"A panacea? It can cure any illness?"
Hearing this latest piece of intelligence shared by Xio, Loen's hand holding the coffee cup paused slightly in mid-air.
It couldn't be... what I think it is, right?
"Can you tell me more about this 'panacea'?" Loen set down his cup, his tone becoming serious.
"Uh..." Xio took a sip of her warm black tea and organized her thoughts for a moment. "Actually, I don't know too much either. This rumor only just appeared in the East Borough recently."
"It's said that a special potion blessed by a deity has appeared in the East Borough, a mercy cast down to the mortal world by the gods. It has the miraculous effect of curing all illnesses; no matter what the ailment, as long as one takes it, they can quickly recover."
"As for why it's called the mercy of the gods, it seems to be because this potion only appears in the homes of the sickest workers. Most of them can't afford the fees for the hospital, nor do they have the time to queue up at the charity hospital.
Therefore, this medicine has come to be regarded as a gift from the gods to those pitiful and pious believers."
She paused, a trace of helplessness appearing on her face. "But as for which deity cast this mercy, it's impossible to determine at the moment; the claims are all over the place. Some say it's the Evernight Goddess, some say it's the Lord of Storms, and others say it's the God of Steam and Machinery. The friend who shared this intelligence with me tends to think it's the Earth Mother, after all, the Church of the Earth Mother has always been known for its expertise in herbs and healing."
While Xio was still sharing the various speculations she had heard, Loen could no longer control his expression; it was hard to keep a straight face.
A blessing and mercy from the gods? What is this nonsense! He felt his scalp tingling.
He swallowed hard and asked tentatively, "Xio, what's your take on this matter?"
He needed to hear the bounty Hunter's perspective.
"Me?" Xio thought for a moment before giving her judgment. "I think this should just be a rumor passed on by word of mouth. How could something like a 'panacea' really exist?"
"Either that, or it's a story fabricated by some evil god's church to bewitch the public so they would convert to their evil god. After all, the rumors also say that only the lowest-level workers received the medicine, which fits their usual preaching methods."
"Previously, in the East Borough, there were people promoting the faith of the True Creator. It was said that as long as you believed in him, you would have sizzling, oily roasted meat to eat every day. They like to use this way of improving the lives of the poor to proselytize."
"However..." Xio's tone softened slightly, with a hint of reservation. "It's also possible that a new, effective medicine really has appeared, and its effects were just infinitely exaggerated in the process of being spread."
A very sharp judgment; she is indeed an experienced bounty Hunter, Loen evaluated silently in his heart.
"In any case, such strange rumors are common in the East Borough, and usually, no one will remember them after a few days." After Xio finished speaking, she took another sip of black tea to moisten her throat. Subsequently, she noticed Loen's expression, which seemed a bit... stiff.
"Scott, what's wrong?" Xio was a bit curious. In her eyes, Scott had always been a composed senior figure; she hadn't seen such a strange expression on him many times before.
"Sigh..." Loen sighed heavily. "Although... it's just my guess, I feel that the rumor mentioned just now might... have something to do with me."
"I, it seems, am that 'god' who gives 'mercy to the sick'."
"Ah?" Xio looked surprised and almost choked on her black tea.
"It's like this..."
Because he trusted Xio's character, Loen didn't treat her as an outsider and simply explained to her the matter of him sending medicine to the workers.
"You mean you used some spirituality materials to make some potions, and then distributed them for free to those sick workers in your factory?"
"That's right. That so-called 'panacea', I reckon, is exactly what I gave them." Loen nodded helplessly.
Although I anticipated at the time that this medicine with good effects might spread within a small circle, I really didn't expect... it would develop into such an outrageous legend of 'divine gift' and 'panacea'...
"Moreover, Xio, you said this news just came out and not many people know about it, but since it involves elements like 'divine blessing' which have nothing to do with reality, it means this matter already possesses a certain foundation for spread and... distortion. The number of people who know is probably more than we imagine."
"Although my medicine's effects are indeed good, capable of treating some external injuries, as well as colds, influenza, pneumonia, bacterial infections..."
Fine, he complained silently in his heart, to some extent this is indeed quite 'panacea'-like; I jokingly called it a degraded version of a 'panacea' back then, I didn't expect the name 'panacea' to actually spread—but this is completely different from 'curing all diseases'!
"I want to go to the place where the rumor started and take a look." After a while, Loen drank the cold coffee in his cup in one gulp, then stood up.
"Okay, I'll go with you." Xio said immediately.
"Xio, you should be able to understand what I'm actually worried about, right?"
On the way to that worker's bar, Loen's expression was somewhat grave.
"If it were just a simple urban legend, perhaps not many people would care. However, it has now actually become associated with labels like 'gods' and 'divine gift', which sound related to evil god worship. Once more people know about it, this matter will definitely reach the ears of the churches."
"Is it because you used spirituality materials in your medicine?" Xio asked.
"Yes, mainly because it used holy water." Loen nodded.
"The Nighthawks and the Machinery Hivemind would be easier to deal with. If the Mandated Punishers found out, that would be a big problem. They have always been strictly guarding against the faith of the Eternal Blazing Sun. They are very sensitive."
"Although, even if they really traced it back to me, I reckon there won't be any major issues. After all, my initial intention was good.
But being taken away for investigation, questioning, or even temporarily having my freedom restricted, is still a very troublesome thing that affects my reputation..."
Soon, the two arrived at that worker's bar located deep in the East Borough, a place where all sorts of people mixed.
Xio was clearly a regular here. She familiarly led Loen to find the bartender who was wiping glasses behind the bar and asked straight away about the 'panacea'.
"'Panacea'? Oh, you mean that." The bartender sized the two up and shrugged. "I've only heard of it, I don't know the specifics. I only know that recently, quite a few people have been trying to buy that kind of medicine at a high price."
Loen asked about the time when the rumor first started spreading and found that it basically coincided with the time he sent out the first batch of medicine to the workers.
After pondering for a while, Loen planned to go to the Bravehearts Bar to see if he could get some information from Kaspars.
However, not long after he left this worker's bar, he unexpectedly saw a familiar figure on the street.
It was a figure wearing black work clothes, but whose temperament was clearly out of place with the surrounding environment. He was clutching a cloth bag in his hand tightly, while cautiously, or one could even say sneakily, looking around constantly.
"Lawyer Jurgen? Why would he be here?"