Chapter 218Chapter 218: End-of-term exam (7)

I extracted the antidote from a chimera.

The expressions of the party who heard that were subtle.

“Um... Teacher? Truly... a medicine made from a chimera?”

Aila picked up the medicine bottle with two fingers.

Just a moment ago she had been diligently mixing saline into the bottle.

Now she was holding it at arm’s length, keeping it far from her body.

“Did I hear that correctly?”

“Yes.”

“This too?”

“That too.”

The bottle moved a little farther from Aila.

Lauren was also quietly wiping his hands on the hem of his clothes.

It was a sight that made me curious about what kind of being the chimera in their imaginations was.

“Uh... um... Saintess. Was it not that you knew the manufacturing method of this medicine?”

“It’s not like I know every medicine Teacher makes from the manufacturing process...”

I suppose so.

A doctor originally knows how to use medicine, not how to make it.

The only reason I knew the manufacturing method was because I happened to have a hobby of looking such things up.

“Teacher. I ask just in case, but was there a reason it had to be a chimera? Can’t it be an ordinary animal?”

“That’s a good question. You understand antibodies well, Aila. It’s a concept learned in second year—have you already pre-studied?”

“Hehe.”

“I actually started from the same idea as Aila.”

Antitoxin is originally made from horses.

First, obtain the demonic beast’s venom.

Inject a very small amount into a horse.

If it endures, inject a little more.

Repeat that for several months, and components that neutralize the venom accumulate in the horse’s blood.

The antitoxin is made by drawing that blood and filtering it.

Even in the 21st century of my previous life, most antitoxin was made this way.

The problem was that this was a place where Earth’s common sense did not apply.

“However, the venom of southern demonic beasts was often too much for an ordinary horse to handle. Even with reduced doses, they couldn’t endure the repeated injections.”

“Then a chimera...”

“Yes. I had to create a horse that could withstand the venom.”

It was venom that could kill even a Rank 3 knight.

An ordinary horse with no rank could not possibly endure it.

So I changed my approach.

If a horse can’t endure it, borrow from a body that can.

“To do that, I needed the help of the families guarding the south.”

I decided to take antibodies from the southern nobles.

How was I certain they had antibodies?

It’s simple.

Because families without them would have perished long ago.

Their existence itself proved the existence of antibodies.

“So I received permission and bone marrow from those who cooperated. I transplanted it into horses and used Chimera Arts to maintain the necessary traits.”

“They permitted you to make chimeras from parts of their bodies?”

“Yes. Everyone gladly... accepted it.”

I paused for a moment.

Because I remembered how everyone had been disgusted at first, so much that ‘gladly’ was a stretch.

But it wasn’t that they had been reluctant to the end.

Once I offered the condition that the antitoxin produced there would first be supplied to their territory, everyone cooperated obediently.

So I could say that my earlier statement was not a lie.

“After injecting the toxin into the horses made that way and confirming the antibodies, I secured the components like this.”

Immunity is stored in the bone marrow.

Using that, I granted the southern nobles’ immunity to the horses.

“Teacher, then...”

Aila carefully brought up the next question.

“What does that horse look like?”

“It’s just a horse.”

“...Just a horse?”

“A horse that eats grass, runs around, and occasionally kicks with its hind legs when it’s in a bad mood.”

I don’t know what they were imagining.

What I transplanted was only bone marrow.

Not a human heart, nor limbs.

“For now, it’s a chimera by classification, but it won’t be much different from the horse you know.”

Though its lifespan was shortened as a side effect of forcibly swapping in human immunity.

Anyway, it was a horse.

“Haa...”

Aila let out a long breath.

The medicine bottle that had fled far away only then returned to her arms.

“It’s quite different from what I imagined.”

Lauren also stroked his chest in relief.

“What did you imagine?”

“A human torso with a horse’s head.”

“...Don’t people usually imagine the opposite?”

“Did you not say it was made from noble blood? So it stands to reason the body should be human.”

It was a very Lauren-like reason.

“Ahem.”

Edmund, who had been listening, cleared his throat.

The hand that had been gripping my shoulder finally fell away.

“Then that’s a relief.”

Then, as if to shake off the awkwardness, he immediately asked the next question.

“By the way, you said you transplanted bone marrow. Can a horse survive after going through that?”

