One evening, a few days after the night when the alchemists Hermès and Falma confronted each other.
“Then, I’m about to visit Pierre-san.“
“Be careful.“
Cedric and other staff see off both Lotte and Ellen while closing the store.
“Both Ellen and Lotte go home before it gets dark.“
The security at the Different World Pharmacy has been strengthened, but there still is a concern that they can be attacked by someone after Hermès’s escape. In particular, Ellen commutes using a white horse instead of a carriage for speed, just in case if she’s attacked before returning to the Count’s residence, as Falma will not be able to rush over immediately to assist.
“Don’t worry, who do you think I am? I’ll make sure to freeze the attacker and bring the person back with me.”
Ellen affirms to reassure Falma. Ellen is pretty good as a water divine art user, and will crush a few opponents by herself, but still, Falma is worried when it comes to Hermès.
“I will return to the mansion early with Cedric-san. By the way, is Pierre-san safe?“
Falma vaguely nods to Lotte’s question about Pierre’s conditions.
“I think it will take about two more weeks.“
Falma leaves the Different World Pharmacy, which continues to operate as usual, and visits Pierre at the Apricum per Foliis Pharmacy in the evening along with a knight. Going through the gate of the Apricum per Foliis Pharmacy, Falma heads to Pierre’s shop’s patient room from the back door. Pierre’s daughter is waiting for Falma’s visit in front of the gate. It can be seen that she has been waiting for a long time.
“I want, to welcome you, Falma-sama.“
“Good evening. How is your father’s condition?“
“Yes, it has gotten a little better.“
After that day, when Pierre fell into a lake of sulfuric acid because of a surprise attack by the female alchemist … he was suffering a serious chemical burns. Falma visits Pierre’s shop daily and treated burns carefully. (T/N: the author really holds off the detail until now, but the external chemical burn is the least of Pierre’s worry)
“It’s Falma, I’m sorry for the intrusion.”
“Oh oh, this is Falma-sama. I’m sorry for troubling you.“
Pierre raises his face to Falma’s greeting, sits on the bed as he keeps the books of the Pharmacy Guild for the dispensing close by, while being covered with wound dressing and his facial appearance riddles full of pain. His hair and eyebrows are tattered.
Chemical burns are classified from 1st to 3rd-degree according to the depth of the burn, with 1st-degree burn reaches only the upper layer of the epidermis (very top thin layer of the skin), 2nd-degree reaches down to the dermis (lower layers of the skin near the fatty tissue), and 3rd-degree affects the entire dermis (all of skin region instead of a small spot). Pierre suffers between 1st and 2nd-degrees.
Pierre was actually immersed in sulfuric acid for several tens of seconds. It didn’t matter even with Falma’s rapid sulfuric acid “erasing”, Pierre’s lower body such as leather boots and trousers and the lightly-dressed parts, all his body hair down to the dermis suffered extensive chemically burn from the sulfuric acid. All these parts have been burn through. Furthermore, although blindness did not occur, the inflammation had spread to the eyeballs and mucous membranes (nasal and throat to be precise).
Concerned about a systemic inflammatory response the day after the injury, Falma took Pierre to the Medicis family’s residence and immediately started infusions with Palle’s assistance for twenty-four hours of treatment regiment. Fortunately, Pierre’s wounds began to heal shortly after Falma invoked the [Relief of the Origin] just in case. (T/N: Falma couldn’t activate this power until he holds the Medicine God’s staff)
After they cleaned the wound, petrolatum and wound dressing were used to protect the wound surface, and antibacterial agents along with corticosteroids were also applied. In order to reduce the pain, Pierre also took painkillers as Falma monitored the situation. After a few days, the pain shown signs of alleviation.
“How are you today?“
Falma takes notes and asks questions. Pierre’s daughter, who guides Falma to the hospital room, worriedly looks at Falma’s and Pierre’s faces alternately in the corner of the room. She’s anxious about her father’s condition.
“Today has been a lot better than yesterday. I’m surprised that it’s not worse than I expected. Maybe it’s because of Falma-sama’s use of your mysterious power.“
“There were some of those too … Sulfuric acid penetrates the skin and destroys the epidermis and dermis tissue, but the concentration wasn’t so high and the sulfuric acid was erased, so I believe the damage was minimal. For your own safety, please do not expose this burn to anyone until the wound has healed.“
“Of course I understand, I shouldn’t be noticed by Hermès. Hey, I want to kill him … Does Falma know where Hermès really is?“
“I know where he is, but I want another confirmation. You will know it by tomorrow. Apricum per Foliis Falmacy should continue to operate as usual, but don’t do anything different. We will dispatch a part-time pharmacist to replace the storekeeper.“
If there is an alchemist who burned his whole body with sulfuric acid, Hermès will search and get rid of the person. It is dangerous for Pierre’s injury to be discovered.
