The Wind Calms the Fire - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 27
“You’re Bella Barthol, aren’t you?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“I have a message for pharmacist Ivan Barthol.”
Bella looked taken aback.
“My father has passed away. It’s been quite some time now.”
“I see. My condolences, though they come late. Since he’s no longer with us, I’ll pass the message to his child instead.”
“Please, come inside.”
They entered a small log cabin.
As Bella moved to prepare tea, Lea spoke up.
“I’ll deliver my message and leave immediately. Come, sit here.”
Once Bella had settled at the table, Lea handed over the package of medicinal materials she’d brought.
Bella opened it and examined the contents, her eyes narrowing with confusion as she looked up at Lea.
“This is Dustflower.”
“It’s the key ingredient in the Waterborne Fever Cure.”
Bella froze, her eyes widening.
Waterborne Fever was a waterborne plague that swept across the entire continent, and its mortality rate was devastating.
The only treatment formula that had managed to improve survival rates even slightly was the one developed by the Barthol Family.
Yet even that had failed to conquer the disease entirely.
Bella’s grandfather had dedicated his entire life to researching a cure for Waterborne Fever after losing a young daughter to it.
His passion had been inherited by his son.
Bella’s father, too, had poured the family fortune and his own health into completing his father’s work.
Two generations of obsession and effort had yielded nothing but crushing failure.
Yet Bella herself was unmistakably a Barthol, and could not escape the same pull.
She was now in the third generation, pouring all her efforts into the continuing research.
“This is impossible. Dustflower has already been combined with countless other medicinal materials and failed every time. All the records are in my inheritance. Grandfather and Father could not have made an error.”
“Of course they wouldn’t have. They simply never discovered how to use Dustflower properly. You don’t dry it. You extract the juice from the fresh plant and hold it at a certain temperature—foam will rise to the surface. That’s what you must use.”
“A certain temperature? What range? How long do you need to wait for the foam to appear?”
“That’s what you’ll have to discover, Bella. I’m not a pharmacist.”
Five years from that moment, Bella would complete the Waterborne Fever Cure using Dustflower.
But a merchant consortium that had approached her about partnership stole the formula, and with powerful backers behind them, she had no way to fight back.
So Bella took a bold step and released the cure formula to the world.
This was how Lea knew that the core ingredient was a fermented extract of fresh Dustflower juice.
‘I was foolish and greedy. I betrayed the mission my grandfather and father carried—to make medicine only for the sake of patients. I was punished for letting greed blind me.’
Bella spoke with a look of deep regret.
‘If only I could return to that moment of choice, I would release the cure from the very beginning.’
After releasing the formula, her situation only grew worse.
The consortium craftily spread counterfeit versions of the formula, launching a vicious campaign of misinformation.
No one could tell which formula circulating in the markets was genuine.
In the end, people had no choice but to buy the consortium’s expensive medicines.
Moreover, the fermented extract of fresh Dustflower juice was toxic if mishandled.
Victims began to mount from the fake formulas, and Bella—pointed at and blamed by the people—fled Hecatia in disgrace.
What tormented Bella more than the loss of wealth and reputation was the knowledge that deaths had occurred because of the counterfeit cure.
“Who exactly are you? How am I supposed to know if what you’re saying is true?”
“You’ll know if it’s true once you try it yourself. You’re capable of figuring that much out.”
As Lea stood to leave, Bella called out urgently.
“If this is genuine, why are you giving me such crucial information? What do you want?”
“Once you’ve perfected the cure, what’s your next move?”
“I… I’m not sure.”
“Don’t be tempted by wealth.”
Bella’s gaze wavered.
“Think about what your father would have done if he were still alive, and act accordingly. Find your own answer to what must be done for your family’s honor and your own conscience.”
Lea smiled gently as she spoke.
“You are the sole heir of the Barthol Family and the daughter of Ivan Barthol, after all.”
After the strangers left, Bella sat motionless for a long time.
She felt stung by being treated as mercenary, but shame at having her true nature read so plainly soon washed over her.