I was a little surprised.

When subjected to Chimera Arts, nine out of ten die.

Most people don’t know that.

So the prince’s question was one only someone familiar with that situation could ask.

“Do you know about Chimera Magic?”

“I know a little. I’ve caught a few Chimera Sorcerers in the south. When ten undergo the ritual, one walks out. Even that one, after about three months, the attached arm turns dark and falls off.”

He shook his head.

“Rather, answer my question first.”

“About one in five.”

It wasn’t a very satisfactory result.

A success rate of 20%.

Still, since I knew the principles of transplantation surgery, I thought the success rate would be much higher than that of Chimera Sorcerers.

But when I actually tried it, it was only about twice as high.

But to Edmund, this result seemed to look different.

“That’s a considerable achievement. Did you perhaps discover a different symbol from theirs?”

“The symbol used in the ritual itself was the same.”

The symbols of Chimera Arts are rooted in Homeopathic Magic.

Like calls to like.

If you want to obtain a bear’s arm, you must first make your body closer to a bear.

Live like a bear.

Eat only bear meat.

Wear a bear’s skin.

Hibernate like a bear.

After performing the ritual over several years like that.

You cut off your arm, remove the human symbol, and attach a bear’s arm in its place.

My ritual also took as its framework what I learned from such sorcerers.

So the symbols were not much different from theirs.

“Then what was different for you, Lord?”

“I merely applied the basics of transplantation.”

“Basics?”

“Even if you transplant flesh, if you don’t connect the blood vessels, blood won’t circulate.”

In transplantation, the most important thing is originally the blood vessels.

Whether transplanting skin or bone.

Keeping the blood vessels alive and connecting them well to the transplant site is the basic principle of transplantation.

“Flesh without blood flow is dead flesh even if attached. That arm that fell off after three months was already dead the day it was attached.”

Of course, it doesn’t end with just keeping the blood vessels alive.

Because immune rejection must also be considered.

But that was a concept not yet introduced to this world, so I didn’t bother explaining it.

“As Your Highness knows, magic doesn’t work with symbols alone. It needs a catalyst. And the catalyst for Chimera Arts is living tissue.”

“Then you’ve discovered the catalyst that Chimera Sorcerers have been searching so desperately for.”

“One could see it that way.”

“If Chimera Sorcerers learn of this, they’ll covet your knowledge.”

They already have.

It’s not for nothing that Belgian came looking for me back then to propose a business together.

He said something about how I must be good at Chimera Arts since I’m good at surgery.

Well, now if I ask if he wants to learn Chimera Arts, he’s busy running away in disgust.

— “I’m sorry. I think I was crazy back then. Please don’t increase my tasks any more...!”

Tsk.

This is why I hate quick-witted slaves.

“Then did you connect blood vessels in the horses too?”

“No. Bone marrow isn’t connected; it’s infused. But the principle is the same.”

You could ask where blood vessels are in bone marrow, but surprisingly the principle is similar.

“I chose a good place for the living bone marrow to settle and put it in. I selected a horse that could endure it and used plenty of symbols.”

Poor black sorcerers must have spent years imitating beasts to barely gather symbols.

But our trading company bought that time with money.

“Still, among the surviving horses, only eight out of ten have the bone marrow properly settle.”

“...Eight?”

“Because the technique is still immature.”

The last words didn’t seem to reach Edmund.

Because from the moment he heard ‘eight’, he began muttering something while staring into space.

He folded and unfolded his fingers a few times for a while.

Then he slapped his knee.

“Then if we breed those horses, how many antidotes can we prepare next year? Don’t worry about the cost. The military will buy them all.”

Edmund immediately began preparing to place an order.

I wanted to gladly accept as well.

The problem was...

“That won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“The surviving horses can’t reproduce. Every individual that undergoes Chimera Arts is like that.”

This was the most regrettable part.

At first, I thought I could freeload off Chimera Arts to solve the difficult problem of transplantation.

But what do you know.

All the horses that underwent bone marrow transplant Chimera Arts became infertile.

All of them, regardless of sex.

For this reason, antibody-producing chimeras had to be made anew from scratch whenever needed.

“What a waste.”

After hearing the explanation, Edmund smacked his lips.

At that, Aila tilted her head.

