The scene shifts to the desert.
“Where did you acquire this?”
On that day, a man known as “Jed the Apothecary,” one of the Killri Company’s head clerks, was facing a peculiar pair of women.
The Killri Company, which controlled 70% of the food, alcohol, and daily necessities in Desert Town Cutlass, had various departments. Jed, as the head clerk of the “Apothecary,” made profits by buying materials gathered by Hoglos Company’s Adventurers and processing them into medicines to sell to Adventurers and wealthy residents.
Then, a strange rumor reached Jed’s ears: a young woman he’d never seen before had come to sell potions.
Basically, the “Apothecary” bought materials but didn’t buy medicines. However, Adventurers and travelers in dire straits would sometimes come to sell their emergency medicines. If the contents were still usable after inspection, they would buy them for about 10% to 20% of the original price and sell them to poor residents at high prices without offering them to regular customers.
But these young women had left what appeared to be low-grade potions without asking for anything in return.
Even low-grade recovery potions could restore weakened stamina, close wounds, and completely heal shallow injuries without leaving scars in a few days. Moreover, unless they were very special, they could even cure illnesses with just a few days of bed rest.
In this world where greater Mana made one less susceptible to illness and injury, recovery potions were the most familiar medicine.
However, even a low-grade potion cost one Silver Coin. Especially in this Desert Town, they were luxury items worth three Silver Coins.
This was because the materials were scarce. It wasn’t a problem in countries and regions with abundant nature, but the creatures living in this desert were mostly Monsters, making collection difficult.
Furthermore, Alchemists who could create potions were rare. It wasn’t that there were few Alchemists, but if they were going to work in a lawless town in the desert, it was safer and cheaper to obtain materials in a normal country.
There were no Alchemists working independently in this town. Only second-rate Alchemists with shady pasts came to this town, and even they were fought over by each faction and worked like horses to meet the demand.
Even second-rate Alchemists who could only make low-grade potions were rare, and naturally, their products didn’t reach low-ranked Adventurers or the poor.
Therefore, most of the potions circulating in the town were imported by the Killri Company from the Calfaan Empire, and many had deteriorated due to the long month-long journey and the desert climate. However, the low-grade potions left by the young women showed no signs of deterioration.
“Even if you ask where… do you know of any merchants who would reveal their suppliers?”
“Hah hah hah, you’ve hit me where it hurts.”
In the reception room of the Apothecary, Jed, a fellow merchant, jokingly laughed while tapping his dark, balding forehead at the woman’s words as she sat on the sofa.
The potion placed on the table was a Superior Potion.
The recovery amount and speed of a Superior Potion were comparable to Level 3 Light Magic. However, imported and deteriorated potions had their effects reduced by about 30%, and even then, they were sold for five Gold Coins, several times the original price, in this town.
Yet, the Superior Potion that the women had brought for the first time showed no signs of deterioration, as if it had just been made.
Its effectiveness had been tested on a dying servant suffering from severe sunburn, provided as a sample.
While non-deteriorated low-grade potions could be obtained in this town, how did they obtain non-deteriorated Superior Potions in this desert where even the materials were supposedly unavailable?
(…She’s young.)
Jed narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the young woman before him.
The woman was a Mersenian with fair skin, a rarity in this town. While not nonexistent, there were hardly any young and beautiful women like her, even in the Leesan Syndicate, which managed carnal affairs.
At first, she had worn her hood low, but when the woman revealed her face for the business talk, Jed was surprised. With fair blonde hair and blue eyes like a noble, she still looked young—like a fifteen-year-old commoner, but if her Mana was high, she might even be younger.
It was hard to believe that such a young girl was a high-level Alchemist. In the first place, she shouldn’t be able to make them since there were no materials.
There must be “something” secret.
Did she use Magic to import materials while maintaining their freshness? Or did she have a way to cross the desert without deteriorating the potions? Or did she use Magic itself to maintain the freshness of the potions?
There must be some secret. How could he “steal” it—
“!?!”
Jed’s breath caught in his throat at the sudden, strange Intimidation he felt.
The reason Jed, the head clerk of the Killri Company, one of the four major factions in this town, was calmly negotiating with such a young girl was because of the presence of her “companion.”
Besides the blonde girl, another woman, presumably her bodyguard, stood behind her with her hood pulled low, constantly emitting a dangerous aura and watching their surroundings.
Jed was also a resident of this town. He had killed people, stolen other people’s property, trampled on their dignity, and plunged them into a hell worse than death countless times.
Yet, Jed felt that one woman was “different.”
The residents of this town didn’t hesitate to kill. They knew that if they didn’t take, they would be taken from. That was why they would sell even their dignity to protect their lives.
Jed thought at first glance:
If he laid a hand on these people, it would be troublesome.
Jed’s guards were here. In the first place, even children in this town knew that if they laid a hand on the head clerk of the Killri Company, their family and friends would be killed.
But even so, Jed felt that he would be killed, sensing something close to his own death.
“…Then let’s get back to the business talk. If you can deliver these regularly, how about six Gold Coins per potion?”
“I see… that’s fine with me. I hope we can continue to have a good relationship.”
