The Last Alchemist

Grassy path.

Anne immediately asked: "Did you find anything?"

Mary also stopped. She didn't hear the conversation between Rosen and Anne clearly, but the other party's abnormal behavior made her a little nervous. She looked at Rosen with one eye, looking very uneasy.

Rosen pondered for a moment, not knowing how to explain the problem he discovered. Because to explain the problem clearly, we must explain the pathogenesis of infectious diseases, which involves hundreds of years of medical development history and cannot be explained in a few words.

What he found unreasonable was that judging from the performance of the previous three years, Mary's disease was not highly contagious. As long as she did not come into contact with her, it would not cause infection. This showed that the main transmission route of Mary's disease should be through Close contact with body fluids, but in the past year and a half, the disease has erupted inexplicably, and it occurred when Mary's family had never had contact with anyone in the village.

This is inconsistent with previous observations.

Rosen thought about it and felt that there were only two reasonable explanations. Either Mary was lying, or someone was deliberately spreading the disease.

Rosen has not yet been able to make a judgment as there is insufficient information.

After thinking about it, he could only say to Anne: "It's not a big problem, I just suddenly thought of the alchemy problem and got a little distracted."

After saying that, he looked at Mary again and continued to ask: "Mary, do you know the name of that magician?"

There was a gap of half a year between the outbreak of the disease and the appearance of the magician. It was not a short period of time, but Rosen still felt that it was a bit too coincidental.

If something goes wrong, it's a monster, and there's probably something wrong with this magician.

Mary tried to remember: "He said his name was Dias, and the village elders called him Mr. Romley. I heard that he once studied magic in a very, very famous academy in the north. It seemed to be called a college."

Anne interjected: "You mean Nerogard Academy, the City of Wisdom?"

Mary said excitedly: "Ah, yes, yes, it's Nerogard Academy!"

Rosen nodded: "Dias Romley from Nerogard College, I remember it."

He had never heard of this name in the game, but judging from the information provided by Sister Mary, this guy should have come here specifically to study this abscess disease.

As for more speculations, Rosen did not make many assumptions due to insufficient evidence.

Mary was indeed right. After the three of them climbed up the grassy slope, a large piece of gently sloping land appeared in front of them. There were more than twenty wooden houses with simple structures built on both sides of the mountain stream. There was a fence around the wooden houses, and then there were It is a large area of ​​terraced fields.

It was around two o'clock in the afternoon, and most of the men were busy in the fields. Some of the women were spinning in front of their homes, some were taking care of their children, and some were washing clothes by the mountain stream flowing through the village. From a distance, this was a A quiet and ordinary mountain village.

But this calmness was soon broken by Mary.

When Mary appeared near the village, the bells of "dang, dang, dang, dang" immediately rang in the village. When the busy men and women turned their heads and saw Mary, they immediately put down their work and ran back to the village faster. Not long after, five men, all wrapped in thick linen, even their heads were wrapped tightly, with only a pair of eyes exposed, ran out of the village.

The five people all held wooden spears in their hands. They ran about 20 meters away and the five people stopped.

They all raised their wooden guns and pointed the crude iron spear points at Mary. One of them took a step forward and shouted in an old voice: "Mary, why are you coming back? Didn't you agree to drive away the robbers?" Never come back again, we will help you take care of Alice!”

Mary knelt on the ground with a pop and begged: "Elder, I was not going to come back, but I met them. This adult said he was an alchemist, and he would find a way to cure us. So. So. "

The old man who was called an elder immediately turned to look at Rosen. After looking at him carefully, he shook his head: "He is too young. He is so young. He cannot be an alchemist. At most, he is an alchemist apprentice. This kind of plague Even Lord Romley is helpless, what can he do as an apprentice?"

Annie couldn't stand listening, so she took a step forward and said, "Elder, I am a stalker. I came here a year ago. We have met before. You should still know me?"

The elder looked at Annie carefully and nodded: "Well, I remember your eyes!"

Annie was stabbed in a painful place in her heart, and her face became sad. She stepped aside and pointed at Rosen: "I can testify that he is indeed an alchemist. Although he is not a master, he is also very knowledgeable. He must be It can help.”

