Biological Weapon
As far as I know, back in my original world, the first ever case of biological warfare happened when the Mongols hurled people that died due to disease over a Crimean castle wall. It then spread across the city, causing the collapse of their enemy's defenses and winning another victory for the Khan.
This disease was vicious. It ate away on your body's strength, it caused fevers, headaches and chills… And once it overtaken your body's immune system, it would cause your lymph nodes to become swollen and painful.
But that fall didn't only happen in that city. That disease rode Genoese ships into Italy where it spread across the sparsely sanitized European cities and before anyone can even comprehend what was happening, The Black Plague has started.
Five years later, an estimated 25 to 50 million people have died in one continent alone.
All because some general of a far-away empire thought it would make his job easier.
The same case happened in the place where we are currently staying at… and the uncooperative attitude of these dinguses puts the lives of everyone in this place hang on an unfair balance.
"Negotiate a cease fire with the enemy?! Are you treating us like fools?!"
"Look here, listen! I will not let you do just as you wish!"
"Are you aware of how the monks will react to this?! This is an affront to the sanctity of our dead comrades!"
"Stop blurting out these insane things and learn to obey, outsider!"
Inside the command tent of the camp, I sat in the center of the gathered officers who kept on berating me and sometimes even pouring their drinks towards me. Yet I kept silent and simply let them do as they want to until they tire themselves out.
"…Are you done now?"
"You cur!"
"Kitaro!"
One samurai who also injured me last night, stood up with his hand on his sword but was immediately pulled by Kotori who wanted to stop him.
"…You're awfully proud for someone who isn't even one of noble birth…"
Their master whose name is Nachi Tozen, spoke while looking at me with an intrigued expression.
"I would back down if I am in the wrong. But because I am not, why would I?"
"Why, you-!"
His other retainers stood up with sword unsheated after my reply, but this time, I won't be sitting down anymore.
*Pyik-!*
"""GUAH!!!"""
I drew my katana which caught their blades and pushed them away with a parry. My quick reaction drew all of their attention.
"What the…"
"He pushed them away?!"
After I sheated my sword before stating a short reply.
"You have 6 hours before the symptoms show up amongst your soldiers. If you want to win this war, go to the medical tent and tell me that you are willing to let me study the dead to save those who are still alive and ask your enemies to stop attacking or run the risk of carrying this disease back to their camp."
With them still dumbfounded with my conditions, I stood up to leave the place and return to where those who already developed minor symptoms are staying at for quarantine.
"Iwasawa-sama. It's as you expected…"
"Salmonella typhi… All of them present at the river water, water casks and the food…"
Minori and our men has been working tirelessly since I announced that the camp would soon have an epidemic at their hands.
"Our men said that they found a dead body at the top of the river that can probably be the source of the disease. I gave them some guidelines regarding the proper retrieval of the corpse so you can expect them to bring it here before nightfall."
"Good. I need more samples to work at. The type of Salmonella bacteria found in the waters and food has been consistent… If the body possesses the same type of bacteria, I can finally settle on the right form of medicine to make."
I went to the first patients while wearing a mask and a pair of sanitized gloves.
"How are you feeling?"
"I have a fever and… my whole body aches…"
"That's to be expected… Does your stomach hurt or something?"
"I feel like something wants to burst down there… It hurts…"
"…I'll come back later. Trust me, you'll be well."
I went from one patient to another, a monumental task to do by myself as 120 men are currently in quarantine inside and outside of the medical tent that was given to me.
"…Doctor, we have another one incoming."
"Put him outside. There's no more space in here."
"Roger that!"
I looked around and all that I can see are pained faces of men clutching their aching chests and abdomens… It was quite the concerning sight…
"Let's see if those retards will finally listen when they can't wage war anymore because they're all diseased."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
At the officer's tent, the side who doesn't want to listen to Hiroshi's request and those that are willing to give him a chance are still locked in a heated debate.
"We can't have him staining the honor of our departed comrades! They might be commoners that can be easily replaced, but this is still a matter of maintaining our old ways."
"Not just our old ways. We have to keep our dignity and face our enemy with ferociousness even in these times of sickness."
"And what? Leave our own men to die to this disease? Preposterous!"
"Why do we have to trust him anyway? He isn't even from Haguro!"
"Like you're willing to trust someone just because they're from here, you hypocrite!"
The argument had their own pros and cons.
