Chapter 233

Even in the Showa, the practice of subordinates overthrowing superiors was prevalent.

So, even though the samurai and the Chief Priest are both trying their best, bad things are still happening.

They eradicated a patch of infected rice, but it was completely useless!

A large-scale infection has already spread.

This year, Yae Village is destined to face a total crop failure. But that's not the worst of it; there's something even worse.

Plague!

The kind that spreads from person to person.

It began to spread throughout the village.

Now, the villagers of Yae Village can save even a single hemp rope, because a single epidemic can wipe out an entire family.

It used to be common for entire families to be buried together, but now, if even one person falls ill, the whole family can be gone in a couple of days.

"Such a high mortality rate?" Saber frowned.

"This is a truly troublesome plague," Yae Sakura said with a furrowed brow. "I've tried all sorts of methods, but none of them have worked."

"This disease is really quite rare."

"It is indeed quite rare." Saber said with his hands in his sleeves, "How should I put it? With such a high incidence and mortality rate, this infectious disease shouldn't have appeared in the first place!"

"Why?" Yae Sakura couldn't quite grasp the Saber's train of thought.

"This disease has already appeared, so why say it shouldn't exist?"

"Because this is not a reasonable survival strategy," said the Saber, arms crossed and brows furrowed.

"Huh?" Yae Sakura asked, even more puzzled, "What? Survival strategy?"

"Oh." Seeing Yae Sakura's confused look, Saber immediately understood what she was confused about and said, "Because I happen to Slightly Understand a little bit about biology and medicine."

The Saber made a gesture, a gesture with two fingers almost pinched together, and said, "Although not too many."

"But it's also quite in-depth," Saber explained. "How can I explain this to you?"

"In fact, the source of the plague is a very small and invisible microorganism."

"This organism spreads through droplets, such as from sneezing, contact, or water sources."

"After it spreads to humans, it parasitizes them."

"And then the person who was parasitized died?" Yae Sakura said, as if she had realized something.

"No, that's not true." Saber waved his hand and said, "Being parasitized doesn't necessarily mean death. Since it's still a living organism, its ultimate goal is definitely to survive and reproduce."

"If the person infected dies immediately, it's not good for the virus."

"Because when people die, they are buried or cremated, and then they just go to hell."

"So their reproduction strategy is to prevent them from killing people."

"At least it won't kill them so quickly."

"But people who get the febrile disease still die." Yae Sakura still didn't understand.

"Actually, this was an accident." Saber shook his finger and said, "In fact, their best strategy is not to kill people, because as long as they don't kill people, they will have the opportunity to parasitize more people and expand their population."

"This is the most basic survival strategy among living organisms, but for humans, these viruses are foreign invaders."

"Therefore, the body's own immune mechanism will fight back, for example, by causing a fever."

"This... I don't understand." Yae Sakura shook her head. What she was saying was beyond her understanding and knowledge of the disease. She simply couldn't understand it.

"What's the key point?" Yae Sakura asked. "According to your judgment."

What is the key point?

"The key is the high mortality rate and short incubation period," said Saber. "Generally speaking, these viruses have a relatively long incubation period, ranging from at least half a month to a month. Moreover, the mortality rate is not very high; it is basically impossible for it to reach 100%."

"Like now, people get infected on the same day, develop symptoms the next day, and die two days later."

"This virus has almost disappeared and cannot spread at all."

"So what's going on now?" Yae Sakura frowned even more deeply.

Saber's words did seem to make some sense. Although I couldn't understand them, they seemed irrefutable and quite impressive. More importantly, Yae Sakura, as the village's Miko, was essentially the village's doctor. She was responsible for treating the village's illnesses, so she knew a thing or two about medicine.

This outbreak of febrile disease does indeed seem different from previous ones.

Its momentum was unprecedented and fierce.

Even in the past, when there was a plague, it was impossible for everyone who got sick to die. There would always be some people who took medicine and received timely medical treatment and survived.

A small percentage of these lucky individuals recover on their own.

But not this time.

People die before they can receive medication, and the so-called lucky ones only live a day or two longer than others.

Faced with this situation, Yae Sakura also considered that this might not be a febrile disease, but perhaps something else was causing the trouble! However, she had no evidence.

There's no way to tell the Chief Priest.

"So, it's said that someone did it?" Yae Sakura said, voicing what she thought was the most likely answer, "Someone poisoned him?"

"Great minds think alike." Saber nodded and said, "However, I think it's unlikely to be a human."

"How much poison would it take to poison someone like that?!"

"They can release large amounts of poison without making a sound."

"What kind of person would do something like this?"

Theoretically, this is impossible. Poisoning usually happens in water, either well water or stream water. And the sewage system in Japan at that time was actually quite bizarre.

Drinking water, sewage wells, and streams are interconnected by groundwater.

To put it simply, it's terrible.

