WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint ◈
Chapter 47: Mistaken for Daddy Long-Legs (6)
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* * *
“What solution did you have in mind? And what was our supplementary medicine?”
From beneath the shadow of his fedora, Julian’s sharp gaze fell on Eli.
‘That’s quite an interesting question.’
Strictly speaking, it was not an especially advanced question.
Julian had already recognized insulin’s side effects and taken precautions.
He had already sent guidelines to the Healing Church.
Following those guidelines, healers had been using supplementary medicine made by the Merkuer Trading Company to manage the side effects.
It had already been two years.
In that sense, Eli’s question concerned outdated knowledge.
Still...
‘She must have studied hard.’
Julian had not forgotten that she was a high school student, and that textbooks and the academy were her only means of acquiring knowledge.
‘It can’t be helped. What schools teach has to be accurate.’
Textbook knowledge was quite conservative.
You could not teach incorrect knowledge to students still building their foundations.
Unlike the field, where knowledge had been updated yearly in his previous life, textbooks were updated very slowly.
Especially in a world without the internet.
It was only natural that Eli did not know the answer.
‘If anything, it means she studied that hard.’
That was why Julian found Eli’s question admirable.
There was only the minor problem that she did not realize how intimidating he appeared at the moment.
‘Just answer comfortably.’
Julian believed he was playing the part of a kindly Daddy Long-Legs.
A mysterious but dependable adult who was always gentle with children and never spared an investment in them.
That was the sort of person he imagined himself to be.
But the person seated at the head of the restaurant table was someone entirely different.
A genius half-elf Director whose face was hidden beneath the shadow of a fedora, with knowledge whose depths could not be fathomed.
No matter how conscious he was of using a gentle voice and kind words, the weight of a question from such a Director to a high school student could not feel light.
‘Ugh... Should I not have asked?’
Feeling Director Schun’s piercing gaze from beyond the shadow of his fedora, Eli lowered her eyes to the table.
It was not that she feared Director Schun would harm her.
It was more like the fear students felt when answering a professor.
She simply felt an indescribable discomfort.
‘But I asked the question. I prepared an answer, too.’
Eli took a deep breath as she stared down the white tablecloth for a long while.
Then she gathered her resolve and answered Director Schun.
“Digitalis...”
Despite her resolve, her voice gradually grew quieter.
“It’s mainly used in elixirs of concentration... It slows the heartbeat, but it also makes the heart beat more forcefully.”
Eli recalled what she had recently learned in class.
Alchemy had a potion called an elixir of concentration, used as a performance enhancer when focusing on sniping or chanting.
One of its ingredients was digitalis herb, which slowed the heart rate while strengthening the heart’s contractions.
It was also used in potions for elderly people with weak hearts.
“So I thought... if an insulin overdose weakens the heart, perhaps digitalis could support its contractions.”
Eli waited for Director Schun’s response.
Schun was silent for a moment.
Her fingers once again fidgeted with the rim of her glasses.
Then Director Schun spoke again.
“You studied very hard.”
Julian’s voice was still gentle.
Eli’s shoulders straightened slightly.
“Logically, it’s a reasonable guess. The heart has weakened, so you use medicine that strengthens the heart. It’s an intuitive and rational approach.”
“...Thank you.”
“However.”
Julian’s fingers stopped on the table.
“Unfortunately, cardiac arrest caused by an insulin overdose works a little differently.”
“Is that... so?”
“Yes. Insulin’s side effect is not that the heart weakens and stops. It stops because the potassium concentration in the blood drops sharply.”
Eli blinked.
Potassium.
Any aspiring alchemist who had to wrestle with the periodic table would naturally know the element.
But this was the first time she had connected it to the heart.
“Insulin draws blood sugar into cells, and potassium is drawn in along with it. That causes the potassium concentration in the blood to fall sharply. If you administer digitalis in that state...”
Julian paused.
Then he looked over the students’ faces.
Blank gazes were fixed on his hat.
Erika was even dozing beside him.
“...”
A faint bitter smile crossed Julian’s lips.
He was dealing with middle and high school students.
Some of them were even from departments unrelated to this subject.
More importantly, this was a restaurant, not a lecture hall.
Realizing his mistake, he revised his explanation.
“I’ll explain it more simply. Insulin has a property that maximizes the effect of digitalis. Like oil and fire.”
A few students nodded.
Most were top students in disciplines that required long hours at a desk.
The students whose studies primarily involved physical activity, like Erika, did not understand, but they nodded anyway.
“So if you administer them together, digitalis itself causes cardiac arrest. Instead of helping a weakened heart, it stops a healthy one.”
“I... I see. I was being presumptuous...”
“No. It was a good question.”
The lower half of Director Schun’s face curved into a smile.
