Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia (天幕のジャードゥーガル)

Thanks to your earrings, I've ascertained that all is functioning as it should.

Will everyone see things my way after we defeat the Jin?

I really have no idea what he's thinking.

The slave girl is gone!

Huh? Huh? Huh?

Did she get lost again?

Lady Möge!

Jaadugar

Hey, Fatima.

Ugh.

So this is where you were.

How dare you run away from me!

Qadaq!

Please help!

Lord Chinqai?

Chinqai?

You can write in Uyghur, yes?

Please take care of these as well.

Is there no end in sight?

I'm sorry about all this.

Everything the Great Kha'an bought has to be recorded in our registers.

So why am I here? Isn't this a man's job?

Be quiet and get to work.

Many of the Mongols do not care for reading and writing.

Thus, we are short on scribes.

Books!

Who will even read these?

This is by Jabir ibn Hayyan.

Huh?

Oh, nothing.

Why is this book hidden away, Mistress?

Oh, this book by Jabir?

Jabir was a man who lived in Tus long ago.

But it's not the most reputable of tomes.

What's the subject of his book?

Alchemy.

What's that book about?

It details how one can heat and mix various materials such as minerals

to prepare al-iksir.

"Al-iksir"?

What's that?

Something like a cure-all? Or so I believe.

I'm not too familiar with it.

A cure-all?

Lady Möge.

Do you mean a medicine that can cure any ailment?

This is Fatima, my attendant.

Boraqchin Khatun.

So this is the Mongol Empire's chief empress.

The Great Khatun.

Why have I been brought to meet her?

Listen to this, Boraqchin.

This girl says she can concoct a cure-all.

You mean danyao?

Huh?

Um, my apologies. I'm not sure what all of this is about.

All I said is I can read books written in Arabic.

Huh?

Möge.

Oh, but...

That is all. Take your leave.

Sorry for making you come all this way.

What was that about?

Who knows?

Wait!

Lady Möge?

Say, there's something I want to discuss with you.

The reason I asked you to come here...

Leave us.

Someone's been administering poison to Boraqchin.

You saw how emaciated she was and how sore-ridden her skin.

Poison? Who's responsible? And why?

I'm not certain.

But I suspect Boraqchin's physician.

Long ago, there was a Daoist doctrine known as waidan.

Waidan?

Sandarac

Sulfur

Quicksilver

By combining the likes of sulfur, quicksilver, and sandarac,

an elixir called "danyao" can be made.

It was said taking danyao transformed the body to become immortal like gold.

Is that true?

No.

All who took it succumbed to poison, resulting in shortened lifespans.

That is but one reason the practice was abandoned long ago.

I'm certain I heard him utter the word "poison."

I'm afraid that's not much to go on.

If it worries you so, simply keep the physician away.

As Great Khatun, surely it'd be a trivial feat to replace him.

Töregene.

Let us return, Fatima.

R-Right.

We shouldn't get involved with that eerie woman.

That was harrowing.

Today was the first time I'd seen the Great Khatun.

She's a great deal older than Emperor Ögedei, isn't she?

Yes. She used to be his stepmother.

What?

Boraqchin and Möge were married to Genghis Khan.

Ögedei ended up inheriting them as wives.

Oh?

So those two have known each other for a long time.

When the father dies, his wives go to his son, except for his birth mother.

It's a common arrangement here.

Boraqchin.

She has no sons, and she doesn't come from a particularly large family.

Truth be told, I have no idea how she became Great Khatun.

It was said taking danyao transformed the body to become immortal like gold.

That sounds just like alchemy.

Who knew they had something similar in the east?

An immortal body.

You mean danyao?

Could it be?

Al-iksir...

The ingredients are quicksilver, sulfur...

And what else again?

Lady Töregene.

Let us go meet the Great Khatun once more.

Huh? Why?

You have something in mind, don't you?

I'd like you to lend me your power, Lady Töregene.

Al-iksir. A wondrous remedy that renders one's body immortal.

It lies at the very heart of Persian alchemy.

It goes without saying that I cannot prepare it by myself.

However, with your help, Great Khatun, I could possibly...

Why the talk of this again?

Because it is you who has been seeking it.

Am I wrong?

Wait, is that true?

It struck me the moment I first laid eyes on you.

If I may surmise based on your appearance...

Have you been ingesting rahj al-gar?

Rahj al-gar?

It's a red stone that can be found in volcanoes,

and in the east, I hear they call it sandarac.

So I was right.

Rahj al-gar is an essential ingredient for al-iksir and danyao, after all.

According to the ancient physician, Hippocrates,

rahj al-gar does have medicinal effects in small doses.

However...

It acts as a poison if you continue to take it.

Causing loss of appetite, lesions of the skin, and tumors.

Which is what you seem to be suffering.

So you weren't poisoned by anyone? You chose to ingest that yourself?

Oh, Möge. Is that what you thought?

Fatima, was it?

Take a look inside the drawers on that shelf.

Rahj al-gar.

Why were you taking this?

Was it to become immortal?

Yes, that's right.

I'm getting on in age.

I'd like to live a long life.

Boraqchin.

Please ingest some of this, Empress Boraqchin.

It's medicine that will cure your poison.

So what is this?

It's a jada stone.