The Reincarnated Transcendent Wants to Fill the Hole in Their Chest - Episode 6: The Death Disease

Episode 6: The Death Disease

“Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.” “Adept-sama.”

Voices crying out for salvation came rushing toward him.

Konoe stepped back, overwhelmed.

What is this? he thought.

He felt his cheek twitch. While he didn’t feel any threat from them, he was clearly flustered.

They climbed the stairs. They were drawing closer and closer.

Konoe took another step back, then another.

…No, really, what do I even do about this?

Confused, Konoe scratched his twitching cheek—

At that moment.

“…?”

Konoe suddenly noticed something. He had seen a familiar color.

It was red. The color of bl00d.

And dyed in that color was a small silhouette—a child—being swallowed by the crowd.

“…Please, move aside a little.”

Konoe acted on instinct. He headed toward the place where he had seen the bl00d.

Pushing through the crowd carefully.

“—Uh… aah… *cough*…”

There, he found a girl groaning in pain.

Golden hair, pointed ears. She was an elven girl.

She was crouched halfway up the stairs, coughing up bl00d.

So much bl00d had been vomited that her clothes and the stairs were soaked in red.

Konoe gently lifted her up and pulled her out of the crowd—

“…This is… terrible.”

“…ah… u…”

He looked at the girl in his arms—and caught his breath slightly.

Because that girl was—

“…The death disease, huh.”

—Her entire body was starting to rot.

End-stage death disease.

Her limbs were dark red and black, festering and eroded. They hung limp as if she had no strength left.

Her eyes were unfocused—she was likely almost blind already.

The bl00d she coughed up was due to her lungs being eaten away. Bl00d built up inside her. And she was barely managing to expel it—only for it to fill again, in a repeating cycle.

She was literally on the verge of death.

It wouldn’t be strange if she drew her last breath in the next few seconds. That’s how dire her condition was.

Why is she in a place like this and not in bed?—

He didn’t even need to think about it.

She came seeking treatment.

…Because an Adept can cure death disease.

“…Ugh… aah… ah?”

The elf girl groaned. She looked to be in her early or mid-teens.

Though she was of a long-lived race, she was still probably just a child.

(……Still, death disease…)

Konoe’s mind briefly recalled the price list he’d been handed earlier—

But he quickly shook his head.

Of course he couldn’t consider anything other than treating her in this situation.

After all, even if it was on impulse, Konoe had already picked her up.

To then throw her aside without helping her—he couldn’t do that as a person.

If he were going to abandon her, he shouldn’t have picked her up in the first place.

(…Treatment here is… not possible. I’ll have to go back.)

So Konoe—ignoring the people around him who were too desperate to care—turned on his heel.

And as he climbed the stairs, he cast healing magic on the girl.

The spell didn’t have enough power to cure the death disease completely.

The disease had progressed too far to be healed so easily.

He would need to treat her in a more stable environment.

Still, if he didn’t do anything while carrying her, she might die along the way.

“…ah… uu? …Adept-sama?”

“Yeah.”

Perhaps thanks to the healing, the girl let out a faint, but coherent voice.

Konoe responded as he passed through the gate. He was making sure not to jostle her—but still hurrying.

Along the way, he locked eyes with one of the gate guards.

…The guard said nothing.

But Konoe felt like the man was saying, “That was quick.”

Which, well, he wasn’t wrong.

He’d just been sent out by the instructor and the gods. And here he was coming back already—it wasn’t a great look.

…Well, the instructor might complain, but the gods would probably just smile warmly and say, “Welcome back.”

“…Adept-sama… please…”

“…I’ll heal you. Don’t worry.”

Konoe passed through the gate and the courtyard quickly. It was as if to flee the guard’s gaze.

Where’s an open treatment room at this hour?—he wondered when—

“—Ah… Adept-sama!”

“…?”

At that moment, someone suddenly grabbed Konoe’s arm.

Startled, he looked at the girl in his arms—and their eyes met. Her gaze was now filled with a strong will.

This was the same girl who just moments ago couldn’t even move.

This girl, suffering from death disease and on the verge of death.

Her face darkened by the disease. Bl00d was dripping from the corners of her mouth—

But she opened her eyes wide and looked directly at Konoe.

