For the time being, I have no choice but to wait until the other person wakes up or someone else comes to help, and I put out an insect repellent magic tool next to the man who is thinking with a confused face. This is shaped like a lantern, and it is an excellent thing that is engraved with the magic circle of the wind, and when magic passes through it, it disperses the scent of leaves that insects hate into the air.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s an insect repellent. I don’t want the bee friends from earlier to come here. It is effective in a wider range than the ring you are wearing, a radius of 3 meters. It’s recommended for camping, right? Well, we need regular replacement of the leaves inside for it to be effective.”
Originally it is used for camping, but since I don’t like insects, I always carry it with me when collecting. If you just want to avoid being bitten by insects, a ring like the one he is wearing is enough, but if you are recognized as an enemy like the previous Killer Bee, you will be attacked. Anyway, if you don’t want them to come closer to you, it’s definitely this insect repellent magic tool. ……The difficult part is that if you are specified to collect an insect-type monster, you will not be able to use this insect repellent magic tool.
“I see. I’m sorry for causing you trouble. I didn’t even say thank you. Thank you for your help. My name is Theo Evans. I am a guard knight of a saint in the royal capital. This priest is Alfie Wright. He also belongs to the temple of the royal capital and serves a saint.”
“No, no. Because this kind of thing is normal. I’m Amelia Clark. I was collecting materials to help my father with his work.”
“Material collection… Clark, by any chance, are you the daughter of the royal palace magician, Clark?”
“Yes. If it’s a former royal magician, it’s my father.”
If there is still a Mr. Clark as a royal magician, it’s a stranger with the same last name. My father quit a long time ago.
“Ah. Even now, when we’re in trouble, he will help, but there’s no doubt that it’s [former]. I see. You’re the daughter of the magician Clark. I believe you graduated from school, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I graduated this year, and now I’m helping my father’s work while thinking about what to do in the future.”
“Aren’t you going to join the saint’s party or work at the royal palace?”
Talking about getting a job is just small talk. Moreover, these two are mainstream jobs. Even so, even though I knew that I cared too much about the word that seemed to overflow with the unpleasant memory of the saint’s party, my body was a little stiff.
“…It’s not in my plans. Now I’m thinking about whether to take over my father’s job or my grandfather’s job as a doctor. My father told me that if I find anything else I want to do, do it.”
When I was a student, I thought I would join the saint’s party and do the work of purifying the maga. The purification labor of the saint is in the form of working in the temple.
But it’s impossible.
Just thinking that a love commotion might happen again in the party makes my fingertips cold. It’s not very much, but the workplace where I’m likely to meet my ex-boyfriend is a pass.
“I heard a rumor that the daughter of royal palace magician Clark is very good, so I thought she would work for either the temple or the royal palace, but it was different.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Because I changed my course at the last minute.
I don’t have to say that I changed it because of my personal grudge. He doesn’t seem to know that I didn’t attend the graduation party. Is he just not familiar with rumors, or is it not even a rumor? Well, it’s not like a rumor would be made about just a student’s love drama.
“Uh…Umm”
When I was chatting without getting too deep, Alfie, the priest who had been sleeping for a long time, spoke out. It looks like he’s awake. He had natural blonde curly hair with a shiitake mushroom on his head, and when he opened his eyes slightly, he raised his upper body.
“Alfie, are you okay? Do you understand me?”
“Well. Theo, right? Good morning. What? Where are we? What’s wrong with us?”
Alfie, who tilts his head with a vague expression, may have lost the memory of being attacked by a monster. I’ve heard that when you feel the fear of death after being attacked by a monster, a part of your memory will disappear.
“We were attacked by Killer Bees. That’s why this young lady helped us. Say thank you properly.”
“Is that so? Thank you very much.”
He bow his head flatly, but there is no surprise or tension, and it is somewhat vague.
“Well, I’m a little busy, so excuse me.”
Saying that, he stopped his slow movements and pulled out the mushroom on his head. Then squatted down and plant it on the ground.
“He has mushroom disease!!”
Mushroom disease patients who plant mushrooms that grow on themselves in this way are usually in a state where their condition has progressed. Mushroom disease is easy to detect because mushrooms grow on the head. That’s why I’ve never seen anyone with a medical condition progressing so far. I didn’t expect him to plant mushrooms so naturally, so I just screamed.
