Ch.158The White Rabbit Tribe’s Secret Medicine

After finishing our conversation with Mina, we left the Paracelsus Workshop with Linda, the alchemist, and drove the carriage straight south.

Our destination was a forest about 30km away from the workshop, where a village of the White Rabbit tribe was hidden.

However, no matter how excellent Ancestor’s driving capabilities were, we couldn’t enter the dense forest by carriage.

We had no choice but to leave the carriage at the forest entrance with someone standing guard while the rest of us went to the White Rabbit village to complete our business.

So Jessica, Phyllis, Linda, and I asked Setty to guard the carriage while we headed into the forest.

“Will it be okay? Leaving Setty alone to guard the carriage…”

“Setty should be fine. She’s much stronger than if I, Jessica, or Phyllis were alone.”

We’d frequently need to visit places inaccessible by carriage in the future, so it was necessary for each of us to take turns guarding the carriage to gain experience.

This time, Setty was simply taking that role.

“It won’t even take 10 minutes to reach the White Rabbit village, so there’s no need to worry too much. This area has no powerful monsters or wild animals, and no outlaws have been spotted for at least 10 years.”

“If that’s the case, then it should be fine…”

Following Linda’s guidance, we walked about 10 minutes into the forest and came upon the White Rabbit tribe’s village—a clearing with neatly arranged small log houses.

The dense wooden fence disguised with bushes and leaves to make it difficult to spot from a distance showed considerable skill.

“Settlers…?”

“There are elves too. What business do you have in our village?”

Linda stepped forward to answer the questions from two young White Rabbit tribesmen guarding the village entrance.

“Hello. I’m Linda May, an alchemist from the Paracelsus Workshop. I’d like to meet Mrs. Chainy.”

“The herb grandmother?”

“I’ve had an accident with a medicine I made, and I need help creating an antidote.”

As she explained, Linda took out her Frontier License card from her bosom and showed it to the young tribesmen.

When the three of us followed her lead and showed our license cards, the older-looking guard gestured for us to follow him and began walking into the village.

“Let’s go, everyone.”

“Are you acquainted with this Mrs. Chainy?”

“She’s a White Rabbit herbalist who taught me about the ingredients for the Bust Enhancement Cream. We connected by chance, and I’ve been visiting occasionally to learn from her.”

“Elderly beastfolk herbalists are known for their wisdom and skill. Even we elves have extensive knowledge and experience in handling herbs, but it’s said we can’t compare to elderly beastfolk.”

“Oh, that’s impressive.”

When Phyllis praised the White Rabbit tribe, I noticed the ears of the young tribesman guiding us twitch slightly.

Pretending not to notice, we followed him deeper into the village, where children began peeking out from various places, looking at us with curious eyes.

Meanwhile, adults were scolding them in solemn voices, telling them to go back inside.

“This is completely different from the White Rabbit tribe image I saw at Cotton Tail Trading Post.”

“Originally, the White Rabbit tribe prefers quiet agricultural living, like the people here. Those who remain at Cotton Tail Trading Post are… professional merchants who’ve been through thick and thin living alongside settlers.”

“I see…”

Come to think of it, the White Rabbit employees at the hair loss clinic in the Third Western City also had a gentle and quiet demeanor.

While thinking about this, we arrived at a small hut surrounded by potted plants and a vegetable garden.

*Knock knock knock*

“Grandma Chainy. Visitors from the Paracelsus Workshop are here to see you.”

“Tell them to come in.”

“…Go on in.”

The young tribesman who guided us stepped aside after saying this.

It seemed he would wait outside until we finished our business.

“Excuse us~”

Linda entered the house with a polite greeting.

Inside the hut, filled with the smell of medicinal herbs, an elderly woman with white hair sat in an armchair, knitting.

Unlike the perky ears of the young tribesmen, her gray rabbit ears were gently bent in the middle, giving her a gentle impression.

“Hello, Mrs. Chainy.”

