Chapter 6 : Common Sense of the World

The next disaster had to be faced only after I had prepared as many items as possible.

More than anything, I needed money.

Because within that bastard’s domain, you had to pay a price just for breathing.

It was a condition that suited the City of Traders all too well.

Well, while I’m at it, I should probably get some usable equipment too.

The greatsword was too much for me to handle.

It had only worked against Akedia, the first boss. I could not keep using temporary weapons like that from now on.

I needed at least one self-defense item that suited my abilities.

It would be even better if it was light.

“Ritark.”

John Doe stared at me quietly.

He seemed to be waiting for something.

Oh, right.

I was Ritark.

It was a name I was not used to, so it was hard to react right away.

I had also been lost in my own thoughts.

In the end, I answered one beat late.

“Yeah?”

“If you go to the city, there are ways to make money.”

If he completed the commission he had taken in the city, he would receive payment.

Even if it was not a commission, the City of Traders was a place where streams of money flowed.

If you aimed well, you could make a fortune.

But why was he suddenly talking about money?

The question was soon answered.

“You don’t need to worry that I’ll run off without paying you.”

“Ah.”

Apparently, it looked like I was worried he would skip out on the medicine fee.

I had not planned to squeeze it out of him in the first place.

“My thanks are late.”

John Doe gave me a light bow.

It was polite in a way that did not match the expressionless face he had maintained from beginning to end.

“If it weren’t for you, I would probably be dead. I’ll be sure to repay this.”

How many more times in my life would I hear gratitude like this?

Unable to find a reply, I just blinked.

It seemed he was not particularly waiting for my answer either.

Jingle.

John Doe turned away, opened the door, and left.

Only Wer and I remained in the healing shop.

Wer curled the corners of his mouth up.

“That black-haired fellow has fine manners!”

When John Doe had been here, he had only rolled his eyes around from between my hair.

I gave a pointless shrug.

“I had to save him anyway, so getting thanked on top of it is kind of embarrassing.”

“I like kind humans, but…”

Wer tilted his head.

“Ritark, are you planning to become a saint?”

“No. I’m just not so heartless that I’d ignore someone dying inside my own house.”

John Doe was the game’s protagonist.

What would happen to this world if the protagonist died?

No matter how I thought about it, it was hard to feel hopeful.

In a way, saving John Doe had been only natural for me.

Still, it feels good.

No matter if I saved a game character a hundred or a thousand times, I had never been thanked.

Wasn’t it refreshing in all kinds of ways?

I looked down at my hand.

A hand that had saved someone and harmed others in a single night.

Until now, he must have only ever held a pen.

There was a callus only on the first joint of the middle finger.

Was it because he handled medicine?

There were also patches here and there where the skin had peeled.

It was not a trained hand.

Squeeze.

If I wanted to keep living, and if I wanted to save someone…

If I wanted to eliminate the threats blocking my path, I needed a little more strength.

“I should prepare to go to the city.”

“Hm? You’re going to chase after that fellow?”

“No. I have business of my own.”

I needed to work hard and sweep up items and money.

Then I would hand them over to John Doe later so he could use them when fighting the disasters.

And while I was at it, I would get self-defense items for myself too.

It was a perfect plan.

Though making money won’t be easy either…

It was better to move than waste time complaining.

After all, this was all for the sake of saving the world.

“Come on, come on. Let’s hurry up and go.”

The shop, which had been a complete mess of bandit footprints and broken glass shards, was clean now.

It seemed John Doe, who had regained consciousness while I was fighting the disaster, had tidied it up.

Isn’t it actually cleaner than before?

The dusty corners and strands of hair on the floor had also been wiped away completely.

Is he a fairy housewife or something…?

Thanks to that, I finished preparing to leave quickly.

How long could it take to gather ingredients needed for Medicine Crafting and a few pieces of clothing lying around?

I dumped the ingredients onto Wer and carried only one simple bag.

“You say you’re leaving, yet that is all the luggage you have?”

