Chapter 46
*
“Director Shun…?”
“From the Mercure Trading Company…?”
“He actually came?”
Murmurs filled the room.
Quinine.
The new medicine that had stopped the worst fever that had been pushing back the Empire’s southern front.
To the public, Director Shun was famous as the man who had created that medicine.
So when such a director appeared, the students started buzzing all at once.
But not all of them reacted that way.
‘Why are they so surprised?’
Valeria tilted her head.
The patron sent the invitation.
The patron said he was hosting the dinner.
Then of course it made sense for the patron to come, right?
Aila beside her was making a similar face.
“Big sis, why is everyone so surprised?”
“I don’t know.”
The sisters whispered in voices no one else could hear.
But before long, Valeria realized why the other students were reacting that way.
“I didn’t expect him to come personally.”
“I thought a proxy would come.”
“I thought a butler would come.”
Valeria’s ears perked up.
A proxy.
Right.
Come to think of it, in a situation like this, it was usually a proxy who showed up instead.
Even while attending the academy’s middle school division, it was something they experienced often.
Nobles and the wealthy often went through representatives when meeting commoners.
So it was only natural to think Director Shun would be the same.
‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
The reason Valeria and Aila hadn’t thought of it was simple.
Before coming to the dinner.
Their mother had gotten excited first.
‘Mother….’
Realizing that, Valeria let out a bitter smile inwardly.
The scholarship students’ murmuring showed no sign of dying down.
Director Shun waited for the students in silence.
Only then did the students realize they were being rude and shut their mouths.
Under the brim of the fedora.
The corner of Director Shun’s mouth curved faintly.
“You don’t need to be nervous. I’ll say it again: today’s stars are all of you. So if you have something you want to say, feel free to speak openly.”
The low, gentle voice seeped into every corner of the room.
The students’ shoulders relaxed a little.
Then,
“Uh… if that’s the case….”
A boy carefully raised his hand.
It was Cal, the swordsmanship student who had caused the earlier knife incident.
His gaze turned to Yulian.
“If it’s not too rude, may I ask one thing?”
“Of course. Please speak freely.”
“Th-then, um….”
Cal’s gaze slid away from Yulian.
And then he fixed it on the red-haired woman who had slung the coat from her women’s suit over her shoulders like a cape.
“May I ask how old your escort is?”
“I’ll answer that for the director. I’m not even a year or two older than you.”
“Then I’d like to ask which master you studied under. Your movements just now were incredible.”
In the world of swordsmanship and magic, skill was lineage itself.
Of course, there were students who built their foundations from the academy up.
But true masters usually inherited visions passed down from master to master, from ancestor to ancestor.
Because of this, the children of renowned swordsmanship or magical families sometimes didn’t even enroll in the academy once they reached the high school division.
That was also why it wasn’t uncommon for a rising star to suddenly appear in the undergraduate division, the course after high school.
‘At that level of movement, it’s not impossible that she’s a master from a famous sect or a descendant of a prestigious knightly house.’
Cal clearly remembered Erika’s aura from just now.
Unlike himself, who had to focus hard just to make aura form, Erika was handling it as naturally as breathing.
She had to be at a realm far above even Cal, the second-best in the swordsmanship department.
That was why Cal couldn’t help being curious about the master who had made Erika like that.
“….”
But Erika, having received Cal’s question, tilted her head.
She didn’t have a master.
Naturally, she didn’t have a sect either.
No, wait.
If she learned aura from the boss, does that make the boss her master?
But maybe not Deputy Chief Shen, who taught her magic, but calling that gang boss her master felt awkward somehow.
After much consideration, she finally said one word.
“…In combat.”
“Huh?”
“I learned it through live combat at Limbus Pit.”
That wasn’t a lie.
The boss’s way of teaching aura was always through live combat.
He’d throw her straight into faction wars and make sure she didn’t die—that was how the boss taught aura.
Thanks to that, Erika had managed to reach the level of activating aura as naturally as breathing.
However, Erika’s answer unintentionally left Cal’s mind blank.
“In actual combat…?”
No academy, no sect, no master.
It meant she had reached that level through nothing but live combat.
Cal closed his mouth.
He had picked up a sword as a child and grown up hearing that he had talent.
