Chương 68: Chapter 2.5: Diagnostic Measures

The following days passed peacefully, with training, debate, and cultivation. Yet Favius was busy preparing himself for his next conflict. Can't forget what I learned about how they are poisoning themselves. Well, I shouldn't be surprised. Toxicology, proper epidemiologic toxicology, only appeared disturbingly late on Earth. They were sitting in one of the inner gardens, enjoying the heat of a brazier, good food, and the fresh air of winter. He, his sisters, and Brutus.

Caliga was discussing the subtleties of pneuma reinforcement with Brutus, and Favius could only sniff as he felt the repeated small pulses of aura while she tried to get the lodestone splinter to move across the table or even shake a little bit. Not that I've been any more successful on that front. Urania studied them, and Favius studied her before she cleared her throat.

"What are you up to today?" she said with a smile. Favius responded in kind.

"Well, remember when I learned about lead sugar in the baths in Cindrath?" She nodded eagerly.

"Yeah? Why?"

"Well, I'm going to speak to Serran and see what I can do to ensure that people stop poisoning themselves." Brutus sniffed.

"You're still on about that, aren't ya?" Urania tilted her head.

"But why do you care, Favius?"

"Why do I care?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Like Father said, we of good breeding should not stain our pockets with lead. So isn't it only the poor who get poisoned, Favius?" His eyes widened. Well, how do I even address that?

"Well, it's not just the poor. We drink water from lead pipes. Hell, we bathe in water that is brought to the baths through lead pipes," he said, his voice growing more passionate with each word.

"And just because we don't eat lead sugar—" He suppressed a shudder.

"—or have better cookware, that doesn't mean that we should have a society where we let people get poisoned by that stuff." Urania sniffed.

"So? You care because you want smarter workers and servants?" Favius let out a little breath, noting how Caliga had stopped her exercise and was observing them alongside Brutus.

"I mean, yes, it helps with efficiency if people don't suffer the damages from lead poisoning." He patted the side of his head.

"It makes people dumber. Makes their lives worse. It makes them more aggressive and violent. It's just not something you should eat."

"Even if that is true," Urania responded, "just wait until you are grown up and order those beneath you not to use such substances. I mean," she sniffed, "you've already been insistent that no food for us is prepared using any sort of leaden vessel." Favius took a deep breath and stared across the gulf between cultures. I don't get why she's not getting it.

"Urania," he said slowly, "it's not good if people are getting poisoned. People deserve to live healthy and happy lives." She narrowed her owl-like eyes.

"People deserve the Fates the Gods assigned to them at birth. That's what Mother always said." She looked at him.

"Don't you remember when she went out with us on walks and showed us the freedmen and slaves? I know you weren't enthused by their smells and looks either. They live like animals in leaking hovels." Caliga and Brutus nodded in agreement, though Brutus's attention was primarily on Favius. Favius let out a long breath and studied the room. I'm just not getting through here. Is this an elite thing? Well, back to the basics.

"So, Urania," he said, plastering a confident smile on his face.

"Yes?" she responded in the drawn-out tone she tended to use whenever replying to what she called his teaching voice. Caliga grinned and leaned forward, cradling her chin in her hands.

"You know how you care about us, Marius, and Lia, right?"

"Yes," drawled Urania, granting him the point.

"So don't you think that those poor people also care for their children and families?"

"Obviously," she replied, and Favius nodded.

"Good. And you know that they can feel sad and suffer. And that you are responsible for them, as their better." He added the last part, remembering Marcus's lessons in Cindrath.

"Doesn't it follow that you should care about them like you care about us?" Urania narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side, but after half a minute, she responded with certainty.

"No. A pig cares about its piglets. Yet we still eat both of them. They can clearly suffer, so your argument doesn't hold." Favius took a deep breath, fighting down a simmering ember of anger in his chest.

"That's... that's so wrong, Urania," he replied.

"That's not the same thing. You can't just compare other humans to pigs. They are just like us." The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"No, they are not," said Caliga.

