WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint ◈
Chapter 53: Entering High Society (6)
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* * *
After exchanging greetings with Charlotte, we entered the room.
The inspector and Father were in the middle of hearing the count’s account of what had happened.
Meanwhile, Charlotte had left her father’s side and was slowly circling the room.
Her golden eyes swept over the objects in the room one by one.
I sat with my legs crossed, quietly watching her investigate the scene.
As I recalled this work’s synopsis for the first time in a while.
================================
<Schnabel’s Memoir>
#Fantasy #FusionPunk #Misunderstandings #Medical #...etc.
[Please do not call Schnabel a saint. It is not a miracle.]
[Please do not trust the Crow Doctor. He is not the good man you think he is.]
================================
‘The original story must have been about Julian providing ordinary treatment, only to be misunderstood and rise all the way to sainthood.’
Then, in the original story, Julian had probably risen through Charlotte.
I could roughly imagine how it went.
“Oh my God! You stopped the curse!”
As usual, Julian would have treated a baby convulsing at his clinic with anticonvulsants.
“How on earth did you do that?”
Then he would catch Charlotte’s attention while she was investigating the string of sudden newborn deaths, and she would question him.
“Star anise... I see. I had no idea it could be so dangerous.”
He would have provided Charlotte with knowledge about star anise that she did not possess.
A few days later, Julian’s reputation would suddenly soar while he was treating patients as usual.
As the healer, or doctor, who had solved the string of sudden newborn deaths alongside Charlotte Hausen, the inspector’s daughter.
“W-What is this? I’m scared...”
Julian, the ordinary-citizen protagonist of a misunderstanding story, would be quietly tormented by all the attention.
No wonder.
I had wondered why my debut into high society had to involve a case where I could not reveal the truth even though I knew it.
It was because Charlotte, not I, was the one meant to reveal the truth.
‘Unlike me, Charlotte can reveal the truth without any problem.’
I knew the truth.
But I lacked the authority to make the victims’ parents accept it.
Naturally.
What parent could easily accept the truth that they had driven their own child to death?
They would probably refuse to accept it and keep seeking the truth they wanted from the opposing faction.
However, unlike me, Charlotte, the daughter of an inspector’s house, had undeniable authority.
If she revealed the truth, the parents would be far more likely to accept it.
And through this case, Charlotte and I would make our debut into high society at the same time.
‘Good. Then what I need to do is clear.’
No matter how capable Charlotte was, she could not deduce something she did not know.
In a world where medicine and chemistry were less advanced, she would need a twenty-first-century doctor at her side.
That was probably why the original Julian had taken on the role of Watson.
‘Even Gordon Ramsay needs ingredients to cook.’
In other words, my role in this case was to provide her with the ingredients she needed to make the right deductions.
Still, I had no intention of remaining an assistant.
‘If I were going to let myself be swept along by the flow of a misunderstanding story, I wouldn’t have made quinine in the first place.’
The original Julian was an ordinary citizen, so he must have been dragged along by the plot.
Whenever an incident occurred, he wanted to run away. Whenever it was resolved by chance, he panicked. Whenever his reputation rose, he suffered in silence.
But my goals had been different from the original Julian’s from the start.
The original Julian might have dreamed of a peaceful life as a doctor, but my goal was to reach the very top within the flow of this misunderstanding story.
There was no reason at all to reject the wealth, glory, and advancement coming my way.
To do that, I could not remain bound to the original plot.
‘From the beginning, I need to become more than an assistant to Charlotte.’
Simply giving her clues by chance would not be enough.
I had to become someone indispensable to her investigations.
‘Good. I should act like a rival.’
The more evenly I matched her in this case, the more different the image of Julian remembered by high society would become.
From then on, whenever she distinguished herself, my reputation would inevitably rise along with hers even if I merely sat around resting.
The so-called “I Was Charlotte’s Rival, You Know” strategy.
Having finished my calculations, I revised my plan.
Rather than informing Father, I would compete with her to make deductions.
Once I had finished thinking, I slowly rose from my chair and approached Charlotte.
She had stopped before a bookshelf in the corner of the room.
Her golden eyes were examining the books.
I pointed to the book where her gaze had settled and spoke.
“A bookshelf is an excellent way to quickly understand a homeowner’s character.”
The girl’s eyes widened slightly.
She seemed surprised that I had pinpointed exactly why she was looking there.
“You know quite a bit.”
