by Funa
“Sorry, everyone. I think we’ll have to move again...”
“...Finally. To be honest, our current backstories were a bit hard to deal with...”
Roland gave a forced smile at Francette’s words.
Huh? Really? Well, I suppose I should’ve known.
Sorry, Francette.
““We are at your call.””
Ah... Well, I guess Emile and Belle would say that.
“That’s okay. I’ll follow you wherever you go!”
And I’ll protect you, Layette!
Okay, let’s do this.
“There you have it. Leave the rest to us.”
The shop owners looked at me wide-eyes, not understanding what was happening.
All right, show time! The Angel’s Theater was about to begin!
I had the shop owners return home and opened the door to leave the shop.
Then I produced a small, thumb-sized whistle from my pocket.
I put it up to my lips and...
Fweet, fweet, fweet! Fweet, fweet, fweet! Fweet, fweet, fweet!
Fweet, fweet, fweet! Fweet, fweet, fweet! Fweet, fweet, fweet! Fweet, fweet, fweet! Fweet, fweet, fweet! Fweet, fweet, fweet!
I used all of my lung capacity to blow it as loud as I could.
Then, after some time, human figures could be seen running toward us at full speed.
“Number ooone! I was here first, so this job’s mine!”
“No, stupid! Did you forget what she told us about the signals? This isn’t a normal job... Isn’t that right, Lady Kaoru?”
I nodded at the boy who was second to arrive.
I would explain once everyone was gathered.
One after another, the children from the orphanage and local street urchins showed up.
Actually, the children living in abandoned buildings were technically “homeless” and not street urchins, but that was neither here nor there.
These were the children I hired as messengers or to perform miscellaneous tasks for me in exchange for money or food.
I usually gave requests to whoever happened to catch my attention, but we had an arrangement so they would come when I blew the whistle in case there was no one around.
If I blew it once, I would need one person. Two times meant I needed two, and three times meant I needed three.
First come, first serve.
And if I continued to blow the whistle a bunch of times...
It was the signal for a special assembly.
When this happened, it meant I had a job that required everyone who heard the sound of the whistle.
It was the sign of an emergency.
The children who gathered lined up in the order they arrived.
They all understood I wouldn’t allow any cheating by cutting in line, so there were no arguments.
I explained the contents of the job to all who had gathered.
“Do you know about the epidemic going around the royal capital?”
Some of the relatively older kids nodded.
“I’m going to eradicate it. You’re all going to save the royal capital, and this country.”
“““Whoaaa! No waaay!!!”””
I’ve always paid out their rewards as promised and more.
There wasn’t a single orphan child or street urchin who would decline work from me or distrust anything I said.
Each child took a potion bottle and silver coin from the bag I had been wearing on my shoulder.
The bag was clearly too small to fit everything, but no one seemed to question it.
Of course, this included Francette.
Under my order, everyone drank down the potions.
Now the children wouldn’t be infected by the disease.
“First, I want you four to go where this person tells you to, and tell people that the owner of Layette’s Atelier wants them to gather before the goddess statue at the central plaza before the second morning bell. After that, I want you all to move on to the next task with the other children, which I’m about to explain,” I said to four children and pointed toward Roland.
“Roland, tell them where to find the lieutenant colonel, the viscount company commander, and the residences of the two noble houses that visited the shop before. I’m sure you’ve already done research into the nobles who tried to cause me trouble...”
Roland scratched his head, which I took to mean I was right.
“I want you to go to Salabert Realtors and tell them ‘Layette’s Atelier will be closing. Our contract will end today, so please keep the deposit.’ Join the rest of the group once you’re done with that.”
This one required the most explanation, so I asked the one who seemed to be the oldest.
Then...
“I want everyone to go around town and spread the word. Tell them ‘You can get special medicine for the epidemic for free. They’ll be given out after the second morning bell in front of the goddess statue in the central plaza.’ Okay, did you memorize it? All right, go!”
They all went running with a sparkle in their eyes.
“Kaoru, why did you do that?”
Francette asked, but the answer was obvious!
“I can’t abandon the people of this city after being in their care.”
Francette replied, “Yes, I did know you would say that. What I don’t understand is, why are you going out of your way to send a messenger to the nobles that caused you trouble?”
Oh, that!
“Whether it’s for good or bad, they are ‘acquaintances’ of mine. If I call for them, they might think it’s for a request, and come over thinking they can make money by selling me favors. It would be much harder to call for nobles who I’ve never met before. I want to use the military and nobles to spread information as quickly as possible. In other words, I just need them to spread the word, so it doesn’t matter if they’re good or bad. I need someone who will answer my summons and has a route to quickly send information to other nobles and the royal palace.”
