Chapter 217Chapter 217: End-of-term exam (6)

Kal's verbal tic is a problem too.

But right now, I had something I had to handle first.

"Even so, there remains something I must apologize to all of you for."

The poison ivy allergy student blinked.

I bowed my head toward that student.

"I apologize to all of you."

"......What?"

"Patients receiving treatment have the right to know what treatment they are receiving. And I violated that right."

"No! There's no need for you to bow your head, Lord Saint. From what I heard, you couldn't even be certain the antidote would work, and......"

The poison ivy allergy student waved his hands.

"Looking at the result, I also think Lord Saint's judgment was correct. The so-called right to know—that's something you can only argue about if you're alive, isn't it?"

As he said, there are situations where the right to know does not apply.

The typical example is an emergency.

When are you supposed to ask for consent from someone brought in unconscious and without a guardian?

First you have to keep them breathing, and then they can reclaim their rights.

If you extend that logic, it could be applied to this case as well.

At the time it was an emergency, and I had a reason for doing so.

It would be possible to gloss over it like that.

But......

'Sneaking past it like that isn't cool.'

Beside me, Aila, holding the tray, was looking up at me.

Look at those sparkling eyes, dripping with admiration.

You want me to become a teacher who says, "Right? I was correct, wasn't I?" in front of those eyes?

When only an hour ago I had been preaching about patients' rights and altruism and all those noble things?

'I can't do that.'

Who was it that said we must protect patients' right to know?

If I conveniently slipped away only when it became disadvantageous, there'd be nothing uglier.

So I bowed my head.

"I'm sorry."

Of course, half of it was a choice made according to my conscience.

Should I call it fortunate?

The students did not get angry.

Rather, the students were flabbergasted.

"P-Please raise your head, Lord Saint!"

"How could you bow to us, Lord Saint......!"

The poison ivy allergy student tried to lift himself from the bed.

But his shoulders were pressed down by the colleagues on either side, and he lay back down.

Still lying back down, the student spoke.

"It's all right. Truly. Rather, thanks to Lord Saint, I was able to gain a lesson that will be engraved into my bones."

"That's right. If we had let this pass lightly, we wouldn't have realized how lightly we were taking real combat."

"It was a good experience. It's like we died once before graduating, isn't it?"

It ended up looking like I was the one being comforted.

Of course, those words probably weren't sincere.

Who would look favorably on the experience of thinking they were going to die and even writing a will?

But at least, I could tell that they were willing to accept my apology.

Just that made my heart feel a little lighter.

"Thank you for understanding."

"Thanks to you, I also learned a good secret."

One student looked back at his friend lying in the bed and grinned.

Then he folded the letter in his hand and tucked it into his clothes.

The poison ivy allergy student's expression turned serious.

"Hey. Don't tell me......"

"Then I'll go deliver this."

"Hey! Stop right there! I said stop!"

"His Highness said patients aren't supposed to get up."

"That's......! Let go! Grab that bastard first!"

"Hold him down! Hold him down! Grab his legs too!"

"You damn......! How can none of you be on my side?!"

A hand stretched out from the bed.

Then the letter retreated just enough to be barely out of that hand's reach.

The party members pinned down the patient, who looked ready to escape the bed at any moment.

Meanwhile, the letter maintained a precarious distance as it passed from hand to hand.

As expected of hero aspirants.

It was truly a fantastic chain of coordination.

Swallowing a laugh at the sight, I returned to the workbench.

Coagulated tubes with coagulated tubes; tubes still needing observation in bed-number order.

To avoid getting confused like before, it was better to organize them now.

Just then, footsteps followed behind me.

"Lord."

"Yes, Your Highness."

It was Edmund.

He leaned against the edge of the workbench and crossed his arms.

"You said you had time to coordinate with the instructors, yet a single hint to me was so difficult?"

"......"

Edmund's lips jutted out like a duck's bill.

It was a face he rarely showed in front of others.

"Was I so unreliable? I declared the exam suspended because I thought there was no medicine."

From the mood, he wasn't angry.

If anything, it was closer to being a little sulky.