“For everything you’ve done, thank you.“
Falma goes to the palace the next day. He is off his duty as a court pharmacist for the day, but he has something to deal with a certain someone in the palace. The person in question is walking in front of the Medicine God’s waiting room and is found very easily. When Falma spots the man from a distance, he hides in the shadows without speaking and uses his [Diagnostic Eyes]. He identifies the indivuduals by confirming the location of (teeth) cavities, skeletal structures and bodily features, and above all, their voices. By this time, Falma is able to remotely identify the target person using fluoroscopy without actually meeting the target person. He conveniently uses diagnosis to identify the target. That person is one of the court pharmacologists of the Saint Fleuve Empire.
Falma places a tracking star on the court pharmacologist (Hugo de La Trémoïlle). He is a court pharmacologist with the same title as Bruno. Although he’s older than Bruno, he is a pharmacologist who appears younger compared to his age. Along with another female court pharmacologist, Francoise, one the four court pharmacologists along with Hugo, Bruno, and Falma, they basically take turns every day to fill the palace’s schedule; so when Falma is not on duty, Hugo will come. The only way to meet each other is at a party hosted by the Empress, or at a meeting once every few months to decide the treatment policy by the court pharmacologists for the royal family and courtiers.
Since Hugo does not belong to the Imperial Medical University and only sees the royal aristocrats because of his pride, he has no acquaintance with Ellen who has neither entered or exited the palace’s court. During that alchemy study session, only Falma was able to detect his familiar voice, but neither Ellen, Pierre, nor the alchemists noticed it.
Hugo has reduced his duty to see the Empress since Falma emerged in the palace and became the empress’s chief pharmacologist. He didn’t even get involved with Falma. In short, he is one of the pharmacologists who allegedly wanted to smoke the existence of Falma.
(But, if Hugo was the culprit, he abused Falma’s knowledge and alchemy to make such a small amount of money …) (T/N: Falma is talking to himself in a 3rd person?)
Hugo is an upper aristocrat, so he is not in an economic situation where he has to struggle in making such small sums of money whenever possible. By the way, the reason why Falma robbed most of Hugo’s position was because the salary paid by the empire to a court pharmacologist was a fixed salary regardless of services, and Hugo also had other customers from the royal aristocrats besides the Empress. Falma is heavily used by the Empress. That doesn’t mean that Hugo’s salary is declining. He’s not in trouble with money.
(If so, why?)
While Falma is thinking,
“Hey, Falma-sama. What are you doing? Trying to take a closer look at the patterns on the wall … …“
Coincidentally, Salomon walks through the corridor, observing Falma while he’s clinging to the wall and staring intently at it.
“Ah, no, this is not the case.“
“Did you count the checkered pattern on the wall? Sorry to startle you, but you’re looking a bit tired … …“
Seen through the eyes of a pitying man, Falma tells Salomon that he has found a clue to the existence of a sulfate lake and a sacred spring to dispel the misunderstanding.
“It’s a big harvest to get such information about sacred spring by chance. I’m very delighted. It seems that the search team has also been struggling. I think Falma and sacred spring are attracted to each other.“
“Is that so(?). I’ll give Her Majesty a brief report that I’ve found a clue.“
The search team shouldn’t miss discovering the sacred spring even without giving out too much information. And (because of that), Falma worries.
“The fact that there was a way to reach the sacred spring at the bottom of the acid lake, and being protected by the monster fish, this means that the stone slab has been waiting for the visit of a non-human like Falma-sama.”
Salomon is no longer a priest belonging to the temple, but he is still excited about his faith in the guardian deity. Also, it appears that he has a sense of a mission to engrave a new page (of history) into the scriptures.
“By the way, there has been something strange.“
Falma mentions to Salomon suddenly.
“What thing?“
“The crystal layer or stone at the bottom of the lake emits light from a deceased person, and the person was swallowed.“
Falma wants to inquire Salomon about the eerie phenomenon that could have seemed in sucking out a soul.
