<h4>Chapter 71: The Red Death (1)</h4>


    Vikir reminisced about the past, long ago.


    His mind shed back to the strange outsiders that Bk''s hunting party had seen not long ago, and the dagger with the serpentine symbol.


    ''...Come to think of it, that incident happened around this time.


    The "event" is the Red Death.


    A terrifying gue that leaves victims covered in red spots, vomiting and diarrhea, and then dying.


    The Red Death quickly spread throughout the jungle and killed a staggering number of natives.


    The Red Death raged on a scale that rivaled the ck Death that once gued the Empire.


    This dreaded gue has spread like wildfire, reaching far into the Empire''s territory.


    It was not until the Morgue''s weatherman, Camus, raised a barrier of fire to stop its spread to the borders of the Empire.


    In addition, a holy woman, Dolores, sent by House Quavadis of the Holy Order of the Sacraments, has been able to heal the sick with her unique and powerful holy powers.


    However, the cure was limited to the Empire, and the natives living in the depths of the ck Mountains suffered a death rate of nearly 40%.


    These circumstances worked in the Baskervilles'' favor.


    The barbarian tribes yed a crucial role in the Red and ck Mountains'' ecosystem, and with themrgely out of the picture as predators, lower-level demons overpopted, leading to monster waves and a spike in civilian casualties.


    The surge in their numbers has increased the influence of the Baskervilles on the border, which has only served to strengthen Hugo''s political position.


    "I can''t let that happen.


    So Vikir was going to stop this gue.


    Well, he''d heard a fair amount about the Bk over the years.


    Meanwhile.


    Within the Bk, the old and the young were at odds.


    The older generation believes that the gue should be stopped by performing rituals, and the younger generation believes that the vige should be abandoned and moved elsewhere.


    "...."


    Patriarch Aqu frowned and remained silent.


    Deep down, she doesn''t want to leave this vige, where her ancestors'' graves lie.


    And the shaman Ahheman understood her feelings.


    "How can we abandon this holy ce where our ancestors are buried? This migration is ridiculous! We have been here for nearly two hundred years!"


    There are more than a hundred ancestors'' remains in the holy sites around the vige.


    How they would be managed and cared for if they were to migrate was a key point of contention for Ahmed.


    But Aiyen, who represents the younger generation, is not backing down.


    "What if the guees back and kills all the children? Who will take care of our future then? Who will take care of the future of the tribe when the seeds of the future are gone when we go to collect the remains of our ancestors?"


    As it turns out, Bk children do die.


    Typically, Bk women start having children at age 14 and give birth to a new child every two years on average, which means they will have about ten to fifteen children in their lifetime.


    The problem is that more than half of them die within the first month of life. Only about 20% of infants survive beyond three years.


    Most of the children die from malnutrition, childhood diseases, war, and hunting idents.


    Add to that the fact that mothers die during childbirth or from the aftermath of childbirth, and the Bk have a much lower birth rate.


    Add the Red Death to the mix, and there are no answers. There is only a dark future ahead.


    Unable to bear the sight of her nmates in the midst of a generational conflict, Aqu spoke up.


    "The question is, what path does the Red Death take?"


    What is the Red Death, and why does it cling to humans?


    Unless these questions are answered, it''s essentially impossible to do anything about it.


    To Patriarch Aqu''s anguish, answers came from many quarters.


    "A curse! It must be a curse!"


    "Wrong, it is a gue transmitted through the gaze!"


    "It''s the spirits of your prey retaliating!"


    "It must be because you ate a strange looking mushroom!"


    "The ancestors are angry because we have neglected their mausoleum!"


    "There must be a poisonous insect!"


    "The gods have abandoned us, the forest gods!"


    "The imperials have brought the disease with them!"


    The people of Bk don''t know, but they don''t often say they don''t know.


    They make a virtue out of giving crappy answers.


    It was out of the goodness of his heart that he didn''t want to disappoint the person who had trusted him with the question in the first ce, but... wasn''t helping much in this situation.


    "...Hmm."


    Aqu''s brow furrowed in confusion.


    Silently, a hand came up.


    Vikir''s. His eyes met Aqu''s and he spoke.


    "If there is a way to stop the Red Death, I know it."


    * * *


    About ten days passed after that.


    tter, tter, tter.


    A demon tied to a rope was struggling.


    A goblin, the smallest and weakest of the demons ssified as simr.


