79
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 79
Hilos entered the Benjamin & Sons Tea Shop.
As the Dawn Knight opened the private room, Gregory was waiting inside.
"I pay my respects to Lord Hilos Goldmile."
"There's no need for formalities between us. Never mind."
Hilos sat down on the chair, forgetting all protocol.
Gregory glanced at Hilos's expression.
His face was filled with things he wanted to say.
"How is Lord Caesar?"
Hilos spoke while lighting a cigar.
"Just as you said, unpredictable."
Gregory eventually let out a light laugh.
"You look like you expected this to happen."
"Because I've been beaten by him several times as well."
Hilos exhaled cigar smoke while speaking.
"Caesar, what is he truly seeking?"
"I don't know exactly. At least it's clear he's not someone who can be moved by money."
"He's definitely not someone with a burning sense of justice. But his actions are close to justice. Is he seeking fame?"
"If he wanted fame, he would have gone hunting outlaws long ago. Isn't this problem the most serious right now?"
"Then honor?"
"That's possible. But if he wanted honor, wouldn't he have wanted to be a knight of a renowned lord instead of a wandering knight?"
Gregory said while watching Hilos adjust his cigar.
"It seems Lord Caesar is ambitious."
"I thought there was no talent as ambitious as you in my life, but I didn't expect another to emerge at this age."
Hilos glanced at Gregory while speaking.
"I heard you've been through some difficulties this time."
"Thanks to Lord Caesar, I've caught a breather. In next year's election, the Homi faction will absolutely not win."
"Are you getting along with Lord Miles?"
"I thought we were like water and oil, absolutely unmixable, but somehow Caesar provided a bridge between us."
"It seems you also like Caesar?"
"He's the only blade I can communicate with. However, towards the end, he often commits incomprehensible actions. Yet ultimately, those actions bring greater benefits to Caesar."
Gregory took a sip of tea and spoke.
"Many are targeting Lord Caesar. The Redfield family, the Arch Duke, they're all just waiting for the right moment. Isn't that right, Minister?"
The more he gets to know Caesar, the more he wants to possess him, but at some point, he stops himself.
His mind is too extraordinary, and simultaneously, he has the ability to act.
He couldn't use him with simple goodwill because Caesar's tongue was as smooth as a snake's, and if he tried to just grab and wield him, he seemed too sharp to avoid cutting himself.
They say one becomes more fearful with age.
If Hilos were 20... No, 10 years younger, he would have immediately seized him, but now he's afraid to keep him close.
"You gave Caesar the position of Wizard Province Sheriff?"
"Yes, that's correct. I've confined him within the boundaries of the law."
"Were there no objections?"
"On the contrary, he liked it. He said he can swing his axe freely without anyone to blame."
Hilos let out a forced laugh and exhaled smoke.
"Prepare to pass that bill to the Imperial Ministry of Justice soon. After review, I might want to use that method too."
"Yes, understood."
"Does Caesar want anything else?"
Gregory thought for a moment before speaking.
"I hear he consumes a lot of elixirs. It might not be bad to gift him good medicinal or special elixirs."
"Medicinal elixirs... Not a bad idea."
Hilos carefully recalled the list of elixirs stacked in the Imperial warehouse.
***
Caesar went to meet Smir after a long time.
When the elevator arrived, the terrible smell as usual bothered Caesar's nose.
"You're here?"
Smir flew over like a cloud.
And unexpectedly, someone else was with him.
"Finn, what are you doing here?"
"I've been doing some experiments with Professor Smir."
"Looking at your face, it seems you've been working for more than a day or two."
Finn yawned and scratched his head.
"I've been living and eating here for almost 2 weeks."
"Staying in a place with such a horrible smell for 2 weeks. Looks like your nose has finally gone numb."
"Human sense of smell actually becomes dull quickly. You can't distinguish even feces smell after about an hour."
"Why would you deliberately smell feces?"
"Uh... Well, to develop a new medicine."
"New medicine?"
Smir handed Caesar a small vial.
"Will you test it? I was actually short on living test subjects."
"What kind of medicine are you suggesting for clinical trials?"
"Malaria treatment."
Malaria treatment?
Caesar finally looked properly at the vial.
"How are you going to treat malaria with this?"
"Just inject it into the blood vessels. Oh, first I'll need to get malaria. Wait, where are the malaria parasites..."
"Who would get malaria to test a malaria treatment!"
"He volunteered when I offered money."
Caesar could only laugh in disbelief.
Yes.
This was the kind of era it was.
An era where human experimentation was considered completely normal.
"Are there really that many people participating in clinical trials?"
"Most experiments were done on soldiers infected with malaria in the demon realm."
"Malaria in the demon realm must be different from ordinary malaria."
Smir looked at Caesar with surprising eyes.
"You know more than I expected. Did you know someone near who had malaria?"
"Quite a few. Usually, malaria can be managed with a potion, but I heard malaria from the demon realm doesn't respond to potions."
"So why did your friends think they had malaria in the demon realm?"
"How would I know? The military doctors said it was malaria, so we said it was malaria."
"Hmm. That might be true. So you don't know how malaria is actually transmitted."
Smir suddenly brought out a liver.
"What's this?"
"This is the liver of a patient who died from malaria infection. He just died, so we can still see the malaria parasites."
Smir picked up a piece of liver with tweezers and placed it under the microscope.
After checking here and there, he called Caesar.
"Look. This is the cause of malaria."
Caesar checked the microscope with a meaningful expression.
There, tiny larvae-like creatures were crawling across the liver tissue.
