WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint ◈
Chapter 46: Mistaken for Daddy Long-Legs (5)
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* * *
“Director Schun...?”
“From the Merkuer Trading Company...?”
“They actually came in person?”
Murmurs filled the room.
Quinine.
The new medicine that had stopped the terrible fever gradually pushing back the Empire’s Southern Front.
To the public, Director Schun was famous as the person who had created that medicine.
With the Director appearing in person, the students all began chattering at once.
But not every student reacted that way.
‘Why are they so surprised?’
Valeria tilted her head.
The scholarship officer had sent them invitations.
The scholarship officer had said they would host a dinner.
So naturally, the scholarship officer would come, wouldn’t they?
Ayla, beside her, wore a similar expression.
“Big Sis, why is everyone so surprised?”
“Who knows.”
The sisters whispered quietly enough that no one else could hear.
Before long, however, Valeria understood why the other students were reacting this way.
“I didn’t think they’d come in person.”
“I thought they’d send a representative.”
“I thought their butler would come.”
Valeria’s ears perked up.
A representative.
Right.
Now that she thought about it, it was normal for a representative to attend in this sort of situation.
She had often seen it while attending the Academy’s Middle Division.
Nobles and wealthy people often used representatives when meeting commoners.
Naturally, everyone had expected Director Schun to do the same.
‘I never thought of that.’
The reason Valeria and Ayla had not considered it was simple.
Before coming to the dinner, their mother had gotten carried away first.
‘Mother...’
Valeria smiled bitterly to herself as she realized it.
The scholarship students’ murmuring did not die down easily.
Director Schun silently waited for them.
Only then did the students realize they had been behaving rudely and fall silent.
Beneath the shadow of the fedora, the corner of Director Schun’s mouth curved faintly.
“You don’t need to be nervous. As I said, you are the stars of today. Please feel free to say whatever you wish.”
The low, gentle voice reached every corner of the room.
The students’ shoulders relaxed a little.
Then,
“Um... In that case...”
A boy cautiously raised his hand.
It was Kal, the Swordsmanship Department student who had caused the knife incident earlier.
His gaze turned toward Julian.
“E-Excuse me, but may I ask you something?”
“Of course. Please, go ahead.”
“Then, um...”
Kal’s gaze moved away from Julian.
He fixed his eyes on the red-haired woman, her suit coat draped over her shoulders like a cape.
“May I ask how old your bodyguard is?”
“I’ll answer that in the Director’s stead. There’s barely a year or two between us.”
“Then may I ask who taught you? Your movements just now were incredible.”
In the worlds of swordsmanship and magic, skill was lineage.
Of course, some students built their foundations at the Academy and advanced from there.
But true masters usually inherited secret techniques passed down from teacher to teacher, generation after generation.
Because of this, children from prestigious swordsmanship or magical families sometimes did not enter the Academy even after reaching the High Division.
That was also why it was not rare for an unexpected rising star to appear in the Academic Division, the course after the High Division.
‘With movements like that, she could be the prized disciple of a famous school, or the descendant of a renowned knightly family.’
Kal clearly remembered Erika’s battle aura from moments ago.
Unlike him, who could only form it with intense concentration, Erika wielded battle aura as naturally as breathing.
She had to be at a level far beyond Kal, the second-ranked student in the Swordsmanship Department.
That was why Kal could not contain his curiosity about the teacher who had made Erika what she was.
“...”
But Erika merely tilted her head at his question.
She had no teacher.
Naturally, she did not belong to a school either.
Wait.
She had learned battle aura from Wangcho, so did that make Wangcho her teacher?
Still, unless it was Captain Shen, who had taught her magic, calling that gang boss her teacher felt strangely awkward.
After considering it carefully, Erika finally gave a single answer.
“...Live combat.”
“Pardon?”
“I learned it through live combat in Limbus Pit.”
It was not a lie.
Wangcho had always taught battle aura through real combat.
His teaching method was to throw her straight into a gang feud, then make sure only that she did not die.
Thanks to that, Erika had reached the level where she could activate battle aura as naturally as breathing.
However, Erika’s answer unintentionally left Kal stunned.
“Through live combat...?”
No Academy, no school, no teacher.