With a bitter smile, I offered a few excuses for myself.

"If I may add one excuse, it was unavoidable if I was to save people."

"I heard that reason earlier. However, your words sound like you're saying I would have made a different judgment if I had known."

"Yes."

Edmund's expression crumpled dramatically.

"Are you doubting my judgment?"

"Then may I ask one thing? If I had told you in advance that I had prepared an antidote, would you have declared a suspension immediately?"

"Of course......"

Edmund started to answer, then closed his mouth.

After seeming to think for a moment, he opened his mouth with an awkward smile.

"......Come to think of it, if someone else had prepared the medicine, I don't know, but if you had prepared it, I would have been reassured too. I might have thought there was no need to suspend the exam."

"And if Your Highness had not declared a suspension, what would have happened?"

"The students might have underestimated the seriousness of the situation."

Yes.

That's why I kept it secret from Edmund.

"You really...... know me too well."

Fortunately, Edmund seemed to accept this logic.

He uncrossed his arms.

"In the past, I never thought this complacently...... but because of you, I've changed too. Now I can't command other battlefields."

He let out a dry laugh.

"Then is my role over with declaring the exam ended?"

"It is not."

I had thought of this while we were talking just now.

There was still something Edmund had to do.

"It is not enough to watch over the returning students. We must also inform nearby units of contact risk and suspicious symptoms. Send newly discovered suspected patients this way."

From here on, it was Edmund's turn to exercise his right of command.

The students could be handled by me and the treatment team.

But looking after nearby units was outside my domain.

Upon hearing that, Edmund acted quickly.

He beckoned an instructor near the entrance.

"Species that should not originally be in this area are being observed. We must take it as a sign that they are crossing over from beyond that mountain range. This is not a situation in which the students' practical training can continue."

It meant this wasn't a problem that could be solved just because we had medicine.

There was no telling what demonic beasts might have crossed over; we couldn't tell the students to keep taking exams.

"Withdraw within today the students who have finished treatment and checks and are able to move. For transport of patients still under treatment, follow Lord Yulian's judgment."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Inform the commander dispatched by the Ducal Family as well. Compile the abnormal situations confirmed in this area and report them to the Duke. Proceed with the unit alert and personnel check within the forest as well."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

The instructor lifted the curtain and ran out.

*

After that, it was a repetition of the same work.

The healers had screened the students once already, but.

In the end, the final diagnosis was my responsibility.

It was because there was no healer skilled in diagnosing Lonomia.

"Lord Saint. This one is bleeding from the gums."

Lauren supported a student and brought him over.

After that, two more were added in succession.

They were a student whose hand was swollen, and a student whose bite area was turning dark.

The problem was that Lonomia poisoning wasn't the only thing being discovered in the process.

"This one's a poisoning patient too?"

"Yes. This one is a different species."

It wasn't only students scratching their palms.

There were students whose arms had swollen after being stung by other venomous insects,

And cases dragged in because their complexion looked strange.

When I examined them, all of them had been afflicted by species that should not be found in this area.

I couldn't give them all the same medicine.

Needless to say, I couldn't run the same test as with Lonomia either.

In the end, it was all something I had to handle alone.

I checked the circumstances of exposure and symptoms, ran necessary tests, and sorted out treatments.

When I was a little unsure, I consulted the Library of Memory.

Even in the meantime, the line outside the tent hardly grew shorter.

"Is there enough medicine?"

While laying a new patient on the bed.

Edmund glanced at the line outside through a gap in the curtain.

"Lord. If we bring them all in, there will be more patients."

"I brought extras considering the dosage. You need not worry."

"If my memory serves, the train wasn't large enough to hold that much medicine."

"No. It's enough."

Showing was faster than telling.

I took out a box from under the workbench.

It was a small wooden box that could be carried with both hands.

When I opened the lid, sealed medicine bottles were lined up in rows.

I picked up one bottle about the size of a thumb.

[ANTIVENENUM LONOMIAE]

— LYOPHILISATUM

The label on the bottle was, of course, Latin, which I liked.

