I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Episode 60. A New Graduate Student

Episode 60. A New Graduate Student

Fate. Everyone experiences a moment of fate at least once in their lives. A moment of crucial choice that determines the direction of one’s life.

“I want to become a graduate student.”

Just hearing those words makes my heart swell, a moment where someone’s life is changing. I looked at the student who had come to me.

Long black straight hair and orange eyes. Her name was Amy, or something like that. She looked younger than she did in class. Is it because I’m looking at her more closely?

“It’ll be the best choice of your life. First, have a seat, let’s talk slowly.”

I nudged Amy towards the sofa, then closed the lab door. That’ll make it a bit harder to run away. Instead of my desk, I sat across from Amy on the sofa and stared at her.

Finally, a graduate student has come to me…

It feels like she arrived at just the right time, before Istina collapsed from overwork. Amy was still looking around.

I remember we did an anatomy lab together once.

Wait, Oliver was there too back then. Why didn’t that jerk Oliver become a graduate student?

Maybe it’s because Amy is a smarter and more capable student. I decided to think that. It’s only natural to favor those close to you.

It’s also natural that a student who comes saying they want to become a graduate student looks even more pretty.

“You came to the right place, Amy.”

“Hello.”

Amy bowed awkwardly.

“I thought you were the smartest student in my class. It’s only natural that the longer you stay in school, the more options you’ll have, right?”

Amy nodded, her eyes showing a flicker of unease. There was no reason to be scared. Grad school was still just a place where people lived.

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“See? Our lab, we’ve published four papers this year alone that are changing the history of therapeutics. And with this new white blood cell discovery paper, that’ll be five.”

Amy nodded again.

“That’s why I came looking for you. Other professors are saying it’s practically unbelievable. How did you even think of this?”

“There are ways.”

“That paper, they thought it was really something. The other students, the seniors too.”

It must have been some kind of tipping point.

The centrifugation and white blood cell paper, filled with mathematical expressions, demanded more than just medical knowledge.

When was this kid supposed to graduate?

“When do you graduate?”

“This year! I’ll take classes until this year, then get my diploma at the end of the year.”

Too much time left.

It would be great if she could get involved in work or research sooner. Actually, if I could, I’d want her to start showing up at 9am tomorrow.

No. If she hasn’t graduated yet, I can force her. There are ways for that too.

“You don’t need to take my class anymore. I’ll look into whether you can cut down on your other classes as well.”

“Ah, okay.”

It’s a bit of a stretch, but I know early graduation is possible with a letter of recommendation and the dean’s approval.

Cutting down on other classes as much as possible and working as a grad student and trainee doctor would be better, right?

Gotta get here fast.

“You can still use healing magic, right?”

“Yes.”

That’s all that matters. Anyway, the healing studies they’re teaching in this world will change in a few years. No point in memorizing it.

I looked at Amy.

“Then I’ll write you a recommendation, and let’s aim for early graduation, if possible. If you say you’ll go all the way to a Master’s, the Dean will approve it. It’s actually saving time.”

Amy looked bewildered, scratching her head. Eyes serious with thought.

“I guess so?”

There’s no way she won’t graduate early. Her graduation isn’t that far off anyway.

“But, can I really work as a healer properly without taking all the undergrad classes?”

I nodded.

If it’s with me, it’ll be possible. What’s the point in learning from those other academy professors anyway? It’s better to see patients directly.

“You’ll be able to.”

“Ah, thank you so much…”

“If you don’t know something, ask Istina, and you’ll adapt quickly.”

Perfect.

“Finishing up classes and getting early graduation confirmed… a month should be enough, right?”

“Yes.”

“Any thoughts about bringing a friend, maybe?”

“Ah. I’ll ask.”

It’d be good if they brought a lot. Still, shouldn’t there be at least three graduate students?

Rotating so one’s in the lab, one’s in the ward, and one’s with me for appointments or class prep or in surgery.

Getting three is my goal.