“Whenever I make house calls, I always look at the bookshelf first.”
Of course, that was just showing off.
I was not someone as observant as Charlotte.
I had only said it because it seemed plausible.
My bluff might be exposed later, but...
Wouldn’t the power of a misunderstanding story take care of it somehow?
I put on gloves and pulled a book from the shelf.
Charlotte’s golden hair brushed my sleeve.
Her body stiffened slightly, but she did not move away.
The book I had taken out was thick and leather-bound. Its title was stamped in gold leaf.
The Imperial Western Nobility Directory, Seventh Edition.
“The latest edition is the ninth, but they have the seventh edition here.”
I ran a finger over the book.
Dust clung to my fingertips.
“The dust is evenly settled. It does not seem to have been opened for at least six months.”
I opened the book.
There were no bookmarks, folded pages, or underlined passages.
“He bought a nobility directory but never read it. And it is two editions out of date. Either the count has no interest in high society, or he has already memorized all the information he needs.”
Charlotte nodded.
“The latter. You can tell from the letters on the mantelpiece. They have all been opened, but there is no sign that he wrote any replies. Someone who reads the letters he receives carefully but never answers them.”
“So he collects information but does not maintain relationships.”
Charlotte’s eyebrows twitched.
We were competing evenly in our deductions, so her competitive spirit must have been stirred.
Certain that things were proceeding as intended, I returned the book to the shelf and asked,
“What sort of books do you usually read, Miss Hausen?”
“Ancient documents. I especially enjoy studying grimoires.”
Her reply came without hesitation.
An ordinary noble lady might have answered flower arranging or poetry collections.
Charlotte was quite different from most noble ladies.
‘Well, that is very Charlotte of her.’
“Grimoires? Do you study the principles of magic?”
“Not so much the principles as the knowledge recorded within them. Even for the same magic, the records differ by era, as does the knowledge used. Tracing those changes helps me acquire knowledge necessary for deduction.”
“That certainly makes sense. Then do you not read literature or history?”
“Of course I do. Reading only grimoires would narrow my perspective. Understanding people is also useful for deduction, so I read literature from time to time.”
She took her eyes off the bookshelf and looked up at me.
“Then do you have any hobbies, Young Lord Nihirit?”
“I am similar to you, Miss Charlotte.”
“Similar how?”
“I enjoy studying the scriptures of healers. When I study the spell formulas they use to activate divine magic, I can glimpse the knowledge they have accumulated. It is also interesting to see how it changes from era to era.”
“That is a good hobby.”
Even while we spoke, she never stopped scanning the scene.
Having finished examining the room, she shifted her gaze to the sleeping baby on the bed.
The baby slept peacefully, breathing softly.
Charlotte’s gaze began at the baby’s face and slowly traveled downward.
“May I ask what state the baby was in originally? The baby was already asleep when I arrived.”
“The baby was convulsing. I first administered medicine to stop the seizures, then supplied fluids to prevent dehydration.”
Of course, there was another reason I had administered fluids.
The baby was currently poisoned by star anise.
I had given fluids so that the star anise compounds remaining in the body could be expelled through urine as quickly as possible.
But if I told her that, it would become an answer rather than a clue, so I deliberately kept it to myself.
After hearing my explanation, her gaze swept over the baby’s surroundings.
The IV line secured to the wrist, the fluid bottle connected to it,
and the medical bag on the table beside the bed.
I had left the bag open.
So she could see the syringe and thin rubber tubing inside.
Pointing at the contents of the bag, Charlotte said,
“So you separate the tools you have used into another pouch like that.”
“Yes. I cannot risk mixing them up when I clean them later.”
“Then may I ask about the medicine you used as well?”
“Will that knowledge be necessary for your deduction?”
I could have told her immediately, but I made her wait a little.
As if to say, Why should I tell my rival this?
As though she understood my intention, her smile deepened.
“I won’t know until I hear it.”
I nodded.
It would not be a problem for her to reach the truth about star anise without knowing the medicine I had used.
Still, it was an opportunity to show off my knowledge, so I did not refuse.
“It is called chloral hydrate.”
“Chloral hydrate?”
“Yes. I heard it was created by the Merkuer Trading Company while they were trying to make an anesthetic.”
“Of course. Anesthetics are every healer’s dream.”
Humanity’s efforts to create anesthetics had begun before the Common Era.
This world was no different.
