Ch.21Debt Settlement (2)

Adventurer’s Guild.

As its distinctive atmosphere welcomed us, Seriya trotted ahead of me toward the request board.

While I sat and waited, it wasn’t long before Seriya came back asking about a decent-looking request, which contained the following:

“Sap collection?”

“Yeah. The forest around Rascal. The sap from trees living there has quite a few uses.”

“Hmm… I don’t know how to collect sap…”

“You don’t need to. Trees that produce sap already have taps inserted in them.”

“Taps?”

“Yes. All we need to do is collect the sap in bottles and bring it back.”

If that’s the case, it’s quite a simple task.

However, the reward on the request form she handed me was 50 silver coins.

The compensation seems excessively generous for merely collecting sap.

“What kind of monsters live in the forest?”

“Well… goblins or wild animals, I guess. I don’t know since I’ve only been there a few times.”

It was somewhat irritating that she claimed to be a wood elf yet knew little about forests, but I wasn’t particularly worried.

We were well-equipped with armor, so even if a bear attacked, we could certainly make it out alive.

Thinking this, I examined the request form in detail.

It contained brief notes stating that containers for the sap were left at the Adventurer’s Guild, and that there would be additional compensation if we returned within three days.

“Seems like there’s no more information to gather. Wait a moment. I’ll get the containers.”

“Mmm.”

I got up and showed the request form to the receptionist at the reception warehouse.

“I heard there are containers for sap collection…”

“Ah, you’ve taken that request. Please wait a moment.”

The receptionist said this and disappeared briefly, returning shortly with 20 containers in a wooden box.

“Here they are.”

“…More than I expected.”

“Pardon?”

“No, nothing.”

I took the containers and approached Seriya.

Seriya also seemed quite surprised by the size of the containers—large enough to fit almost an entire head—and the fact that there were 20 of them.

“…Big and many…”

“Are sap collection containers always like this?”

“No… the ones I usually saw were similar in size to liquor bottles… these are much larger.”

“To collect all this within three days, we’ll have to put in quite a lot of legwork, won’t we?”

Saying this, we placed the collection containers in Seriya’s Dolly.

Then I strapped Dolly to my back, and we decided to stop by the market first to buy what we needed.

*

“Do we need antidotes?”

“I’m not sure…”

We stopped by a potion shop to look at antidotes.

Since we didn’t know exactly what was in the forest, we weren’t sure if we needed antidotes.

At that moment, the shop owner approached us.

“Looking to buy antidotes?”

“Well… we’re going to the forest and aren’t sure if we need antidotes…”

“Ah, if you’re going to the forest, you should take at least a couple of antidote bottles. Otherwise, you’ll be in trouble.”

“Are there poisons?”

“Of course. Getting bodily fluids on your skin or being stung by bees is common in the forest. Plus, there are venomous snakes living there.”

Venomous snakes…

I was bitten by a venomous snake once when I was young.

When I worked at the harbor, all sorts of rare and exotic creatures passed through, and once a group of venomous snakes escaped, causing 54 casualties, including myself.

I don’t remember it being painful so much as feeling extremely hot and hazy. The doctor said my body temperature had reached 41 degrees Celsius.

For reference, humans die at temperatures between 42 and 43 degrees.

“Hmm… then we have no choice but to buy some. Can I have six bottles of antidote?”

“Sure. How about healing potions?”

“Hmm… I have one bottle, so five more.”

“Hmm… that’ll be two silver coins and 70 copper coins in total.”

“I’ll give you three silver coins, please give me change.”

I handed over three silver coins, and the shopkeeper took them and gave me 30 copper coins in return.

“Let’s split them evenly, since we don’t know what might happen.”

“Alright.”

We divided the potions—3 healing and 3 antidote each—and securely fastened them to our belts, feeling the weight of the sloshing liquid against our stomachs as we headed to the next store.

The next store was a general store that mainly dealt in food supplies. Since we would need to stay for at least two days, I purchased plenty of ingredients.

“Hmm… these potatoes… carrots… and onions too.”

“Yes, sir!”

“And do you have dry firewood and flint?”

“Hahaha. Of course I do.”

