Chapter 87: Mistaken for a Criminal (2) |
*
To put it bluntly, Wangcho was treated successfully.
First, he didn't drink Rax, but ate meat treated with it, and he had washed it reasonably well.
It didn't lead to the serious situation I had feared.
“Didn't you say last time, Teacher, that drinking milk when one has an upset stomach makes it worse?”
“That was because I suspected gallstones. And now, the problem is Rax, isn't it? It's a different illness.”
“Ugh... I'm sure I washed it well before eating.”
I did have the urge to punch Wangcho a few times in the middle of it all.
Anyway, I neutralized it with milk and had him periodically drink Diluted Potion to prepare for a possible Intestinal Perforation (*a hole in the intestines).
His condition improved the very next day.
“Wangcho. If something like this happens one more time, I might have to open you up.”
“Are you perhaps joking?”
“If you don't believe me, I can show you photographs of the Intestinal Perforation Repair Surgery on patients who drank Rax.”
“No, sir. I won't do it again.”
A situation where I might have had to open him up could have easily occurred.
“Speaking of which, if a situation like this happens in the future, if I vomit...”
“Absolutely not.”
One of the common misunderstandings.
Many patients assume that if you ingest a poisonous substance, you should immediately vomit.
But it's the opposite.
In fact, vomiting after ingesting a poisonous substance is an act that hastens one's trip to the afterlife.
This is because the poisonous substance that was in the stomach comes up into the esophagus, burning it as well.
In contrast, the efficiency of toxin removal is less than 40%.
For similar reasons, in modern Emergency Toxicology, Gastric Lavage is generally not performed if possible.
Because unless one has ingested a large chunk of poison, the efficiency of Gastric Lavage isn't that great either.
The toxicology meta of the era I lived in had evolved towards safely expelling poison by administering laxatives or Activated Charcoal.
Just like with Wangcho.
“Teacher... but how long do I have to take the potion? Because of the potion, I'm... leaking from the back, you see.”
“Keep taking it until the day after tomorrow.”
Potions contain crocus, which induces diarrhea.
That's right, the same medicinal ingredient that goes into Colchicine.
It's said to be included like a staple ingredient to quickly excrete the toxicity while leaving only the potion's Healing Effect.
Thanks to this side effect, the potion was perfect for a patient who had ingested Rax.
Not only does it restore the damaged Internal Mucosa, but it also has a slight Neutralizing Effect,
and most importantly, it induces diarrhea, allowing the poison to be quickly expelled.
“Ugh... the toilet...!”
“Go ahead.”
There is the minor drawback of daily life becoming a bit inconvenient.
Still, he should consider himself lucky that ingesting Rax ended with just diarrhea.
To hope for more than this would be to have no conscience.
Rush!
Wangcho, kicking the door open in an awkward posture and running out.
From the end of the hall, the sound of the bathroom door slamming shut could be heard.
“...”
Watching him, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
This time it was an accident.
But it occurred to me that it's entirely possible to misuse Rax.
'If Black Magicians, in particular, misuse it, the damage could become uncontrollably large.'
After all, the most horrific weapons of mass slaughter in human history were, in a broad sense, made from Rax.
It seemed necessary to warn against its misuse before it happens.
After some thought, I decided to write an academic paper on this as well.
Rax is a substance that I spread.
If Black Magicians were to misuse this, my fame could also be greatly tarnished.
So it would be right to prevent it beforehand.
It would also ease my guilt.
'It would be right for Yulian, not Director Schun, to be the one to write the paper.'
It's something I thought of when I was asked to take the position of Professor of Defense Against Black Magic,
and hearing about it, the work that needs to be done is similar to Preventive Medicine.
So, it was right for Yulian to be the one to warn about substances like Rax and propose regulatory measures.
'I should try writing it after I finish the lead poisoning paper.'
I decided to keep the paper related to Rax a secret from my Teacher.
It was a sort of surprise.
***
Imperial Calendar Year 1049.
This year, the whole world had been unusually noisy since the New Year.
Right after the heavy snow ended,
it was because humanity had suffered a devastating blow from the appearance of Variant Demonic Beasts.
Fortunately, thanks to the great performance of the Saint and Saintess, the damage to the Empire wasn't great,
but the damage to other fortresses and kingdoms where they were not present was by no means small.
Having lost too much of its strength, humanity locked its castle gates even tighter.
The exchange between fortresses also decreased significantly.
