episode_0083

Episode 83. Speaking skills rather than medicine (3)

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Mint was looking out the window, holding a cold lemonade in one hand. I was sitting next to Mint again this time.

Since we were at the palace, we decided to have some tea before we left. There was nothing special planned.

“Will it be hot when I go out?”

“It looks a bit hot.”

The room was relatively comfortable, but next to Mint, a fan was blowing wind on her all by itself. Mint looked at me.

“I was going to ask that.”

“Ah. What were you curious about?”

He didn’t look upset or upset. He just looked genuinely curious.

“I still don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell me first? I could have helped you.”

“Are you talking about company work?”

“Yeah.”

It would have been easiest to ask Mint first. I didn’t do that. There were several reasons.

It’s just not a very good direction.

I don’t know much about Mint, and there’s also the problem of her trying to persuade me to give her money even though she’s much younger than me. There’s also the problem of feeling like she’s taking advantage of our friendship.

“It’s not necessarily a good idea to use your connections with those in power to push things forward. It’s also necessary to persuade the bureaucracy. If the princess had gotten through first, would you have been able to go through that process?”

“Hmm. You don’t want to rely on me?”

“I don’t want to be a burden.”

“That can’t be a burden.”

Mint shook her head.

“Actually, more than that. Originally, I didn’t plan on making medicine this way. Originally, I wanted to help as many people as possible by releasing the research results for free… … .”

“I don’t think that will work?”

“Yes.”

Even Istina, whom I trusted, did not understand the refining process at all, and the alchemy professor I went to see was also very indifferent.

I consider myself to have done my part by simply sharing the blue mold strain.

Mint played with her hair for a long time, as if she was thinking deeply about something.

“Why would you help others by giving away the strains that make medicine for free? If it were me, I would have told you not to.”

I’m talking about something that was handed out at the conference.

“That’s the conclusion. Even if I made it public, I don’t think anyone else would achieve anything… … .”

“Teacher, if you work hard, it will work out.”

I learned that I shouldn’t rely on other people or other academics. They were all more foolish than I thought, and it seems that the important thing is to do it yourself.

It was bright sunny outside the window.

“The person selling drugs is like a synonym for a scammer. Some people are skeptical.”

“Yes… … . There are so many strange people in the world. People who I used to think were crazy now seem normal.”

Violet is a typical example. She usually doesn’t do her job, gambles, and tries to embezzle money from work. But there are many more useless and strange people in the world than Violet.

“As expected. Finally, the teacher can see the world from my perspective.”

A small chuckle.

“No. As you saw in the conference room earlier, no one asked about the drug, and only talked about money and the power structure, right?”

The prepared presentation and the graduate students were useless. Mint smiled softly and shook her head.

“What. If I talk about medicine there, I can know better than the teacher. I guess that’s what I’m thinking.”

“Is that so… … .”

“The banker only knows about money, so he only talks about money. The blood relatives only know about the power structure, so they only talk about the power structure.”

I think I said something similar.

“Hmm.”

“People like you, teachers, it’s the job of the administration and bureaucrats to let you focus on your main job. Don’t worry about it too much.”

“Yes.”

Mint tilted her head.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen the teacher complain.”

“This time, things didn’t go as planned.”

“What. In many ways, this might be better?”

I definitely got paid more.

If everything had gone according to plan, I wouldn’t have had to spend a lot of money. I thought about it for a while, and Mint put a hand on my shoulder.

“The teacher’s fault is not something else. You should have planned it that way from the beginning, idiot.”

In retrospect, that might be true. I let out a small sigh.

“Do you think so too?”

“Did the teacher think that if he released his research on medicine to the academic world, other people would find the answer? Then he thought he would be remembered as the person who published a paper that saved the world. But when you look at how things actually turned out, it wasn’t true.”

“Yes. It’s similar.”

