In this world, there were very few doctors in the sense that a modern Japanese person would think of the term. The ones who carried out the vast majority of medical treatments were light mages, and the ones who administered herbal remedies to help ease the symptoms of illness were medicine men and women.
Many of those light mages were affiliated with the church, and therefore most of the hospitals were also attached to church buildings. That was why it was normal for people in this world to go to the church when they were sick, but for the three-eyed, it was a little different.
Because their medical technology was far more advanced, they could treat most illnesses and injuries in the homes. When they came down with an illness so serious that it couldn’t be treated in the home, that was when they would first seek medicine mixed by the doctor. Naturally, that doctor was the foremost expert of her race, and so she could only prepare medicine for so many of them.
The one over there spraying a disinfectant (limewater, probably), Hilde, was the one and only doctor of her race, considered to have a high degree of medical knowledge, even by the standards of the three-eyed. However, with the way she was dressed now, she just looked like a farmer spraying agricultural chemicals.
Hilde had been letting out a loud, enthusiastic laugh until a moment ago, but now she wore a dark smile and had a heavy atmosphere around her. “Honestly… haven’t I told you people to pick up your cats’ droppings?! Because you people keep leaving them lying out in the open, there’s bacteria all over this place! Oh, for goodness sake! Unclean, unclean!”
This time, as he sprayed disinfectant, she stamped her feet indignantly. She might have seemed emotionally unstable, but this was business as usual for Hilde.
She, with her knowledge of pharmacology and an eye for bacteria that was considered excellent even by the standards of the three-eyed, also demonstrated an obsession with cleanliness that was strong even by the standards of her race. To the point that it was normal for her to walk around with disinfectant like that.
It wasn’t always good to be able to see too much.
“I see you’re the same as ever, Hilde,” I said.
“Hm? You’re… Who’re you?”
I took off my conical hat and showed my face.
Without much surprise, she said, “Oh, just the king, huh,” and returned to the work of spraying disinfectant.
“Calling me ‘just’ the king is a little mean,” I said. “It’s technically an important position, you know?”
“Then try to dress the part, why don’t you?” she asked. “I thought you were some hobo.”
She was as harsh as ever. I’d had an image of doctors being harsh even back in my old world, and it seemed things were the same here. Hilde in particular wasn’t the sort to care much about the position of the person she was talking to.
Hilde’s philosophy was: “Illness strikes us all, good and evil, rich and poor, male and female, irrespective of race. Then, before a doctor such as myself, all patients are equal.”
That was her argument, apparently.
“Anyway… Hilde, let me introduce you,” I began. “The two ladies are—”
“I know who they are,” Hilde said with a sigh, as if it was a given that she’d know who they were. “They’re famous, aren’t they? The princess and the daughter of the former General of the Air Force, right?”
“Huh? What about Sir Owen?” I asked.
“I don’t want to know anything about that filthy old man.”
“What?!” Owen protested. “Who are you calling filthy?! I take care to groom myself properly!”
“Stay away, you musclebound moron! I hope you’ve washed yourself properly?!” she shouted.
Pshhhh.
“Hey now, little girl, don’t spray that weird mist on me! I am clean, you know? Every day, I pour water over my naked body, then rub myself down with a dry towel!” Owen shouted.
I was suddenly forced to imagine a macho man bathing naked in the dawning light of morning. Yeah… It felt dirty just imagining it. Perhaps having imagined a similar scene themselves, Liscia and Carla both looked ready to puke.
I–It felt like dwelling on this any longer was just going to make everyone’s mental state worse, so it was time to change the topic.
“B-By the way, Hilde, what are you doing here today?”
My forced attempt to change the topic got a snort from Hilde.
“If I leave the people here to their own devices, they become unhygienic in no time. I’m making regular visits to instruct them on hygiene and to disinfect the area.”
“Makes sense…” I said. “By the way, is your partner with you today?”
“Don’t call him my partner.” Hilde spat the words out, seemingly annoyed. “If you’re looking for Brad, he’s ‘outside.’ He said, ‘If I have to examine fattened pigs, I’d much rather treat the untainted wild dogs’… or some such nonsense.”
“…I see he never changes, either.”
“Maybe you could you tell him off, too, sire,” she said. “That guy always pushes lecturing the junior physicians off on me.”
“I–I see…”
The Brad who had come up in our conversation was the other doctor acting as a pair with Hilde to push forward the reform of this country’s medical system. His full name was Brad Joker. He was a human male, and his skills as a medical practitioner were good, but… his personality was a bit of a problem.
I can’t see Brad ever being able to explain things to others. Showing off practical skills in the field will offer guidance to his juniors, but Hilde’s going to have to be the one to hold lectures…
“Hey, are you listening to me, s-i-r-e?” Hilde snapped.
“I–I get it,” I said. “I’ll try talking to him, at least.” If she was going to press me on it with that angry smile, I just had to nod and agree with her.
“So? What is the king and his entourage doing here?” Hilde demanded.
“Oh… I was planning to visit the chief of the mystic wolves,” I said. “While I’m at it, I thought I might poke my head in at the job training facility I have Ginger running, too.”
“Oh, so that’s the sort of business you had.” Liscia clapped her hands as if she finally understood something.
Oh, now that I thought about it, I hadn’t told her what we were doing, had I?
“Then, once I’ve had the mystic wolf elder make a connection for me, I plan to go ‘outside,’” I added.
“Ohh, you’re going ‘outside,’ are you, sire?” Hilde asked. “In that case, maybe I’ll tag along.”
“Huh? Why is that?”
“That should be obvious. To knock some sense into that examination-obsessed idiot, that’s why.”
Hilde had a smile on her face, but her eyes weren’t smiling.
“W-Well… Just try to not to go overboard, okay?” I asked nervously.
“Um, you keep talking about going ‘outside,’ but what exactly does that mean?” Carla hesitantly raised her hand and asked.
“If we’re talking outside from the perspective of being inside the city, it can only mean outside the walls,” Hilde said coolly.
“By outside the walls… could you mean…?” Liscia seemed to have figured something out and had a pensive look on her face.
Yeah… It was probably exactly what she was imagining.
Regardless, thus was our group of a foreign traveler, a female student, a dragon maid, and a macho man joined by a female doctor.
…Yeah. This group was making less and less sense.
Our first stop was the job training facility Ginger was in charge of.
The mystic wolves’ Kikkoro Distillery, which produced miso, soy sauce, and sake, among other products, was in the former slums. So was Ginger’s job training facility. Both had required considerable room, and this had been the only suitable place.