So I'm a Snake, Who Cares

Sometimes in life, you encounter situations like this.

You start talking, thinking it might be the case, and as you continue, your own opinion starts to sound more plausible.

That's exactly what was happening now.

'I think it's scurvy!'

The symptoms matched perfectly.

Although I wasn't a doctor, I knew about scurvy.

It had such an interesting history that it even had an entry on Na*wiki.

"What's scurvy?" Manjin muttered.

In fact, I hadn't been consciously aware of it lately, but I was clearly conversing in this place's 'common language', not Korean.

"Scurvy...? What a strange pronunciation."

It seems they don't know about it.

'Ah, you don't know about scurvy!'

Well then, let me start by explaining the symptoms of scurvy.

'Actually, scurvy is a vitamin C deficiency. Humans can't synthesize vitamin C in their bodies, so they need to consume it regularly. If there's a prolonged nutritional imbalance, vitamin deficiency occurs, starting with symptoms of lethargy and fatigue!'

"...?"

'Then appetite decreases, gums start bleeding, the face becomes pale, eyes sunken, and in severe cases, internal bleeding can occur, which can even lead to death! It was common among sailors who lived on ships for long periods!'

Despite my enthusiastic explanation, the dwarves looked at me with expressions that said, 'What on earth are you talking about?'

Well, they probably don't even know what vitamins are.

Fortunately, there was one person who understood me.

"Are you talking about the sailor's disease?"

It was Pelerian.

'You know about it?'

"It's a disease that frequently occurred among human sailors. A strange illness that gets better once they leave the ship and reach a port."

'Yes, that's right, it seems to be that.'

It looks like scurvy exists in this world too.

"You know the cure for that? A mere m-... No, a monster!"

One warning point for Pelerian.

'It's simpler than you might think. Eating fresh fruit containing vitamin... well, that stuff, solves it.'

"It can't be that simple..."

The moment of modern medicine's triumph in another world had arrived.

I explained scurvy and its treatment to the dwarves.

They still looked half-convinced.

But what else could they do but believe?

'Do you have any fruit?'

Originally, finding fresh fruit inside a sealed mine would be impossible.

But here, there was one unusual dwarf who had a hobby of gardening.

"I've been growing lemons. They've borne fruit, but..."

'Great! Bring them.'

Dunkel nodded and ran off hurriedly.

Meanwhile, the other dwarves tended to Helmut.

Fortunately, Helmut regained consciousness.

It seems he hadn't been on the brink of death, but had collapsed due to accumulated fatigue from working alone.

"Please lie down for a while."

"Ugh... To think such a terrible thing happened."

We explained the Blue Beard incident to Helmut.

He tried to get up but lay back down at Manjin's insistence.

As we waited for Dunkel, Pelerian suddenly asked a question.

"But isn't the sailor's disease something that only affects humans?"

'Pardon?'

"I've never heard of dwarves getting the sailor's disease. Even though there have been dwarven sailors."

'Uh...'

Scurvy occurs because humans can't synthesize vitamin C on their own.

The dwarves' body structure might actually be different.

If so, the scurvy hypothesis itself might have been wrong from the start.

As my confidence started to waver, Dunkel came running back.

He was carrying a basket full of bright yellow lemons.

Well, let's try feeding him the lemon.

"Lemon... I'm not eating that stuff."

Helmut, true to his stubborn dwarf nature, refused to eat the raw lemon.

But this wasn't the time to indulge in such trivial objections.

"Grab his arms."

"Y-You rascal!"

Under Dunkel's lead, Helmut was forced to eat the lemon.

"Urghh!"

Helmut screamed, scrunching up his face.

Manjin, who had never eaten a lemon before, was startled by this reaction.

"What kind of taste is it to..."

"Want to try one yourself?"

"No, I'm good!"

If these symptoms really are scurvy, it would be good for Manjin to eat a vitamin C-rich lemon too.

Manjin promised he'd eat one after seeing if Helmut got better.

We had to wait and see.

Although we didn't have much time.

The verdict came after just one day of waiting.

"My body... feels incredibly light."

The symptoms that had been plaguing Helmut had improved.

The bleeding from his gums had stopped, and his lethargy had disappeared.

The 'epidemic' that had been circulating in the dwarf mine had indeed been scurvy.

I was about to rejoice that my guess had been correct.

But I quickly read the atmosphere and stopped myself.

"This is... unbelievable."

Dunkel was trembling, his fists clenched tight.

"All those people died? When they could have lived if they'd just eaten lemons..."

The fact that it was a disease that could have been easily cured made it all the more tragic.

Dwarves probably had a constitution that didn't easily succumb to scurvy.

But the prolonged blockade had led to an extreme nutritional imbalance.

Moreover, Blue Beard had recently started burning the critically ill.

"Blue Beard..."

The expression of the usually gentle Dunkel turned frightening.

"Do you know what you've been doing...?"

His anger was palpable.

Still, Dunkel, talking to yourself like that doesn't look very cool from the side.

I know that well.

"I think there might be a better way to use the lemons."

Manjin muttered, touching a lemon.

Oh, I think so too.

Manjin and I spoke simultaneously.

"It could wake people up!"

'We could make lemonade!'

I quickly crumpled up the note I had written as Dunkel tried to read it.

"Since it's so sour, maybe it could snap people out of their fire-induced trance."

'Hmm, I wonder if it would be that easy.'

Although I had some doubts, we couldn't do much about Blue Beard with just us anyway.

"If we can rescue Brother Tral, it would be a great help. Trust me."

Manjin said with a serious face.

I didn't think so.

But since Manjin was willing to take action himself, it seemed good to give him a few lemons.

Dunkel handed a few lemons to Manjin.

Manjin didn't hesitate to pack the lemons and leave.

"There are many people to feed, but this is a problem."

'What is?'

"The lemons. This is all we have." Find joy at m-vl_emp,yr

Saying that, Dunkel collected the seeds that Helmut had eaten and spit out.

Even with an indoor garden, it would take time to replant and grow lemons.

We didn't have the luxury of waiting for that now.

That's when it happened.

The chimera snake started showing interest in the seeds.

To the eyes of the seedling chimera, did the lemon seeds look like babies?

'Just in case, I'm telling you not to eat them, chimera.'

I said that because it tends to eat just about anything.

Fortunately, the chimera didn't eat the seeds.

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