The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 351 Delinquent Priest Rufus (9) - Medical Reform. The Medical Staff Arc. Hasht rejects techniques that make use of mana. Hasht's official stance is that mana itself is a power spread throughout this world by demons, but in truth, other nations don't take that claim at face value. "The Apostate," or "the God-slayer." Because there was once a monster who single-handedly ended the golden age of the gods, back when they had treated the Earthly Realm as their playground, the accepted theory holds that "power not dependent on the gods" must be rejected in order to prevent such a monster from being born into this world once again. Whatever the truth may be, Hasht rejects mana users, permitting its use only for limited purposes under strict control. And under these circumstances, it's only natural that the standing of Divine Power users—that is, priests—would rise. Their combat strength far exceeds that of ordinary people. Since they can heal themselves with Divine Power at any time, their health remains good and their lifespans are long. Given that this is a nation of gods, using Divine Power means being closer to the gods than ordinary people are, which makes them superior in terms of legitimacy as well. In other words, translated to other nations' terms, they were a group holding every element of nobility, mages, knights, the wealthy, and religious authorities all at once. Their noses were stuck disgustingly high in the air, and their sense of chosen-people superiority went without saying. "What? You want us to learn medicine? From some mere pharmacist?" "Divine Power is, in itself, a noble and superior force!! With a single prayer, any wound at all can be healed—why on earth should we rely on such petty tricks!" "It is a truth as old as time that to lose one's faith means death itself...!!" Naturally, then, they rebelled against Rufus's medical reform. How could elites such as themselves be made to learn such a lowly craft and serve the common rabble? In the past, they had indeed granted Divine Power healing to ordinary people, but that was, quite literally, an act of "bestowal." In other words, when those below offered up bribes, it was granted as a concept of grace, never, ever performed as a concept of labor. Of course, that isn't to say there was no controversy among themselves. "But is it really all right for us to keep acting this stiff-necked? What if that madman Rufus decides we've offended him again and strings us up on a pole once more?" "Don't worry. If his goal is to overhaul the city's medical system, then our strength is essential to it." "Exactly! No matter how capable that Raphaela woman, or whatever her name is, that pharmacist wench, might be, there's no way she could handle the patients of an entire city without our help, is there?" Priests were an irreplaceable workforce. If Rufus's goal was truly medical reform, then he had no alternative but to somehow coax and appease them into being put to use! Believing that violence could solve everything was merely the logic of street thugs; in the end, Rufus too would attempt a mature compromise with them—or so the priests believed. And a few days later. "...What is that?" "Ah, that's a thing called a guillotine. I had a few of them airlifted in from those used during the revolution over in the Cardian Republic." "....." The priests' eyes trembled violently. But that isn't to say there weren't some who took this for mere bluster. Thinking about it sensibly, could a priest really commit the insane act of severing another priest's head with a guillotine? However would he handle the aftermath? "Honestly, I did consider the historic and traditional method of being torn apart by horses, but that seemed a bit too cruel, after all. Setting aside the criminal's human rights, since that's hardly a concern of mine, I did think we ought to spare a thought for the rights of the poor, innocent horses or oxen involved. So I decided to go with the neat and tidy, purely inanimate guillotine instead." "....." "As for the history of this particular guillotine, it's the very device that took off the head of no less than the Crown Princess herself, during what is commonly called the 'Day of the Red Trumpet' in the Cardian revolution. I did want to obtain Guillotine No. 1, the one that achieved the great feat of executing the king, but even in the current Republic, that one is treated as a monument, so I couldn't get my hands on it separately. Quite a shame, but since the gods themselves have always preached frugality, I doubt they'll scold me for skimping a little on the cost of executing criminals." "....." Only then did the priests realize. Was medical reform impossible without their cooperation? Yes, it was impossible. If all of their heads were lopped off, would those around them simply stand by and do nothing? Of course they wouldn't stand by. Yes, their predictions weren't wrong. But what good did that do them? By the time their foresight was proven correct, all of their heads would already be rolling about under that guillotine over there, wouldn't they? The priests, who loved living easy under the name of the gods but had no wish to martyr themselves in the name of the gods, swiftly reached a compromise with themselves. Ah! Now that they thought about it, they had, in fact, always been true medico-religious figures who wished to learn medical skills and care for their patients. Any bastard who denied it could be shoved under that guillotine over there in their place. "Ah, but what was it you said your business was again? I heard you had something you wanted to say?" "I said that we wish to begin treating patients immediately." "Hmm, why don't you take a bit more time to think it over? It might well wound the pride of such noble men as yourselves, working beneath some rustic herb-picker who was just out plucking weeds not long ago. There are also positions available where all you need do is lie comfortably prostrate." "Please, I beg you, let us treat the patients!!" "Tsk." At the sight of Rufus clicking his tongue in disappointment, the priests couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines. Ever