She had reached that level through nothing but actual combat.
Kal’s mouth closed.
He had held a sword since childhood and grown up hearing that he was talented.
Sometimes, he had secretly laughed at children born into better circumstances who still fell behind him.
But now, he could not say a word.
Erika had surpassed his level through harder work in an environment far worse than his.
And at this age, she had earned recognition for her skill and taken a place beside Director Schun.
‘...I was arrogant.’
Kal realized his own conceit.
He had become too smug over the fact that Director Schun had noticed him.
He had nearly let that arrogance make him neglect his efforts.
‘I’m truly glad I came here today.’
Kal clasped his hands in a fist-and-palm salute.
“I learned a lot, Big Sis!”
Erika tilted her head, looking as though she had no idea why Kal had suddenly reacted that way.
Still, following the manners ingrained in her, she returned the salute.
“Sure. Well, I’m glad it helped.”
The manners had not completely settled into her speech yet, though.
* * *
Around the time Erika and Kal finished speaking, Julian suddenly rose from his seat.
“Please excuse me for a moment.”
Every student turned to look at Julian.
“I have something to attend to. Please make yourselves comfortable.”
As Julian headed for the door, Erika rose to follow him.
At the door, Julian looked back once.
“I’ll return when the appetizers arrive.”
With gentle smiles, the two left the room.
Creak.
The door closed.
Then,
“Hoo...”
Someone let out a long breath.
That became the signal, and the students all began speaking at once.
“Ah, I thought I was going to die from nervousness.”
“Me too... I was even careful about breathing.”
“But they aren’t as scary as I expected. The Director has a nice voice, too.”
Murmurs rose among the students.
With Julian and Erika gone, it finally felt as though they could breathe freely.
“But is it really okay for us to talk like this?”
One student voiced the question.
Kal answered the student’s muttering.
“I’ve eaten with nobles a few times, and normally when this happens, they leave so we can talk comfortably.”
“Then how long can we talk?”
“Probably until the appetizers come out.”
“Oh, is that how nobles talk? Where did you learn that?”
“The Swordsmanship Department has a practical course where we escort Political Science students. I learned it there.”
“Wow, are you aiming to become a knight?”
“For now. Just in case, if anyone doesn’t know dining etiquette, I’ll go over it with you.”
Kal quickly began teaching the students who did not know proper dining etiquette.
At first, the students had been wary, wondering what Kal was up to. But his cheerful voice and passionate teaching gradually won them over.
Before long, Kal had naturally become the center of the scholarship students.
While several students received Kal’s crash course, Valeria socialized with a few others.
Most were from departments with dispositions similar to her Diplomacy and Economics Department, students who preferred moving a pen to moving their bodies.
“Wow, I can’t believe I’m eating with Director Schun.”
One male student spoke in amazement.
Valeria remembered that he was from the Military Studies Department.
He was also the oldest in their group, a second-year High Division student.
The boy had the build of a bear, broader shoulders than Kal from the Swordsmanship Department, and an even deeper voice.
‘He looks more suited to be a general than an officer...’
While Valeria was thinking that, the Military Studies student began extolling Director Schun’s greatness to the others.
“You’ve all heard about quinine, right?”
“Yeah. They said it helped the front hold the line again, didn’t they? It’s an incredible medicine.”
But the Military Studies student shook his head, saying that was not the important part.
“No. What’s incredible isn’t quinine’s effect.”
“Then what is?”
“The fact that they cut its price in half so even ordinary soldiers could use it easily. They even gave up their own share of the profits to do it.”
The Military Studies student turned toward Valeria.
“You said you’re in Economics, right? Have you learned about how much profit Director Schun has given up so far?”
“Why would we learn something like that?”
“But you can roughly calculate it, can’t you?”
“Hmm...”
Valeria made a soft sound and did a little mental arithmetic.
One dose of quinine cost around four thousand mar.
And when patent rights were sold to a trading company, the royalty was generally around four percent...
“I don’t know. There are too many variables to calculate it in my head. But it seems like they’ve given up about the average income of a baronial house.”
“See? That’s the kind of person they are!”
The bear-like student became animated as he began praising Director Schun’s greatness.
