Vol.4 Ch.79 - We Found the Herb

After having survived such a terrifying experience, we managed to fend offthe Stray Wolves and finally made it all the way to our destination, thecountry of Umoris. Umoris is a part of the Four Water Countries, which is aterritory in the southwestern side of Cardina. The moment we passed theborder, we immediately noticed the difference between it and all the othercountries of the world.Namely, everything had a calm and tranquil feeling to it. Just breathing the airin felt like our lungs were getting cleansed completely, and no matter wherewe looked, everything felt so nice to look at. Although, this could also bebecause most of the things here were painted a certain shade of blue.From Schnell’s Handbook, I recall that this specific color was handpicked bythe locals because it apparently helps you focus more on the things you’redoing. This is also why the Four Water Countries are regarded as one of themost hardworking countries in all of Cardina, or heck, even the world forthat matter.\We passed the border with little to no issues, safe from not reallyunderstanding the Cardinic language, but by just silently passing ourpassports over to the border officer, we somehow managed to get by. He didmumble something to himself while examining my passport though, but it’sprobably nothing bad (I hope).“Whoaa! Ed! Look, look! It’s a beach!”Anna was particularly stoked to see this country. Looks like she really likestraveling, as shown by this enthusiasm of hers. Well, we did pass bycountless rivers on our way here, plus Secundis certainly has it’s very ownpuddles that pop up here and there, but seeing a real beach where people goto enjoy themselves must’ve been a first for her. I’ll entertain her for a bit.“Wanna go for a swim? From what I heard, the waters here are the most clearin the world.”“W-Well…” Anna started second-guessing herself, “I didn’t bring aswimsuit… Plus, wouldn’t it be awkward…?”Wait, that’s your biggest concern? Why do you think we went to the RoyalFamily, if not for this exact reason?“I can just buy you one! We have the funds to splurge a bit, y’know? Youdon’t have to be so reserved about this!”Uh oh, looks like a bit of my true motives began showing. Well, we all makemistakes in the heat of passion.“Wow, someone’s desperate. You really wanna see me in a swimsuit thatbadly?”I didn’t mean it like that, dammit. I just wanted to have some wholesome funbeach playtime, but if you’re gonna be like that…“Hell yeah I do!”“Wha-!”Hehehe, you can’t beat the Saint in teasing! That’s what you get, now wallowin your own self-inflicted embarrassment! Muahahahahahaha!“M-Maybe later? But right now we need to focus on the task at hand!”Her words immediately snapped me back to reality. We’re not here on somesort of vacation (sadly), but rather we’re here to get Arthur back in tip-topshape! And in order to do that, we gotta go find an Andolia Baonei, the plantthat can only be found in Umoris!“Right, but where do we even start with looking for it?”“Hmm… Do you know how it looks like? Maybe we can search for itourselves somewhere in a nearby forest or something.”Why would I even know how it looks like? Oh right, I didn’t tell them aboutmy Analyze ability, I just blurted out that we need that exact plant and theyjust all decided to blindly believe me. So is that it? Did they just assume Iknew how to treat Arthur’s illness from my travels?“Nah, I haven’t the faintest on how it looks like. Hmm, what if we don’t haveto do the dirty work, then?”Anna looked at me with a befuddled stare as she raised one of her eyebrows.“What do you mean?”“Well, just because I’m associated with the ITA doesn’t mean I can’tcommission someone to find it for me, right? This way we get what we want,and I get to help fill some random adventurer’s pockets a bit. That’s a winwin in my book.”“Ooh! I see! Then what are we waiting for?”As such, Anna and I pranced our way over to the nearest ITA center. Thebuilding itself was padded in stone, and decorated with waterfalls all over.No clue how they managed to implement waterfalls into the structure of thebuilding, but it certainly does look majestic.“Hello, we’d like to commission someone to go find us a plant namedAndolia Baonei, please!” I said as a matter of fact.“…?” The ITA Agent tilted his head at my order, “I mean… sure? Is theapothecary out of stock on it or something?”“Huh?”Wait, what is he talking about? Why would a rare plant that can only be foundin this very country be in an apothecary? Shouldn’t it be in like… a dungeonor forest or something?“…You did check the local apothecary where they sell it, did you not?”Is this plant… actually that easy to acquire? I was certain that it’s a superduper rare plant that requires a whole adventurer team just to get a smallportion of it, especially after Miss Harper said it can only be found here, butfrom the looks of it, it seems this plant is actually quite common amongst thelocals.“Sir?” I sheepishly asked.“Yes?”“Where’s this apothecary you speak of?”“…” He looked at us with a bored gaze, “Foreigners, I take it?”“Yeah…”After this awkward conversation, the kind (albeit apathetic) ITA Agentpointed out where the apothecary is on the town map he had laid out on hisdesk. After thanking him earnestly and apologizing for our ignorance, wejogged over from block to block in search of it.“Is that it?”“Surely, it’s gotta be!”Entering the building that had a huge plus sign on it, indicating it hadsomething to do with health and/or medicine, we greeted the clerk, whoseemed quite on edge.“Šta hoćeš?!”“Eh?! E-Erm, uhh… plant? N-No, uhh…”“Pričaj, sliko! Šta si se ućuto?!”“A-Andolia Baonei, please!”“Tako reci!”After this exchange, the burly man wrote something down on a piece of paperbefore going in the back to grab the plant. He placed it on the desk right infront of me, so I mistakenly thought it was okay for me to grab it.