novelraw Chapter 274: Death-Rot Plague
Chapter 274: Death-Rot Plague
After hearing his words, Fisher evaluated the old man before his eyes. He only saw this old man, who came from an unknown country yet could speak fluent Nari Language, was covered in a heavy layer of filth. He sounded as if he was an extremely experienced captain, but currently the only thing on his entire body that could corroborate his words was the golden compass on his chest, which was covered in achievements from the peak of Naris's navigation.
"You are not a Nari Person?"
"Consider me half a Nari Person, not by bloodline... Decades ago I ran errands for Naris's Pioneering Company. At that time, Naris's enterprises were eager to head overseas to earn lavish profits, yet Naris's populace was still watching from the sidelines. Whose mother, whose wife would be willing to let their son or husband drift on the endless sea..."
As he spoke, Jesse took another sip of wine from his wine flask. The pungent smell of alcohol caused his already heavily wrinkled brow to furrow again, becoming a row of horizontal lines.
"Therefore, out of options, the Naris Pioneering Company at that time hired many destitute, at-the-end-of-their-rope Nari People and foreigners as sailors to transport goods, helping the Naris company continuously extract profits from overseas."
In actuality, Jesse was right. In the past, during the early stages of Naris's pioneering, although the legendary First Pioneer Captain Blake had opened the connection between Naris and overseas, letting many people of the West Continent know for the first time that there was another continent and innumerable islands overseas...
But shifting from the originally traditional and conservative mindset to the current pioneering fever required time after all. In the decades after Blake returned, apart from a minority of entrepreneurs and navigators who put all eggs in one basket and dared to take risks following Blake's footsteps to explore outward, the vast majority of the remaining populace still held a wait-and-see attitude towards this. Naturally they were unwilling to send their children and husbands onto ships.
At that time, the Pioneering Company recruited sailors and navigators in Saint-Nazareth full of expectations. As a result, those recruited were either gamblers at the end of their rope owing a massive debt, or vagrants who had nothing and were completely homeless.
Forced by circumstances, because the number of people they needed to recruit was too large, the Pioneering Company had no choice but to lower its standards again and begin recruiting foreigners as the company's employees...
But the problem was, even if the Pioneering Company was forced to recruit foreigners as employees at that time, their positions were mostly the likes of sailors. The Pioneering Company wouldn't hand the most important position of captain over to a foreigner...And this Jesse before his eyes, his eyes and hair color appeared black, and his facial features were also considerably softer than a Nari Person's. It was an obvious Carduan appearance.
"I know about the events of that period, but I don't believe they would hand the position of captain over to you, a foreign Carduan."
Jesse blinked, his hand subconsciously rubbing the compass on his chest. After pausing for a second, he only then raised the wine flask in his hand to pour a mouthful of strong liquor. Only after that strong liquor entered his stomach and his complexion became a few points ruddier again did he continue opening his mouth to say,
"I was the most special one... You don't know, the Flying Fish can only unleash her proper capabilities in my hands. She is exactly like my wife, not just anyone can take liberties with her... The Naris Pioneering Company took a fancy to my abilities and had me help them transport some goods from the Southern Continent back to the West Continent."
"I'm ashamed to say, when I was young, I once frantically idolized that 'First Pioneer' Captain Blake. Like him, I ardently loved navigation, the boundless sea, and wonderful stories like songs. I joined the Naris Pioneering Company also to be able to possess such a life."
"For many years afterwards, I worked for the Naris Pioneering Company. As a captain, naturally I wouldn't care what exactly the goods they had me transport every time were. Even if they were living people, it didn't matter... That's right, what I transported for the Naris Pioneering Company were shiploads of Southern Continent natives sold to Naris."
"Originally I didn't care. They just stayed in the cargo hold at the bottom of the Flying Fish all along, handling all activities of excretion, eating, and sleeping there... Until one time, when mourning wails came from within the ship's hull, only then couldn't I resist going to the bottom of the ship to see what exactly the situation was there."
Speaking to this point, Jesse seemed to recall some scenes that made him extremely pained. He lowered his head uncomfortably, burying his face amidst a patch of ragged clothing, and even his voice trembled.
