WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint ◈
Chapter 105: Faith Reassembled (5)
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Erpen Adamberta.
After leaving the elves’ residential district, Erpen had spent a full three hundred years among humans.
Over that long span of time, Erpen came to one conclusion about humanity.
They were rationally foolish.
At first, Erpen had thought humans were simply foolish.
They cut down old-growth trees that had lived for a hundred years just to make chairs.
They sold their friends for a few pieces of gold.
Patients refused to rest and went back to work the very next day, worsening their illnesses.
Watching countless humans, Erpen had often been appalled by how narrow their outlooks were.
But as ten, twenty, then a hundred years passed, Erpen had no choice but to change their mind.
They cut down old-growth trees.
To enjoy as much power as possible within lives that lasted less than a century.
They sold their friends.
So their families could live more comfortably with that gold.
They went back to work the day after receiving treatment.
Because they would die soon anyway, and they wanted to put even one more coin in their children’s hands.
Through countless such cases, Erpen understood why humans acted that way.
Their outlooks were not narrow.
Unlike elves, who lived for nearly eternal spans of time, humans had short lives.
To enjoy and pass down as much as possible during those brief lives, they made rational choices in a different direction from elves.
And now.
Erpen could only sigh as they looked at another human who was both foolish and rational.
“The germ theory is... far too dangerous. It may damage the Church’s standing.”
“This is not a conversation to have while standing here. Let us move somewhere else.”
The two left the lecture hall and headed to the reception room assigned to the Mensia Sect.
Inside the reception room, Erpen spoke first while they waited for tea.
“Archbishop Dormun. What do you mean by the Church’s standing?”
“You know, do you not? If it becomes known that the germs the Saint spoke of are the source of disease, the citizens will demand that the Church take responsibility for all the treatments it has provided until now.”
Dormun fingered his rosary.
“Humanity is barely gasping between the darkness outside the Black Iron Wall and the poverty within it. In this dark age, should we not prevent the Church’s standing from falling?”
Erpen silently watched the elderly priest.
The gray eyes of an elf who had lived for centuries slowly swept over the expression of the priest appealing to them.
After considering it, the elf spoke.
“So you are asking us to remain silent?”
“That would be ideal. But one cannot stop the tide of the times, can one? So let us delay it by ten years. No, fifteen. If Erpen assists us, it should be entirely possible.”
Erpen nodded.
They were the second-ranking figure of the Adamberta Sect.
Dormun, seated before them, was the third-ranking figure of the Mensia Sect.
If the two joined forces and persuaded the elder-level priests, delaying the announcement of the germ theory would be easy.
“I see. Fifteen years would certainly be enough time for people to accept it.”
Dormun’s expression brightened considerably.
But then Erpen’s cold voice followed, and the color drained from Dormun’s face.
“Fifteen years. That would be enough time for you to retire and for people to forget you.”
The rosary bead caught between Dormun’s fingers stopped.
His dry lips moved twice, trying to form an excuse.
What little reason he had left stopped him. Anything he said before the living history of healing studies would amount to nothing more than an excuse.
Silence settled between them.
Beyond the corridor, only the cooing of a late pigeon echoed through the room.
“Erpen... sir...”
Dormun barely forced out a voice to break the silence.
But the elf lightly raised a hand to stop him.
As though telling him not to make himself any more pitiful.
“Do not misunderstand. I am not trying to rebuke you. I can imagine how it feels to watch the theology and sermons you built over a lifetime collapse.”
Erpen stared at the back of Dormun’s hand for a moment.
The blue veins standing out beneath its thin skin suggested how little time Dormun had left.
“If my lifespan had been as short as yours, I might have made the same choice. The desire to protect one’s last scrap of honor is a primal desire shared by everyone.”
That was why it was all the more regrettable.
Even after spending three hundred years, Erpen still had more than a century left.
But the man before them had fewer than ten years left in which he could work as a healer.
