BXBX NOVEL Chapter 53
Morning.
Getting out of bed gets tough once it turns to winter.
However, time would not wait for me so I mustered myself to jump out of the blanket and stood up.
“Morning.”
Surprisingly, Lit was awake before me.
She seemed to have been taking care of the medicinal grass in the garden in the cold air.
Her fingers had turned white so I wrapped my hands around hers.
They had become completely cold.
“So warm.”
Lit sat beside me and smiled.
☆☆
Lit helped me a lot.
Although she did not have the Compounding skill, she could easily make others have a good impression of her due to her Charisma skill and she played an important role in promoting the growth of the medicinal grass in the garden and chasing away the harmful pest through her Spirit Magic.
She received etiquette training as a princess and also interacted with all kinds of people in town by slipping out of the castle. Lit could take the most optimal attitude to interact with a customer.
As a first-rate adventurer, Lit’s knowledge of medicine was even better than that of people working in other apothecaries. As a party that actually uses the medicine, she could also explain the side effects that were not well known or what happens when people with various resistance skills take them.
Adventurers living in the north ward who believe in Hero Lit’s advice coming from her experience actually go out of their way to come to our shop to purchase medicine.
By teaching Al ‘the anticipated rookie’ the sword, Lit’s reputation was rising even further.
After Al went to register in the Adventurers Guild, he was apparently confronted by ill-bred senior adventurers who benefited from Big Hawk’s requests but he utilized his small body to lead them to a narrow alleyway and defeated them with just a single bladeless training shotel.
Although there were differences in the grade between the Divine Protection of 『Weapon Master』 and that of 『Warrior』, by defeating opponents with higher divine protection level than he had, Al showed promising future prospects and rumors went around that the one who taught Al the sword, the Hero Lit, was amazing as expected.
During times when there were no customers, many adventurers and Guards often came seeking her advice while they bought medicine.
After just listening to them, the advice she gave which only relied on her knowledge and judgment was well received too.
My original plan was that it would be fine as long as I could secure an income enough to live my life and I did not have a burning desire to become wealthy but I was still glad that the sales were increasing.
The painting that Lit brought over seemed to receive praise as well.
There were offers coming from nobles of the central ward to purchase it at quite a sum. Of course, they were rejected.
Maybe that became a reputation as people who seem to live in the central ward, customers wearing countless layers of clothes came to purchase medicine too.
The new analgesic medicine seemed to have raised our reputation as well.
Due to the notoriety of the ‘Devil’s Divine Protection’, knowledge regarding the dependency of analgesic drugs became greater so that became a tailwind for my medicine.
Yesterday, I received a report from Lit that the ones I prepared in the storeroom had completely been sold out so I was planning to compound another batch.
Our sales had risen to about five times that of when I first opened the shop.
The medicinal grass I gathered from the mountain yesterday might disappear relatively quickly too.
Lit suggested yesterday to form a contract with some farmer and create a medicinal grass garden.
Although there was quite some knowledge on cultivating medicinal grass, it was a lot easier to obtain medicinal grass that was growing wild in the mountain so they could be nurtured easily once we got used to it.
However, Lit mentioned that the yield per unit area would be inferior to that of vegetables so it might not match the purchase price to a certain extent.
“Even so, it would be cheaper than buying it from the Adventurers Guild huh.”
After I stopped bringing medicinal grass to the Adventurers Guild, it seemed that there was a shortage of medicinal grass.
Due to that, the prices of medicinal grass increased.
Although it seemed that adventurers could purchase them from the Adventurers Guild at the price they bought them.
I believe they would be able to gain a lot more profit if they dealt with it more shrewdly but Zoltan’s Adventurers Guild apparently didn’t have that kind of business sense.
“Welcome.”
Lit called from the shop front.
I smiled lightly and left the shop front to Lit as I concentrated on the compounding work ahead of me.
☆☆
Today’s lunch was pizza.
Lit was working the shop front so I got started with cooking a little earlier.
I flattened the dough I prepared in the morning and spread tomato sauce liberally.
“I’ll give the seafood-style pizza a try.”
Zoltan was located near the mouth of the river so the distribution of marine products was flourishing too.
First, a bedding of cheese and above that, de-shelled clams, sausages and round slices of tomato.
And another layer of cheese above that.
While the pizza was baking, I scraped potatoes that I received from the farmers to make a thick potato soup. It would be the base for a bouillon soup with minced meat and vegetables that I make on a regular basis.
I seasoned the remaining sausages with salt and grilled them on a frying pan. The golden brown sausages expanded plump from the heat. I took a bite to taste and it gave a satisfying crisp sound.
Lastly, I made a salad using tomato and lettuce.
It was easy as all I had to do was cut them.
Opening the oven and taking the pizza out, I saw that the golden brown cheese had melted properly and the fragrant scent of cheese and clams spread throughout the kitchen.
I sprinkled some chopped parsley on the baked pizza and served it with some capsicum-base seasoning in a small dish.
Lit came right when I finished cooking.
“Looks delicious! I’ll bring it to the living room.”
“Thanks.”
Lit skillfully arranged the cooked dishes.
She was already used to it.
“”Thank you for the food.””
Lit took one slice of the pizza that had been cut into 8 slices and bit down on it.
Looking at Lit smile deliciously while holding her cheek, I made a small victory pose today as well.
☆☆
“Oh, right.”
Lit said after our meal as we were drinking herb tea.
“This morning, there was a prison break.”
“Prison break?”
“Yup, a Guard who came to the shop to buy medicine told me about it.”
“Hmm, that’s rare. Have they caught them?”
“It was a pretty big incident as they used some kind of quiet special explosive that blew the prison wall off.”
“What?”
That’s huge.
“Hmm, Big Hawk’s contacts? I thought that the Thieves Guild was happy to have gotten rid of him but I guess Big Hawk’s faction was bigger than expected. Looks like the successor is going strong even without Big Hawk. The town’s public security would become worse if it became a huge prison break.”
“That’s the thing, it doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“What do you mean?”
“The exploded wall was the inner wall of the prison and seemed to have been planned to match with breakfast. Quite a few inmates tried to flee but the outer walls were still intact so none of them escaped in the end.”
“That’s strange.”
“There were prisoners who attempted to scale the outer wall or those who took the guards as hostages but they were suppressed in the end. Ultimately, there was only one escapee.”
I see, a diversion huh?
The plan was most likely to break that person out of prison from the beginning.
“But I don’t understand. Was there such an important person in prison?”
“The escapee was the guy Red injured and was recuperating in the prison ward. That Alchemist who kidnapped Al.”
“Ah, that guy ...”
The small man who used sticky bombs as a weapon.
He was a high-level Alchemist despite his appearances and an opponent that indirectly led Lit into a corner through his live sacrifice bomb.
It might be dangerous if he was left to his own devices.
Well, he was wounded so he should need quite some time as Cure can only seal the surface wound. I don’t think he would be able to move much for a while.
“It would be great if he’s captured soon.”
“Yeah.”
We finished our conversation and Lit stood up to returned to the shop front after her break and I stood up to move to the workroom.
Even though we were going to be in the same building and only be separated by a couple of meters, Lit was reluctant to part so I hugged her and kissed her cheek lightly.