"......Huh?"
The cold mask Fidelina had worn shattered, replaced by a dumbfounded expression.
Her lips opened and closed several times before she barely managed to speak.
"This kid is unbelievable, isn't he? You really think you can persuade us with nothing more than that......."
"Are you that confident?"
"Vice Tower Master!"
She shrieked as she looked at the Vice Tower Master, but he reprimanded her instead.
"Elder Fidelina. Oscar Crucian came to me in his official capacity as a mage of the White Tower to seek approval for a formal investment proposal. You may be the elder in charge of the White Tower's finances, but your behavior is far too rude."
"......I'm sorry."
Listening to their exchange, Oscar gave a small nod.
He had wondered why she seemed so desperate to tear him apart, but she was the elder in charge of finances.
'Then I understand. Honestly, she has every reason to hate me.'
Little Oscar had received research funds for over two years without producing a single worthwhile result.
To make matters worse, he had recently committed embezzlement of research funds to buy an illegal elixir, so of course she would despise him.
"I'll ask you once more. Are you truly confident that you can produce a treatment for Cadenna influenza?"
"......After checking my journals, I found that I received 723,000 Bell in research funds over seventeen installments during the past several years."
Considering that an ordinary farmer earned about 20,000 Bell a year after taxes, it was an enormous sum.
In short, the White Tower had made an outrageously bold investment in him.
They had probably hoped that Little Oscar, once called a genius, would accomplish something.
"I believe it's time I repaid all that support not merely with gratitude, but with results."
"......."
"You asked whether I'm confident?"
Oscar nodded boldly.
"I'm certain. So please invest in me."
"......That's tremendous confidence. Unfortunately, the White Tower currently has no room to invest in a venture of that scale."
Beside him, Fidelina crossed her arms and added her piece.
"Starting next month, we won't even have the operating funds to pay the mages working outside."
"......."
"And in the middle of all that, you spent 25,000 Bell on an illegal elixir...... Phew, forget it. What's the point of saying more?"
He had known the situation was grave, but to think they had to worry about next month.
'Wouldn't the magic tower have collapsed if I'd started just a few days later?'
While cold sweat trickled down his back, the Vice Tower Master, who had been considering something, took an envelope from his drawer.
Maxim's expression stiffened when he saw it.
"Vice Tower Master. That money is......."
Shh.
The Vice Tower Master placed a finger to his lips and began to speak.
"Instead, I can invest my own money in you, Oscar. But first, there's one thing I must confirm."
The eyes directed at Oscar grew more serious than ever.
His gaze, imbued with a peculiar air of wisdom (wisdom), shone as though it would permit not the slightest falsehood.
"Do you have a reason to believe with certainty that the influenza outbreak in Vins is Cadenna?"
"......."
If Oscar failed to give an answer the man liked, the investment would be dead.
Oscar calmly replied without showing any agitation.
"I concluded it was Cadenna influenza based on one reason."
"I'd like to hear what that reason is."
"Then would you please take a look at the newspaper I brought?"
The three of them turned their gazes toward the paper.
"On page two, you should find an article about Archbishop Baldwin."
When they turned the page, the article was indeed there.
[Archbishop Baldwin of the El Terra Church abruptly changes his itinerary while visiting the Sirin territory during his pilgrimage. He plans to offer prayers of blessing for up to one month.]
After checking the article, the Vice Tower Master nodded.
"Mm. I already know about this. But what does it have to do with Cadenna influenza?"
"Don't you find it strange that an archbishop would stay in Sirin for an entire month?"
Elder Fidelina answered him.
"I thought you had something important....... Staying a month in Sirin during a pilgrimage isn't particularly unusual."
"That was true in the past. The reason is that they only stay for a month in major cities."
The El Terra Church's seven archbishops were by no means incorruptible.
If anything, they loved money more than any merchant.
They needed enormous campaign funds because they competed for the position of cardinal, the second-highest office in the Church.
"Since it's just us, let's speak frankly. The reason they stay for a month in each major city they visit during a pilgrimage is to meet various nobles and merchants and collect their offerings. But what about Sirin?"
"......."
That question left the three of them speechless.
As the White Tower had declined, wealthy people had all but vanished from Sirin, the territory it ruled.
In other words, even if the archbishop stayed a month, he would receive almost no offerings.
Maxim, who now realized how strange it was, asked a question.
"Now that I hear it, you're right. But according to the article, isn't he staying to offer prayers of blessing?"
"That makes it even stranger. An archbishop is offering those costly prayers of blessing in a land with no money?"
Oscar gave a quiet laugh as if that were absurd, then took a national map from his clothes and spread it across the desk.
"As you know, the order of stops along the El Terra Church's pilgrimage route is fixed. After Sirin comes Moske, followed by Melbourne and Greenwhale. The city they reach after that is......."
"......Vins."
Fidelina and Maxim, who were studying the map, spoke at the same time.
Oscar nodded.
