Chapter 110
*
It had been several days since Charlotte brazenly took the rats away.
<The cursed tattoo incident that terrorized the Academy. Solved by a student>
Every newspaper I opened was full of Charlotte's story.
The news that everyone with the enhancement tattoos had met bizarre deaths was enough to terrorize the Academy.
It was only natural that so much attention would focus on the student who solved the case.
'Tetanus is an unfamiliar disease to heroes and mages.'
Tetanus was usually a disease of mercenaries and adventurers.
Heroes and mages could receive potions or holy magic in time whenever they got hurt.
Since they could go to a healing clinic the moment their jaw stiffened, no research was done in this area.
'Tetanus is a disease that can be cured even with holy magic.'
The reason tetanus is scary.
Because once the toxin latches onto the nerves, there is no way to neutralize it.
So to treat tetanus, you have to deal with it while it's still in the bloodstream, before it latches onto the nerves.
That's why it can be cured if you receive holy magic immediately after your jaw locks up.
'Because there is a golden time.'
Tetanus tends to spread in the order of jaw → limbs → back → respiratory muscles.
If holy healing is received the instant the jaw stiffens, the toxin in the blood is handled before it reaches the respiratory muscles.
And as time passes and the jaw recovers on its own, that is the principle behind curing tetanus.
That is why tetanus is an unfamiliar disease to heroes.
Worrying about delaying treatment because money is precious is the sort of concern mercenaries living hand to mouth would have.
But this case was different.
'There wasn't any time.'
This time, they mixed soil-stained ingredients into the ink and carved the tattoo into the victim's back.
The toxin, dumped in at a frenzied pace, spread into the back muscles without giving any time….
'Local tetanus would have started first, causing opisthotonos (*the back arching like a bow), and he would have died of generalized tetanus before the golden time even mattered.'
The first practitioner, the culprit in this case, may not have understood the principle behind it, but in many ways he had used his head well.
'This reminds me of the pufferfish poison and monkshood case.'
There was once a case that caused a stir in Japan's forensic medicine community.
The monkshood murder case.
It was a case where an ordinary person used a combination of poisons even the forensic experts didn't know about and outmaneuvered them.
After that case, forensic doctors learned one lesson.
— “A culprit is not ignorant simply because he has no degree, and an expert misses the most dangerous evidence the moment he starts looking down on ordinary people.”
Human malice is creative beyond imagination.
Degrees mean nothing before it.
I, too, always keep that line close to my heart, which is why I was able to guess the culprit before Charlotte.
'Well, tetanus is trauma surgery's old friend, so I know it well.'
A trauma surgeon is supposed to know tetanus well, too.
If you've been run over by a car, fallen off a roof, or skewered on rebar, you're hardly safe from tetanus, are you?
So trauma surgeons were well aware of tetanus because they never forgot their patients' tetanus prophylaxis.
However, there was one thing disappointing about this case.
“If I were the culprit, I would have used a more sophisticated method.”
Just like Charlotte had first gone down the wrong track.
If it were me, I'd have set up a double trap using poisonous herbs that cause symptoms similar to tetanus.
I'd replace the ingredients in other kaberdaks with poisonous herbs to confuse the investigation.
Then even the victims with no soil on them would show the same reaction, and the case would have been lost forever in a fog of uncertainty.
“What do you think, Charlotte? If I'd designed it like this, how do you think you would have uncovered the truth?”
“Hmm... If that were the case, it'd be hard for me to uncover the truth too. I'd suspect Julian was the culprit, but I wouldn't be able to prove it conclusively.”
Across the table.
Charlotte nodded and readily admitted defeat.
“In the end, what you need to catch a culprit isn't suspicion but evidence. If you twist the issue that far, it would be impossible to prove under this country's justice system. Judges don't think like I do.”
Yum.
Charlotte said as she tossed a piece of meat into her mouth.
Jenny, who had been quietly listening from the side, stared at me with a meaningful look.
“Miss Jenny? Perhaps you don't like lamb?”
“Ah, no, Sir Julian.”
Jenny hesitated, pulling her hand out from inside her sleeve.
She focused on the lamb again.
*
After the meal,
We began discussing how to handle the aftermath of the case in earnest.
“First, you know that the healing academic community is planning to research the microbes Miss Charlotte revealed to the world this time, right?”
Charlotte nodded.
“But I'm not interested in research. I'm satisfied just exposing the truth. How about you explain the principle, Julian?”
I shook my head.
“I'm a specialist in dark magic defense. Healing studies aren't my field.”
“Then what are those lab rats?”
“That's just a simple verification experiment. I was testing the cause and effect. But I can't explain how soil causes such a disease.”
Medicine is Director Shun's domain.
Not Julian's.
Still, it felt a little like a blow to my pride to let Director Shun just swoop in and steal this credit.
Publicly, he had nothing to do with this case.
If he suddenly tried to piggyback on it, the optics wouldn't be great, would they?
So I decided to leave the elucidation of tetanus to someone else.
