episode_0076

Episode 76. Return to daily life (1)

****

Mint returned to the Academy dormitory. It seemed like it would be hard to get used to it. But after being away for a few days and coming back, I realized.

The dormitory felt like home.

As soon as the princess opened the door to the dormitory that had been abandoned for a few days, she was enveloped in an inexplicable sense of comfort. She must have become accustomed to life in the academy.

‘ha.’

Mint waved her hand, and the luggage she was holding flew back to its place in an instant. Mint put down all the cumbersome things and sat down on the bed. The doll sitting on the bed looked at the princess.

Mint hugged the doll tightly.

Well, unfortunately, the princess’s teddy bear didn’t react at all. It didn’t hug Mint back, wrap its arms around Mint’s waist, or even try to say anything.

The doll isn’t cute.

It’s different from the real thing.

Should I go see it again later…?

****

Istina went to work in the lab and checked the calendar. The past few days have been a bit easier since the professor was away at the academy. When was the day the professor returned from the conference?

What? It was yesterday.

So, that means you’re going to work today. Only then did Istina realize the gravity of the situation.

‘What time do you come to work?’

I need to clean up the lab a bit and make it look like I’ve been researching something. Istina has been spending the past few days like a vacation.

All I had to do was feed him moldy rice.

It wasn’t just Istina’s fault. At least that’s what Istina thought. No, this. Standing on duty in the ward, doing research, observing outpatients.

Basically, I was doing the work that usually takes three or four people by myself, right? It got a little better after Amy came, though.

Wouldn’t it be okay to rest for a few days?

Anyway, those few days have already passed, and the professor will be back soon. What do you say?

I don’t know. Istina decided to clean up when the professor came. Then she wouldn’t get scolded so much.

Right, I forgot about that.

I had to ask the professor if he could see the patient who came into the ward early this morning. I should have told him that as soon as he came…

The professor hasn’t even arrived yet, but why is there so much work to do now? Istina took out her notebook and looked at the things she had to do.

First, let’s check when the professor will arrive.

****

I returned to my lab after a long time.

It feels like it’s been almost a week.

Istina, who didn’t go to the conference, was cleaning the lab. Was she upset that I didn’t take her? It didn’t seem like she cared.

Rather, you might be thinking to yourself that you avoided going to the annoying event.

“Oh, the professor is here. Hello.”

“How have you been?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing up here so early in the morning?”

Istina gestured to the petri dish.

“I came to check if the cultivation was done well.”

“Ah. You came to give me moldy food.”

Since he seemed busy, I didn’t say anything else.

I put down my bag and sat down at my desk. Istina came over to my desk, putting away her broom after finishing cleaning up everything she had to clean up.

What else is there to do? I have to see the outpatients that have piled up, and I also want to admit new inpatients. That’s the most important thing right now.

We need to check how far research has progressed in purifying penicillin. It hasn’t been that long, but we may have achieved something.

“Istina. Do you know how things are going with extracting medicine from blue mold? Is there any progress?”

“I didn’t ask the pension department, but I did try centrifuging the culture solution.”

I don’t know if there were any results.

“What happened?”

“That’s what I knew. I guess you could use it to remove solids and insoluble substances?”

“Well done.”

“You said that too. This can be done by precipitating a target substance using a specific substance, but it takes some trial and error to succeed.”

I think it might be the barium I mentioned last time. It might be a bit hard to get. Still, I have a feeling that a method will be discovered soon.

Because the situation changes every day.

“Is there a large centrifuge?”

“I’m looking into it. I’m trying to get the biggest one I can, but it’s only been used for a few months.”

It’ll take some time to make.

I don’t know if there’s a machine that can do a large number of centrifuges. The one I made last time by modifying a horsepower fan was a bit crude.

Would it be possible to build a large centrifuge with the technology of the time? If you think about it, it seems impossible to build something of that scale.

On the one hand, I feel like maybe it can be solved with magic. I guess I’ll just have to try it to find out.

“Go to Professor Wolfram’s lab later and check if there’s any progress in the research.”

