episode_0002

Rumors spread that the mad doctor of Leanso Village had died.

They said he had been struck in the neck by the sword of a mysterious silver-haired girl.

I smiled slyly upon hearing the rumor.

Finally, you’ve safely killed the first boss, Alaina.

Become a great hero and turn the world upside down!

Feeling pleased, I finished the remaining coffee and got up from my seat.

It’s time to open the shop now.

* * * * *

It’s been a month since I possessed Jack, the owner of the starting village’s shop NPC.

At first, it was somewhat confusing, but now I’m living relatively smoothly after getting used to it.

Business isn’t going so well.

This starting village is a very poor place.

The majority of our villagers either inherited poverty or ended up here as failures and the extremely impoverished.

There are people living here with normal economic power, but they too would be considered lower-class citizens if they were in other cities.

There is an administrator who acts as the market or village chief, but he has given up on running the village and is in a state of listlessness.

In short, it’s a mess, a slum.

Still, the shop isn’t doing too badly.

Occasionally, travelers passing through the village stop by our shop for some shopping.

Our shop sells healing potions, making it the only one in the village.

Due to the strict regulations of the Potion Association, healing potions can only be sold in certified shops in villages or cities.

The number of these shops increases according to the size of the city, but in small places like this, there is usually only one.

You see, when you play games, there are usually limited shops where you can buy potions.

In the starting village, that’s our shop.

We also handle beginner items such as potions, fishing hooks, beginner shields, practice wooden swords, and small leather pouches.

They may be humble and unimpressive, but to poor adventurers just setting out on their journey, each item is valuable.

But the problem is that the things I sell are specialized for adventurers leaving the village.

So, I always have trouble with excess healing potion stock.

In fact, healing potions are not only useful for adventurers.

Drinking them restores energy, and applying them quickly heals minor wounds, so ordinary people can keep them at home and use them.

The price isn’t bad either.

It’s cheap, only two silver coins for 50 health points.

However, in our village, the majority of people are very poor and must buy food instead of potions if they have that money.

I thought I could just stock them up and sell them until they run out, but there’s a problem with adhering to the potion management regulations, which require strict adherence to the expiration date.

As the expiration dates of the potions, which had been stocked since before possession, approached, I started to worry.

It’s too wasteful to throw all of this away.

But selling them cheaply to adventurers would drastically reduce their effectiveness if the expiration date is exceeded.

If it only restores 30 or 20 health points instead of the intended 50, it could become very dangerous.

After thinking about it, I made up my mind.

I decided to give them away to the impoverished villagers who would otherwise discard them.

Even if the expiration date has passed, it will only decrease the restorative power, not cause any harm.

It’s a concept similar to convenience store disposal.

From that day on, I packed the potions that were one day away from being discarded into boxes and headed to the streets.

Wondering where to go, I headed to the slums where the extremely poor gathered.

“Hello. This is a healing potion. It gives you energy when you drink it and heals wounds when applied.”

I handed out one potion to each person I met.

“Hey kid, come here and take one bottle. Bring it to your mom.”

“But I don’t have a mom.”

“Oh, um… Sorry. Then you drink it.”

“I’ll bring it to my grandma!”

I gave a bottle even to the pleading child.

“Hey, don’t run away! I’m not trying to do anything bad! This heals scars!”

“Really…?”

“Of course. I made it. Apply a little to your scar every day.”

“Thank you!”

I also gave a bottle to a woman with half of her face covered in a nasty burn mark.

“Houston, sir. How are your knees these days?”

“When I wake up in the morning, they make a cracking sound.”

“Here. This is specially for you.”

“Haha, thank you. Jack. This is precious.”

I even gave a bottle to an elderly former imperial knight who lost his retirement pay due to fraud after being injured and discharged.

“Congratulations on the birth. But the baby seems a bit small.”

“I couldn’t eat properly during pregnancy….”

“Feed this to the baby little by little. It’s a healing potion. If they were born with malnutrition, they need to be raised with excess nutrition.”

“Sigh, something like this… Thank you….”

I even gave it to young couples who had premature babies.

* * * * *

That’s how I continued to distribute the healing potions that were about to be discarded.

As I did, I began to open up to the people in the impoverished village and build intimacy with them.

As I continued to distribute the potion, I suddenly thought, “What if I go a little further from here?”

The healing potion is a mysterious elixir that restores the drinker’s strength.

It plays a role in reaching out to those who have collapsed under grim circumstances and helping them stand up again.

However, for the person who has stood up to move forward, new strength is needed.

