Thrown Into A New World: Let The Punishment Begin!

With their eyes on the vial in Sir Merde's hand, King Ophire and Duke Brodie were confused as to what the old man was trying to imply.

Just earlier he had exclaimed that the cure had been found and now he disclosed that there was a problem with the very same cure.

Feeling their troubled gaze on him, Sir Merde went ahead and explained what the issue here was.

"This liquid had a clear lavender hue, Your Majesty." He revealed while holding the vial up in the air.

The light that fell on the glass vial passed through it and permeated onto the foggy lavender liquid.

The King frowned as the liquid he was looking at right now most certainly wasn't clear.

It was cloudy as though it held impurities and there was even foam forming at the top of the lavender liquid.

"When did it start to change?" Duke Brodie questioned while narrowing his eyes.

If what the Head of the Royal Medical Association had said was true then the earlier clear liquid had undergone changes which had led to its current appearance being different from what it was when it was first made.

"It began transforming into this cloudy liquid around the seventh day after its creation." Sir Barton Merde confessed the right time when it had displayed this change.

The liquid on the first day was different from the same on the seventh day.

Now it was the tenth day and the cloudy liquid was only becoming worse with each passing day.

Since they had only one test subject on whom they had tested this cure right on the first day, they had no way to learn if the efficacy of the cure was deteriorating.

Seven days it remained the same but after that duration, it changed its appearance.

However, they did not have the means to check if its efficacy had also changed in this period.

"Your Majesty, we have to assume that the cure begins to lose its potency after a week of its creation." Sir Merde explained the issue that his men had found in the cure.

Not everything could be gained without any shortcomings and this statement was true for the cure as well.

Now that they had found the cure, it had a drawback and that was its limited timeframe.

If the cure wasn't administered to the patient within seven days of its creation, they would not know what kind of ill effects it would have on those who consumed it.

Therefore, he had come to the King to obtain aid in the pressing issue at hand.

The Royal Medical Association was situated in the Capital and this was where the cures were supposed to be manufactured.

However, if they continued with their initial plan then the cure would be useless by the time it reached its destination.

Travel from the Capital to the Southernmost fief, Wescott, where the highest number of cases were reported, would take close to five or six days.

To add to that, not everyone could obtain the cure right on the first day or even the second.

Thus, the vials containing the cure being transported would be deemed worthless if they changed their appearance and lost their potency during transportation.

They needed a solution to this problem and who better to look for than their King who would do anything for the betterment of his citizens.

After paying close attention to everything that Sir Merde had to say about the next crisis that they faced, King Ophire fell into deep contemplation.

Duke Brodie and the old man remained silent lest they disturbed him.

After a few seconds of utter tranquility in the Fountain Hall, King Ophire raised his head and turned towards the old man.

"What if we do not have to create it in the Capital?" He proposed and saw a flash of understanding pass through Sir Merde's eyes.

The old man was smart enough to grasp the underlying meaning in the King's question.

The cure would lose efficacy after seven days of its creation.

So why couldn't they just create the cure close to the areas highly affected by the plague?

Doing this would allow them to administer it to the patients almost immediately.

They could also recreate the cure based on the number of patients they have and in this way, not a single vial of cure would go to waste. 

Sir Merde nodded his head as ideas were beginning to flow into his mind after listening to the King's proposal.

The cure could be made by anyone using the precise measurements of the various herbs needed.

They could train their researchers and physicians to be able to create this cure wherever they are sent.

This way, they could create the cure right in the Royal Hospitals where treatment for plague victims was taking place and also distribute it to the nearby zones where the infected population was high.

"I will get my men on this task right away, Your Majesty!" Sir Merde proclaimed with determination as he would personally look into their training process.

The King nodded his head then moved to the next aspect that had caught his attention.

"Would we have enough herbs to prepare a large number of doses, sufficient for every patient?" He interrogated with his brows furrowed.

Creating the cure was only the first step as now newer challenges were popping up at every turn.

They had sorted out the issue with the limited duration of the cure's efficacy but they had another hurdle to overcome.

Preparing medication to be able to cure every patient was their motive.

However, would the raw materials they have at hand suffice for this monumental task?

To answer that question, the Head of the Royal Medical Association smiled and nodded his head.

"My King, we have cultivated enough of the herbs in our institution." He reminded the King that the area of land given to their establishment was vast and fertile.

The best piece of land for growing the medicinal herbs often used in their research was available in that area allotted to them.

The land given to the Royal Medical Association by the King in the past could be considered as the only place where these herbs were grown in such large quantities.

King Ophire sighed at his reassurance but there was something that he wished to add.

"Contact the Fief Lord of Lumex if you ever need help in this regard." He informed Sir Merde of the generous offer given by Viscount Lumex.

The Viscount and his family were known for their interest in medicine and their ancestors had aided this Kingdom by preparing numerous praiseworthy medicines in the past.

They also had a vast selection of herbs they grew and even exported to the other fiefs which was their main source of income.

The Viscount had promised to lend support if there ever was a need for herbs for the preparation of the cure.

This was also why the King had inquired of this matter but hearing Sir Merde's positive response he was happy that they were self-reliant.

However, he still disclosed this information in order to have a backup plan in case the Royal Medical Association ever fell short of the herbs needed for the cure.

Sir Merde bowed in acceptance of the King's words and promised to collaborate with Viscount Lumex if their help was ever needed.

In this way, two main issues concerning the cure that had been created were solved and the meeting was now coming to an end.

The King then spoke a few more words about the matter pertaining to the group of fifteen people on whom Sir Merde wished to test the cure before giving it to the rest of the plague victims.

King Ophire proposed to choose a few from the Wescott fief who would be willing to volunteer to be test subjects for this analysis.

Wescott fief was the first fief that had reported cases of the plague and could be considered as the epicenter of the plague.

Since the highest cases were currently from this fief and the highest damage was done there, King Ophire wished to deal with it first to stop any more deaths from taking place.

Sir Merde found this suggestion appropriate and decided that the fifteen on whom the cure would be tested would be from the Wescott fief.

The three men then discussed the areas where the cure would be prepared once this test would come to an end after its prior determined duration of two weeks.

The Royal Hospitals treating these plague victims would be the first areas where the cures would be prepared by the men sent from the Royal Medical Association with the raw materials needed for its creation.

Along with these, the zones with higher infected populations would also be assigned as areas where the cure would be created and immediately administered to its patients.

The surrounding areas where the victims were fewer could also gain the advantage of this amenity as the cure could last for a week after its creation.

Therefore, the physicians could come over and pick up these vials for the patients under their care.

"Make sure that people know what happens after the cure is taken." Duke Brodie reminded Sir Merde after hearing about the scary reactions he had mentioned that took place to the test subject before he finally started to recover.

King Ophire shot his friend an appreciative nod at this reminder as those reactions might seem unsightly and frightening to the citizens if they were uninformed about the same only to experience it later on.

With this final addition, the meeting concluded after everything had been discussed.

"After looking at the results of the two-week trial of the cure, it will be distributed to every plague victim in this Kingdom." The King announced and was keen to turn this into reality very soon.