Family Business 18: Opposition Strikes (Patreon)

Family Business
Chapter 18: Opposition Strikes

-VB-

Despite the initial hostility I have faced from some individuals, the commoners and nobility alike welcomed healing.

Just as communism did not work due to its strict and inflexible standards and money made the world work, healing was not just a vital part of human life but a critically vital part of human life. No matter who you were, you were sick at one point in your life. For the Demacians who saw magic healers who offered pain, brief, and cheap healing, the notion of refusing such a good offer, especially when backed by the king himself and a powerful noble was …

Let’s say there was a distinction between stupids and stupids.

Though they didn’t like it, no one sensible was going to say no to not having to suffer two day long fever from cold.

Of course, there were many insensitive, insensible, and insecure parties in Demacia.

That was what I was dealing with now.

There were many guilds in Demacia. To put the explanations of guilds into a short phrase, they were skilled artisans producing minor, major, and luxury goods who possessed monopoly on their specialty products and fixed prices so as to not cause too much issue in any significant direction.

In bringing my magic healers, I had upset three guilds and the commoners and nobility who backed them.

The weakest of these was the Herbalist Guild, the guild of Markus Renovilus the intruding idiot from the hospital. While they didn’t barge into anything like Markus did, they were very firm on the stance that the magic healers would be a detriment to the city’s economy.

“The Herbalist Guild hires nine hundred denizens of the city!” the guild master of the Herbalist Guild, an old man with wrinkles all over his face and white hair, beard, and moustache adorning his head and face. “Indirectly, we are responsible for helping the Pharmacy Guild and the Health Guild-!” Who were the second strongest and the strongest guilds respectively to challenge me today. “- and these magic healers would put all of us out of business! Allowing them to continue to operate would mean an economical disaster for the city and the kingdom at a time we cannot allow such!”

This was true, the

The king listened to all of this, turned to me, and spoke to me. “Count Jorasmang-Crownguard. You have brought the healers up in their training. Can you tell me and the rest of the court if the fears of Guild Master Haustop is valid?” he asked genially.

I.e. he didn’t care about needing to justify the healers and since I reared them and brought them without permission, it was my job - and not his - to justify the healers as acceptable.

“Of course, your majesty,” I bowed once. “If I may?”

“The stage is yours.”

I stepped onto the middle of the court in the Throne Room for this was where most courts were held.

“Master Haustop of the Herbalist Guild, Master Evantok of the Pharmacy Guild, and Master Putis of the Doctor Guild, I greet you all. I am Count Marris Jorasmang-Crownguard, the man who brought these magicians together for them to be dedicated to healing.”

Haustop, a venerable elder, was quick to assume respect with a bow. He may be older than me and probably most of the court, but I outranked him.

He was a merchant commoner, and I was a Count; at the very least, the current gap in rank between us was at best two and at worst four. If he disrespected me even with legitimate concerns for business, city, and nation, then there was a good chance that he and his family may get offed, and it wouldn’t be caused by me, directly or indirectly.

“As for your concern, I believe that magical healers will not lead to any significant jobless.” I paused to let my words sink in and to give room for myself and my words so that continuing right off the bat did not make me sound like I was throwing excuses but rather what would follow my statement was a well thought out argument.

“First of all,” I began. “Magic is not just about using mana, which is inside all of us but significantly more in magicians, and performing an act.” I needed to explain the situation in detail as many of the rich and influential nobles and commoners in the court right now did not have contact with magic before this and knew every little about it, if any. “A simple burn healing spell may require nothing aside from the magical healer, but something significantly more serious like infections, accidental poisoning, and even fatigue removal requires reagents for such magics to work.

“A good example of this would be syphilis.”

The court became silent before an uproar rose up.

Just like in my past world, syphilis was a sexually-transmitted disease, and it was one that did not have a reliable cure. The only true prevention was monogamy.

The king raised a hand, and everyone fell silent.

“You claim to have cured syphilis?”

“Yes, milord,” I replied, looking at him. “However, magic alone cannot ensure the outcome.”

“How so?”

“Let me say it this way, your majesty: magic can be used in conjunction with extracts of fungi that only a few of my people know of to improve the rate of cure significantly. While the fungi extract itself can be used and will cure the disease, the quantity required is … too significant for any non-specialized organization to produce. However, if, let’s say, the Herbalist Guild were to set up warehouses to grow this fungi and smoothen its processing speed…”

Master Haustop’s eyes widened.

“I highly doubt that even a warehouse is enough to cure everyone in the city,” I replied.” But magicians don’t need the whole amount, only a fraction.”

I could see the money rolling in Haustop’s eyes.

“But what about diseases such as red skin trafty? Well, it is actually a mana-deficinecy disease, which requires magicians to infuse mana into the patient for them to survive! This doesn’t mean that the patients are magicians or even capable of being magicians; they just had too little mana to the point of it being detrimental to their physical self just as being too physically weak would weaken one’s mana reserve. Unfortunately, due to its similarity with the smallpox and cowpox, only experienced doctors can tell the difference!”

And on and on I gave a list of diseases and how magic can be used help cure , if not be the cure.

One by one, the faces of the court changed from disdain to … hopeful stares.

Because these dirty motherfuckers probably had syphilis.

And only I had the cure.

Who the fuck was going to stop me now?