episode_0049

Episode 49. The Price of Misunderstanding (1)

****

We arrived at the Great Temple of Imentia shortly afterwards. The temple was full of patients and the conditions were worse than I had expected.

“It’s more crowded than I thought.”

In situations where the flu may be spreading, gathering sick people together can be counterproductive.

There were curtains between the wards and beds, but it didn’t seem like they could completely prevent the spread of the cold.

I don’t know exactly. Since it’s a large temple, there might be something like Holyfield, and there might be people who were cured with healing magic alone.

I didn’t know how powerful the healing magic of the temple was. I looked around.

“Professor. This way.”

And then.

A priest in white robes raised his hand toward me. I looked away.

“Priest, Anatha.”

“Hello. How are things going?”

I looked at the priest who came before me.

It was a priest wearing white robes.

Long black hair and amber eyes. Appeared to be around the same age as Istina.

Anatha fiddled with her sleeves.

“Uh, the situation… … . There’s only been one death so far, but if we continue like this for two weeks, we’ll run out of supplies. Then we won’t be able to accommodate all these patients in the temple.”

“You can’t say only one person… … . Anyway, I’ll start by seeing the critically ill patients.”

“Okay.”

Anatha nodded.

“The city government will start handing out lemons in about a day. Are there any vegetables or fruits in the temple right now?”

His expression was like, “Why are you asking that?”

“I don’t know. There must be one, right?”

“Share as much as possible to the patients. Start taking vitamin C normally and your condition will start to improve in about three days.”

“What is vitamin?”

“A nutrient found in vegetables and fruits. It is especially abundant in citrus fruits.”

“Okay, I understand. Do you have any other opinions regarding treatment?”

“Do as much as you can. There is no particularly effective treatment for colds.”

Colds and flu are not cured with antibiotics.

You can try antiviral medications like oseltamivir for the flu, but these may not be effective if not taken within 48 hours. This means there are many limitations.

It’s questionable whether the flu medicine will work here in the world. There’s no way to find out, that’s for sure. There’s no real cure for the common cold.

You can try using cold medicine or antihistamines, but they are not really treatments. Just keep doing what you have been doing.

“But is the situation really bad?”

“There are not as many people who are sick as you might think. The sailors continue to complain of symptoms such as itching and bleeding from the mouth.”

Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any deadly plague going around this time.

****

It was as I had expected. This plague seemed to have been created by the delusions and misunderstandings of Hedwig and the officials who were trying to find the plague.

What are you talking about?

The ship the mayor’s son was on was the Rosaria. When the Rosaria’s crew arrived in Imentia after their voyage, some of them would have had bleeding and itchy gums.

Because of scurvy.

These people came into the city with weakened immune systems and probably caught a cold.

City officials, mistaking this for an epidemic, quarantined the sailors and then went out to find people with similar illnesses within the city.

Fear of the Black Death may also have played a role.

The Black Death is a disease that has been gone for a long time, so if you judge it based on symptoms alone without experience,

People like Hedwig, with their rashes, coughs, and bleeding from the mouth, might seem like symptoms that, on paper, resemble the Black Death.

Eventually, many people, including those with periodontitis and colds, were suspected of being plague patients. Fear spread, and a curfew and self-isolation recommendations were issued in the city.

This is the chain of events that I have deduced.

It’s so tangled and twisted.

Anatha took me to the back of the temple.

“These are the most critically ill patients. This way.”

Well, it is actually better in many ways to manage the most critically ill patients in a separate space.

I adjusted my plague doctor mask and went into the sickroom. There were several patients lying in beds, and I could hear coughing.

Let’s look at them one by one.

“Mr. Anatha, go ahead and do your business. I’ll take care of the patients here first and then I’ll get back to you.”

Anatha nodded.

The detective game is over now. I figured out what was going on and relayed it to the mayor and officials, so today I’m going to do what I can here.

Just because the plague was an illusion doesn’t mean sick people won’t get sick.

There are quite a few people dying from diseases that are not known to be the flu, colds, or scurvy.

Anatha left the intensive care unit, leaving Istina and I alone in the room. Istina looked at me as if she was wondering.

