Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari (LN)

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Medicine

The sun fell below the horizon, and it was night . Raphtalia’s stomach started to rumble again, and so we left the room to get dinner at a restaurant .

The potatoes we had earlier were like a pre-dinner snack .

Raphtalia had never been to the restaurant, so she didn’t know what to order . My wallet was finally filling up, and we would spend the next few nights out in the field . I thought it was reasonable to give her a good meal .

“Give us two Delia sets, and some Naporata . ”

The waitress took our menus and went back to the kitchen .

“Let’s eat . ”

“Yes!”

Raphtalia ate in silence but held my hand the whole time .

She must have been around ten years old . She looked hungry enough to eat my portion as well, so I ordered some more .

“We’ll be out in the fields tomorrow, so eat your fill tonight . ”

“Okay!”

I wanted to tell her to eat or nod her head, but not to do both . She seemed to really enjoy the food though, so I didn’t say anything .

As we sat there, I realized that she had some other issue I needed to work on . I decided to take care of it when we got back to the room .

“Your hair is out of control . Let’s take care of that . ”

“… Okay . ”

She looked anxious . I put my hand on her head .

“It’ll be fine . I won’t give you a weird hairstyle or anything like that . ”

Really, leaving it like it was would be the worst thing to do .

I ran my fingers through her hair to get an idea of what needed to come off, then I took her knife and started cutting . I cut off hair that was too long, so that it fell around her shoulders, and that was it .

“There we go . That should do it . ”

The style seemed a lot more normal than how it was before .

Raphtalia spun around the room, smiling and giggling . She seemed happy .

I was cleaning up the pile of hair when my shield started to react .

… I hadn’t realized that .

I let the shield absorb the hair and tried to keep Raphtalia from noticing .

Then I opened the weapon book . It said that my shield’s level wasn’t high enough .

“Hm?”

Damn, she was right behind me .

“Go to bed!”

“Okay!”

She seemed, oddly, more upfront and honest than she had been yesterday .

She might start yelling in the night, so I decided to try and finish up my compounding as soon as I could .

You’ve made a nourishing beverage!

Nourishing Beverage: quality: poor to fair: effective for fatigue: quickly nourishes the person who drinks it

You’ve made medicine!

Medicine: quality: fair to normal: helps cure sickness . Not effective on serious sicknesses

Hmm… It seemed like I could make a variety of things from the grasses in the fields and mountains . And the apothecary was buying them from me at a good price . Still, they used a lot of resources . It was hard to know if I was coming out ahead .

In the end, I made six nourishing drinks, and a sizable portion of medicine .

But it was hard to make anything of a high quality, and so I don’t think I could make compounding into regular work . But hey, I was the Shield Hero, not the neighborhood pharmacist .

… I might as well let the shield absorb them .

Calorie Shield: conditions met

Energy Shield: conditions met

Potential Energy Shield: conditions met

Calorie Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: stamina up (small)

Energy Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: SP increase (small)

Potential Energy Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: stamina use down (small)

It seemed like all the abilities were status abilities .

What was this stamina it was talking about? My strength?

I better look it up .

I’d better find out more about different herbs . I was getting a lot of abilities that I could use, but I wished there were more battle abilities .

Apparently the herbs I already had were not enough to unlock the abilities .

“… Mmm…”

I stretched and decided to turn in for the night . I turned around and locked eyes with Raphtalia . She was asleep, though . Apparently, she was right about to start crying .

“Ahhhh!”

I clamped my hand down over her screams, and she calmed down a little . I held her against my chest and ran my fingers through her hair .

And that was it . She was much easier to calm down than she had been . I made to let her go, but she started to cry again . I guess there was no getting around it . We slept together that night .

… Cold . It was cold .

I could feel the sun on my face, and I opened my eyes . Raphtalia should have been sleeping with me, but I saw her across the room, curled into a ball in the corner .

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m sorry!”

She was apologizing so furiously something had to be wrong . I arched my eyebrows and soon found out why I was so cold .

Yes… She had peed the bed .

I guess she thought I would be mad .

I didn’t know if it was normal for a ten-year-old to pee the bed, but I couldn’t get mad at her if she was staring at me with terrified eyes like that .

I walked over to her . I reached out my hand, but she curled away from it .

“Oh come on…”

I set my hand on her shaking shoulder .

“It doesn’t matter if you peed the bed . Let’s just hurry up and get this stuff washed and changed . ”

We’d need some equipment .

“Um…”

Raphtalia was looking at me in confusion .

“Aren’t you mad?”

“What’s the point in getting mad at a repentant person? If you feel bad, I won’t be mad . ”

The sheets were dirty . I wondered how much the innkeeper would want for the trouble . Regardless, I’d take the blanket for myself .

I went and explained the situation to the innkeeper, paid for the sheets, and then ran to the weapon shop to procure some new equipment .

The water from the well was very cold . I ran the sheets over the washboard and packed them away . On our way out to the fields, I found a tree branch to hang them on .

“Okay then…”

Raphtalia kept walking beside me like she was the worst thing in the world . It was getting on my nerves .

“I told you not to worry about it!”

“… Okay . ”

… She was an honest kid . But if she lost her motivation, it would be a problem for me too .

“Ah…”

Her stomach was grumbling again .

Her face flushed red from embarrassment .

“Want to get some breakfast?”

“Um… sure . ”

She took hold of my sleeve and walked next to me .

“Cough…”

“Okay, well, here’s your punishment . You have to drink this medicine . ”

I handed her the bottle .

I guess she had some kind of disease and would need to have the medicine regularly .

She sniffed at it and crinkled her nose in disgust . But by thinking it was punishment, she drank it down with some effort .

“Ugh… It’s so bitter . ”

“You can handle it . ”

She finished the bottle and looked, for a moment, like she might throw up .

By the way, I was able to sell the medicine we’d made for a good price . It wasn’t very high quality, but apparently supply had been running low .