"This is malaria? Isn't this just a parasite?"
"Malaria originally occurs from parasitic infection."
This was news to me too.
I knew malaria was spread by mosquitoes, but I didn't know it originated from parasitic infection.
"If I spray my medicine here..."
Smir carefully sprayed the medicine as if conducting a chemical experiment.
He checked once and then nodded.
"Check it out."
Caesar looked through the microscope again.
The wriggling creatures had significantly slowed down, almost as if sleeping.
"It seems to have an effect?"
"Yes. At minimum a day, at most two days, all malaria parasites will die."
But could a malaria treatment even exist in this era?
Anyway, the medicine Professor Smir created was certainly innovative.
Perhaps it would save millions, no, hundreds of millions of lives in the future?
"How are the clinical trial results?"
"Clinical trials on ordinary people are almost complete. Of course, I haven't tested it on knights yet."
"Wizards?"
"I tried it, and it worked. About 10 wizards also volunteered."
These madmen.
Don't they know how high the mortality rate of malaria is?
What if the malaria adapts and creates a treatment-resistant strain?
"Now only you are left, Caesar."
"Am I the only knight in the world? There are many infected knights besides me. Besides, needles can barely penetrate my skin."
Smir thought for a moment and then nodded.
"Well, you'll find this experiment a bit troublesome."
"Anyway, I've seen something fascinating. When is this going to be released?"
"Mass production still needs some time to be evaluated. I haven't even found investors yet, and the pharmaceutical factory system hasn't been established."
"Investors? Don't you have a lot of money?"
"That money is for my personal experiments, and I was told that I shouldn't use my own money to set up the factory. Something about violating some law?"
Finn furrowed his brows.
"It's not that. It's that the Royder Order has interfered again."
"Well, that's the core of the issue."
Caesar tilted his head.
"Why is the Royder Order suddenly coming up?"
"Didn't I explain this during the Bufonemiton incident? There's a lot of interference when creating and distributing non-magical drugs."
"Come to think of it, you did say that. So how do you plan to release this?"
"This malaria treatment was almost entirely developed by Finn, so the patent will first be under Finn's name. The paper will also have Finn as the first author and me as the second."
Was Finn really that capable?
Both Smir and this guy - why weren't they included in the game?
Did they die before they could bloom?
"So you can sell it once the mass production system is established?"
"If it's targeted at ordinary people and wizards, it's entirely possible."
Hmm…
Doesn't it sound like money is falling from somewhere?
This is something Caesar must definitely get involved in.
"Can I invest in this?"
Finn's expression brightened instantly.
"Really?"
"Well, why not? I have quite a bit of money. I also have some idle factory sites."
For the first time, Finn's expression contained a sense of respect.
"How much is possible?"
"Do you think I count money myself? That's Harrison's job. If you have a rough business plan, show it to me. Or you can meet Harrison directly."
"I'll go explain it myself!"
"Okay. Let's do that."
Caesar looked at Smir.
"Are you okay with this?"
Smir thought for a moment, then nodded.
"If it's you, it'll be fine. But are you really okay?"
"What?"
"If it becomes known that you've invested in this malaria treatment, the Royder Order won't stay still. You'll face even more interference than I would."
"I know. But it's too valuable to give up. If it gets too difficult, I'll just give up."
Smir shrugged.
"If you're willing to take the loss, it's none of my concern."
Is this guy actually worried about me?
Why are you acting unlike yourself?
"By the way, how's my medicine?"
Smir waved his wand.
A large case floated over to Caesar.
"It's here."
"This is the elixir made from a white tiger's heart, right?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
Smir thought for a moment before speaking.
"If you invest more than 3 million Del in the malaria treatment, I won't charge for this."
"What was the original price of this medicine?"
"1.05 million Del."
Hmm, it's quite expensive.
But it must certainly be effective.
Isn't it better to invest 3 million Del than to lose 1.05 million Del?
I'll definitely go find Harrison and tell him to invest.
"Okay. Got it."
"Good."
"Oh, and are there any side effects or usage instructions?"
"Take one capsule daily or one capsule every two days. And considering your constitution, there are probably few side effects. Just some pain?"
It's a bit worrying that it'll hurt, but I'll have to endure some pain when growing quickly.
"Oh, and make some elixirs with these."
Caesar brought the sea carp and deep-sea rainbow he recently received from Agatha and Atan, along with 50 roots of yellow magic grass.
"This is a blue carp... What's this? I've never seen this before."
"Apparently it's called a deep-sea rainbow. Could you possibly make it?"
"I'll try. But since it's an unfamiliar organism, I'm not sure if I can make it."
"Then can't be helped. Return it."
There's nothing more dangerous than asking to make an unknown elixir into medicine.
It could potentially damage the body.
And since he learned how to consume the deep-sea rainbow from Atan, it seemed better to first finish the elixir made from the white tiger's heart before trying the deep-sea rainbow.
Smir, seemingly thinking it was no big deal, returned it.
"So what kind of elixir do you want this time?"
"I told you. I'm aiming for a hybrid type. I've raised my stamina and tank qualities with the white tiger's heart, so this time I want to increase my reflex speed and aura responsiveness."
"Good. Come back later for a body constitution test."
"Okay."
"Oh, and..."
Smir handed Caesar a small invitation.
"What's this?"
"It's an invitation to the Sapientia military wizard welcome party that will be held soon. Come and eat something delicious."
Hmm...
Can I see Raven again after a long time?
I have been curious about how she's doing...
Caesar accepted the invitation.
"Not bad."