Chapter 75
Chapter 75
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Request for Help
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Guhk!”
“A-Are you okay?”
“Aah…. My stomach, my stomach hurts so much.”
“Someone give him something to drink…….”
“Hey, snap out of it.”
It was the minister. Half-delirious bodies hung between the dense thickets of foliage. All of them clutched their stomachs, groaning in pain. Su darted around here and there, helping tend to the patients.
“When are the doctors coming?”
“Urgh. Who knows. They left with empty hands, so they should arrive sometime tomorrow? If they don’t get lost, that is.”
Su perked up her ears, eavesdropping on the conversations. If the doctors arrived by tomorrow, they’d treat everyone and press on afterward. It would be slower due to the loss of manpower, but they’d still make it to Merelrof eventually.
‘Hmm.’
Su murmured to herself as she gazed at the ridge stretching down from the mountain.
“Is Merelrof closer from here, or Hwan Kingdom?”
A man dripping cold sweat answered. He seemed to be rambling just to forget the pain.
“We haven’t gone far from the start, so Hwan is closer.”
“And the path to Merelrof is rough all the way, but to Hwan it’s mostly flatland? Until you enter the mountains.”
“Then the Hwan Kingdom doctors will get here first.”
“But those guys are full of quacks you can’t trust.”
“There are a lot of gypsies, sure? But it’s a proper kingdom—would they kill healthy people for no reason?”
“Aah…. I want to go back. Not lying here getting dew on me in the mountains, but in a bed, resting for days straight. That’s what I need to recover.”
Everyone lamented, letting out weary sighs. Whatever they said, Su approached the vigorously boiling pot of water and pretended to add firewood. Then, after glancing around once, she sprinkled in some poison from the yellow scorpion.
‘Not enough to kill. But enough to make them delirious with pain. Sorry, but… no choice.’
The yellow scorpion’s venom also contained ingredients that caused stomach pain. Lethal in large doses, but shared among that huge pot of water, it would be fine.
“Hey. Some warm water, please.”
“Yes. One moment. I’ll let it cool and bring it.”
Su turned back with a bright smile at someone’s request. Then she wove through the patients again, exuding the aura of an angel in white.
“Is that the entrusted woman? Good thing at least she’s fine.”
“That’s right. There were people who didn’t eat that dinner, that’s why it’s only this bad. Otherwise, we’d all be dead.”
Su wiped her sweat and laughed haha.
‘Fuck, when I get back, I’m never, ever leaving the desert again.’
Her outward demeanor differed a bit from her inner thoughts, but she was diligently playing her role regardless.
Now, when the doctors from Hwan Kingdom arrived, she’d subtly incite them to turn back that way.
“Hey. Hold on.”
As she went to ladle out water, someone grabbed Su’s wrist. It was the caravan’s deputy leader. He snatched her hand and began kneading it.
“Wh-What the….”
She was so flabbergasted her curse got stuck in her throat. Regardless, the man frowned as if he’d expected it.
“Your hand’s not normal.”
“What? My hand’s not that big!”
“Not that. You’ve got calluses embedded on the back of your hand and knuckles. That’s typical for someone who throws a lot of punches.”
At those words, Su stopped her flustered reaction and glared at the man. The deputy leader glanced at her inner pocket and warned lowly.
“When I say nicely, take out what you just put in your pocket.”
“You’ve got nothing better to do? Spying on me while I work.”
It was behind a cart that blocked the view. If she yelled loudly, it would definitely reach the others. Su gritted her teeth and muttered.
“You’ve been ruining the mood for us volunteers from the start.”
His smirk wasn’t casual. The deputy leader drew a dagger from his waist to threaten her.
“…Fuck, what the hell are you?”
Thwack!
Su’s fist flew in right away. It landed solidly, and he passed out with his mouth agape. At that moment, a few people clutching their aching stomachs came limping around the cart.
“What happened?”
“I just heard something break…….”
“No…….”
The people blinked at the sprawled deputy leader and Su alternately. As if they couldn’t comprehend the situation at all.
That was when it happened.
Rustle!
There was a rustle from beyond the thicket, and one person popped out. A stranger in a hood, panting for breath. Clear signs of wandering the forest for a long time.
“…What? What’s going on with everyone?”
“Where the hell is this? Damn it!”
The unfamiliar woman slightly pulled back her hood. Su froze for a moment, then yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Aaah! Bandits-!”
“What? Bandits?”
“Damn it! Grab your weapons!”
“No, wait a second. Hey!”
At the people’s clamor, the caravan guards staggered up and gripped their swords. They could barely stand, but there was no choice with bandits threatening.
The woman who emerged from the thicket backed away with a dumbfounded expression.
“Hey. Calling us bandits out of nowhere. We’re from the imperial palace investigation—”
They were the central investigation team wandering in search of Mary and Chel’s bodies. Su had recognized Erika’s face and struck first. At the same time, she knocked over the pot of water, dousing the firewood.