“Well, if it isn’t the alchemy girl. I’m sorry. At my age, it’s not easy to get up from my chair when guests arrive.”

“It’s fine. We’re the ones who should apologize for coming suddenly.”

“You young folks behind her, take those chairs and sit anywhere.”

We took the round chairs from where the old woman pointed and sat in a circle around her.

“So, what brings you to this old country woman today? And with all these people in tow.”

“Ah… these people are companions of a customer who purchased medicine I made.”

When Linda carefully explained the incident that occurred last night to the elderly woman called Mrs. Chainy, she put her hand to her forehead and slapped Linda’s forearm.

“Oh my! Didn’t I tell you not to mess with the Boingo grass! I thought that sticky little bud had ripened well, but you secretly took it to make medicine!?”

“B-but I was envious. An herb that makes breasts larger—if I could spread word of such an amazing thing, think of how many women could be freed from their complexes…”

“Child, if it were such a convenient herb, why would we keep it secret? We would have sold it long ago and be sitting on piles of money!”

“…What?”

Mrs. Chainy sighed deeply and briefly explained about the Boingo grass used as an ingredient in the Bust Enhancement Cream.

The main effect of Boingo grass was to stimulate female breast milk production, used when young mothers died during childbirth or when virgins needed to nurse orphaned babies.

Linda had distorted its effects during the cream-making process, extremely activating only the breast-enlarging aspect. Mrs. Chainy explained that the milk-stimulating effect, which had been suppressed, was likely abnormally activated due to ingredients in the sleeping medicine Mina had taken.

“That girl Mina is suffering from breast engorgement. In 2-3 days, milk will start flowing, but since it was excessively stimulated by alchemical medicine, it’s hard to predict what side effects there might be. She might need to express milk constantly, or she might suffer terrible pain.”

“Is there a way to fix it, or return her to normal?”

“There is. When women who used Boingo grass wean their babies, they drink a tea made from Peta flowers to return their breasts to normal. If you make medicine the same way as the cream but with that flower, it might work.”

“Might…?”

“Still, it’s fortunate there’s a solution. Grandmother, where can we get these flowers?”

“They bloom abundantly by a pond about three or four hours from here… Hey! Paloma! Come in here a moment!”

When Mrs. Chainy raised her voice, the front door opened and the young man who had guided us earlier entered.

So his name is Paloma.

“What is it?”

“Take these people to the southeastern pond. They need to collect about 20 Peta flowers.”

“Uh… we can’t go there now.”

“Hmm? Why not?”

“I told you at the village meeting a few days ago. A wild boar that turned into a monster is killing anyone or any animal that approaches the pond. The southeastern pond area is off-limits until the monster is eliminated.”

“Oh dear. What shall we do?”

Wild boar… a monster.

If it’s monster elimination, it seems like our turn to step up.

“So we just need to defeat this boar monster to solve the problem?”

“Yes, but… are you offering to do it?”

“Monster elimination is the specialty of adventurers like us. Right, Jessica, Phyllis?”

“Of course. If it’s just one enemy, it shouldn’t take long.”

“We need to defeat that monster to get the herbs to help Mina. Let’s resolve this quickly and return to the workshop.”

Paloma shrugged at our confident statements, indicating we could do as we pleased.

“Whatever works. I’ll guide you to the area, so let’s depart right away.”

“First, we need to stop by the forest edge to pick up our companion who’s guarding the carriage. It would be good if someone could watch our carriage in the meantime.”

“…I’ll call some people, so wait a bit.”

“Since that’s settled, we’ll leave Lady Linda in your care for now.”

“Sure. While you’re gone, I’ll make sure to teach Linda thoroughly about White Rabbit herbs, so don’t worry.”

Leaving Linda at the hut, we returned to where the carriage was with the young White Rabbit tribesmen Paloma had brought.

I’m not sure how strong this boar monster is, but with Setty joining us, there’s no way we couldn’t defeat it.

Time to show the skills of an adventurer party that took down a Tyrant-class Worm.