episode_0049

“Now that we’ve arrived in Deseo, I have to go do my work.”

“……”

“Tia, you have to go get medicine for Ritsu, don’t you?”

It was such a sudden farewell.

Honestly, the time I spent with Mister Fosao wasn’t long.

By day count, it was only about 12 days.

But it felt longer than any other time.

It felt as if I had been with the Mister for a long time during that period…

Parting like this left me with a sense of regret.

“That’s true, but…”

There was nothing wrong with what Mister Fosao said.

Our companionship was only promised up to Deseo in the first place.

No, our companionship began when the Mister arbitrarily followed me from the start, but…

Anyway, since that objective has been achieved, from now on I have to find the medicine by myself and return to Breezedon.

Because this is a journey to revive Ritsu.

“…That’s right. I have to go save Ritsu.”

“If it’s Tia… you-you can do it. Definitely.”

“Of course!”

Mister Fosao held out his hand.

His fingers were covered in thick hair, his knuckles large and swollen, and his hand was damp with sweat.

However, within it was a warm farewell.

I squeezed the Mister’s hand tightly.

“Alright then, Tia… I’ll be going.”

“Yes. See you again in Breezedon!”

“See, see me again? Does that mean… you’re coming to see me…?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well, maybe I could visit the general store… just once?”

“…Heheheh. Th-thank you for saying that. Well then. I’ll be off…”

The Mister let go of my hand and looked down at me for a moment.

But soon he turned his head and walked out of the alley.

The wind whistled through the alley.

When the Mister’s large back disappeared from view.

I felt an emptiness fill my chest.

Suddenly, I felt completely empty.

Perhaps I should have asked him to have dinner together after all?

Perhaps I should have honestly thanked him for helping me all this time?

I really don’t know.

Mister Fosao hadn’t changed much from before.

He was consistently fat, unpleasant, and dull.

But it seemed he had genuinely reflected on ‘that incident’ and made a lot of effort to change.

Because he wanted to restore our relationship, which had already gone to ruin, back to ‘friends’.

I could feel his sincerity in trying to make things work.

“……”

I see.

This feeling of regret was because I hadn’t heard ‘those words’.

Perhaps if it were now…

The wind howled.

I turned towards the direction of the sea breeze.

Before I knew it, the sun was setting.

I put my hand into my belt pouch.

I remembered the doctor’s words, telling me to look at this when I was struggling to steel my resolve.

“Ritsu.”

I held the blood-stained bandage in my hand.

I closed my eyes and pictured Ritsu.

Waiting.

Only for me to return.

Please, just wait a little longer.

Because I’ll be back soon.

With a determined “Hup!”

Puffing out my chest confidently.

I stood up forcefully from my spot.

And ran with all my might.

Towards Deseo’s first night.

* * *

“Dienbus…?”

The pharmacist frowned as if he had heard an unfamiliar foreign language.

“Yes! Dienbus. Do you have it?”

“What’s that?”

“Huh?”

Then he grumbled in an uninterested voice.

“I’ve heard of Enbus, but is there such a thing as Dienbus? What, does it detoxify Enbus?”

“That’s right!”

“Why would you detoxify that? What would you even use it for? We don’t sell things like that.”

“…Is that so.”

My strength drained away.

In fact, this wasn’t the first time I’d received such a reply.

Fitting its reputation as the largest port city in the world, Deseo also had a ‘Pharmacy Street’.

It was literally a street where only pharmacies gathered.

Pharmacies, which would be considered remarkable if a village had even one, numbered over twenty here.

Naturally, I thought at least one of these places would have Dienbus.

But that was a misconception.

I visited every single pharmacy and asked if they had Dienbus, but most didn’t even know what it was.

Those who did know only replied that ‘such a thing doesn’t exist’.

So, I looked around to see what pharmacies actually dealt in.

They were selling ‘beauty products’ rather than ‘medicine’.

Hair dye, gel to make skin smooth, eye makeup, nail polish, bath salts, pigments for stage makeup, massage lubricants, aromatic incense to be smoked, and so on.

These were enormous stores, incomparable to Ritsu’s small pharmacy.

Everything on the shelves was completely unrelated to ‘medicine’.

There were also pharmacies that dealt in strange items.

Sleeping pills that induce deep sleep, stimulants said to increase work efficiency, aphrodisiacs used to entice the opposite sex.

And then, without thinking, I stepped into a corner hidden by red curtains… *Ahem*. I ended up seeing something a little embarrassing.

They called themselves pharmacies. Yet, no ‘medicine’ was visible.

Even basic healing remedies using Rubus herbs, which Ritsu commonly used, were absent.

I even challenged them, asking if a pharmacy without basic household remedies was even a pharmacy.

However, the owners replied that selling such ‘cheap’ medicine yielded little profit, and it was better to sell expensive beauty products instead.

I snapped and shouted.

“Excuse me. Then if those esteemed nobles get sick, where are they supposed to get medicine?”

“Hahaha! This young lady truly knows nothing! Why would nobles seek out a pharmacy when they’re sick? They call a private doctor.”

“…Then what about other ordinary people?”

“Beggars? Beggars don’t have money to buy medicine, and even if they do, it’s mere pocket change. How could a shop maintain itself by selling such things when the rent on this street is so high?”

