Volume 1, Chapter 37 – The Little Client

Once my Alchemy reached Level 2, Shishou significantly reduced the amount of time I had to spend minding the shop.

Apparently, at Skill Level 2, I can create simple medicines like Wound Salve at a level comparable to what Shishou himself produces.

By the way, Shishou’s Alchemy Skill Level is 4.

It seems he wasn’t able to obtain a Combat Class (he’s classified as a non-combatant), so he earned all one million of his skill EXP just by working in the city.

I can only imagine how incredibly difficult that must have been. I truly have to take my hat off to that kind of dedication.

As for what I’ve personally experienced from my Alchemy level increasing, it feels like the Skill now handles the correct procedures automatically.

This is quite convenient.

I’ve heard that as your Skill Level goes up, the variety of medicines you can make increases and their quality improves.

Shishou says there are still medicines he can’t entrust to me yet, so those must be beyond the scope of what Skill Level 2 can cover.

Personally, I couldn’t help but feel that if someone properly trained just measured everything carefully and used a thermometer and a timer, they could probably make the medicine just fine. Still, I decided to keep that thought to myself.

Now, while my shop-minding duties have decreased, they haven’t vanished entirely; I’m mainly in charge of the afternoon shift.

And since a line inevitably forms specifically for me, Shishou’s wife ends up standing at the counter with me too.

“Welcome~! Consultations are two small silver coins per minute~♪”

I doubled the price in one go, yet these people showed no signs of stopping.

I wonder what would happen if I introduced the handshake event business model to this world?

Then, in the evening, just as I was finishing up with the last of the line and closing the shop, a small boy in very dirty clothes came to the store.

He was quite thin and stood only about as high as my waist.

“Um, excuse me…”

“Welcome~♪”

I flipped the sign to “Closed” while attending to my final customer.

“Ah, er… I can’t pay the money for a consultation, so…”

“If it’s a genuine consultation, it’s quite alright. What seems to be the matter?”

He must have thought that consulting me automatically cost small silver coins.

“I-Is it really okay?”

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“Yes, of course ~♪”

I didn’t forget my business smile.

“Um, please give me medicine to save my big sister.”

Saying that, he held out three copper coins.

——Hmm, you can’t really buy medicine with that. That said, I can’t exactly turn him away either.

Three copper coins are equivalent to about 300 yen.

Even a Low-Grade Wound Salve costs five copper coins.

“Could you tell me a bit more about the situation?”

“Um, my sister is sick. Uh, she needs medicine. Please, save her.”

Yeah, it’s impossible for a kid this age to explain properly. I’ll just have to go and check for myself.

“Shishou! A little customer is here, and it sounds like his sister is ill, so I’m going to go take a look!”

I called out to Shishou in the back workshop, and since I got his approval, I decided to head out.

“I’m going to go change, so please wait in front of the shop, okay?”

“Y-Yes!”

I returned to my room, quickly taking off my lab coat, and changed into my usual robe.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Shall we go?”

“Ah, y-yes!”

For some reason, the boy’s face looked a little red. Is he sick too, perhaps?

“Fiene-sama, I shall accompany you.”

“Thank you.”

As we started walking, Chris-san appeared as if it were the most natural thing in the world to serve as my guard.

Part of me is curious how she always knows when I’m heading out, but part of me is afraid of the answer, so I don’t ask.

The boy led us to a district on the north side of the royal capital where particularly poor people lived—the place known as the North Slums.

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The unemployment rate is high, and public order isn’t exactly great.

“Fiene-sama, please notify me in advance before entering such a place next time. If you intend to go deep inside, I will need to request an escort from the guards.”

“…Yes.”

I felt bad saying that in front of the boy, but he likely knows the state of the neighborhood himself.

The boy just kept walking with his head down, saying nothing.

Public safety aside, what bothered me more was the smell.

“This is our house.”

His home seemed to be a room in a tenement building located just off the main street.

When he opened the door and we stepped inside, there was a peculiar, sickly sweet and fishy smell—an indescribable odor.

“I’m back.”

“Dale! You’re back! What about the medicine?”