“Oh, hey. Well, Miss Clark? Is Alfie okay?”
He looked worried, but he was gingerly touching the mushroom on his head. Did he want to plant it too, or did he wonder if he had the same fate waiting for him?
I don’t know, but I think it’s rare to plant mushrooms so early.
“For the time being, it’s okay because people with mushroom disease don’t die even if you leave it for about two weeks. I guess he was just a person who was easy to obey orders. Normally, you don’t follow mushroom hallucinations so quickly. It’s better not to remove the mushrooms yet due to the chance of demonization, but it seems to be difficult to go down the mountain like this.”
While looking at the priest who continues to plant mushrooms, I put my hand on my temple.
I hear that when you have the urge to plant mushrooms, it will overwhelm even the three major desires. It’s fine as long as they don’t try to plant it in people, but they wander around the mountains to grow mushrooms everywhere and end up becoming a mushroom nursery.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll think about countermeasures.”
If we try to remove the mushroom disease, everything will be wiped out, so we can’t do it because the demonization will be strengthened. If so, it’s medicine, but there is no proof that it’s okay to give medicine here.
Hmm.
“…Shall I knock him out? Physically.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. It’s bad to remove it now, and we can’t deal with the side effects of medicine here. Fortunately, patients with mushroom disease do not have any additional muscle strength, so it is faster to remove them and carry them. Mr. Evans can do it, right?”
Obviously, the physical abilities are stronger than the spindly priest.
“Can you put him to sleep with magic or something?”
“You can, but the type that pours magic power directly is not recommended except in an emergency if you have symptoms caused by monsters. Because it can get worse. And when doing it with a magic attack… the adjustment of power is subtle. Fire roasting, water attack, suffocation by soil. If you fail in any of them, it can become a fatal wound-”
“I’ll do it.”
When I racked my brain to gave examples of magic that I could use, Theo put his hand forward and stopped me as if to interrupt. If you can do it, I’d be grateful for that too.
“Alfie, sorry.”
“Theo?”
After apologizing with one word, Theo strangled Alfie’s neck with his arms and made him faint in an instant. As expected.
And then he gently laid him on the ground.
“Thank you very much. It would be a problem if he moved poorly while planting mushrooms.”
“No. I also appreciate the appropriate instructions. You were the one who helped us when we thought we were out of luck.”
Theo shook his head with a wry smile. He is a swordsman, but he seems to have a relatively calm personality. He’s likable just because he listens. Swordsmen have a lot of muscle brains, and some people can’t communicate. Now that I think about it, I shake my head, trying to remember if my ex-boyfriend was a person I could talk to.
It’s frustrating to compare him with anyone else, so I imagine putting my memories in the safe since I don’t want to remember them. Don’t come out. Don’t come out.
“What’s wrong?”
“No. Come to think of it, why is Mr. Evans in a place like this? Now is the time for the maga to be active, so I think there are restrictions on entering the mountain. And today is a new moon.”
Areas that have a long relationship with the maga have a guideline for when it is best to revitalize and avoid getting too close to it. And it is said that the new moon and the full moon are more likely to be affected by the maga, so it is still regulated.
“Theo is fine. So the reason why we came here is because there are restrictions. If there are restrictions, it will affect the material market, right?”
“Then, Amelia is fine for me too. I understand that you need the necessary materials, but I think it’s reckless. Due to the restrictions because it’s dangerous, I don’t go deep at this time of year either. By the way, what kind of material is it? If you have money, you can check if there is any stock at my father’s place. Because there are some things that my father didn’t send to the royal capital because he is too lazy to negotiate. However, I’ll have you solve the trouble that happens by yourself.”
In some cases, high-priced products that are in short supply can become a life-threatening situation. If they attack us, we will fight back, but it will also cause trouble for the neighborhood. In addition, when a death or injury incident occurs after a struggle in the royal capital, they try to make a complaint here and make them come out to the royal capital. My father, who finds it troublesome to negotiate after that, basically stores such materials in the store’s warehouse and uses them himself.
“I’ll give you the money at the asking price, so it would be helpful if you could check it. What I want is beeswax and honey of demonized bees. Actually, it’s a request from a saint.”
“What?”
I don’t have good feelings for the saint now, so I reflexively leaked a very low voice to Theo’s story.
I wonder why they need demonized beeswax and honey so badly that they would send such a small group of people at the most dangerous time.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
