I’m A Doll, But The Tyrant Is Obsessed With Me - Chapter 129
Great discovery (3)
The next day, right after breakfast, I called Stella and the investigation team.
“I’m thinking of changing my plan to look at the Kenta River today.”
“What do you want to check when you arrive?”
“I want to look at the towns with the highest incidence and recurrence rates here.
“Your Majesty, what do you mean you would go to the place with the highest risk? Please reconsider.”
“We are grateful enough for you to come here. You don’t have to overdo it.”
Following Marquis Beryl, Marquis Cayton also stopped me. The reason why they were worried was because it was a secret that I was blessed by God. Not only me, but the blessings upon Stella and the Kefiena were also unknown.
“Did you forget why I came here?”
“Isn’t Your Majesty’s safety directly related to the safety of the Empire?”
“Even the Emperor will not allow it.”
Now, even the members of the investigation team have stopped me.
“Did you forget about His Majesty’s order? During the investigation, my words are imperial order.”
As I straightened my back and exhaled forcefully, it became quiet for an instant.
“…I’ll take your order.”
In the end, Marquis Beryl bowed his head with a stern expression, and the others bowed their heads one after another. We eventually set off for the first village wearing gloves, covering our nose and mouth with a clean cloth.
“Your Majesty, this is Orke Village. All the villagers had the disease, and the recurrence rate is very high.”
This was not surprising, as most small villages, except for cities, had high incidence and recurrence rates. Standing at the entrance of the village, I saw houses huddled on a low hill. The village was quiet, perhaps because there were still many patients.
“Greetings, Empress, the Moon of the Empire.”
As the village chief hurriedly ran out and bowed to me, a few villagers stood behind him.
“It is an honor to visit such a humble place. Please forgive me for not being able to have everyone here because there are so many patients.”
“It’s okay. Even after receiving treatment, the symptoms reappeared.”
“Yes. Even if the priests treat it, it’s only at that time and patients keep appearing every day.”
“Would it be okay if I looked around the village for a bit?”
“Of course.”
Following the guidance of the village chief, I inspected the village well with my divine eyes but found nothing wrong.
“Did all the villagers have the same symptoms?”
“Yes. At first, their hands and feet felt like they were burning, followed by abdominal pain, headaches, and convulsions.”
“Did they have hallucinations, and their flesh would burn black if it got worse?”
“Yes. Not to mention that everyone was running around like crazy people.”
“Can I visit the patient’s home?”
“No. It’s dangerous.”
The village chief was surprised and waved his hand.
“Your Majesty, it is best to avoid direct contact with the patient.”
“Have you forgotten who I am? As the Savior, it is my duty to heal the sick.”
As I reprimanded Marquis Beryl in a low voice, he reluctantly stepped aside before I turned my gaze back towards the village chief, saying, “Hurry and take the lead,” as he hesitantly moved on. The first house I visited was a small and cozy wooden house.
Upon entering, I found the parents and a boy under the age of ten lying sick.
“Usually, they go to the nearby temple, but they have severe symptoms, so the priest was going to come to the village directly tomorrow.”
I put my hand on the child’s head, who was grunting and grabbing his stomach, and invoked my divine power. The expression on the child’s face eased, and his body stretched out, which had been curled in pain. Subsequently, the parents of the child who had flushed skin were also treated.
“Your, Your Majesty. Thank you for saving us.”
As those who finally regained their consciousness realized that I was the empress, they hurriedly bowed their heads on the floor in awe.
“Rise.”
They hesitated as they looked at the nobles who came with me.
“It’s okay. You may rise.”
When I ordered one more time with a gentle smile, those who hesitated slowly stood up.
“May I inspect your house? To find out the cause of the disease.”
“Of, of course. It’s a shabby house, so please forgive us.”
The owner of the house, a man in his thirties, replied hurriedly.
Although the house was not tidy, it was organized in its own way. While Stella checked the room, I headed for the kitchen. I was trying to figure out what the dream last night meant. There were vegetables and bottles of cheap liquor strewing about.
On the table lay two loaves of dark brown bread.
“….!”
As I opened my divine eyes to examine them, I froze at the black smoke spreading from the bread.
‘That’s it…!’
The green waves that surrounded me in the dream were crops with spikes. It turned golden as it ripened and soon turned black.
“Chief, is this bread made of rye?”
“Yes, it is.”
Rye bread, the staple food of the common people, called black bread, has a rough texture and sour taste. In the meanwhile, nobles and wealthy merchants ate soft white bread made from wheat flour.
As I moved to this place for a moment, I remembered the report I had heard from Marquis Beryl.
Among the employees of the Marquisate, the commonality of those who fell ill was that they went home on vacation. Considering that white bread was also provided to servants at the Marquisate, the answer came immediately.
“Do you know where you bought this bread?”
“I bought it from the bakery down here. There’s only one bakery there.”
“Then, do all the villagers buy bread from that shop?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Guide me there.”