“They also developed insulin and vaccines!”
The Military Studies student’s voice grew even more passionate.
“The fact that we’re having dinner with them right now is a miracle!”
At the oldest student’s impassioned speech, the others nodded as though they understood.
Then a quiet voice interrupted.
“B-But I don’t think the Director made those medicines all by themself.”
The students turned toward the source of the small voice.
There sat a girl with glasses.
Eli, the top student in the High Division Alchemy Department.
Seemingly conscious of all the attention on her, she shrank back slightly.
“N-No, I mean...”
Her fingers fidgeted with the frame of her glasses.
“Quinine, yes. Director Schun probably developed that themself. There are papers on it, and the manufacturing patent is in their name. They also grew their company through it.”
“Right.”
“But...”
Eli’s voice became quieter.
“It would be difficult to say they made insulin and the vaccines completely by themself... Um...”
The Military Studies student raised an eyebrow.
His reaction suggested he thought she was daring to insult the great person he admired.
“What are you trying to say?”
Eli’s shoulders shrank further.
Yet her mouth did not stop moving.
“D-Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying Director Schun took credit for someone else’s research.”
“Then?”
“I-It’s just that alchemy isn’t that simple.”
Eli lowered her eyes to the table, as though making eye contact was difficult.
“Quinine belongs to infectious diseases. But insulin is a completely different field. It’s related to blood physiology... They are entirely different disciplines.”
“...”
“For one person to develop new medicines in such different fields at the same time... It isn’t theoretically impossible, but realistically...”
Her words trailed off.
Silence fell.
Eli’s shoulders hunched.
‘...Ah.’
Regret washed over her.
The conversation had been going so well.
She had not needed to interrupt.
But wanting to become friends with them, she had pushed herself to speak.
‘Did I say something unnecessary?’
She glanced around through her glasses.
The Military Studies student’s expression had stiffened strangely.
The other students also looked uncomfortable.
Eli’s fingers returned to her glasses.
Then, as though taking up Eli’s words, Valeria spoke.
“That’s true. I think so too.”
Eli raised her head.
Valeria moistened her lips with her pre-dinner drink and continued.
“Do you know how quickly the Merkuer Trading Company has grown in recent years?”
Valeria’s voice was calm.
“It normally takes years to develop one new medicine. But Merkuer releases several new medicines at once every two or three years. And I heard Director Schun publishes physiology papers in between?”
“R-Right.”
Eli’s eyes sparkled.
Although Director Schun was famous for their medicines, they were even more famous among Alchemy Department students for their groundbreaking research achievements.
It was only natural. You could not make medicines without determining the underlying principles.
The fact that a student from another department knew this made Eli unconsciously feel closer to Valeria.
Noticing Eli’s thoughts, Valeria smiled bitterly and continued.
“This is not something one person can do alone. There has to be a team.”
Valeria tapped the table with her finger.
“Director Schun probably used quinine to raise funds, then used that money to recruit talented alchemists. They oversee everything and set the direction, while the team handles the detailed development.”
At Valeria’s words, the Military Studies student relaxed his eyes and rubbed his chin.
“Ah... The military is similar. A general doesn’t win a war alone. They have a staff.”
“Right. Every large organization works like that. That’s what you meant, isn’t it, Eli?”
Eli nodded eagerly.
Seeing her response, the Military Studies student’s gaze softened.
“What? So that’s what you meant.”
“S-Sorry. Director Schun is still an incredible person.”
“That’s true. No matter how great the staff may be, it doesn’t diminish the greatness of a brilliant commander.”
The atmosphere softened once more.
Eli glanced at Valeria.
‘...Thank you.’
She did not say it aloud, but gratitude filled her eyes.
Valeria gave a slight shrug.
Then one student suddenly raised a question.
“By the way, how old do you think Director Schun is?”
“Hmm... Who knows? They must have graduated from either the Alchemy Department or the Healing Studies Department, at least...”
“They also sounded more experienced than our instructors...”
“But they looked young.”
“Could they be an elf or half-elf?”
“That makes sense. We have an instructor like that at school. They’re really short. They always say they’re only ninety-six years old.”
“Then they could be older than they look?”
The conversation about Director Schun’s age continued.