“Isn’t it enough as it is?”

“Yes. For now, it’s enough.”

Edmund’s gaze turned toward the tent entrance.

“But those things will cross over again. The fact that Lonomia was found mid-mountain means they’ve already been pushed this far.”

“I heard the Ducal Family periodically thins them out.”

At Lauren’s words, Edmund smiled bitterly.

“Even if the gods granted humans the miracle of magic, we cannot bend that vast nature to our will. Even a Ducal Family is no exception.”

The Ducal Family did all that was asked of them.

They were not negligent, and periodically sent expeditions beyond the mountain range.

But humans cannot control every variable of nature.

Despite their efforts, demonic beasts were once again crossing over the mountain range little by little.

“Demonic beasts have that much reproductive capacity...?”

“Don’t underestimate their life force. When we recaptured this fortress, we dumped all the wastewater from the Mercury Mine beyond the mountain range.”

Well now.

You pickled the entire land with mercury.

Is it because it’s a Dark Fantasy?

The ideas are bold too.

“Originally, it should have become a Dead Land where not even a single larva could be born.”

But the demonic beasts’ life force exceeded imagination.

Even after doing all that, demonic beasts kept crossing over from beyond the mountain range.

“I thought it would last at least twenty years. But they finally overcame it and began creeping over.”

Edmund let out a sigh.

“Well, it’s not solely due to the wonder of life. If there are those who seek to keep peace, there are also those who profit when peace is broken.”

His gaze briefly brushed past me.

I gave a slight nod.

Actually, it had been strange from the moment I heard Lonomia had appeared.

The biggest reason demonic beasts cross the mountain range is lack of food.

So by the Law of the Jungle, the weak ones come down to the edges, that is, the foothills.

The problem was that the Lonomia-type demonic beasts that appeared this time ignored that rule.

A Rank 3 demonic beast suddenly appearing in a Rank 1 Zone.

It was an unnaturalness that reeked of a fishy smell.

However, now was not the stage to discuss that.

“Lord.”

Edmund opened his mouth again.

“I will spare no support. Is it truly impossible to increase the number of those horses as much as possible?”

I wanted that too.

But I had no choice but to shake my head.

“It’s not a technique mature enough for that yet. Surviving the transplant and the horse becoming a body capable of producing the medicine are different matters.”

One in five.

Even that was a survival rate obtained after applying Demon Disease Treatment Magic to suppress the immune response.

Even the horses that survived that way couldn’t all be used to make medicine.

Even if the bone marrow successfully settled,

There were cases where it couldn’t produce enough antibodies as needed.

'Probably immune suppression is the problem.'

To suppress immune rejection, you must suppress immunity.

But if you suppress immunity, the desired antibodies aren’t produced.

Only by carefully tightrope-walking between these contradictions could a single ‘useful’ horse be born.

“Chimera Arts is such a delicate technique that you can’t mass-produce chimeras like printing them. If only the surviving individuals could leave offspring... then...”

In the end, as things stood, there was no way to increase their numbers...

...Wait.

Hold on.

'Why am I only thinking about withstanding all the venom?'

Why am I only assuming getting hit and enduring?

I just need to reduce the bugs, don’t I?

Of course, the bugs’ life force is strong.

As I said earlier, enough to survive even after being pickled in mercury.

They’d probably stubbornly survive even if DDT were sprayed.

But what if we prevent them from adapting?

What if they’re not even given a chance to adapt?

'...If they can’t leave offspring, adaptation can’t occur.'

I had just mentioned that method with my own mouth.

It’s a side effect that’s a headache for someone trying to increase the number of horses.

But on the other hand, for those whose numbers need to be reduced?

There happened to be such a method in my previous life.

The Sterile Insect Technique.

Pour sterile males that can’t reproduce from the sky.

Females mate with those males and lay eggs, but those eggs never hatch.

The United States wiped an entire fly species off the continent with that one method.

'I heard they used radiation then...'

Of course, there’s no radiation here.

Instead, there was one technique that guaranteed infertility just by undergoing it.

“Your Highness.”

“Hm?”

“If we use Chimera Arts, we might be able to greatly reduce the number of poisonous moths beyond the mountain range.”

Edmund blinked.

“...With the technique used to make horses, how do you plan to reduce bugs?”

