Chapter 43

The farmer introduced himself as Sugichan.

It seemed that he had passed a certain age, having lived beyond the point where hearing begins to fade. His legs weren’t in the best condition, and he leaned on a cane.

He said that a young man, in the prime of his life and involved in farming, was the first to collapse. Soon, his wife and children followed, with entire families succumbing to the illness in some cases.

“There’s no fever. No cough. It’s nothing like a common cold. But they just keep sleeping.”

“Sleeping, you say?”

What could that mean?

Fei Ling , the doctor, tried to decipher the situation in her mind.

“Oh, my son’s been sleeping for two weeks straight, getting weaker day by day. Sometimes he wakes up and eats, but whether he recognizes me or not, I can’t tell.”

“Is his consciousness hazy, then?”

“No, his memories are all mixed up. He keeps calling for his mother who died ten years ago and talks like a child… Then he falls asleep again while eating.”

But Sugichan shook his head, indicating there was more to it.

“…Well, if you examine him, you’ll understand.”

His house was built with earthen walls in the traditional style. It didn’t have separate rooms, and the young man was lying on a straw mat on the dirt floor. Fei Ling  knelt by the side of the emaciated young man and examined him. She was at a loss for words. Lan Xin, who had been following her, peeked over her shoulder and gasped.

(Ah… it’s the “Golden Poison.”)

The young man’s eyelids were covered by a cloudy quartz-like crystal. A cluster of fine, low-purity crystals had formed into one mass.

The young man groaned, as if tormented by nightmares.

“…Mom… it’s so dark… It’s raining… come get me.”

“Ever since he collapsed, he’s been like this. It must have been around when he was five, he disappeared in the forest when I wasn’t looking. I think he’s been dreaming about that time.”

A muddling of memories? Poison affecting the nervous system can sometimes cause such symptoms.

In the case of earth poisons, “gold” refers not only to precious metals like gold, silver, and copper but to all minerals. Some minerals are toxic, but quartz itself is harmless. However, the poison in the earth makes even harmless things toxic.

Looking back, it was quartz sand that filled the farm’s soil. That could explain why the young farmers were the first to collapse. Sand would stick to shoes, so they might have unknowingly brought the poison back home, affecting their families.

(Were the families of the officials who came to investigate also infected through the same route?)

Minerals lie dormant in the depths of the earth. It made sense that they could cause sleeping poison.

“Are there any mineral veins around here?”

Fei Ling  wondered if the nearby crystal mines could have been leaking poison. The farmer hesitated for a moment before replying, “No, I don’t know of any.”

After a brief silence, Fei Ling  sensed that Sugichan was hiding something, but she chose not to press him and instead asked about something else.

“Could I inspect the irrigation system? Do you use groundwater, or do you bring water from lakes or rivers?”

“Irrigation comes from a pond, drinking water is from a well.”

“Quartz refers to low-purity crystal. Even if the crystals are a bit cloudy, if they’ve already formed, they can still be considered quartz. Quartz belongs to water, and it’s plausible that waterborne poison is involved.”

When Sugichan heard the mention of quartz, his eyebrows twitched.

“…Even so, it’s already dark. Even with a torch, it’ll be too dark to see. Would tomorrow morning work?”

Fei Ling  checked the patient’s pulse and examined their tongue. They were weakened, but it didn’t seem like they would die tonight or tomorrow.

“Then tomorrow morning, please.”

“Um… do you have a place where we can stay? I heard a tiger’s roar from afar…”

Lan Xin spoke up hesitantly. Fei Ling  had planned to sleep outdoors, but Sugichan nodded in response.

“There’s no inn, but there’s an empty house—come with me.”

Carrying a torch, Sugichan led them toward the eastern outskirts.

“Use it as you like, there’s even a kitchen.”

Fei Ling  had imagined a dilapidated shack when he mentioned an empty house, but to her surprise, a large building, nearly a mansion, stood there. However, once they entered, they found the place covered in cobwebs, with broken shoji and generally in disarray.

“It feels like a haunted house,” Lan Xin murmured.

Sugichan chuckled bitterly.

“It used to be a landlord’s house… The whole family collapsed from the disease, and now no one’s here.”

A “kan-koku” refers to a landlord. The old land tax system had recently collapsed, and now it was mainly the tenant farmers working the land. The landlords were often from wealthy families, which explained the out-of-place appearance of their residence.

