episode_0132

Episode 132. The Saintess of the Empire (1)

****

I stroked Mint’s head.

Mint just laughed.

“I’m still confused.”

“Honestly, isn’t it understandable to be embarrassed?”

“Why? Because you’re so pretty?”

“Is that so?”

Mint wiped her mouth and let me go.

Even though we were holding hands tightly.

“Ah. I was thinking hard about something and wanted to say it. But you interrupted me by hugging me… … .”

Mint closed her eyes for a moment and thought.

“I know what the teacher was trying to say at the conference. In the end, it’s not about creating something new.”

“Yes?”

“Helping people is the most important thing. That means relieving the patient’s pain with painkillers and providing a better environment.”

“Yes, that’s what I was going to say.”

Mint nodded as if she knew. Still, it seemed like she was thinking about it seriously.

“Then. See you tomorrow, teacher.”

I nodded, and Mint left me behind. The princess must have something to do today too.

****

It was a few days ago.

There are a ton of letters from all over the empire piled up in front of my lab. So there were more than a few letters that I was delayed in responding to.

It wasn’t like there weren’t any letters that I had to receive. Letters from the royal family, for example.

Or a letter like this.

-I’ve heard a lot about your accomplishments, Professor. In particular, a few days ago, you helped the priests of the temple in Winia save the patients from the Black Death, which seems to have left a great impression on the church members and priests.

-I want to meet the professor in person.

– It is to express my gratitude for helping the church and bringing salvation to the people of the empire, but more than that, I am very interested in the research that you are conducting.

– If there is a way to help the believers, and more importantly, those who need God’s help, more definitely, it would be a sin for us not to participate. I will visit the Academy during the fall conference period. I hope to see you.

-Saint, Commander of the Knights of Salvation, Arcasia.

I thought about it for a while.

My memories of the church people were not all good. There were many times when they were unhelpful and even tried to hinder me.

I don’t know if I did something very wrong.

Well, still. The saint wants to come.

There was nothing I could do to stop him. He said he would attend the conference, and it wasn’t like he wouldn’t come even if I told him not to.

-Thank you. I look forward to your visit. I hope we can cooperate.

-Professor Asterix.

****

I didn’t see the saint at the conference though.

I don’t know yet whether the saint came or not. She may have planned to attend the conference the day after. She may have just received the paper booklet. It is also possible that she has already come.

Because the conference isn’t just for one day.

I raised my head at the sound of strange wheels and footsteps. Who had arrived at the lab?

After hearing a knock, I opened the door to the lab. Two priestesses of the temple stood in front of the lab, along with a person who appeared to be a saint.

“Ah. Hello?”

The priests nodded silently.

I looked at the saint and the two priests. All three were women. The saint was unusually wearing a thin white blindfold and holding a staff.

In a wheelchair. I guess he can walk for a while. That’s probably why he carries a cane even in a wheelchair.

Or, if we look at it a little darkly, the cane could be an expression of the will to walk. I have seen patients like that often.

I’m a bit curious.

“Nice to meet you.”

The priests waited outside the lab. The saintess parked her wheelchair next to the lab’s sofa.

I sat facing the saint.

The saintess slowly coughed, then looked around the lab for a moment. Ah. The state of the lab… … .

Let’s meet somewhere else.

The lab wasn’t something to show off to outsiders. The graduate students and princesses who came every day might have gotten used to it, but…

My lab was increasingly resembling Frankenstein’s lab. There were traces of human dissection and study everywhere.

A femur used to extract and observe bone marrow cells, a femur used to test the strength of the thigh bone, and a preserved heart used to elucidate the principles of blood circulation.

Oh my. I looked around awkwardly. The saint frowned at the rather horrifying sight.

“If you gather them, one person will come out.”

I had nothing to say in response.

There will be five, not one. A total of seven corpses were purchased for dissection.

Come to think of it, having human corpse pieces strewn all over the lab might not have been a sight to show to a priest…

I sighed.

“That’s how it turned out while I was researching.”

“I’ve heard a lot that Professor is a bit of a weird person. Let’s talk first.”

