BXBX NOVEL Chapter 17
We should separate the time for flirting and the time for work. It is important to have a balance.
If not, we would end up in the situation where Gonz and Tanta, who came running over after hearing the rumors about me and Lit, were squirmy from seeing us hold hands in front of them.
... Just kill me.
“Ah, we came at a bad time. Sorry!”
Said Gonz but he was grinning to himself and didn’t seem to be sorry at all.
“Red-oniichan, you should have told me from the start! If the house was for newlyweds, I would have given more thought to the layout!”
While on the other hand, Tanta was complaining about his architectural inspiration.
And Lit covered not only her mouth but her whole face with her bandana. I guess this was embarrassing for her too.
“Leaving that aside, the boring herb collector and the Hero Lit huh.”
“Don’t call me boring. I actually plan for the future when I go harvest herbs.”
“Sure sure.”
Gonz took just a moment to alter his downtown silly grin on his elven origin handsome face,
“As expected of the Hero Lit. You have great eyes for choosing Red, he is a prime article in downtown.”
And said with a serious tone. Tanta also nodded with his arms folded.
This time it was my turn to turn red in embarrassment.
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It seemed like Gonz didn’t have any work today.
When asked why he didn’t have work in the middle of the week, he said that his business type was to rest a day in three days during summer. The ones making requests also laze around during summer so he could get by with this pace.
That is why Gonz and Tanta infiltrated my store, surveyed the customers who occasionally came in, tried to find fault with my work and went out of their way to report to Lit about how I lived my life in Zoltan.
I was working just beside them so I was wishing that they would stop.
“When I was sick, Red-oniichan went into the mountains where there was an Owlbear to harvest medicine for me.”
“Ooh ooh, and so what happened!”
I was quite embarrassed when tales of my heroism was showcased in banquets when I was in the Knight Order but this was embarrassing too.
“Ri-right, Gonz.”
“What’s it?”
“Why did you come to me that time? Of course, you knew me but you should have only known me as a D-rank adventurer who only harvests herbs.”
“Ah, Doctor Newman recommended your name that time. I also knew your personality and understood that you were trustworthy so I made the request. Ah, you really saved us that time.”
“Doctor Newman did?”
It was Doctor Newman who diagnosed Tanta. That incident was the trigger that made him recognize my skill and he helped me to wholesale my medicine but did he know me before that?
“I recall he said something about the supply of medicine stabilizing after Red came. He found it strange and got to know your name when he went to ask around the Adventurers Guild.”
“A trained eye will notice things huh?”
Gonz and Lit nodded in harmony.
Ho~ I see.
“Oh, speaking of Doctor Newman, it’s about time for the medicine delivery.”
“Shall I go?”
“Hn, I haven’t introduced you to Doctor Newman so we’ll go together another day. There’s somehow quite a number of customers today so I’ll leave the shop to you.”
“Okay.”
I had taught Lit plenty regarding medicine. She had first aid knowledge and technique from when she was an adventurer so she quickly picked it up. She would probably be fine taking care of the shop alone.
I hoisted the medicine box I prepared yesterday on my back and headed towards Newman’s clinic.
☆☆
Newman’s clinic was located at a corner of downtown.
It was tough to call it clean as the original white wall building had turned dirty gray. It was a compact building and has been a clinic even since Newman purchased it.
With one examination room, one reception, one waiting room, and one store, it was smaller compared to regular hospitals. As Newman didn’t even have an office, documents had to be split and stored in the store and examinations room.
The price was cheap because of that so the clinic was popular among the people who lived in the neighborhood.
“Oh, Red-kun, thanks for coming.”
Newman was in the midst of examining a thin child with a cold who had a towel wrapped around his head.
“Please wait in the waiting room. I will come over after I am done.”
“Sure sure.”
The receptionist was a girl about halfway past 10 years old and although she didn’t seem that serious, she conversed with me brightly. I sat on the chair in the waiting room and looked around.
There was only an old woman who was dozing off seated there. She was probably the grandmother of the child being examined now.
Perhaps used to kill time, there was a wooden board game called Wyvern’s Race placed there.
Even though it would not likely be stolen as it cost only five common coins, I was still worried but from the worn out look it had, it seemed like a lot of people have come by to entertain themselves with it for a long time.
There was a window in the waiting room.
As glass was an expensive commodity, the window was hollow and it would be closed using a wooden cover at night.
There was a single copper wind chime dangling from the window and it would chime whenever the wind blew in.
Wind chimes were a practice that came with the battle with the Demon Lord Army but people mostly use it around this parts without minding the origin.
After a while, the kid with red forehead ... he was probably having a fever ... and Newman came to the waiting room.
“I will be prescribing some medications. If you run out of the medicine, you can head over to the Apothecary run by Red-kun over here. He will be able to give you the appropriate medicine if you show him this prescription.”
He said as he told them the way to my shop.
“Oya, Red-chan, you finally opened your shop, that’s great.”
“Thank you, grandma can drop by any time if you need any medicine.”
“Well, I’ll come by to buy some medicine for back pain if you have any.”
I used to greet this grandma when I used to live in the tenement house but she apparently remembered my name. Conversely, I could not recall her name at all ... isn’t that bad as a businessman?
The grandma and the child placed a couple copper coins on the reception and thanked Newman before they left.
I glanced at the reception table. There were eight copper coins placed on the counter.
“That’s pretty cheap, eight commons.”
“I received two bags of sausages in exchange.”
A barter system huh?
Perhaps that grandma’s place was a butcher.
“Sorry for the wait, I’ll confirm the medicine now.”
“Sure thing.”
I picked up the medicine box beside me and stood up but,
“It’s fine here. This room has the most space after all.”
Newman said with a bitter smile and stopped me.
Well, Newman said it himself so I placed the medicine box on the floor and opened it and handed him the order sheet.
Newman read the order sheet and meticulously took the medicine out from my medicine box to check that they were present.
“They tally with the order sheet. By the way, is it really impossible to get Bloodneedles?”
“It would be tough this year.”
“No huh? All right.”
“Summer would end in about another month so the diseases that require medicine made using Bloodneedle would circulate again right?”
“The same like last year. But it would be problematic without it. Knowing that the peddlers can’t prepare the numbers we need, I can only lament my inability to do anything.”
After we continued that topic for a little while, we heard a scream from outside and the sound of a person falling down accompanied by a plate or something shattering.
“What was that?”
Newman and I went out to check.
Similarly, the people from the houses and shops along the road noisily came out to see.
“The sound came from that house.”
“That seems to be the case.”
Newman nodded to my words. I placed my hand on the handle of the sword on my waist and moved towards the house where the sound came from.
Newman followed behind me and told me after he had a sudden realization.
“Right, the person living in that house is a middle-aged man called Jackson.”
“Do you know him?”
“I have treated him countless time from drinking too much alcohol. He has been binge drinking ever since his wife ran away last year.”
That’s scary. I’ll have to beware too.
“Did he fall down in his drunken state?”
“It would be best if that was the case.”
I knocked on the door.
“Hey, Jackson-san. Are you all right?”
I strained my ears after asking. There was no reply ... but.
“I hear moaning, sorry but I’ll be coming in!”
I tried to open the door but was met with a metallic sound. It was locked.
I drew my sword and pierced the lock on the door without hesitation and destroyed it.
“Ooh, was that the skill of a D-rank adventurer?”
“It’s easy if the opponent isn’t moving.”
I deceived him as I opened the door and stepped into the house.