"How can you be so sure?"
Shinobu Kocho asked, her voice carrying a faint, subtle hint of a test.
Kuguruma Natsunishi replied, "It's a sixth sense. Do you understand what a sixth sense is?"
"Some people can see with their mind's eye; blindfolding them actually makes them see more clearly."
"Some have a transcendent sense of smell, able not only to distinguish scents but even to smell emotions."
"And then there are those with acute hearing, who can not only hear the voices of others' hearts but even the breathing and thoughts of all things."
Having said that, Kuguruma Natsunishi pointed to his own head, casually making up nonsense with an earnest expression.
"But I am different."
"This is a super-powered sixth sense I obtained by developing the 'universe' within my heart through extremely arduous ascetic training and combat."
"Trust me, Shinobu, there's no doubt about it."
Shinobu sized Kuguruma Natsunishi up with a skeptical gaze. "If you don't want to say, then forget it. Besides, addressing a girl directly by her first name is very rude."
Kuguruma Natsunishi shrugged. "As you wish, Miss Kocho."
To the side, the Storm Hashira sank into deep thought.
So Natsunishi possesses a special constitution...
Recalling Kuguruma Natsunishi's various amazing feats from before, Storm Hashira didn't harbor a single shred of doubt.
Shinobu stared at Kuguruma Natsunishi for a long time.
Then, she let out a soft chuckle. "It seems you are indeed a very special person, just as my sister said."
She put away the glass jar, as well as every bit of her minor dissatisfaction with Kuguruma Natsunishi.
"If it is a Blood Demon Art, then the direction of treatment is completely different."
"We need to find the caster first, or... develop a specialized medicine that can counter the Blood Demon Art."
The group put on the special masks prepared by the Kakushi members and stepped into the small town shrouded in an atmosphere of sorrow.
The streets were empty. Occasionally, a pedestrian wearing a face cloth would hurry past, their eyes full of wariness.
During this period, over a dozen people in the town had already died.
When they met the local doctor, the gray-haired old man nearly collapsed to his knees in despair.
"You must be the doctors from Tokyo!"
"This illness... I am truly powerless against this illness!"
"So many have died. We've tried every prescription, and even the Western medicines brought from the pharmacies have been completely ineffective."
"We can't even figure out how they are catching it."
"Damn it, what kind of strange disease is this!?"
After calming the near-broken old physician, the three were guided by the Kakushi to the back of the clinic.
In the temporarily established isolation area, more than twenty patients lay.
Suppressed coughing sounds rose and fell, while the air was permeated with a foul stench—a mix of suffering and mold.
Shinobu Kocho put on special gloves and began to examine them one by one.
Storm Hashira chose to scout the surroundings for environmental clues, while Kuguruma Natsunishi was assigned to stay in place as both a bodyguard and an assistant to Shinobu.
However, he naturally didn't intend to wait passively for the "plot" to advance.
Instead, he walked up to each patient, trying to see if he could do anything with his [Medical Skills].
To be honest, he utterly loathed this sense of despair that spread like a plague.
It was a sentiment stemming from factors outside the game.
However, when facing a Blood Demon Art, the system's [Medical Skills] could not be effectively triggered.
But...
The system still displayed some treatment plan suggestions solely from a "medical perspective" on the edge of the [Medical Skills LV.3] panel.
These were basically different mitigation and comfort plans tailored for people at various stages of infection and severity.
As a string of data scrolled through his vision, Kuguruma Natsunishi noticed something else.
The degree of infection in all patients was not entirely correlated with their "time of admission," nor did it have much to do with their physical constitution.
Some elderly people had fallen ill three days ago but remained in the early stages of red, swollen, and itchy skin.
Meanwhile, some strong young men had only collapsed yesterday but were already gasping for breath, on the verge of critical condition.
"The speed of infection varies from person to person."
Shinobu Kocho had also noticed this. She was using a silver needle to prick a patient's skin and extract a sample.
"Logically, the weaker the constitution, the faster the spores of the Blood Demon Art should grow. But that doesn't explain why some robust young men are deteriorating faster than the elderly..."
Kuguruma Natsunishi said tentatively, "Could it be caused by emotions?"
