Sage! Y- You said you knew everything! You’ve already made a cure! You should have anticipated this and made a cure for it too…!”
“Hey~ even I can’t make a cure without tests and research. And the one who stopped me from doing that was…”
The furious priest’s face went pale. He knew who had stopped me.
He coughed violently and collapsed, his legs giving out.
He seemed to be in despair, but it wouldn’t last long. Curing the mutated strain was also a part of the plague treatment.
“Alright, then…”
Just then, a portal opened. Claire, Veronica, and the alchemists from the kingdom and the Elven Forest emerged.
They looked at the scene before them with grim expressions, but there was nothing to be serious about.
“A mutated strain has appeared in the Healing Tree tribe. We need to quarantine this area as well, so please get ready.”
I spoke in a calm, reassuring tone, without a hint of excitement or worry.
A temporary research lab was set up in the Healing Tree village.
And in that lab, I met a young girl.
“You’re the Saintess, right? Nice to meet you. I’m the Sage.”
I looked down at the girl who had been brought in on a stretcher and was now lying on a cot. She was struggling to breathe, but she managed to nod and hold out a trembling hand.
“Nice… to meet you… And… I’m sorry… Thank you…”
I was the one who should be thanking her. If she hadn’t contracted the plague, things would have been much more complicated.
I took her hand and checked her condition.
The symptoms were similar to the original plague, but with the addition of a debilitating weakness, and her body was emitting bursts of holy power.
And although it didn’t seem to be affecting Seong-ya, some of the other priests were experiencing hallucinations and other mental disorders, and some had even seen their skills weaken.
“This isn’t a natural emission…”
“It seems so. It’s probably an effect of the mutated strain. For now, it’s only affecting the elves, but if it gets stronger, it might spread to other races.”
Of course, I planned to end the plague event before that happened.
“Rotelo! Come here for a moment!”
He, who had been preparing with the other alchemists, came over. Beside him stood a familiar young girl.
“Huh?”
“…Hello.”
“You don’t look so good. Rudhi, are you feeling better? Shouldn’t you be resting?”
Evangeline’s younger sister, a talented alchemist.
She, who had been bedridden just a few days ago, seemed to have decided to participate in the research for the cure.
She looked embarrassed, then shook her head slightly.
“It’s an honor to work under you, Sage. And I’ve developed an immunity.”
That was true. Once you recovered from the plague, you became immune. Of course, there was still a risk of reinfection from the mutated strain, but the chances were low in the game, so it should be fine.
“I’m a renowned alchemist in my own right. I’m sure I’ll be of help. Even with the alchemists from the kingdom here.”
Rudhi clenched her small fists, her eyes filled with determination. Claire, watching from behind, smiled faintly.
Was it because of her honest and diligent nature, so different from Evangeline’s?
“Alright. Well, we need all the help we can get right now.”
“I’ll do my best! I’ve already memorized the basic cure recipe.”
“Good. Then assist Rotelo and follow my instructions… Alright, we’re going to start the tests after drawing blood.”
“Is there… anything I can do to help?”
Su-hwi, who had been waiting anxiously, asked, her voice trembling. She seemed willing to cooperate fully, as this was for the sake of her daughter and her tribe.
I did have something for her to do.
“First, we need some elves for the tests.”
“And that is…?”
“We need clinical trial subjects.”
Not just for the plague cure, but also to test the medicines I had recipes for but had never actually made.
I might as well kill two birds with one stone and get another achievement out of the way.
After all the trouble I had been through, who would blame me for taking a little reward?
And if they did, I wouldn’t forgive them.
“That… I understand. I’ll volunteer…”
“Ah, no, not you.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll choose the subjects. And for now, I need you to go outside and work with Lorelia to completely quarantine the Elven Forest. Veronica, you go with her.”
“Huh? Me too?”
“Yes. We need to make sure no one leaves or enters the Elven Forest.”
Before the second phase, it might have been fine, but now that it had begun, new strains could continue to emerge.
There was no need to play a game of whack-a-mole.
Veronica looked slightly displeased at my command, but she left with Su-hwi without another word. I drew Seong-ya’s blood and began the tests.
“The method is the same as before. We need to test the reactivity first, so let’s do that.”
“Understood.”
“Yes!”
When the plague first spread in the Elven Forest, I had two concerns.
First, that they would refuse my treatment.
And second, that those who were wary of the fact that I could cure the plague so easily would try to use politics to interfere.
