Chapter 134 – In the Rain.
“Really, when is this rain going to stop?”
He sighed at the rain that did not intend to stop. Alvis was a herbalist who made a living by scraping together herbs in this village. To him, rain was not such a pleasant existence. I knew it always rained at this time of year, but that didn’t make it any better. Because you have to go out of the house to gather herbs. Even if he could use an umbrella, he wouldn’t have cared about the rain as long as he could use an umbrella properly while gathering herbs.
“Mister! I’m going to collect herbs. Please help me with the store!”
“…Ugh. Cool.”
Yesterday, as if his shop had turned into a bar, I sat down on a chair and shouted at a dwarf who had fallen asleep after drinking a lot of medicinal liquor.
“Ugh. That drunkard.”
In my heart, I wanted to drag him out by saying that the store was closing, but I couldn’t. After all, that dwarf was the chief of this village, and he was a man with power and a great position in the mining town. So, if he wanted to make Yakju, he had no choice but to offer it. He said he had his own conscience and reduced the amount of herbs collected instead of tax, but considering the price of well-soaked medicinal liquor, it was rather a loss.
Even so, it was clear that the short-haired dwarf was treating Alvis as a fool, seeing as he showed all of his courtesy as if he was generous. I can’t imagine that he would be thinking like this. But knowing this and protesting against him didn’t change anything.
“Who won’t catch that old man?”
He began to pack his clothes, hoping that the lord who was to be issued this time would be a proper person rather than that dwarf. He covered his entire body with a thick, heavy coat that did not easily get wet in the rain, put on a basket for holding herbs, and put on a wide-brimmed hard hat. Boots and gloves that came up to the calves were also essential. This was the only way for him to avoid getting caught in the rain while gathering herbs. And when I left the door, it was already raining heavily. At this point, an umbrella is useless.
Looking around, he was the only person out of the house right now. It was a natural story. At this time, all the miners would go digging in the mines and not come back, and even those who would come out to bask in the sun or walk around would not dare to go outside in the pouring rain. I don’t know if it comes out for such an unavoidable reason. As he walked down the hill carefully, he secretly clicked his tongue as he felt eyes flying here and there.
There was a reason why people in this village didn’t want to go out on a rainy day. Even so, the moment when I was moving steadily. He had a hunch that the thing he was concerned about would eventually happen at the slippery touch that he could feel even through his thick boots. He briefly sees the sky before his eyes, then begins to slide down the hill with a jolt in his hips.
“Pahahaha! This bet is my win!”
“Keuuu, Alvis! You should have walked more carefully!”
As if he had seen him slide down the hill, he could hear the voices of people around him one by one.
‘I’ll at least help out a little.’
He knew that this was a tradition that was not the tradition of this village. On a rainy day, due to the nature of the mining town built on the mountain, someone inevitably had to slip on a hill like this. It is also common for miners to go to the mine as a group to make bets on whether they will slip or not. But it was not very pleasant to him. At least, unlike the miners who had to go up, Alvis had to go down alone, so there were more slips.
There would be no slipping through the wagon road, but that would have taken too long. Even if it was a little embarrassing, going this way was less difficult and more comfortable. Above all, this was not something he could do with his will.
‘I definitely stepped on a place where there was no moss.’
When it rained for a long time on the roads of this mining town, little by little moss grew on the roads, which was a headache. It makes you slide even if you don’t want to slide. Miners put spikes on their shoes on days like this to prevent slipping, but he couldn’t. Because the blacksmith didn’t sell him spikes. It was clear he did it on purpose. Still, he couldn’t help it. Because Alvis has such a role in this town.
Fortunately, he soon found it sticking out in the middle of the downhill. It was a bump, and it was put there as a reason to catch a person when he slipped and stop it. Originally, I should have seen it a few times before, but seeing what I saw now, I already knew that he would come out at this time and put it away. These bumps are managed by the houses across the hill. He somehow managed to grab hold of the bump and stand up.
“Ha, it’s all wet again.”
Wearing a thick coat and a wide-brimmed hat, he fell helplessly and was drenched in the rain that hit him. Still, it wasn’t very rewarding. Besides keeping out the rain, this thick coat protects him as he slides down rough hills. Thanks to that, the light on the back of the coat had faded, which made it look ridiculous, but it was far better than getting hurt. And when he again carefully tried to go down the remaining road.
-Puck!
“Uh?”
He let out a dazed sound at the shock he felt in his head. And even the stones that fall sideways. He wasn’t hurt thanks to the hard hat, but it was enough shock to break him who was barely holding his balance. When I looked at the place where the stone flew, I could see. He was a child smiling innocently as he looked this way.
“Damn it…!”
He just slid down the hill again.
“…It looks like a dog.”
He was finally able to stop only after he had gone all the way down the hill. At the bottom of the hill was a wall made of bricks. It was really shabby compared to the main territory or the Great Wall of Yekaterina, but considering that it was a village without a lord, it was a fairly solid wall. Considering that knights are sometimes dispatched from the base, it seems natural. Regardless of whether this wall is useful in a mining town built in a mountainous area. Dejected, he sat down even though he had come all the way down the hill.