After Sugichan left, Fei Ling  and Lan Xin checked the house. There was indeed a kitchen, but it was in an unimaginable state of filth. When they looked into the stove, a raccoon jumped out. As it fled through the broken window, Lan Xin despaired.

“Guess we’ll have to clean up first… right?”

The place was so messy that they didn’t even know where to start cleaning. Fei Ling  rolled up her sleeves and tied a cloth around her waist.

“Let’s clean together.”

“No, no, Fei Ling -sama, please rest. Cleaning is my specialty… though I’ve never cleaned up after a raccoon.”

“Oh, I’m good at cleaning too.”

It was impossible to sleep in such a state. They swept away the dust, removed the cobwebs, and cleared the raccoon droppings. When they finally finished, someone arrived at the house.

It was a group of women. Fei Ling  was curious about their purpose at such an hour, but as soon as she stepped outside, they all bowed in unison.

“Please teach us how to cook.”

“You’re so young, and yet you made those acorns taste so good… I never would’ve thought of it.”

“Please, teach us how you did it.”

It seemed they were truly impressed, and their eyes no longer held any suspicion but were filled with pure respect.

“Of course.”

Fei Ling  began teaching them the cooking steps using the remaining acorns. Meanwhile, Lan Xin finished cleaning, and the autumn night slowly passed. There were no bells, so it was hard to tell the time, but it must have been past midnight. It was nearly early morning.

One of the women looked at the finished rice cakes and said softly.

“Ah, if we had this, maybe the babies wouldn’t have died from hunger, and their mothers wouldn’t have had to suffer.”

Now that she thought about it, there were almost no children in Wangqi. Only one mother holding a sickly baby, but the baby was malnourished. Famine, disease, and death tended to affect the elderly and children first.

(If I can save them, I will.)

But no matter how hard one tries, there are things that can’t be saved.

Despite all the effort, the number of lives slipping through one’s hands is far greater than those saved. Fei Ling ’s mother had traveled all over the continent to help patients, but once, a mother whose baby had died blamed her for not arriving sooner.

“…Eat, please. Eat a lot.”

Fei Ling  offered the warm rice cakes.

“Dead people can’t do that.”

It was, at best, a heartless thing to say. However, no matter what kind of consolation others might offer to a mother who has lost her beloved child, it ultimately feels hollow and insincere.

She distorted her cheek in great anguish, as if to say something. But tears poured out, and she could not form any words. The only sound that escaped was the choking sobs from her throat.

“Eat.”

Fei Ling extended the food once more. In response, the woman grasped the rice cake with trembling fingers and bit into it.

“It’s delicious… so delicious…”

The woman, with tears and snot dripping down her face, desperately devoured the rice cake. It seemed as if, by doing so, she was honoring her lost child, offering at least this small act of tribute.

◇

Once the women left and the atmosphere settled, Lan Xin brought over a tray.

“Thank you for your hard work, Fei Ling-sama.”

She handed over a teacup, smiling gently. A shadow fell across the star-like beauty mark near the corner of her eye.

“I made some medicinal tea. After a brief rest, we should try to sleep, even if it’s already morning.”

“Thank you. You must be tired too, Lan Xin.”

The cleaning of the house was completely done. The entire area had been tidied up in such a short amount of time, which showed just how skilled Lan Xin was.

Fei Ling gratefully took the teacup and took a sip.

She couldn’t help but furrow her brow. She barely managed to keep from spitting it out.

“…This is awful! It’s bitter, sour, and somehow smells fishy… How could it taste like this… what kind of ingredients did you use…?”

To put it simply, it tasted like someone had squeezed rotten food into the tea.

“How do you like it! I dried the dandelion root! And added plenty of things that might be medicinal! Vinegar, umeboshi (pickled plums), egg yolk, honey, acorns!”

“I’ll show you how to brew dandelion tea properly next time…”

With such an earnest expression directed at her, Fei Ling couldn’t bring herself to say how bad it was and instead diverted her gaze. But Lan Xin seemed very confident, leaning forward and asking, “Is it good?”

“…Lan Xin, you must be tired. Why don’t you try drinking it?”

“Is it really okay? Then I’ll try it… Blech, it’s awful!”

The moment Lan Xin took a sip, she choked and coughed so violently that it almost seemed like a whale spouting water.