Chapter 47: The Penicillin
Back in my old world, before I woke up in this grand palace as Crown Prince Alexius, I was just a regular high school student. I remember sitting quietly, in a brightly lit biology classroom, listening to my teacher talk about the greatest medical miracle in human history.
For thousands of years on Earth, a simple scratch from a rusty nail or a bad seasonal fever was a death sentence. People prayed, used strange plant pastes, and just hoped they would survive. Millions of people died feeling completely helpless. But all of that changed in the year 1928 because of a scientist named Alexander Fleming.
My teacher had shown us a black-and-white picture of Fleming's messy, disorganized laboratory. He had gone on a summer vacation and carelessly left several small glass dishes out on his table. Those dishes were filled with deadly bacteria. When he came back, he found that a stray spore of green mold had drifted through his open window and landed in one of the dishes. Instead of the bacteria eating the mold, the exact opposite happened. The green mold had naturally created a chemical juice that completely destroyed the bacteria around it, leaving a clear ring of dead germs.
That green mold was called Penicillium notatum.
However, Fleming only discovered the mold. He didn't know how to make enough of it to treat people. It wasn't until a decade later, during a massive, terrible global war, that two other brilliant scientists named Howard Florey and Ernst Chain figured out the rest. They worked out how to freeze-dry, purify, and mass-produce the mold's juice into a stable, usable medicine. They turned a simple piece of rotting fungus into the world's first real antibiotic, saving millions of lives and completely changing the future of humanity.
Because of those high school lessons, I had the general knowledge of how the process worked. Even back then, I had always wanted to try doing it myself just to see if I could make it work. Now, my people are suffering because the racist Church boycotted them to do their own jobs, I didn't have a choice. I had to try even though I don't know the details of doing one.
I immediately turned away from the window and summoned Chancellor Elias, Commander Vane, Aelrue, and my Dwarven Master Smith, Thorgar Ironhand.
"Thorgar," skipping all the usual polite greetings.
"I need you to build a laboratory. I need it built exactly to my designs, and I need it finished in one day."
Thorgar's thick eyebrows shot up. It is very difficult even for the master craftsman like Thorgar to build a level of the laboratory I am suggesting yet I have to force them to use their skill outputs to the maximum. I grabbed a piece of blank parchment and quickly drew rough sketches of what I remembered from my textbooks. I drew massive glass fermentation vats, boiling flasks, complex copper distillation coils, and tables meant for filtering liquids.
Thorgar looked at the parchment, his large, soot-stained hands tracing the lines.
"These are very strange tools, Your Highness," the dwarf grunted.
"But my smiths and glassblowers have been working non-stop, polishing their skills day by day . Making some large glass jars, copper pipes and an advanced alchemist room in a single day? We will get it done."
"Build it in the underground stone chambers beneath the East Wing," I told him.
Thorgar ran off immediately to gather his men. I sat down with Elias, Vane, and Aelrue to discuss countermeasures against the spreading pandemic.
"We need to slow the spread," I ordered.
"Elias, use the kingdom's funds to buy clean water and fresh blankets. Vane, have the Nightwatch map out which city blocks are the most infected so we can quarantine them. Alerue, gather clean cloth for bandages."
"It will be done, Your Highness," Elias said.
"One more thing," I added.
"Send a message to Duchess Zemlya at the Magi-Tech lab. Tell her to bring her finest magical measuring tools and alchemical equipment to the new underground lab tomorrow. And just in, I want you to send a Royal Guard to the Faith District. Bring the High Priestess of Ventaphala, the Elven Church of wind and life, to the palace. I will need her help with the plants."
A day later, I walked down the damp, sloping stone steps into the East Wing basement. Thorgar and his team had done their jobs successfully without a hitch though they all were worn out by exhaustion of the sleepless night. The dark room had been completely transformed into bright, clean workspace rows with perfectly clear glass vats on the tables. New copper pipes gleamed under the magical lights, freshly produced from the dwarven forges. Normally they can't be done in a single day, with the help of mages under Royal Authority they get it done in time.
Duchess Zemlya was already there, wearing usual white coat since she was assigned to the alchemy department. She had also brought a huge collection of her own tools—glowing magical scales, crystal vials, and runic burners. A few moments later, the High Priestess of the Elven Church arrived. She was a gentle-looking beautiful elven woman wearing soft green robes that smelled like fresh pine needles and rain.
"You called for me, Grand Prince?" the High Priestess asked, bowing gracefully.
I walked over to a silver tray resting on the main table. I reached into my pocket and placed a single piece of rotting, green-molded bread onto the silver metal.
"I assume you already know the situation in the capital. The pandemic is spreading rapidly among the citizens. People are suffering because someone neglected their duty. To alleviate their suffering, we are going to create a cure for the fever." I told them, looking between the proud Imperial Grand Mage and the calm Elven Priestess.
"Diseases are caused by tiny, invisible bugs. This green mold makes a natural poison that kills those bugs. They cannot be administered as it is to the patients. The three of us are going to work days and nights to turn that poisonous mold into a cure. We are not leaving this room until we have a cure."
Zemlya and the Elven Priestess looked at the moldy bread and surprised.
"Can this cure the pandemic happening inside the capital?"
"Yes it can, trust me and do as I am told". "Let's begin."
