I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel - Chapter 89

Episode 89. Golden Rings Around the Eyes (1)

Back in my undergraduate days, I remembered a medical class I half-listened to while playing on my phone, taught by a white-haired old professor.

It was a class about neurotoxins.

1692, America. The Salem witch trials.

It’s been treated in academia and popular culture as a prime example of pre-modern barbarity, of the terror of mass hysteria and mob mentality.

Often known as a savage event where innocent people were branded as witches and killed in absurd ways, some have proposed different theories. Ergot poisoning.

The full story, as the new theory suggests, went like this: not simply mob mentality, but a complex explanation mixing medicine and geography.

When rye is infected with ergot fungus, a black fungus grows on the ears. Called “ergot” because it looks like horns growing on barley.

Ergot contains several kinds of toxins.

One is called ergotamine, a toxin that can cause vasoconstriction. In large amounts, it can cause numbness, even gangrene.

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But, it seems unlikely that the people of the duchy ate that much rye.

There are other grains, why would they eat so much ergot-contaminated rye? Maybe just a meal or two a long time ago.

They probably ate a little and that was it. There was no sign of gangrene, after all. Anyway, ergotamine isn’t the only toxin in ergot.

There are also several neurotoxins, and one that even the average person knows the name of.

Lysergic acid diethylamide.

A substance more commonly known as LSD.

So. Because of ergot’s hallucinogenic properties, people were deluded into thinking they were cursed by a witch, and because of ergot’s vasoconstriction, gangrene occurred, causing fingers to fall off.

And that’s why the witch hunt started.

This explains everything. The reason for the original Salem witch trials, and the curse that has befallen the Cerulis dukedom in the last few weeks.

Those most susceptible to ergot poisoning were young women with relatively small builds, weak immune systems, and who were relatively timid.

This explains why the symptoms only appeared in the duke’s maids and three daughters. And why they experienced a variety of symptoms like hallucinations and seizures.

It all fits.

Maybe there was a bit of mob mentality involved too.

“It’s ergot poisoning.”

“What’s ergot?”

Istina’s eyes widened.

“It’s what grows when grain gets infected with ergot. Usually, it attaches to the ear like a horn, and if you eat it, it’s a poison that causes hallucinations or convulsions.”

If you’re lucky, it might be mentioned in some herbal textbook. Though, I don’t know for sure.

“That could actually be it!”

The hallucinations and symptoms caused by ergot poisoning, that’s what led to the current chain of mass hysteria and ghost sightings. It’s already autumn now…

The ergot-contaminated rye, and the direct effects of the ergot toxin are likely all gone. All that’s left is to explain this to the people in the manor.

There’s no physiological illness now, and the fundamental cause of the hallucinations, convulsions, and confusion is the ergot-contaminated rye harvested in spring.

This, combined with complex factors like stress within the manor, led to the peculiar situation of this mass hysteria. That’s the conclusion.

It was a very long and confusing deduction.

“But… can we prove this?”

“I don’t know. We might be able to find some ergot-contaminated rye, or we might not.”

The ergot-contaminated rye would have been harvested in spring, so it’s likely that it’s all been eaten or thrown away. Still, let’s make an effort to find it.

The deduction was over, now all we had to do was find the ergot-contaminated rye and the situation would be resolved. We went back to find the butler, who had returned to his work.

“Mr. Anderson.”

“Ah, shall I prepare dinner?”

“No, that’s not why we’re here. Do you have any rye harvested from the spring in the manor right now?”

He looked like he was wondering what the deal with the rye was. Anderson thought about it for a bit before answering.

“Well, I suppose there probably is some.”

“Can we see it?”

“The rye?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, I’ll see.”

But how does ergot actually look?

I only know what kind of poison ergot has, but I’ve never seen it directly in reality.

They said it looks like a horn. If I search, I should find it, right? A few minutes later. Anderson came back from the storeroom behind the kitchen with a sack of rye.

“It’s almost all gone. There’s barely any left.”

Still, it’s lucky that there’s even a little left.

“We need to look for ergot in the rye. Ergot poisoning could be what caused the illness.”

“Huh, is the illness because of the rye?”

“That’s what we’re thinking right now.”

We don’t know for sure yet.

