Parallel World Pharmacy Chapter 1 Episode 4

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The Divine Art Lecture of Eleonora

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Falma was eagerly listening and taking down notes from the lecture of Eleonora, also known as Ellen.

All nobles of this world had an aptitude for Divine Arts and had a guardian deity.

The guardian deity and the Divine Art attribute were already decided at birth. The guardian deity was appraised during the baptism ceremony at the church. After the baptismal ceremony had finished, the guardian deity had been determined, and the blessings had been received, the Divine Vein would open up inside the body and the Divine Arts could then be used. The amount of divine power was decided at birth, and one couldn’t increase the amount of divine power by training.

The Divine Art attributes were; Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Non-Elemental.

The attributes were further divided into Positive and Negative.

On the off chance that a guardian deity couldn’t be determined, the child’s Divine Vein wouldn’t open up. The child would the be disowned, and have their rank of being a noble stripped from them.

Therefore the Aristocratic System was centered around the Divine Arts.

(Even if one is a noble, it is still quite severe)

Falma focused his mind.

His father, Bruno, his brother, Pilule, and Falma’s guardian deity were the Deities of Medicine. Their Divine Art attribute was Water (Major). And Ellen taught him.

There were over 100 guardian deities in this world.

It started with the common Sun God, the Moon God, Mother Earth, Wind God, and Sea God. Also there were occupational deities like Deity of Healing, Deity of Medicine, Deity of Blacksmithing, and so on.

There were not many in the continent that had the Deity of Medicine, which allowed apothecaries to use excellent Divine Arts as their guardian deity.

It was for that reason that his father, Bruno, was appointed as Archduke.

By the way, Ellen’s guardian deity was the Water God.

(So, the guardian deity has something to do with the Divine Art attribute. This is indeed a world of the occult)

He was a pharmacologist who lived in present day Japan. Gods, ghosts, devils, magics, and Divine Arts were unscientific. He didn’t like such things, so he hadn’t ever learned them.

“Are we good up to here?”

Ellen asked for confirmation. Falma nodded while looking at the notes he had written down.

“Thank you, I understood it well. By the way, what is non-elemental?”

“It’s an attribute that cannot be categorized within the 4 attributes. There have been non-elemental in the past, but the church hasn’t heard of any appearing in the last 300 years”

Ellen just gave a wry smile when discussing or rebuking the church.

(Which attribute am I? If it’s not the water attribute, will it match the Deity of Medicine? If I was reincarnated and woke up as a different character, would the attribute not change?)

Falma was in great doubt. Because he could create water, he’d just pretend that his attribute was Water [Positive], but……

“What if one can create any substance just by thinking it, what attribute is it?”

“Because it doesn’t fit the definition of the 4 attributes, it would be non-elemental, but there is no such thing as to create any substance. You are only able to create one substance. To create anything you like would not be considered a Divine Art; rather, you would be something like a god or a monster”

(If that’s the case, what is this ability then)

Falma was getting troubled over this, but he decided to not care about the discussion on attributes for now.

“So why do I have to learn Divine Art?”

“There are two reasons for you. First, for self defense”

Nobles didn’t carry swords, they carried Divine Wands, which amplified their Divine Arts, as replacement for swords. It was said that having a sword was a disgrace.

“This is a sword for us”

She took a folding wand from her belt on her waist; it looked good.

In war, common soldiers were useless. Strategies and Tactics boiled down to firing off Divine Arts at each other. It was said that an excellent tactician could change the topography and submerge a castle.

“Falma-kun! What is the next most important thing to a noble?”

“Ah!”

He had brought a notebook and a textbook with him, but he had forgotten the important wand. He recalled that there was a box with luxurious ornaments beside his pillow, wherein seemingly, a silver wand was placed. With that, Falma came to understand.

“A Royal Court Apothecary does not have to master Divine Arts and Military Arts like the Holy Knights, but you must not leave your wand”

It is said that nobles were targeted by the assassins not just once or twice. In addition, thieves and thugs always aimed for them in the streets.

“Another reason to learn Divine Art is because medicines made with Divine Arts have magnificent effects. It’s a required skill for Royal Court Apothecaries”

There were three classes of apothecaries in this continent; all were under control by the empress.

Royal Court Apothecary: Prestigious Aristocratic Apothecary. They mad and prescribed medicines for the nobles and the royalty. There were 3 on record.

