Chapter 18 - Camping in the Village
After finishing the collection of kirik herbs and the extermination of the pack of grey wolves, Haku and I returned to Lulusena Village in our camper van.
"We’re back."
"Welcome back, Tohru-san, Haku-san!"
"Were both of you unharmed?!"
When we arrived at their house, Aina and Lugh greeted us with smiles.
"Hmph, there's no way I would fall behind against such weak monsters."
"Then that means—!"
"We've successfully collected the kirik herbs and exterminated the grey wolf pack."
In response to Lugh’s expectations, I laid out the ten kirik herbs I had been asked to collect and the sixty-two fangs that served as proof of the grey wolf extermination on the table.
The number of fangs had increased since earlier, as we’d found a few survivors and small packs while we were driving through the forest in the camper van.
"These are definitely kirik herbs! Now we can make the medicine for Mom!"
"Aina, hurry and take it to the apothecary!"
"Okay!"
Aina hurriedly left the house with the herbs to have the apothecary make the medicine.
While I was curious about the process of making medicine from herbs, it seemed more pressing to report the details of the grey wolves to Lugh.
"As for the grey wolves, we defeated the leader of the pack and killed twenty-three of its followers. Just to be safe, we also wiped out two smaller packs. According to Haku, they shouldn't bother humans anymore."
"I can't believe such a large pack existed... Tohru-san, Haku-san, thank you so much."
"You're welcome."
Lugh reached out with both hands and enveloped mine in a firm grip.
It was probably the first time someone had expressed such heartfelt gratitude to me.
"Dad! The apothecary made the medicine!"
"Give it to Roanna right away!"
By the time I finished the report on the grey wolves, Aina had returned with the medicine in hand.
Lugh stood up excitedly and headed to the back room with Aina.
From the living room, I could see a woman lying in a bed in the back bedroom.
It was probably Aina’s mother.
Since we arrived at the house, I’d heard the sound of someone coughing, but I didn’t want to be a burden by meeting her, so I hadn't introduced myself yet.
"Tohru-san too!"
"Huh?"
I thought it would be inappropriate for a man like me to enter a woman’s bedroom, so I stayed in the living room, but for some reason, Aina pulled me along, insisting that I come inside.
The woman lying in bed had a gentle appearance and the same hair color as Aina.
"Cough, cough, I'm sorry. For someone meeting me for the first time, this is quite embarrassing..."
"My apologies for the late introduction. My name is Tohru. This is my familiar, Haku."
"Well, just as Aina described, you have such beautiful black hair."
I instinctively touched my black hair.
I hadn’t seen anyone in Lulusena Village with black hair, so I wondered if it was a rare color in this world.
"I've heard from Aina and Lugh. They told me you took a great risk to collect the herbs for us. I truly appreciate it."
"Not at all. Aina and Lugh have been very kind to me."
Thanks to meeting Aina, I was able to enter Lulusena Village without causing any trouble. It was because of that encounter that I had been learning so much about this world’s customs and culture.
Given how much they've helped me, doing one request for them was the least I could do.
"Now, Roanna, drink the medicine."
"Please get better quickly, Mom."
Lugh, the husband, supported Roanna’s upper body and helped her drink the medicine from a small pitcher. Aina watched with a worried expression as Roanna desperately swallowed the liquid.
Judging by the color of the liquid, it was probably quite bitter.
However, after drinking the medicine, Roanna’s expression seemed to soften just a little.
"I'm sorry. I wanted to talk a bit more, but I'm feeling quite sleepy..."
"No, it's my fault for interrupting. Please, take your time and rest now."
Having someone outside the family around would likely make it difficult for her to rest properly.
Haku and I decided to return to the living room first.
As I waited idly in the living room, Lugh returned before Aina.
As long as Roanna took the medicine, she was expected to start recovering, so all she needed now was to rest and build up her strength with proper nutrition.
"Tohru-san, this is your reward."
Once we finished talking about Roanna, Lugh took a leather pouch from his pocket.
After politely refusing at first, I checked inside the pouch and found about ten silver coins.
"I apologize that we couldn't prepare a larger sum; being a rural village, it's not easy. But instead, I've also prepared some magic stones that you might need."
With an apologetic look, Lugh handed me three magic stones as an extra.
Although they were smaller than the magic stone from the grey wolf leader, they were still quite sizable.
Since I didn't think Lugh had personally defeated the monsters to obtain them, he had likely come across them by chance and kept them stored away just in case of emergencies.
"Hmm, the quality is decent. We'll be able to have a lavish dinner with this."
Though I didn’t know much about the quality of magic stones, if Haku said they were decent, they were likely worth a decent amount of CP.
"It’s no problem. I’ll gratefully accept them."
"Thank you."
I wasn’t sure what the going rate was for collecting herbs or exterminating a pack of grey wolves, but considering the benefit it brought me and Haku, I had no complaints.
If I was being tricked, I could always chalk it up to a mistake on my part.
"Oh, is it already evening...?"
Noticing the light streaming in through the window, I looked outside, and the sky was completely bathed in a crimson hue.
"Ah, I need to quickly prepare a place for you to stay, Tohru-san..."
Lugh quickly stood up, seemingly in a bit of a panic.
It was a remote village that travelers rarely visited, so there probably wasn’t an inn here.
"We’ll sleep in the camper van, so if you could just let us use some land, there’s no problem."
"No, no! I can’t have our benefactors sleeping outdoors like that!"
When I mentioned we’d be sleeping in the camper, Lugh immediately shook his head in disbelief.
It made sense that he’d react like this, since he didn’t know about camper vans.
"It’s really comfortable. Would you like to take a look at it?"
"Uh, well..."
I gently pulled a reluctant Lugh outside and towards the parked camper van.
"Wh-What is this?!"
When Lugh climbed up the steps and looked inside, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Inside a carriage, there’s a table, chairs, and even a kitchen?!"
"It’s not just that. There are beds both in the front and the back, and there’s even a shower room and a toilet in the rear."
"It’s like a noble’s house."
As we moved through the van, Lugh looked around in disbelief, his jaw practically dropping at the interior.
"Surprised, huh? The camper van has everything a person needs to live comfortably."
"You’d be more comfortable staying in this than in some of the houses around here."
While Haku's words were a bit blunt, staying in our familiar camper van was far more comfortable than having a hastily prepared vacant house, let alone an inn.
The bed here was probably much softer, and it was equipped with conveniences like air conditioning, heating, a refrigerator, and more.
"...I suppose with all this, there’s no need to prepare a vacant house."
Though Lugh had initially opposed the idea of us staying in the camper, after seeing the interior, he quickly changed his mind.
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