To Pay the Bills

After much, much more consideration and the impending passing wasted time, I decided to work for Lycoris the apothecary because heck! I hate interacting with people and hard work! I'm not saying this doesn't need hard work but I'll see what I can do!

I put on the best clothes Miriam could borrow me and was ready for my first day at work.

"I'm leaving." I announced to Miriam before heading to the door.

"Would you like to comb your hair before you go?" Miriam asked holding the comb.

"Uh... um... sure..."

She started combing my hair, untangling the mess and brushing down the standing bed hair.

"Thank you..." I said timidly.

I could so not care about my hair but I guess I should be at least professional at a bare minimum. My appearance reflects a little bit of who I am, after all. And I am a little bit serious. Just a little bit. Heck. I gave up on being serious the second I realised I was lazy.

I walked to where Lycoris' workshop was. It's quite a long walk. Is it really a good idea for people in medical emergency? Oh, right. They have normal clinics here. And I guess apothecaries are more about herbs so being close to the woods is a great way to get ingredients?

I knocked at the door as I awkwardly waited while hesitating whether I should wait for his answer to go in or not. Thankfully he told me to come in soon after my knock.

"You don't have to knock at the front door. Just call me if you don't see me in the workshop." Lycoris explained.

"Oh, okay." I responded.

"There have been an overabundance of medicinal herbs in the deep woods lately so I wanted to collect as many as I could. You're going to help me gather and bring the herbs back and sort them out if you could. The deep woods shouldn't be too dangerous for you."

"Ah. Because it's dangerous?" I asked.

"I've dealt with monsters there before so it should be no worries. But the trickiest part is mother nature itself. Many plants are poisonous by skin-contact, a number of them are carnivorous, and the landscape is quite rough."

"Ah... Monsters...? Carnivorous...? Landscape...?"

"I don't suppose don't much of a hiker. I'll get you some protective gear so that you won't accidentally get poisoned. The carnivorous plants here aren't as deadly as the aggressive ones so you should be able to call for help before they try to digest you. And don't worry, I will slow down if you're having a hard time keeping up."

"Okay..."

SO THIS IS A FANTASY WORLD LIKE IN AN RPG GAME! Oh gosh! What do I do if a monster kills me?! Or the planet itself?! I'M GOING TO DIE!

"If you think it's too much for you, don't push yourself to do it. I won't let you get hurt but if you don't feel safe then I won't force you to come with me." Lycoris said.

He said it should be all right, right? He is hiring me to help him gather help. That should be the priority and not trying to negotiate for lesser tasks that weren't in demands. I want to be helpful not scratch money off the surface of the job. If any youth could've done this job then it shouldn't be hard for me, right? I'm a youth not too young. I'm like in my prime if being in my 20s is considered that.

"No. No. I trust you. Besides, if I keep cowering at each scary things, I might as well lock myself in my home." I said jokingly.

I don't have a home. I am locked in my room when I was back home. But for a different reason. I just don't like going outside.

"Well then, brace yourself." Lycoris said and went to get me some protective gears.

I have to be sure to stay away from suspicious looking plants. He also gave me some bare necessity like some healing potions, a tracker so that he can find me if I got lost, a knife! And some bandages. I also got a lantern, water and rations- AM I IN A SURVIVAL GAME OR SOMETHING?! But then, this isn't a game. Getting lost and starving for days isn't going to be fun if I lost the tracker. And as much as I'd love to stay longer if it was a fun game kind of dream, this isn't one and the exhaustion feel too real for it to be a dream. I can't even wake up from it.

Enough blablas in my head and more pay attention to the road so that I don't trip and fall. Lycoris brought me to the deeper woods where we could see plenty of wild animals. Are the animals still alive? Are the dangerous plants much further? He collect one of the herbs and show it to me.

"I'm going to need more of this." He said.

"Huh?" I look at the plant and compare it to the rest of them. "Huh?"

"Look, the ones I need have leaves that are more deeply serrated." Lycoris explains.

"Serrated?!"

"Jagged, toothed. Like spikes."

I look back at him and the plant then I point to one of the plants with spiked leaves.

