episode_0061

Episode 61. Monster Hunting Festival (1)

****

“Teacher. I thought about it.”

“You do that too.”

I looked up from my desk for a moment and looked at Mint, who was sitting on the sofa in the lab. Mint was sitting there with a slightly displeased expression.

“I’m sorry. Please speak.”

I scratched my head awkwardly.

“Why are there monsters on the mountain behind the academy? Shouldn’t we catch them all because it’s dangerous?”

“I don’t know. Isn’t there a reason why they can’t all be caught? Especially strong ones?”

“I feel like there’s a reason, but I don’t know what it is.”

“That’s right.”

There are several possible reasons.

The monsters that live there are particularly strong, or the monsters hide in the sewers of the capital city, or they are raised for training.

It wasn’t a very common sense reason. This world had its own common sense. I guess that’s just how it is.

Thump. I closed the cap of the fountain pen.

“What are you doing today, Princess?”

“Alchemy.”

The princess thought about it for a moment.

“But, in my opinion, it all seems like a scam. The basic magic of alchemy is similar to transmutation magic, right?”

“Yes.”

I still don’t know why it’s a scam.

“If you’re going to break it all with something similar to transmutation magic anyway, I don’t know what the point of the discipline called alchemy is?”

I think I know what you mean.

I don’t know about alchemy, but I can think of something like that. But if I think about it again-

“The main thing to study in alchemy is how far you can go without magic. Other than that, the line between it and other magics becomes blurred.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re talking about?”

“No, just my opinion.”

If you think of alchemy as a concept corresponding to chemistry, you will come to that conclusion. There can be no science major who does not know chemistry, regardless of their major.

Mint nodded.

“Maybe… … Are there cookies in the lab?”

“There is. Just a moment.”

I put the cookie bag on the desk, and Mint snapped her fingers. The bag flew up to Mint. It’s always amazing to see.

“What did you do today, teacher?”

“I have to write a research paper in the morning. I have to go to the ward in the afternoon. I wish there were fewer patients.”

Wow.

Mint was munching on cookies. Judging by the size of the bite, she only had a taste.

“That’s right. I just hired a new graduate student.”

“Huh. Are you throwing away Istina?”

“One more person saved.”

It’s a bit strange if you say you just got it.

Istina will take good care of you until you graduate from your doctorate. Of course.

But, come to think of it. What if Istina says she won’t become a doctor? …? I’ll have to figure out a way to persuade her.

by the way.

Mint seemed not finished talking yet.

“Are you a girl?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, then that’s right.”

“No, Your Highness. She is a female student, but I don’t get to choose the graduate students. The ones who apply come in.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

The princess narrowed her eyes.

He seemed to be incredulous. No, really. I don’t pick graduate students either. If I could, I would have picked seven.

“Want to see who it is?”

“Okay, I understand.”

I nodded.

Mint is a bit prickly, but since I met Istina, nothing much has happened. I guess meeting a new graduate student will be okay?

“I guess I should go soon… … .”

“Take care, see you next time.”

Mint packed her bags and left the lab. For some reason, she suddenly seemed to be in a good mood. Was it because she had been told to meet her?

****

A few minutes after Princess Mint left, Istina opened the door and entered the laboratory.

“I put up the poster as the professor said. But why did I put it up?”

“I’m worried that someone will come along during the paper review process. The review process takes several months.”

“I see.”

It’s the most surefire way.

If you put up a poster with your name on it, it will be harder for someone to steal your paper. This must be a lesson from Rosalind Franklin, who never won the Nobel Prize.

anyway.

Istina was wearing glasses and looking at her notebook for the first time in a long time. She had a very serious expression on her face. What’s wrong with her? Does she have a new schedule?

I looked at Istina.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, Professor. There’s something called a monster hunting festival in a few days. It’s an event where you go around hunting monsters that run rampant in the summer, right?”

“Really?”

“There will be casualties.”

Well, of course it will come out.

“What are they doing? Swordsmanship competition in the spring. Monster hunting in the summer. It won’t be easy.”

“Because a knight is a fighter.”

It still seems crazy, but… …. The people of this world aren’t stupid. There must be a reason for it.

