Enlightened Empire

Inside the waters, the beast was in its element. The bizarre creature wiggled its myriad tentacles and thus propelled itself through the waves. Ripples were created all around it and drove away the other creatures, they themselves just as bizarre as the beast they fled from, yet not half as deadly. Within these waters, the beast was the apex predator. Even so, it was unaware of its grand status. Without any thought, it continued to do the only things it knew: Search for food, and devour.

"Nice, looks like everything’s working just fine."

With a smile, Corco looked back up from the newest invention of Saniya’s great craftsmen. A tiny glass bead was held above a small glass container by a wooden frame. Light reflected from the water inside the container focused in the glass bead, through a tube and into the observer’s eyes. It was the first microscope in the world with more than a hundred times magnification, and for the first time it had uncovered a new world, right beneath everyone’s noses.

"King Corcopaca, would this be the... new medical knowledge King has mentioned before?" a timid voice asked behind the king. When Corco turned around, he was confronted by an entire army of stares. Some were confused, some were excited, most looked scared or uncomfortable. However, all of them were relative strangers to Corco, since they were the doctors he had brought over with him from Chutwa. Thus, he didn’t care much about their apprehension.

"That’s right. Anything bothering you?" he teased.

"This master does not intend to be rude, but... are these creatures truly present everywhere, like King claimed?" a careful doctor Itzali asked while his panicked eyes flitted over to the microscope.

"Yup. They’re in the air, they’re in the water, they’re in the ground. They’re in your food, in your mouth and in your guts... and everywhere in between, really. Bacteria are present in many different places and they are responsible for much of life, the good and the bad."

"The bad?" Although he looked like he would rather not know the details, Itzali still asked.

"Well, some of them, some types, cause illness when they enter the body. That’s what most illnesses are: An invasion of these small creatures... well, I guess that’s close enough to the truth for now. We’re not even close to discovering viruses yet, or anything relating to genetics, so it’ll have to do."

Despite Corco’s strange mumbling, the faces of the doctors didn’t change. All of them seemed far too shocked by the changing world before them. Only Itzali showed a forced smile.

"It is just.. it is hard to fathom."

"You’ve seen it with your own eyes, haven’t you?" Corco challenged them. "However tough to admit the existence of bacteria may be, what will you do if you can’t even trust your own eyes anymore? You’re here because you are all masters of medicine, people with the talent to take this knowledge of mine and use it to elevate your entire field. That’s the reason I brought you here. I don’t believe I misjudged anyone and brought someone useless in the process. Whoever is not willing to accept reality and break their agreement with me is free to do so. I just hope all of you can live with the consequences."

As Corco spoke, his stern eyes focused on the various masters. Although at first, some of the older physicians met him with a determined gaze of their own, soon even they lowered their heads in front of the king. After all, now that they were fugitives, they were stuck in Saniya and fully dependent on Corco’s good graces. If the king was in a bad mood, he could very well just cut off their life support, or their heads.

Corco really didn’t want to threaten them like this, but he had spent a lot of time and effort to get the Chutwa doctors into his territory. Even more, their expertise would allow his own subordinates to take a shortcut towards great advancements in medicine, one of the most important fields in the progress of any society. He really didn’t have the luxury to be fair or nice about this, so threats would have to do.

"Right," he continued. "So now that you’ve accepted reality, I assume everyone is ready to learn about these organisms and their influence on the human body?"

A few of the doctors made some unintelligible sounds, but nothing that could be misconstrued as agreement.

"I can’t hear you." His voice became as calm as a lake in winter while a friendly smile formed on his mouth.

"Of course, King Corcopaca. This master is committed to the previous arrangement with all of his heart."

After Itzali had spoken, the other doctors stepped up one by one and reconfirmed the contracts they had already signed with Corco. No matter their actual allegiance, the doctors knew what was best for them.

"Nice. Now that that’s cleared up, here’s what will happen next," Corco clapped his hands together, before he began to enumerate his future plans on his fingers.

"First up, everyone here will enter our local school as special students, and I will teach everyone what little I know of medicine. I’m not a doctor and my knowledge in this area is vastly inferior to everyone here, but it’s also vastly different, so there’s still plenty of new stuff to learn. I’ll teach you about human anatomy, bacteria and hygiene, among other things. At some point, you’ll also memorize and swear the Hippocratic oath. I don’t care what you do to your patients once you return home, but at least in my kingdom, I won’t have you willfully harm any of my people."

The blatant disregard these doctors had shown for the health of others was the reason for the king’s aggressive attitude. Anger burned in his heart as Corco remembered some of the callous treatment his soldiers had received during the war, while his eyes were focused elsewhere. Some of these doctors had used his men as guinea pigs to test out the new techniques they had been taught by the king, as well as several personal variations they thought might yield better or more interesting effect.

The results had been several amputated limbs that could have remained attached, and far more pain than necessary. Since they also ended up saving many lives and he still needed their help, he couldn’t really punish the arrogant doctors for their actions though. Even less since they had done their deeds under exceptional circumstances, during times of war. If he punished everyone of his people for bad behavior during war, he would soon have a riot on his hands. However, at least he wanted these people on a tighter leash from now on, to make sure incidents like these wouldn’t be repeated.