“Alo! Jebeni stranci… Uuh, first write names on paper!”After he strained himself to speak a bit of our language, we finallyunderstood his intentions. I wrote down my name, and Anna hers. We suspectthis was done so he can tally up the stock he sold at the end of the day, but itcould also serve as a form of receipt just in case we wanted to return it orsomething. In any case, this must be that so called ‘Culture Shock’ I’ve heardso much about…He took a good look at the piece of paper we handed back to him, andimmediately froze. He glanced back at us, then again at the piece of paper,before immediately switching gears.“S-So sorry, I did not know you were Edward and Anna!”We tilted our heads at him with a mix of confusion and a bit of fear.Somehow seeing this burly man apologizing to us and being overallsubmissive was scarier than how he was acting before. Also, what does hemean by this? Was he expecting us?“Sir, you’re talking as if you already knew we were gonna come here, howso?”“Ah, how you say… Sol informed me of your arrival. He paid for anythingyou were going to order and told me to tell you it is on the store.”“You mean on the house?”“Yes, that.”But wait, that Sol paid in advance for our plants? I guess Mariabelle must’vetold him about us, but then why would he go to such lengths for people henever even met? There’s also that gift he gave us, and all this without everhaving seen us in person…“Well, in any case, thank you for telling us. We only need this, though.”“Sol paid a fair bit more than just this though, so if you want you may takethis rose for your lady.”Anna glanced at the beautiful rose offered to her by the clerk, and thenglanced over at me with an expectant gaze. Cute… you don’t have to tell metwice!“Well, looks like we found the herb.” I said to the now very happy Anna whowas waving the rose around with a childlike innocence to her, “It was wayeasier than I expected, to be honest.”“Yeah! Looks like there really are a lot of nice people in the world. First theprine, then Mariabelle, then Sol! To think that that Sol would make oursearch this easy, looks like he’s the type to be kind to strangers!”“Right… Hey, Anna?”“Yes, Ed?”“…” I wanted to tell her how suspicious that Sol guy is, but hesitated in themoment, “Let’s send a letter of gratitude to Sol before going home.”“Yeah, definitely!”As such, we went back to the inn, wrote the letter, and then went to sleep likethe good kids we are. At least, that’s what should’ve happened. Instead whathappened was…“Slumber Part 2: Electric Boogaloo!”Looks like Anna’s in high spirits…“Aw come on, what does that even mean?”“It means!” Anna rummaged through her bag for a bit, “That this time there’llbe no evil fizzy soda to ruin our stomachs!”“Oh?”I was glad she learned her lesson, but was appalled at her when she took outa bottle of Cardina's local liquor from the bag.“Instead, we’ll be drinking this tonight!”“Anna! That’s alcohol! We’re too young to be drinking this! And where didyou even buy it?!”The legal drinking age is 20, and neither Anna nor I fit that criteria. Also,getting drunk right before our trip back home can only spell trouble. I’mworried one of us is gonna do something they’ll come to regret later…“Oh, nag nag nag… Come on, live a little! Also, Mariabelle gave us this, soit’d be rude not to drink it! Here’s your glass, refills come free of charge!”I didn’t want to bend to her peer pressure, I really didn’t, but the way sheoffered it made it seem like it’d be a real shame if I missed out on it. Before Iknew it, I was already taking a swig.“Ugh, I forgot you’re the restaurant’s number one waitress…”“Ehe~!”We drank and drank, all the while expecting that one singularity point wherewe would reach the state of ‘being drunk’, but that moment never came. Weplayed a few rounds of board games, ate chips and of course, drank. Annawas really chugging that bottle, wasn’t she? And isn’t she getting a bit tootouchy-feely? Huh, she smells nice.Smooch!Eh? EHHHHH?!?! W-W-WHAT JUST HAPPENED!? D-Did I just… kissAnna?! Oh God, that came out of nowhere! This alcohol is no joke, man! Ohno, she’s so confused, just look at her! Is she mad?Smooch…Huh? She returned the kiss? Whoa, her lips feel incredible… No wait,what’s going on? Eh, she’s not stopping (neither am I, though). Wait, I alwaysconsidered her cute, but to think we’d really be doing this…!“…”Anna’s supine waist was now in full display for my eyes to gawk at whileshe spread herself out in front of me. We barely said a word to one another aswe helped each other undress. Other than calling out each other’s names inthe heat of the moment, there really wasn’t anything else to say. I embracedher with the vigor of a young man in the apex of his adolescence, and shetook it all with the passion of a young maiden getting happily deflowered.The moment we shared that night felt like it came and went in a flash, but thesight of the dawn’s sunlight emanating throughout the room was enough todisprove this. After we both had our fill, we snuggled up to each other underthe velvet hued blankets, peacefully falling asleep in one another’sembrace…“Huh? What happened last night? Ughh, my fucking head…”I woke up first, albeit with an unimaginable headache. It was like someonewas constantly splitting my head open with an axe. But never mind that, Ilooked around the disheveled room spread out before me, before getting upto close the blinds, as they were bothering my hungover eyes.Getting out of the bed, I noticed one prominent detail. I was stark naked.Whoa, how’d that happen?! I gotta cover up before Anna sees-!Just then, I looked over at Anna peacefully lying in the same bed as I did justa few moments earlier. She too was in her birthday suit, with the sheetsbarely covering all the areas that needed to be covered. I finally startedpiecing together all the minute details into a bigger picture, before realizingwhat it is that we had just done last night.“Fuck. Arthur’s gonna kill me…”