Without someone pulling from the front and pushing from behind, they will soon hesitate and sit back down.

“Hey, Mirella, come here.”

I called out to the red-haired girl I had become friendly with while distributing the potion.

“Why?”

“Why, this girl. Do you happen to know how to read?”

“Read? Of course I can’t.”

“Do you want to learn?”

“Why?”

“Yeah…?”

“Why do I need to learn?”

Smiling at Mirella, who looked puzzled and up at me, I explained.

“People need to know how to read. That’s how you can escape poverty.”

“Really? If you know how to read, you become rich? Like Potion Oppa?”

“Me… rich?”

“If you have a house and keep giving out potions, aren’t you rich?”

Yeah. I might seem rich to this child.

“That’s right. Anyway, will you learn to read?”

“I’ll learn if you teach me. For free.”

“This girl? So, would I take money from you?”

And so, I ended up teaching the children in the impoverished village how to read.

The place was a shop after the evening market closed.

Like all starting villages in games, the structure was a large rectangular space with furniture roughly placed, making it suitable for teaching the children.

When I went to the village’s antique shop, I happened to find an old, slightly warped blackboard.

I asked Mr. Evan, the owner of the antique shop, and got some wood to make a new frame and put it in a corner of the shop.

I wish there were desks and chairs, but I didn’t have the money to give each child one.

He decided to sit on the ground and study because he wasn’t talented enough to make it.

He bought a lot of notebooks and pencils for the kids at the market and came back singing.

When some adventurers and villagers asked me what this was all about, I replied that I would teach the kids how to read and write.

“Why are you going through all that trouble?”

“It’s not trouble. If I learn for just one year, I can use it for a lifetime. It’s a great investment.”

“But isn’t it a waste for the shopkeeper?”

“Really? What if those kids become successful later and something comes back to me?”

Upon hearing this, the adventurers burst into laughter, saying there’s no joke like that.

* * * * *

During the first class, including Mirella, ten children from the poor village came to the shop.

“Potion brother!”

“Come in. No, first wash your hands and feet. Hey! Don’t put your fingers in your mouth! How old are you still sucking your fingers?”

He took the children to the backyard and washed their hands, feet, and faces with soap one by one.

He started lightly as it was the first day.

He wrote letters on the blackboard, taught pronunciation, and made them read and write.

The children hesitantly pronounced while awkwardly scribbling with unfamiliar hand movements.

Some lay on their sides and listened to the lesson.

I should probably teach them how to hold a pencil again.

And basic manners too.

It’ll get better if we keep going.

* * * * *

One evening as the sun was setting.

After a simple meal, he packed some leftover healing potions and headed to the shop.

As he entered the poor village, someone blocked his path.

It was a rugged man emitting a foul stench.

He held a club in his hand, seemingly not intending to ask for directions.

“You’re the owner of the potion shop in this village, right? You have so much money, don’t you?”

A big thug opened his mouth.

“Me?”

At my question, the thug revealed a sneer.

Strange. That face looks very familiar.

“I’ve heard rumors that you give out potions for free to people and teach children for free every night.”

“That’s not because I have a lot of money, but just…”

“Shut up!! Hand over the potions and money you have right now! Then I might spare your life.”

The robber appeared in the middle of the village, but he hasn’t been caught yet.

I can’t fight against him, so it’s better to give up what I have for now.

It seems like that’s better than dying….

“Ah!”

Suddenly, the robber was hit on the back of his head and bent over at the waist.

A stone that flew from somewhere had struck him hard on the back of his head.

Mirella was standing behind the crouched robber.

“Get away from Potion Oppa!”

Picking up another stone from the ground, Mirella shouted loudly.

“Get away right now!”

Once again, the robber flinched as another stone flew and he huddled his body.

“Mirella! Don’t come here! It’s dangerous!”

“That woman!”

Bleeding from the back of his head, the robber raised his club high.

“Mirella!”

Throwing the healing potion box, she rushed toward the robber.

Then suddenly, several stones came flying fiercely from another direction.

Children who were learning from me gathered together and began throwing stones at the robbers.

Even though it was the children who threw them, a stone was still a stone, and the robbers screamed and ran in the opposite direction.

However, the robbers couldn’t take more than a few steps and had to stop.

“That person is the one who shared potions with us.”

“You can’t touch the Potion Man.”

Before we knew it, the people from the slum had blocked the alleyway.

“Get lost! Get out!”

The robber threatened with his club, but the people didn’t back down; instead, their numbers increased.

“Knock him down!!”

“For the Potion Man!!”

“Waaaah!!”

People all rushed toward the robber.