This poor urban drainage system has led to several major cholera outbreaks in the history of Area 11.

So, poisoning the water would be like killing a thousand enemies while losing twelve thousand of your own.

"I think someone might do that." Yae Sakura pondered for a moment and gave a conclusion that surprised Saber.

"Huh?!" Saber said, somewhat surprised. "Who?"

"Chief Priest and Lord Samurai," Yae Sakura suddenly said in a very soft voice.

"What the heck?" the Saber exclaimed in surprise. "No... how could you think that?"

"If this was done by someone, or by a specific person," Saber asked in surprise, "Then there must be a motive, the time of the crime, the location of the crime, and the tools used."

"Neither Chief Priest nor warriors possess these conditions."

"Why don't they have it?" Yae Sakura said with certainty, "To the Chief Priest and samurai, these villagers are lowly people, not even worthy of being called human beings."

"It's just a means of transportation that allows them to pay tribute."

"This time the harvest failed, and not only are they unable to pay tribute, they also need our assistance."

"So why not just kill them all?"

"Anyway, we can't kill all the villagers," Yae Sakura said coldly. "Besides, these two meet every day to discuss relief plans, haven't they really come up with any results?"

"A large amount of poison is no problem for the Chief Priest. He understands medicine and naturally knows how to prepare poison."

"There is no need to purchase large quantities of ready-made poison; just some raw materials are needed."

"The Chief Priest can configure it itself."

"As for doing it quietly," Yae Sakura added, "Only these two could pull that off."

"So who else could it be besides these two?"

"But what's the point of them doing this?" Saber shook his head and said, "If the sky falls, there's always someone taller to hold it up. Even if they want to open the granaries and distribute grain, they can talk to the Daimyo and ask someone of higher rank to help them out."

"It is not worthwhile for rulers to kill their own people."

"Besides, this isn't about killing criminals; they'll be executed later in the autumn."

"This was a planned and premeditated massacre."

"Have the Chief Priest and warriors lost their minds?"

"There might actually be a tiny bit of that," Yae Sakura said, shrugging. "By the way, I've heard some rumors lately."

"I heard that the Chief Priest and the warrior have been discussing the Sacrifice Ritual recently."

"This year's Sacrifice Ritual may be different from previous years."

Chapter 268 Is it about holding Sacrifice Ritual?

Yae Sakura looks at Saber, Saber looks at Yae Sakura.

The two stared at each other for a while.

"You don't seem surprised at all," Yae Sakura said, seemingly taken aback. "I thought you would be very surprised and worried about this."

"Isn't this a traditional practice?" Saber asked back. "When in doubt, Sacrifice Ritual is the solution."

Isn't this a traditional project when disaster strikes in this era?

People follow the crowd.

When a group of people follow the crowd, and the word "ignorance" is added, it can easily turn into feudal superstition.

This is not a privilege of the feudal era.

Even in modern society, this kind of thing isn't unusual~

Don't you see, sister, all sorts of strange and unpredictable things have come out under the shadow of COVID-19. You can wear anything except a mask; you can believe anything except what the experts say.

Therefore, Sacrifice Ritual were performed in this era...

Isn't this a traditional skill?

When faced with natural disasters or man-made calamities, it's considered an offense against Heaven and Earth, and the solution is to hold Sacrifice Ritual.

If it doesn't work the first time, try the second time; if it doesn't work the third time, then it must be because the offering is not good enough.

"How could I be surprised?" said the Saber. "I would be surprised if they didn't hold Sacrifice Ritual, opened granaries to distribute grain, and engaged in self-help production."

Even in the future, not everyone will have this awareness.

Does this kind of awareness even exist in this day and age?

Have?

There's no ghost here!

If someone is even slightly greedy, unwilling to open granaries and distribute grain, unwilling to provide relief, and with a short-sighted vision only wanting to maintain their rule, then wouldn't Sacrifice Ritual be the best course of action?

I also performed the Sacrifice Ritual in accordance with public opinion, but Heaven was still not appeased.

What can I do?

"Let's get down to business," said the Saber, arms crossed. "Have they decided on the offerings? How will Sacrifice Ritual? When? Where?"

"This..." Yae Sakura was Saber's barrage of questions and didn't know which one to answer first.

"Not yet..."

Yae Sakura composed herself and shook her head, saying, "I only heard some rumors about it."

"A small path?" Saber tilted his head and asked, "How small is it?"

"Don't ask me that," Yae Sakura said. "I'm Miko at the Yae Shrine, so I have my own channels for gathering information. It's not impossible for me to get this kind of information."

That's something that Saber is willing to believe.

Yae Sakura couldn't possibly be without connections.

It's just that I feel Yae Sakura's character design is a bit...

Collapse?

"Don't you have any plans at all?" Yae Sakura asked, perhaps unable to contain herself any longer, seeing the Saber.