“I-I see!”
Francette seemed to finally understand.
Roland probably knew all this from the beginning, but he acted completely disinterested.
As expected as the brother of a king... though he was probably higher spec than His Highness himself.
Now, it was time to put everything in the shop into my Item Box before heading out to the central plaza.
I’d be taking the sign too.
I could reuse it next time.
＊ ＊
When I arrived at the central plaza, there were already quite a lot of people gathered.
The four I appointed still weren’t... oh, there were the military officers running toward us.
And from the other side, two carriages.
Probably the annoying nobles.
All right, the stage was set.
It was time to begin.
I just needed some high platform...
Yeah, I was short, so people wouldn’t be able to see me or hear my voice by standing at the same height.
Actually, I could take care of the voice issue with this.
[Come out, potion in a container like a shoulder megaphone!]
Hm, I think I’ll stand on the pedestal part of the goddess statue... I mean, Celes’s statue.
I hoped nobody would yell at me for being blasphemous.
All right, the military group and nobles were there! I had to start before they started bothering me for an explanation.
Time to begin!
“Everyone, thank you for coming. I will now grant you all the medicine for the epidemic.”
I stood on the pedestal and spoke loudly using the megaphone.
The gathered crowd quieted down, staring with a blank expression on their faces.
I should probably explain a bit more than that...
“Are you all aware of the terrible disease spreading across the royal capital?”
Some of them knew, while others were hearing it for the first time or susp
ected it but weren’t sure.
Not everyone had known about it, but they all seemed to figure out what was going on by how the people around them were acting.
And gradually, an anxious clamor began to spread.
“Yes, it’s a dangerous disease that has even resulted in death!”
The crowd grew more restless.
“Stop! What are you plotting?!”
The lieutenant colonel rushed up to stop me, but Roland and Francette blocked his path.
Emile and Belle stopped the viscount company commander as well.
Yeah, I expected they would try to interrupt.
There was a reason there had been no official announcement despite the news being widespread already.
Because once someone pulled the trigger, there would be panic, chaos, and possibly a riot.
And I was seemingly acting as an agitator.
However!
“I will now distribute a specific remedy for this disease! If you drink it, it will protect you from getting infected, and those who have already contracted it will be cured. There’s plenty to go around—many times more than the total population of the royal capital—so please, line up in a calm, orderly manner, because there’s plenty to go around. Or else...”
Then I created a “nitroglycerin-like thing” a few meters above the ground between me and the crowd.
Boom!
“You will be struck down by the wrath of the Goddess!”
The noisy crowd instantly fell quiet.
I began chanting strange incantations into the megaphone, conscious of the fact that everyone’s attention was gathered on me.
“My friend, the Goddess Celestine, grant us salvation from this wicked disease! Come forth, Medicine Pot of Miracles!!!”
Then a miniature goddess statue, about two meters in height, suddenly appeared at the base of the goddess statue.
A tiled pot was being held up at its right shoulder, where a white fluid was pouring out.
The fluid was pouring down toward the mini goddess statue’s feet, where it seemed to vanish as it was drained at the base.
Yes, it was being returned and recirculated into the pot.
Who knows what would happen if such a suspicious fluid was endlessly poured into the drainage channels?
It would be pretty bad if the mice living down there turned into super mice or something.
The crowd still didn’t utter a word, and gulped audibly.
A goddess statue had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
White fluid was pouring out endlessly from the pot that the goddess statue was holding.
A strange girl.
An explosion of divine judgment.
The royal capital’s crisis.
The Goddess’s protection.
“““Uooohhh!!!”””
Suddenly, the crowd erupted in cheers.
I continued shouting in the megaphone in an attempt to control the crowd.
“Quiet down! Stay calm! The medicine will continue to flow without end, so there’s no need to rush! Prioritize children, the elderly, and those who are already sick, and patiently wait your turn. Do you want to act shamefully in front of your family and friends? Do you want to incur the wrath of the Goddess?”
It would be an absolute disaster if the crowd all rushed forward at once.
In order to prevent this, I had given them a feeling of security by telling them there is an endless supply of medicine, and planted fear for the Goddess’s divine punishment.
No one would doubt the existence of divine punishment after witnessing such a miracle.
In fact, they had just seen it with their own eyes.
“I want the lieutenant colonel and company commander to inform the royal palace and military. And don’t forget about the guard regiment and royal sentries. You two nobles, go around the nobility district and inform the other nobles. They wouldn’t listen if a commoner was to spread the news. Let’s see, you may tell them a friend of Celestine has just appeared.”
I changed up my speech pattern a bit to sound more authoritative.
The two nobles simply stood there with mouths agape, but the officers were on top of it.
