Chapter 53
*
After greeting Charlotte, we stepped into the room.
The inspector and my father were in the middle of hearing the count's account of the incident for the investigation.
Meanwhile, Charlotte had left her father, the inspector, and was slowly moving around the room.
Her golden eyes were sweeping over the objects in the room one by one.
And I sat in a chair with my legs crossed, quietly watching her inspect the scene.
As I recalled the blurb for this work after a long while.
================================
<Schnabel's Journal>
#Fantasy #Fusionpunk #Misunderstanding #Medical #…etc
[Do not call Schnabel a saint. That is not a miracle.]
[Please do not trust the crow doctor. He is not the good man you think he is.]
=================================
'The original story was probably about treating people normally, being mistaken for a saint, and then skyrocketing to success.'
If so, then Julian would probably have risen through Charlotte in the original.
The gist was easy enough to guess.
— “My God! The curse stopped!”
Julian used an anticonvulsant to treat a baby convulsing in the clinic as usual,
— “How on earth did you do that?”
and, after catching the attention of Charlotte, who was investigating the neonatal cluster sudden death case, he would have been questioned by her,
— “Star anise…. I see. I didn’t know star anise had that kind of danger either.”
Charlotte would have supplied knowledge about star anise that he didn’t know.
And a few days later, Julian’s reputation would suddenly have soared as he continued his usual clinic work.
As the healer (doctor) who solved the neonatal cluster sudden death case together with the inspector’s daughter, Charlotte Hausen.
— “I-I… what is this? Scary….”
The misunderstanding-type small-time protagonist Julian would have been agonizing over all that attention.
No wonder.
So that was why my high society debut was a case where even knowing the truth I couldn’t reveal it.
Because the one revealing the truth would be Charlotte, not me.
'Charlotte, unlike me, can reveal the truth without any problems.'
I know the truth.
But I lack the authority to convince the victims’ parents of it.
Of course.
What parent could easily accept the truth that they themselves had driven their baby to death?
They probably wouldn’t accept it and would keep searching for the truth they wanted from the opposing faction.
But unlike me, Charlotte, as the inspector’s daughter, has undeniable authority.
So if she reveals the truth, the parents are likely to accept it.
And through this case, Charlotte and I would probably debut in high society at the same time.
'Good. Then what I need to do is clear.'
Even Charlotte can’t deduce what she doesn’t know.
Since this is a world where medicine and chemistry are less developed, she would need a 21st-century doctor by her side.
The original Julian probably ended up playing Watson for that reason.
'Even Gordon Ramsay needs ingredients to cook.'
In other words, my role in this case was to provide the ingredients so she could make the right deduction.
However, I had no intention of staying in the assistant role.
'If I were going to just let myself be swept along by the flow of a misunderstanding story, I wouldn’t have made quinine in the first place.'
The original Julian was a commoner, so he would have been swept along by the current.
When something happened, he'd want to run; if it happened to get resolved, he'd panic; and when his reputation rose, he'd agonize over it.
But from the start, my goals were different from the original Julian’s.
The original Julian may have dreamed of a peaceful doctor life, but my goal is to break through the ceiling in a misunderstanding story.
There was absolutely no reason to reject the wealth, glory, and advancement coming my way.
To do that, I couldn’t stay in the original storyline.
'From the start, I have to become more than Charlotte’s assistant.'
Simply giving her a clue by coincidence wasn’t enough.
I had to become indispensable to her investigation.
'Good. Then I’ll have to go at it like a rival.'
The more I matched her toe-to-toe in this case, the more the image of Julian remembered by high society would change.
After that, the more she shone, the more my own reputation would rise even if I just sat back and relaxed.
Operation 'Apparently Charlotte’s Rival'.
After finishing my calculations, I revised my plan.
Instead of telling my father, I would race her in deduction.
Having finished my thoughts,
I slowly got up from the chair and walked over to Charlotte.
She had stopped in front of the bookcase in the corner of the room.
Her golden eyes were scanning the books.
I pointed at the book her gaze was lingering on and spoke.
“A bookshelf is a good way to quickly figure out the homeowner’s personality.”
The girl’s eyes widened slightly.
She seemed surprised that I had pinpointed exactly why she was looking there.
“You know that well?”
“I always look at the bookshelf first when I do house calls.”
Of course, that was a bluff.
I’m not as sharp an observer as Charlotte.
I just said it because it seemed like that.
