Braving the freezing wind, Sammy and his group soon found a shop that specialized in rare goods and curiosities from overseas.
A small bell hanging above the entrance rang brightly as they pushed open the door.
“Welcome!
Haven’t seen you gentlemen around before.
Did your merchant ship just dock?”
The shopkeeper, wearing a thick apron, left his customers to browse and hurried over with a welcoming smile.
“Come in, come in!
Get yourselves warm!”
After a few polite exchanges, Cajero naturally took over the negotiations.
“Oh, Boss, you’ve got a sharp eye!”
Cajero immediately slipped into the role of a seasoned merchant.
“Take a look at these coral carvings from the West Blue.
Look at that color!
That craftsmanship!
These are top-quality pieces.
Back home, goods like these are supplied directly to royalty!”
He moved smoothly to the next crate.
“And these exotic specialties?
We risked our lives bringing them all the way from…”
By the time Cajero finished weaving together half-truths, exaggerations, and polished sales talk, the dozen or so crates of West Blue handicrafts and overseas goods had somehow sold for a surprisingly high price.
Step one was complete.
They had money.
Sammy weighed the heavy pouch of Berries in his hand, then casually tossed it to the leader of the supply team that had accompanied them.
“You guys handle the shopping list first.”
The squad leader caught the pouch.
“Remember, keep your men under control.”
Sammy glanced toward the patrols outside.
“This kingdom’s defenses don’t look simple.
Don’t cause trouble.”
“Understood, Captain!”
The squad leader nodded eagerly and hurried off with his men.
Once they were gone, Sammy turned his attention toward the snowy town of Robel.
“All right.”
He looked at the officers beside him.
“Let’s try our luck and see if we can find a few doctors willing to sail with us.”
…
Robel Town was far livelier than they had expected.
Despite the bitter cold, the streets were crowded with pedestrians.
What stood out most was the sheer number of clinics and pharmacies.
Every few dozen meters, there seemed to be another medical establishment.
White curtains hung in windows, while crosses and other medical symbols could be seen almost everywhere.
“Fresh ginger soup!
Keeps you warm and helps prevent colds!”
“Certified by the Tower of Healers!
Our newest formula for fast-acting cold medicine!”
“Secret family remedy!
Treats even the most stubborn illnesses!”
Aldo stared at the endless rows of clinics.
“This is ridiculous…”
He scratched his head.
“How often do people here get sick that they need this many doctors?”
Sammy casually picked one clinic and walked inside.
A middle-aged doctor in a white coat was listening to a child’s chest with a stethoscope.
“All right, little one.
It’s just a mild cold from getting chilled.
Nothing serious.”
The doctor put away his stethoscope, turned toward a row of medicine cabinets along the wall, and expertly pulled out several prepared packets of herbs.
“Take your medicine on time, drink plenty of warm water, and keep yourself bundled up.
You’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
The child’s mother repeatedly bowed her head in gratitude.
“Thank you, Dr.
Peterson!
I always end up troubling you.
I really appreciate it.”
“No trouble at all.
It’s my job.”
Only then did the doctor notice Sammy and the others standing nearby.
He adjusted his glasses.
“And you gentlemen are…?”
His eyes moved across them.
“Are any of you feeling unwell?”
Sammy gave him a friendly smile.
“No, Doctor.
We’re fine.”
“We actually wanted to ask you something.”
The doctor waited.
“If we wanted to recruit a few doctors to travel with us aboard our ship, where would be the best place to look?”
“Recruit doctors?”
Dr.
Peterson adjusted his glasses again and gave the group a slightly surprised look.
Still, he pointed through the window toward the towering mountain rising outside the town.
“You could try asking at the Tower of Healers on top of Drum Mountain.”
He continued.
“That’s the medical center of the Drum Kingdom.
Most of the country’s doctors, scholars, and medical researchers gather there.”
“You can take the cable car from the Drum Ropeway station outside town.”
“Thanks for the information.”
Now that they had a clear destination, Sammy and the others immediately headed for the cable car station beyond Robel.
…
Mushroom-shaped cable cars traveled constantly up and down the mountain.
The waiting area was packed.
“Open your mouth.
Say ‘ahhh.'”
A doctor examined someone’s throat.
“Mm.