“Well … what do you mean? Minerals, which are the raw materials for treasures, have such properties … … In addition to that, it was written on the stone slab that it was the home of the wandering soul … … “
Salomon makes a difficult face, folds his arms, and squints his eyes while playing with his beard.
“By the way, have you obtained the crystals and stones that sleep at the bottom of the sulfate lake?“
“Yes, I got them the next day.“
Falma is pondering the creation of a new staff using the crystals and stones excavated from the bottom of the sulfate lake. The Medicinal God’s staff will eventually have to be returned to the Great Temple. While he was processing the crystallized stone, he realized that it was even more mysterious. Every time he shaved or folded it, he heard something similar to experiencing hallucinations. It wasn’t inaudible as a human voice.
“It’s no wonder that the raw materials for the treasures have killed people. The dead may have been summoned into the crystal stone.“
“Eh eh !?“
He wonders if a treasure is such a dangerous thing, and Falma is afraid to have the Medicine God’s staff now. He thinks that the Medicine God’s staff is made by a person called the Medicine God of the previous generation while helping people. Knowing that, anxiety comes into his mind.
“Maybe when I helped a person with the Medicine God’s staff, someone died somewhere?“
Maybe the treasure is sapping another human soul … Pharma is perplexed at such a thought.
“That’s a difficult question to answer. I don’t know the theory … If you look at history from a broader perspective, there are guardian deities like you who help people, and conversely, there are guardian deities who use hidden treasures to kill many lives. The guardian deity has a destiny beyond human wisdom and is neither a human ally nor an enemy.”
“Is that so … what should I do?“
(Is it that the existence of the guardian deity balances the life and death of the people of this world as a whole … … ?)
Maybe what he has done is wrong and everything is meaningless. With that in mind, Falma is about to collapse from his feet. Salomon sees it and calms Falma down.
“Yes, don’t be discouraged. What you’ve done isn’t pointless, and the Medicine God’s staff doesn’t have the ability to kill people.“
Falma ponders for a moment. While he’s considering the relationship between crystal and the memory of the dead, he feels as if he has found the answer to a certain problem.
“Could it be …“
Its spine was malformed.
“Maybe the homunculus … it got to be it.“
The darkness of alchemy was forming at that place.
One evening, a few days after the night when the alchemists Hermès and Falma confronted each other.
“Then, I’m about to visit Pierre-san.“
“Be careful.“
Cedric and other staff see off both Lotte and Ellen while closing the store.
“Both Ellen and Lotte go home before it gets dark.“
The security at the Different World Pharmacy has been strengthened, but there still is a concern that they can be attacked by someone after Hermès’s escape. In particular, Ellen commutes using a white horse instead of a carriage for speed, just in case if she’s attacked before returning to the Count’s residence, as Falma will not be able to rush over immediately to assist.
“Don’t worry, who do you think I am? I’ll make sure to freeze the attacker and bring the person back with me.”
Ellen affirms to reassure Falma. Ellen is pretty good as a water divine art user, and will crush a few opponents by herself, but still, Falma is worried when it comes to Hermès.
“I will return to the mansion early with Cedric-san. By the way, is Pierre-san safe?“
Falma vaguely nods to Lotte’s question about Pierre’s conditions.
“I think it will take about two more weeks.“
Falma leaves the Different World Pharmacy, which continues to operate as usual, and visits Pierre at the Apricum per Foliis Pharmacy in the evening along with a knight. Going through the gate of the Apricum per Foliis Pharmacy, Falma heads to Pierre’s shop’s patient room from the back door. Pierre’s daughter is waiting for Falma’s visit in front of the gate. It can be seen that she has been waiting for a long time.
“I want, to welcome you, Falma-sama.“
“Good evening. How is your father’s condition?“
“Yes, it has gotten a little better.“
After that day, when Pierre fell into a lake of sulfuric acid because of a surprise attack by the female alchemist … he was suffering a serious chemical burns. Falma visits Pierre’s shop daily and treated burns carefully. (T/N: the author really holds off the detail until now, but the external chemical burn is the least of Pierre’s worry)
“It’s Falma, I’m sorry for the intrusion.”
“Oh oh, this is Falma-sama. I’m sorry for troubling you.“
Pierre raises his face to Falma’s greeting, sits on the bed as he keeps the books of the Pharmacy Guild for the dispensing close by, while being covered with wound dressing and his facial appearance riddles full of pain. His hair and eyebrows are tattered.