Me, Istina, and the butler. The three of us sat down and scanned the pile of rye. There definitely should be a structure that could be called a horn, right?

“What does it look like?”

“A black horn.”

“I’ll let you know if I find it.”

And time passed like that.

“Ah!”

Istina shouted.

“Found something?”

“I think it’s this.”

Istina showed me a black grain, about the size of a fingernail. Looks like this is ergot.

It was a black grain, much larger than other rye grains. The shape was long and horn-like too.

Apparently, since this grows from the grain’s ear, people in pre-modern times didn’t think it was anything other than grain. They must have just thought it was a strangely shaped rye grain, these people too.

“We found it.”

The root of this whole mess.

Istina and I were impressed. But the butler, standing next to us, was staring at us with a look that said, “What the hell are you two talking about?”

Right, we haven’t explained anything to Anderson yet. We’ll have to explain it to the butler too.

We moved back to the living room. Istina carefully pocketed the ergot. I sat down again facing Mr. Anderson.

“So. This ergot thing can cause hallucinations and seizures, and the young ladies seeing ghosts, having fits, it’s all because of this?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“Oh dear. Are they in a lot of pain?”

I don’t think so.

“No. They should be fine once they get some counseling and avoid contaminated rye from now on.”

“It’s a relief they’ll get better. But what do you mean by counseling…?”

This is hard to explain. It’s tricky to explain in detail without calling it a sham illness.

“Um. It means that psychological stress can worsen symptoms like seizures, fits, and headaches. And since they’ve been seeing hallucinations.”

“Oh, that must be it, then.”

Thankfully, I got past it without needing to bring up the faking illness. The butler, maybe he’s more naive than I thought.

“But, do we have to worry about ergot every year?”

“It’s highly unlikely to happen again next year.”

Ergot only grows under specific conditions.

It’s not something you can just make grow every year.

If growing ergot was easy, criminals would have set up LSD farms by now. I’ve seen in the news about people secretly growing poppies or cannabis, but never someone growing ergot.

It’s difficult.

Even though the mystery was solved, the butler’s expression was still dark. Why is that?

“I see…”

“What’s worrying you?”

“I know it’s selfish, but I feel like I bear some responsibility here.”

Anyway, most of the symptoms those kids are showing are just them faking. How can I take responsibility for a disaster no one could have predicted?

“I’ll speak to the Duke, I’ll handle it.”

“Thank you.”

More than that, I’m wondering how much I should say about the faking illness. Should I tell the staff, definitively that it’s mostly a farce?

Or is it better to just gloss over it? The ‘patients’ would definitely prefer the latter.

I could just say there were a few unhealthy things around the mansion, and the illness was caused by ergot, and just leave it at that.

“Bottom line. The Duke’s children should be fine soon. Just need to get rid of some of the unhealthy things around the house.”

The butler nodded.

I opened my mouth again.

“More than that. There’s one more thing I need to say.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t think ergot poisoning is limited to just the three princesses. I suspect it might be worse among the servants.”

The butler didn’t answer right away. Something to think about, I guess.

“Bring anyone who’s sick to me later. Let’s go see the third princess for now.”

It was a bit of a long process, but mostly resolved. We came to see the third princess of the Duke’s family.

The first and second princesses, it turned out, were just faking it, so wouldn’t the third be faking too?

“This is the room of the third young lady, where we were headed before. The third young lady has been sick the longest.”

“Let’s see. Where does it hurt?”

“I don’t know exactly either. You should ask her.”

The previous two definitely had places that hurt, so is this different? The third daughter’s door was tightly shut as well.

The name on the door plaque read Erzsébet.

Knock knock knock. I started by knocking on the door.

“May I come in-“

Huh, that’s weird. The door opened on its own, and I made eye contact with the third princess, Erzsébet.

Unlike the previous two, she opened the door herself. The way Erzsébet looks –

Actually, could she be a cat demihuman? Her eyes were so big. Around her pale blue pupils were golden rings encircling them.

Huh, that’s weird. Golden rings?

“Shit, you scared me.”

That can’t be. There’s no way all the deductions I’ve made so far could be wrong. This is strange.

“Is something the matter?”

“Let’s talk.”

A golden ring encircling the pupil. A doctor would know immediately what disease it is. I get it now. Everyone in this mansion, every single one of them, has been trying to deceive me.