act17d0

You still have the mood to raise this?

Why not? I'm spending all day sitting on the roof after all, might as well find something to do. Can't be talking to my machine gun all the time.

Your job is to keep aware of the surrounding area's safety, not play around with this snail thing.

What you've said makes sense, but what are we guarding against? Those quivering Infected, or the townsfolk living a kilometer away who never come here anyway?

The only living thing that's come close to this dump of a house is a flying lizard, which I suppose helped out with the ration issue.

......Where's Tina and Kötz?

They went to exchange supplies with those Infected people.

Tina managed to hunt some stuff again yesterday. She's becoming pretty experienced at it.

Tina went out to hunt by herself again?

Of course, she's even enjoying it. She's been trying to capture a wild burdenbeast.

By the way, Kötz went to the town.

Remember that thing I dismantled from the car? Kötz said he knows a mechanic in town and wanted to ask about it.

Fine.

You're too anxious, Cohen.

Just relax, we can't return anytime soon anyway.

Learn from Kötz and go talk with those people. They're somewhat friendly, at least.

I still haven't learned the local language. Man, Kötz really knows his stuff.

That's what I'm afraid of.

Afraid of what?

Kötz is getting too close to those people. It isn't a good thing, the atmosphere around here is very abnormal.

That town is too full of contradictions. We've been here for nearly a month, don't tell me you haven't picked up on that.

A local government official who stays in his manor all day and never leaves......Oh, I guess the proper term is 'lord'? There's those fully-armed private soldiers of his as well.

And this 'infected zone'.

The entire region is governed by the same lord, yet these Infected are not allowed to live in the town. Even the other townsfolk are unwilling to approach this place.

They were driven here.

That's because these friends 'got a strange sickness'.

The act of separating the sick when an infectious disease is raging about is not uncommon after all, even in the past. At least the lord did not just lock them all up in prison.

Originium sickness......or was it Oripathy? I don't remember the exact term.

All we know about this sickness is that it is related to Originium, it is infectious and it is incurable.

But how does it actually spread between people? What does it being incurable actually mean?

No one's answered our questions, and assume that we should know the basic situation.

This disease is either common sense in this town, or it is common sense in this world.

If it is only contact with Originium ore that will cause problems, then I don't think that it is necessary to carry out quarantine measures.

Besides, the doctor also thinks that there is no risk of infection from our frequency and distance of interaction with these Infected.

This infected zone is just a wall-less prison, breeding hate between the Infected and the townsfolk. You can feel it even without seeing it for yourself.

The word I'm using is 'hate', not just exclusion and discrimination. Hate is carved into every word they speak, every action they do. It's become part of their culture.

Hate. You understand what I mean? This isn't just a problem about an unknown disease anymore. We shouldn't get involved in any local conflicts.

Just imagine this scenario. If the townsfolk began grabbing torches, raising pitchforks and rushing into these Infected's homes, what would you do then? Shoot them down?

Hard to say.

We have them to thank for our food, water and medicine for the past few months.

Before this, we've been trudging back and forth across this treacherous wasteland, being attacked by anything that moves and not getting even a single glimpse of civilization......until we got their help.

Do you really think we can just 'mind our own business', Cohen?

If they grabbed weapons and broke into Doctor Miarow's clinic, do you really want to just stand aside and watch?

As for the problem you mentioned earlier, I don't think the infectiousness can be ignored.

It's as if everyone in this world has undergone professional chemical warfare training. They are always covering up their nose and mouth, and being extremely sensitive about protecting their respiratory systems, no matter their age or gender.

I've repeated this point before as well, that we must prepare similar protections for ourselves......

The doctor also approved of us keeping our distance. Thankfully the Infected don't have any complaints towards this. Perhaps this is normal to them.

What did the doctor say about this?

I didn't ask him. None of us asked him.

Every time we mention this topic, he always looks as though he would rather avoid it completely. As long as he thinks our defensive measures are fine, I won't bother him about it.

(Shhh...)

'I did not order pizza.'

There's no need to match passwords, Miss Cohen.

It's me, Miarow.

Right on cue.

Hold on, let me open the door.

Good morning, doctor.

Good morning, Miss Cohen.

Good morning, Mister Alexsandr.

Heh, we were just talking about you.

You do realize you're raising an Originium Slug, Mister Alexsandr?

Yeah, this little thing is actually pretty fun to play with. Tina caught some earlier and this one was too small, so I kept it.

So you came to look for Tina?

No, I'm here to deliver stuff.

These are medical supplies, there were more leftovers this time.

Thank you very much, doctor. We're always imposing on you.

I should be the one thanking you. It's all thanks to those Originium Slugs Miss Tina caught that we have enough painkillers for the next few months.

So, these 'Originium Slugs' really can cure diseases?

How do I put it...

Oripathy is incurable......This remedy made by fermenting the body fluids of Originium Slugs can only help to relieve the pain, it cannot actually cure the disease.

However, being able to relieve the pain is already a great blessing to the Infected. Crystallization on the skin will affect normal life, and the pain is so unbearable for some that they cannot even move.

It's great that we can be of help.

This is the book that you asked me to look for you last time. I specifically looked for one in the Ursus language.

Oh, great. Let me take a look.

Right......

......Hmm......

Can you understand it?

......With some difficulty.

At a glance, it looks like Cyrillic.

But when I look closer at it, there are many differences.

At least you have something to do now, just treat it as learning a foreign language.

It should be more interesting than playing with a snail.

Speaking of language, what do you call the language we're speaking now?

Your accents are a little weird......

But it is undoubtedly the Victorian language.

Victoria......

What about the locals, what do they speak?

The people here speak Sargonian, though Sargonian itself has a lot of dialects.

For example, most Sargons can't understand the Sargonian spoken by the tribes from the rainforest in east Sargon.

That's complicated.

Ursus.......Ursus.

What kind of place is Ursus?

Right......

I'm not too sure myself......

Back in school, they used to say that Ursus was in the far north and covered in snow year-round. It's ruled by a Tsar.

But I don't know anyone who's ever been to Ursus, haha.

Tsar? ...Tch.

What's wrong, you seem disappointed.

A little.

If I have the chance, I'd really like to take a look at this place called Ursus.