#063
Kate cast her vacant gaze into the air.
“I trust Eira’s medicine. Even if there’s a shred of doubt, either way I’m going to die anyway, so there’s nothing wrong with trying.”
“Then…”
“Even so, it’s dangerous, Raon. I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me by contacting Eira. Honestly, it’s not a world I want to live in that badly either. The only reason I’ve held on this long… is because I felt sorry about leaving Elmer alone in this harsh world…”
“Kate…”
Kate let out a long, labored breath.
“That’s all I have to say. I’d like to stay awake longer, but my eyes keep closing. I’m sorry, Raon…”
Her thin, wrinkled eyelids closed. Had her breathing stopped? Right in front of me?
“Kate ajumma…?”
I had never actually seen someone die right before my eyes. Even so, I couldn’t just brush it off thinking she was an NPC… For a moment, I felt like my breath was completely cut off.
Whether he had the same thought, Elmer approached with fearful steps and hurriedly placed his finger under Kate’s nose. Elmer stopped in that position, and I unconsciously held my breath as well.
“Haah…”
Finally, the tension left Elmer’s shoulders and a sigh of relief escaped. She was alive. She hadn’t died. I also let out a deep breath like Elmer.
We left the bedroom, and this time Elmer quietly but firmly closed the door.
“Really…”
And stopping in front of the door with his back to me, Elmer buried both hands in his face. Hearing the faint sobbing that leaked out, I didn’t know what to do. I hesitantly placed my hand on Elmer’s shoulder, then gently embraced his quietly sobbing back. It was a thin, small, pitiful back.
“If you’re okay with it.”
After a long, damp period of time passed, Elmer spoke in a hoarse voice.
“I want to request a potion from Eira.”
I nodded. Elmer had been hesitating, but seeing Kate’s appearance that seemed like the end was truly imminent, his thinking seemed to have changed.
“Our situation being what it is… I’ll have to pay you for the sand strawberries too, and I doubt whether we can properly pay for the medicine… but somehow by increasing work…”
I shook my head.
“I’m fine, ahjussi. I said I’d get it for you as repayment for the debt I owe you. And I’ve dealt with Eira’s potions before, so I know they won’t be that expensive. I guarantee it.”
Of course, it would be tremendously expensive, but if I brought over the materials I swept up from this expedition and promised to get something rare during the next expedition, I could somehow make a deal.
“And most importantly, as Kate said, if you’re caught, you’ll be in danger too. Your farm is flooded so you don’t have anywhere to return to.”
“I’ll handle that myself. I’ll be as careful as possible, so don’t worry.”
I promised the anxious man that I would get medicine from Eira as soon as possible, even if it was just one day earlier, and left Elmer’s house.
***
I set out for Eira’s house without delay. I had to leave the village and pass through the forest, but fear didn’t come first like before. My stamina had increased and my combat level had jumped significantly. Unfortunately, I’d have to swing farming tools since I left my only weapon, the Novice Explorer’s Sword, with Seiz for enhancement, but at least it was an axe now instead of a hoe.
Actually, for forest monsters, hitting them with a light enhanced hoe was more efficient than a heavy axe. I’d still need to be cautious without weapons since the night forest was still an unknown world, but I no longer needed to be afraid of the daytime forest.
Only the timing was a bit awkward. I’d overslept in the morning due to accumulated fatigue from the expedition period, and the journey of visiting the priest, mayor, and Elmer’s house in succession had consumed considerable time.
‘If it were anything else, I’d just safely postpone it until tomorrow.’
Thinking of Kate’s face—no, Kate ajumma’s face—that looked like she might breathe her last even tomorrow, I felt uncomfortable and didn’t think I could do other work or rest like this. I felt like I needed to get medicine as quickly as possible and hand it over before I could focus on other things.
Hurrying my steps, I glanced at the western sky. It was touch and go, but still okay for now. I had a lot of other things to discuss including commissioning preparations for the next expedition, but if push came to shove, I could just ask for the medicine and handle other matters tomorrow when I came to pick it up.
