I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel

The Mysterious Plague (1)

The way back to the academy wasn’t very long. Maybe it was because the carriage moved hastily, thinking we had to return before sunset.

The next morning, in the laboratory.

As always, Istina was reading a book in a corner of the lab. I was sitting at the desk, flipping through some letters.

It’s fortunate that there are no inpatients right now.

Thanks to that, I could sit idly for a while. A letter from Violet? I frowned as I opened the letter.

– The prince praised you. He said you studied hard with the professor and made efforts for academic progress. I extend my heartfelt thanks.

– The lecture fee will be sent to you soon. Probably with a royal check.

The prince must not have an eye for people.

Praising that rascal for working, if he had really seen him work, he wouldn’t say such things. Anyway, that’s not important right now.

They’re saying the lecture fee is coming out?

Come to think of it, it was only natural. Since I gave a presentation at the royal palace, of course, they should pay a lecture fee.

I lifted my head and looked at Istina.

“Istina. The lecture fee will be out soon.”

“Really? I didn’t know we’d get paid.”

“You can take all the lecture fee.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Istina was almost free to begin with. Shouldn’t she take the lecture fee this time to help with her living expenses?

I didn’t really need it. I had quite a bit of money from doing nothing at the royal palace.

“I don’t think I expressed myself properly.”

“Huh?”

Istina bowed her head deeply.

“Oh, thank you so much. You didn’t have to list me as the first author on the dysentery paper, and you didn’t have to give me the lecture either.”

I nodded roughly.

Istina has been through a lot.

I can’t just keep tormenting her and making her work hard all the time, can I? Sometimes you have to give something to make them work more, right?

“Right… Go out and spread the word quickly. Tell them it’s really good to be a graduate student under me.”

“I’ve been saying that, but no one seems interested.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Istina nodded her head vigorously.

Hmm. I thought for a moment.

“It can’t be helped. Let’s prepare the blood circulation paper we wrote last time. I hope it goes smoothly to the journal this time as well.”

“The response was good, so won’t it go well?”

I nodded.

Of course, the reaction after the presentation was explosive, but if it fails to be published, someone else will surely take the lead with similar content, right?

This is the clinic. As the weather gets better, it seems like more students are getting injured. Why is the weather getting better when spring is almost over?

Because it’s a cold town.

This town is most pleasant in midsummer. There isn’t a day without wind. In winter, people get injured because it’s slippery, and in summer, they get injured because they’re active.

A patient walked into the clinic.

I fumbled through my memory and medical records simultaneously, and it seemed like someone I had seen before. One of the patients who came before, but who?

Ah, it’s him.

Lailas. I remember him as the male student who complained about heartache whenever he thought of her, and was diagnosed with reflux esophagitis.

“Hello, Lailas. You received medication for reflux esophagitis due to chest pain last time, right?”

“Gasp, how did you know?”

I wrote it down in the medical records. It’s obvious to write it down, but I don’t know why everyone is surprised.

“Is your body feeling better?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, Professor, I overcame my nausea and confessed my love, and I got a response!”

That medicine shouldn’t have had such an effect. It was just something to reduce heartburn. A proton pump inhibitor.

“Oh, congratulations.”

Anyway, isn’t it result-oriented medicine? As long as the patient is happy, that’s all that matters. I don’t understand the thought process behind it, though.

“So, what’s the reason for your visit today?”

“I’m out of medicine.”

The diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease is done through an . However, in most cases, proton pump inhibitors are prescribed without an endoscopy.

It’s a disease that can be diagnosed just by looking at the symptoms, and there’s no need to use a complicated procedure like an endoscopy. Besides, it’s not possible to do an endoscopy here anyway. The important thing is this.

“Do you still have heartburn and chest pain? Do you really need the medicine?”

“Sometimes, it hurts a little. And, I’m a bit worried because there’s a cold going around the dormitory these days.”

Should I give this one a sugar pill too?

I thought about it for a moment. There’s no significant illness, but it’s not like they came for no reason. It wouldn’t be right to send them away empty-handed.

I placed a pre-prepared medicine bottle on the desk. A transparent glass bottle filled with yellow pills.

“Take one pill a day. It might help a bit with the cold too.”

“Thank you.”

This time, it was just vitamin C. It might have some effect in preventing colds, right?

Consultation over. Hurry up and leave.

