01x08 - Influenza and the Dawn of a Pharmacy

[bunniefuu]

Confound it!

It seems that blasted shop

still continues to thrive.

Parallel World Pharmacy

That shop's abuses are intolerable!

They're charging so little that even

a pauper can afford their medicines.

And when that carriage crashed into the

place, they recovered awfully quickly.

I bet he handled it with

Divine Arts somehow.

That, or he used Daddy's money.

Bruno de Médicis

Standing behind that brat is his world-

famous Chief Royal Pharmaceutist of a father.

And Her Majesty the Empress, at that!

You know, word is that it was Veron

who ran that carriage into the place.

I suspected as much.

He had it in for 'em before

it even opened, after all.

That pharmacy is the source

of all our problems!

We must do whatever it takes

to rid ourselves of it!

Whatever aristocratic game he's playing,

he'll be found out eventually!

And then, the customers will assuredly

wake up to the truth and come back to us!

The path forward is to hold out until then!

Accordingly, I prohibit all guild members

from having contact with that shop!

Anyone who violates this rule will be

subject to expulsion from the guild

and immediate forfeiture

of their business license!

Quite right!

They'd deserve it.

Parallel World Pharmacy

Episode 8

Influenza and the

Dawn of a Pharmacy

Doctor!

Dr. Donald!

Are you there?

Please see my daughter!

I beg you!

Please!

Doctor!

That clinic is closed until next week, sir.

Did your daughter suddenly fall ill?

Oh, where are my manners?

I am a pharmaceutist at

Parallel World Pharmacy.

My name is Farma.

If you'd like, I would gladly

examine your daughter.

No, I

Master Farma, I'll go on ahead

and get things ready.

Please do, Lotte.

Please, follow me.

Welcome back, sir.

Keep up the good work.

Please enter through here.

I see.

So people of my standing

have to use the back entrance.

Please lay your daughter there.

Also, please put this over

your mouth and nose.

What is it?

A mask. It's to help keep

the infection from spreading.

Like a ward against disease?

Yes, you could say that.

Then the reason we came

through the back was

Yes, to avoid spreading it

to the other customers.

So it wasn't about my social status?

Now, may I ask you some questions?

What is your daughter's name and age?

Marie. She's seven years old.

When was the last time she ate?

Y-Yesterday around noon, I believe.

She has quite a fever.

She also appears dehydrated.

She doesn't seem fully conscious.

Did she experience convulsions last night?

Incredible.

Yes. For two or three minutes.

For just one patient,

he goes into this much detail?

Do you happen to know Marie's weight?

What? No

Then let's weigh her now.

Please step onto this little

platform while holding Marie.

Good.

Um, what are you doing?

I'm recording the weight.

Later, I'll weigh just you, so that

I can calculate the difference.

I'm measuring her weight

in order to determine the dosage.

If the dosage is not appropriate,

the medicine might not work,

or it might cause side effects.

Among commoner pharmaceutists like us,

Open a little wider and say "ah."

the standard practice is just to crudely

cut the adult dose in half for children.

Good job. Thank you.

Lastly

Great. There seems to be no encephalopathy.

Was that a Divine Art?

Huh? Um, well, yes.

I have diagnosed Marie's illness.

Marie is suffering from

essentially a severe cold.

Excuse me?

You're telling me this is a cold?

Yes.

When she has this high a fever?

When she foamed at the mouth

and had convulsions?

How could this be just a cold?

Couldn't it be an evil spirit

possessing her?

No. Marie has a form of severe cold.

It's called influenza.

Influ What is that?

Right now, there's a virus that causes

a severe cold invading Marie's body.

Huh? A virus?

This powder is a medicine called zanamivir.

It's most effective within two days of symptom

emergence and is taken via oral inhalation.

Inhalation? She has to breathe it in

through her mouth?

This medicine is not absorbed well

when swallowed.

Inhalation delivers the medicine

directly to the respiratory tract,

where the pathogen is multiplying.