    It was currently hanging upside down with its arms and legs tied to the ropes, being tortured.


    [Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!]


    The goblin was being dipped into arge pot of water, pulled out, and repeated.


    The goblin had been iling around for a while, but suddenly it became very calm.


    Soon, red spots began to appear on the goblin''s skin.


    The goblin drooled and vomited, and stopped baring its teeth.


    It slowly shudders in anticipation of itsing death.


    Meanwhile. Bk''s warriors tossed the red-faced goblin into a pile of oiled pyres and set it on fire.


    There was no room for pity, as the creature was a foul creature that kidnapped and ate human children.


    Soon, the goblin with the Red Death burned to death.


    Then Bk''s warriors turned their attention to the next goblin.


    Before them stood Aiyen, clutching the goblin''s ropes.


    "Vikir. Is the Red Death really transmitted through water?"


    At her question, Vikir, beside her, nodded.


    "Yes, it is. Contaminated water is the main culprit. But as long as you boil the water once, there''s no problem."


    "Really? Is that so?"


    Aiyen looked at Bikir with a trusting gaze.


    Then he took another pot of the same water and dipped another goblin in it forparison.


    Then.


    [Cackle!]


    The goblin died instantly.


    Vikir put his hand to his forehead.


    "When the water cools, we''ll put him in."


    "Ugh."


    Aiyen also hit his forehead with his hand.


    Soon, the water in the pot was boiling again.


    When the bubbling water had cooledpletely, Bk''s warriors dipped the goblins into it.


    Ten days passed, the incubation period for the Red Death, but the goblin did not be ill.


    Then all the warriors of Bk, including their chieftain Aqu, eximed in amazement.


    "We have found a way to ovee the Red Death!" they eximed.


    "The answer was in the water."


    "You mean just boiling water and drinking it will stop the gue?"


    "Vikir, you are a hero of our tribe!"


    The praise poured in, the looks of respect and admiration.


    The old are delighted and the young look on in admiration.


    By nature, Vikir doesn''t like to be the center of attention.


    But it is Bk custom to be sure when congratting or praising, and everyone surrounds him, drooling over him.


    Vikir responds to their praise and gratitude with a wave of his hand.


    "Anyway. You have to be careful with the water. It can''t get in your mouth or eyes. It can also be infectious through the respiratory route, so beware of the water mist at dawn."


    Always boil water before drinking. Avoid wends as much as possible.


    By following these simple rules, the incidence of red death is greatly reduced.


    Avoiding contact with the feces or corpses of the sick is justmon sense.


    "What don''t you know?"


    Vikir didn''t say anything in response to Aiyen''s admiring words.


    Aqu said.


    "Let the hunting birds spread Vikir''s teachings to the other tribes. Beware of the water."


    At that, everyone nodded. It was good for as many people as possible to know these things.


    Then Aqu rose from his seat and came to stand before Vikir.


    Vikir bowed his head in silence.


    The first time he''d met her, he''d felt a sense of gravity, like a huge mountain range weighing him down.


    But now he felt nothing of the sort.


    Instead, I felt a sense of warmth, a sense of home, and a sense ofpassion, like a real mother''s greeting.


    Aqu smiled gently.


    "Thanks to you, I can see a way out of this crisis, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart."


    One would never recognize this woman as the Night Fox from her current expression and voice.


    In response, Vikir could only bow his head.


    Then.


    "Well, the rainy season ising soon, so how can you go away from the water?"


    Someone questioned Vikir.


    The shaman, Ahheman, stared at Vikir with a stony expression on his face.


    He had once misdiagnosed a side effect from the drugs the merchants had brought as a curse.


    When Bikir insisted that the Red Death was not a curse but a gue, and that it could be prevented, he seemed to decide that his position was under threat.


    But he wasn''t entirely wrong.


    When the rainy season arrives, the rivers will overflow, and countless rains will pour down.


    The air would be filled with moisture, and there would be no way to survive the many aquatic creatures that would crawl up to the surface and carry gue.


    The preventative measures of boiling water for drinking and washing certainly had their limits.


    Bk''s warriors stirred.


    Ahheman smiled a smile of conversion as he watched the number of agitated ones grow.


    ... but.


    "The civil works must be done before the rainy season arrives."


    Vikir, still looking nonchnt, was steadily taking the next step.


    Dewatering (flood control).


    It was necessary for Bikir''s future ns.