The Steam Age: Gears and Bones

Chapter 59

Elector Oberstan arrived soon after.

When he entered the officers' quarters, he took off his military cap, revealing his short, graying hair. His eyes were still sunken, but compared to the despair Ludwig had shown when he first arrived a few days earlier, there was something more indescribable in his expression.

It's like a drowning person finally grabbing onto a piece of driftwood.

Perfit leaned against the pillows, wrapped in a thick blanket, her face still pale, but her posture was upright and her gaze steady.

She first revealed her identity to the Elector—the Chief Scientific Advisor of the Crisis Response Team of the Victoria Empire, directly appointed by the Imperial Princess. Although she had not yet inherited the family title, she had the authority to communicate with allies on behalf of the Crisis Response Team and could contact the Imperial Princess directly through the Imperial Navy.

The Elector nodded without interrupting her.

Ludwig had clearly explained Perfit's background to him in detail over the previous days, but his expression still carried the caution typical of an old-school military officer facing a very young civilian official—not distrust, but a need to verify it with his own eyes.

Perfitt ignored his caution.

She got straight to the point, speaking calmly and slowly, but each point was clearly organized, as if she had considered the content repeatedly in her mind.

"First, a comprehensive defense and epidemic prevention system must be established. On my way to Romulus, I passed through your port and saw the quarantine station you set up—it shows basic awareness of isolation and protective procedures, which is good, but far from enough."

She had Belfast retrieve a stack of documents she had compiled during the march from her file bag. These were key points of the epidemic prevention procedures that she had observed and recorded in the Langdon quarantine area and various ports along the way. The handwriting was neat and the information was well-organized.

"Disinfection methods need to be upgraded from vinegar and lime to hydrogen peroxide, and all equipment and personnel that have come into contact with infected individuals must undergo standardized disinfection procedures."

The isolation and observation period shall not be less than five days. All wounded soldiers who have been bitten or scratched must report to the chaplain within thirty minutes. The chaplain will then perform the initial suppression with a requiem prayer, and the alchemist will then remove the filaments.

Both steps are indispensable. I have written the detailed operating procedures in this document; your military doctors and chaplains can follow these steps for training.

She paused for a moment, waiting for the Elector to flip through a few pages of the document before continuing.

"Secondly, this war is no longer a struggle between mortals." Her voice was not loud, but the room fell silent as soon as she finished speaking: "I read about your tactics of using catapults to launch infected people at the border in the combat logs of the Ross front."

That tactic did break through the Ross lines, but it also devoured your own army.

What you are throwing are not weapons, but curses—the remnants of sin left behind after the fall of the ancient gods.

The wilt disease erodes the host on both the physical and spiritual levels. Holy water can temporarily suppress its activity, while traditional military methods can only slow its spread but cannot eradicate it.

Romulus had to seek support from the entire Church of the Fathers—not by inviting priests to recite a few words of blessing at the parade, but by sending magistrates and paladins to the front lines in organized units.

A joint epidemic prevention team was formed, consisting of military doctors and alchemists, and at least one chaplain capable of independently performing requiem prayers was assigned to each regimental-level unit.

The Elector did not answer immediately upon hearing this.

He placed his hands on the table, his brow furrowed slightly—an expression that Perficott had seen on Chernsov's face as well—not hesitation, but the demeanor of a seasoned general calculating a tactical problem with no ideal solution.

Romulus's situation is different from Victoria's.

Although the Church of the Fathers also has a branch in Victoria, the church in Victoria has undergone the Reformation and has long since separated from the Church of the Fathers in the Old World, and is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchs of the Old World.

In Holy Romulus, the Church of the Fathers' power base was far deeper than that of any Elector—the Patriarch had the power to crown the Emperor, the monastery had independent land ownership and tax exemptions, and the Inquisitors and Holy Knights were independent of the secular military command system and were not subject to direct command by the Emperor or the Electoral Council.

Even according to Romulus's laws, the diocesan archbishop was also one of the electors.

Even if the Electoral Council passes a decision, a religious decree can overturn the entire resolution on the spot if the Patriarch believes that the decision violates doctrine.

Seeking support from the Church meant opening the defenses of an entire legion, or even the entire duchy, to the Inquisition.

Once those paladins and judges enter his territory, will they obey the orders of him, the Elector, or will they take direct command of the Patriarch, who is far away in the Holy City?

If they interfere with him and his generals, overturn his military orders in the name of the Church, or even take the opportunity to expand the influence of the tribunal and erode the empire's secular rule over his duchy, does he have the power to veto them?

Perfitt understood what the deep wrinkle between his brows meant.

She didn't give him time to continue weighing the options, and directly cut off this line of thought with her third suggestion.

"Finally, and most importantly, Romulus must enter a state of emergency." Her tone remained unchanged, as if stating a proven mathematical formula: "Your existing administrative and military systems are insufficient to cope with this disaster. The infected will not give you time to convene a parliamentary debate, nor will they wait for you to coordinate the distribution of interests among the various principalities before launching an attack."

If you don't switch to a wartime regime and don't allocate all your resources to this war, you won't need to worry about the future anymore—because there won't be a future.

This means that conscription, material distribution, traffic control, news censorship, and the shift of production capacity from all non-essential industries to military needs are all being implemented.

This will put enormous pressure on your society, but I can tell you definitively—all of this is less of a cost than having the entire country overwhelmed by a horde of zombies.

"As for the conflict between your secular rule and the power of the church," she pulled her hand out from under the blanket, her fingertips pressing against the edge of the bed, her voice still weak, but each word like a nail driven into a wooden board, "when people are dead, there is no question of who rules whom."

The Elector's finger stopped on the table.

He raised his deep-set eyes and looked at Perfit—the seventeen-year-old Victoria girl who had not yet inherited the title and whose fever had just subsided and who needed help to sit up—for a long time.

He then removed his hands from the table and picked up the epidemic prevention guidelines again.

"Miss Brandlis, to be honest, your age makes it difficult for me to fully believe every word you say. But I will relay your words to His Majesty the Emperor and the Electoral Council today."

"I cannot guarantee that all of Romulus will be able to do what you have said, but I can guarantee that—within my duchy, within my Northern Legion's defense zone, I will implement each and every one of the measures you have requested."

Perfit leaned forward slightly in acknowledgment, then added one last thing: "There's one more thing I need your help with. Our cruiser should still be docked in Stokana, waiting for the rendezvous signal."

Please contact the Port Authority of Stokana via your military radio and have the cruiser captain send a telegram to Victoria, requesting the dispatch of an official diplomatic envoy to Romulus—contact Her Highness the Imperial Princess directly; she will handle it.

The Elector stood up, tucked the epidemic prevention guidelines under his arm, nodded to Perficote, and then turned and walked out of the room.

The sound of him whispering orders to his adjutant echoed down the corridor, and the footsteps faded into the distance.

Perfit leaned back against the pillows and closed his eyes.

Belfast handed her a freshly prepared glass of warm water. She took it and drank a sip. Her fingers were still trembling slightly, but her breathing had become steady again.