If the second penalty were to occur, it would hinder the development of the cure, so I had to finish my work before that happened.
And with elves, who were arrogant and proud, the chances of such political maneuvering were high.
It had happened in the game. Of course, if your affinity with the infected race was high, such political maneuvering wouldn’t occur, but my affinity with the elves wasn’t that high right now.
But with the two most influential tribes, the Lightwing and the Healing Tree, on my side, I should be safe for now.
So, with a sense of relief, I focused on my research in my personal lab, which had been set up in a corner of the village. Just then, reinforcements from the other races arrived.
“Isn’t this dangerous?”
They had clearly been briefed on the situation before meeting me. They all looked concerned.
“Well, I can’t say it’s not.”
Marax, the representative of the dwarves, the one who had given me the mithril, looked at me with a sour expression. He had heard about the situation, but he probably hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
“Hmm… it was a good idea to quarantine the Elven Forest. As expected of the Sage.”
Leo, the king of the beastmen, a white lion beastman, scratched his mane. Even he, a powerful warrior, seemed to be at a loss when it came to the plague.
“So? What kind of support do you need from us?”
A representative from the lizardmen, not their chieftain, had come. Galash, a cobra lizardman, a great warrior famous for being the wielder of the first spear, flicked his long tongue as I injected the medicine into Seong-ya’s arm.
“Ugh… ugh… haaak… ugh…”
A moment after the injection, she broke out in a cold sweat and cried out in pain. Su-hwi, watching her, looked devastated, but it couldn’t be helped.
This was what a clinical trial was like.
Who told her to interfere with the development of the cure?
“I… I…”
As the treatment continued, Su-hwi’s pain, exhaustion, and self-blame only grew. She probably thought her precious daughter was suffering because of her.
And it was true.
The representatives from the other races looked at her with disdain and clicked their tongues.
“This is why arrogant elves are hopeless.”
“It would have been so much better if she had just left it to the Sage from the beginning.”
“Indeed.”
Su-hwi endured their criticism and ridicule without a word. But this wasn’t the time for that.
“I need some support. We’re running low on ingredients.”
“Do you need alchemists or priests?”
“The support from the humans is sufficient.”
“Alright? Then what kind of ingredients do you need?”
“I’ll write you a list. Ah, and please help with the quarantine of the Elven Forest. I heard some people are trying to sneak out.”
The rangers had caught some elves trying to escape a few days ago. They were afraid of the spreading plague.
Tsk. Running away while others were working hard to create a cure.
Anyway, we had caught them all, but the elves were still powerful.
If their numbers grew, our current level of containment might not be enough.
“Understood.”
“We’ll make sure no one gets out.”
They all knew how much of a headache it would be if the infected elves were to escape and spread the plague outside the forest. After they promised their support and left, Lorelia entered.
“They’re ready. Hmm… but… is this really alright?”
“They.”
In other words, the ones who had “voluntarily” agreed to cooperate with the research for the cure.
Of course, they would also have to participate in the clinical trials for my own achievements.
“What choice do we have? Are you going to stop me from making the cure? Do you want to burn down the entire Elven Forest?”
There were two ways to clear the plague event.
Make a cure.
Or kill all the infected and burn the entire area to the ground.
Lorelia, who didn’t want to choose the second option, shook her head. I smiled at her and headed to the basement of my personal lab.
In the basement, a large number of elves were gathered, looking haggard.
Some of them had been caught trying to escape, and others had been spreading rumors that the plague was an attack from other elven tribes, or even that I had started it myself.
“…You!! Human! How dare you! How dare a mere human!!”
The male elf who was screaming and cursing at me.
I smiled at Rankin Preyd, the ranger elf who had provoked me when I first arrived at the Elven Forest.
“Your sacrifice will save the elves. Wow, how noble. I’ll be sure to remember your name.”
Of course, I had no intention of killing them all, or driving them completely mad.
That would do more harm than good. So, I had to make sure they were returned to normal after I was done with them.
And that wasn’t a problem for me. My preparations and plans were perfect.
I smiled and pulled out a syringe, drawing the medicine from an ampule as I approached him.
The first experiment would be…
The advanced schizophrenia drug.
I only had the recipe, and I had never actually made or used it before, so I didn’t know how safe it was, or how painful it would be. But what did it matter?
I had so many “volunteers.”
I looked at the elves on my record and felt a sense of satisfaction.
It just goes to show, good deeds are always rewarded.
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They truly are
Sagely words of wisdom~