Chapter 3

Father, drink this and youll be fine . Hold on and drink

Valletta propped up her father who was groaning painfully, and put the medicine she got from Kazura (antacids and antipyretic painkilling pills) and water into his mouth .

While coughing, her father somehow managed to swallow the medicine .

Also this, this is a nutritious drink, drink this too .

Seeing Valletta who was giving her father Lipo-D to drink, Kazura was greatly perplexed .

Theres no way a person who was on the brink of death to be cured just with that medicine .

He gave him Lipo-D as consolation, but rather than recovering his fighting spirit, he seems to be going toward the eternal sleep .

Kazura-san, when is Father going to be healthy again?

After giving her father the medicine and Lipo-D and letting him rest again, Valletta asked Kazura .

Ah, thats right, at the latest he will be released from his pain by tomorrow or the day after, I think .

Receiving Kazuras somewhat reckless reply, Valletta smiled in relief .

Thank goodness . Umm, Kazura-san, have you decided on where you would sleep tonight? If you havent, its not much to say its thanks for the medicine, but please stay at our house .

Kazura was filled with feelings of guilt for Valletta who was expressing her innermost faith in him, and he decided .

If her father were to die like that, he would bow down to her and use all his assets to make it up to her for it .

Im sorry its so dirty, but how about it?

please, he weakly murmured to Valletta who was making her recommendation to him .

this turned out to be something big .

At the corner of an 8-tatami sized wooden floored room, Kazura spent two hours being at his wits end .

Seeing from the chiefs condition earlier, probably tonight or tomorrow he would be on his deathbed .

When that happens, would Valletta forgive him or wouldnt she .

After saying hell be healed, and having him die afterwards, he wouldnt complain even if, at worst, she came to stab him .

Kazura-san!

Afterwards, Kazura spent 20 more minutes rolling on the floor, being troubled, then Valletta swiftly rushed inside the room .

Kazura reflexively jumped, and with great force bowed with his head on the floor .

Father is healed! That was really some amazing medicine, thank you very much!

Im very sorr . eh?

Hearing the unexpected news, Kazura raised his head and his eyes met with Vallettas who was looking at him doing a dogeza with curiosity . TN: dogeza kneeling and bowing down until ones head touches the ground . much sorry . very apology

Umm, by healed you mean your father is now healthy?

Yes, hes up already and is now preparing dinner . After being in so much pain he could be back in full health so quickly, that was really some amazing medicine!

Hearing Vallettas reply, Kazura became very surprised .

What Kazura gave to the village chief was only some antipyretic painkillers, antacids, and then some Lipo-D .

He should not have been back in full health so soon .

You have got to be kidding me . .

Eh? .

Ah, no, never mind .

Kazura corrected his words in confusion to Valletta who was looking at him blankly .

He had absolutely no idea how the chief could be back in health so quickly, rather he couldnt believe it .

Umm, just in case, would you let me see your fathers condition?

Sure, Father said he wanted to say his thanks during dinner, too, the times just right . Itll be done soon so lets go to the living room .

Kazura tailed behind the happily smiling Valletta while tilting his head in doubt .

Ooh, so youre Kazura-san . Thank you very much for sharing your precious medicine . Here here, please sit down .

Ah, thanks .

When Kazura and Valletta arrived at the living room, the village chief who was having difficulty breathing earlier was in the middle of making some kind of soup in the fireplace at the center of the room .

His body was thin as a stick, but his complexion looked healthy .

I deeply apologise for not greeting you properly earlier . Im Varin, this villages chief . Here here, dinners just about ready . Please have a bite . TN: Barin

Thank you very much . Umm, how are you feeling?

While receiving a soup-filled wooden bowl and a wooden spoon, Kazura asked the village chief, and he replied with a smile .

Once I took Kazura-sans medicine, before I knew it I was like this . This is the first time Ive taken anything remotely resembling medicine, but I never thought it would be this amazing Is there any way I could thank you with .

I was surprised as well . Ive heard that unless you take medicine for a few days you wouldnt get better, I never thought I would see something as amazing as this .

The one who is surprised is Kazura .

With only a few hundred yens worth of medicine and energy drink, a half-dead man could be restored to full health, and only in a matter of hours, too .

At any rate, the fact is that the village chiefs illness seem to have been healed, and his impression of Kazura had become really good .

Thats all good then .

Kazura sipped his soup while having that kind of conversation, but his head was full of question marks .

Still in a daze, he sipped his soup, and a strange texture of food hit him, so he parted his lips from the bowl .

He looked into it, wondering what ingredients are there, and he saw some kind of leaves and something that looked like a caterpillar inside .

(Its not a caterpillar, Its not a caterpillar, Its not a caterpillar, must be some kind of fruit, some kind of tree fruit that looks like a caterpillar) .

Ah, thats what I caught for Father, Arcadian bugs . Theyre not Croco bugs you know .

As Kazura was prodding the food with his spoon, Valletta brought the word of despair .

He couldnt possibly mention that he dislikes the Arcadian bug to the point of not wanting to touch it, but putting it in his mouth was another matter .

Its not the problem of them being Croco bugs or not .

We couldnt catch very much recently . I could only gather 10 today . They seem to be high-class foodstuff in town, so they taste very good, right . Ah, but Kazura-san must have had some before .

Next to the happily smiling Valletta, the village chief said Yup, every time I eat them theyre always tasty, while crunching on the bugs .