The number of airship flights was cut in half, and even then, most were military supply lines.
But even in this atmosphere, only one exchange continued.
The Arcane Olympiad.
The mages' Olympics, where they presented their lifetime of academic achievements.
Even amid humanity's tragedy, the wizards never stopped the exchange of knowledge.
No, if anything, they might have been even more passionate this year.
To carry on the will of their dead peers.
By remembering the position of humanity they had forgotten.
Through accidental discoveries amidst the tragedy.
For their own different reasons, the wizards burned with passion and submitted academic papers for the Autumn Academic Conference.
The papers submitted by numerous wizards went through the First Screening by each branch of the Wizard Association, passed the Second Screening by the Magic Towers,
and finally, only the Final Judging by the 'Astrolabium—Tower Master & Archmage Judging Panel' remained.
“Duke Vespelt, are you still at war with Duke Eisenherz via letters?”
“Yes. Last year we fought so much over the ownership of a spirit, and this year we're fighting over Undersea Mana Flow Measurement. That side insists on using lead sinkers, in this day and age...”
“...So, the alloy circuit we discovered this time has a conductivity that's gone up by a whole 1%.”
“That's still just a rise of 1 from 98...”
“Gaal! If you think about it the other way, the inefficiency has been reduced from 2 to 1! How can someone who is a Master of a Magic Tower not know how amazing that is!”
“Well, I'm not interested in metals... My school has no use for metals as catalysts in the first place.”
Before the judging began in earnest.
Conversations flowed between the Tower Masters and the Archmages representing their nations.
The topics of conversation were all about the achievements of their own schools.
It was only natural.
The number of digits in the research funds their Magic Tower or Magic Knight Order received depended on the achievements presented at this academic conference.
That's why, before the judging even began, they took the time to boast as much as possible about the groups they belonged to.
In the end, the judges were also human.
Depending on the impression of the institution that submitted the paper, they were bound to have different feelings even when looking at the same content.
“I still haven't forgotten that your disciple plagiarized my disciple's paper last year.”
“Well, I'm telling you, it's a misunderstanding. The Great Teacher himself said that topics can sometimes overlap.”
“Because of that, four years of that kid's life went down the drain. Would you like to try saying that to the individual concerned?”
“I truly do feel sorry about that...”
Numerous words were exchanged among the 19 judges inside the meeting room.
In that moment.
Thud.
The huge meeting room doors were thrown open, and an old mage entered.
“Sorry for being late.”
The old mage strode across the meeting room.
and naturally took a seat in the most ornate chair.
As he sat down, the old mage grumbled.
“Agh... I told you I don't need these cumbersome decorations. A simple wooden chair would have been fine.”
“If the Great Teacher sits in an ordinary chair, we would have to kneel on the floor.”
“Ah, then that won't do.”
Chuckling, the one-eyed old mage slid the nameplate in front of him toward the corner of the desk.
The name <Louis Edelhardt> was written on the nameplate.
“Now, now, we don't have time, so let's start right away. I'd like to ask for recent news, but if I did, we wouldn't make the deadline. Is that alright with everyone?”
At the Great Sage's question, the Tower Masters and Archmages nodded their heads.
Snap!
When the Great Sage snapped his fingers, all the windows and doors in the meeting room closed.
Along with that, a stack of papers was placed in front of each judge with a thud.
“Well then, let's decide who among these will pass and get to present this year.”
“Then, the first paper. It's a paper submitted by the February Magic Tower. It is 「Proposal of a Three-Layer Model for Undersea Mana Flow」.”
“Hmm. A theory that since the ocean current is divided into three layers, considering this when using magic that interferes with the sea will increase magical power efficiency. How clever of them to figure this out.”
Magic is understanding.
The more one understands the target, the more the loss of magical power is greatly reduced, and the more one can do.
That is why the magical academic conference never ostracized any field of study.
“「Magical Reproduction of a Detonation Reaction」. Is it the July Magic Tower?”
“No, sir. It's May. They say they were only trying to reproduce the explosion sound but ended up elucidating the principle of the detonation phenomenon.”
“I was just a bit surprised that an unexpected topic came out of the May Magic Tower. To think it wasn't those Explosion Freaks who figured it out.”
“Haha...”
Thus, the papers were judged one by one, as if being weighed as they went clockwise around the round table.
Alloy circuits, bandwidth expansion for long-distance letter magic, error convergence for weather control spells...