The owner pointed to Pharmacy Street.

“Look around this place as much as you want. Everyone’s selling beauty products like me. Why? Because those who couldn’t attract the attention of nobles have already disappeared!”

“If there’s no medicine… how are sick people supposed to live?”

“Is that my concern?”

As if truly unconcerned, the pharmacist leaned back leisurely in his chair.

“Indeed, why bother getting sick when you don’t even have money to call a doctor? Did someone threaten you with a knife and tell you to get sick?”

“What in the world are you…?”

“Haha! Still, Deseo is a very egalitarian and good city! As long as you have ‘money’, even a commoner can receive treatment, can’t they?”

Money.

The city operated on such logic.

Strangely, the people in this city genuinely believed they lived in an egalitarian world.

Because here, money was the absolute power.

Not all nobles are equal.

One must have a lot of money to be a noble.

Even if one was of commoner origin, if they had a lot of money, they could buy a noble title.

In other words, ‘nobility’ in this city wasn’t a lofty status passed down through generations from ancient times, but a badge of distinction proving ‘wealth’.

Even the Village Chief, Uncle Joseph, Ritsu, and even the prostitute unnies.

When they talked about Deseo, they always mentioned ‘money’.

I had guessed as much from the rumors I’d heard.

But I didn’t know they were this obsessed with money.

“This is truly… absurd.”

“Look, young lady. You seem like you really came from some backwater village, so I’m doing you a special favor and telling you something good. If you go to the next shop over, they’d ask for money just to hear this kind of talk, wouldn’t they? Hah—there’s no one as kind as me in Deseo—hahaha!”

As he said that, the pharmacist added.

“Young lady. To live in Deseo, remember these two things: ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ ‘There’s no good deed without a price.’ Even pickpockets nowadays pay money to learn their skills, you know.”

It was a shockingly materialistic story, but…

It didn’t seem like a lie.

The entire city was buried in such an incomprehensible atmosphere.

Everyone only wanted to hear the clinking of money and see the glittering gold.

“It seems you need healing medicine, young lady. So, why don’t you try using the ‘Deseo-style negotiation’ I just taught you? I have some good information. Let’s see, how about… 1 gold coin?”

“……”

1 gold coin.

It was an amount that definitely couldn’t be spent lightly, but…

I decided to consider it the price for learning one useful method that could be used in this city, at the very least.

I took out a gold coin from my pouch and threw it to him.

The owner expertly snatched the coin with a flick, then sniffed it.

“Haa-. This gold coin has a sweet apple scent. I never get tired of the smell of money.”

“Tell me quickly.”

“Alright. Come out from Pharmacy Street and go straight, and you’ll see a strange house with white boxes piled high. There—that’s where an old friend of mine lives. He’s from Deseo, yet he lives quite steadfastly, almost like an outsider. If you ask there, he’ll tell you about Dienbus or whatever it is. By the way, there are beggars loitering around the front gate of that house, so if you enter through the back door and say you came ‘through Rudis’s introduction’, you can meet him right away.”

“…Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, customer. Please use our services again next time.”

With a thud, I closed the shop door and stepped out onto the street.

It was terrifying enough to send shivers down my spine.

The moment I gave him money, his address changed from ‘young lady’ to ‘customer’, his tone instantly became polite, and his voice even softened—that attitude…

It wasn’t that the pharmacist’s mental state was strange.

It was simply because I had ‘money’ that he treated me that way.

Everyone in Deseo was like that.

First, I followed the information he provided.

Soon enough, I found an alley where white boxes were truly piled up haphazardly.

It was a small, shabby house, commonly seen in the city.

In front of it, people were waiting in a long line.

What’s more, a ‘Closed’ sign hung on the front gate, and even as night deepened, people showed no signs of leaving.

They probably intended to wait until tomorrow morning to receive treatment.

I took a wide turn around the alley and went to the back.

Just as the pharmacist said, there was a firmly locked back door.

When I knocked hard on the door and said I came ‘through Rudis’s introduction’, someone came down a moment later and opened it.

It was a young man wearing glasses.

“Who are you?”

“I… came because I urgently need medicine.”

“Come in for now.”

It was the house of an ordinary doctor.

Looking up at the shelves, I saw many familiar medicines.

Recovery potions that Ritsu often made, and also various kinds of unfamiliar medicines were abundantly displayed.

To think that the healing medicines I couldn’t find on the flashy Pharmacy Street were actually in this humble house.

Truly… it’s a difficult city to understand.

The owner of this house was a ‘doctor’.

Recalling the shabby appearance of the people waiting in front of the main gate.

It seemed that this doctor didn’t have many patients because his skill was outstanding, but rather because he was a doctor who treated the lower classes who had no money.

The young doctor pointed to the shelves.

“What medicine do you need?”

“Dienbus.”

“Dienbus…”

As soon as he heard that, the doctor adjusted his glasses with a troubled expression.

“I’m sorry, but… we don’t have that here.”

“The pharmacist said you would know a lot about it.”

“Yes, of course, I know. I do know about it, but… I’ve only ever known that Dienbus exists; I’ve never actually seen it myself.”

Just as I felt something unusual.

The doctor turned to me.

“And you are also the first person to ask me if I have that medicine.”