Herald of Steel



Alexander was certainly worried about the backwardness of this time's medical technology.

Especially because he knew he had no easy way of advancing it anytime soon.

He estimated that the medical technology even a few decades from now would still be comparable to now, and the reason for this would be because he was no doctor.

He only had A level biology knowledge, and whatever he taught up until now was around the limit of medical expertise, while the truly effective medicines, like penicillin, were way beyond his capabilities.

Alexander did read that Flemming had discovered the magical cure accidentally when he left a petri dish to grow mold on, but that was the extent of it.

And even if he could somehow replicate that and produce that exact mold, there was no way he would be able to refine the mold into anything remote close enough for human consumption following that discovery.

After all, though Flemming discovered penicillin in 1928, it still took him another decade and 20th-century chemicals such as sulphuric acid and various organic compounds, treated under many modern purification techniques to obtain a level of purity that humans could take without dying from the other impurities present in the mold.

And even then it was only made available to soldiers seriously wounded in world war 2.

Hence to give a context to the technological prowess involved, by the time antibiotics, the truly wonder drug of the drug made its debut, the world already had nuclear weapons, which some might say was god's way of balancing the karmic scale.

Thus the possibility of Alexander having any truly meaningful weapon against his own mortality seemed really low.

And thus could only hope his own body would be able to fend off the inevitable approach of death as long as possible.

This was also one of the reasons Alexander was mindful to get up as early as possible to perform various exercises and calisthenics.

And he even made his girls perform the exercises with him.

But just because Alexander was unlikely to achieve something significant in this field did not mean he would not try.

So, after seeing Hemicus sleeping soundly, Alexander invented Hiperteom outside the tent, and once the duo was in a secluded position, said his piece.

He began first by congratulating the man, "I'm very pleased that you saved Hemicus's life. You have my gratitude."

To which Hiperteom gave the usual, modest answer, "No, no, it is my duty."

Alexander gave a small nod to this and then moved on to the real topic.

He first began by saying, "Hiperteom, you should know as well as I do that there will many more wars in the future. And we will suffer many injuries. So, it is a must that we develop better medicines and treatment procedures. Right?"

Alexander asked as he turned to look at Hiperteom who gave a nod of approval.

So he continued, "Mmmn, and the best way to develop these medications and procedures is to study how the human body works, right?"

Again Hiperteom gave a nod of approval.

So Alexander lastly asked, "And what is the best way to study the human body would you say? How do we know if our medicine works?"

Inquiring about this, even before Hiperteom could answer, Alexander gave his own answer, "For me, it would be cutting up to see how the insides of a body works. Because how can you treat the body without knowing what does what?"

Alexander tell turned to Hiperteom and barraged him with many questions,

"Tell me, why do we need eyes to see? Why do we need noses to smell, ears to hear, and mouths to taste? Why can't eyes hear, or noses see?"

Alexander then gave his own answer, plainly saying, "The answer is we don't know. We don't know almost anything about our own body."

And posed, "And if we don't know these answers, how can we treat the injuries? Injuries to the eyes, to the ears, to the throats, to the hearts?"

Finally, Alexander said in a final, ultimate way, "So, cutting up the bodies and seeing what is inside the bodies is the only way for such to avoid tragedies! The only way!"

Alexander was very firm in his answer as he repeated the words, leaving no room for disagreement.

And then, finally having laid enough foundations, Alexander gave his, some might say controversial, order, "That's why Hiperteom I am instructing you choose a few dead bodies from the battlefield to cut open and see the various organs inside. And then you are to make drawings of them and show them to me."

Normally such an order was perfectly normal, as humans did autopsies in modern times as easily as breathing.

But in his time period, defiling a human corpse was seen as one of the greatest acts of sinning against the gods.

And this was why Alexander talked for so long, and in such a roundabout way before getting to his point.

But unfortunately for him, it appeared even this amount of reasoning was insufficient.

For Hiperteom vehemently declined to do such a thing, as his voice rang out in shock and alarm,

"Ale…my …my lord…tha…that's blasphemy! No, I will not do it,"

He hence flatly refused to do it.

Because according to him, an eternity in hell was not worth serving Alexander over.

Alexander did not immediately pressure the man, for he had anticipated this for this was the prevailing custom.

So instead he tried again, saying, "I'm the son of Gaia. And the goddess has given me the right to open the bodies of her creation to heal her subjects."

"So, if you do this, not only will your soul be protected, but you will also be rewarded for your work in saving the goddess's flock."

He hoped that by saying this, the man would be more amicable to the idea.

And this reassurance did comfort the man a bit.

But it appeared that still was not enough.

"My lord, I'm sorry, but I still can't. If the goddess has so decided, let Her pick a different champion," Hiperteom seemed adamant.

And even after Alexander enticed him by saying, "Hiperteom, this is a great blessing from The goddess Herself. Your gate to Elysium will be open if you do this. Do you really want to throw such an opportunity away just because you find the act a bit uncomfortable?"

Hiperteom stood his ground and simply replied, "I find the act of cutting bodies repulsive. Hence I will feel ashamed to enter Elysium with such hands. Even if the goddess wills so, my heart1 cannot comply."

The answer was so strong that Alexander understood no amount of cajoling will convince the man.

Hence, he finally decided to back down, shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Okay, if you truly feel so strongly about it, then I guess there is no helping it."

And seeing that Alexander was not going to strong-arm him, Hiperteom gave a grateful nod, and said, "Thank you, my lord. And I'm truly sorry."

And then suggested, "But my lord, since the goddess has given you such privilege, why not transfer the gift to someone else? Or why not do it yourself? The goddess did give it to you personally."

Hiperteom did not mean to make the wording sound like a jibe but it certainly felt like one to Alexander, who only weakly replied, "Okay, I will."

The reason why Alexander did not do it himself was simply because he did not have the time.

After all, it took a long time to cut open bodies and then make accurate drawings.

And then there was the added concern that if he did this, people might accuse him of witchcraft.

This was because cutting bodies or doing autopsies was an act so hated in Adhania that it had to be seen to be believed.

Even his allies like Ptolomy and Pasha Farzah might cut ties with him if he did such acts too openly as according to them it intruded into the domains of gods.

And even for the normally half atheist Pasha Farzah this step might be one too far.

That's why Alexander really wanted someone else to be the one to do this.

And Hiperteom fit the bill perfectly.

The man was loyal, diligent, and talented at his work and hence Alexander could place great confidence in him to be able to produce results,

His position as the head of the medical clinic gave him a fresh, almost limitless source of new patients and cadavers to whom he could do a lot of things without raising any suspicion, and lastly, he was highly respected by the men under him, who were hence unlikely to not tattle on him.

Thus, competent and able to be used to take the heat off Alexander, he was the perfect candidate, and if worst came to worst, even could be used as a scapegoat.

And though that second part sounded horrible, such were the dangers of such 'forbidden' research.

But it seems that through luck and blind belief in his convictions, Hiperteom had managed to avoid that fate.

And so Alexander was left with the thought, 'Hmmm, maybe I should find some executioners. They might want to make some extra money.'

Since Hiperteom did not want to be the scapegoat, Alexander decided to find another one.

Why Alexander thought executioners would make a good scapegoat or more importantly a good doctor was a question for another time.

For his thought was broken by the hurried steps of Menes, who reached him to ask, "My lord, the army is ready. What should we do?"