“You do not need to fear asking questions or apologize for them. That is the proper attitude for a scholar.”
“...”
“And as I said, this is something taught in the undergraduate division of the healing studies department. It is only natural that a high school alchemy student would not know it. The fact that you considered that possibility at all is impressive.”
As he spoke, Julian glanced toward the restaurant entrance.
He wanted to check whether the next course was coming out.
Since there was still time before it arrived, he continued.
“And to answer your question, we use a supplementary medicine called Hartmann solution.”
Hartmann solution.
In the world Julian had originally lived in, it was an IV fluid created by a doctor named Alexis Hartmann.
Naturally, it was named after its creator.
But in this world, Julian had made it.
When he created Hartmann solution, he had considered naming it Schnabel solution.
But just as he had not called quinine Tinin,
he simply named the solution Hartmann solution because Julian himself would get confused otherwise.
‘Come to think of it, Ringer’s was named after a person, too...’
Julian pushed aside the chain of useless thoughts and explained Hartmann solution to Eli.
“It’s a Ringer’s solution made with potassium salts, sodium, and lactate.”
“Ri... Ringer’s?”
“You know what Ringer’s is, correct?”
“Yes... I do.”
Eli from the Alchemy Department and Ayla, an aspiring healer, nodded.
Ringer’s was also one of the medicines supplied by the Merkuer Trading Company.
It was primarily used to treat excessive bleeding and dehydration, a basic treatment taught from the middle school division onward.
‘I never imagined there was a Ringer’s solution like that... Director Schun really had thought of everything.’
Hartmann solution itself was not yet taught in the middle school curriculum.
That was why the fact that IV fluids could reduce insulin’s side effects felt fresh to Eli.
Director Schun smiled awkwardly at the students’ reactions.
“It was not such a special supplementary medicine. Still, you studied very well. I look forward to seeing you become an even greater alchemist...”
At that moment,
Director Schun’s mouth closed tightly.
“...”
The students looked puzzled.
The person who had been speaking gently just moments ago had suddenly fallen silent.
What was happening?
The students watched Director Schun nervously.
“Director...?”
Erika called out carefully.
Without answering, he kept his eyes fixed on empty space.
“...Hmm.”
After letting out a low murmur for some time,
he spoke again.
“Talking with you made me realize this can be used in reverse. Why did I not think of this...?”
“Pardon?”
“Insulin could protect the heart muscle.”
Julian pulled out his notebook.
Scratch, scratch.
[GIK Regimen]
A treatment in which glucose and potassium are infused into the blood in advance, then insulin is administered to drive potassium into the heart.
Acute myocardial infarction, open-heart surgery, severe trauma, and sepsis...
It was a modified use of insulin that Julian had often used in his previous life.
‘Why did I forget this?’
He had forgotten because it was too obvious.
Like a fish forgetting it lived in the sea,
GIK treatment had been so natural to him that he had never thought to introduce it.
To make sure the memory did not vanish, Julian even placed a bookmark in the notebook.
“...”
The students stared blankly at him.
One student froze with a spoon in hand.
Another stopped chewing a blini.
Another paused with a glass of water at their lips.
They could not help recalling the story of a genius archmage who had run into the street after being struck by inspiration while bathing.
A strange silence filled the room.
Beside him, Erika pressed a hand to her forehead as though he was impossible to deal with.
Once Julian had finished writing, he looked up again.
“Thank you, Student Eli.”
“Y-Yes... Did you think of a new medicine?”
“Not exactly. Thanks to you, I remembered a new use for insulin. There is no need to invent anything new. We only need to add instructions for medicines the company already sells.”
As Julian put his notebook away, he said,
“There will be heavy snowfall soon, so I should telegraph the guidelines to the Healing Church then. It will greatly help heart disease patients during winter.”
Perhaps it would become part of the standard emergency treatment guidelines as early as next spring.
Thinking that, Julian smiled softly.
“This was truly a good time.”
Eli’s heart beat wildly.
It was not the flutter of youth.
Her heart raced because, as a scholar, she had contributed to making history.
The other students looked at Eli with envy.
At the same time, quiet murmurs rose among them.
“What just happened?”
“I don’t know... We were talking about insulin, then suddenly...”
“I understand that he came up with a new treatment.”
“During a conversation?”
“Is that even possible...?”
Julian ignored the students’ whispers.
It had been a long time since he had heard such a shower of praise.
He struggled to keep the corners of his mouth from rising.
‘They are reacting like this over IV fluids?’
Of all the medicines he had created, IV fluids had been the easiest.
No, he was almost embarrassed to call them medicine.
He had merely mixed potassium chloride, sodium, and other things into clean water made with magic.
Development time: one week.
