I Was Mistaken for a Saint in a Dark Fantasy

# Miracle (5)

*

Several days had passed since Charlotte had unceremoniously walked off with the rats.

Every newspaper Yulian unfolded was packed wall to wall with stories about Charlotte.

The news that everyone who had received an Enhancement Tattoo had died in grotesque and inexplicable ways was more than enough to send the Academy into a panic.

It was only natural, then, that attention flooded toward the student who had solved the case.

’Tetanus is an unfamiliar disease to heroes and wizards alike.’

Tetanus was ordinarily a disease of mercenaries and adventurers.

Heroes and wizards, after all, could receive potions or divine magic the moment they were injured.

The moment lockjaw appeared, they could go straight to an infirmary — which was precisely why no one here had ever bothered to research it.’Because tetanus is a disease that divine magic can treat.’

The reason tetanus was so terrifying.

It was this: once the toxin had attached itself to the nerves, detoxification became impossible.

To treat tetanus, then, one had to act while the toxin was still in the blood — before it ever reached the nerves.

That was why receiving divine healing immediately after the jaw seized up was enough to cure it.

’Because there’s a golden time.’

Tetanus followed a characteristic pattern of spread: jaw → limbs → back → respiratory muscles.

If one received divine healing the moment the jaw locked, the toxin still circulating in the blood would be neutralized before it could reach the respiratory muscles.

Then, as time passed and the jaw healed naturally, the tetanus resolved on its own.

This was precisely why tetanus was such an unfamiliar disease to heroes.

Delaying treatment to save money was a concern fit only for mercenaries who lived hand to mouth.

But this case was different.

’There was no time.’

In this case, soil-contaminated ingredients had been mixed into the ink, and a tattoo had been engraved on the back.

An insane quantity of toxin had flooded in all at once, spreading directly to the back muscles without a moment’s delay, and —

’Localized tetanus would have struck first, triggering opisthotonos [TL: A severe backward arching of the spine, like a drawn bow — a hallmark sign of advanced tetanus.] before there was ever any chance to observe the golden time. Death by generalized tetanus.’

The first practitioner — the culprit behind this incident — hadn’t understood the full mechanism. Even so, he had been, in his own way, remarkably clever.

’It reminds me of the pufferfish poison and the Aconite Murder Case.’

There had once been a case that threw the Japanese forensic community into an uproar.

The Aconite Murder Case.

A civilian had outmaneuvered forensic scientists using a combination of poisons that the scientists themselves hadn’t known.

After that case, forensic scientists drew a single hard lesson from it.

— ”A culprit without a degree is not without knowledge, and an expert is at their most dangerous the moment they begin to look down on civilians — for that is precisely when they miss the most critical evidence.”

Human malice is creative in ways that surpass all imagination.

Degrees mean nothing in the face of it.

It was because Yulian had always kept that lesson engraved on his own heart that he had been able to deduce the culprit ahead of Charlotte.

’Well — tetanus has been an old companion of trauma surgery, so knowing it well comes with the territory.’

A trauma surgeon, by nature, had to know tetanus intimately.

Could someone run over by a car, fallen from a rooftop, or skewered on a rebar possibly be safe from tetanus?

Of course not.

So a trauma surgeon never skipped the preventive treatment for tetanus — that was simply how it was — and Yulian knew it well because of that.

Still, there was one thing about this case that had left a faint aftertaste of dissatisfaction.

”If I had been the culprit, I would have used a far more elegant method.”

Just as Charlotte had stumbled down the wrong path at first.

If it had been him, he would have laid a double trap — poisonous herbs that mimicked the symptoms of tetanus, swapped into other Carvedocs’ ingredients to muddy the investigation.

Even victims without any soil contamination would have shown the same reactions, and the case would have sunk into permanent obscurity.

”What do you think, Charlotte? If I had designed it that way — how do you think you would have uncovered the truth?”

”Hmm... In that case, it would not be easy for me either. My instincts would tell me that Yulian was the culprit, but I would have no way to prove the decisive evidence.”

Across the dining table.

Charlotte nodded and readily conceded defeat.

”What it ultimately comes down to is that catching a culprit requires physical evidence, not instinct. Tangle the problem that intricately, and given the limits of this country’s judicial system, proof becomes impossible. Judges are not capable of thinking the way I do.”

Nom.

Charlotte tossed a piece of meat into her mouth as she spoke.

Jenny, who had been quietly listening to the exchange from beside them, fixed Yulian with a meaningful stare.

”Miss Jenny? Is the lamb not to your liking?”

”A-Ah, no. It’s fine, Lord Yulian.”

Hesitating, Jenny withdrew her hand from inside her sleeve.

She redirected her attention back to the lamb.

*

After the meal was finished.

They moved on to discussing, in earnest, how to handle the aftermath of the case.

”First — I imagine you’re already aware that the Field of Healing Arts is planning to launch research into the existence of the germs that Miss Charlotte brought to light this time?”

Charlotte gave a nod.

”But I have no interest in research. Exposing the truth is enough for me. Why doesn’t Yulian take over the theoretical explanation?”

He shook his head.

”I’m a specialist in black magic defense. Healing arts isn’t my field.”

”Then what were those lab rats for?”

”A simple proof-of-concept experiment. Verifying cause and effect. But I’m not in a position to explain how soil causes a disease like this.”

Medicine was Director Schun’s domain.

Not Yulian’s.

That said, it still felt vaguely beneath his dignity to have Director Schun swoop in and claim all the credit outright.

Officially, he had no connection to this case.

