Chapter 89: State of oblivion

July 8th, 2023

Beta Reader: My_Own_Worst_NPC

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As we went around the village, we counted 46 sick people has been infected with amesles.

I was told that the population of the village was 118, so about 40% of the residents were infected. I’ve prepared around 50 antipyretics, so it should be enough for now. If I remember correctly, measles was an airborne disease, so I think it should be the same with amesles. It might be late now, but I think we need to quarantine the sick.

“Is there a large place like a meeting hall in this village?”

“If you need such place, there’s the worship room in the temple.”

Linda, the village chief, took the initiative in showing us around. She might be a middle-aged woman in her early fifties, but her movements were brisk.

Yeah, of course the village chief is a woman too. Just like how men held all the important position during feudal times on earth, here it’s being held by women.

Come to think of it, the temple head [1] was a woman too. She’s 28 years old, a beautiful woman, and seems to be a kind person. Also, she gives off an aura of a mature and collected woman. Anyway, when I asked her to use the temple as a treatment center to prevent the spread of infection, she kindly gave me permission.

“Are you truly a saint?” Priestess Recoa’s big, clear brown eyes are directly focused on me. Her gaze held pure curiosity and she was staring at me so intensely, that it made me feel embarrassed.

I’m really sorry. I’m not a saint, I’m just a plain lecherous person!

“I’m nowhere as esteemed of personage like that. I’m but a mere traveler with a bit of knowledge for medicine. It was a stroke of fortune that the medicine was working well that Anne’s fever went down immediately, and so Cain-san and Pell-san’s story became exaggerated.”

As a matter of fact, if we’re talking about saintly attributes, I think Recoa is more saintly than I am. Afterall, she gave off so much aura of being pure and innocent.

“Is that so…”

“Anyway, Temple Head-sama, if possible, I’d like you to spread information to the villagers. Please tell them to wash their hands regularly at home, even if they think they are healthy. Also, they need to frequently gargle with salt water. Those two things alone should significantly reduce the chance to contract the amesles disease.

“Is that true?!”

“It is.”

Truth is, I don’t have much confidence in the information, but I’m pretty sure that’s the case.

“Actually, I think it’s better if they just took a bath and wash their whole body well.”

“I’m afraid that’s quite impossible for the villagers. The only bath that are available here are the one inside the temple and the one in the village chief’s house.”

We’ve been traveling north for the time being, so the temperature here is much colder compared to Monte Chris Island. Bathing during such cold season will be hard.

“I guess it can’t be helped, then. Please instruct the villagers to wash their hands and gargle thoroughly.” After I asked her to do so, I started making the sport drink again.

———————————————————————————————————————-

I’ve made some makeshift stretchers and had the Iwaos and Gokus help me to gently carry the patients to the temple.

Thanks to Cain-san’s initiative, the other villagers started to help me too and it was easier to nurse the sick people. By the way, everyone who helped me had been infected with amesles once, so it should be safe for them. And all I could do was to supply them with antipyretics, some sport drinks and nutrition, and to teach them how to make ice packs by using leather.

“Saint-sama, please leave it to us and take a rest.” Cain-san offered when the sun was about to set. It seems like Recoa-san was going to provide dinner too.

“Then, I will clean myself up and change my clothes before eating dinner.”

Rouge and I have been carrying patients to the temple, so I’ve been sweating a lot. If possible, I’d like to take a bath before having dinner. I guess I’ll boil some water on the beach and then ask Iwao to pour it over me.

“Poppo, deliver this message to Cecily.”

To Cecily

　Please boil water in the cauldron. It’s for my bath time.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Shirou

The villagers watched in wonder as Poppo flew out of the window towards the ship with the note in its beak.

“I see. Saint-sama uses golem as messengers…”

“That means those golems are his apostles, right?”

I don’t intend to stay here for long anyway, so I’ve given up on trying to clear the misunderstanding. You can just think whatever you like about it.

“Well then, please excuse me for now. I will be back in time for dinner.”

With a smiling face, I bowed politely and headed for the beach.

♢ Recoa’s POV

“So dazzling…” Recoa muttered unintentionally, which made Cain-san to glanced at her, and do a double take.

“T-temple head-sama?”

Perhaps realizing her blunder, Recoa tried to smooth it up by giving instructions with a reddened face. “You remember what Shirou-san had said, right? Everyone should thoroughly wash their hands and gargle before going home.”

“Ah, yes…”

“And let’s take turns eating. The people from the upper area should go home and eat dinner first, in the meantime have the people from the lower area to take care of the sick.”

 Once Recoa had said what she needed to say, she left in a hurry and told Innis, the temple helper, to prepare dinner.

“Shirou-san will shortly return here. It’ll be fine if we make dinner start at 6. I’m going to recite evening prayer, so I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Recoa then turned to leave but was called out bluntly by Innis.

“Temple head-sama?”

“What is it?”

