ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (1)

Epilogue | Imperial Capital Lithianburg

August 13, 2027

Zittold City, Crossnellyard Empire

The city of Zittold is once again coming back to life after the plague threat was quickly eliminated by a medical team dispatched from Japan. The city, which was originally as large as the capital of any other country, is now thriving with the return of vitality. In a corner of the city, close to the residence of the Foreimen Family, there was a prefabricated building that did not fit in with the medieval European style of Zittold.

"Doctor Tomokazu! Thank you very much!"

A child's voice is heard leaving the prefab. It was a clinic established by a medical team dispatched from Japan.

"Yeah, take care!"

The man called "doctor" replied to the child who bowed at him. Beside the child, the child's mother was bowing to him and clasping her hands together.

'Curing one pneumonia is a godsend... antibiotics of all kinds.'

He muttered inwardly as he watched the boy leave the hospital in good spirits and wave to them, and his mother worshipping toward the clinic. The man's name is Tomokazu Shibata. He is a Lieutenant of the Maritime Self-Defense Force and a medical officer who visited the Juperia Continent eight months ago aboard the Izumo with a mission to the Atelica Empire, and who, after some twists and turns, ended up accompanying the mission to recover the abducted Japanese.

The delegation returned to Japan, but Shibata remained in Zittold to take charge of the eradication of the plague that had been spreading in the region. After the arrival of a medical team dispatched from Japan at the request of the Margraviate of Zittold's government, he also took command of the medical unit, as he knew the local situation and circumstances best.

Subsequently, the clinic, originally built for the plague eradication project, was now visited by patients with various symptoms and diseases. Rumors of the "sanatorium built by a Japanese physician who saved Zittold from an epidemic, and even cured all kinds of diseases in the blink of an eye with his miraculous medicines and cures" had spread beyond the Margraviate of Zittold's territory, often attracting visits from the nobles who owned the territory.

'Well... my career is as good as dead, so I might as well spend the rest of my life in a clinic in another world.'

As Shibata watches the mother and child leave, he mocked himself. He had a guilty past that made him not want to return to Japan.

Night

Director's Office, Zittold Clinic

In his room, Shibata was looking at the medical records of the patients he had seen so far in this region, and thinking about the medicine orders to Japan for August.

"We have to order antibiotics and deworming medicine from Japan again... We also need to negotiate with the Zittold government about insurance premiums, and get them to set up a system to cover the cost of treatment locally," Shibata mused.

The Japanese government provides almost all of the medical expenses for patients visiting here as ODA so that even the poor can afford to pay, and the fees are considerably lower than those on the Japanese mainland. The clinic was to remain open until the plague was confirmed to have ended, and the ODA contribution of medical expenses was also limited to that time.

In order to do so, however, a public insurance system had to be established in the region, a system that would allow local patients to pay for their medical expenses without Japanese government ODA. The clinic staff and officials of the legation were negotiating with the Zittold government for this purpose.