I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Episode 56. Soldier in the Blood (1)

Episode 56. Soldier in the Blood (1)

Peace, a rare visitor, has arrived. There was a chance like this a few days ago, but even one day on duty felt like an eternity.

Well, not today. Me and Istina were sitting in the lab, sipping coffee.

The coffee was pretty bad. There were cookies on one side of the lab, but they weren’t within arm’s reach. I’d have to bring them to my desk later.

“Istina, the academic conference is coming up soon.”

“Will you be participating?”

Hedwig had said, this conference was being held because of me, and there would be discussions about my papers. I shook my head.

“I was going to participate, but then I heard it was being held because of me?”

“So you’re not going?”

I’d thought about it a bit, but no matter how much I think about it, it feels weird for me to go in person. It’d be a really awkward situation if I did.

No matter what I do, it’ll look like I’m going to flip the whole thing over. Even if I’m as quiet as possible. No, even if I sit quietly, I’ll get questions.

Just showing my face would paralyze the conference hall. For the sake of courtesy and to avoid trouble, it’s better not to go.

I can participate from the next conference onwards.

I can’t possibly attend every small conference that’s held just because of me. And other professors wouldn’t want that either.

“It’s a bit awkward to go without an invitation. You just go, Istina. I’ll stay here and check on some patients in the ward.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Go to the conference.”

I’ve usually got a lot to do, anyway.

It might not be groundbreaking, but the stuff about diagnosing and preventing scurvy, that needs to be put into a paper, for the healers of the future, right?

So, gotta write that scurvy paper too. And see those backlogged outpatients. And maybe send Istina to that conference, since I can’t really go myself.

“You think you can handle it?”

“If you don’t know, just blame it on me and come out. They’ll probably just shrug it off.”

Istina nodded at that.

“That might actually work.”

“Think of it easy. It’ll get you more face time in the academic circles. If you don’t get your collar grabbed, it’s a win.”

That’s obvious.

Even if Istina messes up there, wouldn’t it just be chalked up to the ambition of a young researcher? That’s what I would think.

I glanced at Istina for a second.

A healing textbook was spread out in front of her. If there was a Galen-type in this world, that book had to be at least a few hundred years old.

“Textbook?”

“Yes. ‘Fundamentals of Healing’.”

“Half of that stuff is wrong, gonna be refuted within five years. Read it with a filter. Focus on who thought what, and why.”

Istina gave me a look like, you serious? And what’s your problem now, Istina.

“This is a thousand year old book, you know?”

“Well, it’s due for an update then.”

The expiration date was like, 950 years ago. Istina just scratched her head.

“So. I just go to the conference then?”

“Yeah.”

Right. I’ll be at the hospital, checking on patients and working on my scurvy paper. Istina can just go to the conference.

Honestly, I was also a bit annoyed. Debates are fun only so many times. What’s the point of sitting at a conference when there aren’t even any new papers?

Gotta write a new paper soon myself.

An Asterix conference without Asterix.

There were many reasons for holding the conference like this. One was that discussions become awkward if the person is actually there.

The prevailing opinion was that it was better to present without him, because once *that* man started talking, the whole conference would be paralyzed.

Well, he’s always been like that, hasn’t he? That’s how it’s always been in past conferences.

And that’s why his conference, without him, was happening. Istina flipped through the agenda. The speaker order was as follows:

Professor Klaus, ‘On Microscopes and Bacteria’.

Professor Kropfelter, ‘Unresolved Questions Regarding the Existence of Plague-Causing Particles’.

Kropfelter was still skeptical. But he’d concede eventually, right?

Plague Doctor Hedwig, ‘Treatment of Bacillary Dysentery’.

Clerk Campbell, ‘Transformations in Water and Sewage Policy’.

Hedwig, huh. *That* guy spent days at the academy because of this schedule.

Professor Fisher, ‘The Structure of the Heart and the Circulation of Blood’.

Imperial Healer Violet, ‘Anatomy of the Heart, and Analysis of Related Animal Experiments’.

