ITK C184: Commonsense Gap

I was able to confirm that Puffer was in harmony with the new girls.
Relieved, I decided to go to the next place.

---

“Assistants? My very own?”

Garra Rufa, known as the Witch of the Plague in her nation and a current member of our farm’s mermaid team, is in the infirmary which had been built within the mansion before I knew it.

My farm has become more accident-prone with more residents such as Letasreit, elves, satyrs, and earth spirits living with us.

Whenever someone gets in an accident, we need people who can deal with it. And there’s no one more fitting for the role than Garra Rufa who had worked as a doctor in the Mermaid Kingdom.

Therefore, she’s always on standby in the improvised infirmary and can’t be involved in making fermented foods and fertilizers, which is what the mermaid team is supposed to do.
If anything, even our medical service, which is her main focus at the moment, is short on manpower.

The fact that Puffer is willing to prioritize this area by sending helpers is a meticulous gesture befitting the wife of the future mermaid king.

The girls assigned here are named Heckelii, the Witch of Air, and Batrachus, the Witch of Earth.

The ‘witch’ part is just self-proclamatory, though.
As what happened with Puffer, these two also excitedly approach Garra Rufa whom they had never met before.

“So, you’re Master Garra Rufa!”
“The Witch of the Plague, Garra Rufa!!!”

The timid Garra Rufa is taken aback by the girls’ enthusiasm.

“We’ve heard anecdotes of your madness!”
“You’re even widely talked about in school!!”

…
Anecdotes of her madness?

“They say the debate over who is the strongest of the Mad Six is divided into various theories!”
“But when it comes to the craziest, everyone is unanimous that it’s you, Master!!!”

…

“It’s no surprise since you’re a member of the Mermaid Medical Association, the best in the nation, and you propose original theories with reckless implementations!!!”
“And though you were evicted for being obsessed with your repulsive and wild theories, this didn’t stop you from continuing your research!!!”
“In addition to being feared for your eccentricity, you’re also a legendary figure who, aside from your nickname, has had other titles such ‘the craziest of the six witches,’ ‘the maddest of the mad,’ ‘those who have gone nuts are nothing but an act in front of her,’ and many more!”
“It’s an honor to be able to see you in person, Master Garra Rufa!!!”

Garra Rufa receives the girls’ barrage of praises (?) who kept prattling at her face-on.
She stands up from her chair, walks briskly, and plops face down on the bed typically found in any infirmary…
And starts sobbing.

“So mean! That was too much!!!”
“HUH?!”

The two girls, Heckerlii and Batrachus, got the title of ‘Making the Witch of the Plague Cry’ as soon as they arrived at our farm.

---

I had to console Garra Rufa by patting her on the head five hundred times before she recovered.

“You girls are mistaken!!!”

And as soon as she was back on her feet, she refuted the innocent girls.

“I’m not the maddest of the mad mermaids as you call me! I’m just the plainest of the plain citizens!
“HUH?”
“It’s all because I’ve been lumped in with the Six Witches and the rumors that surround them! Now, I’m also being unfairly evaluated as if I’m the crank of the century!!!”

You mean you’re not?

“I’m not as strong as Lampeye or Puffer, nor as noble as Princess Platy! I’m just plain! Plain to the bitter end!”

Garra Rufa is bawling as if she’s venting out her pent-up frustrations.

“I’m the most ordinary of the Six Witches, so to speak! I have destitute talent and no ability! Being earnest is my only redeeming feature! What you said was mere overestimation! No, it’s not even an overestimation, it’s an unfair evaluation! I’m not mad!!!”
“O-Oh…”

The two girls are overwhelmed by Garra Rufa desperately defending herself.
I guess this is where I step in and appease the situation.

“Now, now, Garra Rufa. Don’t get too agitated or you’ll scare them.”
“Oh, you’re right, Lord Saint.”
“As I said earlier, these girls will help you with your work. Why don’t you show them what you do on a regular basis? That way, your fake rumors will vanish on their own.”
“Pardon? Oh! You make a good point, Lord Saint! You and your words really are in a different league!!!”

I managed to hold back the next words ‘if they really are fake’ that were already at the tip of my tongue.

“Come here, both of you! Let me explain to you my job!”
“YES, MA’AM!”

Garra Rufa places a piece of equipment in front of them with a thud.
It’s the microscope that I had given to her some time ago.
But its appearance has changed a lot since then.

“This is the microscope given to me by Lord Saint, which I modified on my own to increase its accuracy and resolution! I used my own magic and asked the elven glassworkers to make a more powerful lens!”

Poel, the leader of the glasswork team, complained about how you were so relentless and persistent with your order that their other work got delayed, you know?

“Now, we can observe bacteria to the fullest!!!”

The only expressions left on Heckerlii and Batrachus’ faces after hearing Garra Rufa’s explanation were…

“?” “???” “?!” “?!?!” “…?” “????????????????????????????????????????”

Like that.
They don’t seem to understand what Garra Rufa is saying.

Well, I don’t blame them.
The concept of bacteria itself doesn’t exist in this world yet, after all.

“…Um, may I ask you a question?”
“Yes! What is it?”
“What’s…’bactiryuh’?”
“Good question! Bacteria are tiny, tiny, TINY organisms! They are everywhere—in the air, in our bodies, EVERYWHERE!!!”
“HUH?!”

Their view of Garra Rufa is starting to change.

“What do you think happens when we can observe bacteria? You can do a lot! After all, germs are the cause of many diseases! If we can examine the patient’s body and find bacteria that aren’t normally present, we can immediately find out what disease the patient is suffering from!”
“Examine the body? How?”
“We draw blood from them.”
“BLOOD?!”

It’s still changing.

“Up until now, the only way to examine a patient was to observe the superficial symptoms, so there was no way to avoid the risk of misdiagnosis. But! With the introduction of hemanalysis, the accuracy has increased dramatically! Now, all we have to do is to apply the appropriate treatment for the identified disease! Moreover!”
“MOREOVER?”
“There’s also a revolutionary method of treatment using bacteria! I’ll spare you the finer details for this one, but for example, we can draw the blood of a person who has been cured of a certain disease and inject it into…”
“INJECT IT INTO?”
“Into patients suffering from the same disease!!!”
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!”

Well, she skipped a lot of steps, but blood serum is a common treatment in my world… And my world alone.
The common sense in my world isn’t necessarily the same as the common sense in other worlds like this one.

“M-M-Master Garra Rufa!”
“You really are mad!!!”

I think their reactions are pretty reasonable.

“What?!”

Please, Garra Rufa.
You don’t have to look so surprised.

“I have no idea what you talked about, but what I do know is that it sounded awesome!!!”
“It’s madness! It can’t be anything but madness! You’re the only one among the six witches who can come up with such crazy ideas!!!”
“Truly madness within madness! Garra Rufa, the craziest of the six witches!!!”
“You’re the real deal after all! I have a newfound respect for you!!!”

They’re pretty wacko themselves if they respect her more despite calling her mad.

“Lord Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaint! These girls don’t understand me at all! Why? Why, oh why?!” cries out Garra Rufa to me.

Come on, what do you expect? You went too far ahead and overwhelmed them.
It’ll take a long time before your commonsense and this world’s commonsense attain balance.

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