"No, no. That's- It's fine. Just carry the baskets for me while I collect them." Lycoris gave me his basket as I held it in my arms,

He collected each herbs and tossed them in the basket. After he was done, he put the basket back on his back and we continued to venture further. The next plant was much easier for me to spot the difference so I was able to harvest them. Ugh... I don't like feeling like I'm too useless to help.

As we approached a different part of the woods where the plants are larger and less animals roamed around, Lycoris turns back to me.

"Be careful, this is were most of the dangerous plants are. If you find yourself in a tight spot or even just overwhelmed, just flip this. It'll activate the alarm on my device and I'll come find you. Well, not that I'll let you wander on your own too far." Lycoris explained.

"Okay."

I looked for the plants that Lycoris needed. I wonder, if my gloves touched the poisonous plants that are poisonous by touch, and I take off those gloves with my hands, am I going to get poisoned anyway? I guess I'll let Lycoris handle it. Yes! I am an grown *ss adult and I still need someone to hold my hand! I've never handled poisonous plant by skin-contact before so get off my back!

Lycoris has provided me a copy of his notes, one book for the flora and the other for the fauna. At this point, it's a guide. It's mostly only the ones that are in the forests and in the deep woods. Oh, and an observation notebook where he notes down the plants or creature that wasn't there before. I'm... not reading all this. But I could flip the pages when he doesn't have anything for me to do. I could learn about as much as I could remember. I guess if alchemy is too... much effort, I'll try learning apothecary. Unless it also requires advanced tools that I don't understand, maybe I should just give up. I know people always say you need to try and persistence is sometime key but not gonna lie, I don't have the motivation to do something that isn't to my liking.

Anyways. We finished gathering herbs and headed back. Well, isn't that great? My first day at work and so far everything's so good so far. I was almost afraid I'd get swallowed by a carnivorous plant or something.

Whoa. Did a nut just drop on my head?

I looked down and sees a tiny bone. Lycoris then looked back at me.

"Did something happen?" He asked.

"I think something just dropped on my head. A bone? Was it the bone or is that just the remains of some animals that happened to be on the floor?" I replied.

"A bone?" Lycoris looked up but doesn't seem to notice anything. He then knelt down to examine the bone. "Pass me the notebooks."

I passed him the notebooks as he started writing down something on the observation one. He then checked on each of his records about the plants and creatures. Is it important? Should I hide or something? Is it going to follow us?

"Stay close behind me. This part of the forest doesn't lack predators but if it's just the usual ones, it shouldn't be too dangerous. But still, we should be careful just in case it's something else." Lycoris said as I nodded.

I followed from behind while remaining as quiet as I already am until we return to the workshop.

Phew! I thought I was gonna die first day at work or something!

We put the plants in paper bags and hung them to dry. Then Lycoris helped me take off the protective gear and started washing them.

"Is the poison by skin contact deadly?" I asked Lycoris.

"It depends on the plants. Nerve Shackles will be painful until it paralyses you but it would only up to 3 hours. As for the Spark Drapes, it could give you a high fever which could technically kill you." He explained.

"Ah. But you'll know when that happen right?"

"I'm sure it will be noticeable once you fall to the ground."

Well, I hope I never do. Bro, I hope there's a passive I can buy with points or something so that I won't have to worry about poison.

Now that we're done foraging and drying, Lycoris asked me to help him sort the dried herbs on his shelves. Then I grabbed the ones he needed and watched him make medicine. The herbs just look like dried plants if not for the labels, I wouldn't know which one is which. Still, I can't remember all the herbs he needs if he told me more than 3 in one go. I then watched Lycoris make the medicine quietly, only occasionally bring him the ingredients he needed and putting the finished medicine away. Sometime, people would come in with a symptom and buys the medicine they needed. And that, was my first day at work. Lycoris paid me for the hours even though I hadn't done much.

I now pockets 90 Coins! Is that enough for what I've done? I'm not sure! I don't know how pricing works! But if I continue working, I'll have enough money to buy food and clothes! I hope nothing bad happens to me! And maybe I should ask Miriam for advice on how to spend and save money.

----------

Level -1

[||||____] +30xp

Competences

Foraging :

[||||||___] +30

90 Coins