Chapter 29: Professional Recognition [1]
In April, the State Veterinary Association held its annual conference in the capital city.
It was typically a dry industry event, usually only briefly mentioned in trade publications, ignored by the general public. But this year was different. In the conference packets distributed to attendees, alongside the usual abstract summaries and speaker lists, there was a small booklet.
"Illustrated Guide to Common Livestock Diseases"
On the cover, it read: "Illustrations selected from 'Silver Spoon'."
In the bottom right corner, the credit: Author: Alex Walker.
In the hall, young veterinarians huddled together, flipping through it.
"The detail is incredible. The injection sites, the disinfection protocols, the instrument layout... it's exactly like the textbooks."
"I heard the Dept of Agriculture spearheaded this, with professors from Ag University overseeing it."
"No wonder it's professional."
On stage, the Association President, Dr. Richard Evans, was giving the opening keynote. When he reached the topic of "Improving Social Perception of the Veterinary Profession," he pivoted.
"Speaking of perception, I recently came across a very interesting comic."
Light laughter rippled through the audience—discussing comics at a vet conference seemed out of place.
Dr. Evans smiled. "I know what you're thinking. But this comic is different." He held up the booklet. "Silver Spoon. I don't know if you've read it."
The audience quieted down.
"I have," Dr. Evans said. "At first, my grandson was reading it, and I flipped through a few pages. I couldn't put it down—not just because the story is good, but because the art is so professional."
He opened the booklet, projecting a page onto the big screen. "Look at this. Symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. Blisters on the hooves, salivation, elevated body temperature... drawn clearly, more accurate than some of our textbook diagrams."
Murmurs arose in the hall.
"And look at this. Gastric tube insertion for a cow. Technique, angle, precautions, all annotated," Dr. Evans continued. "If the author didn't have practical experience, they absolutely couldn't draw these details."
Someone raised a hand. "President, is it really that accurate?"
"Professional or not, judge for yourselves." Dr. Evans clicked to the next slide—the scene from Silver Spoon where Hachiken gives his first injection. "But I can tell you, I showed this to professors at Ag University. They said if students could memorize these panels, practical lab classes would take half the effort."
The hall went silent. Every vet there knew practical labs were the most time-consuming part of training. If a manga could help students visualize the process beforehand...
"So I propose," Dr. Evans looked around the room, "should our Association collaborate with this author to produce more professional educational materials? Like identification of common diseases, basic operation standards..."
The proposal passed quickly. A new item was added to the meeting minutes: "Collaborate with 'Silver Spoon' author to develop veterinary educational materials."
When the news hit the internet, the forums exploded again.
"Veterinary Association official certification! Who else?!"
"This manga has broken the wall into the professional field..."
"My uncle is a vet. He called me yesterday asking me to buy him the full set, said he wants to use it as a teaching reference."
"I declare, Silver Spoon is not a manga; it's a textbook in manga's clothing!"
Alex heard the news from Sue. She laughed on the phone. "The President of the Veterinary Association called me personally. He wants to hire you as a consultant to produce educational brochures. I told him you were busy, and he said you don't need to do the work, just review the content for accuracy."
"I can do that," Alex said. "But we still need a contract."
"Don't worry, handled," Sue paused. "Also, Ag University wants to collaborate. They want to use your manga panels as illustrations for their MOOCs."
"MOOCs?"
"Massive Open Online Courses. They're making a 'Livestock Basics' course and want your panels for the PPTs," Sue said. "The offer is good, and the credit is prominent—'Illustrations: Alex Walker, Silver Spoon'."
Alex thought for a moment. "Okay, but they must label them as manga illustrations, not real photos."
"Understood."
Hanging up, Alex continued drawing Chapter 31.
In this chapter, Hachiken began learning more complex diagnostic techniques—palpation, auscultation, lab tests. Alex drew with extreme detail, down to the elasticity of the cow's skin, the placement of the stethoscope, the units on the lab report.
Halfway through, he remembered reading in his past life that Arakawa Hiromu wrote in a volume appendix: "To draw the veterinary chapters, I interned at a vet clinic for three months."
He didn't have the chance to intern now, but he had something precious—memories of reading it countless times in his past life, and the real experience of the ranch in this life.
He opened a folder on his computer filled with reference materials: cow skeletal diagrams, digestive system charts, common disease symptom tables, drug lists...
These were things he learned from his father, accumulated from ranch practice, and looked up in professional books.
Now, they all turned into images.
(To be Continued)