Makai Hongi

ell and become red.

“The red skin is evidence of the festering.
So it was no wonder they did not taste good.”
“I-I see…”

But it had taken them a long time to discover all of this.
When the first person had fallen, they had explained the symptoms to a traveling merchant and asked if there wasn’t any medicine for it.

Apparently, the Lamia were able to make accessories out of rocks found at the bottom of lakes.
They were actually quite skilled with their hands.
Perhaps that wasn’t surprising, judging by the clothes they wore.

And so time passed.

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However, until the Lamias found out the reason, not a single traveling merchant paid them another visit.
But the Lamias did not suspect anything.

The relief they felt over their discovery was a brief one.
“Things were terrible in the town.”

While the Lamias were trying to figure out the cause, people were dying one after another with the same symptoms in the nearby town.

Of course, the Lamias had no idea, as they had no interactions with this town.
But to their misfortune, the traveling merchant knew where the first person to be infected had come from.

“And so rumors were spread that you brought the disease?”
“Yes.
We were living near the water source, after all.”

Their home had been close to the town’s water source.
The Lamias had been the first to be affected, and then the town’s people.

That was all true.
However, it wasn’t as if the Lamias actually did anything to the town’s people.
But once hundreds, thousands of people had died, the residents had lost their calm.

In the end, the Lamias were driven away from their home.

By then, the entire town had been infected, and it was starting to spread to other towns, so that no one could enter or leave.

Still, there were survivors.
And they were sure to continue to spread the rumors about the Lamias.

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That was why they had to abandon their country and flee.

“…I see.
Still, what does the ‘smell of a red rat’ mean?”

“Even if they look normal, it’s possible that they still carry the disease.
And so we learned to tell them apart by their smell and not their color.”

The rats only became red towards the end.
And so it was possible that they were infected much earlier.

That being said, it wasn’t possible to live while avoiding all rats all of the time.
And so it had been necessary to learn to tell them apart by their smell.

“That was a good decision… But, that means the rats in that village…”
“They probably have it.”

Have it? They have the disease.
What could be done? It was obvious.
They had to be exterminated.

Catch them…no, then the germs will get on your hands.
We could use traps and then burn them.

But there could be other carriers.

“Sorry.
But what you told me is very helpful.
I’ll have to return to the village at once.”
There was no time to lose.
And so I ran back to the village.