Chapter 70: Plague X Butterfly
"How can you be so sure?"
Shinobu asked, her voice carrying a faint trace of professional scrutiny.
Natsuya replied, "It's my sixth sense. Do you understand the concept of a sixth sense?"
"Some people can see with their mind's eye—they see more clearly when blindfolded. Some have a supernatural sense of smell; they can sniff out emotions as easily as rotting fish. Others have hearing so acute they can hear the rhythm of the world's thoughts."
Natsuya tapped his temple, looking dead serious as he improvised some Grade-A bullshit.
"But I'm different. Through extreme grinding and life-or-death battles, I've developed my 'Inner Universe.' That gave me an ultra-tier sixth sense."
"Trust me, Shinobu. I'm 100% right on this."
Shinobu gave Natsuya a look of pure skepticism. "If you don't want to explain your logic, fine. Also, calling a girl by her first name without an honorific is incredibly rude."
Natsuya shrugged. "As you wish, Lady Kocho."
Nearby, the Storm Hashira fell into deep thought.
So Natsuya possesses a unique biological constitution... Igarashi mused. Given all the impossible things Natsuya had done recently, he didn't doubt the "Sixth Sense" claim for a second.
Shinobu stared at Natsuya for a long time. Finally, she let out a small, melodic laugh.
"It seems you really are as 'special' as my sister said."
She put away the glass jar, her annoyance with Natsuya finally beginning to dissolve.
"If it's a Blood Demon Art, then our treatment strategy changes entirely. We either need to locate the caster or... develop a specific counteractant tailored to the demon's blood."
The group put on specialized masks provided by the Kakushi and stepped into the town. The atmosphere was heavy with sorrow. The streets were deserted, save for the occasional resident scurrying by with a cloth over their face, their eyes full of suspicion and fear. Over a dozen people had already died.
When they met the local doctor, the white-haired man nearly collapsed to his knees in relief.
"You're the experts from Tokyo, aren't you?!"
"This sickness... I am powerless! So many have died! I've tried every recipe, every Western medicine the merchants brought... nothing works! We can't even figure out how it spreads!"
"Damn it! What kind of cursed plague is this?!"
After calming the panicked physician, the trio was led by the Kakushi to the back of the clinic. In a makeshift isolation ward, over twenty patients were sprawled out. Suppressed coughing echoed through the room, and the air was thick with the stench of decay and mold.
Shinobu put on specialized gloves and began her rounds. Igarashi left to scout the perimeter for environmental clues, while Natsuya was assigned to stay behind as Shinobu's guard and assistant.
Natsuya, of course, didn't plan to just stand there and wait for a "Quest Update." He walked from bed to bed, trying to see if his [Medicine] skill would trigger.
Honestly, he hated this kind of scenario—the slow, creeping spread of despair. It reminded him too much of the "Bio-hazard" levels in other games.
However, against a Blood Demon Art, the System's [Medicine] skill wouldn't activate for a direct cure.
But it wasn't useless.
At the edge of his Medicine LV.3 HUD, the System displayed treatment suggestions from a purely clinical perspective—ways to ease the symptoms and stabilize the patients based on their infection stage.
As data scrolled through his vision, Natsuya noticed a pattern.
The severity of the infection didn't correlate with when the patient was admitted, nor did it depend on their physical strength. An old man who fell ill three days ago was still in the "Early Itch" stage, while a muscular young man who caught it yesterday was already on the verge of death.
"The infection speed varies wildly per individual," Shinobu noted. She was currently using a silver needle to extract a sample from a patient's skin. "Logically, a weaker constitution should allow the spores to grow faster. But that doesn't explain why the young men are deteriorating faster than the elderly..."
"Could it be triggered by emotion?" Natsuya suggested.
Shinobu looked at him, confused.
Natsuya pointed to the corner, where several elderly patients were resting with their eyes closed, seemingly at peace with their fate. Then he pointed to the door, where several impoverished patients sat with numb, resigned expressions. Their symptoms were mostly in the early stages.
Then he pointed to the center of the ward. Several young men were there—some were shouting in anger, others were sobbing in terror. Their infections were significantly more advanced.
"Stress responses... heightened metabolism from intense fear or rage providing nutrients for the spores... A 'metaphysical' ability like a Blood Demon Art should be able to do that, right?"
Hearing terms like "Metabolism" and "Stress Response"—words no other Slayer would use—Shinobu frowned.
"You make some sense... Do you actually know medicine?"
"I know a bit," Natsuya said honestly.
Actually, it's mostly just gamer common sense, and the System is carrying me.
He felt his Medicine LV.3 was hitting a bottleneck. It was annoying that he couldn't just "read" the Blood Demon Art through the medical menu. Logic and science are such inconvenient things sometimes, he thought.
Shinobu's gaze toward Natsuya shifted slightly. She handed him a kit of tools and spoke seriously.
"I need to compound an inhibitor. I need an assistant who understands pharmacology. Mr. Kokonoe, do you have any experience?"
Looking at this petite girl—who looked like a middle-schooler at best—speaking with such clinical authority, Natsuya found it quite amusing.
"I know a thing or two."
"Then help me."
"You got it."
Natsuya took the instruments, and his expression sharpened.
Medicine is for saving people.
[SYSTEM! BEGIN TREATMENT!]
For the next three hours, the isolation ward was transformed into a crude laboratory. During this time, Shinobu demonstrated a terrifying talent for chemistry that made even Natsuya's "Gamer HUD" blink in surprise. Using Wisteria extract as a base, she mixed seven different herbs to create a serum that glowed with a faint violet light.
Natsuya's [Medicine] might have been capped by the supernatural nature of the plague, but his [Pharmacy] and [Poison Crafting] skills allowed him to perfectly follow her logic.
After Shinobu finished the first batch, Natsuya made a suggestion: "Increase the dosage of these two herbs."
Shinobu looked at him, puzzled. "That will dilute the active counteractant."
"Yes, but it adds a sedative effect. It'll stop the 'Stress Response' cycle. At the very least... it'll make their final days less of a nightmare."
He couldn't cure them yet, but he could improve their "Quality of Life" stats.
Shinobu stared at Natsuya for a few seconds, then she gave him a genuine, warm smile. It wasn't her usual "customer service" smile; it was real recognition.
"You're quite impressive, Natsuya-kun."
Even if he's a blockhead like Lord Igarashi says, Shinobu thought, deep down, he's a very kind person.
As the serum was injected into the patients, the ward grew noticeably quieter. The fits of coughing subsided. The local doctor was ecstatic, praising the "experts from Tokyo" for their miraculous work.
But Shinobu and Natsuya didn't relax. The serum was just an inhibitor; it suppressed the spores, but didn't kill them.
"We need the demon's blood as a catalyst for a permanent cure," Shinobu said, wiping her tools. "Or... we kill the demon that cast the spell."
Once the master of the Blood Demon Art died, the regenerating spores would lose their source of power and wither. Only then could these people truly recover.
At sunset, Igarashi returned. He looked grim.
"It's not just this town," the Storm Hashira reported. "Six towns within a twenty-mile radius are reporting the exact same symptoms."
☆☆☆
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