After a while
Maomao
and the others were moved to a different location. Staying in the medical office would interfere with their work.
When they were led to the familiar drug-testing room, she didn't know quite what to feel.
"So there's a place like this."
Usun
was surprised to see a clinic in the city.
The emperor's surgery had been completed successfully and the drug testing had been scaled down, so many rooms were vacant.
The patients were carried in on litters. Maomao and the others covered their mouths and walked over.
"I don't think Maomao is infected,"
Yuu
said. Maomao thought so too, but she was concerned about having touched the rash when she unwound the bandages. She had washed her hands immediately, so the risk of infection was low. Maomao decided to leave it to the judgment of her superiors.
"Stay here for a while."
Liu
Once Medical Officer Liu said that, there was nothing she could do.
"Are there enough hands?"
Maomao wondered, but she could only obey her superior's orders.
(Also, she was worried about Yuu.)
But Yuu was quick and knew the patients well. If there were multiple patients it would be a problem, but with just one, she seemed capable enough on her own.
Maomao and the others were given one room each in the clinic. They went to the dining hall for meals. They shared the toilet, but otherwise did not leave their rooms.
Yuu's room was next to Maomao's, and the patient was isolated in a room some distance away.
Maomao lay spread-eagle on the floor reading through the pile of books. Thanks to Usun requesting books for her, Maomao was able to keep requesting more and more.
What mattered most of all was the booklet she currently had in hand.
(
Hua Tuo
I got the book!)
She had managed to borrow a single copy of the restored transcription of the tattered book. Normally, it was classified as a forbidden text and couldn't be removed from the premises, but she had been given special permission.
She was also copying down Keyong's materials. Comparing the two side by side was so fascinating she lost all track of time.
The Book of Hua Tuo was riddled with wormholes, so Maomao needed to fill in the gaps using her own knowledge and Keyong's materials. The work was mentally taxing but enjoyable. The only frustrating part was that she couldn't copy the forbidden text itself, so she had no way to commit her findings to paper.
(To avoid contracting smallpox, one should first contract a mild case of smallpox.)
(Even a weak strain of the disease could still lead to a severe case.)
Much of this was knowledge Maomao already possessed. She read through it as though reviewing, comparing as she went.
(In some cases, contracting a similar disease could build tolerance.)
"A similar disease..."
She heard footsteps and realized Yuu had returned from the next room.
"Maomao, how is it coming along?"
Yuu called through the door, inquiring about the patient's condition.
"It seems fine for now, but she really shouldn't leave on her own, right?"
"Goes without saying."
Maomao understood this well enough.
"How's the patient?"
"She has a rash, but it hasn't spread much. She does have a fever, but it seems like it will subside sooner than expected."
Maomao could tell from Yuu's tone that she wore a puzzled expression.
"You don't think it's smallpox?"
"Well, the symptoms do resemble smallpox, and since she was originally a martial artist, her body is quite sturdy. It may just be a mild case."
Maomao grunted thoughtfully.
"Actually, there was something I've been curious about—may I ask a question?"
"What is it?"
"Why did you react to the cut, Maomao? You seemed convinced it was smallpox just from that."
Maomao thought, *Ah.*
She hadn't told Yuurou about the attacker yet—the culprit who planted smallpox seeds.
Keiyou
was under suspicion. Physician Liu had likely refrained from telling Yuurou about it to keep personal feelings out of the matter.
Maomao considered what to do, then opened her mouth. Yuurou probably trusted Keiyou, but there was also something Maomao wanted to confirm.
"In fact—"
She told Yuurou about the attacker incident.
*"A doctor would never do such a thing!"*
Just as expected, Yuurou denied it. The volume of her voice made it clear how upset she was.
"Of course, I understand that. But people who would think of a method like planting smallpox seeds can't be that common. Not unless someone has witnessed the act firsthand. Didn't you say before, Yuurou, that your family and a few children, along with some others from the village, had survived?"
*"Oh, that—"*
Yuurou faltered.
*"Yes. There is one person. The sorcerer—the former village chief."*
"The sorcerer."
That was the person who had driven Keiyou out. Of all people, she hadn't expected that one to have survived.
*"But the village chief performing the work of a doctor? He was always so dismissive of everything doctors did."*
Yuurou looked puzzled, but Maomao actually felt she could understand his mindset.
"In fact, if it turned out that what Keiyou did was correct, he might try to take advantage of it."
(*He should've just died.*)
Maomao thought it, but didn't say it aloud. Instead, she considered the reasons for his survival.
"Was the village chief wealthier than the other villagers?"
*"…Probably. As the representative, he also handled things like procuring food supplies."*
Better nutrition would increase the chance of survival. There was one other possibility she could think of.
"Could he have already had smallpox?"
*"That… I don't know. But because he was a sorcerer, he always wore clothes that covered his skin. Oh, and—"*
"What else?"