I might run out of material later...
But the power of a misunderstanding story would somehow handle it.
I put on gloves and pulled a book from the shelf.
Her golden hair was just brushing my sleeve.
Charlotte stiffened slightly, but she didn’t pull away.
What I took out was a thick leather-bound book. The title was embossed in gold.
《Imperial Western Noble Directory, 7th Edition》
“The latest edition is the 9th, but there’s a 7th edition here.”
I ran my fingers over the book.
Dust came away on my fingertips.
“The dust is evenly settled. It looks like it hasn’t been opened for at least six months.”
I opened the book.
There were no bookmarks, folded pages, or underlines.
“Buying a noble directory and not reading it. And an outdated copy at that, a second edition or older…. Either the count isn’t interested in high society, or he has already memorized all the information he needs.”
Charlotte nodded.
“The latter. You can tell from the letters on the mantelpiece. They’ve all been opened, but there’s no sign of any reply being written. Someone who reads the letters he receives carefully but never sends replies.”
“So he’s the type to gather information but not maintain relationships.”
Charlotte’s brows twitched.
Her competitive spirit must have kicked in because we were matching deductions so closely.
Confident that things were going as planned, I put the book back and said,
“What kind of books do you usually read, Miss Hausen?”
“Ancient texts. I especially like studying grimoires.”
A straightforward answer.
Normally, a noble lady would have answered flower arranging or reading poetry.
Charlotte seemed a little too different from ordinary young ladies.
'Well, that’s Charlotte for you, I guess.'
“If it’s grimoires, are you studying the principles of magic?”
“Rather than the principles, I study recorded knowledge. Even the same magic is recorded differently from era to era, and the knowledge used to work it also differs. Tracking those changes helps me acquire the knowledge needed for deduction.”
“That certainly makes sense. Then do you not read literature or history books?”
“Of course I do. Looking only at grimoires narrows your vision, after all. Understanding people also helps with deduction, so I read literature from time to time as well.”
She took her eyes off the bookshelf and looked up at me.
“Then, Lord Nihirit, do you have any hobbies?”
“I’m about the same as you, Miss Charlotte.”
“Similar in what way?”
“I like studying the scriptures used by healers. When I study the rituals they use to activate divine magic, I can glimpse the knowledge they’ve built up. It’s also fun to watch how it changes from age to age.”
“That’s a good hobby.”
Even while we spoke, she wasn’t done scanning the room.
After finishing her scan of the room, she now turned her gaze to the baby sleeping in the bed.
The baby in the bed slept peacefully, breathing softly.
Charlotte’s gaze started at the baby’s face and slowly moved downward.
“May I ask what condition the baby was originally in? It was already asleep when I arrived.”
“It was having convulsions. I first administered a drug to stop the convulsions and then supplied fluids to prevent dehydration.”
Of course, there was another reason I gave the fluids.
The baby was currently suffering from star anise poisoning.
So I gave fluids to help flush the star anise compounds out of its body through urine as quickly as possible.
But if I told her that, it would become the answer rather than a hint, so I deliberately left that part out.
After hearing the explanation, her gaze swept over the baby’s surroundings.
The IV line secured to the wrist, the IV bag connected to it,
and the house-call bag on the bedside table.
I had left the bag open.
so the syringe and thin rubber tubing inside would be visible.
Charlotte pointed at the contents of the bag and said,
“So you sort the tools you used into different pockets like that.”
“Yes, that’s right. I don’t want to get mixed up when I wash them later.”
“Then may I ask about the medicinal ingredients you used as well?”
“Would that be knowledge needed for your deduction?”
I could have told her right away, but I tossed one back at her first.
with the implication of, Why should I tell this to my rival?
As if the intent had gotten across, her smile deepened.
“You can’t know until you hear it.”
I nodded.
Well, even if she didn’t know the medicine I used, it wouldn’t be a problem reaching the truth about the star anise.
Still, it was also a chance to showcase my knowledge to her, so I didn’t refuse.
“It’s a drug called chloral hydrate.”
“Chloral hydrate?”
“Yes. It was apparently a drug that was created while the Mercure Trading Company was trying to make an anesthetic.”
“Indeed. Anesthetics are the dream of all healers.”
Humanity’s efforts to make anesthetics began in antiquity.
This world was no different.
That’s why I’ve been working hard to introduce 20th-century anesthetics to this world.