Chemical burns are classified from 1st to 3rd-degree according to the depth of the burn, with 1st-degree burn reaches only the upper layer of the epidermis (very top thin layer of the skin), 2nd-degree reaches down to the dermis (lower layers of the skin near the fatty tissue), and 3rd-degree affects the entire dermis (all of skin region instead of a small spot). Pierre suffers between 1st and 2nd-degrees.
Pierre was actually immersed in sulfuric acid for several tens of seconds. It didn’t matter even with Falma’s rapid sulfuric acid “erasing”, Pierre’s lower body such as leather boots and trousers and the lightly-dressed parts, all his body hair down to the dermis suffered extensive chemically burn from the sulfuric acid. All these parts have been burn through. Furthermore, although blindness did not occur, the inflammation had spread to the eyeballs and mucous membranes (nasal and throat to be precise).
Concerned about a systemic inflammatory response the day after the injury, Falma took Pierre to the Medicis family’s residence and immediately started infusions with Palle’s assistance for twenty-four hours of treatment regiment. Fortunately, Pierre’s wounds began to heal shortly after Falma invoked the [Relief of the Origin] just in case. (T/N: Falma couldn’t activate this power until he holds the Medicine God’s staff)
After they cleaned the wound, petrolatum and wound dressing were used to protect the wound surface, and antibacterial agents along with corticosteroids were also applied. In order to reduce the pain, Pierre also took painkillers as Falma monitored the situation. After a few days, the pain shown signs of alleviation.
“How are you today?“
Falma takes notes and asks questions. Pierre’s daughter, who guides Falma to the hospital room, worriedly looks at Falma’s and Pierre’s faces alternately in the corner of the room. She’s anxious about her father’s condition.
“Today has been a lot better than yesterday. I’m surprised that it’s not worse than I expected. Maybe it’s because of Falma-sama’s use of your mysterious power.“
“There were some of those too … Sulfuric acid penetrates the skin and destroys the epidermis and dermis tissue, but the concentration wasn’t so high and the sulfuric acid was erased, so I believe the damage was minimal. For your own safety, please do not expose this burn to anyone until the wound has healed.“
“Of course I understand, I shouldn’t be noticed by Hermès. Hey, I want to kill him … Does Falma know where Hermès really is?“
“I know where he is, but I want another confirmation. You will know it by tomorrow. Apricum per Foliis Falmacy should continue to operate as usual, but don’t do anything different. We will dispatch a part-time pharmacist to replace the storekeeper.“
If there is an alchemist who burned his whole body with sulfuric acid, Hermès will search and get rid of the person. It is dangerous for Pierre’s injury to be discovered.
“For everything you’ve done, thank you.“
Falma goes to the palace the next day. He is off his duty as a court pharmacist for the day, but he has something to deal with a certain someone in the palace. The person in question is walking in front of the Medicine God’s waiting room and is found very easily. When Falma spots the man from a distance, he hides in the shadows without speaking and uses his [Diagnostic Eyes]. He identifies the indivuduals by confirming the location of (teeth) cavities, skeletal structures and bodily features, and above all, their voices. By this time, Falma is able to remotely identify the target person using fluoroscopy without actually meeting the target person. He conveniently uses diagnosis to identify the target. That person is one of the court pharmacologists of the Saint Fleuve Empire.
Falma places a tracking star on the court pharmacologist (Hugo de La Trémoïlle). He is a court pharmacologist with the same title as Bruno. Although he’s older than Bruno, he is a pharmacologist who appears younger compared to his age. Along with another female court pharmacologist, Francoise, one the four court pharmacologists along with Hugo, Bruno, and Falma, they basically take turns every day to fill the palace’s schedule; so when Falma is not on duty, Hugo will come. The only way to meet each other is at a party hosted by the Empress, or at a meeting once every few months to decide the treatment policy by the court pharmacologists for the royal family and courtiers.
Since Hugo does not belong to the Imperial Medical University and only sees the royal aristocrats because of his pride, he has no acquaintance with Ellen who has neither entered or exited the palace’s court. During that alchemy study session, only Falma was able to detect his familiar voice, but neither Ellen, Pierre, nor the alchemists noticed it.
Hugo has reduced his duty to see the Empress since Falma emerged in the palace and became the empress’s chief pharmacologist. He didn’t even get involved with Falma. In short, he is one of the pharmacologists who allegedly wanted to smoke the existence of Falma.