“Adept-sama… please… the town… *cough*… my town…”

“…?”

…The town? Not herself?

Konoe was puzzled.

He tilted his head, and the girl desperately forced out her words.

“…Please… please… my town… *cough*… without Adept-sama’s… we…”

She pleaded through the bl00d she vomited.

Desperately. Like a scream.

And with each scream, more bl00d surged from her mouth—

Konoe panicked.

“…Calm down.”

“No! No! *cough* *cough*”

He tried to soothe her—

But she wouldn’t stop shouting.

And all the while, her body continued to break down.

She was still in critical condition.

While Konoe’s healing spell had helped a little, she was still hanging by a thread.

One wrong move, and she could die at any moment.

And yet, the girl screamed at him. It was as if she didn’t care.

“How… how could I possibly be calm!? *cough* At this rate… please! Adept-sama!”

“If you don’t calm down, it’ll get worse.”

“My body… *cough*… doesn’t matter… please, please!”

She struggled in his arms.

Konoe held her tighter so she wouldn’t fall—confused.

Why was this girl still shouting? How could she even do that?

Konoe stared at her—not for what she said, but because of *her*.

—Because this girl was currently experiencing pain no different from hell.

Konoe knew it.

End-stage death disease.

A rotting body… and a decaying soul.

Pain so unbearable it drives even grown men insane.

Konoe had seen many patients break mentally during his training in the past.

He knew the death disease.

And that’s why he was so confused.

All the other end-stage patients he had seen before had been unable to move from the agony.

“I’ll do anything… anything… so please… please…”

“…”

Tears streamed down her face as she clung to him desperately.

And Konoe—

“—Oh, you’re back already.”

“…Instructor.”

At that moment, the instructor appeared at the entrance of the academy.

He glanced at the girl in Konoe’s arms.

“If you’re looking for a treatment room, one is open. Use it freely.”

“…Thank you.”

The instructor handed him a key.

Konoe accepted it with thanks—

…Hmm? *Open*, not *available*?

Konoe caught the odd phrasing and looked back at the instructor.

The instructor gave a wry smile at the questioning look.

“Don’t worry. This always happens.”

“…?”

“That welcome crowd—it’s something every Adept goes through. When someone new is appointed, a crowd gathers. They’re hoping that maybe—just maybe—they’ll be saved.”

Those people there—

They were the ones who had no money. The instructor explained.

They couldn’t afford the standard costs.

So they came, clinging to one last shred of hope.

“Of course, many just ignore them. But some—those moved by emotion, wanting to do something as their first act—help one or two people. That’s why we always keep a room available.”

“…..”

“This is the reality of the world. There just aren’t enough Adepts.”

◆

In this world, dungeons sometimes go into ‘overflow’.

An overflow occurs when an evil core known as a “miasma core” forms within a dungeon. And it won’t end until that core is destroyed.

During an overflow, miasma and monsters pour out from the dungeon entrance.

And those who breathe in the miasma become infected with the death disease.

As its name implies, it’s a disease that is certain death if untreated.

The time from onset to death is about thirty days.

Symptoms begin at the extremities, and the body gradually rots.

In the end, even the soul decays.

The pain is so extreme that many end their own lives before the disease kills them.

Prevention is possible with medicine—but it’s not perfect.

Even if one takes the drug, long exposure to miasma will eventually lead to infection.

And once the disease sets in, there are only two ways to cure it:

A costly Elixir, or healing from an Adept.

Both have the power to rebuild the body from the ground up.

Anything less can’t cure the death disease.

…That’s the nature of the death disease.

It’s been around since thousands of years ago, ever since the evil god created dungeons.

People of this world have fought it ever since.

But despite all their research, there’s no hope of overcoming it through conventional means.

They can’t even destroy the source—dungeons are too vast to conquer.

So, as a countermeasure, they’ve begun summoning people from other worlds to advance mechanization.

—Everyone living in this world fears the death disease.

The dungeon spreads deep underground in this world. And its entrances exist in various places all over the world. And once an overflow occurs, it scatters miasma and monsters, polluting the entire surrounding area. There are no signs. A village that was living peacefully until yesterday might be invaded by miasma and ravaged by monsters today.