Most were improvements on existing magic, with a very occasional innovative idea.
But none of them could soothe the Great Sage's boredom.
'In the end, they can't break out of the framework I created.'
In the end, it hadn't changed much from the methods of magic application the Great Sage had revealed a thousand years ago.
The operation of magical power was more improved, neater, quieter, and more delicate.
But in the end, it was far from the interesting ideas the Great Sage desired.
'The Magic Towers are the same again this year.'
If he had his way, he just wanted to close his eyes and sleep.
He did so every year, in fact.
But this year was different.
'Still, that kid Yulian submitted a paper this year.'
Just thinking of the paper that child must have submitted made his heart flutter with anticipation.
What on earth could that child's paper be about?
Before long, the introductions of the papers selected by each Magic Tower and Magic Knight Order seated at the round table were finished.
Finally, it was time to judge the paper selected by the Imperial Magic Knight Order.
The Imperial Representative Mage began to read the title of the paper they had brought.
<Review of the Theoretical Feasibility of Large-scale Black Magic Brainwashing via a Chronic Lead-Exposed Wizard Group>
“Cough!”
“Great Teacher?!”
“It's nothing. I just choked on my spit.”
The Great Sage barely managed to hold back the tea he was about to spit out.
The reactions of the other Tower Masters and Archmages were not much different from the Great Sage's.
“Black Magic Research?!”
“Are you saying it's true that the Imperial Military has finally begun to officially research black magic?”
“Brainwashing? What is this...”
A few wizards murmured as they saw the security rank number assigned at the top of the paper.
“Security Rank 1?”
“When was the last time a Rank 1 was judged?”
“It's the first time since the paper on lightning bombardment using weather phenomena... so five years ago.”
“Good heavens.”
Magic could enrich the world and give humanity the strength to protect itself from demonic beasts, but at the same time, it was a power that could also harm fellow humans.
That is why all magic-related papers must go through a first trial by the Ethics Committee of each Wizard Association before submission.
At this time, the meaning of each rank is as follows.
Rank 3.
Magic of a level that is fine to be publicly disclosed. Or magic that is already well-known.
Most papers tend to receive this rank.
Security Level 2.
Knowledge for special wizards or arcane magic users. Can only be viewed with permission from the Wizard Management Office.
This rank is slightly dangerous, but it's a rank that even socially recognized wizards are permitted to view.
And the final, Rank 1.
Something that absolutely needs to be discussed academically, but,
are matters that could greatly harm the public interest or lead to serious crimes.
Can only be viewed by those who have gained Archmage-level social trust.
Furthermore, any wizard who views a paper of this rank must undergo Secrecy Contract Magic.
“...Who on earth wrote something like this?”
“Let's see, Yulian... Yulian Nihilrit?”
“...”
Amidst the murmuring of the wizards, the Great Sage silently read the paper.
Abstract
— [This study epidemiologically reconstructs the state of lead exposure throughout the empire and theoretically reviews the potential utility of this chronic exposure state as a spirit medium catalyst for black magic procedures.
Based on existing literature regarding the effect of lead on nervous system magical power conductivity, it estimates the technical feasibility, required magical power scale, and identifiable epidemiological traces of a large-scale group brainwashing scenario, and presents public health and counterintelligence response recommendations.]
'I've seen it several times, but that kid. He really writes one clean paper. It would've been great if only the topic were ordinary.'
The abstract was clean.
Unlike its ominous title.
The Great Sage, slightly relieved, began to read the contents of the paper in detail.
— [Lead poisoning has been classified as an occupational disease of wizards and high-ranking superhumans.]
This is true.
It is a well-known fact that lead is harmful to the body.
But there was no better magic catalyst than lead.
So, the more one dealt with magic, the closer one tended to be to lead,
and wizards lived with lead poisoning like an occupational disease.
But the following content of the paper directly denied that common sense.
— [In the process of epidemiologically reconstructing a total of 4,312 cases of blood lead level measurements collected in the Imperial Capital area over the past three years, this researcher has confirmed that the above premise can no longer be maintained.]
“?”
The Great Sage's eyebrow twitched.
4,000 people.
The scale of the investigation was extraordinary from the start.
But what drew more attention was something else,
— [It was confirmed that lead poisoning is no longer a rare occupational disease, but a disease to which the citizens of Sanctum Hill as a whole are chronically exposed.]
Yulian was saying that lead poisoning was not a disease of wizards, but a disease of the nobles and knights of Sanctum Hill.