'Hey~' The elder sneered: "Little girl, don't try to lie to me. I have seen some things in the world when I was young, and I have also been to the free city of Berkeley. There, alchemists of this age are just qualified. Enter the academy. Now you are saying that he is knowledgeable. What a nonsense! Guys, let’s get these liars out!”

After saying that, the five people raised their spears and pointed the spear points at Rosen and the others. They stamped their feet one after another and let out a low roar of "woo woo woo". If Rosen didn't leave, they would stab out the spears. posture.

"Stupid person!" Anne subconsciously held the hilt of the broken sword.

When the elder saw it, he immediately shouted: "Do you still dare to attack us, monster?!"

Anne hated people calling her a monster. As soon as she heard this, her face immediately became very cold: "Old man, speaking openly will not do you much good!"

The force of the mutant hunters is quite intimidating. When Annie said this, the five farmers in the village were frightened and stepped back. The elder shouted loudly: "What, did I say it wrong? Do you really dare to attack unarmed ordinary people?! Aren't you a hunter, but a butcher?"

'clang~'

Annie pulled out a half-broken sword: "Of course I won't kill you, but I will teach you a profound lesson!"

"clang~"

The elder actually threw the wooden spear in his hand to the ground. When the other four farmers saw it, they also threw their wooden spears.

Then, the elder took a step forward, ripped open the clothes on his chest, revealing a lean chest full of ribs, and shouted at Annie: "Come on! Come on! Anyway, Mary can't enter the village unless you kill all our villagers!"

"This" Annie suddenly felt that she was riding a tiger and it was difficult to get off.

She was just talking just now, hoping to force the elder to submit through threats. Unexpectedly, the elder of Caopo Village would not be hard-pressed. This time, she was at a loss.

Rosen watched from the side and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. As the saying goes, a gentleman can be deceived by a trick. The elder of Caopo Village is a piece of meat on the knife's edge. He has seen some of the world. In terms of cheating skills, Anne, who is new and young, will naturally not be his opponent.

Seeing that this would not work, Rosen had to speak up. He saluted first: "Elder, my name is Rosen, and I am indeed an alchemist. Since you don't believe in my ability, I won't force it. However, I admire the reputation of Lord Romley very much and want to visit him in person. For safety reasons, Mary will not enter the village. I don't know..."

"No!" The elder interrupted Rosen arrogantly.

"Why?" Rosen asked.

"Because Lord Romley went out to collect herbs and will not be back for at least a week. He said that no one is allowed to approach his house when he is not here."

After the elder said this, his eyes turned around Anne and Mary again: "Young man, I don't think you are a bad person. I kindly advise you to stay away from Mary and the monster hunter next to you. They are all ominous people and will bring you bad luck!"

Anne was very angry when she heard it. She took a step forward: "Old man, you talk too much. I must teach you a lesson today!"

The elder was not afraid at all, but took a step forward: "Come on, come and teach me a lesson. It's better to kill me, then eat my flesh and drink my blood, so that people can see your monster nature!"

"You, you bastard!" Anne's pretty face turned pale with anger.

Rosen reached out and patted Anne's shoulder, then turned to look at the elders, his face cold: "Since Lord Romley is not here, we can stay out of the village, but I hope you can hand over Sister Mary's daughter to me for treatment. If you still don't want to, don't blame us for being rude."

While speaking, Rosen raised his hand and activated the alchemical power to push the air at his hand. In an instant, a circle of high-speed rotating airflow appeared at his hand. Although the naked eye could not see any strange phenomenon, the whistling wind was enough to shock ordinary people.

The elders and the four strong men in the village took a step back, and their eyes showed deep fear.

This time, the elders couldn't hold it anymore. He dared to squeeze Anne, first because of his understanding of the mutant hunters, and second because he had seen Anne before, and roughly knew Anne's character and knew that she would not attack ordinary people, but he didn't know Rosen at all. Now the other party showed magical power that he couldn't understand, and his courage was instantly lost.

Licking his lips, the elder beckoned to a farmer beside him: "Go, bring little Alice to him."

"Okay~Okay~"

The farmer turned and ran towards a simple shed on the west side of the village. About ten minutes later, he came back from the shed with a child in his arms.

