Swiss Arms

Swiss Arms

Chapter 155

-VB-

Hans von Fluelaberg

April 1309

"Then we are in agreement?" I asked around the room, and all of the representatives gave me their affirmation, whether it was to verbally agree with me quietly or by simply nodding. I pushed the paper to my left and all of them began to sign it one by one.

The Health Improvement Bill, as we'd named the new law, mandated that each member state provide a flat percentage of their income to an organization that will answer directly to the Compact's Council, which was the group of representatives and members who handled the Compact-wide legislation. This organization, the White Cross for the color of their proposed uniform, will provide a basic healthcare system for the entire confederation but will also be flexible and move to answer any ongoing crisis.

And I knew exactly what I was doing by forming this organization.

They will train for the decades in front of them, dealing with minor diseases and epidemics to gain experience. Then the Black Death would come.

And I will sacrifice them on the altar of stability.

Men and women who would spend decades serving the people and the Compact will be sacrificed in the face of the plague that will kill a third of the continent.

As the bill came back around to me, I lifted my quill and signed it.

There were claps around the table and the representatives began to congratulate each other on making history.

They weren't wrong about that.

While the church provided much of the healthcare known to the continent and midwives and herbalists filled all other roles, there wasn't an order like the Knights Hospitaller in the Alps and Germany.

Knights Hospitaller themselves, who had begun as monastic order providing healing to the the sick and pilgrims, haven't been an order of healers for a long time, either. These days, they were a military order that cared more about retaking the Holy Land from the heathens than focusing on their original mandates.

… They still operated hospitals, yes, but their days as the order of healing was long behind them.

It'll change in the future once their military power waved, but right now, they weren't healers primarily.

I stood up and left the meeting after exchanging brief greetings with everyone there.

But as soon as I stepped out of the room, I was stopped.

"Hans."

I looked up and saw Count Toggenburg.

"John," I greeted my once-ward. "I didn't think you'd come here personally."

"I only just arrived in time to see the signing," he shrugged. "So this will make sure that commoners and nobles alike will be able to get ready access to healers in the future, right?"

Just like we discussed?

I nodded. "Indeed," I replied. I have been in contact with all of the leaders of the Compact to make sure this bill made it through.

The Maienfeld Pox, as the outbreak was being called due to where it was first discovered, had both impressed and spooked everyone. it horrified the people who hadn't expected something like a smallpox outbreak that claimed close to a thousand people across the Compact. At the same time, It helped me impress the Compact with how few people were infected and died of smallpox in Fluelaberg and Davos, partially due to the pox not having reached my fief yet, which allowed me to set up containment and isolation for those who did get the illness and prepare contact and droplet precaution clothing for all of the volunteers.

Volunteers…

They had been the ones who really impressed me.

When everyone else ran around in circles and in fear of the disease, men and women from within Fluelaberg and Davos stepped up to fulfill the roles I needed some people to.

Which was why I felt guilty for the seven men and women who'd died serving others.

'May God welcome their souls to Heaven,' I thought earnestly.

Many of those volunteers would now form the core of the new White Cross as doctors, nurses, midwives, nutritionists, midwives, and assistants. I will make sure they receive special treatment.

"Where will they be operating first?"

"They will all need to be trained academically first," I replied. "So they will stay in Fluelaberg and Davos for close to a year before I send them out to the rest of the Compact."

He winced. "Sounds like they're in for a rough time."

"They volunteered. And I will make sure they are well supplied, well paid, and well guarded. I will not tolerate any of them getting attacked by irate nobles, superstitious commoners, and confused patients." I paused. "So what brings you here to Chur?" I asked as the representative of Toggenburg County, a young noble, quickly stepped up behind his liege lord and waited for orders.

"Ah. Those doctors of yours were the exact reason why I came to see you. My little brother got himself a wife, and they're trying… really hard for a baby," he groaned. "Well, I thought I would be a good brother and ask if you had well trained midwife for them."

"You don't have trustworthy ones in your lands?" I asked in surprise.

He quickly waved his hands in denial. "No, no. I just… After seeing how people you instruct do so well to not get sick, I thought maybe I could have some of that."

"..." I grinned slowly, which made him freeze. "Why not volunteer yourself for the healer program? I'll be sure to teach you thoroughly."

"No, thank you," he quickly replied. "... So do you have anyone available?"

I hummed. "I do. The one that helped deliver Louis, actually. She's been getting hygiene education from me, and I always make sure she has the best medication on hand that I can provide her."

His eyes shined. "I assume she's not too busy?" he asked.

"She shouldn't be," I hummed. "But it might take some convincing. She's got it in her head that she will work and die in Fluelaberg and Davos. Maybe Klosters if she pushed herself."

He searched my face. "You want me to try and convince her myself. Instead of you ordering her to go visit my little brother's wife."

"More or less."

He grumbled. "Fine. I'll visit Fluelaberg."

"Good," I grinned. "Oh, and it's changed a lot, so you might not even recognize it."

-VB-

John von Toggenburg

May 1309

Hans was right.

He didn't recognize Fluelaberg at all.

Instead of the town of a thousand sitting in between two mountains and a fast moving stream in the middle, he found himself walking down an avenue of an honest-to-God city with thousands of people rushing through the streets to their destination, houses stacked on top of each other and climbing the angle of the mountain slope, an aqueduct pulling water from the snow-capped mountaintops themselves with some kind of metal dishes.

And it made sense.

A city of several thousand needed a consistent, constant, and large source of water. The stream that ran down the middle of the city? That wasn't enough.

But whatever magic Hans had pulled with the aqueduct? Water was flowing down from the mountaintops to the city to provide everyone with water and enough to send water further down. But he also noticed that some of the water was being used to flush out waste into those smelly, shallow, and wide ditches that the convoy had passed by from Kloster to Davos.

"Fluelaberg has grown," he commented lamely.

"It has but there are problems I need to solve before I let it grow any bigger," Hans sighed.

Problems?

The man should be happy with his achievement. In the span of ten years, he'd taken a place where there were nothing but trees, snow, and rocks and turned it into a vibrant and living city on par with the nearest Free Imperial City!

But he only saw problems?

"Like what?"

"Food is starting to become a problem. As in we're starting to import too much food," he sighed.

"... I suppose that is a problem should war break out."

"Right? So I've done some experimentations, and this year is the first year that we're implementing them in the valley further below. The prototype produced an ample bounty of crops including grapes, but we almost didn't make it. So we're doing even more experimenting but at least now we know what can be grown and what couldn't. Those beets and honey are gonna make us a lot of money."

Beets?

Urgh, whatever.

John sighed.

'Don't compare myself to him. He's bullshit and we all know it.'

Instead, he should ask for help, get that help to improve his lands, and be happy with that. Comparing himself to Hans would only result in depression, self-doubt, and anger.

"Whatever it is that you're doing, can I also have help with that?"

"Oh? Yeah, sure. But it's gonna cost a lot of materials to build it."

"What would 'it' be?"

The discussion went down from there, including a detailed report on the construction of what Hans called the "cauldron terrace," and as the discussion continued, John continued to take note of the city.

How healthy its people were despite the fact that they were in a city.

How clean the streets were.

How … wealthy it was.

Nine years.

If Hans was to be feared, John knew that it wasn't the man's ability to kill but the ability to raise civilization and earn loyalty, because there was no doubt in his mind that should Hans call for it, half of this city would rise up to fight for him.