“So, Professor, do you think that the plague that came to Imentia was a mistake?”

If you say it’s a mistake, that’s a bit much.

“Plague? I don’t know for sure. It seems like there’s something like the flu going around. Either the sailors brought it in from overseas, or the city people passed it on to the sailors who just arrived.”

“So, what we have been mistaken for the Black Death until now is actually the result of patients suffering from scurvy and the flu at the same time?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you come up with that idea?”

Istina looked at me with a puzzled look.

There is no way to be sure.

If this were a modern hospital, I would have done a flu test, but that’s not possible.

It’s not even clear if this is the real flu or just a bad cold.

There is only one way. See the patient in person.

****

“When I die, the god of death sees me- Ugh.”

There it is again. As soon as I arrived at the patient’s bedside, I checked the patient’s gums. It seemed like there was bleeding from the gums. Is this man a sailor too?

I wiped my gloves on the towel next to the bed. The patient was sneezing next to me.

“I checked and the patient’s gums are bleeding. Have you been on a boat recently?”

“Wow, I thought it was a ghost.”

“I am a doctor.”

“I was on a boat a few days ago, and the people on the boat- Cluck! Cluck!”

It was a cough mixed with phlegm. As Anatha said, it looked a bit serious. I felt the patient’s pulse on his wrist. The heart rate was normal.

“What happened?”

“Blood came out of my mouth and my body itched. Then a few days later, I caught a cold.”

“I see.”

I disinfected my gloves again and took two white vials out of my pocket.

There were two handfuls on the patient’s bedside plate: one handful of cold medicine, the other handful of vitamin C lozenges.

“Take one pill in the morning and one in the evening. Take two white pills a day, and two yellow pills a day.”

“Okay… … . Is that better?”

“You’ll be fine soon. Just eat well, drink plenty of water, and get plenty of rest.”

It seems that seasonal flu is scary. There’s already been one death. But it seems like most other people will be fine.

This patient was resolved. I walked to the other side of the ward. This patient looked even worse… … . I frowned.

“Do you think you have a fever?”

Istina nodded. I took off my gloves, disinfected my hands, and looked at the patient.

“You’re sleeping. Should I come back later?”

“What if I die?”

“Uh… ….”

“You came to the hospital bed and told me to wake the patient up if he was sleeping. Or at dawn.”

There’s nothing I can do.

Even if it’s a waste of time, you can’t tell if the hospitalized patient is sleeping, passed out, or unconscious.

“Patient, please wake up.”

It looked more painful than I thought.

Your face is also red. You seem to have a fever. I put the back of my hand on your forehead. You seem to have a fever. Are you conscious?

“Istina, healing magic.”

“Yes!”

Istina heard the staff.

I checked the patient’s face. It seemed like he had a high fever, maybe because of the flu.

“Patient! Wake up!”

“Uh, yeah… … ?”

The patient slowly opened his eyes. This might be a loss of consciousness. This time, I shook the patient violently and woke him up.

“Wake up!”

“Yes?”

The patient sat in bed, rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, I was just sleeping, what happened? Did something else go wrong?”

“I thought the patient was dead.”

What the heck. It might have been surprisingly okay.

“The patient has a fever. Please take some fever-reducing medicine right away and we will check again in a few hours. The blanket will be confiscated.”

“Oh, is the fever that bad?”

“Yes.”

Scurvy is serious because it has cold symptoms, loss of consciousness, and fever. Of course, there is a chance that it will get better soon.

I nodded.

“Then. I will prescribe you an antipyretic, a cold medicine, and even vitamins. The patient should take three pills in the morning and evening.”

****

We left the ward. The situation was resolved. At least the patients were all given medicine.

“You’ve worked hard… … .”

“Okay.”

“Now back to the castle?”

There was one thing left to do.

“That’s what I’ll do. I’ll go around the temple and send home all the patients who can be sent home.”

“Yes… … . How long will it take this time?”

I don’t know that either.

If only I could convince the mayor that it wasn’t a dangerous plague, I could go back to the Academy right now.