Chapter 60. An Expedition Without Dreams or Hope (2)
Chapter 60. An Expedition Without Dreams or Hope (2)
2
The hunters buzzed with murmurs.
"Huh, what? So all four slots are filled?"
"But who the hell is that woman?"
"Right? I know the Medicine King, but......"
Even the Sword Saint wore a troubled look.
"The young lady I saw last time."
"Eek......!"
The pharmacist hid behind me.
Back when the Sword Saint had mistaken me for some world-class murderer, she had once stood with the Paladin to stop him. The Sword Saint's presence had been so menacing back then that, timid as she was, the memory seemed to resurface the moment she saw him.
The Sword Saint cleared his throat, apparently recalling that time as well.
"Ahem. There's no need to be so frightened. This man and the Death King have settled their grudge."
"I-is that so......?"
"It is. Hmm... but still."
The Sword Saint looked at me with an awkward expression.
"Death King, the place we're heading now is exceedingly dangerous. Did the Constellation not tell you? If you die inside an Apocalypse, you truly die. Is it all right to bring that young lady somewhere so perilous?"
"Yes."
I nodded with confidence.
"She's the best pharmacist I know."
And at the same time, probably the best pharmacist alive.
-Ugh......
Hadn't the Sword Emperor himself acknowledged it?
Even using the same ingredients, compared to when he'd tried to use the shop he'd originally meant to introduce—the shop of that Medicine King fellow or whatever standing over there—she'd produced fifteen times the quantity and boasted even greater efficacy.
-That bastard's decent at making medicine, but... he's not the best. Now that this young lady's here......
'Yes.'
But the Sword Saint wore a subtle expression.
"The best pharmacist you know......"
I pulled up his character window and read the Sword Saint's mind.
「Hmm. If this extraordinary young man recommends her, she must have something extraordinary about her, but there are always bigger fish in the world...... Indeed, Sword Emperor. You speak true for the first time in a long while. Even a king carp living in a ditch learns, once it reaches the river, that it's less than the smallest minnow. Yes, I ought to use this opportunity to open up relations between those two young people and the Medicine King.」
Wow.
Maybe because of the relationship we'd built up, and because the Sword Saint had made a vow in front of me, he didn't say it outright—and I could tell there was goodwill underneath it all—but...... the old-man meddling streak was still alive and well, truly.
The other Sword Emperor attached to the Sword Saint's side also seemed to be looking down on the pharmacist based on appearances alone, just as this Sword Emperor had done back then.
And in this very place, there was someone who aired that old-man meddling streak openly—and with no goodwill whatsoever.
"Ha! The best he knows!"
It was the Medicine King.
"This is why you whelps! Heh heh, honestly. Crossing a single pebble and then shrugging your shoulders as if you'd climbed a mountain—how laughable. You remind me of myself when I was young, and I hate it. Hate it, truly. Keh keh."
Oh ho.
"Medicine King, try to understand. The Death King is an outstanding man. It's just that his life experience is a little......"
"That very experience! Isn't experience the most important thing! And yet he doesn't know that and acts like he knows everything about the world—good grief. I'm embarrassed for him. It's exactly like when I made about a billion dollars in Silicon Valley back in my twenties. The exact same rotten, festering mindset! But he's the only one who doesn't know it."
"Now, calm your temper a bit......"
"Heh heh, honestly. I've been keeping my temper in check this whole time. I've been putting up with that whelp's backtalk purely out of respect for your face, Marcus. And now what? He says he's going to bring along some girl who looks like a chewed-up horse bone from who knows where. Like some young Silicon Valley billionaire parading around a trophy."
"The Death King isn't that kind of young man......"
"What do you mean he isn't! You little—! Look me straight in the eye and say it! Is he really not?"
Incredible......
What was incredible was, most of all, that a person existed who could make the world-famous Sword Saint flounder. It seemed that in the ecosystem of meddlers, a bigger meddler devours a lesser one.
It was hard to keep my mouth shut at this newly discovered mystery of the ecosystem.
Maybe that was why the one who talked back to the meddler of all meddlers wasn't me.
"C-calling me a whelp is one thing, but......"
The pharmacist, clutching my collar tightly, spoke through gritted teeth.
"D-Death King is absolutely not a whelp! He's an amazing person! A-and as for a rotten, festering mindset......"
"Heh heh, look, Marcus. Isn't she acting like she's shielding her own husband? This is why young people. Tsk. Well, when I was young, I too thought that sort of thing was what youth was all about......"
"Sh-shielding her own husband......"
The pharmacist's mouth opened and closed. She'd heard something so absurd that her brain's processing seemed unable to keep up.
The Paladin stepped forward and defended the pharmacist.
"Enough. That 'pharmacist' is certainly an outstanding pharmacist. I came to know her through the Death King's introduction, and the Vigilante Corps itself has been supplied with countless excellent medicines from her."
The Medicine King snorted.
"At the Vigilante Corps' level, I suppose that's possible."
"...Excuse me?"
"I'm speaking the truth. With your funding situation, would you ever have even set foot in my pharmacy? You don't know the sky, so you think the ceiling is high. And you don't even know that ceiling isn't a corner ceiling but a box lid. That bare-naked look of yours is exactly like me when I was young, tsk tsk......"
The Paladin bit her lip hard.
Though counted among the five major guilds, the Vigilante Corps was always short on funds. For her, he'd struck a sore spot cruelly.
The Medicine King flicked his hand as if shooing away small birds.