Shinobu looked at Kuguruma Natsunishi with some confusion.
Kuguruma Natsunishi pointed to several elderly people near the edge who seemed to be resting with their eyes closed because they had lived long enough.
Then he pointed to a few impoverished patients at the door whose expressions were numb and resigned.
Their symptoms were mostly in the early stages.
However, in the center of the ward, several young patients were starkly different.
Some seemed to be complaining and angry, while others were coughing and crying in fear.
Without exception, the severity of their illness was significantly higher than the former group.
"Stress responses, or intense emotions accelerating metabolism and the like, providing nutrients for the spores... A conceptual thing like a Blood Demon Art should be able to achieve that, right?"
Hearing terms that would never appear in the mouths of other swordsmen, Shinobu knitted her brows and looked at Kuguruma Natsunishi. "There is some logic to that... You know medicine?"
"A little," Kuguruma Natsunishi said honestly.
It was limited to the level of common life knowledge from outside the game.
It was mainly the system holding him back.
Medical Skills were already at LV.3.
Yet, he couldn't use them to completely understand the Blood Demon Art or perform a cure.
It was a bit underwhelming; how could true medical skills be such an inconvenient thing?
The way Shinobu looked at Kuguruma Natsunishi underwent a subtle change.
She tossed him a set of tools and said seriously, "I need to formulate an inhibitor. I need an assistant who understands pharmacology."
"Natsunishi-kun, do you have any knowledge in this area?"
Watching this young girl, who looked like a middle schooler at most, speak in such a serious tone, Kuguruma Natsunishi suddenly found it a bit interesting.
"I know a thing or two."
"Help me."
"Alright."
Picking up the instruments handed over by Shinobu, Kuguruma Natsunishi's expression became serious.
Medical skills were meant for healing people.
System!
Begin treatment!
For the next three hours, the isolation area was transformed into a crude laboratory.
During this time, Shinobu Kocho demonstrated an astounding talent for pharmacology, which even made Kuguruma Natsunishi look on with slight admiration.
Using wisteria flower extract as a base and mixing it with seven types of herbs, she formulated a medicine that shimmered with a pale purple luster.
Medical skill was one thing.
But in terms of manufacturing medicine and poison, her level was certainly much higher than his own skill level.
Oh, he only had Poison Crafting at LV.1.
Never mind, then.
After Shinobu formulated the first set of reagents, Kuguruma Natsunishi gave another suggestion.
He increased the dosage of two or three medicinal ingredients.
the girl was somewhat puzzled.
"Although adding more will dilute the medicinal effect, it can provide a certain sedative effect."
"At least... it can make the patients suffer a bit less."
Although his skill set wasn't enough to independently develop a medicine against the Blood Demon Art, it was still sufficient to understand the logic behind the medicine Shinobu was compounding.
Shinobu stared at Kuguruma Natsunishi for a few seconds and suddenly smiled faintly.
This time, it was genuine.
No mockery, no testing—it was a pure, warm recognition.
"Natsunishi-kun, you are truly impressive."
Although this guy had various flaws and problems here and there, just as Storm Hashira had said...
Down to his bones, he was a kind person with a gentle heart.
As the final formulated medicine was injected into the patients one by one, the symptoms of the many sufferers in the isolation area were markedly relieved.
Even the sounds of coughing decreased significantly.
The old physician was so moved that he thanked them repeatedly, praising that "experts from Tokyo are indeed extraordinary."
But neither Shinobu nor Kuguruma Natsunishi showed any sign of relaxing.
This medicine could only temporarily suppress the activity of the spores.
It couldn't achieve total eradication.
"We need the demon blood from the source as a medicinal primer," Shinobu said while wiping the instruments. "Or, we kill the demon performing the technique directly."
Only by taking out the master of the Blood Demon Art would these constantly regenerating and multiplying spores completely lose their activity.
At that point, these people would only need a few months of recuperation to return to normal.
In the evening, Storm Hashira returned.
He brought back news that was not very good.
"It's not just this town."
Igarashi's expression was grave as he said, "Within a twenty-mile radius, six towns have seen the same cases."