"Okay, second demand," he continued after his first point had seeped into the skulls of the doctors. "Everyone here will spend several hours a day on work with the microscopes. Although I know about bacteria in general, I know precious little about the different types and kinds. With few exceptions, I also know almost nothing about their various habitats or any other relevant traits. For the next few years, all of you will work on the microscopes in here daily to find, understand and catalog as many species as you can. Whatever new discoveries you make, I want you to write them down in a scientifically rigorous manner... guess I’ll have to teach you what that means as well. Every once in a while, let’s say every month, you will turn in a copy of your findings to be archived in my library."

As soon as Corco had stated his second demand, the first of the great doctors cried out over the injustice. Soon, the whole flock followed.

"Impossible! Who would dare steal our knowledge?" the first one screamed out his accusation.

"This master’s trade secrets cannot be divulged to just anyone! Let along giving them away like this! Who knows where they could end up!" the second voiced his concerns.

"Not only giving it away, but giving it away for free!? How could this master’s wisdom be so cheap to have!?" the third tried to raise the price.

Corco’s hand covered his eyes and he could feel the vein on his right temple throb. This was just what he had expected, but it still annoyed him. Like merchants, these masters were used to keeping their craft secret from others and would do everything to preserve the monopoly that had made them so much money in the past. This attitude was the biggest reason why Chutwa’s field of medicine hadn’t really advanced for hundreds of years. It was also why they would eventually lose their technological advantage over Corco’s new kingdom.

Although he would have loved to talk at length about the values of open scientific discourse in an effort to convince them, this was hardly the crowd for it. For a while the string of complaints went on, while the doctors got ever louder and bolder in the process, until Corco finally snapped. His hand grasped the microscope on the table and threw it into the blabbering masses. Like a startled school of fish, the masters scattered and the expensive new invention shattered on the floor.

"Are you fucking done?" the king scowled. "’You’re giving up your wisdom? Who are you kidding with this? You’re making use of my knowledge, and you are using my new tools to make the discoveries, all while you’re in my employ. How does that make any of this your wisdom? You’re just government workers, and the only reason I didn’t hire randoms off the street is because you’re marginally more competent. Don’t think you’re irreplaceable."

His eye twitched as he looked into the unconvinced faces of the masters.

"What is actually wrong with you? You get the chance to revolutionize the world and you complain that you don’t get a monopoly on progress too? You really do have some problems, you know that? That’s not an insult, just an honest observation. There’s something wrong with you. Now, if anyone here makes a useful contribution to Medala’s medical field, they will be rewarded with gold, silver or whatever else they desire. These rewards will be far more valuable than anything you could get from curing random commoners in marketplaces like you have done all your lives. Once your contract is up, you can go back home and either retire rich men, or keep doing the same crap as before. After learning all these new methods, you will even be a lot more successful. However, in return I expect everyone to play by my rules. That includes giving your monthly report, and keeping nothing to yourselves. And I mean nothing."

Again, his eyes ran across the great doctors, who once more were pacified by the king’s aggressive aura. As dignified scholars, they weren’t used to the barbaric directness of some of the rougher Medala nobles. However, even though no one complained anymore, Corco still wasn’t quite done.

"Remember this well: If I find out that any of you are withholding your knowledge or ability to the detriment of my people, I will not be merciful. Humans aren’t made out of glass, but they still break pretty easily. I’m sure all the great doctors here are well aware of what could happen in case you fail to live up to expectations."

An eerie silence fell over the crowd as they all looked down to the broken microscope. The stalemate continued for a while, the doctors too scared to continue their complaints and Corco eager to let them soak in the threatening atmosphere. In the end, he decided to leave early, despite the monumental breakthrough the microscope represented. Today, he had no more patience for nonsense, and he had shattered the glass bead anyways.

"Looks like all of you agree, so that’s settled then. Also, one final point: Everyone here will pick at least three local disciples to train during your time here. Those disciples will stay behind and spread their knowledge to the next generation once you return to Chutwa. Since they will only operate in Medala, under my command, you don’t even need to be afraid of any new competition cropping up for you back home. Anyone have a problem with that?"

"Of course not," Itzali replied as before, but now beads of sweat chased each other down his forehead. Unlike most of the other doctors, he had seen Corco slaughter a high-level cultivator in cold blood. He would know what cruelty the king of the south was capable of, so Itzali looked the most timid out of all of them. "Is there anything else King requires?" he probed, no doubt hoping Corco would leave soon. His new lord wouldn’t do him the favor.

"Ah yeah. I almost forgot from all the burning rage and such." Corco searched around in his robes for a bit, before he pulled out several disorganized notes. After a while of leafing through his many great plans, he found the correct one and threw it on the table he had just cleaned of the microscope. The drawing seemed surreal, a bizarre creature without a mouth or eyes, but with long, almost finger-like appendages. At first it seemed almost abstract, until one realized that the monster was similar to the tiny creatures in the new world under the microscope.

"You’re likely to find this bacterium in the mold of bread, I think... though you might have to search in other places too, I’m not 100%. Finding, isolating and cultivating this one has top priority over all other cataloging. Whoever finds it can expect a great reward, as well as immortal fame." Corco grinned, his mood finally raised by his own devices. "I mean, how could the creator of penicillin ever be forgotten?"