***
Usually, Barbara could regulate it and hold herself back from looking depressed but not today. It was simply impossible.
The negative feelings she had been holding inside of her, her whole life were spilling out right at this important moment.
"I mean, I've met you before and I can say for sure that you are hella cute! Just like your older sister. This is just a moment some people have to go through. You know, it's not love unless you care for someone at their worst, right? Or something along this lines...This is only a one-time thing!"
"Lo....ve....?"
She gazed up at him. She had to admit he was making nice promises.
The boy in front of her was unlike the others who looked at her with disgust and abandoned her...
The maids and the doctors that came here were all useless and gave up on her, leaving her with no will to live. But he was different.
Forcing his fingers inside of her mouth to prevent her from ending her own life, bearing the pain from her bites that were desperately trying to get to the source to end herself.
Despite all of that, he gazed at her with a warm look when she looked so pathetic and disgusting.
Yes, it was like that. Both her sister and man in front of her were different from the others.
Her sister showed worry and blamed herself for what had happened while Yomite gave her a caring look and she could see it in his eyes, the boy has yet to give up on her, so how could she give up on herself?
Splendid dark brown hair. Handsome boy with slightly darker skin and a tattoo over his arm.
Everything about him looked exotic and hot.
She didn't know anything about love, but she could tell he was her type.
Barbara thought that this boy would surely make a lot of women cry in the future.
(To think a guy like this could order my sister and everyone around him as if it was nothing...He had achieved this in a few hours, while I struggled to reach that summit for years...)
Soon enough, maids returned with all kinds of things, from sweet juices to salted water.
"Please drink slowly. It's fine even if you vomit it. Please put it inside your mouth little by little and drink it."
Yomite brought the prepared oral rehydration solution to Barbara's mouth. He was being as gentle as he could be.
It felt like the sweet taste was seeping into her tired and dry throat.
The feeling of Yomite's manly arm that was holding up Barbara's weak shoulders felt liberating to her heart that was freezing with despair.
(──Perhaps I'll really be...saved.)
She had accepted that she would die ugly and shriveled, covered in filth...no, she had no choice but to accept such fate.
But a trickle of tears flowed down her face from the hope and relief that finally arrived.
Barbara drank three of the oral rehydration solutions before she fell into a brief sleep.
***
Ten minutes later.
Jean returned as she finished her task and asked about her sister.
After confirming that she was soundly asleep, and felt much better, Yomite nodded at her and told her to do a few more things to make sure the illness doesn't spread.
"Thank you...Thank you! I'll never forget this debt!"
Once she darted out of the room, Yomite gazed at the exhausted Barbara.
(She has more stamina remaining than I thought. The worst has passed. As long as she has the will to live, everything should go smoothly.)
As long as she was rehydrated adequately, the worst result wouldn't occur as long as her stamina didn't lose against the exhaustion.
From his conversation with Barbara just now, Yomite saw a strong will and determination for living from her, unlike from her first attempt...
He believed that she would recover. She was hesitating at first, even attempted to end her life, but the more she drank the rehydration drink, the bolder she got and her spirit was definitely reignited.
(This woman doesn't wanna lose yet.)
As the maids returned, Yomite gave them more orders.
"Continue rehydrating Bar...Deaconess Barbara when she wakes up. Change the sheet with a new one right now while you can. Don't wash the old sheet and gather it in one place. They have to be incinerated later."
It was said multiple times, but the problem wasn't just Barbara's life.
Cholera had been brought into the city of Mondstadt. They had to take countermeasures so that the infection could be prevented.
There were countless methods that could be taken.
"Please don't let any of the Knights meet Deaconess Barbara for one week even after she gets better. Also, please gather all the maids and doctors who have come into contact with Deaconess Barbara into one room in the Headquarters and don't let them out. Put them into quarantine and observe them!"
Cholera spread far and wide from India until Africa, Europe, and America in the middle of the 19th century. It was a disease with strong infectious capacity that stole the lives of millions.
The death rate wouldn't be that high if the appropriate measures were taken, even so, there would be a lot of people who couldn't be saved when they could only use indirect treatments like oral rehydration solutions.
"If there are people who claim that they have a stomachache, please make them drink water with salt, sugar, and sunsettia juice mixed in just like with Deaconess Barbara. Also, please don't forget to wash your hands each time you enter and exit the room. Don't throw away the gathered diarrhea carelessly. Gather it in one place and burn them all together with the buckets."
There was no longer anyone that was doubting or going against Yomite's words.
The maids and doctors were moving briskly as though it was only natural to obey. Knights got wind of it too and went to help.
Soon enough, even nuns and other people started helping
Everyone was united.
The exaltation from witnessing the moment a fatal disease that they thought to be just a matter of time before death arrived being conquered was granting them a sense of duty and accomplishment.
He had to thank that young maid, Noelle, after everything was over.
She really helped him out with uniting the other unwilling maids.
Because the Acting Grand Master Jean and The Hero of Mondstadt Lumine carried out their tasks swiftly, they were able to avoid the worst situation of the prevalence of Cholera in Mondstadt.
After that, there was an outbreak of Cholera pandemic in the source of the disease which was the village of Springvale.
Ten people have died and the rest were hospitalized.
Jean found the source of the disease to be a small water stream.
It would seem that someone had poisoned it.
She also found traces left by the Abyss Order.
So they knew who the perpetrator was.
Three days later, Barbara had recovered to the degree where she could stand up from the bed.
Everyone starting from Jean patted their chest in relief.
"I don't have enough words of thanks for Yomite...no...Sir Yomite."
"Nah, don't start adding Sir to my name...it makes me sound old, I'm only 17..."
Both of them laughed.
(Although my soul is 25, it's not like I will ever tell that to anyone...Only Lumine knows that because all of her abilities are cheats...)
Barbara had recovered her smile even though she was still lying on the bed.
This wasn't just a fake smile she was used to putting up each morning, this was a genuine radiant smile that came from her heart.
She lowered her head to Yomite with a bashful smile.
It was innocent how she was turning red from the awareness of how Yomite had seen her ugly appearance.
"See, I told you! You are already regaining your beauty! One-time-thing, right?"
"Yes! One-time-thing..."
Yomite sent a lukewarm gaze her way, almost enchanting her.
"Ho-How long should I stay in this... room?"
"One week at the very least. If we want to be on the safe side, then two weeks. If nobody else got sick during that time then we can consider this pandemic to have come to an end."
Cholera didn't spread through droplet or air-borne infection but through oral infection.
Because of that, the infection rate was low unless one's luck was really bad.
Because of the measures that were taken speedily, the number of the infected people in the city of Mondstadt stopped at just six unfortunate souls in the end.
However, among the six people who got attacked by the disease despite endeavoring to wash their hands and sterilizing things by boiling, a name of Yomite Hissha was included...