First Class/Second Class Apothecary: Aristocratic Apothecary. They mad and prescribed medicines to the nobles only. There were 21 on record.

Third Class Apothecary: Apothecary of the Commoner, belonging to the Apothecaries Guild. It’s the Apothecaries Guild that issued this license. They made and prescribed for the commoners only. There were 246 on record.

The 3 people including his father weren’t recognized by a license, but by the imperial decree of the Empress as Royal Court Apothecary that they held.

The Royal Court Apothecary, First Class, and Second Class Apothecary didn’t sell medicines, but devoted themselves to healing only. Because Aristocratic Apothecary made medicine with Divine Art, the medicine that the Commoner Apothecaries sold was completely different. Ellen puffs her chest with pride.

“I see…..”

Falma thought about something accordingly.

(The medicinal herbs of this world, when the noble… or should I say, when the Divine Arts is used to process it, does it becomes more effective?)

At any rate, there was Divine Art in this world.

Perhaps he could not completely deny the old fashioned herbal therapy. Although there were some inaccuracies in the formula on the pharmaceutical book found in the bookshelf of the mansion, there were also traditional Chinese medicines that were effective, and a list of active ingredients from several medicinal herbs…… So Falma revised his thinking.

Falma had the ability to create substance, but he couldn’t imagine with his mind the composition of a medicine where the structure was complex. That’s the weakness in his ability. In that case, he had to perform compounding in a laboratory; perhaps extracting from plants would be more efficient.

There were medicinal herbs and trees planted in the garden. For example the pacific yew tree, where you can get minuscule amounts of Paclitaxel, an ingredient in anti-cancer drugs. And there are sort of Poppies where you can get opium. He can extract cardiotonic drug from Foxgloves , and so on and so forth. He hadn’t given up yet. Ellen called this herbal garden a Treasured Garden.

“Well then, since I will lend you my wand, please face toward the river and try firing off a Lance de l’eau downstream, like this!”

“Lance de l’eau”

When Ellen assembled the folding wand, it was almost as tall as her. She grasped it tightly, chanted the words quickly, then waved and thrusted it intensely towards the sky.

The wand emitted a stream, and the calm surface of the big river shot straight up for several hundred meters. Eventually it drew an arc and gently fell into the river before disappearing.

“Wow! It really looked like a spear”

Falma shouted with joy.

“Now you do it”

Because it was a high ranking Divine Art, her staff would be difficult to use. Depending on the situation, she planned to say nothing about it. While thinking so, she lent the wand to Falma.

By the way, to activate the Divine Art technique, he guessed that one had to recite the [Trigger Chant].

“Should I wave it with all my might?”

“You should do so with all your might. Wait, make sure there are no boats”

Ellen verified from afar that there weren’t any fishing boats in the river right now, as that would be a violation.

“You’re good to go, give it all you got. The chant is [Lance de l’eau]”

Falma closed his eyes and focused on the wand. He sent an image of a water shooting out from it, but carelessly left out chanting the Trigger Chant.

Then, the wand was waved in position to the sky, and a pale fluorescence rose up from Falma’s whole body. The river couldn’t hold the large amount of water and quickly swelled, the swirling current approaching the height of the embankment.

Cloud formed over the sky and a storm started to rage.

“Kyaaaaa–?!”

She looked with interest as Falma’s Divine technique caused some wind pressure and a shock wave, which blew Ellen into the riverbank. The power of the water current was too big, and they were not simple ones either. At this rate, if the dike was destroyed, the town downstream would be flooded; that was the current situation.

“Woah!?”

When Falma threw away the wand, the water finally calmed down.

“Falma-kun, what….. have you done?”

Ellen was unsteadily standing up with her glasses slipping of slantingly.

“Sorry, I can’t adjust the power. You’re not hurt right?”

Falma didn’t knew the typical power of a Divine technique in this parallel world. It was pointed out that his control was weak.

(When I’m doing personal training, I must not do it near the sea. It would be dangerous if I hit a coastal house or a bridge)

And so he seriously considered.

“Falma-kun, something’s wrong with you……you didn’t say the Trigger Chant”

“Eh?”

Presently, it seemed that he had overdone himself because he sensed that Ellen’s reaction had frozen. He got blindsided by that bad comment, so Falma thought of a way to smooth this over.

“Ellen’s wand is wonderful!! It’s a wand that can used high ranking Divine Arts, I was surprised”

He tried extremely hard to make excuses while showing a fake smile.

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