NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 45
Episode 45. Cause Unknown Plague (1)
****
The way back to the Academy wasn’t that long. Maybe it was because we had to be back before sunset, so the carriage was moving in a hurry.
The next morning, at the research lab.
As always, Istina was reading a book in one corner of the lab. I was sitting at my desk flipping through some letters.
Luckily, there are no inpatients right now.
Thanks to that, I could sit around somewhat leisurely. A letter came from Violet, huh? Frowning, I opened it.
– The Imperial Prince praised you. He said you’ve been studying hard with the professor for the advancement of scholarship. We thank you sincerely.
– The lecture fee will be sent to the professor soon. Probably by an imperial check.
Hmph, looks like the prince doesn’t know how to judge people.
To praise that guy for working… if he’d actually seen him work, he wouldn’t say such things. Anyway, that’s not important right now.
They’re talking about the lecture fee?
Thinking about it, it makes sense. Since I gave a presentation at the Imperial Palace, they should pay a lecture fee, obviously.
I looked up and glanced at Istina.
“Istina, the lecture fee is coming soon.”
“Really? I didn’t know money was coming in.”
“You can take all of it.”
“Really? Thank you!”
In the first place, Istina herself costs almost nothing, so shouldn’t she use this incoming lecture fee to help with her living expenses?
I didn’t really need it anyway. I’ve already received quite a bit of money from the palace without doing anything.
“It seems I didn’t explain properly.”
“Hm?”
Istina bowed deeply.
“Oh, thank you very much! You didn’t even have to list me as the main author on the plague-induced dysentery paper or give me the lecture opportunity.”
I nodded vaguely.
Istina has worked hard enough.
We can’t keep troubling her and making her work hard forever, right? Occasionally giving something helps make assigning more tasks easier, doesn’t it?
“Yeah… go spread the word outside. It’s great being a graduate student under me.”
“I’ve been doing that, but no one seems interested.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Istina nodded vigorously.
Hmm, I thought about it for a moment.
“Can’t be helped. Let’s prepare well for the blood circulation paper I wrote last time. It would be nice if it went smoothly into the journal this time too.”
“The reactions were good, but won’t it fail?”
I nodded.
Of course, the reaction after the presentation was explosive, but if it gets rejected for publication, someone else will likely beat us to it with similar content, right?
****
This is the clinic. With the weather getting better, fewer students seem to be coming in injured. Why is the weather improving when spring is almost over?
It’s cold here, so…
This area is most pleasant during midsummer. There’s rarely a calm day. In winter, people slip and get hurt, and in summer, they’re active and get hurt.
A patient walked into the clinic.
I tried recalling both memory and medical records, and it seemed like I’d seen this person somewhere before. One of the previous patients, but who?
Ah, it’s him.
Lailas. I remember him as the male student who kept babbling nonsense about his heart hurting, only to later be diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease.
“Hello, Mr. Lailas. Last time, you received treatment for chest pain and acid reflux, right?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
I recorded it in the medical record. Of course, it’s natural to write it down, yet why does everyone act surprised?
“Are you feeling any better?”
“Yes. Thanks to Professor, I overcame my nausea and even confessed my love successfully!”
That effect shouldn’t exist. It was just a medication to reduce stomach acid—proton pump inhibitors.
“Ah, congratulations.”
Anyway, outcome-focused medicine, right? If the patient is happy, that’s all that matters. Though I don’t understand how he got to that conclusion.
“So, why are you here today?”
“My medicine ran out.”
Gastroesophageal reflux disease diagnosis involves esophagoscopy. However, in most cases, proton pump inhibitors are prescribed without an endoscopy.
You can diagnose based on symptoms alone, and there’s no need for the complicated procedure of an endoscopy here. Besides, endoscopy isn’t available here anyway. The key point is this:
“Are you still experiencing heartburn or chest pain? Do you still need the medication?”
“Sometimes, a little pain persists. Also, there’s a cold going around the dormitory, which worries me.”
Should I give him some sugar pills?
I thought about it. There’s no clear illness, but he didn’t come here for no reason either. Sending him away empty-handed feels wrong.
I placed a pre-prepared medicine bottle on the desk. A transparent glass bottle filled with yellow pills.
“Take one pill per day. It might help with the cold too.”
“Thank you.”
This time, it was just Vitamin C. It probably has some effect in preventing colds, right?