*"He said he'd never get sick. Thanks to the curse, he claimed."*
That village head sounded less like a sorcerer and more like a fraud.
Being in a frontier village meant you were either dirt poor or someone who couldn't stay where they'd been before. The village head was probably the latter.
"What if the village head turns out to be a drifter?"
*"Unforgivable! Not only did he drive the doctor out, he's still causing trouble on top of that."*
"We haven't confirmed the village head is the culprit, but just in case, it might help to have someone describe his features and sketch a portrait."
*"Yes."*
"This is purely precautionary."
*"I understand."*
Maomao pressed the point to keep Yu from charging ahead. The woman had a tendency to get emotional. If she wasn't warned beforehand, it could get scary.
*"Right now, that can wait. Looking after the patient's condition comes first."*
Yu said it as though she had resigned herself.
The patient's condition was mild. His fever had come down within a few days, and he said he could return to work whenever.
*"Absolutely not!"*
The scream was probably because the patient had tried to leave the clinic.
They said a cold was most contagious when it was nearly healed, and smallpox would be the same. Besides, even the scabs supposedly remained infectious for a full year. There was no way they could let him walk out so easily.
"Looks like tough work."
Ujun spoke from a little distance away. Like Maomao, he seemed to have come to get a meal.
"Ujun, you don't seem to be showing any symptoms either."
"Just call me Jun."
Ujun gave a harmless smile.
The man was part of the Mao clan, but had essentially been exiled. When he had introduced himself as "Ujun" the other day, he had probably done it that way because he assumed Maomao wouldn't remember him.
Even if he said to call him casually, it was too much hassle, so she ignored him.
Rikuson
She had been told to drop the honorifics before too, and she'd given in at the time, but with Usumaki, she simply ignored the request—because if she actually did, he'd be the one to crumble.
Maomao believed that just because someone's speech grew more casual didn't necessarily mean the distance between them had narrowed.
"I think it should be about time for us to leave as well."
Since the patient who was said to be the source of infection was that full of energy, Maomao figured there shouldn't be any problem for them either.
"I suppose so."
Looking at Usumaki's attitude, Maomao thought, *Just as I suspected.*
"More than anything, what exactly are they trying to accomplish with this little performance?"
"What do you mean by 'performance'?"
Maomao picked up the food sitting on the table and, with no manners whatsoever, began eating with her hands.
"The military officer who was attacked by the random street assailant—it was an injury sustained while on duty, correct?"
"Yes, that's what I was told."
"The wound was on his forearm, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
Maomao exhaled deeply. *Just as I thought.*
"The officers who patrol the city wear gauntlets, I believe. The forearm would be rather difficult for a random attacker to slash, don't you think?"
In response to Maomao's question, Usumaki merely offered a noncommittal smile.
*He reminds me of someone.*
Maomao
thought of
Sparrow.
Maomao had once been completely fooled by Sparrow in the Western Capital. Had she not had that experience, she never would have thought of this now.
"Was this whole act staged just to quarantine me?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
Usumaki continued to feign ignorance.
If her speculation happened to be wrong, then so be it. She'd let Usumaki dismiss it as nothing more than her ramblings. But if the speculation was correct, then things were an entirely different matter.
Maomao changed the subject.
"Lady Risu, do you know where Ujun's younger sister is at present?"
"I heard she has taken holy orders."
"It's a place called Koubai-kan, where eccentrics gather. That's where you raised ducks, Lady Risu."
"Ducks?"
"You also raised cattle and horses, among other things."
Maomao recalled that Koyo had been searching for cattle and horses.
Maomao had also asked to be taken along to see the place. But surely the medical officials had long since seen through Koyo's scheme.
Hua Tuo's writings, Koyo's documents, and the cattle and horses.
To develop resistance to smallpox, one needed to contract a mild form of the disease.
There were diseases for which resistance could be gained by contracting a similar illness.
And humans could also catch diseases that afflicted livestock.
A disease similar to smallpox, but for cattle and horses.
By introducing it to humans, they would contract the same illness.
Ujun, was the patient you brought here not implanted with seeds of that disease?
She did not believe Ujun had come by coincidence.
"Please, call me Jun."
Ujun remained smiling.
"Are you going to play dumb?"
"There's nothing to play dumb about. I simply did as I was told. I'm a shady character who uses the 'U' character in my name — there's no way I could refuse a job I was asked to do."
She was openly confessing that she had done exactly as instructed.
Maomao let out a long breath. Ujun may have been small fry, but she seemed to know how to live as one.
"I was merely curious about how you, Lady Risu, have been spending your time. If you want to know more, I was simply told to bring the patient to the medical office — that's all."
Maomao couldn't tell how much of that was true, but it was clear Ujun had no intention of going into the details she wanted to hear.
"Then let me ask — approximately how many more days should I stay here?"
"Then again, at first everyone only said that approximately ten days of quarantine would be necessary. So wouldn't it be ten days?"
Ujun replied, maintaining her pretense of ignorance throughout.