"Ah, what's the point of talking. Let's stop. Stop it. Doesn't it just tire out both me talking and you listening?"
Hm.
He had a point.
'Sword Emperor, sir.'
-Yeah.
'Haven't we heard enough trash talk by now?'
-More than enough. Why are you putting yourself through this frustration?
I glanced around the library.
'I'm not doing this to frustrate myself.'
As I'd said several times, this scene was surely being broadcast live to the hunters gathered in Babylon's plaza.
In other words, this moment was truly the optimal timing for both a [debut] and a [retirement].
I spoke toward the Medicine King.
"Would you like to have a match?"
If the Sword Saint had sent me a troubled look, the Medicine King immediately went red in the neck.
"Ha! Look at that. Marcus. When logic fails, he goes straight for the sword—that, that rotten attitude! It reminds me of when I climbed to the world boxing champion title in my forties."
"No, I'm not asking you to fight me."
I took out medicinal ingredients from my coat.
"I'll provide the ingredients. With those, the two of you can each make a medicine. Then we compare the performance of the resulting medicines—wouldn't that settle things?"
"Aack......!"
The pharmacist jumped.
"D-Death King! I'm furious that that old coo—that person insulted you, but... s-still, he's someone called the Medicine King, you know? He's a celebrity all the hunters recognize... and compared to him, I-I've only had my alias for less than a week, eep."
The pharmacist flinched.
I had grabbed both her shoulders.
"Pharmacist."
"Y-yes, yes!"
With her glasses between us, I met her eyes and spoke.
"I believe in you."
"...D-Death King."
"So you should believe in yourself too."
"......"
The pharmacist took a deep breath. Beyond her glasses, her wavering eyes regained their light.
Clenching both fists tightly, she nodded vigorously.
"Yes, Death King! I'll do my best! No."
She immediately shook her head, then corrected herself.
"I'll win!"
The Medicine King watched us as if we were ridiculous.
"Ha."
The Medicine King shook his head side to side.
"There are always those types. They can't rest until they dip a finger in and taste whether it's ketchup or blood. Exactly like me when I was about three years old. Tsk tsk......"
"You talk a lot. Feeling nervous?"
"Sure, whelp. Prepare yourself well to watch that girl cry her eyes out. Because when it comes to young brats, I don't know how to go easy."
Medicine King versus pharmacist.
The match of the century had begun.
3
When the match began, the hunters' reactions were cynical.
"Obviously the Medicine King will win."
"That old man's pharmacy is so expensive, and reservations are backed up for nearly a month."
"Is there really something between those two? No matter how I look at it, the Death King's pushing it way too far."
"Death King and Medicine King. Even if both are kings, there's a difference in years of experience."
Truly textbook reactions.
"Now then, those who think the Medicine King will win, place your bets here! Those who think the pharmacist will win, bet here!"
Meanwhile, there was also the Count, seizing the chance to make money by running a gambling ring.
When had she roped them into it? Two bookmark maids stood demurely, holding collection boxes.
"Death King, are you sure about this? The odds right now are a whopping 1.08 to 47."
The Witch approached and whispered.
"Sounds good. Think of it as picking up some pocket money—how about betting on the pharmacist just enough that the odds don't drop too much?"
"...Death King, you're the one who said this is all being broadcast live."
The Witch wore an utterly serious expression.
"If that pharmacist you recommended gets brutally crushed—if that happens......"
"Then all of that will be broadcast live to Babylon, and to the world. No, the internet reactions must be going absolutely crazy right now."
If it had been the old me, what kind of comment would I have been posting?
Would I have posted something like, "I want to be like the Medicine King too"?
As I was lost in such idle thoughts, the Witch pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Death King, if that happens, your reputation will take damage too. ...Are you really okay with this?"
"Well, I do feel a little sorry for that Medicine King old man or whatever."
No, honestly, I didn't feel sorry at all.
If he ran his mouth, shouldn't he take responsibility for it?
Isn't that the true spirit of respecting one's elders?
The Witch looked back and forth between me and the pharmacist with a subtle expression. I was wondering what she was thinking and about to pull up her psychology window when—
"It's over, whelp!"
The Medicine King.
He raised the medicine he had made and bellowed.
"Bow your head before my great creation!"
+
[Special-Grade Recovery Potion]
Rarity: Special-Grade
Creator: Medicine King
Description: It's a bit bitter on the way down, but if you drink it, even most fatal wounds should close up. Of course, since it's a recovery potion, you should account for healing aftereffects and drink it when it's safe, then rest well. In any case, to produce a potion of this caliber—truly remarkable skill!
+
A chorus of "Oooh" swept over the library.
"It's a special-grade recovery potion!"
"Good heavens. To produce a special-grade recovery potion. As expected of the Medicine King. The King never dies, for real."
"Medicine King! Would you consider selling that to me?!"
"Where do you get off cutting in line! Medicine King! I have the highest reservation priority! I'll buy it!"
The Medicine King lifted his chin and looked back and forth between me and the pharmacist. His face seemed to say: now do you understand that you two poked a tiger on the nose, and that you'll be thoroughly humiliated for it?
That was when—
"Um... I've finished making mine too......"
The pharmacist raised the medicine she had made.
+
[Soma Strawberry]
Rarity: Quasi-Mythic
Creator: Pharmacist
Description: Wait, it tastes like strawberries! Not a single strawberry went into this, so why does it taste like strawberries? And what is this efficacy! As long as it's preserved well, you could even graft a severed body part back on without aftereffects! What on earth did you make?!
+
Silence swept over the library.