Volume 2, Chapter 11. Medicine
“...I’m exhausted...”
Walking at a slightly faster pace than usual, Leticia left the town and reached the outskirts of the village adjoining it.
The brook murmured softly beneath the bridge, the shade beneath the tree was tranquil. Patting her own cheeks, Leticia walked to that tree and gently sat down.
“Never thought something like this would happen...”
A Church group was coming.
That was what the proclamation carried by the town clerics had said. In a few days’ time, a small Church contingent from the capital would pass through here, and ultimately, their destination was Rhodes.
Although the text on the proclamation was somewhat obscure, and the script used was a more ornate calligraphic style, Leticia had learned reading and writing under Priest Marshall, and her learning tools and the books she read had naturally been related to the Church and theology.
Therefore, any document belonging to the Church’s side, she could basically understand and read.
Ah, by the way, because during that year she had only read calligraphy, Leticia could only write in calligraphy. Writing in a simpler script was actually where she was more prone to mistakes.
Although, due to limited practice, her calligraphy wasn’t much to boast of either.
Setting aside the matter of writing for now, Leticia stood up, walked to the riverbank, and scooped up clear water, feeling the cool refreshment drip slowly from her fingertips.
At last, she calmed down.
“The Church contingent will be coming here...”
Leticia murmured to herself. “Could it be some kind of coincidence? Or just an accident? But if they’re heading to Rhodes...”
No matter what world, coincidences like this didn’t exist, right?
It seemed like a signal.
A signal that appeared when time was running out.
This meant that no matter how much longer Madam Yemi Ai lingered here, Leticia herself could no longer act so freely.
Perhaps it was just her scaring herself, but at present, the most her supposed crimes amounted to would be something like “interfering with an execution (?).” Probably...
Still, a guilty conscience was unsettling.
Just like those drunkards in broad daylight had said—the Church’s power truly couldn’t be measured with common sense. If there were any accidents, it would be troublesome.
Splashing her face with water, Leticia stood up again. “Much calmer now, time to think of a plan.”
Ah, she had forgotten to take her medicine. No wonder her head was still spinning.
Thinking this, Leticia took out the little cloth pouch she always kept on her person. Carefully opening it, she looked at the few small pills inside.
“The storage method is really too poor. Well, in this place there’s no such thing as an expiration date anyway... but who knows when they’ll spoil or lose effectiveness.”
Even as she said this, her movements in taking out a pill were still very cautious. “The symptoms aren’t too bad yet, so I should save them. Take them when I really need to think clearly.”
She popped one into her mouth, swallowing it whole before it could dissolve. A wave of unbearable bitterness slid down her throat, like swallowing a rotting animal carcass.
“Slow to take effect, big side effects, and it only lasts a damned seven hours or so...”
While waiting for the medicine to take effect, Leticia idly kicked the small stones at her feet, listening to their plunk-plunk as they dropped into the brook. Her mood lightened slightly. “If only I could inject it directly. But I have no skill with injections, nor could I make a syringe... really, those people who get sent to another world and can instantly set up a munitions factory, what on earth did they study in their past lives...”
She was simply too pitiful by comparison.
As she indulged in such random thoughts, Leticia felt her consciousness slowly sinking, like a person wading into an icy sea, the freezing water creeping up from feet, to legs, to waist, chest, neck, and finally, over the head.
Her dark eyes, clear as the night sky, remained utterly calm, as though nothing could stir their surface.
Pinching her wrist lightly, using pain to drive back the creeping drowsiness, Leticia expressionlessly stood and walked into the village.
Though keeping calm couldn’t make her a genius, it helped her study more effectively, and while learning, also saved time to think about her future path—and how to save herself.
A life full of hardships.
......
“Stano?”
“...”
Turning silently, she glanced at the little girl behind her. For no reason, Leticia felt the urge to sigh, but thanks to the medicine’s effects, she maintained her deadpan face. “Why are you here, Ilo?”
“What a rude question.”
That strange girl propped her chin in her hand. “This is my home village. If I appear here, isn’t that perfectly normal? But you, Stano, you’re not from here. Why do I keep seeing you?”
“Because lately, the adults are busy with their own affairs, so I have nothing to do.”
Leticia answered indifferently. “But why are you talking to me this time?”
“Because I’m bored.”
Ilo blinked and smiled lightly. “Joey brat went to help in the fields, and Rona is still learning her sewing at this hour. Apart from Rona, I don’t have any other friends. So of course I’m idle.”
“Joey doesn’t count as your friend?”
At Leticia’s question, Ilo tilted her head. “Hm, of course not. That brat’s more of just an acquaintance. Actually... he’s my enemy!”
“Enemy?”
“Yep, that stupid brat dares to compete with me for Rona!”
Ilo huffed angrily. “I’ll never forgive him!”
It seemed like there were many things to complain about here...
And this girl unexpectedly still had some childishness (?). Well, as long as one didn’t look with cynical eyes, she did seem rather childlike... probably.
But Leticia said nothing. After taking the medicine, the most dominant things in her mind were her thinking ability and her drowsiness. Other emotions were suppressed to a lower level.
Her eyelids drooped slightly. Without expression, Leticia turned her head, pinched her own skin hard, and once again watched Apothecary Nicola’s actions.
“So boring. Hey hey, say something too.”
Ilo puffed her cheeks and shook Leticia’s shoulder hard. “I’m so bored!”
“You’re bored, I’m not.”
Leticia gave her a look. “If you’ve got nothing to do, then count the stars.”
“Count the stars?”
Instinctively moving to where she could see the sky, Ilo looked up, then shouted in frustration, “How could there possibly be stars right now! You’re just making fun of me, aren’t you?!”
Her speech was plain peasant vernacular, each sentence ending with a heavy, downward lilt, but her voice itself was soft and clear. Exaggerating a bit, it carried the feel of sky and freedom, making one completely forget that the vernacular could sound harsh.
“Mm, true, you can’t see stars in broad daylight.”
“I’m going to get mad!”
“Oh, go ahead.”