Printing Money with an OB/GYN (2)
Printing Money with an OB/GYN (2)
In a small room in the capital's refugee camp of the Empire, a family of two was living.
Husband Max, wife Maria.
Despite their poor circumstances, they were a couple devoted to doing their best at whatever they could to somehow get through each day.
The husband took on all kinds of manual labor, and the wife, even in her full-term pregnancy, was sustaining their livelihood by doing paid sewing.
"Honey."
"What is it, Maria?"
"If we live this diligently, someday we'll be able to live in a better place than this, right?"
"Even if it's hard now, in ten years we'll be able to live in a better house than this small room. Even if we save just a penny or two, if we save steadily for ten years, we'll be able to buy at least a small patch of land in the countryside, won't we?"
Max said that, but in truth, even if they worked themselves to death like this in the slum, there was almost no money left over.
Even if the husband took on all the manual labor and the wife did paid sewing diligently, with that money they could only buy food to stave off hunger at the market.
If a child was born, the probability of life becoming more difficult was high, but...
'I can't worry my full-term pregnant wife.'
As the two of them were talking like that, Maria felt severe labor pains and let out a moan.
"Ugh... Honey, it seems the baby is about to come soon... To deliver the baby, we need to spread something on the floor first..."
If this were a farming village where serfs lived together, they would have asked the experienced women in the next house or the house behind to help with the delivery, even if they had to knock and wake them up.
But this place was a slum where all sorts of dirty, vicious people gathered.
If they asked for help because the wife was about to give birth, they would be ignored with a 'What do I care?' attitude... Or they might encounter a vicious person who, instead of helping, would kill the husband and kidnap the wife and newborn baby to sell them.
They didn't even have money to call a trustworthy midwife.
"Damn it, shit... What should I do about this?"
"Honey, get a hold of yourself... Without your help, I might die..."
Max heard that and somehow calmed himself down.
Then he recalled a rare sight he had seen a week ago in the daytime. It was a place called the maternity clinic that the baron of the Kreuz Barony himself put his name on and actually resided in to manage. They said if you go there, they help with childbirth without taking a single coin...
"There!"
"What nonsense are you talking... Right now, I'm..."
"Maria, climb on my back right now! It's better to give birth at the place that Baron Kreutz put his name on than here! They've hired multiple midwives and it's free!! Hurry!!"
Maria thought her husband was crazy for talking nonsense while her contractions were getting stronger... But since it was a place run by none other than a baron himself, putting his own name on it, and it was free, she thought it would be better to go there than to give birth here.
"It's not that far from here, just trust me."
Max picked up his wife in a princess carry, closed the door with his foot, and started running like crazy.
His joints and muscles started screaming, and he began panting heavily, but...
He ran risking his life, thinking that if he couldn't reach that maternity clinic even a little faster, his wife might die.
"There's a pregnant woman here! Please help us!"
Visiting a hospital late at night, especially one where a baron himself was staying, and shouting without notice was not something a sane person would do.
If things went wrong, it was a serious matter where both husband and wife could be hanged for the crime of disrespect, but...
Inside, just then, the baron who was staying there and the midwives he had hired came out carrying a stretcher.
Baron Kreutz smiled at Max and said.
"You can rest assured. Put your wife on this stretcher, and you wait here."
At those words, the midwives loaded Maria onto the stretcher and went straight into the maternity clinic.
"But, my wife is about to give birth... If no one is there..."
"I understand your feelings a hundred times. But look at your body and clothes right now. Aren't they very dirty?"
Not to mention Max, it was common for people living in the slum to not even bathe once a week.
Even if they did wash, they never used soap to bathe; most just splashed water drawn from the well over themselves and wiped their bodies with a wet cloth.
"What does that have to do with anything...?"
"If you give birth in a dirty place, the probability of both the baby and the mother dying increases. If you want both to live, wait outside."
Hearing that, Max looked closely at the hospital interior, the midwives, and the baron visible from outside the door.