(But, if Hugo was the culprit, he abused Falma’s knowledge and alchemy to make such a small amount of money …) (T/N: Falma is talking to himself in a 3rd person?)
Hugo is an upper aristocrat, so he is not in an economic situation where he has to struggle in making such small sums of money whenever possible. By the way, the reason why Falma robbed most of Hugo’s position was because the salary paid by the empire to a court pharmacologist was a fixed salary regardless of services, and Hugo also had other customers from the royal aristocrats besides the Empress. Falma is heavily used by the Empress. That doesn’t mean that Hugo’s salary is declining. He’s not in trouble with money.
(If so, why?)
While Falma is thinking,
“Hey, Falma-sama. What are you doing? Trying to take a closer look at the patterns on the wall … …“
Coincidentally, Salomon walks through the corridor, observing Falma while he’s clinging to the wall and staring intently at it.
“Ah, no, this is not the case.“
“Did you count the checkered pattern on the wall? Sorry to startle you, but you’re looking a bit tired … …“
Seen through the eyes of a pitying man, Falma tells Salomon that he has found a clue to the existence of a sulfate lake and a sacred spring to dispel the misunderstanding.
“It’s a big harvest to get such information about sacred spring by chance. I’m very delighted. It seems that the search team has also been struggling. I think Falma and sacred spring are attracted to each other.“
“Is that so(?). I’ll give Her Majesty a brief report that I’ve found a clue.“
The search team shouldn’t miss discovering the sacred spring even without giving out too much information. And (because of that), Falma worries.
“The fact that there was a way to reach the sacred spring at the bottom of the acid lake, and being protected by the monster fish, this means that the stone slab has been waiting for the visit of a non-human like Falma-sama.”
Salomon is no longer a priest belonging to the temple, but he is still excited about his faith in the guardian deity. Also, it appears that he has a sense of a mission to engrave a new page (of history) into the scriptures.
“By the way, there has been something strange.“
Falma mentions to Salomon suddenly.
“What thing?“
“The crystal layer or stone at the bottom of the lake emits light from a deceased person, and the person was swallowed.“
Falma wants to inquire Salomon about the eerie phenomenon that could have seemed in sucking out a soul.
“Well … what do you mean? Minerals, which are the raw materials for treasures, have such properties … … In addition to that, it was written on the stone slab that it was the home of the wandering soul … … “
Salomon makes a difficult face, folds his arms, and squints his eyes while playing with his beard.
“By the way, have you obtained the crystals and stones that sleep at the bottom of the sulfate lake?“
“Yes, I got them the next day.“
Falma is pondering the creation of a new staff using the crystals and stones excavated from the bottom of the sulfate lake. The Medicinal God’s staff will eventually have to be returned to the Great Temple. While he was processing the crystallized stone, he realized that it was even more mysterious. Every time he shaved or folded it, he heard something similar to experiencing hallucinations. It wasn’t inaudible as a human voice.
“It’s no wonder that the raw materials for the treasures have killed people. The dead may have been summoned into the crystal stone.“
“Eh eh !?“
He wonders if a treasure is such a dangerous thing, and Falma is afraid to have the Medicine God’s staff now. He thinks that the Medicine God’s staff is made by a person called the Medicine God of the previous generation while helping people. Knowing that, anxiety comes into his mind.
“Maybe when I helped a person with the Medicine God’s staff, someone died somewhere?“
Maybe the treasure is sapping another human soul … Pharma is perplexed at such a thought.
“That’s a difficult question to answer. I don’t know the theory … If you look at history from a broader perspective, there are guardian deities like you who help people, and conversely, there are guardian deities who use hidden treasures to kill many lives. The guardian deity has a destiny beyond human wisdom and is neither a human ally nor an enemy.”
“Is that so … what should I do?“
(Is it that the existence of the guardian deity balances the life and death of the people of this world as a whole … … ?)
Maybe what he has done is wrong and everything is meaningless. With that in mind, Falma is about to collapse from his feet. Salomon sees it and calms Falma down.
“Yes, don’t be discouraged. What you’ve done isn’t pointless, and the Medicine God’s staff doesn’t have the ability to kill people.“
Falma ponders for a moment. While he’s considering the relationship between crystal and the memory of the dead, he feels as if he has found the answer to a certain problem.
“Could it be …“
Its spine was malformed.
“Maybe the homunculus … it got to be it.“
The darkness of alchemy was forming at that place.