End of consultation. Go quickly.
****
The next person to enter was Lizelrote.
She visited me last time for dizziness and BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo). Her situation was similar to Lailas’.
Lizelrote doesn’t have any serious illnesses either. People who are truly healthy don’t pretend to be sick or visit the hospital.
Still, everyone feels some kind of discomfort somewhere. Even if neither the doctor nor the patient knows exactly what’s wrong, something is off.
“Was your trip here okay?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you here?”
“A cold. I feel a bit dizzy too.”
BPPV, headaches, dizziness—they’re all conditions that frequently recur. They significantly impact daily life, and there aren’t clear solutions. The silver lining is that these aren’t fatal diseases.
“Let me check. Ah, open wide.”
“Ah!”
“Ah. Don’t scream.”
I placed the wooden tongue depressor on Lizelrote’s tongue and checked her tonsils. They seemed slightly swollen, but I couldn’t tell for sure.
Tch. I tossed the wooden tongue depressor aside. It seems like she has signs of a cold, but it’s unclear. That’s why ENT specialists use endoscopes—it’s not my specialty though.
“Cough once.”
“Hack. Hack.”
Definitely sounds like phlegm bubbling. Should I do auscultation?
Upper respiratory infections are usually viral, while lower respiratory infections tend to be bacterial. Most of the time, anyway.
Viral infections don’t have specific treatments.
We could try antivirals, but often they’re meaningless. Anti-inflammatory painkillers or antihistamines might help too, perhaps.
“Professor, the medicine you gave me last time was sweet. Is that normal?”
She’s talking about the sugar placebo pills.
I gave them in case her dizziness was due to low blood sugar in the morning, and it seems to have worked, thankfully.
“Yes, was it effective?”
“It was! I definitely didn’t feel dizzy anymore—at least until I caught this cold.”
Could dizziness be caused by a cold?
Possible. There are various mechanisms. General condition decline causing dizziness, dizziness from fever, etc.
Also, since the nose and ears are connected via the Eustachian tube, fluid buildup could affect the ear.
Since the balance organs are in the ear.
“Tricky. For now, I’ll prescribe the same medicine from last time, plus a painkiller and a comprehensive cold remedy.”
“Okay.”
“Three pills. Take them morning and night. Come back if it doesn’t resolve.”
It was a bit disappointing.
“There’s no definitive solution, which is unfortunate.”
“But it could help, right?”
“We don’t know yet. Once you leave, please receive a blessing magic spell before heading home.”
Lizelrote nodded. I waited for her to leave the clinic.
****
The third patient. An uncle I haven’t seen in a while. Definitely not an Academy student.
How did he end up here?
“What’s your name, patient?”
“David. Lately, my joints have been hurting, so I came. Sometimes it’s so bad I can’t work.”
Major issue.
Just questionable if there’s a treatment.
“How much pain are you in?”
“Just a bit uncomfortable in the mornings. My hands and knees hurt, but I don’t know what the problem is.”
Morning stiffness in hands and knees…
Based on symptoms alone, it sounds like osteoarthritis. I examined the patient’s hands. Honestly, I doubt I can determine if there’s another serious condition.
I held the patient’s hand and pressed the finger joints. No swelling or signs of pain, so it’s probably not gout.
“How old are you?”
“59.”
“Sounds like osteoarthritis to me.”
“Oh, my wife keeps telling me to quit drinking. Will quitting alcohol help?”
“How much alcohol do you drink?”
“Beer. Two glasses a day.”
Two beers a day. That’s fourteen a week?
Two beers a day isn’t much, right? Beer in this world usually has an alcohol content of around 1%, much less than what I used to drink in my past life.
I scratched my head a bit. Recommending more drinking sounds weird, but lying isn’t an option either. Sorry to the wife.
“No, just keep drinking.”
“Is that so?”
The uncle looked bewildered. By normal standards, drinking less than one glass a day means almost nothing, right? To that extent, it’s medically fine in my opinion.
“Can you cut down on work?”
“A little.”
“Cut back on work a bit, and try hot or cold compresses. I’ll give you a few painkillers; take them if the pain becomes unbearable. Get healed with some curing magic outside.”
The uncle nodded.
****
In the southern part of the empire, the port city of Imentia.
“Hey, people are already bleeding… how many already? Isn’t this a plague?”