The next one to come in was Lieselotte.

She had come to me before with dizziness and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Her situation was similar to Lylas’s.

Rizelotte wasn’t seriously ill either. In the first place, healthy people don’t pretend to be sick. They don’t visit hospitals.

Those people are also sick somewhere. There are cases where neither the doctor nor the patient knows what’s wrong. But something is definitely wrong.

“Was your journey here alright?”

“Yes.”

“What brings you here?”

“A cold. I feel a bit dizzy too.”

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, headaches, dizziness. These are all things that recur frequently. They significantly interfere with daily life, and there are no clear solutions. It’s fortunate that it’s not a fatal disease.

“Let’s take a look. Ah, say ‘ah’.”

“Ah!”

“Ah. Don’t shout.”

I placed the tongue depressor on Rizelotte’s tongue and looked at both tonsils. They seemed slightly swollen, but I wasn’t sure.

Thud. I discarded the wooden tongue depressor. It seemed like a cold, but I couldn’t be sure just by this. There’s a reason why ENT specialists use endoscopes. It’s not my specialty either.

“Please cough once.”

“Cough. Cough.”

It definitely sounded like there was phlegm. Should I use a stethoscope?

Upper respiratory infections are viral, lower respiratory infections are bacterial. Most of the time, that’s the case.

There’s no specific treatment for viral infections.

We could try antiviral drugs, but they often don’t make a difference. Maybe we could use anti-inflammatory painkillers or antihistamines?

“Professor. By the way, the medicine you gave me last time was a bit sweet. Is it supposed to be like that?”

He’s talking about the sugar placebo.

I gave it to you because your blood sugar might be low in the morning, causing dizziness. I’m glad it worked.

“Yes. It worked, right?”

“It did! I wasn’t dizzy at all. At least until I caught a cold this time.”

Could dizziness be caused by a cold?

It’s possible. There are various mechanisms. It could be due to a general decline in condition or dizziness caused by fever. If you look at it more directly.

The nose and ears are connected through the Eustachian tube. There are cases where mucus or water fills up and affects the ears.

The balance organ is in the ear.

“It’s difficult. For now, I’ll prescribe the medicine I gave you last time, a painkiller, and a comprehensive cold medicine.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Three pills. Take them morning and evening. If it doesn’t get better, come back.”

It was a bit unfortunate.

“It’s a bit disappointing that there’s no clear solution.”

“Could it be effective?”

“We don’t know yet. Go out, receive that blessing magic, and come back.”

Lieselotte nodded. I waited for Lieselotte to leave the consultation room.

The third patient. It was an older man I hadn’t seen in a while. Definitely not an academy student.

How did he end up here?

“What is your name, sir?”

“David. My joints have been hurting lately. Sometimes it hurts so much I can’t work.”

It’s a serious matter.

But whether there’s a cure is questionable.

“How much does it hurt?”

“Just a bit uncomfortable in the morning. My hands and knees hurt, but I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Morning pain in the hands and knee joints.

From the symptoms, it sounds like osteoarthritis? I checked the patient’s hands. Honestly, I can’t tell if there’s another serious illness.

I held the patient’s hand and pressed the finger joints. Judging by the lack of pain and swelling, it doesn’t seem like gout.

“How old are you?”

“59.”

“It seems like osteoarthritis.”

“Oh, my wife keeps nagging me to quit drinking. Will it get better if I stop?”

“How much do you drink?”

“Beer. Two glasses a day.”

Two glasses of beer. Fourteen glasses a week?

Two glasses of beer a day, isn’t that almost nothing? In this world, beer usually has an alcohol content of about 1 degree. That’s less than half the alcohol content of the beer I used to drink in my previous life.

I scratched my head a bit. Telling him to drink is funny, but I can’t lie either. I feel sorry for that lady.

“No, well… just keep drinking.”

“Really?”

The man looked at me with a puzzled expression. Doesn’t that mean he drinks less than one glass a day by normal standards? My medical opinion is that it doesn’t matter that much.

“Can you reduce your workload?”

“A little.”

“Reduce your workload, and try some hot or cold compresses. I’ll give you a few painkillers, take them if you can’t bear it. Get some healing magic outside.”

The man nodded.

South of the Empire, the port city of Imentia.

“Oh, already people bleeding… How many are there now? Is it a plague?”