Flint refers to stones that spark when struck.

And dry firewood was always useful, so I planned to make the most of my spatial storage.

After completing the transaction of three silver coins, we checked the time and found that it was about 3 PM.

“Let’s head straight to the forest. Every minute counts.”

“I agree.”

We took the reins of our pack horse and began heading outside the city.

Clop! Clop!

Perhaps because it had been a while since it ran, the pack horse seemed quite happy. I rode, avoiding the busy passersby until the city view disappeared, and soon we arrived at the boundary between the city and the forest.

*

Crunch… crunch…

“Neeeigh…!”

Thanks to riding on horseback, we could traverse the mountain comfortably.

If we hadn’t had the horse, we would have been struggling through wet leaves and grass by now.

“Look. Can you see the tap?”

“Indeed. So that’s how they’re inserted.”

As Seriya gestured, I saw a brass tap inserted into a part of the tree where the bark had been stripped away.

“They must have made it from brass to prevent rusting… clever.”

Muttering this, I dismounted and placed a sap container underneath, then turned the tap to start collecting sap.

Drip…

A viscous white liquid began flowing through the tap, while Seriya kept watch around us with an arrow nocked in her bow.

Drip… drip… drip.

“…Is this all that came out?”

“How much did you get?”

“See for yourself.”

I lifted the collection container to show Seriya, and she frowned at the sight of the container that was barely one-third full.

“Looks like we’re in trouble.”

“I agree.”

If one tap fills only a third of a container… we would need to collect sap at least 60 times, and to finish within three days, we would literally have to run around like crazy.

“…Good thing we brought the horse.”

“Indeed.”

We began looking for the next tap, shuddering at the thought.

In truth, we could get additional rewards if we returned within three days. It wouldn’t be a failure if we took a week, but right now, we desperately needed that ‘additional reward.’

For the sake of that green-eared one who became indebted after trying to rob that damn huge gambling house.

“Look, there’s another one.”

“Let’s move quickly. Giddyup!”

“Neeeigh!”

*

30 o’clock.

The sun had completely set, but we were still continuing our search and collecting sap.

To avoid getting lost, we wrapped nearby grass around taps we had finished with, so at least we wouldn’t end up as lost wanderers.

“I’m sleepy…”

“Just hang in there a little longer. Let’s sleep after filling this container.”

I said, patting the container attached to my waist.

The container, now two-thirds full, would be completely filled after finding just one more tap.

“Oh! There’s one!”

“Great! Let’s fill it quickly.”

After wandering aimlessly through the forest, we finally spotted a tap and checked to see if it had grass wrapped around it. Finding it smooth and clean, we cheered and placed the collection container under the tap.

Creak… creak…

Drip….

Pure white sap began to flow, and we watched with wide eyes as the container gradually filled.

And finally, when the container was full, we put the eighth filled collection container into Dolly and began preparing for bed.

Rustle! Swish!

Seriya cleared away the grass beneath our feet to make a place to sit and lie down, while I filled a pot with water and started to build a campfire.

Crack!

Whoosh!

When I threw the flint onto the gathered dry firewood, flames began to rise with a slight explosive sound, and I set up a stand with nearby stones and placed the pot on top.

Chop… chop… chop…

Before the water boiled, I began preparing the ingredients.

The skins of potatoes, carrots, and onions were peeled, the flesh was finely chopped, and large pieces of raw meat were dropped into the now-boiling pot with a splash.

Plop!

After throwing in all the prepared vegetables, I began seasoning with salt and pepper.

Tap tap. Shake shake.

With the sound of salt and pepper grinding in the container, the white and black powders began to dissolve into the stew, and warmth began to spread from our now-tidy sleeping area.

“We don’t need to keep watch, right? You’re a wood elf after all.”

“Of course not. Leave it to me.”

Seriya said this, then began heartily eating the stew I handed her.

I also scooped a generous ladleful of the prepared stew and tasted it, finding the vegetables, meat, salt, and pepper exquisitely harmonized.

In a word, it was delicious.

After finishing our meal over several dozen minutes, we exchanged trivial jokes before going to bed, and woke up with the scent of dawn.