since a rumor spread that someone had witnessed Rufus muttering to himself, "If there'd been a few stiff-necked bastards around, I would've liked to lop a couple off..." they'd found it difficult even to sleep properly. But then, isn't it said that life's fortunes turn like the old man's horse at the frontier? What actually greeted them once they were deployed to the clinic was a thoroughly flustered, hesitant Raphaela. "Er, um, well, I'm Raphaela, and I'll be the one teaching all of you medical techniques from now on. M-my name is a bit needlessly grand, but I'm not any kind of noble or anything like that, so please don't misunderstand." Her halting way of speaking. Her gaze wavering unsteadily. Her voice, seeming to shrink away, utterly lacking in confidence. She looked, for all the world, like someone at a complete loss, overwhelmed with awe at the fact that not just one but an entire crowd of priests had come to be placed under her. The priests exchanged glances with one another, and soon began gathering in small clusters to chatter. "She seems remarkably meek, more than I expected. This job might turn out to be quite easy, don't you think?" "You said it. Just hearing that she'd stood up to that lunatic self-proclaimed heretic-hunter, I worried she might be some kind of fierce, hard-nosed woman, but it seems that was needless worry." "Well, perhaps he simply backed down a step because of some relationship between the two of them, man and woman. If that's the case, all the better for us. It would mean that woman is practically that man's weak point." Use Raphaela to control Rufus. Or, at the very least, secure recognition of their rightful "privileges" at this new workplace. Of course, that didn't mean they intended to be openly rude or pick fights. Given the guillotine installed in the temple's back yard, doing anything of the sort would be nothing more than reckless folly, not boldness. To emphasize once again, a priest of Hasht was simultaneously a noble, a wealthy man, and a power-holder who monopolized military might. The subtle politicking peculiar to those above others—never openly refusing, yet quietly and skillfully coaxing someone toward wherever one wished to lead them—was a skill so ingrained it operated at nearly the level of daily habit. "Um, excuse me, isn't the cleaning here finished yet?" "My apologies, Director. It's simply that we're still unpracticed at this sort of work." "We're trying our best, but there's so much we still lack—truly, we're terribly sorry." "Oh, n-no. That can happen. I'll just go ahead and finish it myself." In practice, this sort of tactic seemed to work rather well. Raphaela, unable to control their subtle line-toeing, found herself swept along by it, and even her civilian-born apprentices, who weren't priests, found the whole situation distasteful yet couldn't bring themselves to push back either. It was a line too ambiguous to call out openly, and besides, they too found themselves just as intimidated when facing the priests. That's right. It was only that a man named Rufus happened to be an irregular, a madman; ordinarily, once perceptions or a hierarchy have solidified, they aren't something so easily overturned. Before long, other cities too would surely notice the upheaval happening here and attempt to intervene, so all they had to do was hold out like this until then. That misconception was shattered on a day when Raphaela's apprentices were practicing treatment, taking turns playing the roles of patient and doctor with one another. It was a class in which the students playing doctor memorized the effects of some twenty different medicines, then prescribed the correct medicine based on the symptoms described by the students playing patient. "Um, Sir Feldous. Why did you prescribe Medicine A to this patient here? For symptoms like these, you're supposed to prescribe Medicine C, aren't you?" "Er, um. Did I perhaps make some sort of mistake? Ha ha, well, if so, it's simply because I'm still unskilled, so please do forgive me." In the middle of the lesson, the priest who'd been called out by Raphaela tried to smooth the situation over with a casual, sheepish smile. For, given the personality Raphaela had shown up until now, he judged that this much would be more than enough to get by. And in the very next instant, his body pitched forward, his smiling face still frozen in place. Above his head, as he twitched like an insect struck by an electric shock, Raphaela's ice-cold voice rang out. "Can you feel your body going numb right now? That's one of the representative symptoms that can appear when Medicine A is prescribed incorrectly. Nerve paralysis, loss of spatial orientation, severe dizziness, amplified pain sensitivity, and in serious cases, damage to the internal organs as well. And yet you're sitting there talking about it with a smile? If you carry on like this in practice and then do the same thing in the field, a patient's life will be the one that's lost." From that day on, the priest in question was stripped of his right to attend classes for a full week, and Rufus welcomed him with great delight, putting him to thorough use as a laborer equipped with a convenient self-healing function. The priests realized their misconception. It was true that Raphaela's basic personality was somewhat naive, and in a way, had a bit of a pushover-like quality to it. But that only applied to everyday life—in other words, situations where, even if something went wrong, no human life was actually at stake. Raphaela as a medical professional was far from being a weak-willed pushover; she was a formidable woman who, if necessary, could crack open the skull of anyone standing in her way with a hammer. It had all been a misunderstanding born of their ignorance of the specialized knowledge that a woman who lived and breathed the smell of scalpels, bandages, and antiseptic was, by nature, of the berserker type. And so, the clinic opened its doors once more. (E/N: Sorry for the somewhat delayed chapters, I have been struggling to really find the time for it lately. The second half of this arc should be here in the next few days)