Arifureta: From Whelp to Dragonlord (ON Hiatus)

Part 28: Saviors of the Desert

Because of his peculiar condition before, the young man, though he regained consciousness, could not stand straight. Furthermore, because of the danger of dehydration due to the desert's temperature and his considerable sweating, the young man was invited into the vehicle and allowed to drink some water inside.

The young man was forced to acknowledge that the four-wheeler was some sort of carriage, and he feels giddy from the comfort inside it. However, when he recalled that he could not finish his mission if he stopped mid-way, he pulled himself together as there was no time to enjoy such luxury. Then, he introduced himself to Hajime's party who saved him.

"First, let me say my appreciation for your help. Thank you very much. When I thought I was going to die in this state... Ancadi would be finished. My name is Viz Fuad Zengain. Son of the Dukedom of Ancadi's ruler, Randzi Fuad Zengain."

Surprisingly, the young man called Viz was an important person. Ancadi itself is the key point in transporting marine products so the freshness would not drop by much from Elisen, where 80% of marine products were produced in that northern part of the continent. In other words, by being the main supplier of food from the northern part of the continent, Ancadi held the monopoly. Ancadi's ruler himself was not only a distinguished noble but a great noble who was trusted by the Herrlicht Kingdom.

Hearing Kaori's identity of being one of the "God's Apostles" and someone summoned from a different world, as well as how Hajime's party was made up of Gold-ranked adventurers, Viz was so astonished that his eyes popped out. Thus, he thought, Is this a command from God!? Even a Goddess is sent to us! and he suddenly prayed to the heavens. In this case, the Goddess, Kaori, was dumbfounded by him. Hajime urged him to tell them the situation while leaking a slight Pressure, making Viz clear his throat and begin to talk while drenched in a cold sweat.

What Viz told them was,

Four days ago, people collapsing with a high fever of an unknown cause began appearing one after another in Ancadi. It was really sudden, with 3,000 people out of 270,000 falling unconscious on the first day, and those with similar symptoms reached 20,000 people. The medical center filled instantly, and it continued to fill up the communal center. The medical personnel were treating the patients while looking for the cause of the disease, but, just like Kaori, they could only delay it without curing any.

While it happened, the number of patients kept increasing one after another. Before long, infected medical personnel began to appear. The number overwhelmed the magic users capable of delaying the disease, and under such chaos, dead finally appeared among those who didn't receive the treatment. Despair shrouded the people due to the fact that people died only after the second day they were infected.

Within those, one pharmacist accidentally used "Liquid Judging" on the drinking water. Resultantly, it was known that the water contained poison, which resulted in the rampaging of magic power. At once, a survey team was formed. They examined Ancadi's oasis while assuming the worst situation in their mind, and as they thought, the oasis had been polluted.

Naturally, the oasis is a lifeline for a country located in the middle of the desert, so the guarding and maintenance were strictly managed by the one in charge. Thinking about it usually, it was not an exaggeration that it was impossible to take out the guards of Ancadi and poisoned the oasis even with all prepared measures.

From where, how, who... The survey team could only tilt their heads, but more importantly, because the stock of water from two days ago was not plenty, they didn't have any more water to use. Thus, it resulted in them having no other way to save those infected from drinking the polluted water.

However, it wasn't like there wasn't any other method — there was a method to heal those infected. The method needed a mineral called "Serene Stone." This "Serene Stone" is a special mineral that carried an effect to calm the magic power's activity and a small amount of this valuable mineral could be harvested in the northern rock zone near Guryuu-en Great Volcano. If the "Serene Stone" was made into powder and drunk, it would be able to calm the rampaging magic power inside the bodies of the infected.