The village chief quickly opened the front door and led us to the bakery.
“Gasp. Your, Your Majesty the Empress.”
As soon as the bakery owner saw me, he trembled as if he would faint.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, I, I—”
When he couldn’t answer because he was nervous, the village chief answered instead.
“He was the first to get sick. Even now, the symptoms appear every day and he visits the temple every morning.”
After asking the bakery owner for his understanding, I looked at the ingredients he was using.
Black smoke was also visible from the rye flour.
Even though I didn’t know if it was a coincidence, I suddenly remembered what I had heard in history class in my previous life. A story about how Julius Caesar’s army suffered from ergotism during the Roman era. At that time, they didn’t know the cause but only looked at the symptoms and called it ‘The devil’s curse’ or a holy fire.
When I thought about it, the symptoms were the same as now.
“Chief, please take back all the rye flour and bread here.”
“What? Then, what should we eat?”
The village chief asked in bewilderment.
“Marquis Cayton, first, send the flour stored in the Marquisate to this village. Follow-up measures will be taken by the Imperial Family.”
“Understood.”
The Marquis was puzzled but answered right away.
“Your Majesty, is there something wrong with the rye flour?”
Marquis Beryl asked while looking at the bread on the table and me.
“I guess so. We need to investigate the rye flour, so take it with you.”
“Since black bread is the most common food, we did research in advance though it didn’t contain poison.”
“It’s not poisoned.”
It was true that it was poisonous.
“There is no record in the past that eating black bread caused this disease.”
One of the investigators spoke with a confused expression.
“If you investigate closely, you’ll find out.
To explain ergot poisoning to them, more research was needed so I decided to reserve my words. If ergot poisoning was true, these things must have happened before that. Since it just didn’t happen on a large scale, it wasn’t a problem.
“Let’s find out where the rye flour is supplied to this bakery, where the rye is produced, and where the rye is stored before milling.”
“Understood.”
Marquis Beryl, who answered, collected the rye flour and asked the bakery owner for related information. After the investigation, I toured a few more villages, and indeed, black smoke could be seen from the rye bread there as well.
In the end, we were able to return to the Marquis’s residence when the sky turned reddish. As soon as I got back to my bedroom, I called Declan right away.
[ It’s nice to hear from you unexpectedly. ]
“Are you done with today’s work?”
[ I was about to contact you anyway. ]
“Really? You’re not lying because you want to talk to me?
[ It’s true. ]
He gave a small smile at my disapproving tone as if I didn’t believe in him.
[ Did something happen today? ]
“I think I’ve found the cause of the epidemic.”
[ Really? ]
His tone, higher than usual, was tinged with surprise and relief.
Eventually, I calmly explained what happened today. Everything from the dream I had last night to the stories I heard in my previous life.
[ Ergot poisoning… it’s the first time I’ve heard of that.]
“We’ll have to check the rye for ourselves, but for now, it looks like the most likely.”
[ If rye is the problem, we’ll have to check the production area first. ]
“We are investigating where the rye used here was produced.”
[ Rye is only produced in the northern regions. Let’s send an investigation team there. ]
“Tell them to take a good look at the eggs. Are there any larger, darker ones than the others?”
That was evidence of a fungal infection. Not only that ergot was particularly common in rye, but ergot poisoning was said to be caused by eating crops infected with this disease.
“If there is a problem at the production site, let me know right away. I have to go there.”
[ Are you going to go to the northern region? ]
Confused and worried questions flew in.
“Rye is a staple food. If there is a problem, there could be a famine so we have to go and treat it.”
[ Are you trying to cure plants? ]
“Of course. There’s nothing I can’t cure.”
For a moment, there was no sound from the communication device.
[ I knew my wife was an extraordinary person, but she surprised me again. ]
“You’re lucky to have me, right?”
[ Yes. Not just to me, but you’re also the Savior of the empire. ]
As I smiled proudly, I heard a sigh over the communication device.
“What’s wrong?”
[ I want to see you, I want to run right away and hug you and kiss you. ]
My heart tickled at his anxious voice.
“I can go back only when the results of the investigation in the northern region come out quickly.”
[ Let me give the order right away. ]
Even though the officials would suffer at Declan’s urging, it was more important to get people better as soon as possible right now.
After examining Marquis Cayton’s territory, Baron Heira’s territory and the northern provinces, they could be sure that it was ergot. It was because they found blackened ryes harvested last year and stored in warehouses.
I heard that ergot disease occurred a lot in a humid environment, but the rye warehouses in the Marquis and Baron’s territory were more humid than other places. In addition to the warm and humid southern climate, it was also because it rained a lot this year.
After I healed all the rye fields in the northern region as well as the rye in the warehouse with divine power, to prevent a recurrence, the humidity was controlled in the storage warehouse and ergot was removed before milling.
Since then, the disease has never occurred again in the Empire.
Later, this event was called the great discovery of ergot and was recorded as an achievement of Empress Erica Luhandel Stauffen.
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