Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Mass-Producing the Cure
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Vimark summoned me.
“Thank you for saving my daughter’s life. I never imagined you’d possess not only innate magical talent but also medical knowledge. I knew your abilities were exceptional, but… the more I see, the more amazed I am.”
He asked what reward I wanted for treating Livian.
There was only one thing I desired from Vimark, but Art had told me he’d called me here for another matter beyond the reward.
“First, it might be best to address the most urgent issue.”
I asked what exactly required my help.
“Hmm.”
Vimark nodded.
“Patients exhibiting symptoms similar to Livian’s are rapidly increasing. It seems a plague has spread across the eastern kingdom, including the Tristy Autonomous District.”
For reference, Livian had recently followed Trowill to the eastern kingdom.
Fortunately, no patients with Livian’s illness had been discovered in the capital yet, so it seemed safe for now.
“Not only the Polar Anomaly, but something ominous is happening in the eastern kingdom. According to the Blue Mage Tower Lord’s report, the culprits behind the anomaly are terrorists calling themselves Wonderland.”
Vimark suspected this plague was deeply connected to them as well.
“Rooting out the source of evil is important, but saving lives comes first, Ester.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Can you mass-produce the medicine that treated Livian?”
『Impossible alone.』
Eh.
『But with support, absolutely possible.』
That startled me.
Right. The word “impossible” doesn’t exist in Nob AI’s dictionary.
“It seems I’ll need help from Life School mages.”
“I’ll give advance notice to the Blue Mage Tower. I’ll provide support without holding back, so let me know anything you need.”
I also requested other materials from Vimark necessary for producing the medicine.
He gladly accepted my demands.
Otherwise, countless people would die from the plague.
I couldn’t back out.
All lives are equally precious.
Except for those inhuman bastards, of course.
Ha, really.
This is the last time.
The absolute final last.
Once everything’s done, I’ll enjoy a true happy unemployed life.
Even if the king grabs my pants and begs me to stay, I’ll ignore him completely and bolt.
I sighed inwardly and slowly nodded.
***
Noktias was a half-elf who had inherited the blood of a long-lived elf species; this year marked her 158th birthday.
Beyond the kingdom’s northern border lay the great empire, founded by numerous non-humans uniting their strength—half of her roots lay there.
The reason she chose the kingdom over the two nations was magic.
Non-humans fundamentally disliked magic.
Perhaps due to their long lifespans, the overwhelming majority took a conservative stance, hating technology and change while clinging to tradition.
Moreover, with physical abilities equal to or surpassing demons, plus their innate powers, non-humans possessed the strength to fight without relying on magic at all, so they felt no need for it.
In the empire, magic was viewed as a curse originating from devils in the first place.
Having encountered magic by chance in her childhood and fallen utterly in love with it, Noktias had no choice but to abandon life as an imperial citizen.
Thus, nearly a century had passed since she left her family’s embrace and began working at the Blue Mage Tower.
Noktias, once an ordinary magic apprentice, had risen to the position of Tower Lord.
She didn’t possess genius-level magical talent like Erfs or the other Tower Lords.
It was simply that, as a half-elf sensitive to mana, she had an advantage in understanding magic compared to humans, and she had studied and trained far longer—that was all.
Compared to Erfs, who had reached perfection as a mage at age 50, hers was ordinary talent.
Over the past century, Noktias had witnessed countless geniuses.
Some had elevated the social status of mages, others had systematized and optimized spells, and one had discovered mithril, providing immense aid to both mages and knights.
This world was full of geniuses.
That was why she thought it difficult to crown any one as the greatest.
But today, she realized who the supreme genius was.
“The key is the chemical substance secreted by microorganisms.”
“This thing called penicillin has a beta-lactam structure—a highly unstable square ring. In nature, hexagonal structures are the most stable, so isolating it directly isn’t easy.”
Ester Tristy had visited the Blue Mage Tower to produce medicine for resolving this plague.
Everyone said magic and medicine were entirely separate disciplines.
But the Blue Mage Tower, which researched the effects of mana on demons or living creatures and repeatedly experimented with spells to enhance or degrade them, could be seen as quite closely related compared to other schools.