At the bottom of that vial, a white mass had dried and stuck.

It was none other than lyophilized antitoxin.

"Aila, pass the saline this way."

"Yes, Teacher."

I drew sterile saline into a syringe.

Then I pierced the stopper of the antitoxin bottle and pushed the saline in.

Trickle—

The saline mixed with the white powder.

I don't shake it to mix faster.

Because it must not foam.

Instead, I put it between my palms and rolled it slowly; the white mass dissolved and became a clear liquid.

"Is that the antidote?"

"Yes."

I drew that up again, mixed it into an IV bag, and connected it to the vein I had secured in the patient's arm.

"It's going in slowly. If you feel itchy, short of breath, or your lips swelling, don't endure it and tell me immediately."

"Yes, yes."

The first few minutes are important with an antidote.

Because occasionally there were people who showed an immune reaction to the antidote.

I checked whether hives were rising on the patient's neck and chest, and held his wrist to count his pulse.

Including his breathing sounds, everything was fine.

"Aila, stay by his side and watch until the first hourglass runs out."

"Yes!"

With this, the antidote administration was finished.

After finishing the treatment, I lightly raised the lyophilized antitoxin vial toward Edmund.

"Is this enough of an explanation?"

Freeze-drying is an excellent preservation method.

Because it lasts longer than storing it as a liquid, and more components can be stored in the same bottle.

Except that it cannot be administered immediately in an emergency and that it is annoying to mix saline every time, it was also the most ideal way to store antitoxin.

"......Your Highness?"

But Edmund's reaction was strange.

He was staring at the bottle as if he were a new human who had discovered fire.

Having read the label on the medicine intently with narrowed eyes, he finally opened his mouth after a moment.

"Don't you feed them detox potions?"

What?

Detox potion?

Just how old-fashioned an item is he asking about?

In the field of healing arts, detox potions had long since become obsolete.

Before I could answer, Lauren, who had been sorting powder medicine bottles, looked up.

"Detox potion, you say. Your Highness, how long ago are you talking about?"

"......Has it been that long?"

"You are talking about almost five years ago."

Edmund rubbed his chin.

"......It has been over five years since I personally observed field treatment."

"In the old days, even a single person's dose filled one potion bottle."

I added words for the embarrassed prince.

The old detox potion could not help but be that way.

Holy water, medicinal herbs said to work against that poison, and ingredients with symbols like detoxification and purification.

They were boiled together, a method that helped the body overcome the poison on its own.

Since each ingredient had an amount needed to be effective, no matter how much it was boiled down, it was one bottle.

Even after drinking a whole bottle, there were plenty of poisons it didn't work on.

But now it's different.

Only the components that neutralize the poison are filtered and concentrated.

Those components are frozen, dried, and turned into powder.

As a result, the medicinal effect contained in the same volume was on a different level from the old detox potion.

"One box of this equals one cart of the old potions."

Before Edmund could voice his admiration, a new patient was added.

"Lord Saint. This one is a sting site. It seems different from the insect earlier."

I checked the student Lauren pointed to.

A student was groaning, clutching his arm.

I glanced at the affected area.

The wound on his forearm was a single small mark.

Neither the swelling nor the reddened area was significant.

Yet cold sweat was beaded on the student's forehead.

The hand supporting his injured arm was clearly trying not to touch the wound itself.

It meant the pain was far worse than it appeared.

The muscles of that forearm twitched finely.

'Neurotoxin?'

Severe pain compared to minimal skin changes.

And even fasciculations of the muscle.

In this region, creatures with such venom were snakes, spiders, or scorpions.

Considering that the wound was only a single small mark like a needle prick......

"L-Lord Saint. I-I wasn't stung by a caterpillar......"

"It's a scorpion."

"......How did you know?"

"The wound is a scorpion sting; how could I not know it's a scorpion?"

Afterward, I checked the scorpion the student had brought.

Fortunately, it was a species for which an antidote existed.

[ANTIVENENUM TITYI OBSCURI]

— LYOPHILISATUM

"Aila, another saline."

"Yes, Teacher."

