Ch.78College (4)

“Test? What kind of test?”

“You’re going to evaluate me with such wordplay?”

“What’s written over there? I can’t read.”

“If you’re a doctor, shouldn’t you demonstrate your skills by treating patients?”

“Everyone be quiet, silence!!”

‘What is all this…’

I had barely managed to walk all the way from my hometown to Dijon after hearing they were recruiting doctors, but the scene unfolding before me after all that hardship could only be described as complete chaos.

This badge? Pin? Whatever it is, seeing that others have the same one as me, they must also be people who came to become doctors like me, but looking at their state, they’re so disgusting that I doubt they could ever heal anyone.

How can they smell worse than me who came from the countryside? Their stench is even worse than that of patients.

“I’ll explain once more. Solve the given problems, and if you get enough correct answers, you pass. Anyone who doesn’t like this can simply leave.”

“But we should be examining patients… ugh…”

*Clank*

With just one gesture from the tired-faced supervisor, the spears that had been pointing skyward in the soldiers’ hands now aimed forward. Of course, the distance between the soldiers and the crowd was far enough that no one was hurt, but merely pointing weapons was more than enough to silence the noisy crowd.

“And those who cannot read have no qualifications, so leave.”

“But what do letters have to do with patients—ah, no… Yes, my lord. As you wish.”

‘Thank goodness…’

The illiterate people hung their heads dejectedly, and the girl from the countryside watched them with relief.

I learned to read from the priest to study the Bible, but I never thought it would come in handy like this.

The priest was right when he said knowing how to read would never be a disadvantage in life.

“Damn it…”

“What does reading have to do with treating diseases… I don’t understand.”

“Shut up and keep walking.”

“Phew—”

“Stupid fools, how could you treat people if you can’t even read?”

Prepared for potential riots, soldiers pointed their weapons and pushed out the illiterate group. Though angry about their wasted journey, they swallowed their rage at the sight of weapons and were dragged out of the square.

Most of those who could read were either happy that competition had decreased or sneered at the “ignorant fools,” but some people paid no attention to others and focused solely on the text on the sign, already beginning to think about answers to the problems.

And this girl was among those few.

‘Let’s see… Explain the relationship between cleanliness and disease?’

Leclerc thought there was no need to waste expensive paper on vagrants with no pedigree, so he modified Claude’s test method to save as much money as possible.

A large sign with questions was erected in an empty lot outside the palace, and people gathered in the square could look at it, think of answers, and tell them to the supervisor.

This format was, of course, extremely vulnerable to cheating, but Claude judged that a brief conversation would be enough to filter out unsuitable candidates, so Leclerc’s proposed method was approved.

“Things seem to have settled down. Now read the questions on this board and think about your answers, then tell them to me.”

‘Cleanliness…? Ah, does it mean washing?’

Washing is usually done to remove stains and odors… odors?

Hmm… I think I understand.

Most patients I cared for in my village had terrible or disgusting smells, while healthy people didn’t have such odors.

And when people ate something dirty or rotten with a foul smell, they soon fell ill.

I hated those smells so much that I cleaned the ward and patients thoroughly every day, and after touching patients, I immediately scrubbed my hands until the smell was gone.

Even then, I vaguely thought there might be some connection, but I never expected to see it addressed here.

‘So if something smells bad, you get sick, and if you wash away that smell, you don’t get sick?’

Alright, I’ll go with this answer for the first question.

I don’t know much about these things since I’ve never studied them, but then again, I didn’t treat the villagers because I learned it somewhere.

I just nursed patients with all my heart and somehow ended up healing them perfectly, then treated more and more villagers based on that experience until a merchant recommended me, and somehow I ended up here.

I can’t start trembling now just because I don’t know anything.

‘Okay, the next question…’

The girl from the countryside continued to come up with her own answers to the questions with such determination.

Two hours later, that girl was selected by the supervisor and granted the honor of entering Dijon Castle.

……….

“‘If something smells, you won’t get sick’… Not bad.”