That’s why Adepts are always in short supply. Konoe is the 9,120th Adept—but that’s the number in the whole world. In this country, there are at most only a few dozen.

The other method of treatment, the medicine Elixir, cannot be mass-produced. And it hardly circulates.

Each country is making efforts to increase the number of Adepts. But it was with little success.

In the first place, it’s difficult to obtain a powerful enough blessing to challenge becoming an Adept. And even among those few who try, 90% break mentally within a year. Enduring the intense training requires something beyond talent—something that doesn’t break…

It is not a trial that can be overcome by someone forced into it. That’s why Adepts are promised enormous rewards and privileges.

There are few obligations, and it’s a free life—one that everyone envies, one that makes people want to face the trial willingly.

—The reason why desires such as Konoe’s “drugged slave harem” are laughed off and forgiven is also because of that.

◆

Konoe looks at the instructor. The person who, 25 years ago on that day, said it was for the sake of the world and brought Konoe to the school.

The meaning of those words from that day, Konoe now feels them anew.

“…For now, I’ll borrow the treatment room.”

“Yeah, use it as you like.”

But more than that, there was something that had to be done first. The dying girl in his arms. No matter how he looked at it, she was the higher priority.

Konoe received the key from the instructor and was about to take the girl to the room when—

“—Adept-sama!”

The girl had gone quiet the moment the instructor appeared. Now she began to struggle again in his arms.

Konoe restrained her with both arms.

“If you struggle, it’ll only get worse.”

“My body… doesn’t matter!”

Soaked in bl00d, the girl shouted at Konoe from close range.

With a body that looked like there wasn’t a single unharmed part, she desperately cried out.

…Wait, saying her body doesn’t matter?

If it was just a joke, that’d be one thing, but how can someone with a rotting body say that?

“…You are…”

“There’s no time! Our town… guh… is on the verge of destruction!”

The girl shouted. She was struggling even to catch her breath.

Konoe quickly cast healing magic on her back—

—But, a town on the verge of destruction? No time?

Those were far from peaceful words. He had intended to treat her first. But maybe talking should take priority—Konoe thought.

“A town? …Which town?”

“Silménia! …At the foot of Killrean, part of the Minea range, the town of Silménia!”

He asked, and the girl shouted back—Konoe recalled a piece of information.

Killrean—he remembered hearing about that place.

“…The large-scale dungeon overflow the other day.”

Konoe had heard that overflows had occurred simultaneously in multiple places in a remote marquisate.

Because it was so large-scale and the miasma had spread widely, there were not nearly enough Adepts. That’s why recruitment had even extended to the Adepts who usually stayed at the academy—and aside from exceptions like the instructor, who had special roles, everyone had headed there.

…However, at the time, Konoe was still just a final candidate. So he hadn’t heard the full details.

“…Was it really a situation where the town might be destroyed?”

“It is exactly that… We were abandoned.”

—In other words, it was just as the instructor had explained earlier.

Compared to the size of this world, the number of Adepts is far too small. No Adept had been sent to the girl’s town.

The girl explained. The town—Silménia—was swallowed by miasma 15 days ago. They used preventive medicine. But now, all 5,000 residents are afflicted by the deadly illness and suffering. They’re also surrounded by monsters, and no one knows when the barrier will break.

That’s why, there’s no time to waste—she shouted.

While coughing up bl00d. As her rotting skin tore open and bled. Standing at death’s door, yet she still stared directly at Konoe.

Konoe caught his breath at the sight of her desperate figure.

“Adept-sama, please, our town…! Even now, our people continue to suffer!”

“—”

“Please, please… If you would grant this, then this body of mine shall bloom at your side like a holy flower… ah—*guhbuh*…”

…But then, the girl coughed up a chunk of bl00d.

Her words were cut off. Strength drained from her hands. Her life force rapidly faded from her body—

“Ah…de…pt…sama…”

“…You…”

—Even so, the light in the girl’s eyes did not disappear.

She only looked into Konoe’s eyes, never averting her gaze.

…To such a girl, Konoe said—

“…Understood. I’ll accept.”

While increasing the output of the healing magic, he nodded.

And then, said—so please stop pushing yourself.

Before he knew it, he had said that. It was in response to the strength of her will.