Chapter 435 - Episode 418: Outbreak
Late March. Noein was visiting the home of a subject who had become the first person in the Grand Duchy of Arqvist to develop Herzgenheim disease. However, to prevent infection, he did not enter the house, nor did he meet face-to-face with the infected person.
"Good morning. How is your husband doing?"
"N-Noein-sama... good morning. For now, my husband has a fever, but his cough has settled. He is able to eat. The medicine we received from the clinic seems to be working, and he is sleeping well now."
The first infected person—a man who ran a small trading company and traveled between the Grand Duchy and the Kingdom of Roadberg—had a wife who spoke of her husband's symptoms.
"That is good to hear. Is there anything else you are struggling with?"
"Thank you very much. I don't think there is anything in particular. This is all thanks to Noein-sama coming to visit us."
Both Noein and the woman covered their noses and mouths with cloth and wore gloves on their hands, standing side-by-side so as not to face one another. When the woman inadvertently tried to turn toward Noein to speak, Matilda stepped between them, prompting the woman to look away.
"If anything happens, please let the Grand Ducal house know at any time. Well then, staying too long would be a nuisance, so I shall take my leave... As your sovereign, I feel sorry that I could not stop the influx of the epidemic into the Grand Duchy of Arqvist. I pray that your husband makes a full recovery."
He spoke the latter half of those words intentionally in a slightly louder voice, so that the neighboring residents watching the visit from a distance could hear them as well.
"N-No, such words are far too kind."
Seen off by the woman who bowed her head repeatedly in humility, and with Pence and the Guard soldiers surrounding him ostentatiously, Noein moved a mere ten steps from the eaves of the private house. Then, he climbed into the Grand Ducal house's private carriage.
The reason for conducting such a pompous movement within the capital city of Noeina was to impress upon the residents around this house the fact that "Grand Duke Noein Arqvist visited an infected person."
If Noein himself visited the home of the first infected person and went as far as to say, "I am sorry I could not stop the influx of the epidemic," there would be no worry that the infected person and their family would be openly slandered. This was because attacking them would be synonymous with disregarding Noein's benevolence, and blaming them would be synonymous with blaming Noein.
The responsibility for the epidemic lay not with those who fell ill, but with himself, the sovereign, who had failed to stop the disease's influx into the country. Regardless of the facts, if Noein spoke this way, there was no worry that any specific subject would bear the blame. And there was absolutely no chance that voices seriously blaming Noein and seeking to impose some punishment would become the majority within the country.
Additionally, while people had been called upon to refrain from unnecessary outings and the wearing of cloth and gloves outdoors had been made mandatory upon the occurrence of the infection, there was also the intention to make the subjects follow the rules by showing Noein himself taking the lead in wearing the cloth and gloves.
"...Phew."
Having entered the carriage, Noein removed the cloth covering his nose and mouth and took off his gloves.
"Noein-sama, this way."
"Yes, thank you."
Presented with a bucket of water and soap by Matilda, Noein washed his hands thoroughly and wiped them with a clean towel. Matilda purified her hands in the same manner.
The cloth removed from his mouth was placed directly into a bag to be disposed of. Cloth is not cheap, so in ordinary households, it would be washed and reused, but in the Grand Ducal house, preventing the infection of the head and the attendants was the priority.
"With this, there should be no worry of a divide occurring between the infected and everyone else... Now, all that's left is to pray that the infection does not spread too far."
.....
Despite Noein's prayers, several more infected persons appeared by the time April arrived. Symptoms began to appear in those thought to have been in contact with them before the onset, and the infection spread to a scale of dozens of people in the blink of an eye.
Due to such a situation, and because Noein had taken the lead in ensuring thorough awareness, it became a daily sight in the Grand Duchy of Arqvist for everyone to wear cloth and gloves when going outdoors.
The number of people walking outside decreased in itself. The subjects left their homes only to go to work or to go shopping for food and other necessities. Entertainment facilities such as taverns were closed, and schools were shut down.
One of the few opportunities to remove the cloth and gloves outdoors was during farm work. Farmers were permitted to expose their faces and hands under the summer sunlight on the condition that they worked while keeping their distance from others.
Monitoring whether those rules were being followed was the job of the Grand Duchy of Arqvist's vassals in charge of agricultural affairs.
"Hey, did you hear? I heard a sick person appeared in the house to my west. The wife and son at the same time. How pitiful."
"Whoa, really? Just how far is this disease going to spread... Then, aren't you in danger too?"
"Nah, lately neither I nor my family have talked to the folks in the house to the west. We should be fine—"
"Hey, you two!"
The one who shouted at the two farmers conversing whose owned farmlands were adjacent was the Minister of Agriculture, Baronet Edgar Leuschner.
"Why are you talking without covering your nose and mouth with cloth! You should have been told to wear the cloth and speak without facing each other only when having conversations necessary for work!"
"Hie!"
"S-Sorry!"
The two farmers, who had been enjoying a chat with their faces fully exposed, saw Edgar standing a short distance away shouting, and while turning pale, hurriedly covered their noses and mouths with cloth.