The rebel army is currently being held together by the influence of Buddhist monks who rallied the people under the banner of the Nachi clan after some of their temples were burned by the armies of the Fujita clan.
It was a strange thing for them to do as historically, the Fujita clan was closely related to noble families who would usually retire from the battlefield to become monks or nuns… But due to the rumors that the new shogun of the Amanogawa shogunate has been ordering covert missions of burning down Buddhist and Shinto shrines, they mostly believed that this is not something to take lightly as the Fujita clan only pushed them back to the borderlands of Haguro because of the help of the Shogunate.
As such, they didn't want to anger the monks who would most likely not accept the idea of dissecting the dead.
"Everyone… we are not getting any further with all of this bickering."
"…"
After Kotori spoke up, the officers quieted down as they expected her to voice out her own opinions.
"I know that the idea of having our allies cut up by this stranger who claims that a disease is spreading in our country sounds absurd and heretical… But I wish you can look at the bigger picture and analyze our situation right now."
"Ho? Do speak, my dear comrade."
Their lord, Nachi Tozen, spoke up as he looked at him with great interest.
"We are outnumbered by the enemy. We lack supplies to counter-attack their stronghold and the idea of holding this area is highly questionable, to say the least…"
"…"
"Doctor Hiroshi signed a contract with me, and he told us all of the practices that he offers to preserve our wellness and safety. And now that the only thing separating the safety of our men and the collapse of this line is our decision to let him study those who are no longer alive, why do you continue to decline something as simple as that?"
"You don't understand, Himeji."
The first to speak up was one of the direct retainers of Tozen.
"What do I fail to understand, Sir?"
"He is an outsider. His word is no better than the words of a swindler or a charlatan. We are under no obligation to trust him."
"He is right. Whoever this guy is, I highly suggest that you cut your agreement with him now or else, he might cause problems for us."
"Right, right…"
I wanted to speak in defense of him, but even some of my own retainers had a conflicted expression as they listened to their argument.
"…"
"Well, what should we do now?"
With a flamboyant flair, Lord Tozen asked us, and I asked for a short break to collect my subordinates' opinions.
"Kuh… I apologize, but I wish for a short break before I give my official suggestion."
"Understood."
Once outside of the officer's tent, I faced my men and asked them what we should do.
"I side with the opinion of Lord Tozen's retainers. I knew that he is bad news the moment I saw him."
There was the side led by Kitaro who pushed for the nullification of our work agreement.
"I heard about the ailing of the men who caught the disease. I haven't heard about this "Tai-foid fi-ver" before, but if he knows it, maybe it's worth it to trust his word and let him do what he needs to do."
There is another side with fewer members who wanted to let Hiroshi do as he requested.
"…I need to talk to him. Return to the tent for now and I'll try to convince him to go back as well to converse with the others."
"""As you command!"""
I walked towards the medical tent and found that even outside of it, there were rows upon rows of men who are groaning while clutching their abdomens or shivering while suffering from a blazing fever.
"Good heavens… Is this the reason why he's so stubborn about wanting to perform a study on the dead?"
As I entered the interior of the tent, a mix of pungent and astringent odors attacked my nostrils which made me cover my nose with my sleeves.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"Keep him down! He's having a bad delirium!"
One of the soldiers suddenly began to have a seizure as some of Hiroshi's men pushed him down.
"Damn it! They keep on losing consciousness because of dehydration. Can someone give me the treated water?"
"Got it!"
At the table at the back of the tent, a young man was fiddling with a strange instrument while moving around a plate made of a crystal under it.
"Did they tell you to fire me so they can continue their war?"
"Ah!"
"After seeing all of this, would you agree with them?"
He didn't even bat an eye to me as he continued to look into the instrument with both eyes.
"The final decision lies with Lord Tozen… but I still have a say as I am this army's official leader."
He looked away from his tool and sighed heavily.
"I have to warn you though… If your lord says that we cut our ties and I go out with my men so you can continue your war, you won't just harm your people but harm the lands that you'll be passing by as well."
"I know… with our soldiers looking like this, I can't deny that that harm will follow us wherever we go."
"That's the reason why I am telling all of you to negotiate a cease fire. If this sickness spreads more and we get attacked at the middle of it, this stronghold will fall, and your capital will be in danger."
"Tch… This is hard…"
I bit my lip in frustration as I am caught in a deep problem.
"…Seems like it's here."
"Huh?"
