The Little Devil Comes Late

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/22/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

And then, when a new patient had come and I was examining them.

“Ye~s, excuse me a moment~… hm?”

I tilted my head at the lung sound I heard. This was, surely not.

“Oh? Is something the matter?”
“Ah, it’s all right, it will heal properly~”

I deflected with a smile the grandmother who was the patient when she asked.
But in fact, the situation was not very good.

“I’ll touch your wrist a moment.”

Hmh… the pulse is rather fast…

“Have you been eating properly?”
“Well, come to think of it, I haven’t had much appetite lately.”

There was no wheezing, no zei-zei sound, and little sputum, she said, but she got short of breath, and her chest hurt at times.

Pneumonia, probably. That the symptoms were still relatively mild was a blessing in misfortune, but if left it might progress all at once.
In older people, the symptoms of pneumonia can come on slowly and gently, and then suddenly become severe later.
And with these symptoms, I could not use the antipyretics I had on hand.
They might even make the condition progress.
In pneumonia one ought to use antimicrobials, especially antibiotics, but there were none of those.
Without X-rays or blood tests I could not even declare it pneumonia for certain…
I was still hesitating over what to do, when it happened.

“My, my. Quite the bustle. A thriving trade; I do envy you.”

A languid voice, and yet something in it pricked.
Nasti came in carrying a basket generously filled with medicinal herbs.
Dammit, she showed up, I thought, even as I answered with a polite smile.

“Ahaha~ thanks to you.”
“Well, well. So there was worth in our going about spreading the word~”

…Hm?
H-hold on?

“Um, Nasti? Spreading the word?”

I asked with as much pleasantness as I could, shoving down a suspicion of surely not.
To be honest, I was aware it had not succeeded at all.

“Yes, there were a good many who hadn’t been getting proper care of late, so we took the liberty of advertising here and there that a new apothecary had come.”

I see?
In other words, this great line is thanks to your advertising, Nasti.

You’ve done it, this loli big-sister!!!
Yes, she had not gone as far as loli-hag.
No, that did not matter.
So that was it: she had meant to test how far I could turn it, too?

“A-ahahahaha~, thanks to you we’re thriving.”

Sadly, all I could do was answer with a polite smile.
Yes. I could not very well blame Nasti to her face.
There were people who needed treatment, and they were gathered here now.
Especially this grandmother: it was good she had come while she could still walk.
Even if the start of it had been her spiteful teasing.

But but, I think I’m allowed not to feel settled about it!

“This busy, you haven’t even the time to take payment for the herbs, have you?”
“I’m sorry, that’s… hm? H-hold on?”

Yes. Nasti, who had come, had brought a basket piled with herbs.
I ran my eye over them roughly… dammit, this loli big-sister, she did this on purpose, knowing, didn’t she!?

“Nasti, I can take all of this!?”
“Yes, that’s why we brought it?”
“I’m sorry, I’ll pay you after!”

At Nasti’s composed smile I would probably have felt irritation at any other time, but this was not that time.

I thrust my hand into the basket on the table and pulled out a certain mushroom.

“Kira, boil water in the small pot! Use the water for medicinal decoctions!”
“Y-yes!”

Kira, who had been taking histories from the patients, answered in a hurry.
She bobbed apology after apology and came pattering over.

“Blanch this mushroom for one minute only! When that’s done, ‘Desiccate,’ until it’s bone-dry, please!”
“Ah, yes, um, got it!”

Thrown work all at once, flustered.
Even so, she somehow held down her agitation and worked.
I truly, truly thought from the bottom of my heart that I was glad it was Kira.

“‘Desiccate’? And what might that be?”
“Nnfufu~. This workshop’s secret weapon!”

I struck a grand pose on purpose.
It was a performance, if anything, for the patients who were waiting.
After the only apothecary, Dia, was gone, how much anxiety had they been tormented by?
I could only guess at that feeling, honestly.
At least, they had come like this now.
I wanted them to think, at least, that it would work out.

“Asha, it’s done!”
“Thank you, Kira! Then, this—”

I roughly cut the dried mushroom Kira had brought me about in half.
Then I ground it in the herbal mortar, gori gori, to powder.
I added several more herbs and gori gori again.
I put the finished powder in a container and handed it to the grandmother.

“Here, drink this with water. One pinch after each of three meals, three times a day.
Even if you think you’re better, please finish all of it.”
“Ah, it’s the same medicine Doctor Dia made me the last time this happened.”

The elderly grandmother answered.
No, really, what kind of person were you, Dia.

This mushroom apparently acted as an antimicrobial.
It might even be producing an antibiotic like penicillin. It was a fungus, the same as blue mold.
She had probably used it knowing that, I thought.
Without knowing the concept of bacteria or the like, doing it on rules of thumb alone—honestly, amazing.

The rest was whether this antimicrobial would work.
…If it was the same causative bacterium, I thought it probably would.

At any rate, what mattered now was putting the patient at ease.
I answered the grandmother, nodding with a smile.

“Yes, so please don’t worry.
After that, drink plenty of water, keep warm, and stay as quiet as you can.
Ah, is there someone who can prepare food for you? You mustn’t skip eating just because you have no appetite.
And if you’re still not better after a week, please come again.”

When I said that, the grandmother nodded, looking relieved, and went home with the person accompanying her.

“Hah~… to think it could be dried bone-dry in an instant like that.”
“Amazing, right? That’s the power of Kira’s ‘Desiccate.'”

I answered Nasti’s voice, which sounded properly surprised, looking proud.
Originally this mushroom could not be used without several days of drying.
In those several days, that grandmother’s symptoms might have progressed; thinking of that, this shortening of time was large.

…Ah. Thinking of it that way.

“That’s right. Nasti, thank you.
You brought the herbs at a good time; it helped.”
“…We only brought them as business. There’s no call for thanks.”

As she said it, she looked away.
I see~. Well, that’s fine.
When the grandmother left, I thought her face had looked a little relieved.

“Well, I just felt like saying it.
Right, then I’ll put the herbs you brought to use, one after another!”

So saying, I roughly sorted the contents of the basket, and moved on to the next patient’s examination.