To go into greater detail—

Well, let's just say it's a medicine to help

Marie win the battle being waged inside her.

We'll practice how to take

the medicine later, okay?

'Kay.

You called it a battle?

Yes. Marie's body is wisely producing a fever

in an attempt to fight off the pathogen.

This particular pathogen

is vulnerable to heat.

And so, it's not a bad thing

that Marie has a fever.

Still, it can be draining to have,

so I'll provide acetaminophen

to slightly lower the fever.

Once things have settled down and she

seems able, have her drink water.

I will come check on her later.

I can't believe it worked this quickly.

Thank you very much for today.

I truly appreciate it.

The most important thing is that

Marie's condition has improved.

This bag contains five days'

worth of medicine.

The shop is closed for today,

but if her condition suddenly

worsens in the night,

don't hesitate to speak to the guard.

You mean you'll see her?

Many people fall ill during the night.

This way, I can help those people, too.

Um, how much does your fee

for today amount to?

I might not be able to pay it right away,

but I promise to pay in full.

No need for concern. The charge is

roughly the cost of a baguette.

What?

I-It is? But that's unbelievably low!

I set the price low to make it

easier for children to be seen.

Take care, now.

Dada?

We're going home now, sweetie.

Parallel World Pharmacy

Well, I see why the guild can't compete.

Honey

How is she?

She's sound asleep.

Good.

The medicine must have worked.

Yeah.

It's from that noble's pharmacy.

But that's against the guild's

I had no choice.

I don't know if Marie would have

survived if I hadn't gone there.

The place was incredible.

The owner is highly knowledgeable

and shows true concern for his patients.

That's the true picture of how

pharmaceutists ought to be.

I had considered myself to have

a fair amount of experience and

confidence as a pharmaceutist,

But compared to that boy

As a commoner, I have neither

the nobles' Divine Arts

nor the means to study detailed

medicinal knowledge.

If I could incorporate even a fraction

of his know-how into my shop

But if you defy the guild

I know.

To go against the guild's rules

is not a realistic option.

I'd be committing professional suicide.

I know that.

Listen, dear. I know how

incredibly hard you've worked.

You steadily put in the effort,

day after day.

I believe you did your utmost

to help all sorts of people.

Yeah. Thanks, honey.

So, you don't have to agonize

over your work or do anything rash.

Yeah

What you already do helps people.

Marie is still small, after all, and there's

still the debt from opening the shop

I know.

I know exactly what's at stake.

But

With the guild's methods for commoners',

if you or Marie were to fall ill,

I wouldn't be able to help you!

Oh, Pierre

I-I'm sorry

So there's been no change in the drastic

reduction in sales every shop is facing?

Curse that blasted Parallel World Pharmacy!

My shop's sales have fallen

another 20% since last month.

He just set up a branch for cosmetics,

and now there's talk of a third store!

I recently discovered that even my wife had

been surreptitiously buying their cosmetics.

I smashed them to bits, though!

My daughter was buying them as well.

I tossed them out in front of her.

Their cosmetics are very popular.

Now she hasn't spoken to me for a week!

I've also had my female

customer base snatched away.

Don't worry. She'll understand

your concerns one day.

It doesn't stop there!

Why not get her a gift to improve

her mood in the meantime?

Word is, the new bishop goes to Parallel

World Pharmacy practically every day.

Ah, a fine idea. Perhaps I'll get

my wife something as well.

So it's not just the Empress

backing them, but even the Temple?

They're totally invincible now!

Pierre, proprietor of Ray of Sunlight

Drugstore, what are your thoughts?

Y-You're asking me?

Your shop is suffering the greatest losses,

since it's in the closest proximity.

Do you have any opinions?

Then I shall speak candidly.

Have any of you gentlemen

ever entered that shop?

Have you ever viewed the

medicines they carry?

Of course not!

They're a competitor!

Then you should go there and see it.