I ran across the forest swinging my hoe. When I arrived at Eira’s house, I was still breathing hard but didn’t feel like I was going to die like before, and I had stamina to spare considering I’d been walking around the village all day. I’d filled my stomach here and there, but most of all, it was the positive effect of the hardships I’d experienced during the expedition. Since it was a game system, the more I struggled, the more I was rewarded with stamina and levels, which was at least fortunate.
“…You made it alive.”
This time too, Eira opened the door before I even knocked. She seemed to immediately look outside through the window when she sensed movement. It meant she lived always on guard.
“Eira.”
Had it been almost ten days? Meeting again after a period that was hard to call “a long time,” I was suddenly at a loss for words. Was it because I’d seen the lively appearance of Eira, who was much younger than now, in the desert’s sudden event? While Kate ajumma and Elmer ahjussi being a critically ill patient and caregiver was understandable, I didn’t know why Eira had become even more haggard in just ten days. Was it because she’d given me most of the stamina potions she’d worked hard to make?
While I couldn’t find words to say as I examined Eira’s appearance, Eira instead looked me up and down and sighed.
“Well, as long as you came back alive.”
Thinking of my appearance reflected in the mirror in Carlisle’s bathroom, I probably looked even more messed up. Even though my appearance was like this, surprisingly my stamina had increased so my durability had improved. But it was awkward to explain all that in detail, so I just let Eira pity me.
I followed Eira’s gesture and went inside. I was about to go to where the table was to first show her what I’d brought, when my arm was suddenly grabbed.
“Wait a minute.”
When I turned around, Eira was staring intently at my left wrist.
“Why?”
“This, where did you get it?”
What Eira was looking at while asking this was the bracelet made by braiding leather straps—that is, the item I’d obtained from the desert’s sudden beach event. So… the one boy Carlisle had given me as a gift.
As I looked at the bracelet while pondering how to explain it, the scene of Carlisle blushing as he put it on my wrist suddenly came to mind. Along with the memory of him complimenting that the bracelet suited me well while subtly holding my hand. Then memories of watching fireworks in the night sky together and kissing at the boundary of the event all came flooding in at once. The trembling eyelashes of the boy who had been close, the sensation of soft lips, the sea scent of the summer wind that ruffled through soft hair…
“Raon?”
No, this isn’t the time to be thinking such thoughts. At Eira’s urging, I cleared my throat and tried to erase the emerging fantasies.
Anyway, since I couldn’t explain that I got it from a sudden event, I vaguely muddled the story.
“Uh… just, it was lying around at home…”
Come to think of it, it was a bit mismatched to wear accessories while going around in hole-riddled old work clothes all the time. It’s not like I was wearing a flashy jeweled bracelet or anything, but was this really that interesting?
“Ah.”
Or was it that Eira knew what kind of item this was?
“Do you know what this is?”
At my question, Eira looked at me as if I was asking something obvious.
“Isn’t this what they sold at the summer beach festival when we were kids? Every festival, some foreign merchant wearing a strange mask would come and sell various odds and ends. I bought one every time and lost it every time, but how do you still have this?”
“Ah…”
So this was apparently an item that actually existed in this world. It was somehow fascinating. I didn’t think it existed in the game.
“How nostalgic. Back then, everything was running normally. I never dreamed it would turn out like this.”
Eira looked at my bracelet with longing eyes for a while, then sighed and turned around.
“More importantly, did you salvage some decent potion materials?”
Even while changing the subject, bitterness seeped through her voice. I wanted to hold onto the topic and ask more about the bracelet, but it didn’t seem like any particularly useful information would come out besides nostalgic small talk, and I had more urgent matters right now.
“Eira, I have a favor to ask.”
When I hurriedly brought up my business, Eira shrugged and replied cynically.
“Yeah, sure. What else would bring you to me if not a favor? What kind of medicine do you need this time…”
When I poured out all the things I’d set aside from this expedition’s harvest to give to Eira onto the table, she stopped mid-sentence and gaped.
“Wow… what is all this…”
Eyes that seemed about to pop out turned toward me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