“Ah. I should take some money too.”

Wer looked as if he was about to start nagging at any moment, but he pressed his mouth shut and clung to my back.

That was when it happened.

Jingle!

The shop door opened, and a huge figure strode inside.

A man with a thick red beard.

He was the client who had ordered potions from me when I first opened my eyes in this world.

“I came to pick up the goods.”

The goods he had ordered were ten Health Recovery Potions.

I remembered.

However, I did not have them.

Damn…

When I did not immediately hand over the goods, the man placed his fist on the table and pressed me.

“Hey. Why are you just rolling your eyes around?”

His already fierce face looked even more savage today.

Because I’d been running around like crazy, a whole day has already passed.

Well, my survival had come first, so it could not be helped.

A disaster had also erupted right after that.

“…I don’t have the goods to deliver right now.”

The first potion I had made, as well as the materials the client had given me with the money, had been used while treating John Doe.

Thanks to that, my Medicine Crafting skill had leveled up.

“Bandits broke in, and someone was badly injured. It should be a story spreading all over the village.”

“I know, but that has nothing to do with me. I clearly said I would pick up the goods today.”

What an utterly heartless bastard.

Not that I had planned to blindly beg him to understand my circumstances anyway.

I let out a small sigh.

“I mean, give me a little more time.”

I needed recovery potion ingredients myself anyway, so I had gathered plenty.

As long as I used the skill, I could make the medicine quickly.

“Time, you say.”

The client looked around the healing shop and sharply frowned.

“I have no intention of listening to nonsense about waiting a few more days.”

“A few days?”

“Yeah! If you make them from now on, of course it’ll take that long.”

“Ah.”

Ritark Methyl was a genius compounder.

It seemed even Ritark needed several days to manufacture medicine.

That must be the common sense of this world.

If I use Medicine Crafting, I can make medicine in an instant, though.

The skill was an ability I had obtained as a developer privilege, wasn’t it?

If so, there might be no one in this world who could make medicine faster than me.

“You’re the one spouting nonsense, but I’ll do it right away, so stop pestering me.”

“What? Pestering? You little…”

When the client rolled up his sleeves, the tendons on his forearm, thicker than most people’s thighs, bulged fiercely.

But I merely clicked my tongue lightly.

There was no need to clash head-on for no reason.

“Medicine Crafting.”

When I used the skill, the now-familiar voice answered.

“Activating Medicine Crafting skill. Please select ingredients.”

I quickly chose the ingredients.

“Ten Vitality Fruits, 2,500 milliliters of Delicious Water, and ten empty bottles.”

Since I had designated a large quantity of materials, the light of the skill burst even brighter.

I had closed my eyes in advance, but the client seemed too late.

“Argh!”

The client covered his face with both hands and suffered, but I decided not to care.

He would recover soon enough, probably.

When I lowered my gaze, I saw Health Recovery Potions neatly lined up on the table.

Ten bottles filled with red liquid.

“Appraisal.”

I used the skill on the potions.

My thought that the medicine’s level might also rise now that the skill’s level had increased turned out to be exactly right.

“Health Recovery Potion Lv.2. Restores 20 health when consumed.”

The effect was doubled.

It meant I could obtain twice the effect with the same materials and the same volume.

Normally, recovery potions don’t have levels.

If you obtained rare medicinal herbs, you could make higher-grade medicine.

Something like an intermediate Health Recovery Potion or a high-grade Health Recovery Potion.

But you could not increase the performance of the medicine itself.

This must be possible only with the Medicine Crafting skill…

The corners of my mouth rose on their own.

At that, the client, who had regained his senses, pointed at me accusingly.

“What kind of trick are you playing? How dare you mock me?”

He would not even let a person enjoy himself for a moment. What an impatient bastard.

I was too tired to answer, so I roughly pointed at the table with my chin.

The client’s head snapped around.

“N-no way?”

His eyes bulged the moment he saw the Health Recovery Potions.

The client picked up the bottles one by one and examined them obsessively.