At times, he had even sneered inwardly at children who were born into better environments than him and still fell behind him.
And yet now, he couldn’t say a word.
Erika had surpassed Cal’s level through even harsher conditions and even bloodier effort.
And at this age, she had earned recognition and taken the seat beside Director Shun.
‘…I was being arrogant.’
Cal realized his own pride.
He had gotten too full of himself just because Director Shun had paid attention to him.
If he wasn’t careful, he might have let that arrogance make him neglect his efforts.
‘I’m really glad we got to meet today.’
Cal clasped his hands and performed a fist-and-palm salute.
“I learned so much, Big sis!”
At Cal’s sudden reaction, Erika tilted her head as if she had no idea what was going on.
But following the manners drilled into her body, Erika returned the salute.
“Yes, well. I’m glad it was helpful.”
Though the etiquette still hadn’t quite stuck to her tongue yet.
*
By the time Erika and Cal’s conversation wrapped up,
Yulian suddenly rose from his seat.
“Please excuse me for a moment.”
The students’ attention all turned to Yulian at once.
“I have a brief engagement to attend to. Please, make yourselves comfortable.”
As Yulian headed for the door, Erika also stood up to follow him.
At the doorway, Yulian looked back once.
“We’ll be back when the appetizer is served.”
With gentle smiles, the two of them left the room.
Creak.
The door closed.
And then,
“Phew….”
Someone let out a long breath.
That was the signal for everyone to start talking all at once.
“Ah, I thought I was going to die from nerves.”
“Me too… I was even careful about breathing.”
“But he’s not as scary as I thought. And his voice is nice too.”
Murmurs rose among the students.
With Yulian and Erika gone, it finally felt like they could breathe again.
“But is it okay to talk this much?”
One student raised a question.
Cal answered the other student’s muttered question.
“I’ve had a few meals with nobles, and usually in situations like this they leave the room so people can talk comfortably.”
“Then until when can we keep talking?”
“Probably until the appetizer comes out.”
“Oh, is that noble speech? Where did you learn that?”
“The swordsmanship department has a practical class where we escort political science students during lectures. I learned it there.”
“Wow, so your goal is to become a knight?”
“For now. Just in case, if there’s anyone who doesn’t know etiquette well, I’ll check on them.”
Cal quickly started teaching the students who didn’t know dining etiquette.
At first, the students had been wary that Cal might have some hidden motive, but his cheerful voice and passionate instruction gradually opened their hearts.
Before long, Cal had naturally become the center of the scholarship students.
While a few students were getting crash-course tutoring from Cal.
Valeria was interacting with several other students.
Most of them were from departments whose inclinations were similar to Valeria’s diplomacy and economics department—students who preferred wielding pens over moving their bodies.
“Wow, I’m actually eating with Director Shun.”
A male student spoke up with admiration.
Valeria remembered that the boy was a military department student.
And also that he was the oldest second-year high school student in the group.
The bear-like boy had broader shoulders and a deeper voice than Cal from the swordsmanship department.
‘He looks like he should be a general, not an officer….’
While Valeria was thinking that, the military student began preaching the greatness of Director Shun to the others.
“You’ve all heard about Quinine, right?”
“Yeah. Didn’t it keep the front from collapsing again because of that? Amazing medicine.”
But the military student shook his head, saying that wasn’t what mattered.
“No. What’s amazing isn’t Quinine’s effect.”
“Then what is amazing?”
“He cut the price of that Quinine in half so even ordinary soldiers could use it. And he did it by giving up his own share.”
The military student turned to Valeria.
“You’re from economics, right? Then do you also study the profits Director Shun has given up?”
“Do you think they teach that?”
“Still, you can roughly calculate it, can’t you?”
“Hmm….”
Valeria let out a low murmur and did some rough mental arithmetic.
The price of a single Quinine was roughly 4,000 mar.
And if patent rights were usually sold to a trading company for about a 4 percent royalty….
“Hmm? There are too many variables to calculate, so it’s hard to do in my head. Still, it looks like he gave up roughly the average income of a baronial household.”
“See? That’s the kind of person he is!”
The bear-like student got fired up and started extolling Director Shun’s greatness.
“He developed insulin and even vaccines!”
