episode_0018

And the next day.

Tia didn’t come.

Naturally, I didn’t receive the recovery potion, but it didn’t really matter. Considering how well I ran around the village yesterday looking for Ruyef, my body seemed almost recovered.

Thump. Thump.

Feeling bored, I decided to go up to the apothecary. Seeing it up close, it truly felt like a long time.

But nothing seemed to have changed much. It felt the same as when I used to walk this path to the apothecary every morning.

The apothecary seemed to be telling me this:

No matter how long I had slept, this place always remained the same.

Creak.

As I opened the door, light poured into the dark interior.

I was back. To where I belonged.

The tangy scent of herbs welcomed me, and the sound of wind whistling through the chimney tickled my ears.

It was surprising. Everything was just as I left it. My usual armchair and a blanket. Tia’s favorite rocking chair, even the herbalism books.

The apothecary had barely changed. However, the arrangement was a bit different. For example, the potion bottles had been moved closer to the shed, and the books were nearer to the entrance, I suppose. It was neatly organized, but with things not in their usual spots, it felt a little disorienting.

Did Tia change it? It would take time now, so I decided to just restore it later.

This time, I looked up. Red flowers hung densely from the ceiling.

It was Mushulin.

Where on earth did she get such a valuable herb as Mushulin? Moreover, even just trimming one root is difficult, but Tia had stripped them all and hung them to dry like that.

I could only say she was amazing.

Slide.

I opened the drawers one by one. As expected, there were almost no herbs left. Only rotten, unusable ones. As soon as I return to the apothecary, I’ll have to diligently restock the medicinal ingredients.

“……”

I slowly walked into the shed.

The first thing that caught my eye was an unfamiliar still. I had never brought in such a machine, so Tia must have brought it. I opened the lid. The strong scent of Mushulin wafted out. It seemed she had used this still until yesterday. Melted herbs were stuck to the input.

Nearby, there were desperate traces of potion making. Scraps cut from unusable parts were collected separately as waste, and byproducts from crushing, steaming, and high-temperature heating lay scattered. There were burn marks beneath the cylinder. I gently touched the blackened table.

Tia was a beginner. Her hands had never even touched a still, let alone made a potion in her life. Just how much trouble did she go through to make this potion?

It was entirely messy, but I couldn’t bring myself to clean it up. Tia’s devotion permeated every inch of this shed. The scene of her researching day and night, making potions for me, came to mind.

I sat blankly on a chair.

“Tia……”

My chest ached faintly. The moment Tia opened the apothecary door, I wanted to hug her tightly. To tell her thank you. To apologize for making her suffer. That I didn’t know she was doing such a difficult thing for me.

But even as the sun lingered by the window, Tia didn’t appear. Was chasing Ruyef away such a big hurt? Perhaps… I had been too harsh with Tia. If so, I should go find her. Go and apologize directly.

With a firm resolve, I left the apothecary.

Down the hill, people were gathering one by one. I asked the elderly folks resting comfortably if they had seen Tia.

“I saw her heading to the lower village.”

“Probably a little after lunch.”

For some unknown reason, it seemed she had gone to Taeldon alone. I immediately headed for Taeldon. Even if I ran now, time would be a bit tight. But Tia would probably be on her way up by now anyway, so I thought I’d meet her halfway.

However, even after I felt I had gone down quite a bit, Tia was nowhere to be seen.

I looked at the sky. It was purplish. Strange. By now, I should be seeing her slowly coming up from somewhere on the mountainside.

When I had gone a little further down. A signpost stuck in a corner of the road came into view.

[Modaless General Store]

As far as I remembered, this sign was on the verge of breaking. But now it was neatly repaired and firmly embedded. The faded letters had been repainted black. It seemed all the messy fallen leaves nearby had been swept away, as a wide path leading inward was clearly visible.

“……”

I found myself unconsciously stepping into the path.

As I approached the general store, an even stranger sight came into view. First, the yard, which used to be filled with clutter, was cleanly swept. Seeing the spotless yard without a single piece of trash, I realized anew that the general store was a very large building.

There was also a small garden made of stones along the outer edge of the yard. It was bare now in winter, but it looked like it would be full of colorful flowers come next spring. Several flower pots had also been placed around the house. Fosao used to tend to beautiful flowers, but he lost interest at some point, and all the flowers had blackened and withered away. But seeing the pots placed like this, it seemed he was planning to grow flowers again.