I stared intently at the saint’s face. She had one eye covered with a blindfold.

The saintess’s hair was light brown. Perhaps because she had difficulty going out in a wheelchair, her face was so pale that her blood vessels were visible, and the one eye she could see was a sleepy eye without a double eyelid.

Blindfold. Cane. Saint’s nightgown.

I scratched my head, feeling like I might remember something, but also not.

“If it’s not your fault, how did the saint end up in a wheelchair?”

The saint smiled bitterly.

“As expected. You’re worried about the symptoms. However, it’s not a disease that can be cured. While I was chasing a monster with the paladins, I fell off my horse due to the monster’s attack.”

“Oh my. You’ve had a hard time.”

Her brain reflexively went into ‘deliver bad news’ mode, but the saintess shook her head.

Well, if the saint was a healer, her tone would be obvious, like ‘deliver bad news’.

“You don’t have to talk to me like a patient. I didn’t come here to be treated. God’s plan for me was not to be a healer who fights monsters directly.”

There were many things I was curious about.

If the saint didn’t want to talk about it, it was something that couldn’t be asked.

I don’t know if it’s because it’s the Middle Ages and not a very healthy time, but there are a lot of patients in the empire.

“What. I didn’t come here to talk about my illness. I’m a fan of yours, Professor.”

It was an unexpected development.

“Oh. Really?”

I thought she would say something boring since she was a church person. The saint agreed.

“That’s right! I’ve read all of the professor’s books, papers, publications, and articles that came out this year.”

What are you trying to say?

“How was it?”

“I was amazed! The invention of the microscope, the discovery of germs, the eradication of dysentery, the discovery of white blood cells, the elucidation of the principles of the circulatory system, the discovery of capillaries. Mysteries that would have taken a thousand years to solve were all solved thanks to the professor.”

It was a great discovery.

****

By the way, if you think about it a little more, you’ll probably remember what kind of illness it is. There are a lot of things that are strange about it being just a leg injury.

Let’s think about it a little more.

“That’s right.”

“That’s it. Isn’t it a new horizon in medicine? Not even a new horizon. Dozens of new horizons have been opened.”

The saint’s voice was so quiet that it was hard to hear what she was saying.

“You are too kind.”

“Of course, progress was slow. The medical community is conservative, and the organization called Shinto is even more conservative. It would be difficult to accept everything the professor advocated in just one year.”

I nodded.

“Not all churches would have supported the new theory. Rather, there would have been more people who were staunchly opposed to it.”

“Yes. There were many people who called the professor’s theory heretical. Although this is not the era of witch hunts, there were many people who accepted it to that extent. For example, old farts.”

Where is the heresy? I have never made a theological claim. There are some really strange people out there.

“However, I strongly insisted that we accept and verify the professor’s theory. Isn’t medicine a discipline that has not developed for almost a thousand years?”

The saint continued speaking.

“Since the collapse of the ancient empires, humanity has largely failed to catch up with the level of those ancient empires in terms of culture, technology, and everything else.”

I was flipping through Harrison’s book on internal medicine in my head, feeling frustrated.

I think I know what the problem is, but my thoughts are wandering. Hmm, what kind of illness is it?

I listened to the saint’s words with one ear and let them go out the other, occasionally nodding my head.

“So. I could argue to the priests that feeding people shark meat doesn’t really help-”

I stared intently at the saint’s face.

I don’t understand the context because I just vaguely heard what was said. Where on earth did the shark meat story come from?

“Excuse me, Professor. Are you listening to me?”

“No.”

The saintess looked a little angry.

Well, I feel a little bad because I came all this way to talk and you weren’t listening to me, but it feels like someone in my head is trying to tell me the answer with just gestures.

I think we’ll find out soon enough.

“Professor, you don’t listen. Sometimes, I think you’ll be able to communicate better with the dementia patients who come into the temple-”

Dementia?

“Ah!”

I finally remembered.

A condition that can be caused by trauma, occurs mainly in young women, and gives people a reason to close one eye and use a wheelchair.