Chapter 17
Pathetic・Adventurer (First Part)
While I was dozing off during a lull in the store I could hear the thudthudthud of footsteps .
Stifling a yawn I stretched strongly for now .
“Is the shopkeeper in!?”
Raising quite the loud, carrying voice, a man with a scraggly beard came in .
With a worn out breastplate and gauntlets, he had a well-worn sword at his hips .
Rather than a soldier, it’s the appearance of a veteran adventurer .
There were two people that look like his comrades outside the store .
All of them look to be past their 40s .
“Yes, that’s me . What seems to be the matter?”
“Shopkeeper, there’s something we’d like your cooperation for . ”
I kind of have a bad feeling about this .
Recently this place has become like a place for consultations, and there are a lot of people who come saying, “Do something about it please . ”
The ojisan adventurer calls himself Heath .
“And so what is this about cooperation…?”
“The other day I heard the story about how the skillful bandits were driven away . They said that all the bandits were captured when they threw a mysterious liquid at them . That’s your medicine, isn’t it?”
Looks like this Heath-san came over after hearing about that capsaicin fluid .
I don’t really want to make a lot, na…
It’s not just because I don’t want to have an ‘accident’ while making it, but also because it’s possible for it to be misused .
“I did make that, but I rarely make it . If that’s what you’re aiming for, please leave . ”
“It’s not like that’s what we want . Deep within the forest, a malicious kodra has appeared . And so we took a subjugation quest for it . ”
What’s a kodra? A monster?
Heath-san, who sensed it, explained it like he was talking to an idiot .
“Hm . So you don’t know what a kodra is . It’s a small-sized dragon(ryuu) species . It’s about two horses big . ”
“So it’s a tiny dragon…”
The forest he’s talking about is the forest Noela and I always go to for harvesting .
“And that’s why we’re requesting your cooperation . ”
I can’t sense him ‘requesting’ anything at all, this Ossan adventurer .
His attitude of, ‘Of course you’ll be cooperating,’ is completely obvious .
What a pain- .
Why me…
But if that kind of monster is appearing in that forest, I won’t be able to safely go pick ingredients either .
Thanks to Noela searching for enemies, we haven’t had any encounters yet .
But if we have the bad luck to encounter it…
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“It’s said that it breathes fire when you get close, so you can’t get close . ”
That’s the kind of monster I’ll be fighting . Is what it looks like he wants to say .
I have no idea why he’s looking smug about it .
I first ask about the quest he took .
“Do you have to defeat the kodra?”
“Since it’s a subjugation quest, after all . The lumberjacks and hunters are being troubled that they can’t enter the forest to do their jobs . It’s a guy that breathes fire in a rage if it catches sight of them . ”
I thought it would be fine if we use the repellant from the time we protected Jiral’s fields, but it would be difficult if it’s for the entire forest .
If we did so, the hunters would be even more unable to do their jobs compared to now .
That said, if there’s a raging monster, then I will also become unable to pick medicinal herbs .
“… I understand . I’ll help, so wait a bit . ”
“Nn . Make it quick . ”
Yeah yeah .
Making Heath-san wait, I returned to the house .
I tapped Noela, who was curled up on the sofa, on the shoulder .
“Noela? O-i . Can I talk to you right now?”
“… What is it, Master?”
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Noela raised her body .
“It seems that a dragon called a kodra has appeared in the usual forest . ”
“Appears . ”
“Yeah . Did it appear before?”
“Was there since before . Protects forest . The kodra . ”
“Heh? It protects the forest?”
Up down; Noela noda .
It seems that normally it watches over things as long as the forest isn’t going to be destroyed or something .
And so it permits the existences of lumberjacks and hunters, supposedly .
“But it looks like those people are being troubled . It’s breathing fire at them, they said . ”
“Kodra doesn’t breathe fire . Doesn’t needlessly breathe fire . Kodra, runs away when it sees humans . ”
The pacifistic kodra won’t attack just because your human, it seems, and it seems it would do the same for the people who came to defeat it .
She said it senses presences beforehand and hides, so people won’t see it in the first place .
“It seems like their stories are weird, huh?”
“Weird?”
“Yeah . The lumberjacks and hunters made a request for kodra subjugation – they said that there’s a kodra, and it’s too dangerous for them to work . ”
“Weird . Kodra hides . ”
“Right, according to Noela, that’s how it is . That the kodra was there from before and the people just didn’t know about it . But right now its form has been seen . ”
“Finishing off kodra, not good . Terrible for forest . ”
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“Yeah, according to what I’ve heard from Noela, subjugating it seems to be no good…”
“Noela will look at the situation of the kodra . ”
Noela seems motivated and she stands up from the sofa .
With Noela’s ability to search for enemies, the search for the kodra will probably be simple .
Click; the door opened and Mina had a stern look on her face .
“I’ve overheard what you’ve been speaking about . – I will immediately make lunches . ”
“Mina, hurry, hurry . ”
“Just wait~ Noelsan . Reiji-san, I’ll make a delicious lunch for you as well . ”
The kodra investigation changed into a picnic in an instant .
Returning to the store, I told Heath-san what Noela said .
“If what that beast girl says is true, then I wonder what’s wrong with the kodra . ”
“Yeah . And so I was thinking of going to the forest to investigate that . Taking this girl along as well . ”
Ahem; Noela made a proud face .
“Excuse me, I’ve made you wait –“
Misa came into the store with a basket in hand . It looks like Mina wasn’t just making our portion but also the adventurers’ portions .