Once the identity of the poison is known, treatment is simple.

Mix saline with the white powder, administer the antidote, and it's done.

After finishing that simple task.

I looked back toward Edmund.

"Excuse me, Your Highness. Where were we just now?"

"We had gotten to how one box substitutes for a cartload of detox potions."

He rubbed his chin.

"At that rate, half a train car would do. Even loading enough medicine to handle every venomous creature in the south for every student would leave some over."

Correct.

As expected of someone who had run supply lines many times.

His calculation was fast.

"When I recaptured this fortress, I loaded only the things for the common ones in these mountains and left the rest to luck......"

Edmund smiled bitterly.

"......Was this also something you thought of...... no. That was a foolish question. There is no one but you who would think of such a method."

Edmund nodded, convincing himself.

Seeing that reaction, my shoulders felt a little puffed up for the first time in a while.

When I first introduced antitoxin to the south, I had been busy with other work and hadn't been able to watch people's reactions.

When I visited the south later, everyone was using it as if it had always been there.

Perhaps that was why.

Thanks to Edmund, I felt like I was finally collecting the applause I hadn't received then.

"But there is one thing I don't understand. How did you prepare medicine that works against so many poisons? In the old days, even detox potions were always in short supply. When a new demonic beast appeared, it took years just to find the right herbs."

It was a good question.

No one had ever asked me a question like Edmund's.

Most people didn't know how difficult it was to make detox potions, so they couldn't even imagine asking such a question.

So I'd never had the chance to answer.

As if I'd been waiting for it, I explained.

"Do you know the old method, Your Highness?"

"We had to send out herbalists and alchemists and barely find herbs that worked against the poison."

Yes.

That's the problem.

The old method had to find first.

Which herb worked against this poison. Which substance and symbol had to be combined for a person to endure it.

If you luckily discovered the right ingredient, a prescription was born.

But if you couldn't find it?

You couldn't make that potion.

If the ingredient was rare, production volume was bound to that as well.

Even after barely preparing one detox potion, you had to find different herbs for other poisons.

But antitoxin is not like that.

The formula for making it was fixed.

Of course, conditions must be reestablished for each poison.

And you have to verify that it truly neutralizes.

Even so, it doesn't compare in efficiency to scouring mountains every time for unknown herbs.

"The basic principle itself is simple."

I said this while pushing saline into the next vial.

"You repeatedly inject a chimera with tolerable doses of poison, split across several times. Then the body produces components that neutralize the poison. You draw that blood and filter out only the necessary components."

At that moment, the atmosphere suddenly chilled.

When I looked up, three people were staring at me.

Edmund, Lauren, and even Aila by the patient.

All had expressions as if they had misheard.

"......Chimera?"

Aila broke the silence.

"You make antitoxin from a chimera?"

I nodded.

"I asked the southern nobles for cooperation and made chimeras with their blood. I am extracting serum from those chimeras, but......"

I couldn't finish my sentence.

Because Edmund grabbed my shoulder with the most serious face in the world.

Then he suddenly asked an absurd question.

"By any chance, can that chimera talk?"

"You want a chimera like that?"

"......Can you make one?"

"......"

I did not affirm it.

But I didn't deny it either.

I'd never done it, but......

Because I roughly knew how to do it.

21st-century surgical techniques.

And black magic learned directly from my teacher, the Great Sage.

Combined well, the conclusion was that it was theoretically possible.

Of course, it was only theoretically possible, and I had no intention of putting it into practice.

However, Edmund seemed to take that silence a little differently.

"Tell me. Is it true that you really don't know how?"

"......"

"Please tell me."

Just then, Lauren quietly muttered.

"Honestly, I did try sculpting a neck out of a leg, so transplanting human vocal cords into an animal is about......"

Hey, hey, you punk.

How could you say that out loud?

Hearing that, Edmund spoke to me with a deadly serious expression.

"I say this just in case, but even if the day comes when you can no longer announce new technologies, the Empire will not demote you or your family's title."

"?"

"I swear it."

I couldn't tell what misunderstanding he was under.

For now, I answered that I understood.