“Yes, I understand!”

As Istina was leaving the lab, she looked back as if something had occurred to her.

“That’s right, Professor. I asked if I could move some of the other patients in the ward to you, Professor. Since you said you were coming today.”

“Really? Is there a reason for that?”

“The professor said that it would be better for patients in poor condition to come to him.”

In conclusion, yes. I think the outcome would be better if you were hospitalized before me rather than before another professor.

“Okay, I’ll go and check.”

There is one more thing to do: go to the ward and see the patients who want to be admitted.

I left the lab with Istina. Istina headed to the Alchemy Department research building.

I’ve been spending too much time with mold lately. Doctors need to see people.

Let’s leave the penicillin problem to graduate students and alchemists for the time being.

****

But since they waited until I came, I don’t think they’re seriously ill. Let’s see, the patients who wanted to come to my ward.

As soon as I entered the ward, a nurse walked towards me.

“The professor is here.”

“Yes. Hello.”

“The other wards are over capacity, so I asked how many people I can admit to the professor’s ward. Since this morning.”

As expected, there was a backlog of patients because I had been away for a few days. I nodded.

“How many minutes?”

“Two people.”

“Please admit them both. I’ll take a look.”

I hope he’s not a critically ill patient.

****

Patient one.

“Oh, he said that since yesterday he had a headache, a fever, and swelling under his neck. He said that there was no apparent cause, and that medicinal teas and such did not work.”

Amy looked back and forth between the patient’s medical records and me with anxious eyes. It was her first time seeing a real patient with me.

“Yeah.”

“He said that he kept getting feverish and had a palpitating feeling. He said that he tried bloodletting to get the poisoned blood out. He said that it didn’t get any better.”

Oh my god, shit.

I looked at Amy.

“What disease do you think it is?”

“Oh, you said you had a fever. Could it be that you were infected with something like bacteria?”

“Fever is most likely due to infection.”

“What kind of uniform is it?”

“Let’s talk to the patient.”

There were a few things that came to mind.

Severe but nonspecific symptoms, such as fever, palpitations, rapid breathing, and decreased consciousness.

How do you know how severe it is? Since you were in a lot of pain, you probably had a bloodletting done and came to this big hospital. No, why on earth did you have a bloodletting done?

In Korea, it’s classified as a seasonal infectious disease, but since the weather here is a bit colder, it might come a few months earlier.

I don’t know what effect folk remedies like bloodletting and medicinal teas had, but… … Anyway, I think it’s the disease I’m thinking of.

Amy and I walked up to the first patient’s bed. The patient was frowning, as if she was not feeling well.

“Hello, patient.”

“Oh, yeah.”

I took a moment to check the patient’s general impression. If the patient was in pain but had a straight posture, it was unlikely that the pain was localized to a specific area.

For example, if your liver hurts, you turn your body to the right side where your liver is. This means that the cause of the pain is nonspecific or systemic.

The patient’s hands had calluses and his fingernails were covered in dirt. His breathing was even, with no signs of phlegm or coughing, but his breathing rate was somewhat faster than normal.

Situations in which a systemic inflammatory response is suspected.

“What is your name?”

“This is Joseph.”

I held the patient’s wrist. I had to check the pulse… … . The pulse was normal at the wrist. The beating speed was also normal.

Oh, that’s the one who got the blood. I lifted the patient’s arm, and Amy quickly put a bandage on the patient’s arm.

“What do you do?”

“Rose farming.”

“Oh, is that so?”

I expected you to farm. But I didn’t expect you to grow roses.

“Have you been outside recently?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever been bitten by a bug?”

“I don’t know, maybe it hurts sometimes?”

I looked at Amy.

“What disease do you think it is?”

“Oh, I think it’s pneumonia. The patient is breathing fast, has a fever, and his breathing sounds abnormal.”

It’s not impossible, but I thought it was unlikely to be pneumonia. The patient’s breathing was abnormal, but I didn’t think it was pneumonia to this extent. I shook my head.