Before beginning the large-scale screening of inhibitors, Veylin spent three full days and nights trying to answer a single question: what exactly was their enemy?
Elwin brought a mage's perspective, viewing it as a powerful curse; Valerius thought like an alchemist, believing it to be an exceptionally active alchemical creation.
But when Veylin combined his observations through the microscope with the symptoms of those who had died, a name buried deep in his memories of his previous life surfaced-the culprit behind the Black Death, the Plague Bacillus!
"So that's it..." Veylin straightened, his face showing none of the joy of finding an answer, only gravity. It had the "form" of the Plague Bacillus, but had been endowed with a magical "core." It was both a physical pathogen and a magical curse.
Although this discovery weighed heavily on Veylin, it also pointed him toward a way forward.
Since the enemy had a physical body resembling a bacterium, the knowledge from his previous life finally had a use. After all, no weapon was more effective against bacteria than antibiotics.
Veylin turned to his two assistants, his gaze sharp. "Now, I need you to find some specific plants."
He quickly described the characteristics of several types of plants-those prone to developing mold in damp environments, certain lichens, and herbs traditionally used to treat wounds and prevent food from rotting.
These were all natural sources from which antibiotics could be extracted on Blue Star, as far as he remembered.
Under Veylin's guidance, the underground Research Institute became a screening machine operating at full speed. Soon, over a hundred plant samples matching his descriptions arrived from across the Duchy.
After round after round of extraction and testing, a plant called "graveyard iron grass" stood out. It was an herbaceous plant that grew near cold, gloomy