“The illness first spread through the commonfolk of the capital, but status makes no difference at this point. What is the state of the illness in Marlais?”
“I don’t think it’s that bad in Marlowe, at least,” Olivia said.
“I wonder what made the difference.”
“Perhaps it has something to do with how densely populated the area is, or isn’t? Infectious diseases spread from person to person, after all.”
They stayed in an inn for the night then set off again at sunrise, Edgar and Olivia taking turns driving the carriage as they headed towards the capital.
Once they arrived, they went straight to the castle. Olivia was surprised to see that all the guards and clerks were wearing scarves wrapped around their mouths and noses.
“Edgar, what is that for?” asked Olivia.
“It’s on order from Mister Auber. He believes the illness may enter the body through the nose or mouth.”
“I see. Well, I may as well follow suit and use a scarf.”
“Thank you. It’s become a requirement within the castle.”
After that, Olivia was led to where the soldiers lived. On the beds of each room were physically fit patients, coughing weakly. Olivia went up to a man walking around in white and said, “I was summoned by Randall Auber to help. My name is Olivia. What should I do?”
“Ah, it’s you. I heard about you from Randall. Do rounds of the particularly worse-off patients. They’re in the rooms with a red cloth hung across the doorway. The infirmary prepares any necessary medicines. Use whatever you need.”
“All right.”
Olivia immediately began rushing from patient to patient, checking up on them, placing damp cloths on their foreheads, preparing medicines, and administering them. She was working so much she forgot to eat, but Randall came over and told her to take a break.
“But there are so many severely ill patients…” she said.
“Fatigue invites illness,” he said. “Take a break. I don’t want to have to deal with you as a patient on top of everything else.”
“You’re right. Of course.”
That’s when she suddenly remembered all the bitter potato dumplings she’d piled into the carriage. She rushed to her things and gave the giant batch of dumplings a good sniff.
“Oh, good! They seem all right still. Maybe I can get them to put these in a soup.”
She took them to the kitchen and asked the cook in charge of the kitchen to taste one. Once they approved, the dumplings were tossed in a soup. The chicken soup with piping hot dumplings was delicious in a way that spread through her fatigued body.
The other apothecaries and doctors, helpers, and anyone else who wasn’t busy at the moment had some of the soup as well, and the severely ill patients were given the broth without any of the dumplings. The less severely ill patients got the broth and its contents. With that, the huge batch of dumplings was used up in one big go.
That night, the fevers of the patients in the barracks began to fall. The doctors and apothecaries scurrying around realized this fact the next morning.
“I finally got to lie down last night for the first time in a long time,” said one. “It looks like everyone’s made it through the worst.”
“It does look that way. That’s good news,” said another.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you!” said another man, barging into the conversation. He was likely a little younger than thirty and dressed in the white of a medical professional.
“Hm? Doctor Ulysse? What would you like to ask?”
“I’m currently in charge of caring for the maidservants, but they have definitely not made it through the worst of it. This is the only area in which we’ve seen a sudden reduction in the number of severely ill. The situation in the servants’ quarters is as horrible as ever. Is there some particularly good medicine you used only on the soldiers? I have several maidservants on the verge of death. If you have any more of that medicine, please, I beg you, share it with us, too!”
The doctor’s plea was so desperate his face turned beet red, but all the doctors working in the barracks looked dumbstruck.
One of the younger doctors working in the barracks quickly argued back. “We haven’t used any such medicine. All we’ve used is the same medicine and medicinal broths we’ve been using. Perhaps the difference is in the soldiers’ greater constitution?”
“Yet the rate of severely ill among the soldiers has been essentially the same as with my patients despite their greater constitution! But your patients have suddenly begun to recover ever since yesterday. That doesn’t seem odd to you?”
“Still…”
While everyone else was uncertain about what was happening, a voice came from a nearby bed. “It was the soup yesterday.”
“What was that?” said Olivia, spinning quickly to face the soldier since she was the one who nearly forced the cooks to use her bitter potato dumplings.
The soldier thought carefully then said, “Yesterday we were served a soup with these slightly bitter dumplings. I’d never eaten dumplings like that, but not too long after I did, my fever suddenly started to drop, and I started to feel better. I assumed the bitter taste was from some medicine, that my fever suddenly dropped after eating dumplings with medicine in them. But, that wasn’t it?”
“See! You did use something!” cried Ulysse.
“No,” said Olivia. “I just made bitter potato dumplings. They didn’t have any medicine in them. That bitter flavor is just how bitter potatoes naturally taste.”
Ulysse stepped closer to Olivia. “What is that? Bitter potatoes? What sort of medicinal effects do they have?”
“They don’t have any effects, as far as I’m aware. It’s just the root of a tree people have been eating for ages.”
“Are there any more of these bitter potato dumplings?”
“I’ll go ask. I am the one who brought them, after all.”
“I’ll go with you.”
They went to the kitchen that prepared the food for the barracks, surprising the cooks as both Olivia and Ulysse came rushing in.
“The soup from yesterday?” one said. “There’s a little left, but the dumplings have all crumbled…”
“That’s fine. I want some of that soup,” demanded Ulysse.
“Sure, all right. Go ahead and take some.”
Ulysse scooped some of the remaining soup from the giant pot into a smaller one and said, “Soup can’t be worse than trying nothing. I’m going to go give this to the worst of the maidservants!”
And then he rushed away.