“Yes, of course…”
The Superior Potions they brought totaled five. After receiving three Large Gold Coins in total, the girls left the Killri Company.
If it were a Superior Potion brought in by a wandering merchant, it would be worth at most two Gold Coins. Even if it was fresh and worth over one Large Gold Coin at the selling price, buying it for six Gold Coins was exceptionally high.
Considering the profit that could be made from the girls, that amount was by no means high.
In the room filled with the sweet scent of boiled tea with plenty of sugar, which remained untouched on the table, Jed let out a creepy smile.
“…Don’t underestimate the Killri Company, you little girls.”
“Did I fail…?”
Elena, who hid her face with a hood, muttered as she walked down the street.
Even in the chaotic town of Cutlass, the main street during the day wasn’t that dangerous. If people lived there, they needed daily necessities such as stalls selling simple meals, cloth, and thread for making clothes.
Most of the stores belonged to one of the four factions, so the shopkeepers who paid a considerable amount of protection money looked lackluster, and there were few customers shopping due to the high prices.
Many people stole and robbed to survive, and I drove away those who looked at us as prey with just a glance. I nodded at Elena’s words.
“Maybe. But there aren’t many other options.”
Selling potions was to establish connections and earn money.
To leave this town and go to the Calfaan Empire, it was necessary to accompany a caravan that knew the roads well. To do that, we needed to build trust. We would probably need a lot of money too. For that purpose, I made Superior Potions using desert materials learned from my Dark Elf master, but it seemed that the recipe was not common.
If it was a non-deteriorated Superior Potion, our importance would increase. I decided to use it as a weapon, knowing the risks, but that man from the Killri Company seemed greedy beyond being a merchant.
“Sell directly to the Hoglos Company?”
“The Killri Company supplies potions to the Adventurer’s Guild. If we sell a large quantity, even if it’s a small amount, we’ll end up antagonizing them anyway.”
“For now, let’s pray that the Killri Company doesn’t do anything foolish… Aria? What’s wrong?”
“I smell death.”
Elena looked at me with a puzzled expression as I suddenly stared at a certain point.
Even though it was a town like this, corpses weren’t scattered on the main street. On the contrary, in this town accustomed to corpses, they were quickly disposed of to prevent the spread of diseases.
But I smelled death on such a main street. The stench of death didn’t only come from corpses. Conversely, newly formed corpses didn’t have the stench of death, and people on the verge of death from illness or something else sometimes had the stench of death.
“Aria, over there.”
“…………”
Elena noticed a small figure collapsed in the corner of a dimly lit alley. When I looked at it with my magic vision, I could tell it was still alive.
“A child.”
“—!”
Elena, realizing it was still alive because I spoke, gasped softly.
What should we do? We don’t have the余裕 to get involved in other people’s lives or deaths. But if we notice it and ignore it, it will leave a scar on Elena’s heart.
For a moment, Elena and I locked eyes. As soon as I started walking towards the alley, Elena caught up with me, almost running.
Entering the alley and seeing the injured and tattered child, Elena instinctively tried to rush over, but I stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.
“A child—!”
“Wait. It’s probably a disease.”
It was covered in wounds, but I judged it more by the smell than the wounds themselves.
If it’s some kind of infectious disease, I don’t want Elena to get close. I took out a bottle of highly distilled alcohol from the pouch on my waist, spread a few drops on my palm to disinfect it, and then approached the child to examine it.
A Dark Elf child? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a child in this town before. Even considering that it’s a Dark Elf, it probably isn’t even ten years old. Examining the boy, I realized from his symptoms that it was probably not an infectious disease, but a disease contracted by being bitten by a bug-type Monster that lives around here.
It’s not airborne, so it’s okay to get close, but there’s a risk of infection if you touch this child’s blood for a long time.
“—High Heal—”
I treated the visible wounds with level 3 Light Magic. In my case, it’s speed-oriented compared to Elena’s Light Magic, but it’s enough for now. Either way, recovery Magic won’t cure anything other than illnesses that can be cured by just sleeping and relying on physical strength.
“Aria, this child…”
“We’ll move it to a clean place for now. We need to wash away the dried blood first.”
This child’s injuries aren’t just from insect bites. Considering the progression of the disease, it was probably abused and abandoned by someone who was afraid of being infected.
Was it family, or neighbors? But let’s put the investigation aside for later and move for now. I’ve healed the wounds, but it’s a disease that won’t heal on its own. Giving it a Potion every day might keep it from dying, but there’s something I want to try more than that.
I wrapped the child’s entire body in the linen cloth I had stockpiled in this town, being careful not to touch its blood, and gently lifted it up as if cradling it in both arms.
“Are you taking it to the inn?”
“No, let’s go deeper.”
We haven’t seen any children in this town. If that’s the case, I thought they might be in the slum area away from the main street, so I headed that way. A figure rushed out from the other side of the alley, gasping for breath, and caught my eye.
“What do you think you’re doing with that child…”
“Is that any of your business?”
The boy—the Dark Elf Camille—narrowed his eyes at my words and quietly drew his dagger.
What is the relationship between the Dark Elf child and Camille?
The story of Chapter 2 is about to begin.
Next time: Children of the Desert.