“……What is this?”

I doubted my eyes.

Could Fosao have had a change of heart? That slow, frustratingly lazy man suddenly cleaning and tending a garden? He’s almost 45 years old soon. It was almost as if he was making a final struggle to find a wife before it was too late.

Somehow, I wanted to meet him. I wanted to ask him why he had changed his mind.

I walked up the general store’s stairs. And the moment I reached for the doorknob.

My hand grabbed empty air.

“Huh?”

The doorknob was badly broken. I had no choice but to just push the door open, but then.

“Ahahaha—! What is that—!”

A bright laugh echoed from inside the general store.

“……”

A woman’s voice?

It was a truly awkward sound… one that didn’t suit this place. Laughter had long since vanished from this gloomy and dreary general store. People had stopped coming here ages ago, and after even Tia stopped visiting, there was no reason for a woman to come to this general store. Unless he had brought in a parrot that could imitate lively and cheerful laughter, this was certainly not a voice one would hear at Modaless General Store.

What is this? Could Fosao have actually found a wife in the meantime? If so, I’d sincerely want to congratulate him, but…

“Really— If you keep making jokes like that, I’ll dislike you—!”

…But why did this voice feel familiar?

I took my hand off the door and stepped back. And slowly approached the window, peeking inside.

A stout man was sitting at the inner table. It was Fosao. He was sweating profusely, talking eagerly to someone. I lifted my heels a little more to see the person he was talking to. Unfortunately, they had their back to me, so I could barely see anything but their lower half.

Nevertheless, I could tell for sure. The slender, smooth curve revealed beneath the trousers was unmistakably a woman’s leg. Seeing her pale skin and small stature, she seemed younger than I expected.

A girl…?

I held my breath and continued to watch. The girl seemed to be listening to some amusing story, resting her chin on the man’s table and idly swinging her boots.

…That gesture also felt familiar somehow.

Just then.

The man tried to get up from his seat but dropped something on the floor. The girl, who had been conversing with him, naturally bent down to pick it up.

“……”

What flashed before my eyes for a moment was ‘red hair’.

I felt like my breath stopped. I was so surprised that I covered my mouth and leaned against the wall.

What was that? Was there a red-haired girl in Taeldon? Not that I knew of. Red hair was very rare in this area. That’s why Tia was treated as uniquely special.

Then that girl…

No, no. It couldn’t be Tia. Tia disliked Fosao. She disliked him so much that she refused to be in the same space, even to exchange words, and would avoid him. And now she’s laughing and talking to him at such a close distance? Far from showing dislike, she was even facing him amicably. How could that girl be Tia?

I must have seen it wrong. It was dusk, so I must have mistaken the sunset reflected in the glass for red hair. Probably.

I composed myself and looked through the window again. The girl who had been at the table was no longer visible. Fosao had also disappeared. Where did they go?

It was just as I was moving to the next window, wondering if they had gone further inside.

Clunk!

The general store door opened, and someone darted out. I quickly hid behind the wall.

“Then, I’ll be going now—!”

“Alright. Be, be careful—. ‘Tia’.”

As soon as I heard that, I looked to my side.

A lie.

It was true. That girl was Tia.

Tia waved her hand lightly at Fosao with a smile, then crossed the yard and went up the mountain path.

What? What happened? Why. Why. Why was Tia coming out of the general store?

Fosao stroked his cheek.

“Hoo—. Uhuhuhu……”

The yard had transformed beautifully, but the man’s unpleasant laugh and bulging belly remained unchanged. That ‘unpleasant feeling’ that made women feel repulsed still seemed to be there. Yet, for some reason, there was no sign that Tia disliked Fosao at all.

Creak- Thud.

Fosao went into the store.

I was too shocked and stood there for a long time. My hands and feet wouldn’t move. I was dazed, still unable to comprehend the situation I had just witnessed. It was only after the sun had set that I could finally move my feet.

I don’t remember how I returned to the village. Tia’s vivid laughter, coming out of the general store, was so shocking that my mind just kept reeling.

I asked Sherry Aunt if she knew where Tia had been.

“Tia? She said she went to the lower village.”

“……”

That’s a lie. She was clearly at that general store.

A hunch struck me.

…Definitely.

Something is strange.