Prologue 4 – The Collapsed Peddler and Herbicide
The next day, at the village inn, Yuuto completed the guild’s quest.
Once again to the gra.s.slands, Yuuto made his way there for a request for five bundles of antidote herbs. Without any disturbances, he began to gather.
Yuuto was walking on a small path to return to the village while the sun began to set, dyeing the surroundings the color of dusk.
Hanging off of his shoulder, was a bag packed full of the herbs. As for why there were more herbs than the requested amount, if it were to be said simply, it was to earn extra money.
Suspended from his shoulder, was a bag packed full of herbs, more than the original requested amount. As for the reason for exceeding the requested amount, to be put simply, it was to earn extra money from the additional herbs.
Just before reaching the village, Yuuto had some difficulty seeing due to his eyes not used to the dusk yet, and there was a sudden strange sound as he stepped on something.
“Ah?”
Yuuto let out a voice at the strange feeling and looked down to confirm what he had stepped on.
There, it was a collapsed man wearing a bandana laying on the ground. The man had a large bag under his arm that was even larger than him.
“Did he collapse and die from hunger?”
At first when Yuuto had stepped on the man’s head, he had this thought, but judging from the size of the bag, there should be some rations in reserve.
As a test to check if he was alive, Yuuto kneeled on the ground with one knee and put his hand on the man’s neck to check for the pulse.
However, before that could be done, the man’s hand moved with a quickness like a reflex movement and seized Yuuto’s ankle. Yuuto immediately grabs the man’s head and pins it down against the ground.
And placed the weight of his body through his legs onto the opponent’s back to pin him down. Using the gathering knife, Yuuto placed it against the nape of his neck.
With his other leg, Yuuto places it with his body weight on the man’s back in order to pin him down. Using a gathering knife from the pouch, Yuuto placed it against the nape of the man’s neck.
“Quite an elaborate trick to be playing dead, huh? If you move, you’re dead”
With him pinned down, is he going to give up? The man released Yuuto’s ankle and perhaps because his face was pressed against the ground, he let out a groan.
However, Yuuto sensed the man’s discomfort. He began to break out in sweat and released a painful sounding groan. Yuuto began to have doubts and shifted the man’s head to the side to have a look.
The man had dark circles under his eyes and pale skin. Surprising Yuuto, he quickly placed his hand on the man’s forehead to check,
“Fever!?”
He quickly pulled back his hand from how high the man’s fever was. In short, the man had suddenly collapsed from illness while walking and had grabbed the ankle of Yuuto who had been pa.s.sing by seeking help
This is bad, thought Yuuto. The man was laid down into a comfortable position, and Yuuto walked until he arrived at the village.
“I think he’s already getting better, he’ll recover soon.”
“Is that so, that’s good then.”
After the village doctor said that, he left the room. After leaving the man alone, Yuuto received help from the villagers to carry the man back to the inn. The man appears to be the peddler carrying goods from the town to the village. Along the way, the peddler appears to have been unfortunately bitten by a poisonous snake.
The extra antidote herbs gathered was useful. However, was the peddler not carrying any on him? Yuuto felt some doubt in the peddler because of that.
“Well… It seems I saved him so it doesn’t really matter”
It’s already late, let’s return to my room and sleep since it was a tiring day. Yuuto decided to come back to the room later, and put his hand on the door k.n.o.b to open it.
“nnn… uuuuu”
At that time, the bed made some creaking noises, and the peddler lets out a moan. Ah, it seems I was noticed.
Just in case so he doesn’t panic after waking up, I’ll have to explain the situation to him. Yuuto releases his hand from the doork.n.o.b and heads toward the bed.
“Huh, I’m…”
The man spoke in a strange accent. First I’ll confirm what happened to him. He looked around and finally looked at the approaching Yuuto and said,
“Hey, what district of h.e.l.l is this?”
“Did you think there would be such a comfortable bed in h.e.l.l? You were bitten by a poisonous snake and collapsed in the area before being saved”
Did he recall all of it? A little strange face appeared on his face and he scratched his head.
“Ah, ah! So that’s what happened, huh. I remembered everything. You were the guy that put the knife against my throat and threatened me.”
“That was your fault because you suddenly grabbed my ankle. The least you could do is show me some grat.i.tude.”
Tsk, so he remembers that too, huh. Talking anymore would be pointless. While pretending to not see the peddler, Yuuto turned around and left the room.
“Please wait, young benefactor”
Suddenly, Yuuto stopped. However, he immediately regretted because he might have to listen to the peddler’s story.
That was troublesome and since he was going to take a request from the guild tomorrow as well, he wanted to sleep on a soft bed in preparation for tomorrow.
Let’s hurry up and finish. If I said, “Is that so, well then, take care”, that would instantly make this conversation end.
“What is it?”
Yuuto looked over his shoulder to look at the man. There, the man was reaching into the oversized bag with his hands making a rummaging noise.
Before long, the man lifted his arm from the bag with a clenched fist holding a vial, and threw it at Yuuto. Yuuto caught the vial and inspected it.
The vial was transparent with a brown liquid within that was rolling from side to side. It was a poisonous looking potion.
“What’s this? Poison?”
I mean, that’s all it appears to be. However, the peddler called Ashidaka said an unexpected product name. It was…
“It’s herbicide.”
“Haa?”
The first impression that came to Yuuto’s mind was of the so-called herbicide that farmers use to kill weeds in the field.
It’s unusable…
If it was poison then it could be spread on a sword, or if it were a salve then it could be sold since there are quite a lot of medicinal herbs.
However, it was only herbicide. How is this usable? Yuuto placed it into his rucksack. Just in case, I should say thanks and just leave.
The next day…
Knock, knock. Yuuto, who was sleeping upright on the bed, was awoken by a loud noise of someone knocking on the door.
“Who is it?”
Yuuto grasped the sword near his pillow with his left hand and headed to the front of the door. Being able to draw his sword at any time was plenty preparation, and Yuuto slowly inched the door open.
There were two brawny men standing there, and between them was an old man with a cane. The old man was wearing gla.s.ses and had an extremely long mustache.
“Young man, could you receive a small request?”
The old man said to me while stroking his long beard.