“That’s how I, as someone who knew what they were saying is the truth, was able to arrange talks and request their assistance,” I said. “With that done, in order to demonstrate their abilities, I created a system that would let other races see bacteria and microorganisms.”
In other words, an optical microscope. This world already had lenses. (They had glasses, after all.) For the rest, I’d drawn out a diagram of how I vaguely remembered a microscope working, and the academics and craftsmen had created one for me. That optical microscope had proved that the three-eyed were telling the truth.
“But, man, the three-eyed really are incredible,” I said. “I’d never have imagined they’d already developed antibiotics.”
“Auntie-buy-ought-ex?”
“Substances that prevent bacteria from multiplying like I was telling you about.”
The famous example would be penicillin, I suppose. I mean, even a humanities student like me had heard of it. (Though it was knowledge I’d picked up from manga.) It was extracted from a blue-green colored mold, I think?
In the case of the three-eyed, they were extracting theirs from a special sort of slime creature that could live in unsanitary conditions. They were a subspecies of gelin, and they had the same sort of shape as Liquid Metal *limes. They had no name, but I’d taken this chance to christen them “gelmedics.” From what I had heard of its effects, there was no questioning it was an antibiotic, but while it was similar to penicillin, it might also be very different.
Incidentally, the three-eyed just called this drug “the drug.”
That felt like it was just going to get confusing in the future, so I’d used my authority as king to give it the name “three-eyedine.” It was the three-eyed race’s medicine, so I’d shortened that to three-eyedine. I mean, it would have been fine calling it “the drug,” or “the pill”… but, as a former Japanese person, I’d always have been thinking of completely different drugs.
“This… three-eyedine, was it?” Liscia asked. “It prevents the bacteria from multiplying, but what good does that do?”
“It’s a cure for infectious diseases,” I said. “Basically, you can think of it as a wonder drug that treats epidemic diseases and will prevent wounds from festering, I guess.”
“Treat epidemic diseases?! It can do that?!”
I couldn’t blame Liscia for being surprised. While this country’s medical treatments (in particular, regenerative treatments) could be, in some limited ways, ahead of modern science, on the whole, they were at the same level as Japan in the Edo Period. When it came to infectious diseases, they would drink medicinal teas, trying to ease the symptoms. However, with antibiotics, it was possible to treat the underlying cause of illnesses to some degree.
Liscia looked taken aback. “That’s terrible… We’ve been overlooking an incredible drug like that all this time…”
“Well, the other races didn’t recognize the existence of bacteria and microorganisms, so even if the three-eyed had told you that antibiotics could fight them, you probably weren’t going to believe them. If you turn it around, the three-eyed were only able to find this way of fighting bacteria because they could see them.”
“So, can we mass produce this three-eyedine?!” Liscia asked, looking desperate to hear more.
Yeah, I could understand how she felt. I’d had a similar response myself during talks with the three-eyed elder. However, Carla and Owen, who were watching us, were wide-eyed with surprise at the way Liscia was acting.
I nodded to Liscia. “We don’t have the capacity for it yet, but we’re slowly increasing production. I had already distributed it to the military when the war with Amidonia broke out, actually. Didn’t you notice?”
“Fortunately, I never needed to take any… Ah! Now that you mention it, I did think the number of fatalities was low given the number of wounded in that battle. Was that thanks to three-eyedine?”
“Could be,” I said. “Bacteria getting into a wound and making it worse is one of the things it can help to prevent, after all.”
“Incredible…” she whispered.
“Anyway, the three-eyed are giving their full cooperation, and the country has no intention of being stingy when it comes to medical care. The biggest bottleneck will be the number of gelmedics that they can extract three-eyedine from, but thanks to Tomoe, we easily solved that problem.”
Slime creatures like gelins were actually categorized as plants, and she couldn’t communicate with them as well as animals; but from their thoughts, she had still been able to learn their preferred environment and the conditions needed for them to multiply. Now we had the gelmedics actively multiplying in their breeding grounds.
“Our little sister is way too convenient, isn’t she?” I added.
“She sure is,” said Liscia.
The public had started calling Tomoe the Wise Wolf Princess. Given the rhinosauruses, the orangutan army of Van, and now the gelmedics… there was no doubt she was living up to that name.
“And, well, on that note, our country is in the middle of a medical and hygienic revolution, and one part of that was fixing up these slums,” I said. “We tore down the old houses to improve the sunlight and air flow. While we were at it, we stamped out the criminals and illegal drugs, which was cleaning up the area in a different way. We had all the residents move to new, prefabricated huts. The huts are small and cramped, but they’re free. On top of that, by having them work at cleaning up the city, we’re able to both support them financially and manage the city’s hygiene.”
“You’re doing all sorts of stuff, huh…You’re not pushing yourself too hard, are you?” Liscia asked, looking concerned.
I put a hand on her head. “It’s a struggle, yes… but it’s rewarding. I get to see the city, and the country, rebuilt the way I want them to be. If the result is more people smiling in the end, all the better.”
“Well… Okay, then,” she said. “But if there’s anything I can do for you, just say the word.”
“Of course. I’ll be counting on you.”
Liscia and I smiled broadly at one another.
But just as we had a good mood going…
Pshhhh.
…suddenly, we heard a sound like air leaking out of something.
When I looked up ahead, wondering what it could be, I saw someone with a large barrel on their back using a metal cylinder on the end of a hose extending from that barrel to spray some sort of mist on the ground.
That person was an exotic-looking woman with skin not quite as dark as a dark elf, but still brown, and blond hair. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was probably beautiful, and she had a shapely figure, but with the triangular mask she wore over her face and the barrel slung over her back, it all went to waste. That woman’s forehead had the third eye unique to the three-eyed race shining on it.
“Hehehe… Hohoho… Ahahahahahaha! Filth will be sterilized!” After that three-stage laugh, the woman enthusiastically sprayed the ground and huts with some sort of mist.
That all-too-incredible scene left Liscia, Carla, and Owen all speechless. As for me, I felt my head starting to hurt again.
“What are you doing, Hilde?” I asked wearily.
Her name was Hilde Norg. In a show of appreciation for our support and the redemption of their honor, the three-eyed had lent her to us to help reform our system of medicine. She was their one and only “doctor.”