Hiroshi stood up from his seat and wore a mask and gloves as two of his men brought in a corpse that looked like it died by the water due to the wet clothes.
"This guy is pretty heavy, Iwasawa-sama… Seems like his body ingested water when he was at the river."
"I know. Place him on the examination table. I'll handle the rest."
His men pulled the man up to a slightly raised table and Hiroshi brought out a basket full of strange tools that looked like torture equipment.
"…Close the blinds and spray some alcohol. This wouldn't smell so good."
"Aye."
I stepped back while covering my nose and he took out a liquid that he poured on the abdomen before cutting it open with a small knife.
"…Tch! As suspected…"
I went closer and what I saw made my skin crawl.
"Is that…?"
"His intestines are full of clots… The duodenum is stuffed with hyperactive acids while his stomach is bloated with water… But the worst part is in here…"
He spoke and pointed at an organ by the lower left of the corpse's body.
"All of that movement with the river current and the intake of water opened his rectum and leaked all of his wastes…"
"What does that mean?"
Hiroshi looked side to side and past the blinds, seeming to look if someone may hear what he is about to say.
"The water that the soldiers were drinking, bathing at and cleaning their stuff with are full of his feces."
The reply almost made me puke. If someone else heard this, they might have already done it.
"But what concerns me more is… this."
"What? His clothes?"
"…"
He seemed to be worried about something as his brows were knit and his sigh was heavy.
"It's nothing… I am probably worrying for nothing."
But all of it seemed to just be a hunch and he dismissed it as nothing.
"In any case, this concludes my investigations… This man would probably be doing his business by the river in order to clean himself afterwards when his internal bleeding caused an abscess at a vein, disrupting the cardiac system and causing a stroke… He would later be brought downstream by the river current and land at the quay of the river near here and finally lose the protection of the river water which wound start his initial decomposition stage… unless…"
"Unless?"
"Unless he didn't die by the river but was thrown there purposefully."
"-!"
His assumption caught my ear and sure enough, what he just said was something that made sense.
"Hiroshi! Why are you thinking that this is purposefully done?!"
I held him by the shoulders which surprised him slightly.
"I made that assumption due to this thing I saw on his wrist."
I looked at his right hand's wrist and sure enough, my suspicion was proved.
"That's a prayer bead at the Eastern Samsara Temple, right? The one that has just been burned down by the Shogunate?"
It is. I have one of those and the fact that this dead man carries one proves that this is not just some accidental thing. The enemy must be using them.
"Well then, new scenario… This man came from the rebels who held down the temple and when he was caught, he was exposed to the sick before being let go. However, as soon as he reached the mountain range where the river water came from, his illness finally emerged and with no one to help him, he fell on the water which caused him to spread the disease."
I am still surprised with how vivid he can get with his explanations. Never in my life have I heard someone trace the disease's source like this. It's like he's more of a detective or prosecutor than a doctor.
"With that in mind, it would be wise to come up with a set of treatments for now. Some of these men are in the late stages where they developed stomach ulcers and sometimes even hemorrhages… I can make do with blood draining and- Oh yeah, those superiors of yours won't let me do that because of "reasons", right?
"Kh…"
I can only grunt lowly as what he said was accurately true.
"Seems like we just have to let them die then because their officers would rather lose their soldiers than let go of their ignorance and have them treated."
For some reason, he was saying those statements loudly… Wait, is he trying to-?!
"Say what?!"
"They're not having us treated?!"
"Those damn nobles! I don't care if I don't feel well, I'll give them a piece of my mind!"
"Let's go! This isn't the right way to treat us who are dying for their wars!"
"YEEEAAAHHH!!!"
Oh no… I knew it…
"Hiroshi… you…"
"I did nothing but tell the truth."
With a plain and seemingly detached expression, he went back to his table to look into his tool again.
"Maybe now they'll be forced to accept my conditions."
"Tch-! We will talk about this later!"
I rushed out of the tent to overtake the rallying soldiers who would probably make a ruckus by the command tent.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Iwasawa-sama… you didn't have to do that."
"I had to."
I looked around the now almost empty medical tent and sighed before taking the coffee that Minori brewed.
"For what reason, my lord?"
"Because something suspicious is going on in this place…"
"Suspicious?"
"This."
I spoke and pointed at the prayer bead on the dead man's wrist.
"Why would a prayer bead be something suspicious, master?"