I’m a trauma surgeon in name, after all, and surgery requires anesthetics too.
So I started by trying chloroform, since it was said to be the easiest.
But unfortunately, I failed.
I still couldn’t make an anesthetic.
Chloral hydrate was an anticonvulsant that was accidentally created in the process.
I hadn’t intended to make it either.
After making it, I tried it on a mouse just in case, and it turned out to have anticonvulsant effects.
So once it was made, I’ve been making good use of it.
“A lot of babies are born in Sector D of Limbus Pit. When babies have convulsions, this drug improves their condition quite a bit.”
“What’s the mechanism?”
“According to the trading company, this medicine was one that was accidentally made while trying to create an anesthetic. This is just a guess, but if convulsions are caused by the brain producing excessive stimulation, maybe this incomplete anesthetic dulls that stimulation and works.”
Ugh.
Trying to give hints without using expressions like the mechanism of convulsions and the GABA receptor is giving me a headache.
It feels like playing a forbidden-word game.
But I didn’t show it, and I gave her a faint smile.
“Did my explanation help your deduction?”
“Yes.”
Huh?
What did she figure out here?
“If what Young Lord Nihirit said is right, then the fact that medicine worked on this baby while divine magic didn’t means the cause wasn’t a curse.”
“I see.”
“You weren’t doing it knowingly?”
“I only tried to do what I could. Since it was similar to the patients I’d seen, I just did things the way I always do.”
“But it doesn’t change the fact that the choice became a stepping-stone toward the truth.”
She turned toward the door.
“Assuming it isn’t a curse, then we can infer that the babies’ problems up to now were caused by some poison.”
“And the adults were fine, but only the babies were affected.”
I cut in.
Charlotte kept the competitive deduction going.
“If it were food eaten by the whole family, the adults should have been affected too. But only the babies. And in all six families.”
“…I’ll concede that. Go on.”
“That means the problem was something only the babies were fed.”
Oh. That was a pretty surprising deduction.
Since I was already armed to the teeth with 21st-century diagnostic algorithms and medical knowledge, I was just laying out what I already knew.
But even while staying within the knowledge of this era, she was drawing closer to the truth with pure deductive reasoning alone.
Before she could speak, I headed for the door first.
“We’re going to the kitchen, right?”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes.
“…You went there first?”
“I went downstairs earlier to check the baby’s diet. You have to be careful about feeding them right after convulsions.”
That wasn’t a lie. I just didn’t tell her everything.
Charlotte glared at me silently.
Soon after, she went out through the door I had opened and took the lead toward the kitchen.
I followed her down to the kitchen.
As soon as we entered the kitchen, Charlotte’s eyes started darting around.
Barley flour. Honey. Distilled water. Chamomile.
The ingredients I’d asked the head maid to check earlier were still on the counter.
“This?”
“These are the ingredients the baby is fed. I had asked her to check them earlier because of the dietary guidance.”
Charlotte checked the ingredients one by one.
“Is this everything?”
“There is one more.”
As if I’d been waiting for it, I pointed at the shelf.
On the upper shelf, there was a wooden box.
It was the same box the head maid had brought out earlier.
As soon as Charlotte saw the box, she made a quick deduction.
“There’s dust on the shelf, but there’s no dust only around that box. That means someone has been taking it out and putting it back often lately.”
“Excellent deduction.”
“Did you check inside, Young Lord Nihirit?”
“Even if I answer, you’ll check it together anyway, won’t you?”
“That’s true.”
Charlotte chuckled and moved toward the shelf.
She rose onto her tiptoes and reached for the box.
But she couldn’t reach it.
So I handed the box down for her instead.
“Thank you.”
Charlotte opened the lid.
Inside were neatly arranged dried star-shaped fruits.
“It’s star anise.”
The girl muttered as she picked up one of the fruits.
“In the western region, there’s a custom of simmering this and giving it to babies with stomachaches. This count’s family must be from the western region.”
She said that and looked at me.
“You said there are a lot of babies in Sector D who have convulsions, right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Could you tell me why they have convulsions?”
Okay.
Now was exactly the time to naturally give her a hint.
“The causes are all sorts of things. Malnutrition, infection, trauma, fever. Babies in the slums are loaded with risk factors from the moment they’re born.”
“What’s the most common cause among them?”
“Well, surprisingly, it’s often caused by what they eat.”
Charlotte’s pen stopped.
“What they eat?”