One visit is all it will take

to make it painfully clear that our customers

will never even glance at our shops again

as it did for me.

What?! You mean you went to that shop?

Yes. My daughter had a fever

I could do nothing about,

and the proprietor lowered it

and cured her in short order.

Everyone who visits that shop,

whether commoner or noble, rich or poor,

receives equal treatment

and appropriate medicine.

You're just falling prey to the

novelty and curiosity of it all!

Even if we assume his knowledge is correct,

that doesn't necessarily mean

his methods are correct!

He's using the mantle of the Empress's

authority to drive prices wildly down

and unfairly squeeze us

out of business, is he not?

The entire affair is no more

than an aristocrat's whim!

The aristocrats view us common folk as

livestock for tax revenue and nothing more!

Those useless nobles

refused to treat us commoners,

claiming it was because their

Divine Power was limited!

They said their medicines were

valuable and jacked up the prices!

In my hour of need, no noble

ever came to my rescue.

Mr. Veron had to bury his own child.

I see

In the end, he's just a kid playing around.

There's no telling when he'll adapt to

aristocratic society and abandon his shop!

We're the ones who spent

years putting down roots here

and providing medicine

to the common people.

He's a foreign body that showed up

and made its way into our community!

If the customers keep flowing to him because

everyone thinks his pharmacy is useful,

then before long,

we'll wind up shutting down.

But after that point, if that

brat ever disappears, what then?

If that happens, we'll have nothing—

nothing left!

The medical infrastructure

for commoners will collapse!

Before that happens,

we must excise this foreign body!

That reinforces my point!

We should not be excising

his shop from the community!

We ought to learn from it instead!

Wh-Why, you

How dare you speak those

words as a guild member?!

Contrast what he does with what we do!

We sell patients herbs that we don't even

know work, with practically fraudulent claims.

Is that not a disgrace

upon us as pharmaceutists?

What else can we do?

The knowledge of our

predecessors is absolute.

Some of those patients do recover.

But most of those cases

were practically flukes.

And some patients die.

That shop is different from

our shops in every way.

It's logical, advanced,

and truly considers the patien—

Shut your mouth!

That's enough out of you!

If you despise our ways so much,

then get the hell out

of this guild right now!

How awful

Mr. Pierre!

Are you all right?

This shop So you're a pharmaceutist.

What happened?

As you can see, I am the

proprietor of this shop.

Or I was, I should say.

After I told the guild the truth

about my experience at your shop,

my merchandise and my business license—

all of it was taken from me.

I see. I'm sorry. I put you

in a terrible position.

No. Don't apologize.

Your medicine and your shop

made a deep impression on me.

And so, in hope that the guild

might change for the better, I

But now that I've been expelled from the

guild, I can't do business in this country.

I'm thinking of moving to another country

and starting over from scratch.

I just can't give up walking

the path of a pharmaceutist.

Do you mean that if you joined another

guild, you could do business again?

Yes, but the Saint Fleuve Pharmaceutist

Guild is the only one here.

Commoner pharmaceutists are required

to belong to a guild to conduct business.

I'm out of options.

I see

As a matter of fact, I recently received Her

Majesty's approval to establish a new guild.

It's called the Compounding Pharmacy

Guild and deals in new medicines.

If you would be willing, I would

be honored to have your help.

Shelves in order? Check.

Candies. Check.

Nutritional wafers. Check.

Everything is ready.

But am I good enough?

Will customers even come?

Will they accept a shop that

isn't Parallel World Pharmacy?

A proprietor that isn't Lord Farma?

Dada, you can do it!

Stand tall.

You're a legitimate pharmaceutist!

It's time for our grand reopening!

I heard it's Parallel World Pharmacy's

first partner pharmacy!

It's supposed to have the

same medicines available!

They came

to my shop

where I get to deal in the

world's best medicine

It's a new day

Welcome to Dawn Pharmacy!

Episode 9

The Story of a Certain Wicked Man