"This man isn't a monk. I said something about his clothes, didn't I? I caught a glimpse of his back and saw that it has tattoos. Yakuza tattoos to be exact."
"What the…"
I looked at the puzzled Minori before stating something that I have been feeling was right since we got here.
"Someone followed us from Hashidate… probably the remnants of the assassin groups affiliated with the Yamada's mercenary business that are chasing us. Our enemies are supporting the war here and knowing that we are here, they probably sent this diseased corpse down the river to kill two birds with one stone."
"Iwasawa-sama. If that is true, then it would mean that this place isn't safe."
"Yeah…"
I spoke and looked past the tents in this encampment.
"But I staked my name and title on a promise… I am not one to go back on my word and promise."
"Haah… I apologize for my bluntness… But you really are a pain to serve under, Iwasawa-sama."
"Haha… Too bad since you're serving me now."
With joking tones, Minori and I agreed on one thing.
We won't leave this camp even if it means that we have to come face to face with our enemies.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Come out here and answer us!"
"We didn't come here just to die like this! Have the doctor treat us or we will retreat!"
"Please let us live! We don't want to die here like cattle!"
Amidst the shouts and pleas for help of the soldiers, the samurai officers had a staunch expression on their faces.
"That rotten outsider… To think that he would turn the tables on us."
"He's got the grit and guts to do it… I cannot say that I didn't see this as something that he will do."
All of them are now pressured to make a decision. Whether to stake their reputation with their supporters by allowing the stranger to open the bodies of the dead to study it or nullify their agreement and leave the soldiers to heal by themselves.
"What have you learned from him, General Kotori?"
"His men brought in a corpse from up the river. His investigation consisted of an examination of the corpse and from that, he deduced that it someone from the Eastern Samsara Temple who caught a disease before being let go and later died by the river which made his carcass to spread the disease more."
"From out compatriot, huh? Did he say anything else?"
"He said that some of our soldiers are in a severe condition and would probably need surgery to drain the leaked fluids on their organs. If not, we run the risk of having more deaths and spreading the illness more with each subsequent death."
"I see…"
The officers were immovable in their stance earlier. But with soldiers outside who are just a few steps away from mutiny or desertion, they gave their verdict that I was ordered to tell to those outside.
"Men! I have news!"
I spoke with a loud voice to be heard by everyone.
"Lord Tozen and our officers has decided to allow only the patients suffering with severe conditions to receive surgical treatment. Those who are deemed to not be severe yet would not be given such treatment. Lord Tozen promised that he will not let anyone who can still leave to just die."
"Yes!!!"
"Finally!"
With the announcement over, I sighed before seeing the man who started all of this walking to the tent.
"That took longer than I expected…"
"You…"
I looked at him with an expression meant to scare him.
"In the end, if I didn't spend all of my cards, nothing would happen and the worse will just come. I believe I made a solution where everyone will win."
"You almost made our army collapse by agitating the soldiers! What are you saying about a solution where everyone will win?!"
I shouted and would've grabbed him by the collar if he didn't dodge in time.
"Would you prefer to watch it slowly degrade then by making your officers dilly-dally while their soldiers die one by one?"
"You-!"
"I am a doctor, Lady Himeji. My first and only concern is to make sure that my patient lives. If they will die because someone wouldn't let me do my job, then I will do any underhanded move to get what I want."
"…"
I was stunned with his words and the resolve I can sense behind it.
"You can dock my wages because of this if you wish to… Just make sure that those morons will understand how they almost lost the war they wanted to fight in because they didn't want to cure the illness of their soldiers."
He patted his hands on his haori coat and that was the moment when I recognized that his clothes and hands has been stained by blood all this time. On his face too were dark circles under his eyes that shows how much he is tired with what he was doing.
"If you may excuse me, I still have lives to save."
He left to go back to the medical tent as I just stood there in shock of the things I just understood.
"All this time… all that that guy wanted was permission to do his job."
I never truly understood it before. He said that he needs to open the bodies of our dead to study it and to cut open some holes to drain the fluids stuck inside the bodies of the severely ill. To me back then, I kept on thinking why he's so fixated with the use of surgery, but now, I understood why.
"He wants to save everyone."
It is normal for us to leave those who are already in death's doorstep. It is not unthinkable for us who leads thousands of men to simply look at them as items that can be spent for the sake of our mission. But he is not like us.
"Lady Himeji. An enemy messenger is coming to our camp. Should we let them enter?"