"I mean, you two are obviously more different from them." She gestured at their shifter features.

"But all of us are aristocrats, while they are lowborn." Urania pounced.

"Exactly. They are vulgar and dumb. Do you think any of them are able to keep up with me with numbers? No. The Gods placed them where they are supposed to be, and that's that." Favius massaged his forehead. Well, this ethics lesson has certainly gone off the rails. Urania sniffed while finishing the argument.

"I mean, don't you remember Mother told us never to forget that we are better than mere humans?" She froze and looked around for a moment, and Favius couldn't help but giggle at Urania's widened eyes as she looked between Caliga and Brutus.

"I mean no offense, of course." Brutus chuckled with an indulgent smile. They settled into silence, and Favius chewed on a piece of sweet meat as he reflected on the conversation. He put a hand on his stomach and felt his worry. Keep forgetting that humanism isn't obvious. That caring for and seeing those who are not your immediate family as worthy of moral consideration. Why am I so surprised? Even on Earth, a lot of people still thought that way.

While the others returned to their training with lodestones, Favius extruded a bit of pneuma toward his splinter, able to feel it, yet unable to move it. Some time passed until Serran opened the door abruptly.

"I beg your forgiveness, young Lords and Ladies. I was delayed by urgent matters." Favius made a gesture toward a chair.

"I'm sure you did your best. Come sit, Serran." Favius made himself smile, yet couldn't help but notice Urania studying him.

"Well, Serran, I've had another divine vision."

"Truly?" said the man, straightening, and he murmured a short prayer while Brutus coughed. Favius glared at the man, yet only got a grin in response.

"Serran, I want you to ensure that lead is no longer used on our estate. I've been shown that it poisons people into stupidity. Stupidity and madness." Serran paused in his prayer and looked up.

"Excuse me, Young Master?" Favius narrowed his eyes.

"What's the problem?" The Majordomo's eyes ran over everyone in the room.

"Removing lead from the estate? From everywhere? It's... difficult," he said before nodding to himself and picking up steam.

"It's very common. The pipes, the cookware, the coinage we pay the slaves and freedmen with." He chuckled.

"I don't see how it would be possible." Brutus calmly interjected himself into the man's monologue.

"You forgot to mention the lead sugar the workers' meals are sweetened with." Serran's expression soured further.

"Indeed. That would be another issue. It would not be right to deny them their flavoring. After all, they pay part of their wages for it." Favius let out a long breath and was grateful to see Brutus nodding at him. Urania and Caliga were merely observing as Favius rallied.

"I know it's hard to imagine, and getting rid of lead, of that poison, will not be an easy process. But it hurts people." He narrowed his eyes, then nodded, remembering whom he was talking to. My moral arguments will not land here, so I need to argue for something every human ever and everywhere shares. Greed.

"If your workers are dumber, more aggressive, and die earlier, then they will result in less profits for the estate." Serran hummed.

"Assuming you are correct." He swallowed and shifted uncomfortably until Brutus gestured at him.

"Speak freely, Serran. You are among friends here. The Young Master shall not condemn you for your words." Favius nodded and gave the man an encouraging smile.

"Even if I were to trust that you received true divine instruction instead of misunderstanding the message of the Gods, I would need to justify it to the Dominus and others." He paused again before finding his courage.

"That could prove difficult. After all, madness and stupidity are common among the people, and it's not as if they are dropping dead from the lead." Favius pressed his eyes shut and let out a sigh. Well, what was I expecting? A threat like lead has small effects that are insidious and long term. Hell, even in my time on Earth, we still dealt with shit like asbestos because its negatives were discovered late. But then again... He smiled. I also know how to solve this.

"Well, you all read my book on measurement, correct?" he spoke up, and everyone, including his sisters, nodded.

"So tell me, Urania." He looked at his sister.

"What's the first step on the road from turning observation into knowledge?" She sighed.

"I guess... forming a hypothesis." She held up her hand to keep him from speaking further.

"And your hypothesis is that lead is toxic, poisoning people, and that that is a bad thing?" Favius scrunched up his lips but nodded.

