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The First Errand (Extreme)
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“Erina!”
I let out a cry loud enough that I even surprised myself, and started to run.
The first thing I felt was her abnormally high body temperature. Her entire body is hot, her breathing is harsh, her perspiration isn’t stopping. It’s clearly abnormal, but I mustn’t make her rest in the kitchen. I call out to her several times, but—perhaps unconscious—there’s no response. I don’t really want to move her, but it can’t be helped.
Barely managing to reach her room safely, I shift her onto the bed and then return to the kitchen.
Setting aside the examination, I try to rehydrate her. Having perspired to that extent, she’ll succumb to dehydration. I fill a wooden cup with the water that she had already prepared for brewing black tea, and finely chop some apus with a knife. Taking the finely chopped apus into my hand, I squeeze them into the cup and mix it with the water. I put a cloth and water into a nearby bucket and return to Erina-san’s room carrying everything that I had prepared.
But her face is pale, and seemingly unable to even raise the upper-half of her body, she apologetically turned her eyes over here.
“Sirius-sama……I’m so sorr—…..”
“Don’t worry about it, more importantly, what happened? Is this a disease?”
If I’m not mistaken, there was a certain village where there were numerous deaths due to Demon’s Water disease or something in that book……wait, isn’t that a dangerous disease?! As it wasn’t a medical text, only the name and the outcome of the disease was written, so I don’t know the specifics of the disease.
“Please don’t worry. It’ll be okay when Dee and Noel return tomorrow.”
Perhaps she had noticed that I’m panicking, Erina-san spoke to me as if to calm me down.
“With Demon’s Water disease, if you have the medicine, you will get better. As that medicine had run out, I had the two of them go out to buy some. ”
“Yes, I only have to put up with it until tomorrow. Only people with the water attribute can catch this disease, but I’m not sure whether Sirius-sama can catch it as well. So please avoid coming near me until the two of them get back, okay?”
“I guess it can’t be helped. Thank you……for your help…….”
Perhaps relieved, Erina-san lost consciousness as if a switch had been turned off.
The main method of treating people in this world is to use magic, so medical knowledge is not advanced. Perhaps because of that, this book has no thickness to it; but it’s just what I need in this situation. I open the book without delay and search for the symptoms of Demon’s Water disease. As there’s no table of contents, it took more time than I expected it would, but I was able to quickly find it by skimming through the book.
Demon’s Water disease.
A strange disease whereby maryoku starts being spontaneously emitted from within the body.
Strangely, while only people of the water attribute suffer from this disease, it’s highly infectious.
It’s because of that speed that—although it’s curable—it’s known throughout the world as a dreadful disease.
It’s totally wasn’t okay!
So much for ‘please don’t worry’…… She probably said it to put me at ease, but to hell with that! I don’t care about no circumspection. Because I’m going to do what I want to do.
Since I’ve decided, I need to be expeditious.
Used in various mixtures, it possesses the property to vastly enhance the effects on people of the water-attribute.
I let go of the book and make preparations to collect the grass. As for a weapon, the knife in the kitchen will do. It’s a knife used for cooking, so its strength is an issue; but it’s better than nothing. I don’t need any armor that will obstruct my movement. This time it’s a speed-prioritized-gather-and-return operation. I take a small bag to be worn on my back, and just in case, I also leave behind fresh water and cut apus around Erina-san.
My destination is the forest that is on the opposite side of the entrance. I would’ve been scolded by Erina-san so I haven’t gone deeply inside it before, but I do recall having heard the flow of water from this direction. If I try searching over there, then I might find Water Demon grass.
Before long, I found a small river and searched for the Water Demon grass.
“……there’s none?”
Apparently ‘collection is easy’, but is it difficult for a flowing river? As ‘watersides with thick maryoku’ was written, I should head upstream rather than downstream. I stab a block of wood in the ground to act as a landmark, and hurried deep into the thick forest that was alongside the river.
Given the breadth of this place, it looks like the grass would be here. The visibility is also favourable as the moonlight isn’t obstructed by trees, making it easy to search. ‘I should immediately’……right after I thought that, I sensed a presence and my feet came to a halt. As a wild beast wouldn’t reveal its presence so conspicuously, I stay concealed in the trees and shift my gaze towards the presence.
Sure enough, that was there.
Goblin.
In my previous life’s scale of measurement, it’s height looks to be approximately 1 meter. A crude cloth is wrapped around his waist and it’s carrying a piece of wood as a weapon. It’s strength is that of an ordinary adult male, it’s movements aren’t that fast and it’s also not smart.
As it’s omnivorous it’ll also eat people, and in the case of females, they abduct them, rape them and force them to give birth to their children.
What’s more, there’s three people……no, since they’re not humans, there are also three goblins. Nevertheless, I will purposely challenge them. It’s because they’re a hindrance to my harvesting. They sit down on the bare ground with a dosshiri; they don’t have any intention of moving somewhere else. There’s also no time, so if they’re not going to move out of the way, then I’ve no choice but to eliminate them.
My posture is low, running swiftly towards their chests.
In the space of that instant, I thrust in the knife into a throat.
I twisted my body and extract the knife with the resulting momentum, continuing, I cut the second goblin’s throat……in the middle of that, the knife broke. But I don’t stop moving. I take the broken part of the knife and, with the palm of my hand, push it into the goblin’s hand that came at me as a delayed form of opposition. Feeling the resistance, without slowing down one bit, I use the forward momentum to leap and I distanced myself while doing a forward roll three times.