The way his face shifted from suspicion to confusion, then back to suspicion again, was quite something to see.

He looked as dazed as if he had seen a ghost.

“…You made medicine that takes three days to prepare in an instant?”

So apparently, making a Health Recovery Potion usually took three days.

And the client had known that full well while trying to force me.

Should I take a Strength Stick and have a round with him even now?

There was no need to waste time.

The materials I had invested in the medicine were a waste too.

Good grief.

I sighed once.

I’ll let it slide.

“Take them and go.”

“W-wait!”

A thick hand grabbed my gown.

Why was he suddenly doing this?

“Would you perhaps consider becoming our guild’s dedicated compounder?”

His tone, which had been growling until just now, became polite.

The man’s rapid change in attitude was honestly a little disgusting.

“No.”

“At least hear me out! First of all, this medicine. I’ll pay you more for it.”

Clink!

A heavy pouch landed beside the potions.

When I glanced at it, I saw quite a few glittering silver coins mixed in.

They were clearly different from the dull coppers.

“Five times the market price. If you come to the guild, I’ll make sure you earn far more money.”

“…I’ll take the money, but I’m not becoming your dedicated compounder.”

I was planning to leave the village now.

Most of all, I did not want to work with someone who tried to beat down the commission period and then bring up damages.

I took the coin pouch and left the shop.

The man kept following me.

“Judging by your luggage, it doesn’t seem you’re going far, but monsters have been acting strange these days. I’ll escort you.”

“Doing this won’t make me join your guild.”

“How could you look at a pure-hearted person’s goodwill that way!”

Pure-hearted, my ass.

I waved my hand as if shooing away a fly.

But instead, one more person attached himself to me.

A small boy who had approached at some point.

With a flat cap pulled low over his head, he clumsily imitated a tout.

“All the cargo wagons staying in the village are leaving today! They say the bandits blocking the mountain road are all dead!”

The man passed the flat-cap boy with an annoyed expression.

But I had no intention of letting this news pass.

“Where can I board a wagon going to the City of Traders?”

“All the wagons at the village entrance are going to the city! The road was blocked for months, you see.”

The man quickly returned and butted in.

“Isn’t the City of Traders too far to go with that tiny bag?”

“…Is it?”

“Even by cargo wagon, it takes three or four days. You’d better pack plenty of water and food.”

I had enough water.

I had packed it as a material for medicine, but either way, I had drawn plenty into Wer’s extradimensional space.

But there was nothing I could call food.

In the game, it takes no time to get there.

It was not like I had ever had a reason to feel the distance.

While I was thinking, the man ran off somewhere, then returned holding a leather pouch.

“It’s lucky the inn I was staying at was nearby. Here! This should be enough that you won’t have trouble on the road.”

The pouch I received before I could refuse was fairly heavy.

Inside were generous amounts of jerky, dried fruit, and bread that looked hard.

“There’s a Bies Guild building in the city, so you can use my name and rest there if you like. I’ll send word ahead! All right?”

The man’s voice grew more and more desperate.

Even so, I had no scraps to throw him.

I headed toward the village entrance where the cargo wagons were waiting.

“If there’s no one else boarding, we’re leaving!”

The wagon departed after a decent number of people gathered.

Before long, it became quiet enough that only the sound of the wheels rolling could be heard.

Only then did Wer grumble.

“It is better to keep one’s distance from those who try to use others.”

“That’s probably true.”

I had no intention of becoming anyone’s sucker.

I lightly shrugged and leaned back against the wagon.

“At any rate, it is fortunate you obtained food! If you intend to leave for somewhere, you should prepare in advance.”

This was a world where people traveled long distances by cargo wagon.

Even if you had money, you probably could not easily obtain whatever you needed anytime, anywhere.

This was a world I had made, but compared to the people who had actually lived here, it seemed I could not help lacking common sense.

“Still, if it’s food, can’t I restock on the way?”

“Hm?”

“The truth is, I’m planning to get off in the middle.”

[End of Chapter]