episode_0079

From the next day on, I didn’t go outside.

From morning until night.

I spent my time sitting idly by Ritsu’s side.

I’d talk to Ritsu, who might not even be properly listening, and when I got bored, I’d read to him.

Occasionally, I would wash his dirty body and turn him over.

I just repeatedly fed him small amounts of water and stew.

Aunt Sherry jokingly said that if I kept doing that, Ritsu would feel too burdened to get up.

She was right.

Watching him all day wouldn’t make Ritsu wake up any faster.

But all I could do in Brizedon was…

…this.

I was afraid to face people.

The moment I stepped out of Aunt’s house, I felt suffocated.

I had no idea what expression to make in front of the elders.

I didn’t know what to say at all.

“……”

The moment I saw their blunt faces looking down at me.

Ruyef’s cold gaze, which had told me everything was my fault, came to mind.

…I just ended up lowering my head.

“Ritsu, I’m going to air out the room for a bit. Please bear with the cold.”

I got up from my seat and approached the window.

When I opened the window, a cold wind gusted in.

Whoosh.

Yellow grass waved across the hill.

The grass of Dragonez was fresh and fragrant.

Although now it was dried up and yellowed by the blowing winter wind.

It was soft enough to comfortably lie down and take a nap on.

Until now, I had longed for the grass, but I had never feared it.

But… now I hated that grass.

Like a child who loved Deseo’s white sand beach but became afraid to step on sand after being badly cut by a sharp seashell.

To me, that grass looked like sharp awls sticking out.

I don’t know.

A much wider, more beautiful, and peaceful field stretched out before me, yet it was worse than Deseo’s complicated, noisy, frightening, and gloomy streets.

Why couldn’t I take even a single step out of this house?

Or was it that I didn’t want to go out?

Clench!

I gripped the windowsill tightly.

Ominous thoughts seeped in.

Could this place… be a prison?

I shook my head.

“……No.”

Ritsu is here.

How could a place where the person I love is, be a prison?

I just need to wait a little longer.

When Ritsu wakes up… everything will change.

We can go back to how things were.

Just bear with it until then.

Click.

I closed the window again and turned around.

“……”

Ritsu was sound asleep.

As if my worries were nothing to be concerned about, he wore a comfortable smile.

“…Hehe.”

I laughed along with him.

Seeing Ritsu’s handsome face made my stifled heart feel much better.

It was that afternoon.

Aunt Sherry opened the door and called for me.

“Tia.”

“Yes?”

Aunt said with a troubled expression.

“If you don’t mind, could you go down to the lower village for a bit?”

“Yes. But…”

Noticing my gaze towards Ritsu, Aunt chuckled.

“I’ll watch Ritsu. Don’t worry.”

“What is it for?”

“There are a lot of supplies we need to get from the lower village. Normally, I’d ask Merid or Ruyef, but they both say they’re busy today. You’re the only one I can ask, Tia.”

“I’ll help with anything I can.”

“Oh, thank you so much. Hehe…”

Saying so, she handed me a pouch filled with silver coins.

Clink.

The hefty weight of the pouch felt like it contained roughly 2 gold.

“2 gold…?”

“That should be enough.”

For a moment, at Aunt’s words, I thought, ‘What can I buy with only 2 gold?’ but then my mind suddenly cleared.

I had become so accustomed to Deseo’s prices that I momentarily forgot that 2 gold was quite a large sum here.

Most of the items I was asked to fetch were ‘medicine’.

It was originally Ritsu’s job, but after he became like this, they had been getting medicine from the pharmacist in Taildon all autumn.

However, all the medicinal ingredients Ritsu had stocked in the pharmacy were gone.

And since Taildon’s pharmacist prioritized the health of Taildon residents over ours…

They said they couldn’t get medicine unless they paid like this.

Hearing that, I quickly did some calculations in my head.

2 gold was spent on medicine every three days.

That meant about 5 gold a week, and 20 gold a month.

“……”

Although Brizedon was a village that didn’t pay taxes, it was certainly not a wealthy area.

Perhaps the elders… were barely earning enough for this medicine.

“I’ll be back.”

“Alright. Don’t be late, and make sure to return before sunset.”

“Yes.”

I borrowed a cloak from Aunt, put it on, and went outside for the first time in a while.

To avoid being seen by people as much as possible, I circled around the outskirts and headed towards the village entrance.

Thud. Thud.

However, that choice turned out to be poisonous.

Because I ended up encountering Ruyef, who was carrying wood down the mountainside.

“……”

Ruyef looked at me, his face drenched in sweat.

I awkwardly greeted him.

“Oh, hello…. Ruyef.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the lower village. Aunt Sherry asked me to go…”

“A medicine errand, I see.”

Adjusting the heavy stack of firewood he carried, he asked in a listless voice.

“How much was that medicine?”

