Chapter 9

Translator: Tseirp

Lit was overenthusiastic and wanted to return to the living room but I still had not shown her one other medicine.

“Eh, erm, this pill here, I created it after coming to Zoltan.”

“Please don’t tell me you made a medicine that has the same effect as an Extra Cure Potion or what not.”

“That’s impossible. This is a new kind of anesthesia.”

“Anesthesia?”

“It has the same effect as the ones available but I reduced the component that causes addiction.”

The anesthesia used in surgical treatment has a high addictive effect and many patients end up with drug addiction even after their treatment. Nevertheless, treating without anesthesia would cause the Adventurers unbearable pain and there would even be a possibility of death due to shock from the pain and loss of blood.

Anesthesia was an absolutely crucial drug to have even after taking the risk of addiction into consideration.

“But don’t you think it would be better if the drug didn’t cause addiction? I read about such a drug in the journal of an Adventurer who traveled to the Dark Continent but the ingredients are not native to Zoltan. They might have been brought in by the Elves. Well, either way, it’s a new kind of anesthesia. Citizens probably wouldn’t need this so I wanted to sell it to doctors and Adventurers but ... what do you think?”

“Yeah, this should be fine. I think it will bring it decent profit ... but we should get the approval from the Parliament first before selling it.”

“Parliament?”

“Even though it has low addictive content, it can still cause addiction so there definitely will be people who think of using it as a narcotic. That’s why it is better to get the Parliament to approve of its effects first instead of taking the risk that they might release an order to prevent the sales of the drug.”

“That’s certainly true.”

“I can’t predict the sales we would get from a new drug. But I think we will get quite a decent amount of income if we monopolize all the anesthetic needs of this town. If that happens, we might not even be able to keep up with the demand.”

“Well it only requires Elementary Compounding so we can increase the production just by hiring workers.”

Lit stopped in her tracks when she heard those words.

“Oh right, I forgot about how amazing Red is. So it’s a drug made using just Elementary Compounding.”

Highly effective anesthesia mostly require Intermediate Compounding skill. So in that sense, this drug was quite well suited for me ...

“Even though the drug itself is amazing, the fact that it can be compounded without the regular Divine Protection holders might pose a problem ...”

“Re, really?”

“But the townsmen shouldn’t be aware of Red’s unique Divine Protection. I think it will be fine as long as we claim that Red has a Divine Protection that allows you to utilize Intermediate Compounding when we put the drug up for sale.”

“But people with the advanced Herbalist skill, Compound Analysis, would be able to glean the compounding recipe by investigating the drug.”

“Red, you seriously have an abundance of knowledge regarding Divine Protections. People normally won’t know the unique advanced skills of other Divine Protections.”

After all, you can know the hands your opponent have if you know about their Divine Protection.

Divine Protections, except for some rare exceptions, are the same in monsters as well.

There are some race-specific Divine Protections but most of the others are similar to the ones humans have. In the monster world, in particular, Warrior, Barbarian, Thief, Sorcerer, and Adept(Shaman), these five are especially common and by knowing as much as you can about these Divine Protections, it is possible to predict the fighting style of the enemy.

Especially in my case, I can’t rely on my skills so this was the result of me covering up for my deficiencies using knowledge. I even noticed from an early stage that Lit here had the Divine Protection of Spirit Scout and her trump card was Spirit Magic.

There were times when combat became too difficult for the party and I served to grasp the ability of the enemy attacking us and conveyed the strategy to defeat them to my companions.

Well, that only lasted until the number of Asura Demon enemies from the main army of the Demon Lord’s Army with their exception from the law of the Divine Protection started increasing. Those demons were the only existences that didn’t have Divine Protection, even animals had it. They were called the failed creation of the gods.

That’s why, in exchange for not possessing any Divine Protection, they fused with other Asura Demons to acquire new abilities.

I have no idea if that information was true but it is a fact that the Asura Demons possess a skill system that is different from the one I know.

“Well, there shouldn’t be any Herbalist with Advanced Skill in Zoltan. We should be fine as long as the sales are limited to within Zoltan. With the amount you can make alone, there shouldn’t be much left that we can sell to the peddlers.”

“Great. Then, I’ll tell the customers that I have a Divine Protection that allows me to use some Intermediate Compounding if they ask.”

“Thanks. But then they might ask why we don’t display any medicine that is made using Intermediate Compounding.”

“Well, I won’t proactively go out of my way to tell lies.”

It would be better to not lie. Since I won’t have to worry that the lie would be revealed if I don’t lie in the first place.