“We create males that can’t reproduce and release them.”

“Release... chimeras?”

Edmund raised a hand to cut me off.

“So you’re saying you’ll deliberately release more of the demonic beasts we should be catching and eliminating?”

“Yes. We’ll have those males mate with wild females.”

“Wait a moment...”

Edmund crossed his arms.

“If we follow your plan, how exactly will the demonic beasts’ numbers decrease?”

“What happens if they mate but the eggs don’t hatch?”

“...The more such pairings there are, the faster that species’ population will decline.”

As expected, he understood quickly.

Edmund rubbed his chin, thought for a while, then tilted his head.

“But I doubt it will go as planned. I don’t know much about demonic beast ecology. Would a male that can’t even reproduce catch a female’s eye?”

A good point.

But I had brought out this plan with even that in mind.

“So I’ll select and attach only the parts that catch females’ eyes.”

“What parts?”

“Things like wings. If it’s a species where females choose mates based on the male’s wing size or pattern, we give them wings that make females helplessly drawn.”

No stronger venom, no sharper claws needed.

All that’s needed is a wing that looks splendid when spread before a female.

In mating competition, what matters originally isn’t reproductive capacity but appeal.

Being handsome and being good in bed are separate things, aren’t they?

“So...”

Aila hesitantly interjected.

“You’re going to dress up the demonic beasts prettily?”

“That’s right. I’ll have to observe and find out what they like from now on.”

“Like a peacock’s tail?”

“Exactly that.”

Lauren hit the mark.

A male that, just by spreading its wings, beats all other males and gets chosen.

I intended to create such a male.

“We make it so they’re chosen before other males.”

“But that thing is also a demonic beast.”

But Edmund was cautious.

Is it because he’s a high-ranking person?

He didn’t accept the plan with pure optimism as soon as he heard it.

“Just because it can’t reproduce doesn’t mean it can’t kill people. Isn’t it dangerous?”

“That’s true. It’s not a procedure to remove venom or pull out claws.”

But I had already considered even that.

“However, if it goes as intended, the incidents of them seeking out people will drop sharply.”

“Why?”

“Because they’ll be busy dealing with females.”

“......”

Spread the wings, and a female comes.

Send one away, and the next female is waiting.

Except for eating and sleeping, they’ll have to court and mate all day.

Would such a creature bother crossing the mountain to bite people?

'Bother?'

Humans are the same.

If one of sexual desire, appetite, or sleep desire is lacking, one’s temper worsens.

But would a creature that has all kinds of opposite sex lining up before it from birth hold a grudge against the world?

It’s busy dating, after all.

“So they become docile?”

“No. It means they’ll be less likely to come looking for people first. It doesn’t mean it’s safe to approach them, since they can attack if provoked.”

Aila nodded.

Edmund continued.

“Then we must not release them on this side.”

“Yes. We need to send them back beyond the mountain range, to where they originally bred.”

“How do you plan to capture them?”

This time, he pointed over his shoulder.

“The wings must be intact for courtship. To capture one that flies around scattering Poison Powder without injuring it would take more people than killing it.”

I shook my head.

“We don’t need to capture adults. We can start by securing eggs or juveniles.”

“Juveniles?”

“Even nobles don’t swing swords from the moment they’re born.”

Edmund’s eyes narrowed.

It was a face that finally understood what needed to be secured.

“...A nest.”

“That’s right.”

Egg clusters that the Subjugation Team burned along with the mother as soon as they found them.

Juvenile demonic beasts that haven’t even spread their wings yet.

We could use them.

“...Don’t destroy them, but raise them?”

“If it’s a nest we can manage, it’s fully worth using.”

“But Lord. You said you can’t make as many horses as you want, so how many bugs can you make?”

“You needn’t worry. The conditions are completely different from horses.”

For horses, merely surviving isn’t enough.

The bone marrow must settle,

It must endure the immune suppression effect,

It must endure the venom once more,

And it must produce enough neutralizing components to become medicine.

There’s more than one mountain to cross.

But for bugs, it’s different.

“They don’t need to live long. They only need to live until they can mate.”

Horses must endure transplantation, then get injected with venom, produce antibodies, and undergo blood drawing repeatedly.

But bugs didn’t need such a body.