The military student’s voice grew even more heated.
“The fact that we’re even having a meal with him right now is a miracle!”
At the older boy’s grand speech, the students nodded along, thinking, So that’s how it is.
Then a small voice cut in.
“B-but he didn’t make the medicine all by himself.”
The students’ gazes shifted toward the direction where the small voice came from.
At the center of their gaze was a girl wearing glasses.
Ellie, the top student of the high school alchemy department.
Seemingly aware of all the eyes on her, she shrank back slightly.
“N-no. I mean….”
Her fingers fidgeted with the frame of her glasses.
“Quinine, yes. Director Shun definitely developed that himself. There’s a paper on it, and the manufacturing patent is under his own name. He also grew the company with it.”
“Right.”
“B-but….”
Ellie’s voice dropped a little.
“It’s… h-hard to say he made all the insulin and vaccines entirely by himself.”
The military student’s eyebrows shot up.
It was the reaction of someone wondering whether she dared insult the great figure he revered.
“What are you trying to say?”
Ellie shrank her shoulders even more.
But even so, her mouth kept moving.
“D-don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying Director Shun stole someone else’s research.”
“Then?”
“W-well, alchemy isn’t that simple.”
Ellie’s gaze fell to the table. It seemed hard for her to meet anyone’s eyes.
“Quinine is in the infectious disease field. But insulin is a completely different area. It’s on the blood physiology side… the department is entirely different.”
“….”
“One person making new drugs in such different fields at the same time… it’s not theoretically impossible, but in practice….”
Her words trailed off.
Silence fell.
Ellie’s shoulders sank.
‘…Ah.’
Regret washed over her.
It had been a conversation flowing nicely.
She hadn’t needed to butt in.
But in her eagerness to get closer, she’d pushed herself too far and spoken up.
‘Did I say something unnecessary?’
She furtively surveyed her surroundings over the rims of her glasses.
The military student’s expression had stiffened oddly.
The other students also looked awkward.
Ellie’s fingers fidgeted with her glasses again.
Then, as if taking up Ellie’s words, Valeria spoke.
“That’s right. I think so too.”
Ellie looked up.
Valeria moistened her lips with the pre-dinner drink and continued.
“Do you know how quickly the Mercure Trading Company has grown over the past few years?”
Valeria’s voice was calm.
“Developing a single new medicine usually takes years. But Mercure is releasing several new medicines on a two- to three-year cycle. I heard they’ve even published physiology papers in between?”
“…Y-yes, that’s right.”
Ellie’s eyes sparkled.
Director Shun may be famous for medicine, but in the alchemy department he was even more famous for his groundbreaking research results.
After all, you can’t make medicine without first figuring out the principles. So of course.
Realizing that a student from another department knew that, Ellie felt an unintentional sense of closeness to Valeria.
Sensing Ellie’s thoughts, Valeria continued with a wry smile.
“This isn’t something one person can do alone. There has to be a team.”
Valeria tapped the table with her fingers.
“Director Shun probably raised funds with Quinine and used that money to recruit excellent alchemists. He’d oversee everything and set the direction, while the team handled the detailed development.”
At Valeria’s words, the military student’s expression softened as he rubbed his chin.
“Ah… the army is similar. A general doesn’t win a war alone; there’s a staff.”
“Exactly. Big organizations all work that way. That’s what you meant, right, Ellie?”
Ellie nodded vigorously.
Seeing that reaction, the military student’s gaze softened considerably.
“Oh, so that’s what you meant.”
“S-sorry. Director Shun is still amazing, though.”
“True enough. No matter how impressive the staff is, it doesn’t diminish a great general’s brilliance.”
The mood softened again.
Ellie gave Valeria a quick glance.
‘...Thanks.’
Though she didn’t say it out loud, gratitude was in her eyes.
Valeria gave a slight shrug.
Then one student suddenly raised a question.
“By the way, how old do you think Director Shun is?”
“Hmm… who knows? But at the very least, he must have graduated from the alchemy or healing department….”
“His way of speaking sounded even more seasoned than our instructors….”
“He looked a bit young, though?”
“Maybe an elf, or half-elf?”