And so, the hardest work of my life started.
First, I used my Light magic to blast the inside of the glass vats with bright, holy rays, killing any bad germs that might be hiding inside the glass. We filled the vats with completely pure, distilled water and added a carefully measured mix of sugars and nutrients. Then, using a clean needle, I carefully dropped tiny scrapes of the green mold into the water.
In nature, this mold would take weeks to grow and make the medicine. We didn't have weeks. People are suffering right now. I needed Zemlya and the High Priestess to use their magic to speed up the mold's life without killing it.
By the second day of our desperate work, things above ground went bad.
I had reports from Elias that the situation in the city has reached a breaking point. The local pharmacies and herbalist shops have completely run out of medicine and places to host the infected , the pharmacies cannot hold the crowds anymore. They are actively turning sick patients away from their doors. Thousands are infected. The sickness is spreading through the air in the crowded districts. As of this morning twenty-five citizens are dead.
Twenty-five dead. Those were my people.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead. I felt a deep, burning anger rising inside me. I refused to let my people die alone in the cold mud just because the local shops were full.
"If the city cannot hold them, then I will," I said firmly. "Elias, issue a royal command immediately. Mobilize the entire Royal Army and the Royal Guards. I want every single member of my cabinet, every minister, and every servant to drop what they are doing."
"What are your orders, Grand Prince?"
"Open the main gates of the Royal Palace!" I ordered."Clear the royal lawns, open the grand halls, and move the furniture out of the way! Set up military medical tents everywhere. Bring all the braziers and firewood from the armories to keep the people warm. Open the Royal granaries to give free meals and relief to the people. I order the army to go into the streets and carry the sick inside the palace walls! We will host the patients right here on the palace grounds! Tell them to use provided masks, uniforms and soaps."
Elias's eyes widened in total shock, but he quickly bowed.
"It shall be done, Your Highness!"
The three of us in the underground lab continue to push ourselves past the limits of endurance.
We worked days and nights, forgot to eat, barely slept for more than a few minutes at a time. The process was incredibly difficult.
At first, Zemlya tried to force the mold to grow using her massive, heavy Earth magic. But her power was too strong and too rough. The mold would grow huge in seconds, but then the water would turn dark brown, bubble violently, and the mold would die, leaving behind a terrible, rotting smell.
"It's too fragile!" Zemlya yelled, slamming her hands on the wooden table in frustration for yet again failing the test.
"You are treating it like a rock, Duchess," the Elven High Priestess said softly.
"It is a living plant. It must be guided, not forced."
We changed our method. I had them combine their magic. Zemlya provided the raw, heavy energy, the High Priestess acted as a filter, turning that heavy power into soft, nurturing green life magic. I stood ready with Water and Light magic to control the temperature and separate the pure liquid from the solid chunks of mold.
We failed hundreds of dozens of times. Glass flasks shattered from the heat. Some batches turned out completely toxic. Some had no medicine in them at all.
Finally, after one week of endless, grueling work, the green magic glowed softly against the glass. The mold bloomed beautifully, turning the clear sugar water into a thick, cloudy, golden-yellow liquid. I quickly used my magic to filter out the solid pieces and gently evaporate the extra water.
I poured the remaining golden liquid into a small crystal vial. It glowed slightly in the dim light of the lab. It was perfectly stable. We had finally found the production method.
I rushed up the stairs with the first batch of medicine, but the victory felt hollow the moment I stepped outside.
The royal courtyard was packed with thousands of sick, coughing people lying on blankets and cots. The smell of sickness was everywhere. Elias walked up to me, his shoulders slumped in defeat. I could see dark circles in his eyes.
By the time we had found the formula, the fever had taken a horrific toll. Over 500 people had died. Another 2,800 citizens were permanently disabled, their minds and bodies broken by the extreme, untreated heat of the fever.
I stood in the middle of the crowded courtyard, clutching the small glass vial so tightly my knuckles turned white. 500 lives lost because we weren't fast enough. 2,800 lives ruined. I felt a heavy, crushing guilt press down on my chest.
But I couldn't let my grief stop me. There were still thousands more who needed help.
"Elias, I had completed the first 50 batches of the vials for cures, administered them to the most critical persons with certified pharmacists. The method is written in this paper. No formalities do the job immediately. The people are dying" I handover the note written beforehand and 50 glass vials of cures to Elias . He bowed and immediately set to the tents where the pharmacists were.
"Thorgar!" I shouted, finding the dwarf among the medical tents.
"Build fifty more glass vats! We know the formula now. I want the lab running day and night!"
For the next month, the East Wing basement became a factory of producing penicillin. Zemlya, the High Priestess, and I trained a team of royal mages to safely duplicate our exact magical process. We fermented, filtered, and bottled the golden medicine by the gallons.
We worked tirelessly, mass-producing the cure. My soldiers and guards walked through the city streets and the palace grounds, handing out small vials of penicillin to every single person who was sick.
Slowly, the coughing stopped. The fevers broke. Children who had been burning up with sickness opened their eyes and breathed normally again. Within a month, we had given the entire population of the capital the cure.
We had beaten the pandemic, but as I looked at the fresh graves in the Faith District, I knew I would never forget the heavy price we had paid to learn this lesson.
(Continue…..)