Fly, find a female,

Spread splendid wings,

And mate.

If they endure until then, they’ve done their job.

It’s actually better if they die right after mating.

That way, they won’t survive and cause variables.

Therefore, Chimera Arts on bugs was much lower difficulty compared to horses.

Above all.

“There are no conditions that need delicate adjustment to target infertility.”

After all, infertility, our main goal, comes as a bonus when undergoing Chimera Arts.

There’s no need to rack our brains managing conditions.

The only thing we need to care about is one.

Just pretty wings.

“But where do you plan to get those splendid wings?”

“Just discard the idea that they must be demonic beast wings.”

“...?”

“You can just detach and attach ordinary butterfly wings. As long as they catch the female’s eye.”

And those butterflies.

“I was previously taught by the Keres Ducal Family how to select and improve seeds. Applying that, if I select and breed only butterflies with large, colorful wings, I can increase Donor Butterflies as much as I want.”

I came up with the idea of using the Keres Ducal Family’s techniques here just now while explaining.

I was a little surprised at myself as I spoke.

Anyway, today the answers feel like they’re flowing out smoothly.

This often happened when I was writing the Black Magic Catastrophe Scenario Paper.

As expected.

By nature, people are more creative when thinking of ways to make others fucked,

are more creative when thinking of ways to make others fucked.

“Find and protect the nests...”

Edmund’s voice pulled me out of my idle thoughts.

He was counting on his fingers one by one.

“Hatch and raise eggs, increase butterflies with Eastern Techniques, operate on thousands a day, transport them beyond the mountain range and release them...”

When he finished counting, he clenched his hand into a fist.

On his upturned face was a sense of awe like a boy who had just received a new toy.

How do I know that?

Because he made that exact face when he received the Viagra prototype before.

“Then, when will their numbers start decreasing?”

“The ones currently in the forest won’t disappear. So for the time being, you’ll have to deal with them as usual.”

But after a month, after two months.

“It will differ by species, but the faster a species’ generations turn over, the faster the effect will appear.”

That was also the reason it gave an overwhelming advantage in mating competition.

One sterile male monopolizes multiple females.

If enough such males were released, it was worth aiming for them to account for 90% of all copulation.

For example, even for a species whose numbers increase fivefold each month,

If 90% of reproduction is blocked, only half remain the next month.

The month after that, half again.

And if subjugation continues on top of that?

“Your Highness. Wasn’t humanity pushed back by demonic beasts ultimately because we were outmatched in reproduction and growth?”

Before the military departs on an expedition, there is a phrase they never omit in every speech.

Humans are not weaker than demonic beasts.

They are merely slower to grow.

So when a superhuman and a demonic beast of the same rank mutually destroy each other, it was the demonic beast side that filled the vacancy first.

True words.

Because demonic beasts grow the next one in a single season, but raising a single superhuman takes twenty years.

These days, since such superhumans rarely die, such speeches are seldom given, but...

Now we could reverse that position.

“With the very strength they used to drive us inside the wall, it’s now our turn to drive them beyond the mountain range.”

Hmm. That was good.

I was able to say a protagonist-like line for the first time in a while.

For this much, shouldn’t there be at least an exclamation of admiration, if not applause?

“......”

But no matter how long I waited, the reaction I expected didn’t come.

Edmund, Aila, and Lauren.

None of them let out even an exclamation, let alone applause.

They merely remained silent.

It was only after a long while that Edmund broke the silence and spoke.

“There’s something I’ve been curious about every time you publish a paper, Lord.”

He chose words in his mouth several times before finally finishing.

“How on earth do you come up with such ideas?”

21st-century humanity.

I didn’t do much of it alone.

Of course, I couldn’t answer that.

So I gave a reason that would make me look appropriately humble.

“Coming up with ideas isn’t that difficult. Most of my thoughts also come from observation and imitation.”

I pointed past the tent, toward the mountain range.

“The southern demonic beasts have tormented people with stealth and reproductive capacity as their weapons. Then there’s no reason we shouldn’t imitate their methods.”

Edmund was silent for a long while.

Then he muttered with a very serious face.

“...That you are the Saint of Humanity, Lord—I can only thank the gods.”

It wasn’t the praise I had expected.

But since it was close enough to praise, I decided to accept it.