"Were you talking about something necessary for work? Tell me what you were talking about!"
"N-No..."
"Just... some unrelated talk."
Facing the two who answered while trembling, Edgar let out a deep sigh.
"You were probably just talking to distract yourselves for a bit... But what would happen if a hundred people, a thousand people like you acted that way? The infection of Herzgenheim disease would never subside, the life of wearing cloth and gloves would never end, and the dead would increase. You wouldn't want to let your fellow countrymen, your wives or sons, die, would you?"
"Y-Yes."
"Of course not."
"Then, follow the rules. The rules Noein-sama decided upon to protect us and our families... Now, keep your distance. Each of you return to your farm work."
After sending the two farmers back to their respective farmlands, Edgar sighed again.
"Honestly... it's just not getting anywhere."
Edgar could understand that the people were feeling suffocated by the inconvenient life that had suddenly begun. However, he was fed up with the fact that there were occasionally those who rushed into such actions without thinking deeply.
.....
Along with the epidemic of Herzgenheim disease, the Grand Duchy of Arqvist Women's Association had suspended its usual activities such as meetings. However, currently, it was playing an important role separately from that.
"A report. In the Northwest First District, there are no problems with the daily lives of each household. There are no homes struggling with shortages of food or daily necessities."
Visiting the deserted Women's Association office, the one speaking to the President of the Women's Association, Baroness Mai Granat, was a Women's Association executive serving as the representative for one section on the northwest side of the capital city Noeina's urban area.
"Thank you for your hard work. That's good... Were there any homes that seemed to be hiding the occurrence of infection?"
"...Actually, there was one. A home where, when I asked, they were strangely flustered and tried to end the conversation quickly."
As Mai asked while suppressing her voice, the woman representing the Northwest First District also answered by lowering the volume of her voice.
"At first, I thought they were worried about contacting others and catching the epidemic, but it also looked as if they wanted to hide the inside of the house from my sight. I felt as if I heard coughing from inside the house..."
"That is quite suspicious."
Having heard the story, Mai let out a small sigh.
Thanks in part to the steady efforts of the lord, Noein, situations where the infected and their families were persecuted by others had almost not occurred. Even so, there were a few cases where people tried to hide a family member's infection, thinking, "If an infected person comes from my house, will I be blamed by those around me?"
The patrol activities by the Women's Association executives for each section had the purpose of searching for such cases of concealing the infected, while simultaneously investigating whether the people's lives were facing inconveniences due to the border closure. It was an activity to prevent the infected from becoming seriously ill because they could not receive proper treatment, as well as to grasp the extent of the infection's spread.
"I'll tell my husband and have the Grand Duchy army go check on that house later. Also, you please be careful of any changes in your physical condition for about a week from now. We've taken countermeasures, so I think it's fine if you just spoke a little, but..."
"Yes, I understand."
Mai and the other woman exchanging words like this were, of course, also covering their noses and mouths with cloth.
That said, long-term contact with anyone other than family could lead to the expansion of the infection. Mai saw off the woman who had finished her report briefly.
.....
"...I suppose this is it."
In the civil servants' office of the Grand Duchy of Arqvist's mansion, Honorary Baronet Anna Leuschner, the Minister of Internal Affairs, muttered with documents in hand.
What was written in those documents was the current situation inside the Grand Duchy. It was an overview calculating how much stockpile existed within the country and how long society could hold out under the current system, while interactions with outside countries were forbidden except for the import and export of necessary materials, and the outings of the people were restricted.
"Good work. How is it?"
Asked by Christy, who was performing clerical work in the adjacent seat, Anna opened her mouth with a faint, bitter smile.
"If we release the Grand Ducal house's stockpile, salt will last for several months. Other necessary materials... iron, lumber, leather, and food can be self-sufficient within the country, so there probably isn't much to worry about. I suppose the problem is the medicine."
"Medicine... If I recall, the stockpile was for about two hundred people?"
"Yes. And that's for two weeks at most. Even so, compared to the various noble territories of the Kingdom of Roadberg, we have a considerable amount stockpiled relative to the population... but honestly, an epidemic of Herzgenheim disease was unexpected for everyone. We probably couldn't have stockpiled more than this."
Medicine is extremely expensive, and the production volume is limited. Since the Grand Duchy of Arqvist is wealthy, they could have used their money to scrape it all together, but if they did such an unscrupulous thing, they would have gathered resentment from the surrounding noble territories and worsened their relations.
The Grand Duchy of Arqvist's medicine stockpile was the maximum amount that could realistically be gathered, and even that was precarious in the face of Herzgenheim disease.
"That's true... But there is still no sign of the infection subsiding. It's worrying."
"In the end, I suppose we have no choice but to continue steady countermeasures and wait for it to settle... For now, I'll go report to Noein-sama."
Thinking of the current situation, the content of the report could not be said to be very good. Still, it was the job of the Minister of Internal Affairs to convey the reality derived from calculations to the lord.
Anna stood up from her chair and left the office with the documents in hand.