Chapter 158: Efficiency
"It's a good thing that I prepared penicillin," Damien sighed while rubbing the tips of his fingers. Though his initial plan was to use penicillin to cure syphilis, now that the situation had turned around in such a way, it would come in handy.
Or else tetanus would have caused quite a lot of headaches for him.
He turned to look at the patients who were now conscious and clapped his hands to attract their attention.
"Everyone," Damien looked at the soldiers who were sitting or lying on the straw mat. He said to them, "Those who were stabbed, cut, and pierced by the porcupine needles—you all need to listen to me carefully."
"If you don't, then there is a chance that you will be affected by Ferrus poison."
Ferrus poison? As soon as Damien finished speaking, the entire crowd turned silent before exploding at once.
"Ferrus poison?"
"Then does that mean that we will have to cut our limbs off?"
"I don't want to lose my leg!"
"Not my arm, it's my good arm."
"Alright!" Damien raised his voice and stopped the soldiers from causing any more fuss. "All of you calm down; there is no need to worry. I have a way to stop the ferrus poisoning from spreading."
"You do?"
"That's right," Damien nodded and explained, "though ferrus poisoning is rather difficult to handle. There are two ways to deal with it. First, you can drink curdled milk with blue mould. Of course, it will be troublesome for a few of you."
As soon as he finished speaking, a few soldiers nodded at once with disgusted looks on their faces.
Seeing this, Damien smiled at them knowingly before saying to them, "The other way is to wait for me to try my new spell on you all. I refined it just a few days ago and hadn't gotten a chance to use it on anyone yet."
"A new spell?"
"Is it safe?"
"I am a bit afraid."
"Will it work?"
Damien's brows twitched as he heard the many complaints that were being fired at him. He raised the scalpel in his hands and then said to the men with a sweet smile, "Why don't I cut off your limbs then? You don't need to try the spell at all."
"We will do it!"
Damien chuckled.
"There is no need to look like you are about to be killed. I assure you that this spell is definitely effective on ferrus poison," said Damien.
"What you said just now, is it true?"
Startled, Damien turned around and looked behind him.
"Lord Julian?" Damien was quite surprised when he saw the man hurrying inside the tent. Why did he look like he was a drowning man and Damien was his only chance at survival?
"Are you speaking the truth? Can you really treat ferrus poison?" Julian asked Damien.
"I cannot say for sure," Damien was honest and upfront with his words. With a stern expression, he said, "If you heard what I was saying, then you must have already heard that I am yet to try this spell. Whether it can really cure tetanus completely or if it needs a bit more refining, it will only be proven once I am done using and keeping these soldiers under observation."
Julian clenched his fingers as he asked, "Then what about the curdled milk?"
"Will it stop the ferrus poison from spreading?"
"It's not a perfect cure," Damien shook his head. "If it could stop tetanus from spreading, then I would have used it without coming up with a spell, right?"
"Then why did you say that you wanted to give the soldiers curdled milk?" Julian questioned strongly. "What if they drink curdled milk and they end up catching something else? What if their stomachs were to go bad?"
Damien smiled at his words. "Lord Julian, while the curdled milk can indeed not treat tetanus completely. It can at least lower the chances of it spreading through the limbs. And as long as there is even a 1% chance of possibility, I will do it."
"In fact, if someone was to tell me that there was a chance of saving a person by feeding him poison—I will take that chance as well."
Julian clenched his fingers when he heard Damien's words.
"Is that so," His eyes flickered uneasily, causing Damien to narrow his eyes.
"Is there something that you need to say to me?" He asked and when he saw that, Julian seemed to be hesitating. Damien knew that look quite well. After all, when he was working as a doctor in the modern world, there were many patients who came to him and looked at him with the same expression. This happened when they were either hiding an embarrassing disease or trying to find a cure without disclosing who caught it.
"If you don't mind, come out with me," Damien said to Julian. "I have something to say to you."
Julian glanced at him before sighing as he walked out of the tent. Damien followed him. The two men came to a stop at a spot away from the tent where Damien questioned Julian, "Do you know someone who caught ferrus poison?"
Julian crossed his arms and leaned against the tree behind him before exhaling in a loud puff.
"It's my elder brother. He was attacked by the very same beast but ended up catching ferrus poison," stated Julian as he recalled the sufferings of his elder brother. "The healers said to us that they would be using a spell to blast off the lower half of his leg. They said they had no other way to help him as his condition is deteriorating with each day."
Blasting off his leg? Damien didn't believe that it was going to work. In ancient times, there were many instances of cutting off the limbs of those who caught tetanus. However, it was only effective in case they had cut off the entire thing in one go or else —
"Are they removing the affected part as a whole or did they remove something before?"
"No, this is not the first time," Julian shook his head. He replied, "They first blasted off his two toes that were smashed by the mega porcupine needle but then the poison didn't stop spreading and they had to take off his ankle as well."
"Take off his ankle? Then I am afraid that it's too late to cut off his —"
"Shut up!" Julian snapped at him harshly the second he spoke up. He raised his head and glared at Damien before saying, "You do not know anything. You might be a bit skilled but there is no need for you to look down on the healer who is treating my brother as well. He is the top-rank healer of our city; do you think that you are better than him?"
Damien stiffened when he heard the words of the man. He narrowed his eyes and said, "I am not being rude or pessimistic. Just telling you the facts that it's impossible for ferrus poisoning to stop at this point." He shifted on his shoes and then glanced at Julian before adding, "If you allow those healers to blast off his calf, then I ascertain you—your brother's condition will only get worse from there on."
He then turned around and walked away, leaving Julian alone in the grounds.
"My lord." The beastman, who was waiting for the conversation to finish, stepped forward and looked at Julian nervously. The man's expression was so bad that it terrified the beastman.
"What's the matter?" Julian clenched his fingers and unclenched them before turning to look at the beast man.
"Lord Jami, he is awake," replied the beastman with his head lowered.
"What did you say?" Julian spoke but without waiting for the man to answer, he brushed past him to the tent where Jami was resting.
"Uncle!"
"Julian?" Jami raised his head off the pillow and then turned to look at Julian. He smiled at his nephew before saying, "Why do you look like that?"
"Uncle, how are you feeling?" Julian asked as he stepped inside the tent and looked at the elderly man, whose entire torso was covered in bandage.
"I am fine," Jami replied with a smile. "Though I really thought that I was done for."
"Don't say that," Julian's eyes softened. He was grateful to see his uncle doing alright. But at the same time, he was quite surprised to see Jami's breathing and moving without any trouble.
He saw with his own eyes how Jami's abdomen was cut in half and his insides were almost dangling outside. At that moment, he was certain that his uncle was a lost case; even the healer said the same thing. But now, Julian couldn't help but wonder if Damien was really that skilled.
He turned to look at the beastmen behind him and asked, "Was Lord Damien the one who treated Uncle Jami?"
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