I had the king send over a few soldiers and brought them to the forest’s entrance.
“What the hell is this building?!”
“When did this get built…”
Following the blueprints I had the elf architect draw up, I used alchemy to build a two-story house made of artificial marble.
The building has 50 small rooms, each about five tatami mats in size, and two halls, each about 60 tatami mats.
However, the exterior of the building is square, and the interior is just as awkwardly shaped.
The words “This is part of the forest” are carved here.
I write, [Bring the patients here.]
“Bring them here? What are you planning to do?”
[Heal them. Have the patients wear this over their mouths to cover their noses.
This is to prevent the spread of pathogens into the air.
You wear them too.] I write.
I give them masks made from dietary fiber and artificial rubber.
Then, I touch them with my front paws, giving them a cat-style pat.
“?”
I write, [Come on, hurry up.]
Using Nancy-san’s tuberculosis bacteria, I created antibodies within their bodies through transmutation.
These antibodies reduce their risk of contracting tuberculosis, and even if infected, their symptoms will be mild.
I made several types of antibodies, but doing the same thing in modern Japan would surely cost an enormous amount of money.
Now, while they’re out, I’ll head deep into the forest and give the elves antibodies, too.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After I give the elves their antibodies and tell them I’ll be too busy to see them for a while, I head back to the isolation building.
The patients are being gathered gradually.
About forty of them are waiting anxiously in the first-floor hall.
“Nyaa (Alchemy, alchemy, one more alchemy)”
Huff, huff, huff.
The patients are being given anti-tuberculosis antibodies.
With antibodies, the body can fight tuberculosis to some extent.
But for severely ill patients, whose immune systems are weakened, [Heal] is used to cure them.
“Ah, it’s Neko-san!”
Nell, Yotsuba, and Nancy-san have arrived too.
They were considered at risk due to close contact with Nancy-san and apparently had to be quarantined.
Nancy-san is laying out the futons that were carried out, alongside the other isolated patients.
“How’s it going, Neko-san?”
[So far, so good. But we still have the final, crucial experiment left.] I write.
Then, I pat, pat, pat her and the additional patients who came in.
The antibodies alone might be enough, but relying solely on them would take too long to eliminate all the tuberculosis bacteria in the body.
Those bacteria keep living, unfazed even when eaten by macrophages, a type of white blood cell.
That’s where my title, Lord of the Forest, comes into play.
After assessing the tuberculosis bacteria count in a nearby patient, I command loudly:
“Nyaa (White blood cells, destroy all tuberculosis bacteria.
And tuberculosis bacteria, die right now).”
My command only works on those born in the forest.
But what if it worked on anyone born in the forest?
This isolation facility is part of the forest to me, and the white blood cells born here are my minions.
What if the tuberculosis bacteria born here also die on my command?
I repeated the command five times, every thirty minutes.
The test results… Success.
The number of tuberculosis bacteria has drastically decreased.
The quarantine patients will be fully cured within a week, or even within three days, at this rate.
Let’s keep going.