Inflamed tonsils.
Once you reach the tower, go directly to the throat department on the third floor.”
Nearby, an elderly patient complained to another physician.
“Doctor, I’ve been taking this medicine for three days.
Why isn’t it working yet?”
“Don’t rush, sir.
Chronic illnesses take time.
Let me adjust the prescription for you.”
Sammy watched the scene with genuine amazement.
So this was what a kingdom famous throughout the world for medicine looked like.
The medical culture here was almost absurdly strong.
Whether in his previous life or after coming to this world, Sammy had never seen a place where medical care was this widespread.
Doctors were even casually examining patients while everyone waited for the cable cars.
Eventually, Sammy and his group squeezed into one of the mushroom-shaped cars with the crowd.
At the front, a muscular man began pedaling a mechanism almost like a bicycle.
The cable car creaked into motion.
Slowly, it climbed the steep ropeway.
Robel Town grew smaller and smaller beneath them until the view outside was replaced by a breathtaking landscape of snow-covered mountains.
Before long, they arrived at the station near the summit.
And standing before them was an enormous, majestic building with the unmistakable appearance of a castle.
Sammy’s eyes shifted slightly.
Wait…
Isn’t this the same palace that bastard Wapol occupies decades from now?
So before the events of the original story, this place really was a genuine sanctuary of medical learning.
It was only later that Wapol seized it for himself.
Unlike the empty and lonely castle Sammy remembered from the manga, the plaza was currently overflowing with activity.
Scholars, doctors, students, and patients moved constantly through the area, dressed in clothing from all across the world.
“ALL VISITORS MUST SURRENDER THEIR WEAPONS HERE!”
A squad of heavily equipped guards blocked the entrance.
“NO WEAPONS ARE PERMITTED INSIDE THE TOWER OF HEALERS!”
Following the rules, Sammy and the others handed over their weapons before entering.
Everyone except Marcus.
There was absolutely no way Marcus was willing to part with his newly acquired Ran’o.
Rather than surrender the blade, he stubbornly chose to remain outside in the plaza and wait for them.
Once inside, Sammy immediately noticed that the academic atmosphere was even stronger than it had been in the town below.
Doctors in white coats and scholars in long robes hurried through the corridors.
The air carried a strange mixture of scents—the musty smell of old books and ink, the sharp fragrance of medicinal herbs, and the sterile sting of disinfectant.
Every floor seemed to contain enormous libraries.
There were also countless treatment rooms, research chambers, laboratories, and other specialized medical facilities.
Sammy rubbed his chin.
“So…”
He watched several doctors hurry past them.
“How exactly are we supposed to recruit anyone?”
He couldn’t exactly walk up to a random physician and say—
Hello.
We’re pirates.
Would you like to abandon everything you have here and come sail with us?
They’d probably have the guards arrest him on the spot.
While Sammy and his officers stood at the top of Drum Mountain, racking their brains over how to steal, ehem…no, recruit a few doctors…
Down in Robel Town…
The supply team had already finished most of its shopping.
Loaded with bags, crates, and bundles, they chatted among themselves while heading back toward the harbor.
“Captain and the officers went looking for doctors, right?
Wonder if they’ll actually find anyone.”
“I doubt it.”
One sailor shifted the supplies on his shoulder.
“Doctors here live comfortably.
Why would any of them give all this up just to suffer at sea with us?”
“Yeah, but we’re going to visit a lot more islands after this.”
Another man frowned.
“We’ve got almost a hundred and forty people aboard now, and we’re still relying on those three half-baked doctors.”
He shook his head.
“If something serious happens, we’re screwed.”
Their conversation caught the attention of a passerby.
He looked to be around thirty years old.
His upper body was dressed in a perfectly neat black suit, and a tall top hat sat on his head.
Beneath the brim, his hair had been carefully styled into three cylindrical rolls—one on the left, one on the right, and one at the back.
It was strange enough already.
But his lower half made the entire outfit completely ridiculous.
Instead of trousers, he wore nothing but a brightly colored pair of floral shorts.
In the freezing climate of Drum Island.
The combination of formal clothing above the waist and beachwear below it was so absurd that the supply team couldn’t help staring.
“Hey!”
The strange man approached them on his own, wearing an almost excessively enthusiastic smile.