"That's right. Under the doctrines of the El Terra Church, they may stay in any territory visited during a pilgrimage for up to one month. Before reaching Sirin, he already spent a month in Knox. If I'm right, he'll spend a month at his next destination, Moske, then another month each in Melbourne and Greenwhale. Why would he do that?"
Tap, tap. Oscar tapped the Vins territory on the map as though knocking on a door.
"Doesn't he look like someone trying to delay his arrival here for as long as possible?"
"......!"
The Church interpreted unavoidable accidents or misfortunes during a pilgrimage as having incurred the wrath of the Earth Mother Goddess.
It went without saying that someone who angered the god he served could not rise to a higher office.
For an archbishop aiming to become a cardinal, this was effectively a death sentence.
"I see. Then you mean Archbishop Baldwin confirmed in advance that the influenza spreading through Vins was Cadenna and is stalling until it subsides?"
"At least, that is how I interpreted it."
Their gazes toward Oscar changed considerably.
"......Well, your analytical ability is reasonably sharp, as befits a theoretical mage. It's still only a hypothesis, though."
Even Fidelina, who disliked him, reluctantly acknowledged it.
After finishing his argument, Oscar looked at the Vice Tower Master.
"Hmmmm."
The man, who had remained silent throughout, slowly nodded.
"I believe I understand why you think the influenza spreading in Vins is Cadenna."
"Does that mean?"
"I'll invest. But I only have 30,000 Bell. Can you make the treatment with that much?"
"With 30,000 Bell......."
Oscar closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could.
'Even if I handle every process myself and spend all that money on ingredients.......'
It was not enough. Not nearly enough.
That money would barely allow him to make treatment for five hundred people.
"......Phew."
In the end, Oscar opened his eyes after releasing a deep sigh.
"It can't be helped. In that case, I'll have to use Plan B."
"Plan B?"
"You even prepared an alternative?"
"Explain it in detail. If you say anything absurd, I'll kick you in the backside."
Oscar looked at the three of them in turn and answered.
"As you know, we aren't the ones facing the greatest difficulty because of Cadenna influenza."
Tap, tap. This time, he tapped the words 'Archbishop Baldwin' in the newspaper article.
"The desperate party should pay. I'll make a sample with the money the Vice Tower Master gives me, then use it to strike a deal with the archbishop and secure his investment."
"The desperate party should pay...... Heh heh, now that I hear it, you're quite right."
The Vice Tower Master nodded with a gentle laugh.
"Go ahead and try it."
"Yes. Then I'd appreciate it if you procured the ingredients I need. First......."
After listing the necessary ingredients, Oscar bowed his head.
"I'll go clean up the potion production room, so please send the ingredients there."
After he finished speaking and left the room, Fidelina began to talk.
"Maxim, what do you think? Do you really believe that child can make the treatment?"
"......At the very least, he isn't the sort to lie."
"Your faith in him is truly incredible. I was a fool to ask. What do you think, Vice Tower Master?"
"Hmm."
With a meaningful smile, the Vice Tower Master slowly rose and approached the window.
He looked up at the flock of birds flying in formation across the clear sky and spoke.
"Once, there was a bird so magnificent that every person in power coveted it."
"......."
The other two listened silently as he suddenly launched into this nebulous tale.
"But when it was revealed that the bird had contracted a terrible illness, their interest vanished as though it had never existed."
They realized that this was Oscar's story.
"It must have been a great shock to the young bird. Those who had whispered such sweet words and smiled at him turned cold overnight. Wounded by it all, the bird eventually shut himself inside an old cage and neither sang nor flew again. As though he had given up everything. And at such a young age."
Grip.
The Vice Tower Master's wrinkled hands tightened around the windowsill.
"......But now that the bird is finally trying to flap its wings, how could I not feel hopeful?"
Everyone in the world spoke with one voice.
That bird was finished.
It would never sing or soar again.
'Oscar. Show those who said so, and those who wished for it, the truth.'
Just how loudly you could sing.
And how high you could soar.
***
No one knew where Cadenna influenza originated.
Some said the demons who had crossed the Red Mountains had spread it, while others claimed it leaked from a secret imperial laboratory.
One thing was certain. It was a highly lethal virus.
"A three percent fatality rate."
Some might say this.
There were countless diseases with fatality rates exceeding thirty percent, so what made this one dangerous?
The terrifying thing about Cadenna influenza was its extraordinary transmission speed.
'If I remember correctly.......'
After the first Cadenna influenza patient in history was discovered, it took only four days for the virus to engulf a city of fifty thousand people.
Because of that absurd rate of transmission, the imperial family classified it as a Grade B 'Disaster.'
"Hmm......."
Upon arriving at the potion production room on the 37th floor, Oscar looked around its interior.
There was no dust because someone had maintained it, but it seemed no work had been done here for a long time.
Oscar opened the cupboards one by one and nodded.
'They're dirty, but the tools aren't broken. This will be enough to make potions.'
The formula was in his head, and the tools were intact.
The ingredients for the treatment would arrive soon, so there was exactly one thing he had to do now.
"Shall I warm up my hands?"