Violet. Professor Asterix calls her a useless layabout, but maybe she’s a surprisingly respected healer in academia.

Come to think of it, Professor Asterix himself made good use of his position as Imperial Healer. Violet holds a similar position as the professor.

Come to think of it, she’s someone important.

Istina sat impatiently, waiting. Just in case, she’d brought three blank notebooks. Along with her textbooks and Professor Asterix’s papers.

Of course, Professor Asterix hardly looked at textbooks. He said that in five years, it would all be disproven, so they were meaningless, except for the fact they’d been thoughtfully considered.

Whether he meant he was going to disprove them, or if it was a general jab at the established academia, or just a joke, she didn’t know.

That’s just what the professor said, anyway.

But a student couldn’t just not read the books, could they? So Istina ended up looking at the Healing Arts textbook sometimes, anyway.

I mean, you can’t just go around saying anything, right? The professor’s got all his own thoughts, so he doesn’t really need to look at the textbooks.

Bottom line.

Istina had to look at the textbook.

What if someone asks a question?

On the platform.

Professor Klaus began to speak.

“Earlier this year. Professor Asterix came to me, suggesting he had a means to make a new discovery, and asking to borrow my name for his paper.”

It’s about the microscope.

“Frankly, I was taken aback. But I thought I would at least hear him out. He said if you stacked two lenses, you could see an image magnified hundreds of times?”

Istina remembered when the professor first arrived. It had been quite an impact, escorting the Princess into the Academy like that.

“Yes. I had a similar reaction. It sounded like crazy talk to me… but it was real. A new world had opened up. The micro world, the world of small things.”

A murmur rippled through the room.

One microscope was just sitting in Asterix’s lecture hall, so most of the people in this room had seen it before. And the professor had demonstrated it several times.

“Exploring all the possibilities of the microscope would take more than decades. What lenses to use, what dyes, what to magnify… this is only the beginning, of all the research.”

A hand went up in the audience.

“What’s starting?”

Professor Klaus pondered for a moment.

“Professor Asterix, to prove that decay is caused by airborne particles, he showed the microscopic structure of mold.”

“Yes.”

“The important thing is this. Asterix didn’t show anything particularly amazing.”

“Then what was it?”

“It was just dirty water from a mop, just some random mold that happened to be passing by, magnified. He didn’t show anything special. The possibilities of the microscopic world are practically infinite.”

Klaus’s conclusion must have been that special things must also be sought out in the microscopic world.

“Won’t a world come someday where we can verify with a microscope which bacteria causes which disease? If we just find the right magnification for the microscope, the right combination of stains?”

Istina nodded.

In truth, the professor had lost interest in playing with the microscope rather quickly. He said that anyone could do the finding, and they had to look at other things.

The conference went on like that for a long time.

“Ah. Professor Kropfelter here. Still, I see too many remaining questions. Even the most common epidemic, the common cold, doesn’t even have a bacteria that causes it, does it?”

The professor did explain. That the particles causing epidemics weren’t just bacteria, and not all bacteria were observable.

“And… many diseases aren’t caused by infection but rather from imbalances within the body, aren’t they? Like chronic illnesses, or asthma.”

Professor Kropfelter continued to speak. It seemed like he was nitpicking, but you couldn’t say he was completely wrong either.

“Professor Asterix experimentally proved that airborne particles cause decay… but confirming it in living patients or organisms is a much more difficult problem, isn’t it?”

Again, the audience murmured. Some seemed to agree, others seemed to be against it.

The professor had said that, some would oppose until the end. Being skeptical is a good thing.

Istina, after some deliberation, raised her hand.

“Yes, you there, student.”

“How do I explain… the epidemic particles, they’re not just bacteria, right? Some might not be visible under a microscope.”

“That’s a possibility, I suppose.”

Professor Klaus seemed to ponder it for a moment, then, surprisingly, just nodded. He seemed to think it made sense. Why? Is it because Professor Asterix isn’t here?

Or is it just that he doesn’t like the professor?