Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt - Chapter 172



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Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt Chapter 172

30-Ignaqua

To these women, nurses emphasized that clean blankets and bandages were the best treatment to put the injured at ease, but these women, who grew up in precious homes, did not understand and often just ignored it.

For those who had never washed a single small handkerchief with their own hands in their lifetime, hard labor like laundry did not suit their aptitude.

In the end, what’s left are those from less prestigious and less wealthy families, who at least know how to do their own laundry.

Well, the only thing I know how to do is laundry, but how good is that?

At least it would be a huge help if it could reduce the amount of time real nurses with casualty care spend doing laundry.

Arthur, while still undergoing some training, provided some small assistance to those who were willing to serve in difficult tasks.

“What is this, Your Majesty the Hurt?”

“It’s a washing machine and a dehydrator.”

In response to Mrs. Nelson’s question, Arthur showed her a prototype.

The washing machine, made by remodeling an oak barrel, was a device that washed clothes by putting water, laundry, and powdered soap or lye in it, standing on a treadle connected to an axis, and stepping on it would rotate vertically, like a drum washing machine. The dehydrator was also a device that drained water through centrifugal force when stepping on a treadle connected to an axis.

“This! Ouch! A lot! Ugh! This is hard!”

Mrs. Nelson, a widow, let out a strange moan as she tried it out herself. The nurses who were receiving training with her blushed slightly at her moan, but Arthur gave her advice without showing any sign of it.

“If you use your knees like that, your knees will hurt. If you use your butt muscles, you won’t get hurt and you’ll use less strength. Come out and try it.”

Arthur demonstrated this himself, showing how to use abdominal pressure and hip hinge to step onto the step without putting any strain on the knees.

“Because it mainly uses the buttock muscles, it has the effect of firming the buttocks.”

Well, if it had been heard by the average woman of this era, it might have sounded like sexual harassment, but looking at Arthur’s calm expression, it seemed like there was no such intention.

But taking those words at face value was another matter, so Arthur continued his explanation.

“There are similar ways to shape your body in total care services.”

The other nurses’ ears perked up at the mention that it was also used in total care services. The reputation of total care services, which take care of women’s bodies and fashion, had spread beyond the aristocratic society and even to the common people.

Mrs. Nelson was impressed.

“Oh my! Can you teach me such a valuable tip?”

“Can’t we at least tell this much to people who do hard work? Besides, this is equipment that is supposed to make your work easier, so it wouldn’t hurt your knees.”

If the washing machine and dehydrator that you worked so hard to make are known to be knee-dead machines, they will become a burden, and people in the field will have a hard time doing laundry the old way. Then, won’t all your efforts be in vain? And this time, there will be difficulties in trying to monopolize the supply of washing machines and dehydrators.

Just when Arthur thought he had been given some education on how to use the washing machine and dehydrator, Dr. Cronell, who had roughly finished his research on Lux, appeared in front of him with dark circles around his eyes. However, his expression was bright.

“This is a jackpot! This is going to revolutionize medicine in the world!”

He was convinced that the long-term theory was correct through the ‘water containing the power of lightning’ that Arthur had created through the alchemy book, and he even wrote a paper on it. There, he even gave the name Ignaqua to the locks that Arthur had created. It meant ‘water of lightning.’

“This can protect the wounded soldiers from the sick.”

“Have you found a way to use it safely?”

Kronel nodded to Arthur’s question. It was safe to ventilate periodically to avoid the peculiar smell of Ignaqua.

There were also cases where laboratory mice died in unventilated environments, and Cronell, who was skilled as a doctor, confirmed that the cause was lung damage. Theoretically(?), this was an explanation. The logic was that if you inhale the energy of lightning into your lungs, how can your lungs be healthy?

Arthur nodded and said.

“Then, now you can work at the field hospital.”

“huh?”

Arthur, with a tired expression, handed over the work he had been handling to Cronel, who looked puzzled.

Preparations were made for the delivery and transportation of necessary medical supplies, how many nursing staff had been recruited, what training had been provided, and how much had been paid. Now, all that was left was to select a site for the field hospital and to invest personnel and resources.

Dr. Cronell, who had been receiving the handover with a trembling expression, nodded in admiration when the handover was over.

It was a job well done with no room for criticism. I thought that he was indeed competent and that he was given the title of youngest quasi-baron.

Dr. Cronell, who was admiring the view, suddenly had this thought.

If he’s so good at handling things, isn’t it unnecessary for him to be in charge of running the field hospital? Wouldn’t it be possible to save more people by studying Ignaqua more?

The combination of his ambition as a physician and his practical rationality gave him ample justification to pass the work on to Arthur, but Arthur had a great shield.

“Ignaqua. Shouldn’t we produce more?”

“Ah. Um… … .”

“Shouldn’t we improve the production process and expand the scale so that field hospitals don’t run out of supplies?”

And that was something that Kronel couldn’t do. It was difficult even though he knew the principle of electromagnetic induction. He didn’t actually have the ability to make a generator.

“Please.”

Cronell had no choice but to let Arthur go, and Arthur returned to the factory as promised.

But I was not as busy as when I was acting for Dr. Cronell. All I had to do was build a few more generators, the design of which was already complete, and connect them to the steam engine, and secure more salt and clean water.