“I’m not as smart as the teacher, but I think it’s best not to expect anything from people you don’t know. Whether it’s ability or consideration. It’s better if you don’t harm people you don’t know. ”

“Yes.”

“There is no need to do good deeds that others would not do. There is a saying in the book of imperialism. A good deed that the recipient does not say thank you for is not a good deed… … !”

This is a word with two meanings.

Literally, doing good deeds without the other person’s consent can be harmful. To put it bluntly, if you don’t expect gratitude, don’t do good deeds.

“That’s a surprisingly deep insight.”

“Right?”

Mint thrust her face towards me, and I backed away slightly. Mint returned to her original position with an awkward expression.

What kind of reaction are you expecting?

“But. Teacher. Are you really thinking of quitting your job as an academy professor? Or are you just trying to persuade me? I didn’t think I would agree.”

“Because the situation is like this now. If I say everything I want to say, I also want to go to a bigger place.”

“That’s really surprising. Okay, I get it.”

Mint was worried about something this time too.

“How about just returning to the palace?”

“I don’t like that.”

“Hey, I’m not getting caught.”

Since there are still a few years left, you can think about it slowly. Mint, though, doesn’t seem to have any plans on what to do until graduation.

****

Method of producing penicillin.

The first step is, of course, the cultivation of blue mold. It is a matter of growing the blue mold well in a large container, but this is easier said than done. The temperature and nutrients that go in must be properly adjusted.

The next step is purification.

The refining process is divided into several stages.

It is necessary to go through a process of filtering out insoluble substances from the soup-like culture medium, and change the filtered solution into a weakly acidic solution.

Finally, the process of mixing in ammonium sulfate to extract the penicillin in a precipitated state.

What is technically possible in this world is, broadly speaking, a three-step process. By adjusting this process, we can improve the amount we extract.

The last step is packaging. This is the process of reconstituting penicillin into tablet form. This shouldn’t be difficult. The technology already exists.

Although it would be a bit difficult, it would not be impossible to mass-produce penicillin if we tried. Once the system was established.

There is still work left to do today. The person who can get the work done the fastest is the prince who is currently working in the government.

I looked at Prince Manfred.

“Thank you for allowing me to be exclusive.”

“No need. It’s a waste of time to work.”

Manfred gave a cursory greeting. It was annoying, but it was good, I nodded.

“How long will it take?”

“I don’t know. My goal is to do it this year, but I need the teacher’s help. It won’t be easy.”

“Yes.”

“First, teacher, write down in detail how to make the medicine. Write down in detail what is needed.”

“Okay.”

“Is the production process very complicated?”

“It’s complicated.”

It is a process that can never be achieved by chance or trial and error. From preparing the buffer solution to making and separating the sediment.

Manfred looked at the distant mountains.

“I guess I’ll have to decide on the site first.”

“You don’t need a large facility. You just need to have a lot of people to work.”

Right, I hadn’t thought of that. I measured the acidity with goldfish last time, but that’s not something you can do every time.

If you need a specific number, not just a reading of whether it is an acid or a base, blue or red litmus paper will not work.

I need that yellow test paper. I don’t remember what it’s called, but whatever.

The easiest way to make an acidity test solution is probably cabbage. You can make an acidity test solution with that purple cabbage water.

I thought about it some more.

“Please help me save the alchemist team.”

“Yeah. Do I have to be smart?”

“Well, no. You can be moderately smart. You can even pick me as a student.”

It has already been proven that recruiting people from the Academy’s alchemy department is not a very good idea. I thought it would be much better to use Manfred’s influence to hire them.

This is what alchemists are supposed to do.

Find out how to make and obtain ammonium sulfate, how to make acetic acid and sodium acetate.

I’m a little worried that production might be limited by something other than blue mold.

“Do you need anything else in particular?”

“That’s it for now. Let’s just focus on making the medicine, and think about everything else later.”

There were many twists and turns, but I’ve gathered everything I need to solve the problem! Now, all I have to do is keep pushing forward until I succeed.