The reason the paper reached this conclusion was simple.
A comparative analysis of the blood lead levels of 8,000 people from Limbus Pit and 4,000 from Sanctum Hill showed that the blood lead level in Sanctum Hill was far higher.
And the paper succeeded in tracking down its cause.
— [The lead used as an activation catalyst for Leaded Mana Stone Kerosene appears to be the cause.
To prove this, using the 20 years since leaded mana stone kerosene was introduced as a baseline, corpses buried before that time were purchased to measure the lead levels in their bones.]
'Wait... he dug up corpses...?'
— [The amount of lead accumulated in bones from 20 years ago was significantly lower when compared to bones buried afterward.]
The Great Sage wanted to clap without even realizing it.
There was no problem with the logic.
Since the class that usually consumed the most mana stone kerosene was Sanctum Hill.
The logic that these people were more exposed to lead made sense causally.
In fact, he was even filled with admiration.
When everyone had been dismissing it as just a problem for wizards.
Yulian had, in effect, found even the hidden patients.
But there was one problem.
First, that there would be trading companies and nobles who would be very displeased with this paper.
And the second was...
'Wait. Then if not only wizards but most of the citizens of Sanctum Hill are exposed to lead...'
The Great Sage hurriedly flipped through the paper, of which half still remained.
— [Chapter 7. Potential for Black Magic Misuse: Threat Assessment]
— [Currently on the market, 'Dimercaprol' sold by the Merkur Trading Company is commonly prescribed to wizards.]
— [In this case, numerous cases have been reported where, if Dimercaprol is ingested without a special supplement, blood lead levels rise sharply and invade the brain.]
— [If this is applied through black magic...]
“...”
The content that followed was an utterly preposterous story.
If lead becomes embedded in the brain, it acts as an excellent catalyst for Brainwashing Magic.
And using this, it would probably be possible to quietly control more than half of the nobles and wizards of Sanctum Hill.
Control for a long period is difficult due to resistance, but.
The applications were endless, such as making them defenseless for assassination or framing them for crimes.
And the paper was introducing all those scenarios one by one in great detail.
— [Based on this content, a war game was conducted in cooperation with the military. Result: Blockade of the Sanctum Hill Southern District through a large-scale riot is possible]
— [Imperial Castle Siege war game result: Possibility of temporary fall due to self-destruction of the magic knight order exists]
— [Possibility of activating cult gatherings under review]
“...”
The Great Sage silently looked into the paper.
For a moment, Yulian from his dream overlapped with the image.
Just then, the Master of the January Magic Tower next to the Great Sage let out a groan and muttered.
“How could this not have been classified as Forbidden Rank?”
The other Tower Masters chimed in.
“The fellow who wrote this paper... seems like a bit of a dangerous fellow.”
“I fully understand the public interest purpose... but this cannot be presented.”
“As of this moment, I will have the members of our September Magic Tower mandatorily receive lead poisoning treatment as a precaution. Although I shouldn't tell them the reason.”
Even the Great Sage had nothing to say.
“To think this fellow will be in charge of Defense Against Black Magic... it's reassuring, yet a bit unsettling.”
“...”
“Yulian Nihilrit... I don't know where he learned black magic, but his teacher must have picked only dangerous things to teach him.”
No. That was me.
The Great Sage forced himself to swallow those words and organized the paper.
“So, what do you think about this paper?”
“It can't be officially announced, but there's no room for doubt that he has more than enough ability to have his paper published in the Arcane Olympiad.”
“I acknowledge that.”
“I also acknowledge that.”
Usually, in cases like this, only the fact that the wizard had a paper published in the Arcane Olympiad is publicly announced, and the paper itself is not disclosed.
In this case, the wizard is remembered in academia as the wizard who submitted a paper on an 'Unidentified Rank 1 Dangerous Magic', but.
“Very well. Then I will have Yulian Nihilrit's name engraved in the Hall of Academia as well.”
The Great Sage organized Yulian's paper, feigning composure.
“Then... next is...”
“The next paper is also from the military.”
“?”
“The rank is... Forbidden Rank... The author is... Yulian Nihilrit again.”
“?”
I hadn't heard he was submitting two.
In a state of anxiety, the Great Sage checked the title of the paper.
“...”
For a while, the Great Sage looked down at the paper without a word.
Had he done anything recently to upset Yulian?
He took a moment to think deeply.