"There was an epidemic on the Flying Fish... Perhaps because those 'goods' stayed on the ship too long and it was produced, or perhaps they brought it aboard. No matter what, anyway ultimately those natives contracted the [Death-Rot Plague]. Their bodies were riddled with holes, pain and fresh blood spread throughout the entire cargo hold. That epidemic clearly had an antidote, but where would there be medicine on the Flying Fish at that time..."
The [Death-Rot Plague], a super-large-scale infectious epidemic that ravaged Schwari several hundred years ago. The initial symptoms manifested as fever all over the body, weakness in the limbs, and muscle pain. If not treated after this period, large pustules named [Necrotic Pustules] would grow on the body's surface. By then, the entire human body would swell a full size larger, emitting a strong stench of dead people. Not much longer, the infected person would die, and the Death-Rot Plague thereby got its name.
When the Death-Rot Plague broke out, it was exactly the time Schwari's Sun Knights were launching a massive invasion of Naris. It was exactly because of the sudden outbreak of the Death-Rot Plague in the rear that it hastened the peace talks with the Godlin Royal Family.
If not for the sudden outbreak of the Death-Rot Plague, whether the current Naris would still exist is still unknown. It could be said this terrifying epidemic that spread across the entire West Continent saved Naris, but cast a shadow of fear over the Kingdom of the Sun, Schwari.
Its spread range was so wide and its lethality so strong that it far exceeded any existing weapon. The record of its furthest spread even reached the Sardin Matriarchy at the southern end of the Northern Border, causing quite a commotion in the Northern Border.
But just as the Death-Rot Plague was about to completely defeat Schwari, an unknown physician named Tolga developed an antidote from long-term field observations. It was a special antidote extracted from natural herbs. Taking it in the early stages of a Death-Rot Plague infection could make the illness improve, and the cost of producing the medicine was low, not requiring complex extraction techniques to produce successfully.
This medicine that saved Schwari and even the West Continent was thus named [Tolga's Decompresant]. Nobody knew how that physician Tolga without any reputation thought of creating such a miraculous medicine, but people up until now still hadn't clearly explained the principle of Tolga's Decompresant's efficacy, because they still couldn't successfully extract the truly effective medicinal content from it.
The Death-Rot Plague was thus conquered by humanity and gradually disappeared in the West Continent. To this day, only a segment of historical records regarding that period remains. Perhaps there would be more records regarding this illness and antidote in medical books, but Fisher didn't understand much.
Fisher's thoughts paused slightly, detaching from the memories regarding the Death-Rot Plague, and he listened to Jesse before his eyes continue burying his head stating,
"To protect themselves, the First Mate and sailors could only abandon the lives of those people. They completely sealed the cargo hold and threw all the people inside off the ship. A mother pleaded with me to secretly keep her child, but I saw with my own eyes that Necrotic Pustules had already grown on her child's body. I had no choice, I truly had no choice..."
"Ultimately, I and the Flying Fish safely returned to Naris. I and the crew also shouldered debts due to losing the goods, needing to serve them additionally many more times... From then on, I saw clearly the true nature of the Pioneering Company. Even if what we transported weren't living people, even those inanimate objects unable to speak, were all snatched from corpse after corpse and shattered families... The Southern Continent, whether demi-humans or humans, it's all exactly so."
"Under such torment, all the crew of the Flying Fish decided to escape from that hell of the Naris Pioneering Company. We took the goods of the Naris Pioneering Company and headed north along the Southern Ocean, deciding never to return to Naris again... But we weren't a powerful warship like the Iceberg Queen. Wherever we went we would be discovered by Naris spies there. In the process of resupplying and going ashore time and time again, the treasures withheld by the crew members became less and less, and they also died one after another. Leaving only me alone to arrive here..."
Only after finishing speaking such a long segment of words did the aged old man Jesse slowly raise his head to look at Fisher before him.
"Hehe, this is perhaps exactly the Mother Goddess's punishment for the crimes we committed previously. The Pioneering Company will also sooner or later usher in this day... But what meaning is there in saying these things now? My ship is still locked up at sea by that group of gangs, and it's impossible for me to return to the Flying Fish I yearn for day and night."
"...Unless the Iceberg Queen can help, otherwise that damned group of gangs will absolutely not let go. But this is just a joke. Just as I said before, I have nothing I can repay her with."
Speaking to the end, Jesse regretfully downed another mouthful of strong liquor. His entire person collapsed by the roadside like a soft beggar, even incidentally reaching out to dig at his belly.
