I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Episode 65. Summer Escape Plans (2)

Episode 65. Summer Getaway Plans (2)

Mint looked at me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just…it’s funny how even you, the teacher, end up doing as you’re told. Though, what else *could* you do, I guess?”

“Ugh, you’re a menace.”

I pinched Mint’s cheek. I don’t do it often, but the reaction’s always worth it.

“Ah-ah-ah, sorry.”

“Your Highness. When you act like a kid like this, you get treated like one.”

Mint awkwardly fiddled with a strand of her hair. She seemed genuinely sorry.

Mint’s blue eyes, slightly lowered, nervously scanned her surroundings.

“You saw the patients from the monster hunt festival, right?”

“Yes. Your Highness wasn’t hurt, was she?”

“I didn’t participate.”

“Oh, really?”

“What would I even do by participating in that?”

Guess that makes sense. Mint doesn’t have any need to prove anything to anyone. She doesn’t have a reason to be recognized for war merits either.

“I think I saw most of the patients who came back injured. But it didn’t seem like anyone was badly hurt.”

Mint chuckled again.

“I heard about that too. Apparently one of our classmates passed out after eating mushrooms in the forest. But they said the teacher saved him just fine.”

“Mushrooms… Picking and eating just any mushroom is a really bad idea. You could die.”

Anyway. Mint didn’t come all the way here just to talk about mushrooms. Besides the small talk, there’s definitely something else she wants, I can feel it.

What is it?

“What brings you here today?”

“Do I need a reason to visit?”

At that, Mint flicked her gaze up at me. I took a small step to the side.

“Coward.”

“No, it’s just…”

*Ahem.* Mint cleared her throat for a moment.

“Anyway, what I was going to say. It’s summer, so I’d like to go have some fun! Like see the ocean, or have a picnic, or even just stay at the palace for a few days.”

“Wouldn’t that be a little difficult? In many ways.”

“Don’t you have time?”

*Thud.* Mint bumped me with her head. This time, I nudged the princess back a bit.

“You’re awfully clingy today.”

“Clingy?”

Mint met my eyes again.

“Teacher. Do you hate it when I act friendly?”

“It’s not that I hate it… It just makes me uncomfortable.”

“Are you serious?”

When I hesitated to answer, Mint looked a little surprised. What kind of reaction was she expecting? Honestly, it is a little uncomfortable, what else can I say?

“If you look at it positively, couldn’t you say I’ve become more affable? At least now I can have a conversation without being needlessly snappish…”

“When have *I* ever— It’s *you*, teacher, who’s always being super snappish when talking to other people. Just tossing out cynical jokes.”

“But I’m not like that with the Princess, am I?”

“The second thing I heard from you today was that I’m a personality trainwreck. You have no self-awareness.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but couldn’t really find anything to say. This time, Mint was completely right.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Knowing’s enough.”

It was Mint’s turn to pinch my cheek. It was ridiculous, but I was just left without anything to say… So I just stayed still.

I got pushed back in my verbal sparring with Mint. I didn’t really know why, it just turned out that way as we talked.

“Honestly, teacher.”

“Would you please let go of me, Your Highness?”

“Don’t wanna.”

Mint released me a few seconds later.

“Your Highness, I was taking a look at the schedule for the Lower Realm, and, well, there was something there.”

“Yeah. What is it?”

Mint, who had been sitting quietly, turned her head at my voice. This time, her gaze was filled with curiosity above anything else.

I flipped through the schedule again.

“It seems there’s quite a large academic conference coming up soon in the coastal city of Whitby.”

“Ah… So you’re saying we should go together?”

“Let’s go together. Your Highness can go enjoy your vacation or socialize, whatever you like. I’ll see you after the conference.”

The Princess seemed to hesitate, as if about to make a witty reply, but then she shook her head slightly, changing her mind, and opened her mouth.

“I thought you’d make another weird joke. But it seems like you’re genuinely thinking of me.”

“Well, what… I should be.”

Mint nodded.

It seemed like the conference schedule was a bit hectic, but I should play with her when I can.

“Will the conference take long?”

“A day or two.”

“Oh-ho.”

Mint smiled to herself.

Seeing how much she wants to go out, it must have been really boring at the academy.

The next morning, the lab.