Now I have to go outside the wall to gather herbs, but I didn’t want to move. Even if the place he arrived was in the muddy water that flowed down the hill with him on top of the mountain. There was a hole at the bottom of the wall for water to drain, but the amount of rain that flowed down was so great that the muddy water that stagnated for a while was unavoidable.
“Alvis, did you slip again?”
“Mr. Balder.”
It was a knight who spoke to him. Balder was one of the knights who came from another country and stayed in this village. He had no arms from his right hand to the elbow. Not only that, but all the knights from other countries who came here were like that. So, when they first settled here, wouldn’t the villagers be a burden for nothing? You said you were worried As if they found it funny that their bodies were inconvenient in one place, their concerns disappeared as they beat the guards, made up of sturdy village youths, like a child.
“Ahaha, I stopped halfway. A kid in the neighborhood threw a stone.”
“Oh, yes.”
Still, it was fortunate that he was one of the few people in the village who were kind to Alvis.
“Good job today too.”
That said, he didn’t actively stop it, so it would be a pity for him, but when he went outside through the door he opened, what he saw was a dull brown field. In autumn, the ripe rye fields are wet with rain and do not want to be seen. There was muddy water below him, so he went out in search of herbs, walking through the fields that kept grabbing him. If you bend down and look under the grass stems, you will find one or two useful herbs, but it seems you were out of luck today.
– Crisp!
“Tsk, you’re a field mouse.”
The herb he had found was full of gnawed marks, and a field mouse holding a rye stalk with its hands and feet and tail was staring at him squeaking with its wet body. It’s very unpleasant, but when he grabs the rat with his hand and lifts it up, he struggles a little. However, in this rain, he couldn’t get out of it, probably because his stamina had lost a lot. He put the rat on his shoulder. Then, looking at the quiet guy, he seemed to understand that he had no intention of harming him.
It’s just that I didn’t like the way he looked like he was about to fall into muddy water. Afterwards, he continued to search for herbs, but he could not find any more and had to go back. However, the place he returned to was the carriage road, not the road he used to come down. This is where he digs most of the herbs and is less likely to slip. But even the herbs he barely found couldn’t be easily picked up.
“I want this fucking rain to stop.”
It was also a hard time because there were many herbs that were usually easily picked up when it rained, but they could not be pulled out because of the hardened ground. To the herbalist, rain is something you can’t get along with even if you want to. By the time he climbed the hill and reached the top, the basket behind him was full of herbs. Like a habit, it was the last way to the point where herbs grow well.
“Mr. Alvis! Did you go to collect herbs today?”
“Ro, Mr. Roskva?”
A dwarf woman addressed her. Fortunately, she was also one of those kind to Alvis. At least she pays for the herbs and buys them. So even though she had it in her heart.
“Hey, would you like this, this, and that herb?”
“Yes, yes. Four iron battles.”
“Here you go.”
As for why she bought more of the herbs he dug up than she needed, she knew why when she knew she was dating a doctor from a foreign country. Alvis, who lives alone in a village where most of the miners dig iron ore in the mine, is a weakling and is often ignored by the villagers, but a man called a doctor is treated better than Alvis even though he seems less distant, and he is favored by this woman. . He wanted to ask what the difference between an herbalist and a doctor was.
“By the way, what’s that on your shoulder?”
“Yes?”
Her question made him realize that the field mouse he had put on his shoulder earlier was still on his shoulder. I thought he would have run away long ago.
“You are cute.”
He thought maybe he could use this guy.
“Roskva! Hey, when will the herbs come?”
“Oh, I have something to do!”
Soon, I had to swallow my regret to see her hurrying back to the doctor’s call. It was too shallow a thought for her, she felt herself. The last place he headed was the castle in the center of the town.
“Come to think of it, I thought the lord had come.”
He might be in big trouble if he ran into the new lord inside, but he couldn’t give up this point. Many medicinal herbs have been growing in the gardens of this old castle since they have long been untouched. He saw a dog hole at the bottom of the wall. No matter how strong the castle wall is, it can’t be helped if left unattended for a long time, so it was a place that Alvis often used when going in and out of the castle. However, it was also full of rainwater and muddy water.
“I really hate it.”
Still, he entered the walls through a dog hole full of muddy water. And the surroundings he looked around were familiar to him as well. As if to prove that it had been neglected for a long time, the garden, which should have been beautifully maintained, was no different from a jungle tangled with all kinds of plants, like an undeveloped mountain area. The trees that are hard to see here were also thickly overgrown. Since this is a mountainous area, trees were also one of the specialties.
Feeling the rain lessen even a little, he started looking around to see if there were any herbs. A lot of good quality herbs grow here. Only a few needed to be salvaged. So he wandered through the garden, plucking whatever herbs he found and filling his basket, until he realized that he had come so deep into the garden that he could see the castle. He realized that because of the red color that remained in his field of vision for a moment, but clearly.
At first, I thought it might have bloomed, but I’ve never seen a flower that stands out like a red flower in this garden. No, even if it had bloomed, it would have been a good thing. Because in the center of the old garden, an unbelievably beautiful, peerless girl was blooming.