While Arthur was building the wires and securing more generators, a field hospital was set up a little way from the front lines. And when washing machines, dehydrators, and Ignaquas were supplied to the field hospital, a large-scale battle broke out.

“I won! I won!”

“Extra, extra! The proud Royal Central Army has won!”

News of victory was heard. But Arthur was not entirely pleased.

In any case, victory or defeat is a matter of life and death. Even if he gained an advantage in the immediate battle, the war did not end. And to Arthur, the life or death of his brother Hans was more important than victory or defeat.

Fortunately, Hans reported his safety through a letter during this large-scale engagement. However, the letter contained regret for the horrors of war rather than celebration of victory.

[Every time a thick cloud of white smoke burst out, my comrades in the battle line fell. I was hit once, but I survived thanks to the breastplate you insisted on wearing. Thanks to that, my comrades called me the Immortal Hans.]

If the infantry of the front line ran out of gunpowder or the enemy was too close to reload, they had to engage in close combat with guns and swords. Even if they were enemies, the feeling of stabbing a human being ran through their hands, paralyzing their reason. The sense of crisis and murderous intent that they would die if they did not kill the enemy they faced.

Some people would panic or burst into tears when faced with that murderous intent, while others would transform it into madness or fighting spirit. Hans was one of the latter.

[It would be difficult to maintain one’s sanity if it were not for the determination to protect the country and loyalty to His Majesty the King. I hope this war ends in victory.]

And as a postscript, I asked Arthur if the quilted breastplate Hans had received could be supplied, saying that if it was supplied, many soldiers would survive.

Arthur thought for a moment at Hans’ postscript. Could it be that they didn’t distribute it because they didn’t have the technology to block bullets?

That wouldn’t be the case. I found out after I stopped Kato and Sangswart from dueling with pistols earlier, but they were both wearing silk body armor.

The concept of using multiple layers of cloth to prevent penetration has been around for a long time.

But did the king really not know this? It turns out that the commanding officers were making or buying bulletproof vests on their own.

Of course, the king could not have been unaware of the existence of bulletproof vests, and the fact that he did not provide them despite knowing about it ultimately meant that the budget was the problem.

Rather than providing bulletproof vests to protect soldiers, they decided that using that money to gather more troops and maximize firepower would be a shortcut to victory.

It wasn’t a wrong statement. According to Lanchester’s law, the difference in combat power is equal to the square of the difference in troops. In other words, the fewer troops you have, the more damage you incur increases exponentially.

Considering that, it was difficult to unilaterally say that the king did not value his soldiers.

If the casualties of the troops were great, it was only a loss to the king, not a gain.

Still, since Hans had asked him for it, Arthur could not refuse so cruelly, so he spent his own money to make linen armor and sent it to Hans. At least, it was enough for the unit he was assigned to wear.

Thanks to that? The unit led by Hans Jong-sa achieved great success with little casualties. They successfully blocked the enemy forces coming from the side.

However, Hans, who was shot five or six times in the chest during the process, was transferred to a field hospital with a fractured sternum. Fortunately, the broken sternum did not pierce his lungs, so his life was not in danger, but he would not return to the battlefield for a while.

[Thanks to you, I survived. And thank you. I heard that he is scheduled to be promoted to the vice-ministerial post this time. He is even receiving a medal. What an honor! Long live His Majesty the King!]

The letter was filled with Hans’ joy at his success. Arthur laughed that part off and looked at other content, but he was able to catch a glimpse of the state of the field hospital through Hans’ eyes.

The situation was not bad. The hygiene revolution of the field hospital using Lux, or rather Ignaqua, had drastically reduced the risk of infection. The number of wounded, who had previously died by half, was reduced to half of half.

Surprised by these achievements, doctors went on a field trip to the hospital in large numbers to see if the theory of spleen qi was really true.

There was already a lot of controversy because Dr. Cronell wrote a paper arguing that the long-term theory was correct. This was because he described in his paper that the evidence was that the long-term energy was burned with water containing the power of lightning, Ignaqua.

In an age of reason and rationality, it was impossible for a pseudo-alchemy like this to be without controversy.

But this time, based on a paper that contained that pseudo-theory, the mortality rate among injured people was drastically reduced? How can you not check this?

Eventually, when the field hospital’s performance was confirmed, the scholars’ attention naturally shifted to Ignaqua. Arthur’s workaholic balance, which had barely been maintained, was threatened.

“Um… … Your Majesty the Hurt. We have a guest.”

The maid came to the reception room to announce the arrival of a guest. She seemed to have become accustomed to the bustling reception room with the guests who had already arrived, and her expression was calm.

“Uh… …Can you bring me here?”

At Arthur’s tired request, the maid slightly bowed her head, and soon new guests entered the reception room. There were already so many people in the reception room that it was impossible to admit any more.

Arthur made a decision.

“It seems like most of the people who are coming have arrived now, so let’s go to the Ignaqua production plant.”

It was already lunchtime. Arthur got up from his seat, not wanting to bother with the rude lunchtime visitors.

As he rose, doctors and scholars followed him. The sight of a crowd of intellectually dressed gentlemen walking down the street was a spectacular sight, capturing the attention of passersby.