“But there are still too many patients I must see. There is a mountain of knowledge yet to uncover. So I cannot yield those fifteen years to you.”
Erpen took only a sip of the tea that had finally arrived and rose.
Click.
The sharp tap of their heels stopped at the door.
“Archbishop Dormun.”
“...”
“Do not cling too tightly to the years gone by. Have I not also let go of three centuries? Pride and the hunger for power are separated by only a sheet of paper. It depends on what one can let go of.”
The elf slightly lifted their hat as they left him with a final word.
“Sometimes, one must learn to let go beyond reason. You are stronger than you think.”
With that, Erpen put on their hat and left the room.
Click.
The door shut.
Dormun remained in the reception room, silently looking down at his teacup for a long time.
Dormun Mensia.
Born with his family’s support, he had attained the qualifications of a senior healer at a young age.
More than a decade had passed since then.
Now he was the third-ranking figure of his sect, with the position of Cardinal nearly within reach.
What he had built was far too precious to let go of now.
After making up his mind, Dormun muttered toward the empty air.
“I am sorry, Erpen.”
His fingertips trembled.
“I forgot how to open a clenched fist when I was an infant.”
Life was short anyway.
The starlight was far too bright to give up a star that seemed within reach.
* * *
Several days had passed since the germ theory was announced.
Nothing much had changed in daily life during that time.
The public continued with their lives, unaware that a hypothesis was circulating through the healing world.
Perhaps that was only natural.
It was still too early to reveal the germ theory to the public.
Not because people would be unable to accept germs.
‘We agreed that only elder-level healers would learn about germs until antibiotics were developed.’
This was a world where germs could be misused.
Think about it.
This was a world where black mages who did not even know what caused smallpox went around spreading plague curses with pus as a catalyst, based on nothing but empirical rules.
And we were supposed to teach people how to discover and culture germs in a world like this?
‘If some lunatic starts spreading anthrax bacteria, humanity will be finished that very day.’
We were safe only because people did not know better.
Knowledge of germs was somewhat dangerous for ordinary people.
That was why we planned to announce it only after antibiotics had been developed.
‘I promised my master as much.’
The germ theory had thoroughly shaken up the healing world, but my daily life had not changed dramatically.
“A letter for you, Sir Julian.”
“Thank you, Pericia.”
On days when I had lectures, I stayed at the Academy.
On days without them, I flew to the capital to see patients.
The only unusual thing was the growing number of letters addressed to me.
“Sir Julian, what should I do with the students’ letters?”
“Please sort out the questions related to black magic.”
“A marquis’s household has sent you an invitation to a birthday banquet.”
“Please tell them I’ll probably be too busy to attend that day.”
“Understood.”
Pericia, too, spent busy days somewhere between a bodyguard and a secretary.
Then, one day.
Bubble.
The dye in the flask bubbled once, and a thin reddish vapor rose from it.
As I firmly pressed a stopper into the flask’s mouth, Pericia’s voice came from beyond the door.
“Sir Julian.”
“Come in.”
The door opened, and a beautiful woman with a cool expression walked in.
Pericia, her golden hair swept over one shoulder, placed a letter on my desk.
“It is a letter from Father Simeon.”
“It seems the Church has finally reached a decision.”
A few days ago, I had asked Simeon to organize and send me the Church’s position on the germ theory.
I was busy, and I was not very well informed about matters beyond the clinic.
Simeon acted as my ears, listening for news from the healing world in my stead.
『To Lord Schnabel.
The season when the Sun’s shadows grow long is upon us. I pray that the Saint remains in good health.
Now that the Twelve Sects’ Joint Sermon Assembly has concluded at noon today, I write to inform the Saint.
Of the twelve sects, ten have resolved to accept the Saint’s hypothesis as the official position of their orders.』
‘So two sects ultimately chose not to accept it.’
The Twelve Sects had begun from the same roots in healing studies, but they were ultimately like different subspecialties heading in different directions.