This boy’s name is Dale, apparently. Another boy about the same age greeted him.

“Yeah. Someone from the shop came.”

“Good evening. My name is Fiene from the Jez Herbal Apothecary. I’ve come to examine your sister.”

“Ah, I’m Dan. Please. Please save my sister!”

“Fear not, boy. Fiene-sama here is a Saint. She shall surely save her from any malady.”

“…Chris-san, I won’t know until I check her symptoms, okay? That’s a bit much.”

“Ah! My apologies.”

Is Chris-san mistaking me for a god or something?

“First, I’ll examine your sister. Is she in that bed over there?”

“Yes.”

The tiny one-room apartment was crammed with everyday necessities.

Under the bed sat something like a bucket, filled with a white liquid.

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Since it gave off that sweet, fishy, indescribable smell, this must be the source of the strange odor.

The woman lying in the bed looked to be in very poor condition.

She should be young, yet her skin was incredibly rough—or rather, was it dehydrated? Wait, I remember reading about this disease in the Plagues Compendium I studied at the library.

“Fiene-sama, could this perhaps be… Mummy Disease?”

“Yes. I believe so.”

Patients suffering from Mummy Disease begin to experience recurring diarrhea that is thick and white, like the water used to wash rice.

Then their entire body dries out and withers until they resemble a mummy, a terrifying disease that almost certainly leads to death.

Furthermore, once Mummy Disease breaks out, the infection spreads to those around them in the blink of an eye.

It usually originates in places like slums and then spreads throughout the entire city.

Because slums lack Management and education, the disease is often only discovered after it has already spread outside the slum area.

As a result, the initial response is often delayed, leading to massive casualties.

By the way, in this case, “initial response” means burning down the entire area where the disease appeared.

This is because the disease cannot be cured with medicine; treatment requires the Level 4 Healing Magic spell, Disease Treatment.

And there are very few Healers who have reached Skill Level 4.

Therefore, burning it all away to make it like it never happened is considered the next best solution.

“Dale-kun, this liquid… it came from your sister, right?”

“…Yes.”

“I understand. Your sister has a sickness called Mummy Disease. If things stay as they are, not only your sister but both of you will catch the same illness, so first, I’m going to clean this room.”

——Cleanse all the filth and pathogens in this room together!

Light enveloped the room, washing away the filth until everything was spotless.

That indescribable smell vanished completely.

Incidentally, using Cleansing Magic to disinfect a room wasn’t mentioned in the Applied Medicine Compendium or the Plagues Compendium.

Still, considering it spreads through unsanitary slums and causes severe diarrhea, I figured the bacteria must be entering through food and that the white excrement must contain the pathogens.

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Based on Japanese hygiene standards, this should be the correct response.

Of course, I don’t know if “bacteria” even exist in this world, but the fact that toilets are “implemented” here must mean that’s how it works.

——”Implemented,” huh. It’d be nice if it really were just a game implementation… No, never mind that for now.

“Now then, I’ll cure the disease.”

——Mummy Disease, be gone. Be healed.

As I activated the Disease Treatment magic, light enveloped the sister.

Her labored breathing gradually settled into a calm, steady rhythm.

“There, she should be fine now. Please give your sister some clean water mixed with a little salt to drink. It’s best to use water that has been heated until it bubbles and then cooled down.”

“”Y-Yes!””

The two boys replied in unison.

“Now then, finally, I’ll treat both of you just in case.”

——Dale-kun’s Mummy Disease, be healed. Dan-kun’s Mummy Disease, be healed.

I activated Disease Treatment on each of them one by one.

Judging by how the spell properly took hold on Dan-kun, he must have already been in the incubation period.

That was a close call.

Dale-kun, miraculously, hadn’t caught it yet.

“Alright. That’s it. Now then, Chris-san, let’s head back.”

“A-Ah, what about the money?”

“Once your sister is feeling better, please use it to buy her something she likes to eat.”

Just like that time at the orphanage, I have no desire to take money from people who have none.

Beside me, Chris-san wore a proud expression.

I cast Cleansing Magic on both myself and Chris-san, and we quickly made our way home.