“Huh?”

“The medicine that wakes Ritsu. How much was it?”

I was about to say 1,000 gold, but stopped myself.

As if he already knew, Ruyef nodded.

“It must have been very expensive. You, who never says ‘it’s hard,’ said it was hard enough to make you collapse in Deseo. Well, that’s not important anyway.”

“……”

“It’s the same for us; we’re also working hard enough to collapse just to get the medicine.”

“…Right.”

Ruyef said as he headed back to the storage shed.

“And the withdrawal of the general store has been temporarily postponed. Instead, I hope you’ll be that much more helpful.”

“……Alright.”

“Don’t be late, and come back.”

I left the village as if fleeing.

I had to be back before dark, so there wasn’t much time.

As I ran straight towards the lower village, I suddenly saw a small path veering off to the left.

There was a dilapidated sign standing there.

[Modaless General Store]

I felt a strange sensation.

Before, I wouldn’t have even glanced in this direction.

Now, as if possessed, I was heading into it.

The path was buried under thickly piled fallen leaves, but I relied on my senses to climb the winding road.

Before long, it appeared.

A large, two-story building with a yard full of miscellaneous items.

Unchanged in the slightest from my old memories.

The general store remained just as familiar as before.

I didn’t enter the yard, just watched from a distance.

Naturally, no sign of anyone was felt inside the store.

Because Uncle Fosao was in Deseo now.

He would be busy working even at this moment, cleaning up the mess caused by what he did for me.

I turned my head again.

I looked at the eastern sky where Deseo was, a place completely invisible from here.

If, right now, Uncle had returned here.

What would he have said to me?

He would probably… pat my back and tell me to cheer up.

And promise that he’d gladly help with anything he could.

Because he was always that kind of person.

“……”

Clenching my hands over my chest.

I went down to the lower village.

***

I found the Taildon pharmacy.

As soon as the pharmacist saw me, he handed over the prepared medicine bag, and I took out my money pouch and handed it to him.

The pharmacist, counting the silver coins one by one, said.

“Ah, wait a minute. This isn’t quite enough.”

“What? Not enough? You said this would be enough…”

“Last time, I thought that price would be fine, so I accepted it. But our situation isn’t good either. We’re running very low on medicinal ingredients.”

It didn’t seem like a lie.

The shelves at the back of the store were almost empty.

“I’m sorry, but this is all the money I have. Is there anything you can do?”

“There’s no helping it. Take them today, and I’ll put the rest on credit.”

“Thank you.”

Hugging the medicine bag, I hurriedly went outside.

A sigh escaped me.

The thought of having to tell them the medicine price had gone up felt overwhelming.

I walked along Taildon’s bustling main street, my head bowed.

I didn’t even have time to stop by the contact office today.

Both Aunt Sherry and Ruyef had told me to return to the village before sunset.

That… wasn’t a request, but an order.

It was while I was walking absently along the road.

“……?”

It felt like something familiar had just brushed past me.

Strangely familiar, and terrifying enough to make me suddenly scared.

There was an instinctive scent.

I turned my head in that direction.

Two men were walking along the edge of the main street.

They were tall, well-built mercenaries.

They wore coats woven from animal hides, like hunters, and fur hats pulled down over their heads.

A perfectly ordinary mercenary appearance.

I couldn’t recall anyone specific.

Yet, I couldn’t understand why I felt such an ominous feeling.

I stopped and closely watched the two men’s backs.

Weapons hung from their backs and waists, which seemed extremely out of place.

Mercenaries usually carried swords, but these men had double-bladed axes and massive longbows.

Axes and longbows.

My body froze instantly.

No way.

Suddenly, dark and terrible memories resurfaced.

The sound of an axe scraping against wood, heard from an unknown mountain.

The shadows of bandits descending like grim reapers.

It was those men.

Although it was a certainty based on just a fleeting memory, my body’s senses told me that those men were undoubtedly ‘enemies’.

Gulp.

The two men entered a tavern.

As if possessed, I followed them.

I carefully went to the tavern window and peeked at them.

“……”

The man said something to the proprietress.

“……”

The proprietress, listening to their story, shook her head as if she didn’t understand.

Then the men stopped another customer and talked about something similar.

It was as if they were going around asking questions.

Ultimately, finding no success, the two men left the tavern.

Only after seeing them enter another alley did I stealthily slip in through the tavern’s back door.

The proprietress recognized me.

“Oh my! Tia!”

“Hello, Ma’am.”

“It’s been so long! I heard you came back a few days ago? Our Vincent was talking about you.”

“Yes. Hehe—. Um— well… it’s just that…”

I asked in a whisper.

“By any chance… those men just now…”

“Yes.”

“…What did they ask about?”

“Hmm…”

The proprietress crossed her arms with a puzzled look.

“They asked if I knew someone named ‘Modaless’.”