Just as the Adamberta Sect could be compared to hematology, the others could be compared to neurology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, and so on.
According to Simeon’s letter, two sects had decided not to accept the germ theory.
‘Which sects?’
『The sects that ultimately did not raise their hands were the Mensia Sect and the Lafabri Sect.』
Mensia and Lafabri.
Infectious disease and obstetrics and gynecology.
‘Mensia, I understand, but why Lafabri?’
It was somewhat unexpected.
They had been the quietest sect during the presentation.
And yet this was the sect that objected to the bitter end.
Keeping both names in mind, I moved my eyes to the next line.
『Mensia is a sect that has taught plagues to be divine punishment.
To those who called for repentance and collected donations whenever a plague struck, the existence of germs that deny divine punishment seems difficult to accept.』
The wording was gentle, but its implied meaning was biting.
They are probably reluctant to accept it after making a tidy profit from repentance prayer meetings and witch hunts whenever a plague came through.
That was more or less what it meant.
Then came the Lafabri Sect.
『The Lafabri Sect appears afraid to confront the wrongs it has committed until now.
The moment it becomes known that germs cause postpartum fever, they will have to face protests from nobles around the world.』
Oh, I see.
Even nobles were helpless against puerperal fever.
Assuming a senior healer was standing by in advance, the chance of a noblewoman dying in connection with childbirth was roughly ten percent.
If the healer missed the critical window or an unexpected premature birth occurred, the mortality rate jumped to fifty percent.
It turned out there was a reason girls like Cinderella in fairy tales and romance fantasies began with their mothers already dead.
And the Lafabri Sect was, for the most part, devoted to researching specialized techniques for treating postpartum fever with Heal.
But if it became known that germs caused puerperal fever, and that the Lafabri Sect had effectively been spreading those germs...
‘The fallout will be no joke.’
Before anyone could even argue over right and wrong, they would be dragged to the guillotine.
It would not be easy for them to support the germ theory, even knowing that.
‘So the Mensia Sect and the Lafabri Sect have decided to remain in the past.’
It was regrettable.
Announcing the germ theory now had not simply been preparation for developing antibiotics.
Next year, a cross-sect Academy Comprehensive Healing Center would be established.
To gather renowned healers there, it had been necessary to shatter the old paradigm of healing studies at least once.
They needed to feel a sense of crisis that they would be left behind if they kept their sects’ doors locked forever.
But these two sects had chosen to settle for the present rather than follow the tide of the times.
‘The Mensia Sect is especially regrettable.’
My impression of the Mensia Sect was complicated in many ways.
As a child, I saw them as shameless people who had tried to seize my parents’ research achievements.
But as a doctor, they were a sect that had merely done their best according to the common sense of their time.
So I was saddened that they had failed to read the times, but at the same time, I was glad.
“Two sects opposed it. What are you planning to do about them?”
Pericia seemed to have reached a similar conclusion after receiving the letter.
“I won’t do anything. But I don’t think I can move forward with them.”
I had no intention of applying special pressure to the Mensia Sect.
There would surely be innocent healers among them, and they had only done their best in their own positions.
But I had no intention of extending a hand to them, either.
Pericia could not hide her regret.
“To be blinded by the glory of the past. They only had to wait one month.”
“Indeed.”
Pericia’s gaze settled on the flask of red dye on my desk.
Beside it, a white mouse scurried around its cage, squeak, squeak.
“The antibiotic is finally complete...”
It was truly regrettable.
One month.
If the Mensia Sect had accepted the germ theory and waited only one month, it could have gained a stronger voice than any other sect.
But now, I had no intention of giving them that opportunity.
“Pericia. Contact the Adamberta Sect.”
“Whom should I contact?”
“Archbishop Erpen has proposed joint research. Contact them.”
If the infectious-disease sect did not want to handle antibiotics, there was no helping it.
I could only supply the antibiotics to the Adamberta Sect, which would likely use them frequently.
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