Sizzle!
Clang! Sching!
“Uwaaah! Kill them! Kill them!”
“Wh-What? Damn it!”
“Where’s the fire? Fire! Light a fire!”
In the mountain darkness, a battle broke out. Swords flew at each other without anyone striking first. Su quickly climbed a tree and watched the bloody fight.
‘Half will die, half will flee. Hm. Whether it’s Hwan or Merelrof, it’ll all be sorted before the doctors arrive?’
Plus, spreading rumors of bandits wouldn’t take much effort—perfect. Su admired her own quick thinking and patted her head. If things went fast, she could return to the desert tomorrow.
* * *
“No…….”
The Merelrof Count couldn’t continue. Unexpected as it was, could it really be this unexpected?
The doctors who returned after a week brought only three patients. No trace of the massive, grand procession of Merelrof territory folk that had been awaited, even searching with eyes wide open.
The count looked around frantically with a bewildered expression.
“What about the others?”
“Count, it seems there were bandits.”
“What bullshit is that!”
“We arrived following the guide, but they’d already been attacked, bodies strewn everywhere. Luckily, heading toward Hwan Kingdom a bit, we found survivors, but they were suddenly ambushed and scattered.”
“Th-Then?”
“In the chaos, the caravan leader was especially badly hurt and headed back to Hwan Kingdom. It’s closer, after all. We brought back only the entrusted ones among the survivors.”
The problem was that the caravan’s location happened to be closer to Hwan. Plus, being the way they’d come, the terrain was familiar.
Merelrof was Bariel’s ‘frontier,’ but Hwan Kingdom was a massive city-state in itself, so it had seemed suitable for regrouping the caravan.
“Kuaaaah!”
The Merelrof Count unwittingly bellowed. He was gaunt and usually didn’t raise his voice, but this was too critical.
“Damn it! Damn it! That’s why you shouldn’t eat that wishy-washy slop! You idiot bastards!”
Crash!
The Merelrof Count irritably swept the table clutter aside. The doctors, back from a week of hardship, broke out in cold sweats and backed away. They knew his situation better than anyone. The territory folk would soon be twiddling thumbs, and there was no food in the territory.
“Th-Then we’ll be going.”
“Pardon the intrusion, Count.”
Bang!
The doctors jostled out—neither yielding first—rushing from the room. The Merelrof Count held his forehead and fell silent.
“…Butler.”
“Yes, Count.”
“How much was the Sheiron market price again?”
Sheiron was a city northwest of Merelrof. Unlike Merelrof, which survived on frontier trade, it was prospering as a commercial hub.
But the problem was……
“A few days ago, I heard a sack of wheat traded for six silver coins.”
The relative economic gap was too wide. Merelrof was the frontier, after all, while Sheiron was Bariel’s second-most prosperous metropolis after the capital.
In Merelrof, a sack of wheat cost three silvers, but in Sheiron, you had to pay double. That was a few days ago; with bandit rumors now, who knew how much worse it was.
“If we leave now?”
“It’d take about nine days, I think.”
Because of that mountain range the caravan had crossed. It wrapped around Merelrof and extended northwest—great for defense, but crossing it exacted a heavy toll. To the capital from here was just half a month……
“No choice. Send people.”
“How much budget should we allocate?”
“Gather applications from those needing supplies. Once the list is set, form a trade caravan.”
Of course, ‘supplies’ weren’t free.
Fewer territory folk meant long-term damage to the territory. Every head was production capacity. The usual method: help them not starve now, then raise taxes at harvest time.
“Um, Count.”
“What?”
The count glared irritably back.
“Going to Sheiron is one thing, but returning is the issue. It’s colder there, so snow will fall sooner. Hauling all that cargo over snow-covered passes… isn’t that impossible?”
“So? What’s your point?”
Even an experienced caravan hadn’t anticipated food poisoning and bandits, ending in disaster. Much less locals born and raised here succeeding at that ordeal.
“How about requesting aid from Bratz?”
“What?”
“The Hwan Kingdom route is bandit-infested for now. Until word spreads that the kingdom’s cleared them.”
“Look, butler. I know that. That’s why we’re going to Sheiron.”
“Bratz has developed gula for food use. It’s filling, so even a little satisfies… we could urgently get some and…….”
The butler couldn’t finish. He met the Merelrof Count’s murderous glare. One more word, and he’d be fired—that was clear.
“Buy weeds with money?”
“…The price would be cheap.”
“Enough. I thought you wise, but you’re all talk. Who puts pig feed on the table!”
“My apologies.”
“Go find out Sheiron’s current prices right now.”
The butler bowed his head and left. In truth, the count’s actions weren’t incomprehensible. It was just the situation turning more dire than expected.
Creak.
‘No choice, then.’
If the master wouldn’t act, the butler had to step up.
He returned to his room, pulled out parchment and a quill. After agonizing a while, he pressed pen to paper.