Kazura wanted to say Ive never eaten any and dont want any!!, but of course he didnt have the nerve to do so, so he just loudly said Youre right! It does taste good! with tears in his eyes trying to fool himself, while filling his mouth with the Arcadian bugs, that for some reason had been generously put into his bowl, and chewed .

His first Arcadian bug tasted like weak corn soup .

Do your best, my stomach . Ill deal with the bugs with seirogan later . TN: seirogan beechwood extract for treating diarrhea

After dinner, Kazura took seirogan and collapsed in his room, and Valletta came bringing a futon .

Kazura-san, heres your futon . Its about time for bed, right?

Hearing Valletta, Kazura glanced at his watch .

He didnt know if there was a time difference with his world but judging from the light outside there wasnt much of it .

Eh? Its still 6 . No, its still light outside?

Yes, but the suns going down soon .

Valletta said while looking at the sky outside the barred windows .

Kazura followed her gaze and saw the sky dyed orange, it does look like the suns going to set .

(Thats how it is, its not like this house has any candles or lanterns or the like for lighting)

Probably the entire village lived by rising with the sun and sleeping when the sun has set .

Even in his world, in the old days illumination like candles were expensive items, probably its the same case in this world .

That is, if illumination has been invented at all .

Ah, thats right . Ill gratefully accept .

Saying his thanks, he accepted the hard futon that was frayed here and there .

At first he believed they had no baths or the like, but the fact that they had futons were a big help .

Oh, right . I forgot to give you this .

Taking the futon, Kazura realized he still hadnt handed over the salt he said he would, and took a plastic bag of salt from his travel bag .

The words Table Salt 1 kg was written large on the clear plastic bag .

Its priced at 105 yen at the supermarket, tax included .

I promised to give you some salt .

Eh, is this salt!? Ive never seen salt so white like this!

Taking the salt from Kazura, Valletta widened her eyes in surprise .

That is to say, the salt in this world had many impurities in it, giving it some color .

Also, this bag-like transparent thing, what is it?

Hm? Thats plasti . Ah, crap

Seeing Valletta curiously look at the transparent plastic wrapping the salt, he slapped his head .

Having never seen plastic or anything like it, she wouldnt understand even if he explained it to her .

Kazura dismissed it with a something like that .

Its something recently invented in my country . Its light and yet strong . Even if you put water in it it wont break .

Is that so Um, whats written here? Ive never seen these letters before .

Its the letters of my country . It says salt . Umm, have you really never seen this kind of letters before?

Somehow, despite understanding Japanese, Kanji and Hiragana werent understood .

In this village, at the very least .

Yes, Father taught me so I can somewhat read and write, but Ive never seen these letters before .

For some reason, words were well-understood but letters were not, such double standards, what a strange world this is .

Um, Kazura-san

While he was thinking it was great that the language is the same, but troubling that I wont be able to read words, Valletta reservedly started talking .

Its about the medicine you gave Father . Certainly, its a very expensive item, isnt it?

Yeah . . something like that, its quite expensive .

Kazura answered after thinking a while .

It actually costs a few hundred yen in total, but if it really had a strong effect on all the people in this world like it did on the village chief, it could become a tremendous power depending on how its used .

Its probably best not to give it away so cheaply .

Thats . probably true, huh .

Hearing Kazuras reply, Valletta was downcast .

Um Im begging you!

Then, as if having resolved herself, she raised her head, and took Kazuras hand, making a request .

Well certainly pay you back someday, so please share that medicine with everyone in the village! If need be I dont mind if you sell me to a slave trader, just, please, save this village!

Wai, slave trader . . , theres slavery!? . . nononono, I get it already so raise your head please!

Kazura tried to calm Valletta who was clinging on to him, repeatedly saying please, please with tears in her eyes .

Are there any other sick people?

Yes People who got sick like Father, there are 50 of them . There were 7 that died because their fever did not go down . There are also mothers with babies who could not give them milk, we tried grinding Arcadian bugs and giving it to them to drink, but it really looks like their bodies couldnt take it after all . None of the babies have died yet, but theyve become so dreadfully thin, its just a matter of time

People in this village, how many are there?

Uhh, I think it was about 110 people .

So about half of them are down

It seems like this village was having a serious starvation problem .

If this goes on this village will probably be destroyed .

Please, Im very well aware that just by selling myself to slavery wont be enough to pay for one of those medicines, but at least save the children, please .

Saying that, Valletta became dejected again .

If you dont help out at a moment like this, youre a failure as a man, so the saying goes .

On top of being able to save this village with just some tens of thousands of yen, he could also secure a base of operations for his activities in this world .

If all goes well, he might even raise the village girl Vallettas flag as well .

All right, the flag no, to save the village, Ill happily share the medicine . Also, dont mind about the money, but in return, I wanted to live in this village .

Eh!?

Valletta was surprised at Kazuras proposal .

As far as she knows, the stuff called medicines cost an eye-popping amount of money to acquire .

The fact that he asked to stay in the village aside, offering medicines for free is something incredulous .

B, but, not taking money just with that, though I was the one who asked it of you, will it be all right with you, Kazura-san?

Yeah, lives are way more important than money, after all .

Valletta looked at Kazura, who gave an answer that really couldnt be called flowery words no matter how you put it, with a dumbfounded look .

Seeing Valletta like that, Kazura thought Oh no, that answer just now was too shady was it?, sweating profusely .

Really . Is it alright to believe in you?

O, of course . Leave it to me, answered Kazura to Valletta who asked with a trembling voice, and once again, bit by bit, tears appeared on her eyes .

Then, a trail of tears flowed down on her face, and raising her voice loudly, she cried like a child .