One remains.
While I’m scrutinizing it, the goblin abruptly stopped moving and let out a laugh in a husky voice. Might it be thinking ‘my opponent is a child’ and is mocking me? I wonder if you realise that two of you were defeated in an instant by this child? Aah, come to think of it, ‘goblins are of low intelligence’, was it? It would be on its guard if it was a complete beast, but a half-baked intelligence turns out to be fatal. Well then, I’ll gratefully exploit that.
With that opening, I pick up its dropped sword, and with the weight of my body, I end it by thrusting it into its throat……there.
In this way, my first demon slaying ended.
Putting an end to the battle, I make sure that there are no enemies in the surrounding area and take a breath. No, I didn’t stop at one breath. Perhaps I was more fatigued than expected, my temporarily disordered breathing had not settled. Even if my mind was used to it, my body is that of a three-year-old child, so it’s natural to be fatigued from having done a forced march up to this point. Just when I had calmed down, I close my eyes, and slowly count to three.
Although, when I approached the waterside I immediately found it. While one blade of grass is sufficient, I harvest five blades just in case and put it away in the bag. It looked like if I stayed too long, other demons will gather in response to the blood. I wash my blood-covered face, and hastily retraced my steps back the way I came from.
I fell down several times due to fatigue, but I returned home without encountering any demons. It was probably about two hours since I departed.
I go to the kitchen, throw kindling into the cooking stove and pass maryoku through the appended magic tool. Under usual circumstances, the kindling catches fire from this tool, but nothing happens. Even after I try it several times, the result is the same; and when I check the magic tool, one part of the magic square drawn on it was missing.
If that’s the case, then trying to ignite it with a fire stone, I look at the box placed in a corner, but the box is toppled over: aren’t all the stones cracked? I suppose it most likely happened the instant Erina-san collapsed, but thanks to the floor being made out of stone, it didn’t become a conflagration; at least that’s something isn’t it? But with this the fire……no, I have no choice but to ignite it by hand.
I increase its heating power by giving it air, and I throw in the compounded medicinal plants once the hot water boiled. When I add in the medicinal plants, the pigments of the green colour muddied the water, but a short time later, the supernatant became transparent. It appears that this supernatant is the specific medicine for Demon’s Water disease. Lastly, I collect the supernatant in a cup and it’s complete.
‘The finished product is colourless and emits a faint light’ is what is written, and the exact same phenomenon is visible, so it appears that it is well-made.
“Ah……aah……”
She seems to be conscious but also confused; and she murmured something, staring into space.
Damn it! Even though I have to compose myself, perhaps my mind is being dragged by my body, my emotions are uncovered. Enough already, adrenalin is kicking in and holding it back has become ineffective.
“Just drink it! Because if you don’t drink it, I definitely won’t forgive you!”
Erina-san’s body trembled at my angry voice. When she takes a quick look at my eyes, I firmly keep her gaze over here, so I move the cup to her mouth. It takes several minutes, but she finishes drinking the contents of the cup, and at the end I gave her an order with a single word.
“Sleep.”
My tone of voice was rough, but Erina-san quietly shut her eyes and began to make the breathing sounds of a sleeping person. Tears flowed from her eyes, but whatever happens, happens.
Being caressed lovingly is the usual……the usual—?
“Erina!”
I awaken in an instant, and my face shot up.
“Yes, I’m here……”
The always smiling Erina-san was there.
She was over the worst of it.
“……thank goodness.”
Like this, I look at Erina-san’s face and finally settled down.
As Erina-san is holding me tightly in her arms.
“Erina?”
“I don’t mind. The stains of someone who saved me does not concern me.“
“Blood!? Did you get injured somewhere?!”
Woah, she unfastened me from the embrace as if I was about to burst open.
“Bu-but what exactly is this blood?”
“Goblins!? Moreover, it was during the collection of Water Demon grass that you, defeated them?”
As expected, Erina-san is dumbfounded, but I gazed at Erina-san with a serious face. Perhaps comprehending the extent of the seriousness on my face, the perturbed Erina-san calmed down a little bit.
“Sirius-sama, just what are you?”
“……yes.”
“That’s……true. I have behaved embarrassingly.”
It’d probably end up being about important and crazy matters, so I think we should talk after we had calmed down.
I go outside, wipe my body with water from the water well, and decided to make a light meal. I cut the bread into bite-sized pieces and dip them into a mixture of eggs, pseudo-milk, and sugar. After that, if I grill them until the surface gets slightly burned, then an other world version of French toast is complete. As it’s not white bread, it might be weird to call it ‘toast’, but I don’t pay undue attention to that. There’s no issue with the taste. I also prepare my favourite black tea. Now, let’s go! To where Erina-san is!
“It’s called ‘French toast’. It’s sweet and delicious.”
“I see. You’re still convalescing so please don’t over do it, okay?”
In the blink of an eye, she finishes eating it all, and I prepare the tea and paused.
Well then, let’s have a discussion that will decide my life, shall we?
“Erina, it’s about time we get to the main point.”
“So, it’s about me, but—……”
Please, give me a break. No matter how much of an ossan I am, something like this requires courage, you know.
“Before that, please let me say something. It’s regarding Sirius-sama’s mother.”
Ooh, finally, about my mother is it?
What was depicted was a lone woman.
Looking at the flowing black hair, and the gentle eyes, a feeling of being at peace mysteriously comes over me. I instinctively understood: this person is, without a doubt, my mother.
“And, at the same time she gave birth to you……she passed away.”