"Y-yes. Let the messenger in and I'll inform His Higness."
He won't give up on anyone. Not even those who are already deemed hopeless by everyone.
"What? A cease fire agreement?"
"Yes. This is from the request of General Ayasaki of the Fujita Lordship Army."
The conditions brought by the enemy messenger can be summarized into three things. A temporary cessation of offensive movements or hostilities by any military force, strict orders on the soldiers of both sides to not engage on small skirmishes and declaring the land between our camps as a demilitarized zone where no one can set up any traps for the duration of two weeks.
"Can we know the reason for this sudden request to cease hostilities, messenger?"
"I apologize, but I cannot tell that."
"I see…"
He may not have told us why, but everyone seems to be looking at Lord Tozen who was smiling for some reason.
"We accept your terms. You can leave now messenger."
After the enemy left the camp, Lord Tozen snickered as with this, came the amused laughter of his retainers.
"It seems like my intimidation skills truly are superb. To think that they would back down just because of their defeat yesterday from my musketeers… You can say that I've saved our army, don't I?"
"You really are amazing, Lord Tozen!"
"We must write this down as one of your great legacies!"
Everyone cheered for him. It seems like our master has convinced the enemy to back down without making it look like we are weakened by sickness.
Yet at the back of my mind, I was wondering about something…
Why did that the terms of the ceasefire include things that we aren't even capable of doing right now like setting traps on the battlefield?
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"The enemy messenger came. It seems like their general believed our provocation that the Southern Quartet Alliance will be sending material help upon the Nachi forces."
"The Fujita clan sent some delegates at Yukonami when we were fighting there. They knew that we fight in trenches and slaughter entire armies using traps."
I spoke and dipped my hands on a pot of alcohol.
"And let me guess, their fool of a leader thought that his haphazard and ineffective gunners were responsible for the enemy's decision to stop the skirmishes, yes?"
"Yes… He even plans to throw a banquet tonight."
Hearing that, I wanted to slap my forehead in annoyance but remembered that it is currently submerged in disinfecting alcohol.
"Well, let them believe what they want to believe. We have permission to perform surgery now. Prepare the sanitized tent, I'll start with the first five patients with the most severe conditions."
"Those with milder symptoms asked us earlier about their own medications… what should we tell them?"
"I have yet to prepare Ciproflaxin… With my limited resources right now, I can't really produce much save for those with the worse conditions."
"Is that the reason why you sent Hachi back to Hashidate to buy the ingredients for this antibiotic that you speak of?"
"Exactly."
I took my hands out of the alcohol and placed it away from any other part of my body to keep it sanitized.
"Spray the diluted carbolic acid. We have to keep the operation area as clean as possible."
"Aye!"
Tonight, at Haguro province's rebel camp, Iwasawa Hiroshi started a medical practice that will be remembered for centuries to come…
"The hemorrhage is drained and I'm stitching him up. Prepare the next patient."
"Yes, sir."
But also the thing that almost made this historical event something that could've turned into an impossibility.
"…Minori."
"I know, my lord."
With bloodstained gloves on his hands, his right-hand man opened his sanitized silk robe and drew out a pistol to shoot the person who has been hiding behind the tarp near his master all this time.
*BYAK!!!*
And one shot proved the suspicion that they have been trying to uncover all this time.
"A fake Officer Kitaro, I presume?"
"You!!! How did you know?!!"
"Your killing intent has been making my hand shake all this time… For a professional killer who impersonated Kotori's subordinate, your acting skills are spot on, but you sure don't know how to be casual when you're after someone…"
While he is clutching his gunshot wound near the sternum, I looked at him with pity.
"You should've just accepted that you have failed to kill me time and time again and lived a normal life…"
"Never… I will never turn my back on my master's orders… Even if I have to die for it!"
"…I apologize then…"
I spoke as Minori pointed the gun on his head.
"For a brainwashed suicidal group like yours… you sure knew how to snap everything that makes me angry…"
As he knew that his death is imminent, he said that same thing that I expected him to say…
"Glory to the True Kirin Lord…"
It's like the diseased corpse they let go at the river wasn't the biological weapon but these disposable brainwashed assassins they send to me. Just what kind of person am I standing against that he is willing to send all of these brainwashed people just to take my life?
I don't know… or should I say…
"Minori. Clean this up."
"Yes, my lord."
I have yet to know it.