So I had worked tirelessly to introduce twentieth-century anesthetics to this world.
I was a trauma surgeon, after all. I needed anesthetics to perform surgery.
I had first attempted chloroform, which was supposedly the easiest to make.
Unfortunately, I failed.
I still had not managed to create an anesthetic.
Chloral hydrate was an anticonvulsant that had been created by accident during that process.
I had not intended to make it either.
But once it was made, I tried it on a rat just in case, and it had an anticonvulsant effect.
So I had been putting it to useful use since then.
“Many babies are born in D Sector of Limbus Pit. When the babies have seizures, their condition improves greatly if I use this medicine.”
“What do you think its mechanism is?”
“According to the trading company, the medicine was accidentally created while they were trying to make an anesthetic. This is only a guess, but if seizures occur because the brain is excessively stimulated, perhaps this incomplete anesthetic works by numbing that stimulation.”
Ugh.
Trying to give hints without mentioning the mechanism of seizures or GABA receptors was giving me a headache.
It felt like playing a forbidden-words game.
Still, I did not let it show and simply smiled at her.
“Did my explanation help with your deduction?”
“Yes.”
Huh?
What had she figured out from that?
“Based on what Young Lord Nihirit said, divine magic did not work on the baby, but medicine did. That means a curse was not the cause.”
“I see.”
“Did you not know that when you treated the baby?”
“I merely did what I could. The patient was similar to others I had seen, so I treated the baby as I normally would.”
“Still, that choice created a foothold that leads to the truth.”
She turned toward the door.
“Assuming it was not a curse, then we can infer that some poison was causing the problems the babies had suffered until now.”
“And the adults were fine, while only the babies were affected.”
I cut in.
Charlotte continued her deduction competitively.
“If it were food eaten by the whole family, the adults should have suffered as well. But only the babies did. All six houses.”
“I’ll yield. Please continue.”
“It means the problem must have been something only the babies were given.”
Oh. That was an impressive deduction.
I was already armed with twenty-first-century diagnostic algorithms and medical knowledge, so I was merely explaining what I already knew.
But despite being limited to the knowledge of this era, she was approaching the truth through pure deductive reasoning.
Before she could speak, I headed for the door.
“You’re going to the kitchen, correct?”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes.
“...Had you already been there?”
“I went down earlier to check the baby’s diet. We need to be careful about feeding them right after a seizure.”
It was not a lie. I simply had not told her everything.
Charlotte stared at me in silence.
Then she walked through the door I had opened and took the lead toward the kitchen.
I followed her downstairs.
The moment we entered the kitchen, Charlotte’s eyes grew busy.
Barley flour. Honey. Distilled water. Chamomile.
The ingredients I had asked the head maid to confirm earlier were still laid out on the counter.
“What are these?”
“Ingredients given to the baby. I asked for them to be checked earlier because I needed to provide dietary guidance.”
Charlotte checked the ingredients one by one.
“Is this everything?”
“There is one more thing.”
As if I had been waiting for her to ask, I pointed toward a shelf.
On the upper shelf sat a wooden box.
It was the same box the head maid had brought out earlier.
The moment she saw it, Charlotte quickly made a deduction.
“There is dust on the shelf, but none around that box. That means someone has been taking it down and putting it back often recently.”
“An excellent deduction.”
“Did you check inside, Young Lord Nihirit?”
“Even if I answer, will you not check it yourself?”
“That is true.”
Charlotte gave a faint smile and walked toward the shelf.
She stood on her toes and reached for the box.
But she could not reach it.
So I took it down for her.
“Thank you.”
Charlotte opened the lid.
Star-shaped dried fruits were neatly arranged inside.
“Star anise.”
The girl muttered as she picked up one of the fruits.
“In the western region, people have a custom of brewing this for babies with stomachaches. This count’s household must be from the western region.”
As she spoke, she looked at me.
“You said there were many babies in D Sector who had seizures, correct?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Could you tell me why they have seizures?”
Okay.
Now was the time to naturally give her a hint.
“There are many possible causes. Malnutrition, infection, trauma, fever. Babies in the slums are surrounded by risks from the moment they are born.”
“What is the most common cause among them?”
“Well. Surprisingly, it often comes from what they eat.”
Charlotte’s pen stopped.
“What they eat?”
“Yes. D Sector belongs to the eastern cultural sphere, where there are many beastfolk, so people eat quite a few unusual things. Things harmless to beastfolk can harm ordinary humans, and the reverse is often true. Because of those differences, mixed-heritage babies often suffer from what they eat...”