An officer in the military couldn’t survive if they were dumbfounded by every unexpected situation.
They saluted and got ready to run off...
“Oh, wait!”
I called out to them, then grabbed two potion bottles out of thin air.
Their eyes widened, as well as the rest of the crowd.
“It’s the same medicine as that one. Drink it.”
The two drank it down without hesitation.
Then I grabbed two cloth bags out of the air.
“There are twelve bottles each inside. Have the king drink it. We can’t have His Majesty and ministers lining up with the rest of the crowd, can we?”
They took the bags wordlessly, bowed their heads, then ran off toward the royal palace.
...Huh?
“Why are you two not going?”
I asked the two nobles who were still standing there.
“W-Well, we were hoping for some medicine as well...”
Oh, right!
“Here!”
I grabbed two bottles out of thin air, and handed them one each. Once they drank them...
“...Why are you still waiting?”
“U-Um, the medicine bag...”
Ah.
“You won’t be getting one. A normal noble who isn’t a minister will have to line up normally with the rest of the people.”
““Whaaat!””
They were still taking their sweet time, but they ran off immediately after I glared at them.
Fear the demon eyes! ...Hey, shut up!
“Now, once you’ve formed a line, move forward promptly but without rushing! One sip of the medicine will be enough. Please also put some in a container for the people who weren’t able to come here due to age or sickness!”
“““Huh...?”””
Ah, judging by the reaction from some of them, I could tell they were up to no good...
“Also... it would be pointless to try to take a lot of it to save for later, because this medicine won’t work for any other illness and its efficacy will expire in a day, and you can get it here for free. And if you’re petty enough to do such a thing, who knows what your family and friends would think... Even if you need some for your family, one cup will be enough for ten people or so. You would even be fine with less. So keep moving and don’t hold up the line! Drinking one scoop from your hand will be enough!”
All right, things were finally moving along! I was set for now.
Layette squeezed my right hand.
She was worried about me...
There was no turning back now...
But I had no choice.
Judging from what the two medicine shop owners told me, the disease was spreading at an alarmingly rapid rate.
It was probably spreading far quicker than the plague, typhus, or cholera.
Even a little bit of delay in its treatment would result in it spreading throughout the kingdom, and eventually the entire continent.
It would all happen in the blink of an eye.
And I had no way to tell diseases apart.
Of course not! What do you expect from an ex-newbie office lady?!
I couldn’t diagnose the plague or typhus, and I knew nothing about the causes, traits, or treatments for any disease.
The only thing I did know was that beriberi diagnosis method where you tap your knee.
And selling medicine in my shop wouldn’t have helped.
Only people who were relatively well-off would go out and purchase medicine.
Orphans, street urchins, the homeless, and even normal citizens often relied on free folk remedies rather than purchasing medicine.
There were some who wouldn’t buy medicine even if it was really cheap or even free.
Then it would be pointless, and conversely, if everyone
in the royal capital came barging into my store, I wouldn’t have been able to handle that either.
So I had to go somewhere spacious and give it out for free, with a method where everyone would be rushing in at once, but while avoiding panic and preventing people from fighting over the medicine or nobles and royalty trying to keep it for themselves... Only the Goddess or Angel could fulfill all those conditions.
In other words, it was checkmate.
I didn’t even know what the disease was called.
But if I went around giving out medicine that could cure any disease, the world would go on a witch hunt, no, an Angel hunt.
I’m no masochist, so I had to pass on that.
And so, I had the convenient Goddess-branded “Potion Factory” (named by me) resolve everything.
This was the result that came of it.
[Potion that cures and creates antibodies for any epidemic disease going around in the royal capital right now with just a low dose and loses its effectiveness if it’s not drunk in twenty-four hours after being scooped, go inside a small container shaped like a goddess statue with an endless generation/circulation system and come out!]
That’s cheating, you say?
It’s fine, I’m the one who makes the rules.
Despite the massive crowd of people gathered, each person took very little time.
Some people took it upon themselves to organize the lines, leading the people so they would move in from the side instead of directly from the front.
Smart! It would take more time from the front because each person would need to stop, scoop some, drink, then move aside, but they would only need to stop for a moment this way.
Well done.
The volunteer workers seemed very happy, and I could even see a glimmer in their eyes.
I mean, they were helping the Angel, so they must have felt like they’d become a servant of god.
Of course they would be happy.
It seemed I could leave the rest to them without worry.
Then, after some time, they arrived.
Yup, of course. Them.
The soldiers of the military.
Most of them were foot soldiers, but there were some cavalry as well.
...And a crowd of nobles.
“Out of the way, commoners! The miracle medicine belongs to the house of Marquess Sessdor...”