The Tanaka Family Reincarnates - Chapter 401
Brain Bugs and Effective Use of Rumors [Part 1]
“The fire… went out…?”
The king with his knees on the ground looked at the surroundings.
[The King’s POV]
The picture of hell where everywhere outside the fireproof cloth the Stuart family crocheted was covered in flames returned to its original state instantly as if nothing ever happened there.
I despaired over the flames and gave up.
Only one among us, Emma-chan, believed there was still hope and ran toward the monsters.
Even though only one person, moreover a young girl, dashed toward the monsters, I, the king, couldn’t stop her. The resignation, fear of losing my country, and my own helplessness weighed down on my body.
The only ones chasing after the girl were her family.
Arban, who shielded me from the flames, moved forward for only one step, probably wanted to go after her too. He restrained himself after weighing between his beloved niece and the king. He avoided being blamed for not protecting me in case a miracle happened and we were all saved.
The intelligent Arban surely had thought that far and held himself back while shedding tears of blood. He believed his older brother’s family would be able to stop Emma. Even so, Arban’s whole body was burning from the fear that he might lose his niece forever.
The family acted to protect Emma from the monsters, while Arban protected the family from the country. Even if the price for that was his own life.
[End of the King’s POV]
“…Ah… Em…ma…”
Now that all the fire had been extinguished, Arban, almost burnt into charcoal, was lying on his side.
No, it wasn’t just Arban. The king, prince, Arthur, Marion, knights, and hunters were also in similar states, only the sizes of their burns slightly differed.
“!”
Then, the Stuart family returned to where everybody else was.
The fact that the flames disappeared would mean the monsters had been defeated.
This family had really created a miracle. Even so, there were no signs of joy on them, seen from how they plodded back with slumped shoulders. They must be distressed by everyone’s condition.
There was no hope of recovery when they had suffered injuries to this degree. The burns caused by Fire Foxes’ flames had no cure.?
‘Whether everyone can survive for a few more days was…
For Arban, who risked his life for my sake, I would protect this family as my last job as the king.
I wouldn’t die until I made it clear that this family, who had created a miracle and defeated the monsters, had no faults, so no one would dare say they failed to protect the king.’ The king desperately tried to keep his consciousness from blacking out.
“Ughh… My udon… Huh? Uncle Arban?”
Oblivious to the king’s struggles, the hungry Emma noticed her uncle was on the verge of death and ran over.
“…Em…ma… you’re… safe? Thank god…” said Arban with difficulty as his breath started to faint. Seeing his favorite niece, he stretched his trembling hand toward her.
“Uncle? How… did you become like this…”
William, who trotted over after Emma, examined Arban’s body.
“Huh? How?”
“Arban!”
“What’s going on?”
George, Leonard, and Melsa looked at others who were groaning in agony on the fireproof cloth beside Arban and were shocked.
They had defeated the Rainbow Raccoon and Fire Fox. The flames they saw in their hallucinations were gone. William’s knees and Leonard’s hair had also turned back to normal.
In the Stuart family, no, the Tanaka family’s eyes, Arban, the king, and everyone else appeared unwounded. Yet they were all groaning in pain.
“…………”
“What do you think, William?”
Emma asked William, who was deep in thought, for his opinion. The investigation after defeating a monster was William’s time to shine as he boasted tremendous knowledge of monsters.
“…the hallucination… affected the body? …umm… But there were no visible changes on the outside… If so, the problem lies in the brain? …like maybe, their brains malfunction from extreme mental stress?”
“What does that mean?”
George glanced at his younger brother and asked him to explain it in simpler terms.
“Um, well… Even if the hallucinating effect caused by monsters disappeared, the brain might not recover from that state.”
“???”
“It’s like when you’re convinced that your body is in pain, even places that don’t actually hurt also seem like they’re aching?”
“??? I still don’t get it.” George tilted his head.
“It means that the brain structure of average people is more complex than Nii-sama‘s.”
“Is that so?”
“…no, Nii-sama? You should be angry after hearing that, okay?”
William couldn’t bear to see George nodding so seriously to Emma’s comment and advised that he shouldn’t have nodded to that.
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Lord Rin
So basically the illusions are so realistic that the brain convinces itself that they really did burn to death and the body reacts accordingly.