Istina came to the lab.

“I brought coffee, Professor.”

Her eyes were a little sleepy, but she looked more lively than usual. Round silver-rimmed glasses and a pale complexion, as if she hadn’t seen the sun for days.

Her hair was tied up in a round bun and secured with a ribbon, and she was wearing a white blouse with a bow tie and a black skirt.

Where… is she going to sell insurance or something?

“Istina. Sit here for a moment.”

“Yes?”

If you asked 100 medical professionals to pick the greatest medical advancement in history, 98 of them wouldn’t hesitate before choosing penicillin.

Penicillin is even considered one of the greatest inventions of modern history, beyond just medical history.

Penicillin is definitely one of the modern marvels that needs to be known in this world, but since it wasn’t successfully commercialized until the 1940s in the original timeline, the process will be pretty rough.

“I have something to say.”

“What is it?”

“Do you know why no one discovered penicillin before Professor Fleming?”

Istina tucked her glasses into her pocket.

“Um… Of course I don’t. Who is Professor Fleming, and what is penicillin anyway?”

I ignored Istina’s words.

It would come out as I explained.

“There are several reasons. First, only some of the hundreds of species of blue mold have sterilization properties.”

Istina tilted her head.

“Sterilization properties? Oh, you mean that stuff that kills bacteria. But what about it?”

“Second, the production of penicillin was minuscule, and the extraction process was extremely complex. That’s why it took 20 years after Professor Fleming’s discovery to start mass-producing penicillin.”

Istina nodded.

“The cafe downstairs changed their beans, I think the new coffee is more to my liking…!”

“Besides that. It also took time to discover that an antiseptic substance that could be used as medicine even existed? Most antiseptics kill people before they kill the bacteria if you eat them or inject them into your veins.”

She seemed a bit tired, probably because it was morning. Istina stared at me with vacant eyes.

“Kills people?”

“Well, it’s like this. Most people die if they drink more than a whole bottle of liquor, right? But that doesn’t mean the bacteria in their body are dead if they drink a whole bottle.”

“That’s right.”

Take alcohol, for example.

A person dies with a blood alcohol level of just 0.5%, but the concentration needed to kill bacteria is at least several dozen times higher.

Most doctors of that era didn’t believe a drug that only killed bacteria could exist.

Fleming didn’t believe either, not that a substance could kill bacteria inside the human body without killing the person, until he observed the mild antiseptic effect in the lysozyme of mucus.

So, it was because Fleming believed in the existence of antibiotics, against the prevailing wisdom of the academic community at the time, that he discovered the blue mold.

“It wasn’t a coincidence, like everyone thinks. If other doctors, or other people had seen blue mold growing in their house, they’d have just…”

“But, I didn’t have money to buy cookies. Can you buy me some later?”

“…they’d have just said, ‘Ugh, it’s rotten.’ and thrown it away. That ‘Ugh, it’s rotten.’ was repeated for thousands, hundreds of years in human history. Until Dr. Fleming thought differently.”

Until that troublesome blue mold appeared to Alexander Fleming, who had the foresight to know antibiotics existed.

Of course, now we know the structure of bacterial cell walls, how they’re made, so we can target that to create new drugs. Anyway, the conclusion is this.

“Fleming’s discovery of penicillin was absolutely not accidental.”

“No, professor. You haven’t told me yet who Fleming is or what penicillin is.”

I pondered for a moment. How should I explain this so Istina can understand?

“Penicillin is a substance that kills bacteria. Fleming is one of my seniors.”

“Oh, okay.”

Anyway, getting back to what I was saying.

“Fleming was able to recognize that blue mold had bactericidal properties and consider it for medical use because he had insight that went beyond the common knowledge of the time. And even then, it took 20 years.”

“Ah. Yes.”

“It doesn’t matter. We don’t need to go through that trial and error. We’ll finish this quickly.”

I’ll explain everything. Even if Istina doesn’t want to know, by the end of this month, all the healers in the Empire will be talking about this.

“Um… Buy me cookies.”

“Ah. I’ll give you my wallet, go buy some.”

“Okay!”

Istina took my wallet and left the lab. Maybe it’s just me, but it didn’t seem like she heard a word I said.

When it’s time to publish the paper, she’ll understand, right?