The older the students guessed Director Schun might be, the more Valeria felt that Ayla seemed oddly disappointed.
She did not know why.
Eventually, the students settled on Director Schun probably being a half-elf in their eighties.
Creak.
The door opened again.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
With that gentle voice, Julian and Erika entered the room.
Waiters followed in a line behind them.
On silver trays sat transparent golden soup and tiny blini.
As the food was placed before everyone, a man in a white uniform stepped forward.
He appeared to be the chef.
“Today’s appetizer is truffle consommé. We infused beef stock slowly simmered for twenty-four hours with black truffles harvested for the first time this year...”
The students held their breaths.
They recognized only a few words, but they could tell it was an impressive dish.
“The blini are made with buckwheat flour and yogurt. Enjoying them with the consommé will deepen the flavor even further.”
The chef gave a slight bow and stepped away.
Valeria carefully picked up her spoon.
The steam rising from the golden broth carried the mixed fragrance of mushrooms and beef.
Valeria’s eyes widened.
“Wow...”
Ayla, beside her, also let out a quiet exclamation.
The flavor was far too deep for sisters who had grown up eating oats, pigeons, and sausages.
It was difficult to describe, but...
‘So this is what truly fresh ingredients taste like...’
Valeria could confidently say it was the most delicious food she had ever eaten.
She slowly lifted a second spoonful.
As the meal continued, Valeria’s gaze naturally drifted to Julian.
‘...’
At first, she had only glanced at him because she remembered the etiquette of matching the host’s pace while eating.
But once she began watching, she could not look away.
Julian’s hand moved, and his knife cut through the blini.
When he placed a piece in his mouth, the food remaining on his plate was still beautiful.
The original shape the chef had arranged gradually changed, but it retained its elegant form.
Valeria looked down at her own plate.
The half-eaten blini was already difficult to recognize. The caviar she had touched with her spoon was scattered everywhere.
The other students’ plates were much the same.
The more they ate, the more the food lost its shape.
Valeria had thought that was unavoidable while eating.
But looking at Julian’s plate, she had no choice but to reconsider.
‘Is this the difference in class between real high society and us...?’
The emptier his plate became, the neater the remaining food looked.
It was the kind of dining only possible if one perfectly understood the intention behind the chef’s arrangement.
Valeria stared blankly, spoon still in hand.
Was the etiquette beautiful?
Was the atmosphere beautiful?
Or was it all of those things mixed together?
Only one thing was certain.
Her scholarship officer was a more perfect person than she had imagined.
Valeria, too, wanted to become someone from high society like that.
A small longing had just begun to bloom in Valeria’s heart when Julian spoke.
“Shall we have a comfortable conversation?”
Julian wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin.
His gentle voice came from behind it.
“Don’t be so formal. If you’re curious about anything, please ask.”
The students looked at one another.
Who would speak first?
In that silence,
‘...Now.’
Eli quietly drew in a breath.
Her fingers fidgeted with her glasses. It was a habit that came out when she was nervous.
‘I have to ask.’
The conversation she had shared with Valeria earlier passed through her mind.
Director Schun’s specialty was infectious diseases.
There was a high chance other alchemists had helped with insulin.
If she asked a detailed question about insulin, then perhaps even Director Schun would not be able to answer perfectly.
‘But still.’
Eli did not want to let this chance slip away.
Insulin.
A medicine like a miracle for patients with diabetes.
But recently, Alchemy Department papers had cautiously begun reporting cases of patients dying from cardiac arrest after insulin administration.
Eli had heard about those cases in class.
And while studying them, several questions had occurred to her.
They were only her own hypotheses so far, but if Director Schun could confirm them...
‘This is my chance to make an impression on the Director.’
Honestly, there was calculation behind it too.
This might be an opportunity that would never come again.
If she wanted to make herself stand out among ten scholarship students, she had to speak up now.
She needed to ask a question, have a conversation, and leave an impression.
It did not matter even if Director Schun could not answer perfectly.
That would be natural, if anything.
There was nothing shameful about showing one’s limits in a field outside one’s specialty.
What mattered was the question itself.
As the top student of the Alchemy Department, she needed to show that she was studying.