Julian could say with certainty that, as long as he lived, he would never make an invention this effortless again.
Yet the students treated the combination of IV fluids and insulin as if it were the discovery of the century.
‘At this rate, I might start believing I’m a genius, too.’
Creak.
At that moment, the sound of the door opening brought Julian back to reality.
“The main course is ready. Shall we bring it in, Director?”
“Ah, please do, Chef.”
The chef nodded and snapped their fingers.
Soon, ten staff members entered the room carrying silver trays.
“Today’s main course is Beef Wellington.”
Julian focused on the chef’s explanation.
All while thinking that this world made it far too easy to play the genius.
* * *
Civitas Square.
Outside the boarding house where the sisters Ayla and Valeria lived.
A woman paced beneath the streetlamp.
She was a priestess, the mother of two daughters.
As she waited for the carriage carrying her daughters to arrive, she repeatedly looked toward the end of the street.
‘They will return safely... right?’
Of course, she could not help worrying.
Even if it was a scholarship foundation banquet, it was strange to keep children out so late at night.
What if something had happened?
What if this Director Schun was not a good person?
One worry led to another.
Then it happened.
Rattle, rattle.
The sound of carriage wheels rolling over the road reached her ears.
The priestess lifted her head.
A carriage appeared at the end of the street.
When she saw the foundation’s emblem on it, the priestess’s heart began to race.
Before long, the carriage stopped in front of the boarding house.
“Mom!”
Ayla jumped down.
Valeria followed slowly behind her.
“...”
The priestess examined her daughters’ faces.
She anxiously checked whether they had been hurt or experienced anything frightening.
Fortunately, both girls’ faces were bright.
They almost seemed to be glowing.
Relief drained the tension from the priestess’s shoulders.
“Let’s go inside quickly. It’s cold out. Thank you for bringing them home, Coachman.”
“Go inside, ma’am!”
Clop, clop.
The coachman gave them a friendly smile and disappeared back into the darkness of the street.
The priestess took her daughters inside.
In the cramped room on the second floor of the boarding house, the priestess sat across from her daughters at the table and asked,
“How was it? Director Schun...”
As though she had been waiting, Ayla beamed.
“The food was really delicious, and the Director was kind!”
“R-Really?”
“Yes! He even knew that I like growing flowers!”
The priestess’s eyebrows rose slightly.
That reaction far exceeded her expectations.
She then asked Valeria.
“What about my eldest daughter?”
Valeria wrapped her hands around her teacup and nodded.
“...He was not a bad person. It felt like he looked after each student individually. Just like Ayla said, he knew what the students liked.”
“I see...”
The priestess’s expression relaxed a little.
Fortunately, Director Schun did not seem to be the bad person she had feared.
Then Ayla’s eyes sparkled.
“Oh! Mom, I learned a whole lot today!”
“What did you learn?”
“Insulin and IV fluids... Um... That...”
Ayla looked up at the ceiling.
She wore an expression of intense concentration as she tried to remember.
“Um... What was it? Potassium? And glucose... If you use them together, they can protect your heart...”
“...What?”
The priestess’s eyes widened.
“And if you pretreat someone with some kind of IV fluid before using insulin, it can reduce side effects!”
“...”
The priestess was briefly speechless.
What had they taught a middle school child?
“That is... something learned in the undergraduate division of the healing studies department...”
“Right! The Director said that too! He said I did not need to know it!”
“...”
The priestess found it absurd, but at the same time, she felt a strange sense of relief.
At least he did not seem like a strange person.
Someone intending to harm children would not go out of their way to teach them such things.
At the same time, she caught a glimpse of the humanity in the person called Director Schun.
‘Director Schun...’
Complex feelings passed through her.
He was not a bad person.
That was very good news for both her daughters and herself.
But it bothered her a little that the reason she had become connected to him was not a good one.
‘All I have to do is keep quiet.’
Director Schun had become a figure in the healing field comparable to a senior priest or cardinal.
Even the head of the capital’s treatment center would have to bow to Director Schun.
In military terms, it was like an ordinary soldier making a favorable impression on the commander of a knightly order.
Thinking of it that way, regardless of whether Director Schun was a bad person, her stomach began to ache.
In the end, the priestess decided that she would stop by an alchemy workshop on her way to work tomorrow morning and buy a stomach-protecting potion.
While the priestess thought this, Ayla spoke again.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“I want to become a healer just like Director Schun someday.”
The priestess’s hand stopped.
“...Do you?”
“Yes! I’ll study hard, too, and help lots of people like the Director someday.”
The priestess looked at her daughter’s face for a moment.
It was an innocent face that did not yet know the cold reality of the world.
First of all, graduating from seminary alone was not enough to become a healer.
