29. Is That True?

"It hurts. Itchy." The 30-year-old man shouted as he woke up, the effects of the sleeping pills had worn off. His wife who was lying next to him was just crying, and physician Jennifer was calming her down.

Tristan sat a meter away from them, next to the door. He observed as the two physicians gave the couple itching medication. The two physicians believed that the drug might cure or alleviate their irritation.

The pus-oozing bumps on their bodies were increasing, causing the itching and discomfort to escalated sharply. Their eyes were red, but they did not feel any pain in their eyes.

The stink of their pus filled the three-meter chamber. Physician Joseph decided to open the window and draw the curtains slightly so that fresh air from outside might enter the chamber.

Tristan covered his nose with five layers of black cloth, making breathing difficult, but that was the only way for him not to smell the stench of pus too much.

However, he was unsure if someone who inhaled the stench of pus for too long would be infected with the disease.

"Your Majesty." The 30-year-old man tried to sit up and look at his king. His red eyes did not look scary, but some physicians from the Kavar Kingdom told everyone not to look into their eyes if they did not want to be infected.

The medics from the Kavar Kingdom could only conjecture how the sickness spread because everyone infected with it had no idea what they had done.

They also didn't know how long they had the condition. They discovered they had caught the sickness when their eyes became red, and lumps that leaked pus and caused itching appeared on their bodies.

"Do you remember what you or your wife did before getting the disease? Activities that you never did before, but suddenly you did them, and then the next day you saw your eyes were red and there were lots of pus-lumps on your body." Tristan said slowly, making sure the man understood what he said.

"For the past two years, I sold chicken to one of the restaurants in the Kavar Kingdom. I don't know since when I got infected," the man said. "I have made my wife suffer."

The 30-year-old man cried and hugged his wife. The sound of their cries filled the room.

Tristan felt sorry for the man. If the man knew that he was infected with this terrible disease, he would have stayed away from his wife before he could pass it on to his beloved wife.

"Thank you very much for visiting us, Your Majesty," the man's wife said. "I am sorry that I don't know when I was infected and whether my husband was the one who infected me with this disease."

Tristan nodded. "If you two remember anything, tell Physician Joseph and Physician Jennifer immediately."

The couple nodded.

Tristan left the room. He could not stand to be in the room any longer. The pus smelled as if he had been in a downtown garbage dump.

However, Tristan's struggle to hold back his nausea was not over; he and the two physicians went to the next room, where the mute man lay fighting his illness.

The mute man's older brother was already standing in front of the room, his face showing he was apprehensive about his younger brother. He worked in the capital city, and he came straight to this house to visit his younger brother after he received a letter from his mother.

"Samuel." The 20-year-old man approached his younger brother when physician Joseph invited him in.

"Oh my God, why did this illness attack you, Samuel?" He cried, and his tears grew even more because he had to touch his younger brother using gloves.

Tristan sat near the door, one meter away from them. Samuel, the 17-year-old man, was in the same condition as the couple, but the stench of pus coming out of dozens of lumps on his body was not too pungent.

Samuel opened his eyes when the sleeping pill had worn off in his body. He was shocked to see his brother, and he cried, but he couldn't hug his older brother because he knew that the disease was contagious.

After waiting a few minutes for their crying to stop, Physician Joseph asked Samuel's older brother to translate Samuel's sign language.

Tristan observed and listened to their conversation. Samuel sold chocolate cake near the border fence; not only civilians from this kingdom and the Kavar Kingdom were his customers, but the soldiers guarding the border were also his customers, and he was good friends with the soldiers.

The two soldiers who found him lying under a tree near the border fence were his friends, but they didn't understand sign language because Samuel responded to others' words by writing on a piece of paper.

Samuel was the same as the two couples and the other people. He did not know since when he had the disease, and nothing changed in his activities.

"Then, how is the disease transmitted?" Tristan was perplexed. "They all realized that they had red and purulent eye disease after their bodies felt very itchy because there were so many purulent lumps on them."

The two physicians also did not know, and they were much more confused than their king. If it was like this, they and the physicians from the Kavar Kingdom could not prevent the spread of the disease properly.

***

Tristan was restless and nervous. He was going to meet King Albert. The Kavar Kingdom was one of the five kingdoms that declared themselves part of the Madigan Kingdom hundreds of years ago.

Tristan should have appeared confident. Even though King Albert was 35 years old and had been a king for a long time, he would still submit to him. Besides, the five kingdoms fully supported Tristan Madigan as king, and they never had any desire to rebel.

"But I am not Tristan Madigan." Tristan had not been able to make peace with fate, and he was always afraid that people would realize that he was not Tristan Madigan.

"Your Majesty." King Albert bowed to Tristan, who was on the terrace.

Tristan's body froze, and his heart was beating fast; after calming himself down, he invited King Albert to sit on the simple wooden chair—they shouldn't sit there.

Tristan felt uncomfortable receiving respect from someone older than him.

"I apologize, Your Majesty. I was too late in handling the purulent and red eye disease. The disease became increasingly uncontrollable. Every day, more than 100 people were found infected with the disease." King Albert showed his sadness for the suffering experienced by his people.

"The outbreak has been going on for four days. A total of 576 people have contracted the disease, including 3 of your people." King Albert's shoulders drooped; he deeply regretted not acting sooner.

"What have your physicians done?" Tristan asked. He found no sadness in his heart as he looked at his three people lying down and wailing in pain. He was indeed unworthy of being a king.

"They applied ointment around the lumps, but they didn't shrink, and their number didn't decrease or increase. The pus-filled lumps even appeared on some people's faces, and two people died because they couldn't breathe." King Albert bowed his head, mourning the death of his people.

Tristan shuddered in horror. The disease was genuinely terrible and deadly. They had to prevent the spread of the disease and find a cure or ointment to cure them.

"We burned the bodies of the two people to prevent the bacteria or viruses in their bodies from spreading to the living," King Albert said.

"What should we do?" Tristan's brows knitted together, racking his brains to think hard.

"This morning, dozens of priests, nuns, and people from the temple of the God of Purity in my kingdom came to see me. They believe that this disease came from God. Those people didn't believe in God, and that angers God." King Albert said seriously.

"Many indeed believe in the Devil in that area for generations." King Albert spoke with a low tone. Religion was a sensitive topic.

Tristan's brow furrowed. He was confused about whether he should believe it or not.

"Dozens of priests, nuns, and people from the temple of the Goddess of Purity will perform a sacred ritual to make them realize that God is angry with them," said King Albert.

Just as Tristan was about to nod his head, the system gave him a new task.

[Emergency Task!]

[You have an emergency task.]

[Many people believe that God gave them the disease.]

[You must thwart the sacred ritual.]

[You will get a penalty if you fail to complete the task.]

[You will get a reward if you succeed in completing the task.]