“You guys sailors who just arrived?”
He leaned closer.
“From what I heard, your ship is looking for a doctor?”
The squad leader blinked.
Between the sudden interruption and the man’s outrageous clothing, he immediately categorized the stranger as some unreliable weirdo.
“What’s it to you?”
“Come on, don’t be like that!”
The stranger wasn’t discouraged in the slightest.
“Meeting each other like this must be fate!”
He proudly introduced himself.
“My name is Dr.
Hiriluk!”
Then he spread his arms.
“I’m a doctor!”
“Please let me join your ship!”
The supply team stared at him.
“You?”
One of them looked him up and down.
“You’re a doctor?”
Another sailor pointed at his floral shorts.
“Then…why the hell are you dressed like that?”
“Aren’t you freezing?!”
“HAHAHAHA!”
Hiriluk burst into hearty laughter.
“As a doctor, naturally I know how to strengthen my body and protect myself from illness!”
He confidently planted his hands on his hips.
“A little cold like this is nothing!”
The sailors exchanged doubtful looks.
Hiriluk leaned toward them eagerly.
“So?
What do you say?”
“Take me with you!”
“I want to sail with your ship!”
His eyes practically shone.
“I want to see the vast world beyond this island!”
The members of the supply team exchanged glances.
Their captain was currently worrying about recruiting doctors…
And while they were simply buying supplies, a doctor had literally walked up and volunteered to join them?
Was their luck really this good?
The squad leader still wasn’t completely convinced.
“You really are a doctor?”
His eyes swept over Hiriluk again.
The man’s appearance was far too different from the respectable white-coated physicians they’d seen throughout town.
“Of course!”
Hiriluk puffed out his chest, desperately trying to look more trustworthy.
“I’m a doctor from the Tower of Healers!”
That instantly caught everyone’s attention.
Hiriluk continued before they could question him further.
“I just find staying inside that tower every day unbearably boring!”
“Research, research, research!
That’s all they ever do!”
He threw his arms wide.
“A real doctor should travel across the entire world!”
“We should treat every kind of patient!”
“Discover unknown diseases!”
“Find medicines and herbs nobody has ever seen before!”
His expression became passionate.
“THAT is the romance of medicine!”
He pointed dramatically toward the harbor.
“So take me with you!”
The speech sounded professional.
Noble, even.
And more importantly…
He had claimed to be a doctor from the Tower of Healers.
That name carried enormous weight throughout Drum Island.
Whatever doubts the sailors had were quickly swept away.
“Captain!”
One of the men grabbed the squad leader’s shoulder excitedly.
“A doctor from the Tower of Healers actually WANTS to come with us!”
“This is incredible luck!”
“Yeah!
Captain, hurry up and accept him before he changes his mind!”
The squad leader’s suspicious expression vanished.
A huge smile spread across his face as though he’d just discovered buried treasure.
“This is great, Dr.
Hiriluk!”
He enthusiastically held out his hand.
“Welcome aboard!”
“Come back to the ship with us!”
“Our captain is going to be thrilled when he finds out!”
That year, Dr.
Hiriluk was thirty years old.
In truth…
He possessed almost no talent for medicine.
Even within the Tower of Healers, he was an insignificant figure on the fringes of the medical community.
His bizarre behavior and research ideas, which mainstream doctors considered unrealistic and ridiculous, had earned him plenty of ridicule, rejection, and contempt from his colleagues.
Hiriluk, however, stubbornly believed there was a completely different explanation for his lack of success.
There were simply too many doctors on Drum Island!
How was a genius like him supposed to display his brilliance when surrounded by so much competition?
Because of that, he had always dreamed of leaving Drum Island and traveling the outside world.
Then, by pure coincidence, he overheard the supply team’s conversation.
A ship was looking for a doctor.
A ship that would soon leave Drum Island.
To Hiriluk, it sounded like fate itself had come knocking.
And so, an idea immediately popped into his head.
He would convince these sailors that he was exactly the doctor they needed…
Catch a free ride off the island…
And finally begin his dream of traveling around the world.
You can join my P.
@.
T.
R.
3.
0.
N to get access to 35 additional chapters!
/Meegoatbaa Whether you join as a free or paid member, you’ll also get access to 2 extra chapters.