“Miss Jenny.”
“Yes?”
“Just so happens, the professor of detoxification who often sits in on my class would like permission to conduct research. How about joining him, Miss Jenny?”
In my dark magic class, there is a healing priest who specializes in detoxification and habitually sits in.
Naturally, since it's a class dealing with dark magic—a highly sensitive subject from a security standpoint—he gets caught right away and even ends up being disciplined.
Even so, he kept trying to audit the class.
In the end, unable to resist that enthusiasm, I officially allowed him to sit in.
“You know that professor, right? You can work with him to explain the microbes that live in soil, Miss Jenny.”
For a healing-studies student, it was an offer impossible not to drool over.
It was a chance to write a paper that would shake the academic world while still a student.
What student could refuse that?
However, Jenny seemed somewhat flustered by the offer.
“Huh? Why me in particular?”
“I'm not in the major, and Miss Charlotte isn't interested, so wouldn't it be a little less unfair if Miss Jenny got to take the credit?”
Still, it'd be a shame to hand over the first-discovery title outright.
But I couldn't force an uninterested Charlotte to do it.
So I was trying to let at least Jenny, Charlotte's friend, put her name on it.
If I can't have it, at least let someone close to me have it—that sort of mindset.
“Charlotte? What do you think?”
“I'm not interested in research either, but I think it's far better for Jenny to take it than for someone who isn't even close to me to take my discovery.”
“And you, Sir Julian...?”
“I feel the same.”
I casually tipped my wine glass toward her.
“It's fine. That's a reward Miss Jenny should rightfully take. You provided clues to Charlotte, who didn't even know microbes existed, and your help in this case wasn't small either. It seems better for Miss Jenny to be listed as the discoverer.”
Perhaps because the offer felt so excessive.
Jenny's eyes seemed to spin.
Soon she nodded.
“A-ah... Okay. I'll do it.”
“Congratulations, Miss Jenny.”
“Congratulations.”
Clink.
Our wine glasses met.
We drained our wine glasses in one go.
As I swallowed the wine, I watched Jenny closely.
The way she savored the wine with eyes somehow steeped in cynicism and resignation.
***
Several days passed after that.
In the meantime, I looked into Jenny personally.
Jenny Rylik.
The foster daughter of Parish Head Raymond Rylik and Gregor's biological younger sister.
'When I only knew her as Charlotte's roommate, I was a bit unsure... but since I'm Watson, Jenny couldn't possibly be the Watson in this story.'
Just then, I found out she was Gregor's younger sister.
There was no need to investigate further.
— “This one has a photo of my younger sister. Would you care to see it, Saint?”
Her so-called older brother was such a chatterbox.
I could tell without even asking.
The moment I learned that, I could tell what kind of character she was.
'Gregor's younger sister....'
Look at those cynical, jaded eyes.
Look at those shoulders weighed down by fatigue.
It wasn't hard to guess what role she'd played in the original story.
'She must have been the poor younger sister who had to keep housebound Gregor fed.'
And the protagonist's role—my role—would have been to bring her and her brother back to normal.
Once I figured out my role, I acted quickly.
Anyway, she's also Charlotte's friend, so if there's a problem, it's only right to solve it promptly.
So that was why I called Jenny out alone today.
“Thank you for inviting me. Charlotte is investigating another case again, so today I came alone.”
“That's fine. I have something I'd like to ask you today, Miss Jenny.”
“Me?”
I silently looked at Jenny.
“Is there a particular reason you especially like Miss Charlotte?”
“Pardon?”
“You're well known to many people within the Academy, but you seem especially close to Miss Charlotte.”
“Are you perhaps jealous?”
“Would you believe me if I said yes?”
Pfft.
Jenny laughed.
“I'm joking. There's no special reason, so I'll tell you directly. I like Charlotte because she's someone who isn't swayed by luck.”
“Luck?”
“Yes. Luck.”
Jenny suddenly took a notebook out from inside her clothes.
“What I've learned in life is that luck matters more than effort in this world. You can suddenly become a healer because you're lucky, and suddenly be adopted into a good family because you're lucky.”
“So everything is coincidence?”
“Not everything, but I think a lot of things are governed by chance. And among them, I'm especially lucky.”
She scribbled something in the notebook.
“That's why I like Charlotte. She proves all my coincidences were inevitable.”
“It sounds like you don't like chance very much.”
“I got so lucky that I grew tired of it. That's a spoiled complaint, isn't it?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I agree. I'm lucky too.”
“Huh?”
I, too, am someone whose luck has had a much greater influence than skill.
Of course, I don't think I'm lacking in skill.
It's just that being vastly overpraised compared to my skill is purely thanks to luck.
The difference between Jenny and me is that I don't find what I have burdensome, and I accept it just fine.
“There's a good method when you have thoughts like that.”
“What method are you talking about?”
As if waiting for this, I quietly took two dice from my pocket.
“Miss Jenny. Do you like rolling dice?”