"Correct. Except for the last part."

"So..." Urania tilted her head to the side.

"Even assuming that this is worth testing, how would you do it? I mean, even if we were to cut open people who have consumed a lot of lead, how would we find it in the body? Wouldn't the metallic essence have been dispersed by the vital essence?" Favius's eyes widened, and Brutus chuckled. Of course they are jumping straight to cutting open people.

"No," he said, waving his hands.

"We need to observe people, not cut them open. And also, you're correct, we wouldn't see the lead inside them."

"Additionally," Caliga ventured, rubbing her chin, "even if we found lead in the people, that wouldn't tell us that it's doing anything bad." Favius smiled in gratitude.

"Exactly. So we need to design a survey that allows us to gain certainty from uncertainty and prove beyond any doubt that lead is bad for people." Brutus nodded.

"That sounds wise. I guess you require one of those test groups where you don't change any of the variables that you are so fond of using during experimentation." Favius snapped his fingers.

"Exactly that. That's why I want to ban lead from this estate. So we can have a group of people who don't use lead." He scrunched up his nose.

"It will take time, though." Again Brutus rubbed his chin.

"I'm assuming it would be helpful for you to see if different levels of lead exposure result in different severities of the symptoms."

"Yes. I'm happy to see that you actually paid attention," he teased the warrior with a grin. The cultivator flipped an olive at him in response.

"Indeed I have. Being a warrior is about cunning, don't you remember?"

"But my original point," he gestured, "is that I have some contacts with people owning lead mines and the associated smelteries. If your hypothesis is correct," Brutus smiled, "they should show the strongest symptoms, right?" A smile spread over Favius's face as he chuckled.

"Of course." His thoughts were already racing. I don't need to create a population that hasn't been exposed to lead. There were always going to be groups with varying lead exposure. Serran chimed in.

"If it's merely variation in lead exposure the Young Master seeks, there are poorer estates and poorer families who provide their servants naught but earthenware and view the provision of lead sugar as a useless frivolity." He sniffed, clearly disgusted with the practice.

"Yes, that sounds good. We could contact those—" But Serran raised a hand, and Favius looked at him.

"If I may voice a doubt, Young Master."

"Of course, you may always voice your doubts, Serran." The middle-aged Majordomo smiled in response.

"Thank you, Young Master. Such estates, where the conditions are poorer, would also have their people eat food of worse quality and drive them harder with the whip instead of motivating them with rewards. So whatever stupidity and madness you observe, how can you be sure that it is the lead that is responsible for this and not anything else?" Favius grinned.

"That is an excellent point. The answer to which," he shrugged, "well, there isn't a good answer. You just need to collect more data. Patterns often become clearer the more you know, and if we look at enough people, we are hopefully able to tease out all the differences and only see the relationships that are really there."

"We don't need proof," Urania murmured, reciting a line from Favius's book on measurement.

"We just need to see the patterns."

"Exactly," he said.

"And from there on, we can make educated guesses at the likelihoods."

"With the Bayesian reasoning," Urania said, a glitter of intrigue in her eyes.

"So we just have people go around and ask them?" she questioned, and Favius couldn't help but shake his head. She doesn't care about the people, but she has fun with the scientific process. He let out a long breath, then nodded.

"Very well," Favius said, picking up a meat cake. He inhaled its toasty bacon smell and let the juices run into his mouth as he swallowed it. He smiled in satisfaction.

"With that in mind, we're going to do the surveys. And maybe, as a compromise, Serran, we could stop the lead sugar and remove the lead from cookware for now here at the estate, just in case I'm right. After all, you yourself said that a good manager should hedge against all possibilities." Serran studied the painted ceiling for a moment, with its display of the moons in the sky. Finally, he smiled.

"The Young Master argues well, as always. Yes, I'm indeed willing to assist you with the limited removal of lead and the surveys." He nodded, then looked him straight in the eyes.

"Once we settle the matter of how you intend to pay for this, that is."