“Right. We have an instructor like that at our school too, and she’s incredibly short. She always says she’s only 96 years old.”
“So he could be older than he looks?”
The discussion about Director Shun’s age continued.
The older Director Shun was guessed to be, the more Valeria felt that Aila seemed oddly disappointed.
Though she couldn’t tell why.
Before long, as the students compromised on Director Shun being roughly an eighty-something half-elf…
Creak.
The door opened again.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
With gentle voices, Yulian and Erika entered the room.
Waiters filed in behind them.
On the silver trays sat a clear golden soup and tiny blinis.
While the dishes were being placed on each table, a man in a white uniform stepped forward.
He looked like the chef.
“Today’s appetizer is truffle consommé. It’s made with beef stock simmered at low temperature for 24 hours, infused with this year’s first black truffles, and….”
The students held their breath.
They only knew a few words, but they could tell it was an extravagant dish.
“The blinis are baked with buckwheat flour and yogurt. If you eat them with the consommé, the flavor becomes even deeper.”
The chef bowed lightly and stepped back.
Valeria carefully lifted her spoon.
From the steam rising above the golden broth came a blend of mushroom and beef aromas.
Valeria’s eyes went wide.
“Wow….”
Aila, beside her, let out a quiet exclamation too.
For the sisters, who had grown up on foods made of oats, pigeon, and sausage, it was an overwhelmingly rich flavor.
Hard to describe, but,
‘So this is… the taste of truly fresh ingredients….’
She could confidently say it was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten.
Valeria slowly lifted a second spoonful.
As the meal went on.
Valeria’s gaze naturally drifted to Yulian.
‘….’
At first, she had only been side-eyeing him to match the host’s eating pace, remembering proper etiquette.
But once she started watching, she couldn’t look away.
Yulian’s hand moved, and his knife cut through the blini.
And when he put a piece in his mouth, the food left on the plate still looked beautiful.
Though it was changing from the shape the chef had plated, that beautiful form was still preserved.
Valeria looked down at her own plate.
The half-eaten blini was already hard to recognize. The caviar she had touched with her spoon had scattered everywhere.
The other students’ plates were the same.
The more they ate, the more the shape was ruined.
Valeria thought that couldn’t be helped while eating.
But seeing Yulian’s plate, she had to change her mind.
‘Is this really the difference in class between the upper class and everyone else….’
The emptier his plate became, the neater the remaining food looked.
It was a meal only possible if you completely understood the intent behind the chef’s plating.
Valeria stared blankly with her spoon in hand.
Was it the manners that were beautiful?
Was it the atmosphere that was beautiful?
Or was it all of it mixed together?
Only one thing was certain: her patron was more perfect than she had imagined.
‘Me too….’
I want to become that kind of high society too.
Just then, a small longing began to bloom in Valeria’s chest.
Once the meal had progressed a bit, Yulian spoke.
“Shall we chat casually?”
Yulian wiped his mouth with a napkin.
His soft voice floated out from behind the napkin.
“Don’t be stiff—if there’s anything you’re curious about, ask freely.”
The students exchanged glances.
Who would speak first?
In that silence,
‘...Now.’
Ellie took a quiet breath.
Her fingers fidgeted with the frame of her glasses. It was a habit that came out when she was nervous.
‘I have to ask.’
The conversation she’d had with Valeria earlier flashed through her mind.
Director Shun specializes in infectious diseases.
There’s a high chance he got help from other alchemists with insulin.
Then if she asked a deep question about insulin, Director Shun might not be able to answer perfectly.
‘But still.’
Ellie didn’t want to let this chance slip away.
Insulin.
A miracle drug for patients with diabetes.
But among recent alchemy department papers, cases of death by heart attack after insulin administration were being cautiously reported.
Ellie had heard about those cases in class too.
And while learning about them, she had developed a few questions.
They were still only her own hypothesis, but if she could confirm them with Director Shun….
‘This is my chance to make an impression on him.’
To be honest, there was calculation in it too.
This might be an opportunity that never comes again.
If she wanted to make herself memorable among the ten scholarship students, she had to speak now.
She had to ask a question, have a conversation, and leave an impression.
Even if Director Shun couldn’t give a perfect answer, it didn’t matter.
If anything, that would be natural.