I’ve heard that before.

After all, only one person per family can receive the title, so even if you are the second son of a knight family, your future is not guaranteed.

Most aspiring knights must prove themselves on the battlefield.

Those who are to receive the title will also have to prove their worthiness to stand above them. On the battlefield.

So I guess they kill each other every quarter.

This is just my guess, though.

“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

Oh my. I guess I’ll have more work to do.

And the next day.

It was a monster hunting competition or something. As soon as it started, a patient came in. It was true that I wondered why they would do something that would cause them to get hurt.

“Professor!”

“It’s right next to me. You don’t have to yell.”

A patient brought in on a stretcher. Judging by his attire and the staff who carefully carried him in, he might be a wizard.

It was an unexpectedly fantastic sight.

Knight, wizard, archer, and healer. It looks like they’re going around forming a 4-person raid party like this.

It was too early to jump to conclusions, but at first glance, the patient seemed to be in good condition. He was breathing and his complexion was generally normal.

However, the fact that he was drooling was a bit concerning. It didn’t seem to be an injury.

I saw a patient like that before after taking an organophosphate pesticide. Is there anything similar?

Istina coughed.

“Ah, a 22-year-old male patient, his name is Izati. He collapsed while hunting a monster. The healer who brought the patient in at the time believes he was unconscious due to a head injury.”

It’s not completely impossible, but people don’t usually drool and fall over after hitting their heads. We’ll have to wait and see.

“Why is he like this?”

The party’s healer had a sad look on his face.

“I don’t know! I fell down while moving. I used healing magic, so I can breathe, but I can’t speak or walk properly. My eyes are unfocused.”

“Did you suddenly collapse?”

“Could it be that you fell into a trap or something?”

It’s not like he was trapped. If he was, he would have hurt his ankle or shin.

I took out a handkerchief and wiped the spittle from the patient’s mouth. When I looked again, the respiratory rate was low and the breathing itself seemed shallow.

“When did you fall?”

“I was wandering through the forest and collapsed out of sight. I was talking nonsense on the way back.”

“What did you say?”

“Rainbow colored ferns.”

This is a hallucination.

I turned my head towards Istina.

“Go and get the rubber tube and the bellows.”

“Yes!”

I tried to shake the unconscious wizard awake. Aside from his breathing being reduced, he didn’t seem to be in any danger. Well… … It’s a bit ambiguous, though.

“Teacher. Come to your senses.”

“Ugh.”

The healer who brought the patient to the hospital hesitated anxiously.

“Look, it looks like he hit his head on something while walking… … .”

It’s not impossible, but there was no sign of trauma to the head.

Could it be that the healing magic has made it easier to breathe less? There’s no way to know for sure. Istina brought a bucket and a rubber tube.

“I think I ate mushrooms.”

“Mushrooms? Why?”

How could I not know that…?

There are so many strange things people do in this world. Anyway, the diagnosis has been made.

Cholinergic crisis due to mushroom consumption.

This is a phenomenon that usually occurs due to excessive stimulation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. I have seen it in people who ate pesticides in their past lives.

The main symptoms are drooling, tearing, muscle weakness, and, in some patients, hallucinations.

Treatment of cholinergic crisis is with atropine, but atropine does not resolve respiratory failure.

Atropine acts on muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, and the receptors connected to the diaphragm are nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

It was a bit of a complicated story, but the bottom line is this: It can be treated with atropine, but separately, you need to manage your breathing.

I shook the patient awake again and injected atropine into his arm. That was the antidote. What’s next?

Should I do gastric lavage first or artificial respiration first? The patient is breathing and is not showing any symptoms such as cyanosis.

Gastric lavage will come first.

“Let’s start with stomach washing.”

I started to push the rubber tube into the patient’s esophagus. Istina was looking at me with worried eyes.

“Check carefully to see if the patient is breathing.”

“Yes.”

The patient’s stomach acid fell into the bucket. Gastric lavage was easier than expected.

“Is it okay?”

“You’ll be okay now that you’re at the hospital. If I had come a little later, I would have suffocated.”

The healer student, who had been crying the whole time, slightly relaxed when he heard that it would be okay.