Priests who graduated from seminary were merely ordinary priests, not healers.
To become a healer, one had to graduate from seminary and awaken divine power.
And awakening divine power was not something that could be achieved through bloodline or effort.
It was entirely dependent on luck.
‘I awakened late and was able to become a healing priestess, too.’
Furthermore, not everyone who awakened divine power could become a healer.
Like mages, they also needed knowledge.
There was a reason even low-grade healers received treatment comparable to skilled craftsmen.
‘And even those healers cannot compare to Director Schun...’
Even healers who made it through all those requirements could not dare compare themselves to Director Schun.
Without knowing any of that,
Ayla casually declared that she would become like Director Schun.
Seeing her face, the priestess smiled bitterly.
“...All right.”
The priestess stroked her daughter’s hair.
“Ayla can become that, of course.”
Ayla was still only fourteen.
Was she not still young enough to dream?
Thinking so, the priestess wiped the sauce from the corner of Ayla’s mouth.
* * *
Meanwhile.
At that moment, Julian was in the limousine returning to the estate.
Rattle, rattle.
Whenever the car shook, red hair swayed across his lap.
“Heheh.”
It was Erika.
The person meant to guard him had fallen asleep using the lap of the person she was guarding as a pillow.
She was even snoring peacefully.
It was not the first time, so Julian let out a quiet laugh and opened his notebook.
‘There is a lot to remember...’
He intended to organize notes on the students he had met today, as far as he could remember.
His fountain pen scratched over the paper.
=====================
Kal
Swordsmanship Department.
Character type:
Hot-blooded.
He seems likely to become the center of this class.
He looks like the sort of young man who would shout that a packed lunch was delicious if you gave him one.
He seems to have a crush on Eli from the Alchemy Department.
Potential: Medium
---------------------
Eli
Alchemy Department.
Character type:
Bespectacled Bocchi.
Has a habit of fidgeting with her glasses.
I am curious about her teacher.
Potential: Medium-high
---------------------
Bear (forgot his name)
Military Studies Department.
Character type:
A warrior to the bone. General material.
Potential: Medium-low
=====================
Julian paused his pen.
Only the sisters remained.
====================
Valeria
Diplomacy and Economics Department.
Character type: ???
Potential: ???
====================
Honestly, he did not know much about this girl.
She had been quiet throughout the meal.
Was she introverted, calculating, or simply nervous?
He would need to observe her more next time.
‘Judging by her appearance, she somehow seems suited for the student disciplinary committee... No. It is not like I am a physiognomist.’
He briefly considered guessing her personality from her appearance according to web novel conventions.
By those conventions, the girl named Valeria gave the impression of someone rather formidable.
But such guesses could create needless preconceptions.
In the end, Julian left Valeria’s section blank.
And lastly.
===============
Ayla
Seminary Middle School Division.
Character type:
Airhead.
Potential: ...
===============
Julian’s pen paused for a moment.
He had remembered something notable about Ayla.
- Very good at growing flowers.
Before the meal, Julian had remembered that detail and asked Ayla about it during dinner.
- “I heard that you like growing flowers, Student Ayla.”
- “Yes! I like growing flowers! When I become a healer like my mom, I will grow medicinal herbs myself!”
In the process, she revealed that her mother was a doctor, briefly causing the students to wonder whether the two sisters came from a wealthy family.
In any case, Ayla had said this at the time.
- “I am growing sunflowers right now, too!”
‘Sunflowers...’
Julian’s eyes narrowed as he recalled it.
Sunflowers.
Flowers that loved sunlight.
No, flowers that could never grow without sunlight.
But what was this world like?
A world where magical smog blocked the sunlight.
It was difficult to see a clear sky in cities within the walls.
Especially in middle-class districts like Civitas Square.
Even in Sanctum Hill, sunflowers were flowers with great ornamental value.
Needless to say, their upkeep was expensive.
‘Sunflowers in a place like that?’
Naturally, a child whose family was poor enough to require a scholarship could not have grown them through sheer financial power.
That meant Ayla possessed something.
Julian sank into thought for a moment.
If Ayla had truly grown sunflowers...
Without sunlight, at that...
‘...Perhaps.’
The corners of Julian’s mouth rose slightly.
His fountain pen moved again.
==============
Ayla
Seminary.
+ Aspiring healer.
Character type:
Airhead.
+ At minimum, a healing priestess.
+ Potential romance-fantasy heroine. Or a saint.
Potential: Highest
Note: Close protection and buying in at the bottom may be necessary.
===============
‘Hmm...’
Julian bit his pen as he thought.
Seriously considering whether, next time, he should take them on a factory tour instead of treating them to a meal.
Author’s Note
My chapters keep getting longer these days.
Footnotes:
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