Section 9: Ailing Ones and Connecting Ones

Well, we finally made it to a town. But...

...Incorrect.

Yeah, they're here all right. They're just staying out of sight.

You're pretty sharp, Master.

Yes... We are surrounded.

？！

Pests.

Hup!

We've got Celtic soldiers

？！

So they're working together? What the hell?

That's right. Everyone here has joined forces to destroy the Beast.

？！

Have we met somewhere before?

Then please, let me treat you. All I wish to do is save you.

To do so, I must remove this Beast infection once and for all.

And just how're you gonna do that?

Since Sodom's Beast and its contracted Master are the root of this disease, I will excise their taint from the face of the earth.

Holy hell! Did you HEAR that!? This lady's freaking nuts!

Just because you're right doesn't mean I wanna hear it from you.

You can rest assured that I will do whatever I must to cure you, even if I have to kill you to do it.

Oh, this is becoming truly absurd. Come on, then. I will eat you lock, stock, and barrel.

You reek of malice, so I do not relish the prospect of devouring you. But if doing so will improve my constitution, I will find a way to endure the foul taste.

I know you're suffering, Sodom's Beast. You're suffering from the Beast pathogen attacking your body.

Beasts are not pathogens, and certainly not mine. They are a chronic disease eating away at you and all the rest of humankind.

There is no treatment for such a thing.

Oh no. I think you understand very well.

You know exactly what has been causing your headaches...

Hngh!?

Urk... Ghh...!

？！

...

Hey, you.

Yes? What is it?

A lowly harlot like you has no business even showing her face in front of Lady Nero.

Uh... Mushroom lady? You okay?

You should take a long walk off a short pier into a lake of poison and die a painful, agonizing death.

In fact, I'm gonna desecrate your corpse so thoroughly, it winds up nothing more than a mass of germs.

Poison! Toxin! Venom! Germs! Pathogens! No... No, no, no! Absolutely not!

I will purge all that is toxic! All that is harmful! I will not use dangerous drugs, nor will I recommend them to others!

I shall live my life with purity, and for as long as I have this power, I shall lead everyone to happiness!

Shaddup! You, Apollo, Asclepius, Salus, Panacea... You can all die a painful, poisonous death!

Now die! Die! Die, die, diiieee!

Dammit! What's that idiot getting so worked up about!?

I cannot say... This is most vexing. I feel as if my head is about to split open.

But, we cannot leave Locusta to fend for herself. Come, let us dispose of this riffraff!

It seems my treatment plan...was insufficient... What a shame.

Oh yeah, damn shame. Now freakin' die already. Painfully, if you please.

I wasn't talking about myself.

It is you...who are in need of treatment.

What'd you say to me? You think you're better than me!?

I may be trying to kill all of you to save you from your disease, but

Come ON! Do you even hear yourself!? You're absolutely batshit!

Yes, I am crazy. But even as I went crazy, I tried to do what was proper.

But you... You're simply trying to go mad.

...

And that...is such a painful way...to exist...

Okay, I'd say we're about wrapped up over here. You chilled out yet, mushroom lady?

When are you gonna learn to read a room, mutt?

You're about the last person I wanna hear that from.

？！

...Sorry to worry you, Master.

I've always hated getting shots, so anyone related to the medical profession really sets me off!

Oh please. Shots weren't even a thing in your time.

Plus, they're always trying to get blood out of you...

Okay, that one, I can see.

...

Come, let us hurry. It appears the enemy knows what we are up to.

Get ready. We are going to make a forced march all the way to Washington, D.C.