When he ran closer, Rosen saw that he was holding a little girl covered in abscesses, about seven or eight years old. Her symptoms looked quite serious, but compared to Mary, she was much better. Her flesh was not rotten, her bones were not deformed, and there was not much tissue fluid flowing out of the wounds. There were many red spots on her body that had not ulcerated, one by one, just like bright red bayberries.

Seeing these red spots, Rosen's heart moved, and he felt very familiar. After thinking carefully, he remembered: 'How come this symptom is so similar to syphilis on Earth? ’

The Internet on Earth is really developed. Rosen, a web addict, has experienced the test of information floods and has seen all kinds of messy pictures. Occasionally, he would see people using pictures of syphilis patients to scare people. He also looked up some relevant information afterwards, so he had some impression of this disease.

He just remembered that Anne had already shouted: "Ah, isn't this rose macules?"

"Rose macules?" Rosen looked at Anne.

Anne nodded and said: "In the free city of Berkeley, there are many idle and idle playboys who have this disease. After getting the disease, they are covered with red spots, which look exactly like those on little Alice."

"Playboys?"

"Those guys who like to find prostitutes, some are nobles and rich businessmen, anyway, they are not good people!" Anne looked disgusted.

Rosen's mind became clearer and clearer: 'So it seems that this disease is almost exactly the same as syphilis. By the way, what is the pathogen of syphilis? It seems to be called Treponema pallidum. What I saw on Mary looks like a spiral. So, the strange disease in Caopo Village is most likely syphilis.’

Syphilis is not easy to deal with. Before the discovery of penicillin, it was basically a terminal illness, and its status was the same as AIDS. I don’t know how many people died from it. No matter whether they were celebrities or beggars, once they were infected, they could only wait for death.

For example, Beethoven, the piano master, was very likely a patient with congenital syphilis. The symptoms of deafness he began to experience at the age of 27 also conformed to the characteristics of congenital syphilis.

However, if this disease is really syphilis, then he can get it by extracting penicillin.

Thinking of this, Rosen breathed a sigh of relief.

On the other side, little Alice was in a bad mood, but she was still conscious. After seeing Mary, she whispered: "Mom, I hurt~"

One sentence made Mary collapse. She wanted to hug her daughter to comfort her, but she was afraid that the pus on her body would aggravate her daughter's condition. She wanted to hug her but didn't dare to. Seeing her daughter in despair, she was helpless. This torment made her cry again.

"My daughter, Alice, my baby, it's all my fault~ Woohoo, it's all my fault~ Woohoo~"

The elders and the farmers in the village seemed to be filled with sadness, and they all sighed.

The elder said, "Mary, do you really want to let this young man take Alice away? You have to think clearly, Lord Romley is a famous magician, he will definitely be able to find a way to cure Alice."

Mary turned to look at Rosen, who nodded to her.

I don't know what Mary was thinking, she actually nodded and agreed: "I believe him."

"It's up to you."

Rosen walked towards the farmer, and in the other's incredible eyes, he took Alice, who was covered with pus, from his hand.

"Let's go."

Since the other party insisted on not letting them enter the village, it was not a good idea to force their way in, so they could only leave here first.

Before leaving, Rosen suddenly pointed to a spacious and tall wooden house halfway up the mountain and asked, "Elder, that should be where Lord Romley lives, right?"

The elder nodded without any doubt, "Yes, Lord Romley has been in our village for almost a year. In order to cure our illness, he works day and night without a moment's rest. Alas, it's a pity that this disease is a punishment from the gods for our Caopo Village. It's really hard to cure!"

"Oh, I understand. Thank you."

After saying that, Rosen held little Alice and walked back along the way he came.

Anne walked a few steps quickly to catch up, looked at Alice, hesitated, gritted her teeth, and said: "Rosen, let me hold her?"

Rosen shook his head, "Let me do it, little Alice is very light. Besides, this disease is not uncontagious, so it is safer for me to hold her."

This little girl is really light. You can understand it if you think about it. She was sick since she was born. She was not well fed and clothed since she was a child. She finally lived to the age of 5 and weighed less than 15 kilograms. Holding her in your arms was like holding a ball of air.

The three of them walked back along the way they came. Behind them, the elder of Caopo Village waited until they walked down the grass slope, and whispered to the young man beside him: "Go and tell Lord Romley what happened here."

"Okay, elder."