Parallel World Pharmacy Vol 1 Chapter 10

Falma de Médicis was the second-born son of Archduke Bruno.

 He was allowed to handle dangerous medical herbs, and be in situations where he could get burned.

 It reached the point where he was already afraid to look straight into his father’s eye.

 It was the sincere face to face interaction with the patient that granted belief. Bruno neglected to make any effort to understand his son’s heart. Even in regards to his son’s thoughts or dreams.

 Bruno didn’t know Falma very well.

 Bruno took out a notebook from Falma’s bag which was beside him. He flipped through the pages. Falma was separated by a wall of ice so he couldn’t stop his father from checking his notebook.

 In this world, there was a legend of a Changeling (child that was swapped).There was something like an evil spirit that will stealthily swap children. The swapped child was considered to be a child of a monster and not of a human. He suspected that Falma was a changeling because of the strange characters that was written and the use of Divine Arts without a wand. There was also a legend that if a changeling was discovered by a human, it would disappear into thin air.

 “I acquired this knowledge of medicine in a dream I saw, on the day I was struck by the lightning, as well as the written characters.”

 “Yes it was.”

 In the dim compounding room, Falma took off his coat in order to show the scars on both arms. His father clearly saw it through the transparent ice wall.

 “This is……”

 Unlike the father who had been striving day and night on the way of medicine, the son was blessed by the medicine god. His father didn’t have any choice but to follow the will of the guardian deity whom he couldn’t stop to love and respect.

 “Dear father, please use this potion for her majesty. This is special medicine.”

 His father shook his head a little bit to decline and solemnly told him.

 “That is the pride and responsibility of an apothecary. The patient believed you because you staked your life for the medicine that they receive.”

 Falma cancelled the ice wall with his right hand, held the potion, and went past his father out of the compounding room. He left a word to his father when passing by.

 “Please leave it to me, father. I’m going to save you and her Majesty.”

 This kind of tone was something his father had never heard from Falma before.

 Bruno bowed his head in silence, then fell down on his knees.

 The empress was sitting up impatiently waiting for Falma to return. She held great expectations. She mustered her last drop of energy to return from the edge of death back to the land of the living.

 “You’re late, her Majesty had been waiting. What happened to your father? Did he run away?”

 The Empress called Falma to come close. Since Falma was wearing a mask, he was spared from airborne infection. He approached without hesitation.

 “For your information, my father did not run away. My father and I compounded this medicine for her Majesty. This is a new medicine, your Majesty.”

 Besides, there was no way for him to stop Falma anyway.

 Falma held out a palm-sized metal tool respectfully before the Empress.

 The Empress picked it up while ruminating. It was a small metal instrument. Falma once again took a sample of the Empress’ phlegm and stained it on the glass plate, he then set it on the metal plate of the instrument.

 He opened the needle sized hole on the instrument and urged the Empress to bring her eyes close to it and peep through. Falma asked the chamberlain to open the window for ventilation and bring a lamp. The lamp was then placed below the instrument to guarantee some light.

 The Chief Court Physician, Claude, shook his voice in anger.

 The Chief Court Physician kept his mouth shut. The Empress’ attention was already absorbed on the small instrument…

 And then.

 “I see something visible.”

 Falma could magnify his view with the [Diagnosis Eye], but it lacked details on the object.

 He had invited the Empress to the micro-world which no one from this world had seen yet.

 What Falma had presented was a simple microscope with the simplest structure that had a pinhole, a glass ball, and piece of metal. The single lens microscope was the invention of Leeuwenhoek, it had sufficient performance even if it doesn’t have a good lens. An electrical system was not necessary at all, there are no lens tube as it was just a lens on a metal plate with a specimen holder, it was simple and very small at 5 cm.

 Don’t underestimate the power of antiques. During Falma’s previous life, he was able to identify disease causing germs in countries without electricity, the microscope had about 200x resolution. You couldn’t say that the magnification was sufficient, but it had minimum performance.

 Falma drew its shape in the air with his finger.

 Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

 It was at that moment that all the people in the room knew that organisms called bacteria existed in this world.

 “Everyone, please look at the instrument after her Majesty is done.”

 “Wha- what are these! Insects!?”

 Falma didn’t have the intention to monopolize the microscope. With it, they would have a deeper understanding about the microorganism if they apply medical science.

 “What in the…”

 Falma started to speak when everybody was observing the tuberculosis bacteria. He then prepared another slide glass with the tuberculosis bacteria sample, that was stained, that he set aside earlier.

 The atmosphere had changed completely.

 “I will now explain the treatment plan from here on out.”

 In the presence of the Empress, the line of renowned court physicians froth at their mouth from too much shock. Bruno dropped down to his knees.

 When Falma immersed the organism into the medicine, they saw it perish. Falma explained it while inserting a joke that they might be able to hear its death throes.

 “These 4 types of special medicine will intensively kill the disease in 2 months.”

 “Since your Majesty’s case is severe, it may require additional dosage.”

 “You have just overturned a concept of conventional medicine from its roots with that explanation.”

 The court physicians didn’t say anything, but they also were just as surprised as the Empress.

 “There’s little effect on the body but there is concern for side effects. Mainly it would be a liver dysfunction. I will closely monitor the treatment for it. I will divide the compounded potion, I will first drink half of it, and you will drink the other half. Can I have your majesty’s decision after you see it?”

 “Yes, by all means, let me drink it.”

 In 6 months, without the treatment, she wouldn’t not be able to survive that long. In a situation where there was no cure… his father had nothing to say. Thus,they had no other recourse.

 “So that means, it takes time, I understand.”

 Carefully over time, it wouldl kill the bacteria slowly, that is to say it would not instantly kill all of it, but there wouldn’t be any bacteria remaining. She was able to understand the explanation of Falma.

 “Your majesty, you will to drink this everyday in my presence.”

 Falma had to patiently continue to treat the tuberculosis of the patient.

 Then, Falma gulped down the first one to show it was not poison.

 “Yes.”

 “Dear father, let’s return back to the mansion. I’m hungry now and I want to eat something sweet today.”

 “Also, this medicine is for you, dear father. That is… if you feel like receiving it.”

 His father, who was infected by tuberculosis, received it after hesitating for a long time.

 “From now on, White Fatal Disease can be cured.”

 The father grasped the hand of the son, who spoke with reliable words, with both of his hands.

 “Thank you, my son.”

 Lotte, Ellen and the servants were waiting at the gate of the de Médicis family residence for many hours after the sun went down. The dinner that was already prepared had cooled down, but no one had touched it.

 Nobody knew the condition of the empress aside from the Royal Court Apothecary, everyone could only guess at that time if an accident happened along the way.

 Ellen had considered one possibility.

 Ellen removed her glasses,while in tears as she assumed the worse case scenario.Lotte was grasping the vial of medicine that was given by Falma and made into an amulet.

 After that, they started to clearly hear the sounds of horses hooves. As the rhythm became louder, the knight’s horses could now be seen from the mansion. Lotte suppressed a lot of her emotions, as she felt her tears flow out.

 “Milord, master Falma–!”

 “Thank goodness… really. Jeez, don’t make us worry anymore…”

 Falma caught Lotte as she jumped to him as soon as he got off from his horse.

 “Welcome back.”
 Thus, the upheaval of today’s events had come to a close.

Chapter end