The royal palace of the Seven Hills Empire. Ella's uncle, Su Cornelius Scipio, sat on the throne with a tired face. A few days ago, he stood on the city wall to fight against the Alemanni coalition forces. But after the plague broke out, he had been hiding in the palace. The soldiers brought Paracelsus to his throne. He saw that even though the doctor had entered the palace, he was still wearing that weird beak mask.
"Are you Paracelsus?" Sue Cornelius Scipio asked weakly. What had happened in the past few months had exhausted him.
Paracelsus bowed his head and replied: "Yes, it is me."
"Why are you wearing a mask? Is your true face invisible?"
"That's not the case. In fact, I personally don't like to be too public, but this plague forces me to meet you in the name of Paracelsus. Moreover, this plague is extremely contagious. Before treating others, a doctor needs to protect himself first - since Basileus is suspicious, please wait a moment while I take off my clothes."
As he spoke, Paracelsus took out a bottle from under his robe, poured some liquid from it onto the black gloves, and rubbed the black gloves inside and out like washing his hands. After rubbing it, he took off the beak mask with black gloves and threw it to the ground.
Then, he poured some liquid from the bottle onto the black gloves, rubbed the gloves up and down again as before, and then began to take off his robe. He put his hands behind his back and rolled down the robe little by little starting from the collar so that the inside of the robe was outside and the outside was inside. His hands were rolling on the outside of the robe from beginning to end, being careful not to touch the inside of the robe.
After doing this, he poured out the mysterious liquid for the third time, washed the gloves, and then took them off, making the inside of the gloves outside and the outside inside like a robe.
Finally, he poured out a little more liquid and washed his hands.
"Please let someone soak the gown and mask in boiling hot water." He said to Su. "This set of clothes will still be effective when treating patients."
Su Cornelius Scipio watched Paracelsus slowly taking off his clothes, and he was already a little impatient. Seeing that he had finally finished taking off his clothes, he immediately asked: "What is in this bottle? Why do you keep using it to wash your hands?"
"Back in Basileus, this is an alchemical reagent distilled from wine by my alchemy teacher John de Rupisisa. He called it 'water of life'. This is an immortal substance that can bring Gives good luck and good health.”
"Water of life." Su repeated expressionlessly, and then said, "Paracelsus, I have heard of your name. They all say that you are a great alchemist, but alchemy is The Seven Hills Empire is forbidden. If you want to use alchemy to cure diseases, you'd better leave the Seven Hills Empire before I arrest you."
Paracelsus did not panic, lowered his head and said: "Basselus, do you know what kind of disease is raging in Constantinier?"
"This damn plague," Su said, "Ten doctors gave ten different explanations. I'm not a doctor, so how do I know who to listen to?"
"Bachelus, you should know." Paracelsus said, "Didn't the Seven Hills Empire encounter the same plague more than two hundred years ago?"
Su's body suddenly sat up straight: "You mean...Justinian's Plague?"
"Exactly. Most doctors only know how to read Celsus and Galen's medical books. They know nothing about history. On the way to the kingdom, I checked the patient's symptoms. Everything was consistent with what was recorded two hundred years ago. That great plague is exactly the same - there is no mistake. The name of the plague currently raging in Constantiniya is the Black Death." Paracelsus' eyes became serious, "If you let it go, In the end, the number of people who died from the plague may be over ten million."
Su couldn't sit still. He knew the horror of the Justinian Plague - it almost killed more than half of the population of the Seven Hills Empire and almost destroyed the Seven Hills Empire. No king wants to face this disease during his reign.
"What should I do?" he asked, somewhat at a loss.
"That's why I'm here now," Paracelsus replied. "I don't like publicity. But the professional ethics of doctors forced me to stand up and come here."
"What kind of disease is this?" Su asked, "Bile, blood, mucus, black bile, which kind of body fluid imbalance can cause such a terrible disease?"
"Barcelus, you said you are not a doctor, but you can still say something about the theory of humors. This shows how widespread the theory of humors is." Paracelsus shook his head, "Unfortunately, for this theory, I have a slight objection. The human body is a perfect alchemical system created by God. How can it suddenly become unbalanced for no reason? I am afraid that it is not the internal body fluids that cause disease, but the toxins present in the environment."
"Toxins in the environment?"
"The whole world is an alchemical system. Look at the sea and the rain. God is distilling over and over again. And just as alchemists separate useful substances and poisonous substances through distillation, God is sublimating substances. At the same time, toxins will definitely separate and remain. When these toxins affect the human body, they will cause diseases. That’s what I think.”
"This sounds...a bit heretical."
Paracelsus lowered his head and replied: "Basselus, please think carefully. If the cause of the disease is an imbalance of body fluids, then why did the entire Constantinian people suddenly have an imbalance of body fluids? This cannot be allowed. Do you believe that Galen’s teachings were wrong? Believe me, the plague broke out in Constantiniya because its environment was already full of disease-causing toxins.”
Su Ruo tilted her head and pondered.
"Paracelsus, if it is true that the cause of disease is toxins from the outside, as you said, how can we avoid being attacked by toxins?"
"We don't yet know where the toxins are hidden. We can only try to prevent the toxins from invading our bodies." Paracelsus said, "Before talking about how to cure this disease. I have five suggestions. Please ask Basileus immediately. The order is executed.”
“What five suggestions?”
"First, collect all the alcohol in the city and use my formula to distill the water of life on a large scale. This alchemical reagent will be critical in the coming time."
"Second, sick people and people who have been in contact with sick people need to stay home because they may all be carriers of toxins. They are not allowed to go out until it is safe to do so."
"Third, large-scale mosquito and flea eradication operations are carried out across the city. The bites of these pests are likely to be the way for toxins to invade the human body."
"Fourth, water sources and food are also places where toxins may exist. Therefore, all water sources must be boiled before drinking. No food should be eaten raw before the plague is over."
"Fifth, all doctors should cover their whole body with clothes when treating diseases, just like me. When putting on and taking off clothes, keep in mind that toxins may have been attached to the clothes, so be careful."
"No matter what the above five suggestions are, I cannot do it as a mere doctor. I can only implement them by relying on your authority, Basileus. And then the most important sixth point -"
Paracelsus looked at Su and said solemnly:
"Give me an alchemy laboratory. Both history and reality have proven to us that natural herbs cannot fight this disease. Unless there are powerful medicines that surpass nature, we will not be able to defeat it."