‘...Let’s do this.’
Eli raised her hand.
“Excuse me.”
Her voice came out smaller than she expected.
The students looked toward her.
Eli’s shoulders shrank slightly, but this time she did not back down.
“May I ask something?”
Julian nodded.
“Of course. Please feel free.”
“It’s about insuliiin...”
“Yes. To have prepared a question about insulin at your age, you must have studied hard.”
“Hehe...”
No. This isn’t it.
Eli’s fingers fidgeted with her glasses again.
“I heard in class that there have recently been reported cases of patients dying from cardiac arrest after insulin administration. S-So...”
Eli drew in a breath.
Julian quietly waited for her.
Thanks to that consideration, Eli was able to continue.
“Is that... a side effect you’re aware of? And may I ask whether there are plans to improve it...?”
Silence fell.
Eli waited for Julian’s response.
There was a good chance insulin was not Director Schun’s specialty.
If so, there were usually three possible responses.
“I’ll check with my team.”
“That’s a good point.”
Or, “It’s still being discussed within the company, so it’s difficult to give a definite answer.”
Unless someone had complete control over everything, they could not answer so easily.
But the response she received far exceeded the expectations of every student present.
“That’s a good question.”
Julian’s voice remained gentle.
“For an Alchemy Department student to keep up with discussions in the realm of healers. It isn’t on the exam, as far as I know. Very impressive.”
“Hehe...”
“To answer your question first, yes. I knew about it, predicted all of it, and we have already prepared countermeasures and published administration guidelines.”
“...What?”
The top student in the Alchemy Department blankly stared at Julian.
Julian looked at her as though he found her adorable and continued his explanation.
“Let me begin with the background.”
Julian lightly wiped his fingers with his napkin.
“It’s true that cases of cardiac arrest after insulin administration have increased. However, the cause is not a defect in the medicine itself.”
“...Then what is the reason?”
“It should be viewed as a problem with patients’ medication adherence.”
Eli blinked.
She had heard in class that Alchemy Department professors were still working to identify the cause...
But Julian spoke as though he had known it for a long time.
“When insulin first came out, it was like a miracle to patients with diabetes. People who had needed to give up sweets for their entire lives suddenly heard that they only needed to take medicine.”
“...”
“So what do you think happened?”
Silence.
Julian did not wait for an answer.
“They trusted the medicine and began overeating, thinking that since they had insulin, a little would be fine. The result was diabetic shock... No, an acute worsening of diabetes. To save the patient, insulin was hurriedly administered in large amounts, and that resulted in cardiac arrest.”
Eli’s mouth fell open.
It was such obvious, simple logic.
But... why had no one figured it out?
And how did Julian, whom she had thought was not a specialist in the field, know it so well?
Meanwhile, Julian continued.
“So if the dosage instructions are followed properly, side effects generally do not occur.”
Julian nodded.
“Of course.”
His finger lightly tapped the table.
“Side effects can still occur. There are times when excessive doses must be administered in emergencies, and unexpected reactions can appear depending on a patient’s constitution.”
“...”
Eli was speechless for a moment.
Before she had even asked, everything had already been prepared.
An analysis of the cause of the side effects.
And countermeasures for cases in which they could still occur.
‘...Perfect.’
Only after hearing that answer could she admit it.
Julian was perfectly overseeing every medicine, including insulin.
He was an even greater genius than people thought.
As those thoughts filled Eli’s mind, Julian suddenly snapped his fingers.
“Ah.”
Eli raised her head.
“From here on, this is Academic Division material from the Healing Studies Department, so there’s nothing to be embarrassed about if you don’t know it. Still, I’ll give you an opportunity.”
“...Pardon?”
“If you had that question, I imagine you have thoughts of your own.”
Julian’s gaze turned toward Eli.
“What solution did you have in mind? And what do you think our supplement was?”
From beneath the shadow of his fedora, Eli felt a gentle yet strangely sharp gaze pierce her.
Author’s Note
I packed today’s extra update into a single chapter.
A bit of trivia.
I looked into it, and it seems the concepts of hormones and endocrinology are not very old. They only emerged around 1900.
Because of this, diabetes was classified as a blood disease until then.
Footnotes:
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