Before I could finish, Charlotte’s eyes changed.
The languidness vanished from her golden eyes, replaced by raw curiosity.
Then the girl put the fruit she was holding into her mouth.
Crunch.
The sound of her chewing star anise echoed through the kitchen.
“What are you doing?!”
I reflexively grabbed her wrist.
Charlotte swallowed the star anise with a calm expression.
“If star anise is the problem, it will be faster if I prove it myself.”
“Even so, isn’t it too dangerous to eat it?”
“It is fine.”
Charlotte rinsed her mouth with water as she spoke.
“Since I was young, I have tested small amounts of various poisonous plants and medicinal ingredients on myself. Thanks to that, I have developed resistance to most poisonous plants. I have also learned detoxification magic in case of emergencies, so I will be fine.”
The girl showed me the inside of her wrist.
A faint magical pattern was inscribed on her skin.
It appeared to be a spell formula that activated automatically once it detected a certain level of toxicity.
“If it becomes truly dangerous, I can press on my uvula.”
“...Do you do this sort of thing often?”
“Sometimes.”
“Haah.”
I let out a sigh.
Prepared or not, watching someone put poison into their mouth right in front of me was bad for my heart.
“If you do that in front of me again, I will perform gastric lavage myself.”
“Gastric lavage?”
“It means it will be a far more unpleasant experience than vomiting.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Let us call it a doctor’s advice.”
Charlotte gave a faint laugh.
Then, spitting out the remnants in her mouth, she said,
“Anyway, I have confirmed it now.”
The girl pointed at the half-chewed fruit in the bowl.
Her fingertips were trembling.
“I feel weak. If this gets worse, it could certainly look like a seizure. Considering that a baby would have less resistance than I do, it is entirely possible.”
“You do not seem to realize that you just ate rat poison.”
“If necessary, I have a healer beside me who can treat me like a baby.”
At those words, I sighed.
No wonder Watson was portrayed as the one suffering from Sherlock’s eccentricities in so many works.
It seemed this world was no different.
If I worked with this girl, I would probably be sighing even more in the future.
“Show me your hand first.”
I took Charlotte’s hand and checked her pulse.
It was slightly fast, but not irregular.
Her pupils were normal as well.
Her detoxification spell formula appeared to be doing its job.
“There is no serious problem. However, your fingertips may continue trembling for a while, so do not overexert yourself.”
“Thank you.”
“Still, just in case, it would be best to give you some fluids...”
Charlotte’s hand twitched.
It was a subtle reaction, but because I was touching her, I noticed it clearly.
“...I am fine without fluids.”
“What do you mean you are fine? You just ate poison.”
“The detoxification spell formula is working, so I am fine.”
“Are you ignoring the words of a skilled healer?”
“...”
Charlotte’s eyes shifted away from me ever so slightly.
That reaction made me realize it.
Charlotte was afraid of injections.
Hm. That was unexpected.
I had thought she spent every day alone in her room injecting things into her own arm.
“Are you afraid of injections?”
“That is not true. An injection is no problem at all for me.”
“I heard the Merkuer Trading Company recently developed a way to administer fluids without using needles.”
“Really?!”
“Do you think such a thing exists?”
“...”
Charlotte pressed her lips together tightly.
The tips of her ears turned red.
As she bit her lip and looked up at me, she finally looked like a sixteen-year-old girl.
With a small laugh, I put the syringe I had been about to take out of my medical bag back inside.
“Very well. If you dislike it that much, I will leave it alone unless I decide it is necessary. Something else is more important right now.”
When the syringe disappeared into the bag, I could see the tension leave her shoulders.
You said you were not scared.
“So, have you found the culprit?”
“Ahem. Yes. Thanks to you.”
She tried to lift the box of star anise with her trembling hand.
I picked up the box first.
The girl looked up at me briefly, then turned away without saying anything.
As she headed toward the kitchen door, she spoke over her shoulder.
“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how difficult it is to believe, must be the truth. This case is the same.”
The girl turned back and smiled.
It was a purely delighted smile.
“Let us go upstairs, Young Lord Nihirit. The people who need to hear the truth are waiting.”
* * *
Footnotes:
“Charlotte’s Rival, You Know” recreates a Korean internet-slang joke that mockingly boasts about having once been associated with someone important.
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