Ch.59The Road to Shahelm (1)

Shahelm is the city where potions were first created in the world.

Due to this historical significance, it was governed by nobles who held at least the rank of duke in the ancient empire, and Shahelm actively promoted this fact to assert their legitimacy.

Naturally, all kinds of extraordinary potions are created and consumed there, and it is said that many philosophical debates about the nature of potions frequently take place.

As the birthplace of potions, 60% of the total population works in potion-related industries, while another 30% is indirectly involved. The remaining 10% consists of civil servants and soldiers, making Shahelm a peculiar city-state built on potions from foundation to ceiling.

“The homeland of potions.”

Potions are broadly divided into three grades.

Low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade.

Low-grade potions, like the ones I carry, are oral medications that stop bleeding and reduce bruising and swelling as long as you can drink them and your limbs haven’t been severed.

Mid-grade potions enhance the effects of low-grade potions and can regenerate severed limbs, though with limitations compared to high-grade potions.

To what extent? With mid-grade potions, you need to retrieve the severed limb, reattach it firmly, and then drink the potion for it to reconnect properly.

In the heat of intense battle, you can hardly roll around looking for your own limbs, and if your limbs are severed, it’s likely an extremely violent fight. Naturally, the severed parts won’t be in good condition, and the cut surfaces won’t be clean, so these potions rarely prove effective in practice.

High-grade potions demonstrate unparalleled effectiveness in treating external injuries.

Lost an arm or leg? Buy a high-grade potion and drink it.

Gone blind or deaf? Buy a high-grade potion and drink it.

Their healing power for damaged body parts is second only to elixirs, and even those with severed limbs can regrow them within a day just by swallowing a high-grade potion—truly remarkable.

In the era before potions, limb deficiencies had to be replaced with inferior mechanical substitutes that were extremely expensive and difficult to maintain. Having nearly met Karil multiple times myself, I never doubted the efficacy of potions.

Of course, potions weren’t a cure-all.

Being liquids, they needed time to pass through the esophagus, be absorbed by the stomach, and spread throughout the body—time that was often critical in emergencies. Additionally, potions were primarily effective for external injuries and had no effect on internal damage.

While they could help with internal bleeding, they were useless against tumors or abscesses.

Particularly for those with congenital disabilities, potions had no effect no matter how much they drank, as there was no “external injury” to heal—they were simply born that way.

I’ve heard that hypnotic therapy is used in such cases.

And being medicines, potions couldn’t penetrate the blood-brain barrier, which ironically absorbs nicotine and alcohol perfectly while blocking hemostatic agents.

Of course, if you needed a potion’s power to reach your brain, you’d probably be better off dead anyway.

However, while they couldn’t improve certain conditions, potions were still oral medications that provided pain relief and anti-inflammatory effects. Many households kept a few bottles of low-grade potions as standard first aid.

The military particularly favored the seemingly mediocre mid-grade potions, as low-grade potions were too unreliable and high-grade potions too expensive.

With proper treatment, mid-grade potions could still regenerate limbs, and an organization like the military could easily recover severed limbs.

*

“Ah, this breeze feels refreshing.”

It had been a week since I set out for Shahelm.

In just one more week, I would reach my destination.

Clatter! Clatter!

“Make way! Move aside!”

Crack! Crack!

The signs of approaching Shahelm manifested through sight and sound.

Massive cargo wagons pulled by four horses each were constantly heading toward Faerus Vale, and small-time adventurers like me had no choice but to step aside at the demand of these large companies.

Of course, the highway connecting Shahelm and Faerus Vale was quite wide and well-maintained, with checkpoints throughout providing strict surveillance, making it exceptionally safe.

And what that meant was…

“Pay the toll. Twenty gold coins.”

“…And I suppose the horse is extra?”

“You know it well. Forty gold coins including the horse.”

“Urgh…”

The toll was outrageously expensive.

These cowards charged not only for me but also for my horse, collecting forty gold coins. All the adventurers and travelers who had to pay the toll wore expressions of discontent.

I was fine since I had earned sufficient travel funds by completing quests in Faerus Vale, but most adventurers and travelers with tight budgets looked ready to start a riot if they were charged one more toll.

Of course, fighting against the road guards, who were equipped with plate armor rather than chain mail, would be a losing battle.

“This is outrageous! Why do you charge adventurers twenty gold coins but demand one silver coin from us?”

“Because you’re merchants, aren’t you? It’s only natural that those who earn more should pay more. Stop complaining and pay up.”

“I won’t! I can’t!”

Gyaaak!

“Hmm…”

As I passed through the tollgate, I heard the merchants’ anguished cries.

If the amount was burdensome even for adventurers, it must have been a headache for merchants with limited disposable income, who would want to avoid fixed expenses like tolls.

“If you refuse to pay the toll, you cannot use the road.”

“Ugh…”

But in the end, the merchants had no choice but to pay.

It made sense when you thought about it.

It was more profitable to use a pre-established, well-maintained paved road than to hire escorts and forge a new path.

Perhaps what the guards collected was more of a usage fee than a toll?

*

Twenty-seven hours later, I stopped at a rest area in the middle of the road.

After tethering my horse and properly paying the fee, I began exploring the rest area with its array of stalls and inns, enjoying the atmosphere.

“It’s different from the city, but this ambiance isn’t bad.”

The atmosphere of the rest area differed distinctly from that of a city.

While a city’s ambiance comes from the interactions of those who live there, this place had a unique atmosphere created by travelers who would likely never meet again after today.

“Hmm…”

I bought a chicken skewer from a suitable stall, then leaned against a wall to observe the scene.

Surprisingly, even here there was an Adventurers’ Guild branch, and it seemed some adventurers stayed for months because of it.

“I wonder if there’s anywhere this guild doesn’t exist…”

Is it that the guild exists where people gather, or do people gather where branches are established?

Common folk often debated this chicken-or-egg question over drinks.

I was considering joining that endless cycle with a drink myself when—

“Um… excuse me…”

“?”

I turned my head toward the sudden voice.

“That halberd. Would you be willing to sell it to me?”

“What?”

I carefully observed the woman who had addressed me.

About a head shorter than me and probably around my age, she had such an enormous chest that it obscured her arms. Her hips were as wide as two women combined, and her buttocks were so large that despite wearing a long skirt, the hem only reached her knees.

Meanwhile, her waist was so thin it looked like it might snap at any moment, and it was visibly trembling as if that were indeed the case.

She was awkwardly leaning her weight on a crudely made spear, but the shaft was already bent and on the verge of breaking.

In short, she looked bizarre.

As if the Creator had said, “Haha, I’ll create the ultimate embodiment of all desires!” and then exclaimed, “Oops, my hand slipped.”

What the actual hell.

This woman seriously looks like she weighs over a ton, no exaggeration.