“Yes. D District is an eastern cultural sphere with many beastfolk, so they eat all sorts of strange things. What’s harmless to beastfolk can be harmful to ordinary humans, and the reverse is often true too. So mixed-blood babies often suffer because of those differences in what they eat—”
Before I even finished speaking, Charlotte’s eyes changed.
The languor vanished from those golden eyes, and raw curiosity surfaced.
And the girl put the fruit she was holding into her mouth.
Crunch.
The sound of star anise crunching echoed through the kitchen.
—What are you doing?!
I reflexively grabbed her wrist.
Charlotte said calmly as she swallowed the star anise,
“If star anise is the problem, it’s faster for me to prove it myself.”
“Even so, isn’t eating it too dangerous?”
“I’m fine.”
Charlotte said while rinsing her mouth with water,
“I’ve been testing tiny amounts of all kinds of poisonous herbs and medicinal ingredients on myself since I was young. Thanks to that, I’ve built up resistance to most poisonous plants. I’ve also learned antidote magic for emergencies, so I’ll be fine.”
The girl showed me the inside of her wrist.
A faint magical pattern was engraved on her skin.
It looked like a ritual that activates automatically when a certain level of toxicity is detected.
“If it ever gets truly dangerous, I can just make myself throw up.”
“…Do you do this often?”
“Sometimes.”
“Hah.”
I let out a sigh.
Watching someone put poison in her mouth right in front of me, prepared or not, was bad for my heart.
“If you do that in front of me again, I’ll pump your stomach myself.”
“Pump my stomach?”
“Meaning it’ll be a far more unpleasant experience than vomiting.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Let’s call it a doctor’s advice.”
Charlotte snickered.
And, spitting out the remnants in her mouth, she said,
“Anyway, I’ve checked it now.”
The girl pointed at the half-chewed fruit in the bowl.
Her fingertips were trembling.
“I’m losing strength. If it gets worse, it could definitely look like convulsions. Considering the baby has even less resistance than I do, that’s entirely possible.”
“You don’t even realize you’ve eaten rat poison, do you?”
“If anything happens, there’s a healer beside me who’ll treat me like a baby, so what?”
At that, I let out a sigh.
No wonder Watson is portrayed in so many works as the one tormented by Sherlock’s antics.
This world didn’t seem any different.
If I worked with this girl, there’d probably be even more sighing ahead.
“Let me see your hand first.”
I took Charlotte’s hand and checked her pulse.
A little fast, but not irregular.
Her pupils were normal too.
The antidote spell seemed to be doing its job.
“There’s no major problem. Still, your fingertips may keep trembling for a while, so don’t push yourself.”
“Thank you.”
“Still, just in case, it would be better to leave an IV in….”
Charlotte’s hand twitched.
It was a tiny reaction, but since I was touching her, I could tell clearly.
“…I’m fine. No IV.”
“What do you mean, ‘fine’? You just ate poison.”
“It’s fine because the antidote spell is working.”
“Are you ignoring the advice of a skilled healer?”
“….”
Charlotte’s eyes averted from me ever so slightly.
From that reaction, I realized it.
Charlotte is afraid of syringes.
Hmm. That’s unexpected.
I thought she’d be injecting herself in the arm alone in her room every day.
“Are you scared of needles?”
“Of course not. Needles aren’t a problem at all.”
“I heard the Mercure Trading Company recently developed a way to give IVs without using needles.”
“Really?!”
“As if something like that exists.”
“….”
Charlotte clamped her mouth shut.
The tips of her ears turned red.
Her biting her lip and looking up at me like that finally made her look like a sixteen-year-old girl.
I snickered and put the syringe I had been about to take out of my house-call bag back in.
“Understood. If you hate it that much, I’ll leave it alone until I judge it’s necessary. Right now, something else matters more.”
Once the syringe disappeared into the bag, I could see the tension leave the girl’s shoulders.
Didn't you say you weren't scared?
“So, did you find the culprit?”
“Ahem. Yes. Thanks to you.”
She tried to lift the star anise box with trembling hands.
I picked up the box first.
The girl looked up at me for a moment, then turned away without saying anything.
And as she walked toward the kitchen door, she said over her shoulder,
“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how hard it is to believe, is the truth. This case is no different.”
The girl turned back and smiled.
It was a purely joyful smile.
“Let’s go up, Lord Nihirit. The people who need to hear the truth are waiting.”
*