Unlike himself, they wore clothes without a speck of dust, and not even a trace of grime was visible on their faces.
"This is already the 50th delivery at our maternity clinic. Not once among them has the mother or child died. I, Mikhail von Kreutz, can swear on the honor of the Kreutz Baronial family."
"Is that really true?"
"What would I gain by lying to you?"
If it had been an ordinary person like a city merchant, artisan, or citizen saying this, Max would naturally have suspected him.
For an insignificant pauper like himself, if someone made a maternity clinic that stationed doctors he could never summon in his lifetime along with midwives just for childbirth, and then offered to help for free, that person was 100% a con artist.
But the other party was a true baron who lived and died for honor.
'A noble has nothing to gain by scamming someone like me.'
"Wait outside here. I'll let you know when your wife's delivery is over."
Max burst into tears upon hearing that.
There was no guarantee that Maria would die if they gave birth at home.
But Maria had no experience giving birth, and he had no experience delivering a baby.
Thinking that clearly about one in ten, or maybe even higher, probability both child and mother could have died...
An overwhelming gratitude overflowed in his heart.
"Thank you, Baron-nim... Thank you... I will never forget this grace even if I die."
"And after your wife finishes delivery, she'll need about a week of recuperation, won't she? I'll give you some bread and dried meat on your way back, so use that to nourish your wife's body."
The nobles Max had seen until now were always busy indulging in luxury, guys whose eyes only gleamed to exploit them.
Even if all nobles were evil, the baron before his eyes was different.
He didn't demand any compensation and wanted to take care of him, his wife, and even the child.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Help... After your wife safely delivers the child, spread the word everywhere. Say that if you give birth here, you can do so safely."
"Will just that be enough?"
"That's enough."
Baron Kreutz smiled, hiding his pitch-black ulterior motives for making money.
"I will safely protect both your wife and the child she bears."
As promised, Maria safely gave birth to a baby boy, and Max went around praising Baron Kreutz's maternity clinic until his mouth was sore.
**
The most important virtue for a politician is pretending to be good.
One must completely hide one's pitch-black desires and go around speaking as if one can make selfless sacrifices for the world and the voters.
Citizens in democratic countries aren't fools, so they would think 'There he goes being a hypocrite again' upon seeing such actions, but...
What I did, after all, was empty my personal funds to build a hospital and provide free treatment, so it's a true good deed, and since there's no concept of democracy here...
"Flora, wouldn't the people who used the maternity clinic and the paupers who heard the rumors revere me like a saint?"
"Baron-nim can become a wise ruler, but you are not a kind-hearted person."
"That's right. But thanks to that, the word spread widely. Nearly 140 mothers have come, and only three died. Considering that nobles lose one mother for every ten births, originally 14 should have died... So it's a great success."
Since the places where paupers and nobles live are separated, the rumors spread by the paupers won't reach the nobles I want as my main customers directly.
But as the story keeps going around and around, my story will reach their ears...
The story of a mysterious maternity clinic that can dramatically reduce maternal mortality will constantly be on the lips of the nobles.
"And just in time, the maternity clinic targeting nobles will soon be built today."
The city's middle class, commoners, and paupers like that will come to this maternity clinic I made without hesitation.
But nobles won't come here.
No matter how much we can lower the mortality rate, they won't come to such a shabby place.
So, for the nobles, I went ahead and bought up several mansions and temporarily remodeled them into a maternity clinic.
Since there's no need for electricity or various advanced medical equipment, it's a feasible act.
"If I spread rumors about this fact too, nobles will come to me carrying bundles of money."
And almost all noble children born in the capital will pass through my hands.
Nobles won't hesitate to generously donate a large sum for a single childbirth... So they're the real money.
"I wonder how it will turn out..."
While spending time in small talk with Flora, a butler from a noble family hurriedly came to find me.
"Are you Baron Kreutz-nim? I am Haus, the butler serving Baron Bittenwald... The reason I've come to see you is none other than the maternity clinic..."
It's going just as I expected.