I Won’t Let the Execution Battalion Die, ~Even If the Empire Falls, We Want to Survive~ - Chapter 60: The Rebellious Young Lady Won't Stop ②

Lying comfortably on the fluffy bed, I gazed blankly at the plate on the table.

“That was delicious…”

The dinner brought to me had been superb. The lamb sauté with some delicious sauce was especially excellent. I didn’t know what sauce it was, but it had a deep, rich flavor.

“Riesha has it good.”

In a world without refrigerators, unprocessed meat was precious. Was it okay for prisoner food to be this luxurious?

I’d like to be detained for about a week at this rate.

Unfortunately, no alcohol was served. I thought a little liqueur would be fine.

Come to think of it, I’d put a small bottle of brandy in my medical bag. It was medicine for revival and also used for disinfection. But since I’d left the medical bag with Second Lieutenant Crimine, I couldn’t drink it anyway.

When I was thinking of negotiating with the guard for some wine, the door was knocked and guards entered.

“What is it?”

“You can do doctor-like things too, right?”

An elderly guard asked confirmingly. With Imperial Army officer-like designs here and there, he was probably the guards’ leader.

I sat up from the bed and nodded.

“I received formal internal medicine education partway through.”

“Oh, that’s good. Sorry, but could you secretly examine about three guards? They seem to have gotten sick from alcohol, but something’s strange about their condition.”

Not really something to ask a prisoner, right?

“I hate to say this, but is it okay for me to examine them?”

“Lowly servants like us rarely get to see doctors. Especially when we took liberties drinking on duty—we really can’t tell the young master.”

“Is it okay to have a prisoner do examinations?”

“The young master told us to treat you as a guest. We can’t let you outside the room, but you’re not exactly a prisoner.”

The guards seemed like a laid-back bunch.

Even soldiers like us in rear service weren’t very military-like, but I felt a similar atmosphere from these guys. Since only allies were around them, everything was probably different from frontline soldiers.

“Understood—if they’re servants at Gabadeli’s family home, I can’t treat them poorly either. But house calls are impossible, right?”

“Right. We really can’t let you out from here, so we’re having patients carried on stretchers.”

“Then line them up on the floor there.”

Probably Second Lieutenant Crimine had used king oyster mushrooms. I didn’t know much about king oyster mushrooms from my previous life, but king oyster mushrooms in this world had quite different toxicity by region. Like digitalis, crude drugs had large variations in component content.

I’d selected particularly potent ones, so even drinking a little alcohol should knock them flat.

“This way, carry them gently.”

“Big guys are hard to carry.”

Chattering noisily, the guards entered and lined up patients before me. All three looked miserable.

“F-feel sick… cold… dizzy…”

“Nauseous but… can’t vomit…”

“Help me…”

I encouraged the patients in military doctor fashion.

“You endured well. I’ll do something about it, so hang on just a bit more.”

I loosened their constricting uniforms to make them comfortable. …Oh?

“So how is it?”

When the man from earlier who seemed to be guard captain asked worriedly, I held up one hand to stop him while staring at the patients.

“Wait, diagnosis first. Chief complaints are chills, dizziness, and nausea? Seems there’s sweating too.”

Since I knew the cause, playing doctor was easy. Taking pulses, running pen across notepad while nodding thoughtfully.

“To confirm the diagnosis—this really isn’t just simple overdrinking?”

When I asked the guard captain-like person, he nodded.

“Three of them opened about half a wine bottle and ended up like this. These guys usually keep straight faces even finishing a whole bottle alone.”

“About one glass per person? Certainly strange.”

It was enough alcohol to get people with virtually no alcohol tolerance dead drunk, but Imperials were generally stronger with alcohol compared to previous life Japanese. I was too. Happy to drink lots of alcohol.

Oops, never mind that—examination first.

“Is there any actual wine?”

“Here.”

Impressive for guards—no oversights. It appeared quickly. Heh, eight years old… looks delicious.

“Hmm.”

I gazed at the wine with a difficult expression, staring intently at sediment at the bottle’s bottom.

“If alcohol’s the cause, drinking it should produce the same symptoms.”

Still looking serious, I poured into a cup and gulped it down. Wow, delicious. This is it. They should have served this at dinner.

“H-hey!?”

The guards panicked, but I continued drinking wine regardless.

“You gentlemen are on duty, right? I’m not. So tasting for poison is my job.”

From among the guards came a mutter of “drunkard quack doctor…” but I completely ignored it.

I’d always wanted to try being a drunkard quack doctor once.

“Now, before symptoms appear, let’s eliminate possibilities other than wine. Was there nothing else consumed?”

The guard captain from earlier asked his subordinates at his feet.

“Uh… what was it? Were there snacks or something?”

“D-dried stuff… mushrooms…”

Correct answer. Well done, Second Lieutenant Crimine.

“The actual item?”

“None… ate it all…”

It was delicious after all.

The shivering patient still tried to convey information.

“Gaba… Gaba…”

Stop, I almost burst out laughing.

“Deli… My lady…”

I desperately held back laughter, mainly for Second Lieutenant Crimine’s honor.

Another guard groaned painfully:

“My lady ate them too, but nothing happened…”

“Then that’s different? No, maybe I should confirm just in case. Could you bring her here?”

I hoped to rendezvous and exchange information, but the guards naturally shook their heads.

“That’s impossible. We don’t have authority to bring her out. Besides, she is your accomplice, right?”

“That’s true too. Well, if something happens, the family doctor will examine her. Then let’s ignore the dried goods possibility for now.”

Extremely logically completed misdiagnosis. I’d become a drunkard quack doctor.

“So far, I show no symptoms from drinking wine. This means we need to suspect other causes.”

“Other causes?”

The guards exchanged glances, so I nodded with a plausible expression.

“Diseases that spread from person to person, called things like ‘caregiver killers.'”

Since Imperial language didn’t yet have the word “infectious disease,” I substituted with descriptions from medical books.

“Symptoms also appear in those attending nearby patients. Colds are that type, but many diseases lead to death.”

Things like rhinovirus and norovirus apparently existed in this world too. I didn’t know if they were the same things.

“With this type of disease, if patients keep increasing, it becomes unmanageable. Isolation and observation for now. Better to return them to their rooms for rest. From what I see, their conditions seem stable.”

Since Company Commander Yugi who’d procured the king oyster mushrooms had said disappointedly “no matter what, they won’t die from this,” they’d probably recover if left alone.

Even when executing Lord Grien, this had been considered a backup plan.

Meanwhile, told they might also be affected, the guards immediately began panicking.

“Hey hurry, hurry.”

“I get it, but this is the fourth floor. We can’t drop these guys down the stairs.”

The guards left bustling with panic.

“Sorry, uh, was it Fonkt-san? We’re in your debt.”

“Don’t worry about it—I was bored anyway.”

Then the guard captain told me apologetically:

“Please keep this matter confidential from the young master.”

“That’s a lot of requests.”

“I’ll repay the debt someday.”

“If that ‘someday’ comes.”

I raised my hand lightly and smiled wryly.

The door was locked with a click. Comfortable confinement life again.

But it seemed Second Lieutenant Crimine had started moving, so I should start moving too.

I took out a paper figure from my pocket—something that had been tucked in a patient’s clothes.

“Cute little thing.”

After opening the paper figure and checking the memo, I drained the remaining wine and put on my jacket.

You’ve become reliable, my partner.