‘I’m doomed, I’m doomed, I’m doomed…’

Mr. Merchant… you said he was a doctor… you definitely said just a regular doctor, not a palace physician…

But why is the Duke, no, the King himself coming out to—

“And this boiling water before drinking it, how did you come up with that?”

“T-that! Nnngh…”

I’m finished…

I bit my tongue from nervousness. I bit it so hard that I can taste blood in my mouth, and my tongue feels numb and won’t move properly.

Q-quickly… if I don’t answer the King’s question, they’ll say I’m being disrespectful and my head will… eek!

“Ugh, I-I mean… our village’s well had a b-bad smell… I hated that smell so I thought of ways to remove it and tried steeping herbs in it…”

“…Enough, speak after your tongue feels better.”

“Y-yes, Your Majesty…”

It’s over…

To be told by the King to shut my mouth, my score must have plummeted…

If my score drops, I’ll fail… and then I’ll have to return home empty-handed… wait.

‘Maybe that’s not so bad?’

If I pass and become a palace physician, I’ll have to live in the palace from now on, but how could an ignorant country girl like me possibly survive in a place like this?

I know nothing about etiquette and would commit dozens of disrespectful acts every day—how could I live with such anxiety?

Yes, let’s aim to fail. Even if I fail here, it won’t affect my livelihood.

But if I give half-hearted answers, they might call it disrespectful and cut off my head, so I should answer as sincerely as possible, right?

‘…Alright.’

With failure as her goal, the girl felt much lighter, and as a result, she began to act more naturally. She easily shared everything she knew in response to Claude’s questions.

“Pass.”

“…Pardon?”

And so the girl proudly passed as a disciple who would receive Claude’s teachings.

The girl, having no idea how things had turned out, blinked in confusion as she was led away by the maids.

……….

“Ellen, Ellen…”

I just cast the net and waited, and such a prize catch walked right in.

She’s a bit young and being female makes me question whether the students will properly listen to her, but aside from that, she’s the smartest among the accepted candidates and the closest to the discipline of [medicine].

“How was she?”

“Even for someone like me with no knowledge in that field, her words were extremely convincing.”

From solutions for cleanliness and water pollution, to burning patients’ clothes because the smell wouldn’t come out, to covering her nose and mouth with cloth when meeting patients because she hated the smell of blood and saliva, to wrapping wounds with boiled cloth, to combining various herbs to create optimal medicines based on symptoms—Ellen gave remarkably impressive answers.

Of course, the cause of disease isn’t odor as Ellen claimed, but germs and saliva, but considering the limitations of an era where germs can’t be identified, and broadly speaking, she’s not wrong.

Bad smells indicate filth, and filth directly leads to disease. Without microscopes, saying that something too small to see causes disease would be more chilling.

‘What I like most is that she figured all this out through self-study without any books.’

Ellen passed the test solely based on her experience treating patients and her deductions from that experience, unlike the other successful candidates who had read medical books full of quack knowledge.

When asked what she thought about bloodletting as a treatment, she frowned with an expression that said ‘What nonsense are you talking about?’ and answered, [Even healthy people would become patients if you did that to them… why would you do such a thing to someone who’s already sick?]. When asked about feeding mercury to patients who fell ill due to a lack of earth energy according to the four elements theory, she replied, [Um… what is the energy of iron? That sounds more like magic than medicine…]. She gave truly refreshing answers to all those quack treatments.

Seeing Ellen’s admirable answers, it seems the problem was never with people but with the books containing pseudo-medical knowledge akin to sorcery and superstition, and those who spread such nonsense. Well, human intelligence hasn’t changed much over time—ancient people couldn’t have been that stupid.

With the mindset of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, I should burn all those ridiculous books and bury all the quacks who spread such rumors.

“There were six who passed, correct? Give each of them their own room and clothes to wear in the castle. As for meals… well, there are commoner servants, so it should be fine. Tell them to come to the dining hall to eat.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Looking forward to working with you, my high-class slaves.