“The schedule’s posted there. Coordinate with Istina and pick from appointments, ward management, research, whatever to observe.”

“Got it. I’ll head out now!”

“Take care.”

Amy left the lab like that. Wouldn’t Istina be super happy? That a fresh-faced junior is coming on board.

I need to tell Istina when she comes.

The second main character of today, Istina, arrived at the lab a few minutes later. A bit late, I wanted to tell her the good news quickly.

“Istina! Come here quick.”

Istina shouldered her bag properly, then hurried into the lab. Looked like she thought something serious had happened.

Not something serious, good news.

“Did someone die?”

“No. A junior is coming.”

“Huh, you got more graduate students?”

“Yup.”

Got ‘em. I nodded proudly, and Istina beamed.

“Wow, that’s such a relief.”

“You’re not upset, are you?”

I thought she might be. There’s only been one graduate student, so suddenly adding more could be uncomfortable or something.

Thankfully, Istina didn’t show any signs of that.

“No. Who is it?”

“Amy.”

“What kind of student is she?”

I don’t really know either. She claimed to be my grad student, so I’m guessing she’s a student with excellent insight. Still, she seems smart enough, based on the occasional questions she asks in class.

Istina tilted her head.

“Can I give her tasks too?”

“Only to the point where she won’t run away.”

She’s your junior, so it’s up to you what you assign her. Though if she does run, it’s my problem too.

“She said she was deeply moved by our white blood cell paper this time? She was curious how we came up with the idea.”

“Right? The idea and theory were so complex that it was hard to compare with other research.”

Although the execution itself wasn’t that difficult. The principle behind the centrifuge is something you’d never think of without a background in physics, I guess.

I hadn’t thought about it that way.

How far have people in this world invented math? Maybe they don’t even have calculus?

Istina plopped down on the sofa.

“Ah. It’s so great that a junior’s joining? I was ready to beg for even a cat’s paw.”

“She said she’s bringing a friend too. My goal is to fill the lab with at least three grad students.”

“It’s about time they arrived.”

“Yeah.”

“We had good results this year, right? If they have any ambition to be active in academia, they should naturally want to join our lab, I think.”

“Uh, yeah.”

I looked at Istina.

Sure, I kinda thought so too. But that’s something a shameless person like me would say, not Istina, I think.

It was a different side of her than her usual timid personality. A positive change, in its own way.

Still, I’m relieved that Istina seems to believe it too. Won’t be burning out anytime soon, then.

“You’ll teach her well.”

“Yes, I will.”

It was the first time in a while seeing Istina look so happy. If Amy comes in as a grad student, we’ll be able to see more patients.

We’ll be able to save more people, too.

The head of the Healing Department, Professor Fisher.

He was staring at a paper posted on the Healing Department’s building notice board, like a protest banner.

Why does that guy do this every time?

It wasn’t like he wrote his papers meticulously.

They were short papers, as concise as possible, like he’d just scribbled them down. Which is why he can post them on the bulletin board like this, I guess.

What’s the content this time…?

It was an abstruse paper. Mathematical expressions and calculations that were hard to understand. Centripetal force, revolutions per minute, relative value of centripetal force to gravitational acceleration.

The core argument was this:

If you rapidly rotate a vial of blood, you can apply a force hundreds of times that of gravity.

With this method, blood can be broken down into its constituent components. If you separate blood, you see that it’s composed of a golden liquid called plasma, red blood cells, and white blood cells.

If you used fresh blood, you could observe white blood cells in action under a microscope.

– That was Professor Asterix’s paper’s content, but it went beyond simple medical stuff.

It sounded insane, but most of it was right. What the hell was this guy doing to come up with this? How did he even think of that?

More than anything else.

A paper that developed a completely new analysis method, identified a totally new type of cell, and newly revealed the mechanism of infection progression.

But I couldn’t understand why he just scribbled it down in six pages and stuck it on a bulletin board. Was he that eager to publish it as soon as possible? Why?

Like he was posting a confrontational manifesto.

He was truly an incomprehensible man.