Bang, bang—someone knocked on the door from outside.
“Bella.”
When she opened it, a familiar middle-aged man stood in the doorway.
“Move aside. I need to bring something in.”
The middle-aged man dragged in a large sack.
“What is all this?”
“Dustflower.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve already paid for the materials and delivery. You just need to accept it.”
Bella opened the sack. Inside were fresh, undried Dustflowers, packed tightly.
“You don’t know what commotion happened at the market earlier today, do you?”
“What commotion?”
Bella answered perfunctorily, her mind elsewhere.
“Soldiers came barging in, saying they’d confiscate all the medicinal materials in the market in lieu of taxes. But who could have imagined that the Commander-in-Chief would happen to be there at that very moment? The moment he spoke, everyone was trembling like leaves. And let me tell you, I saw him right in front of my eyes. His bearing was imposing, his frame robust. The instant I laid eyes on him, I knew he was no ordinary man.”
The middle-aged man proceeded to elaborate at length on what he’d witnessed, embellishing his account with exaggerated flourishes.
“A noblewoman who was with him purchased these. She said to deliver them here.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“How would I know? She was traveling with the Commander-in-Chief, so she must be someone of rank. Well, I should be going.”
“Thank you, sir. It was kind of you to come all this way.”
After the man left, Bella fingered the Dustflowers in the sack.
‘Information and materials. I have everything. If I can’t accomplish something with this, I’m unworthy of the Barthol name.’
She lifted her head with fierce determination.
First, she needed to verify whether the information from this mysterious noblewoman was genuine.
She rolled up her sleeves with vigor.
* * *
The conference room of the City Administrator’s residence.
The Commander-in-Chief sat in the seat where the City Administrator normally presided.
The City Administrator sat beside him, his expression troubled, while across the table sat a captain of the tax collection unit and an inspector dispatched from the Finance Ministry.
Around the table where they sat, the Commander-in-Chief’s personal guard knights had assembled, standing in a circle that pressed in upon them.
The oppressive weight radiating from the knights in Black Armor hung heavy over the conference room.
Carrion glanced at the Finance Minister Authorization before him and spoke.
“Where in this authorization does it say that without the Emperor’s consent, the Commander-in-Chief’s jurisdiction can be violated and private homes can be plundered?”
“Your Highness. It is not plunder, but lawful tax collection……”
Bang!
Carrion struck the table, and the inspector making excuses flinched, his shoulders drawing up.
“His Imperial Majesty has publicly declared that he will treat all Imperial Subjects equally, whether from Annexed Nations or Subject Territories. If taxes are in arrears, the proper legal procedure according to imperial law should be followed. Yet soldiers were sent in to plunder by force? Is this the conduct of a tax collector? What difference is there from a bandit?”
“Your Highness, your words are too severe. We are acting under orders from the First Prince. If you, Your Highness, command the northeastern army as Commander-in-Chief, then the First Prince commands the empire’s finances as Minister of the Treasury. He merely exercises the authority granted to him. The military cooperation was a matter requested of the garrison commander.”
Cedric glared at the inspector.
To think—a mere bureaucrat daring to talk back to a prince who was rebuking him for wrongdoing.
The fool took courage from his backing by the First Prince.
Carrion’s lips twisted slightly as he spoke.
“So you wish to test whose authority—mine or the First Prince’s—overrides the other, and by how much? Do you think I would shy from settling this matter? If this becomes public, I will make certain your name is mentioned.”
The inspector’s face paled, and he fell silent.
“City Administrator.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Send the soldiers back to their garrison.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“This matter concerns authority, so I must look into it. As it happens, I am heading to the Capital now.”
The color drained from the faces of both the captain and the inspector.
“Those two will be detained and kept under guard until the investigation is complete, on suspicion of mobilizing troops without authority and disturbing the peace.”
“Your Highness!”
“We were executing our duties!”
Ignoring their cries, Carrion signaled his guard with a tilt of his chin.
“Take them away.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The guard knights immediately escorted the two men from the room.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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