Chapter 21: Shadows over Zoltan
Translator: Tseirp
The next day.
From today on its work, back to routine.
“Well then, let’s get to work.”
“It’s good to have spirit but there’s nothing to do in particular.”
Lit smiled wryly. That was the reality.
“There’s plenty of free time in an apothecary huh.”
“It is the opposite of other businesses that focus on small profits but large volume. Having said that, we’re not like Stom’s furniture store which takes a long time to manufacture one product nor doctors like Doctor Newman who have to keep an eye on their patient records.”
Just selling a small number a day would give us plenty of profit.
Also, the regular re-stocking of the various hospitals through Newman’s recommendation gave me a peace of mind.
“Oh right, how’s Red’s Anesthetic?”
“For now, I intend to attach the doc.u.ments and distribute them to the clinics.”
“It’s a new drug so it would take some time for it to be recognized. What about the antidote for that other anesthetic?”
“That hasn’t moved at all. When Lit was watching the store, the orders didn’t increase at all.”
“Yeah, there has only been one case of poisoning which was the person Red administered first aid to.”
So only one case has happened.
“But I heard rumors from the adventurers that the anesthetic was quite widespread.”
It was not limited to just Zoltan as the anesthetic has been spread to all cities.
In this continent where everyone fights all the time, usage of medicine to eliminate pain was commonplace. A drug like that causes dependency and while it won’t be a problem if it was taken in moderate amounts, fighting and using it for consecutive days would lead to addiction and the person would crave it even when it was not needed.
But as most families with middle income and above always stock up the comparatively cheaper a.n.a.lgesic medicine opium, trying to stop medicine abuse might be a tall order.
“So, how does that anesthetic drug work?”
“Similar to Red’s Medicine, it was applied for use as an anesthetic medicine to remove pain but it has three times the usual dosage and you would apparently experience euphoria and a sense of liberation if you place it under your tongue instead of swallowing it.”
As expected of a B-rank adventurer. She has investigated it in detail even though she only did it during her free time.
“Also, I heard about it but I couldn’t really understand but … they said that you could become a new you.”
“A new you? Is that different from the sense of liberation?”
“No, the dealers selling the merchandise emphasized on the ‘new you’ part.”
An anesthetic that would make you a new person?
What’s the deal with that?
“Is it a magic potion? But a magic potion must be in liquid form.”
In the first place, magic potions which reproduce the effect of spells can’t bypa.s.s the procedure of having to manually apply the spells one-by-one into the potion so they can’t be ma.s.s produced.
That should be incompatible with this round’s drug which was prepared in large quant.i.ties in advance to be sold at one go.
“Or rather, magic potions aren’t treated as new medicine so there’s no need to get permission in the first place.”
I guess the effect of the drug was demonstrated through the production using medicinal gra.s.s like the medicine I made. Although I had no idea what that ‘a new you’ was about.
“Maybe they got an anesthetic recipe from a Wild Elf?”
“No way no way, if it was such a huge discovery, they won’t base it at Zoltan but somewhere much larger scale or they could obtain a huge sum just by bringing it to the Alchemist Guild.”
Wild Elves are Elves who did not adapt to civilization and live in mountain hinterlands. They have been called Wild Elves since the age of the Wood Elves so some scholars even consider them as direct descendants of the Ancient Elves.
Just once, I infiltrated a Wild Elf community but I really got a shock when I saw that they didn’t even have a single hut and the Wild Elves slept exposed to the elements like beasts. Naturally, they were fully naked as well.
Even in such conditions, they didn’t have body odor and although their faces and bodies were dirty, due to the strong life force native to Elves, they still looked beautiful so the Elf race is seriously amazing.
Now that I think it, that was the rare occurrence when Ruti was angry at me when I accidentally caught a glimpse of the Elves’ breast. I suddenly taught of it and felt a sense of nostalgia.
Even though the Wild Elves live akin to beasts and regardless of not possessing a language, they have a wealth of knowledge and bringing a fragment of that knowledge to the human world would make you earn a fortune.
I could understand the suspicion that the anesthetic drug this time might have come from the Wild Elves but … there would be no meaning in selling it all the way at Zoltan in the frontier.
“Maybe this was after they sold it somewhere else and got kicked out.”
“Perhaps the information didn’t reach Zoltan.”
Well, let’s put an end to worrying about it. We’re not going to reach an answer anyway.
At that time, the door to the shop burst open.
A man drenched in blood flew into the shop as if rolling in.
“Lit!”
As soon as I shouted, Lit had already brought my medicine case over. As expected of Lit, I calmly thought to myself as I approached the man.
“Are you all right? I’ll be examining you okay.”
The man wanted to tell me something but he seemed to be in a panic as he couldn’t articulate and could only brandish his limbs violently.
“Red, sedative!”
Lit tossed me a small bottle of medicine from behind. That was a reckless act that would never occur in a regular apothecary but Lit and I would never miss a toss.
I kept my eyes on the man and held him down with my right hand while I used my left hand to grab the medicine. I quickly opened the lid and held it close to the man’s nose.
The man’s eyes flickered for a moment before he calmed down as if his strength was drained from him.
“Very good.”
I quickly looked at the condition of the man’s injuries. I could see three terrible injuries. All of them were made by a thick blade which gouged him deeply.
This is bad, it will be too late if I don’t handle it now.
But … I must also investigate what is happening outside.
“Lit, please pa.s.s me hemostatic agent and bandages only. And could you bring your weapon and check the situation outside?”
“So you’re saying the injury is not due to an accident. All right.”
Lit pa.s.sed me the medicine, picked up her favorite shotel and went out without letting her guard down.