“I made this as well, so take it if you’d like . ”
“Sorry to trouble you . We’ll be borrowing the shopkeeper for a while . What, we’ll protect Mr . Shopkeeper so he won’t be in danger; please rest assured, Misses . ”
“I,I’m not his M-misses -, j . just a housemate, that’s -, it’s- I,I’m just something like a freeloader -!”
Swoosh; Mina returned to the house like the wind .
“Ha ha ha, how envious, Shopkeeper . ”
Slap slap; Heath-san slapped me on the back .
Ow, ow . Your slaps hurt, Heath-san .
“Then shall we go, shopkeeper?”
Did his mood get better somehow? He marched off triumphantly .
His attitude completely changed with one of Mina’s bentos .
What an easily swayed ossan adventurer .
And so we headed to the troubled forest .
The most recently we’ve come was three days prior .
Even today I couldn’t tell that there was something wrong .
Noela in wolf mode walked in front while searching for presences .
With her nose moving as she sniffed, Noela’s footsteps stopped as her nose twitched .
“Grooowl… groooowl-“
A giant lizard – that’s probably the kodra – was directly where she was looking, breathing fire without caring for its surroundings .
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Wings suitable to its size were also attached to its back .
“See, Shopkeeper? With it like that, we can’t get close . That’s the guy we’re going to defeat . ”
How arrogant of him- .
[Kodra: A small-sized dragon . Highly intelligent and timid . It is also known to breathe fire to protect itself . ]
“H-m, it doesn’t look like it’s breathing fire at us, though… although it’s true we can’t get close, huh…”
Noela said that it would hide itself if it senses humans approaching, but it seems like it hasn’t noticed us .
“I’ve seen its situation . Master, lunch . ”
“Eh? Aah . ”
Noela, who had returned to human mode before I realized it, unfurled the picnic blanket within the basket with a shake and sat down on it .
Taking sandwiches out from the basket, she began to eat with a nom nom nom .
“Ru-♪”
Noela let out a happy sound .
Completely at her leisure, huh…
I’m thinking that, but the kodra really hasn’t noticed us so, taking a suitable distance, we ate lunch while observing it .
The adventurers also sat in a row and ate Mina’s lunch .
The three old ossans began to produce a dark aura .
“Jealous, so jealous… a young shopkeeper living under the same roof as such a cute girl…”
“Her cooking is also delicious … and as a bonus, he has a beast girl calling him Master…”
“He’s also filled with pharmaceutical talent, aah… so jealous, so jealous…”
Muttermutter; I ignored the dark monologues I could hear from the middle-aged adventurers .
“What do you think, Noela?”
“Kodra, weird . Should definitely notice us, at this distance . ”
Then, I wonder what the matter is .
The kodra is breathing fire indiscriminately .
Luckily, even if the vegetation and trees burn, the fire didn’t spread from it .
But if it’s left like this, it will turn into a fire .
If that happens, then I really won’t be able to pick medicinal herbs .
And we can’t just kill it…
Did it calm down after breathing fire for a while? The kodra began to eat grass .
Munch much; it’s large jaw moved, then, “BUOOO,” it bellowed .
“Master, Master . Kodra, doesn’t eat grass . It eats the corpses of things that were alive and fruits . ”
“Eh? Is that so?”
But man, that’s not a grass I’m used to seeing .
[Arimana grass: A medicinal herb with the effect of alleviating fevers and effective against stomach aches . Has a slight addictive quality, and if large amounts are ingested, you will see hallucinations . ]
Even though it shouldn’t eat grass, it’s eating this grass…
According to the explanation, “if large amounts are ingested, you will see hallucinations . ”
I see .
“So basically, there’s a slight gap between reality and the reality in its head?”
He’s probably fighting against an enemy we can’t see .
“Master, understood something?”
“Yeah . It’s probably just a little confused . If we cure that, it should return to the original kodra . ”
To make that happen, it would be best if I make detoxification agent .
I explain the reason to Heath-san and his adventurer row .
“Then if the Shopkeeper makes an detoxification agent then the kodra will return to normal . ”
“Yeah . I need to gather medicinal herbs as the ingredients, so will you help me?”
“… If I help, then can I meet with Ms . Mina again?”
“Please stop . Our shop isn’t that kind of shop . ”
“Th,then, the lunch – Ms . Mina’s lunch, once again…”
“We’re not that kind of shop either … We’ll be a little troubled with that kind of thing . ”
“… th -then I won’t help . ”
Are you a child!?
It’s even the quest you took in the first place .
“The soothing qualities of a gentle, beautiful girl – can’t you bear to part with even a bit of it … since she isn’t your wife, isn’t it fine if I go meet her a little … isn’t it fine if she makes a lunch for me?”
The ossan getting along in years took an orz pose and began to weep .
It can’t be helped; I pat Heath-san’s shoulder gently .
“I won’t mind if you come as a customer, you know?”
“Sh – shopkeepeeeeeeeer!”
Heath-san gave me a look like he was seeing a god .
He’s a ho-peless ossan .
I forgot to tell him that it’s highly possible that I’ll be the one watching the shop, but whatever .
“Then you’ll help me, right?”
“Okay . ”
The ossan adventure has become a very obedient child .
And so, after a while, when the materials were assembled, I rode wolf Noela back to town and made medicine with the Drug Discovery skill real fast .
[Detoxification agent: Has a calming effect, and prompts the expulsion of harmful substances . ]