“Your face looks really red. Could it be that temple head-sama has fallen sick with amesles too?”

“Gh! That’s, that’s not it. I only feel it’s a little hot in here!”

“Is that so? I’m glad it’s nothing serious.”

“That’s right, there’s nothing to worry about!”

The normally mild-mannered Recoa said that with a little anger, and Innis shrugged her head. She thought that Recoa only acted that way because she has been taking care of the sick people, that’s why her body feels hot, and her face gets flushed. After deciding that it must be the case, Innis then began to prepare dinner.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

The main hall was full of sick people, so Recoa performed the evening prayer in her room. She quietly recited from the prayer book, accompanied by small lamps and incense.

After a series of rituals, she then starts to open the scriptures to study them. As is her daily routine, she would usually devote herself to studying the scriptures before dusk.

But today, she found herself unable to concentrate on the content of the scripture, and instead, all she could think of is Shirou’s face, hands, and the nape of his neck.

“Just what have I been doing!”

Realizing that she had been doing nothing but thinking about Shirou, she stood up in frustration, when suddenly the door opened.

“Temple head-sama?” It was the temple girl, Innis.

Feeling as if someone had just witnessed the moment that she gave in to her ugly desires, Recoa’s words turned rude.

“What do you want?!”

“Hiii!”

Recoa’s sharp gaze terrified Innis. Seeing Innis on the verge of tears, Recoa was dismayed and came to her senses.

“S-sorry. I couldn’t help but thinking about the plague and couldn’t calm down.”

She felt disgusted with herself for lying, but there was no way she could tell the truth.

“Did something happen?”

“I was only about to tell you that dinner is ready…”

“I understand. And where is Shirou-san now?”

“Saint-sama has not return yet.”

‘He must be still in his ship’, Recoa thought, and started to stand up. “In that case, I’ll go and get him. I need a bit of a breather anyway.”

Saying it in a voice as gentle as possible, she then went outside.

…

The cool evening air soaked into her skin as she stepped outside. The sun had not yet set and was still burning bright red in the western sky. Such scenery made Recoa walk toward the beach with a cheerful mood.

Eventually, though, she encountered a strange sight when she reached a row of trees serving as a windbreak. For some reason, there were villagers hiding behind the pine trees and energetically looking toward the beach.

“Everyone, what are you doing here?”

“Eh? T-temple head-sama?”

“Wait, we can explain, this is not what you think…”

The villagers that were gathering there were all women. And when Recoa’s set her eyes towards the direction of the beach where the gaze of the villagers was seeming to be focused to…

“What…”

…and for that short, fleeting moment, Recoa lost track of everything. Her words, her thoughts, and seemingly her whole being, was completely and utterly overwhelmed by the sight that appeared in front of her. Right before her, a man was exposing his naked body. 

Ahead of her line of sight was Shiro bathing in hot water on the beach illuminated by the setting sun, creating an illusion that his almost translucent skin glows a pale orange in the afterglow of dusk. The water droplets that remained on his skin glittered like jewels.

After entering a state of oblivion, Recoa’s heart was flooded with a variety of emotions: desire, confusion, frustration, remorse, and anger.

“Y, you! What were you all doing here? I will not tolerate such a despicable act of peeking!”

At Recoa’s reprimand, the villagers all scurried away. However, it seems like her voice was too loud, since it attracts the attention of the man before her.

Shirou, who was having the golem pour hot water on him, slowly turned toward Recoa and gave her a surprised smile.

“Oh my, temple head-sama? Why are you here?” Time seemed to stop again for Recoa, since Shirou didn’t even bother to cover up his naked body.

“Could it be that it’s already time for dinner? Please forgive me, I’ll head there right away.” Shirou quietly told her before started washing his body again.

This man… is he a real saint? Or is he an evil spirit trying to tempt me…?

Recoa was still staring at Shirou, unable to remove her gaze. It was less than a few seconds, but to Recoa it felt like a long, breath taking moment, bordering on eternity. And then, when her gaze turns downward, and seeing his genital standing proud and tall, Recoa finally turned tail and ran toward the temple in terror.

That can’t be real, can it? It must be an illusion, but how can a man who can’t use magic create such illusion?! Then, that thing must be just my hallucination created by my own lust!

♢Shirou’s POV

I looked off to the side as Recoa-san ran back toward the village.

Maybe I went a bit overboard by letting her see my exposed body, but then again, I feel like it would be an overreaction if I just suddenly decided to cover my body when she suddenly appeared, that’s why I decided to play it cool.

Not to mention that, I actually have an exhibitionist fetish. And when I realized that the temple head was ogling my naked body, I couldn’t help it and get excited, that’s why my Little Joe got up to full attention…

She might hate me for showing something weird…

Yeah, shame on me!

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1 For the sake of simplicity, I write it as temple head, but originally her position is Shinkan (神官), a government official serving at Shinto shrines, which explains why she wasn’t drafted into military services.