Silence is golden, I think a past hero said that.

“From the past hero right?”

Lit said emotionally. It’s close to a fairy tale of a past hero from when the Wood Elves maintained hegemony in the continent. Many people question the existence of that hero but once an actual hero, Ruti, appeared, it verified the existence of the Divine Protection of the Hero so people started re-evaluating the past hero.

Even now, archeologist and bards were traveling in search of records and stories of the hero in the libraries of old towns or on walls of fallen cities.

“But that’s a topic that is completely unrelated to me.”

That’s right, for me, such topics no longer have any relation to me.

☆☆

It looked like we’ve talked for quite long in the storeroom.

The sun had already set before we knew it and the night was already about to consume the last remnants of the red glow on the horizon.

“Oh right, want to have dinner?”

“Yes!”

Getting such an enthusiastic response made me even happier to cook and I psyched myself.

I returned to the kitchen and pondered on what to make.

“Oh right, I didn’t go grocery shopping. If it’s what I have on hand ...”

I chopped up some chicken thigh meat and boiled it with water and grated ginger. After the meat was tenderized, I added a potato sliced in half and a boiled egg.

After the potato turned soft, I added pasta in and adjusted the flavor with salt and herbs ... it’s complete.

Southern style soup pasta.

When journeying, it would be a waste to throw away the water after cooking the pasta so most of the time I made soup pasta. That was also the recipe I chose given the current circumstances. I hope that Lit would like it.

After coming to Zoltan, I rarely had the chance to cook for others.

I carried the dishes with a slightly nervous heart.

☆☆

“Delicious!”

“That’s good.”

Having removed the bandana from her neck, Lit was seated at the table as she deliciously ate my cooking.

It’s a delight to see people eat my cooking deliciously after all.

“I’ll get to eat Red’s cooking every day from today on.”

“Hn? Yeah.”

Looks like she plans to come over to eat every day.

Well, preparing meals for my companion is one of my joys in life so I guess it’s fine.

“About what time do you eat in the morning?”

“Hn, let me see, maybe 7.30?”

“Then I’ll have to make sure to get up early. After becoming an Adventurer, I’ve had days where I had nothing to do and ended up sleeping in.”

It seems like she plans to eat breakfast too. In other words, she plans to eat all three meals here? Since I can’t pay her a decent salary, I guess I can at least prepare meals for her.

Looks like meal times would be enjoyable from tomorrow onward.

“Oh right, I’ll pay for it so let’s make a bath.”

“Bath? I would be glad to have one but I’ll feel bad to have you pay for it.”

“It’s fine, I’ll use it too after all.”

... It looks like she plans to bathe here too.

Hn ― ?

“I noticed that you only have one single bed. We’ll have to go shop for a bed tomorrow.”

“H, huh?”

“I have my personal belonging with me in my item box anyway. I guess I can just leave the furniture in my previous house.”

It’s getting out of hand, it’s as if ...

“Haha, it’s as if you plan to stay here.”

“Haha, of course I’ll be moving to your house.”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

Wait a minute, when did it become set that she would be moving in? Well, the building is attached to the shop so it seems quite large but the living space itself isn’t that much.

“Didn’t I say it since the beginning? I’ll retire from adventuring and work here.”

“Yeah, you said that ... eh? Why does that lead to moving here?”

“Since I’ll be working here after retiring from adventuring, it will be a lot more convenient if I live here right?”

“I, I see, is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

Really?

Erm, in short ... Lit will be living in my house.

” ... H, huh? No no wait wait, isn’t that a bad idea?”

“Why?”

“Because, well, there will be all kinds of matter to consider if we live together.”

“Don’t be so uptight, aren’t we buddies who slept in the same tent in the past? We’ll be further apart compared to that time.”

“Well, of course, everyone would sleep together when camping out.”

“Then it’s the same right, we’re ‘companions’ after all?”

“Hn? Huh? Well, we’re certainly companions.”

“Then it’s fine for us to sleep in the same room.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

Really?

“Well then, I’ll be washing up so I’ll be using your washroom.”

“Ah, okay, do you have a change of clothes?”

“I always have them in my item box.”

“Then what would you do with the ones you’re wearing?”

“There’s a wonderful garden here so maybe I’ll sun them tomorrow when I have the time.

“Hn, shall I help?”

“It’s fine it’s fine ... really?”

“Yeah, I’ll hang it out to dry in the morning.”

... By the way, are we going to sleep in the same room?

Well, I certainly only have one bedroom after all.