Fisher cast a glance at Jesse on the ground, seemingly thinking about something. Waiting a second or two, he raised his head again to look at the Flying Fish floating quietly beneath a patch of moonlight, then opened his mouth to ask,
"You normally stay here?"
"Ah... yes, just stay here. I still owe the gangs a massive debt. Even if I have a bit of spare cash it's all used to buy wine. But Patlusion Island's weather is quite good, at least I won't be frozen awake at night, it's just when it rains it's not too friendly to me."
"Okay then, you wait here for my news. I'll come find you later."
After saying this, Fisher prepared to turn around and leave, only leaving Jesse lying on the ground blinking his eyes at Fisher's retreating figure. Then the corners of his mouth lifted slightly revealing a bit of a smile. He waved his hand at Fisher and responded drunkenly,
"Okay, no problem..."
And the Eimhart on the returning Fisher's shoulder appeared quite excited, as if that book hidden on the Flying Fish was now already waiting for his royal visitation before his eyes.
"Go quickly, go quickly! Go quickly notify Alajina, have her help us snatch the ship back, this way I can record an additional book I haven't seen before!"
Fisher cast a glance at the quite excited Sir Book Artifact on his shoulder, interrupting his impatience with no temperature.
"When did I say I was going to notify Alajina to snatch the ship?"
The moment he heard Fisher's words, that jumping Sir Book Artifact instantly froze in place. He blankly looked at the expressionless yet extremely punchable-looking Fisher before his eyes, resisting the urge to headbutt his side profile, he opened his mouth saying,
"Not going to snatch the ship?! Then why did you chat with that old man for so long? Are you just this fond of listening to other people's stories? If you're not willing to help me then you're not willing to help me, Sir Book Artifact doesn't care for it anyway, hmph!"
Fisher didn't even look at him, slowly walking through the alleyways in this area. Not much later he saw the silhouette of the hotel they resided in previously.
"That old man cannot be the captain of the Flying Fish. No matter how vividly he describes it, the Naris Pioneering Company couldn't possibly hire him to be a captain of a cargo ship. Moreover, I looked at the condition of that compass just now. Even under the moonlight, that compass appeared perfectly clean. This indicates he treats that thing as a treasure rather than a tool. This is not the action of a true captain..."
"As for his story, it's unclear whether it's true or not. If it's true, he might be a subordinate working beside the captain of the Flying Fish. If it's false, then it is highly likely a trap to entice me to help. But no matter what, the reason he told me these things is to arouse my compassion, wanting me to open my mouth to ask Alajina to help snatch his ship back. It's highly likely there is something on that ship he cares extremely much about..."
Eimhart heard Fisher's analysis and opened his mouth, remaining silent for a long time before he muttered,
"My heavens, you humans are truly too sinister. You have such deep routines that even someone as wise as me failed to see through so much... Then why didn't you just directly expose him back then? I hate others deceiving me the most, especially those bastards who write completely deceitful content in books that takes me half a day to record. I want to ruthlessly slap his face!"
The fact that you couldn't see through it is entirely because you are stupid.
Fisher didn't say this sentence, giving him a bit of face. But towards Eimhart's proposal, he merely shook his head, then continued speaking,
"No, not only will we not expose him, we must also follow along his intent... After Alajina leaves I will go help him help him snatch the ship back. This is Patlusion Island, pirate territory. To take a ship to the Northern Border is not only a long distance but might also be extorted for a massive sum. I need a ship capable of taking me to the Sardin Matriarchy, that ship is a decent choice."
Fisher stretched a bit, casually pinching Eimhart in his palm.
"You'd better pray he harbors malicious intent towards us, only this way can I logically see what exactly is hidden on his ship. And didn't you want to see what exactly is written on that book up there, hm?"
Eimhart, staying in Fisher's palm, stared blankly at the Fisher before his eyes, pausing for half a day before he shook his head, hastily saying,
"My heavens, Fisher, how can you be so bad? But I like it so much. I finally know why those ladies always fall into your trap, even I, Sir Book Artifact, am almost unable to withstand it... I'm already unable to wait, when do we start implementing the plan?!"
Fisher glanced speechlessly at the Sir Book Artifact who had become cheerful again, casually tossing him into mid-air, letting him float up.
"Don't be anxious, wait until Alajina leaves this place."