Suddenly staking a claim out of nowhere would do his image no favors.

So Yulian had decided to entrust the research into tetanus to someone else.

”Miss Jenny.”

”Yes?”

”As it happens, a professor who often audits my class without permission has been hoping to receive authorization for a research project. Why not join him?”

Among the regulars in his black magic defense course, there was a healing arts priest who specialized in toxicology and made a habit of sneaking in without permission.

Given that black magic was an extraordinarily sensitive subject from a security standpoint, he was caught and disciplined virtually every time.

And yet he kept attempting to audit the course.

In the end, worn down by that sheer relentlessness, Yulian had formally granted him official permission to sit in.

”You know the professor I mean? Work alongside him to shed light on the bacteria that live in soil, Miss Jenny.”

It was a proposal that any Healing Arts student would find impossible to resist.

The chance to write an academic paper that would shake the field — while still a student.

What student could possibly refuse?

Still, Jenny seemed rather taken aback by the offer.

”Me? Why me, specifically?”

”It isn’t my field, and Miss Charlotte has no interest. Among us, Miss Jenny is the one best suited to reap that reward — and frankly, I’d feel less bitter about it if she did.”

Giving away the title of first discoverer outright, just like that, was a waste.

But forcing Charlotte into it when she clearly didn’t care wasn’t an option either.

So he’d settled for putting the name of Charlotte’s friend on it, at least.

If he couldn’t have it himself, better a close acquaintance than a stranger.

”Charlotte — what do you think?”

”I have no interest in research either, but I’d much rather Jenny take my discovery than someone I barely know.”

”Miss Jenny, as for me—”

He tilted his wine glass toward her with a slight tilt.

”I have no objections. This is a fruit that rightfully belongs to you. You provided the clue to Charlotte when she was still unaware that germs existed, and your contribution to Charlotte’s work throughout this case has been considerable. It seems to me that Miss Jenny’s name should be the one to appear as discoverer.”

Perhaps because the offer felt so thoroughly undeserved.

Jenny’s eyes seemed to spin.

After a moment, she gave a slow nod.

”I... I understand. I’ll do it.”

”Congratulations, Miss Jenny.”

”Congratulations.”

Clink.

Their wine glasses met.

They drained them in one go.

As Yulian tipped the wine back, he studied Jenny quietly.

The way she savored the wine — with eyes tinged somewhere between cynicism and resignation.

***

Several more days passed.

In the meantime, Yulian had looked into Jenny on his own.

Jenny Raylick.

The adopted daughter of Diocesan Head Raymond Raylick, and Gregor’s biological younger sister.

’When she was introduced as Charlotte’s roommate, I wasn’t sure — but I’m the Watson, which means Jenny can’t be the Watson role either.’

That was precisely when he had found out she was Gregor’s younger sister.

He hadn’t even needed to investigate.

— ”This is a photograph of this one’s younger sister — would the Lord Saint care to see it?”

The man who called himself her older brother was so thoroughly incapable of shutting up.

One didn’t need to ask. You simply knew.

The moment he learned that, he understood exactly what kind of character she was.

’Gregor’s younger sister, hm...’

Look at those eyes, saturated with world-weariness.

Look at those shoulders, worn down with exhaustion.

It didn’t take much imagination to guess what role she had played in the original work.

’She’d have been the poor younger sister who had to keep food on the table for a brother who couldn’t leave the house.’

And bringing both her and her older brother back to something resembling normal — that would have been the role of the protagonist. Himself.

The moment he understood his role, he moved quickly.

She was Charlotte’s friend, after all. If there were problems, the right thing to do was address them as they arose.

That was why he had called Jenny here alone today.

”Thank you for the invitation. Charlotte is in the middle of another investigation, so I came by myself today.”

”That’s perfectly fine. I had something I wanted to ask you alone, in any case.”

”Me?”

Yulian regarded Jenny in silence.

”Is there a particular reason you’re so fond of Miss Charlotte?”

”Pardon?”

”Miss Jenny is well-known to many people within the Academy, yet it seems you keep only to Miss Charlotte’s side.”

”Could it be jealousy?”

”Would you believe me if I said yes?”

Pfft.

Jenny let out a short laugh.

”I’m joking. There’s no particular reason — I’ll tell you straight. I like Charlotte because she isn’t someone who’s ruled by luck.”

”Luck?”

”Yes. Luck.”

Jenny suddenly reached into the folds of her clothing and produced a notebook.

”It’s something I’ve felt throughout my life — the world runs more on luck than effort. You become a healer by luck. You get adopted into a good family by luck.”

”You think everything is coincidence?”

”Not everything, but many things. And of those... I happen to be someone unusually lucky.”

She was scribbling something in the notebook.

”That’s why I like Charlotte. She turns all my coincidences into something inevitable.”

”It sounds like you’re not fond of coincidence.”

”Too much luck. It gets tiresome after a while. Spoiled talk, isn’t it?”

”No.”

He shook his head.

”I understand completely. I’m someone luck has favored too.”

”Pardon?”

I’m someone whose outcomes have been shaped by luck more than my ability warrants.

Not that I think I lack ability.

It’s simply that the way I’ve been overestimated — that’s purely a matter of luck.

The difference between Jenny and me is that I’ve never felt burdened by the things I enjoy. I’ve simply accepted them.

”When you feel that way, there’s a good method for dealing with it.”

”What kind of method?”

As if he had been waiting for exactly that question, Yulian quietly reached into his pocket and produced two dice.

”Miss Jenny. Are you fond of rolling dice?”