The aura now used by knights had originally been created by a Life School mage, after all.
When it came to knowledge of life, Life School mages surpassed even physicians.
Ester had been delegated authority as plague director by the king in order to mass-produce the medicine and was now leading the Blue Mage Tower in her stead.
“We’ll use freeze-drying to purify the medicine from impurities.”
He had created massive fermenters called deep tanks.
Using corn steep liquor as the base material, he designed a mass-production process for antibiotics by employing motors to stir the culture medium at the bottom of the fermenters while injecting air.
This method was also used for mass-producing mana suppressants.
Additionally, by utilizing Life School acceleration spells and rapid-cooling machines, he exponentially increased the production speed—truly overcoming the greatest hurdle in this plague crisis.
Noktias was in awe.
It was astonishing enough that he had developed antibiotics and mana suppressants, but the fact that a method for mass-producing them had also emerged from a single person’s mind was simply unbelievable.
If his achievements thus far had been limited to pharmacology and medicine, she might have accepted it, but hadn’t he accomplished revolutionary feats in utterly unrelated fields, like solving the Millennium Problems and developing the Hell Tank?
She couldn’t help but marvel at Ester’s genius, which transcended all disciplines.
‘This person isn’t a talent the Mage Tower can hold onto.’
He was a completed human.
At just 15 years old, like a sage who had awakened to all knowledge, he blazed trails into the unknown with vast expertise and unique ideas.
There had been no failures in the process—a crane among chickens, a once-in-an-age prodigy.
“Tower Lord.”
In the large workshop where fires flashed ceaselessly, Noktias’s eyes widened.
Looking toward the source of the voice, she saw Ester, who had been directing the mages, approaching her.
“Yes, did you call for me?”
“Is the distribution issue resolved?”
Noktias nodded.
“For critically ill patients, the first batch of produced medicine will be sent via teleportation magic, and the rest will be shipped across the east via the Golden Carriage Merchant Guild. Once the medicine is ready, it’ll distribute in an instant, so no need to worry about that part.”
Ester nodded.
“Thank you for handling it so quickly. I can finally breathe easier.”
“This much is basic. Hehahaha.”
Though mere courtesy, praise from a genius felt entirely different from the ordinary kind.
Noktias beamed.
“By the way, Sir Ester.”
“Yes?”
“Regarding this antibiotic and mana suppressant… would it be alright if the Blue Mage Tower continued independent production afterward?”
Antibiotics and mana suppressants were miracles that could save those suffering from mana sickness and diseases.
Countless patients would seek them out, and demand would explode.
For now, the state was distributing them for free to resolve the plague, but later they could be sold for profit—an item too valuable to miss.
Of course, the intellectual property rights belonged to Ester.
Patents were an extremely sensitive issue among mages, so it needed to be clarified.
“We’ll pay 7% royalty per unit shipped, for 20 years. What do you think?”
He nodded without hesitation.
“Let’s do it.”
“Then the contract right now!!”
Noktias hurriedly fetched paper and pen, then stamped fingerprints with Ester.
Of course, producing medicine to save lives was a good deed.
But she also expected substantial revenue from the medicine.
The Blue Mage Tower’s influence in the magic and medical worlds would rise significantly, and it would flatten her rival Erfs’s nose into the bargain—a double win.
That said, with the Red Mage Tower now seriously diving into Hell Tank development, it might not flatten it quite that much.
Noktias glanced at Ester.
In her eyes, he must have looked no different from a goblin lugging a sack brimming with gold.
“Anyway, if you’re not too busy, how about a deep discussion on magic with me…?”
“Back to work.”
“Hng.”
Noktias pouted with a dejected expression.
Ester always avoided getting unnecessarily close.
Every time she faced his ironclad defenses, her heart ached like a girl falling in love with a man for the first time, but as with most unrequited crushes, winning his favor was no easy task.
In any case.
The medicine completed at the Blue Mage Tower began distribution to the eastern kingdom via teleportation magic and the Golden Carriage Merchant Guild.