Showing limits in a field outside your own major isn’t shameful.
What mattered was the question itself.
To show, as the top student in the alchemy department, that she was studying.
‘...Let’s do it.’
Ellie raised her hand.
“Excuse me.”
Her voice came out quieter than she’d expected.
The students’ eyes turned to her.
Ellie’s shoulders shrank slightly, but this time she didn’t back down.
“May I ask one thing?”
Yulian nodded.
“Of course. Go ahead.”
“It’s about insulin….”
“Yes. To have already prepared a question about insulin at your age—looks like you’ve studied hard.”
“Hehe….”
No, that’s not it. That’s not it.
Ellie’s fingers fidgeted with her glasses again.
“I heard in class that there have recently been reports of deaths from heart attacks after insulin administration. S-so….”
Ellie inhaled sharply.
Yulian waited quietly for Ellie to continue.
Thanks to that consideration, Ellie was able to continue.
“Could I ask whether this is a side effect you’re already aware of… and whether you have any plans to improve it?”
Silence fell.
Ellie waited for Yulian’s response.
Insulin was probably not Director Shun’s specialty.
If so, the response would usually be one of three things.
“I’ll check with the team,”
“That’s a good point,”
or “It’s still under discussion at the company, so I can’t give a definite answer yet.”
Usually, unless you have full control yourself, you can’t answer that easily.
But the answer that came back far surpassed what the students there had expected.
“That’s a good question.”
Yulian’s voice remained gentle.
“For an alchemy student to even keep up with discussions in a healer’s field. I thought that wasn’t on the exam, but that’s impressive.”
“Hehe….”
“As for the answer to your question: yes. We knew about it, we predicted all of it, and we already had countermeasures in place, so the dosing guidelines have already been announced.”
“…What?”
The top student of the alchemy department stared blankly at Yulian.
Yulian looked at the stunned top student as if she were cute, and continued his explanation.
“Let me start with the background.”
Yulian lightly wiped his fingers with a napkin.
“It’s true that cases of heart attacks after insulin administration have increased. But the cause isn’t a flaw in the medicine itself.”
“…Then what is the reason?”
“It’s a matter of patient compliance.”
Ellie blinked.
In class, I’d heard that the alchemy professors were still trying to explain the cause….
Yulian was speaking as though he’d already figured out the cause long ago.
“When insulin first came out, it was a miracle drug for diabetes patients. People who had to avoid sweets for life were suddenly told they only needed to take medicine.”
“….”
“So what happened?”
Silence.
Yulian didn’t wait for an answer.
“They trusted the medicine and binged. Since there was insulin, they thought a little would be fine. The result was diabetic shock… no, an acute worsening of diabetes. In a hurry to save the patient, they administered a large amount of insulin, and the result was cardiac arrest.”
Ellie’s mouth fell open.
It was such a natural, simple line of reasoning.
But… why had no one figured this out?
And how was Yulian, whom she had thought was outside the field, so knowledgeable?
Meanwhile, Yulian continued his explanation.
“So as long as the dosage instructions are followed properly, side effects basically don’t occur.”
Yulian nodded.
“Of course.”
His fingers tapped lightly on the table.
“Even so, side effects can occur. Sometimes in emergencies you have no choice but to administer an excessive dose, and depending on the patient’s constitution, unexpected reactions may appear.”
“….”
Ellie was at a loss for words.
Everything had already been prepared before she even asked.
An analysis of the cause of the side effects.
And countermeasures for the situations in which they could still occur.
‘…Perfect.’
Only after hearing that answer could she admit it.
Including insulin, Yulian was perfectly overseeing every medicine.
He was a genius far beyond what people thought.
While those thoughts were dominating Ellie’s mind,
Yulian suddenly snapped his fingers.
“Ah.”
Ellie looked up.
“From here on, this is material from the healing department’s undergraduate division, so not knowing it is nothing to be ashamed of. Still, I’ll give you a chance.”
“…Pardon?”
“If you had such a question, I imagine you must have your own thoughts on it.”
Yulian’s gaze turned to Ellie.
“What do you think the solution was, student? And what was our supplement?”
She felt as if a soft, yet somehow sharp gaze were piercing in from beneath the fedora’s brim.