Chapter 18 – Chapter 2: Girl at the General Store – 1
And the next day.
Tia didn’t come.
Of course, she didn’t receive any recovery medicine, but it didn’t really matter.
She seemed to be feeling almost better considering she had been running around her village yesterday looking for Luyev.
Jeez. Jeopuk.
When she was bored, she went up to the pharmacy.
Looking at it up close, it felt like it had been a really long time.
But she didn’t seem to have changed much.
She walks down this street every morning and feels the same way she did when she went to the pharmacy.
The pharmacy seemed to be saying this to me.
No matter how much she sleeps, this place is always the same.
Squeak.
When the door is opened, light enters the dark interior.
She came back To where I need to be.
The smell of sour herbs welcomes me, and the sound of the wind flowing through the chimney tickles my ears.
Surprising. Everything is the same.
An armchair and a blanket where I always sat.
Tia’s favorite rocking chair and herbal medicine books.
Little has changed in the pharmacy. Unusually, the arrangement was a little different.
For example, the medicine bottles were moved closer to the barn, and the books were moved closer to the entrance.
It was neatly organized, but… I felt a little dizzy because things were not where they always were.
Did Tia change it?
Since it seems like it will take some time now, I decided to just restore it to its original state next time.
This time she raised her head.
Red flowers are hanging from the ceiling.
It’s Mushurin.
Where on earth did you get the precious herb Mushurin?
Moreover, it was difficult to trim even a single root, but Tia peeled them all off and dried them like that.
All I could say was that it was amazing.
Zek-.
I opened the drawers one by one.
As expected, there were very few herbs left. The only things that are there are rotten and unusable.
As soon as I return to the pharmacy, I will diligently fill up the medicine.
“…”
I walked slowly and entered the barn.
The first thing that caught my eye was an unfamiliar still.
I’ve never brought in a machine like that, so Tia probably brought it.
I opened the lid. It has a strong scent of Mushurin.
I think I used this distiller until yesterday. The melted herb was stuck to the inlet.
There were desperate traces of making recovery medicine nearby.
Waste collected by cutting off unusable parts and by-products that are ground, steamed, and heated to high temperatures are stepped on.
There were burn marks under the cylinder. I touched the table that had turned black.
Tia was a beginner. She has never even used a distiller in her life, let alone made medicine.
How much trouble did it take to make this medicine?
It was a mess all over, but I couldn’t put it away.
Tia’s sincerity permeated every inch of this barn.
I picture the scene where they studied day and night and made medicine for me.
I sat on the chair blankly.
“Tia…”
My heart aches.
The moment I opened the door to Tiagai Pharmacy, I just wanted to hug her as hard as I could.
Thank you so much. I’m sorry for making you suffer.
I didn’t know you were doing this hard work for me.
But even as the sun set by her window, Tia did not appear.
Was kicking out Ruev such a big hurt?
Perhaps… Maybe I did too much to Tia.
If so, let me go find it. Let’s go and apologize in person.
She made a firm decision and left the pharmacy.
People were gathering one by one at the bottom of the hill.
I asked the elderly people who were resting comfortably if they had seen Tia.
“I saw you going to the village below.”
“Probably a little after lunch.”
I don’t know why, but it looks like he went to Taildon alone.
I headed straight to Taildon.
Even if I run now, time may be a little tight. Since Tia would be coming up by now anyway, she thought she would be able to meet her on the way.
But even though she thought she had come down, she couldn’t see Tia.
She looked at the sky. It is purple.
Weird. By now, you should be able to see a figure slowly coming up from somewhere at the foot of the mountain.
When I went down a little further.
I saw a sign posted on one corner of the road.
[Modales Miscellaneous Goods]
From what I remember, this sign was on the verge of being broken.
But now it has been nicely repaired and firmly installed.
Even the blurry letters were colored black again.
The wide road leading to the inside was clearly visible, as even the dirty leaves piled up nearby had been swept away.
“… ?”
I had stepped into that place without realizing it.
As I got closer to the general store, I saw an even more strange scene.
First of all, the yard that was full of junk has been cleaned up.
Looking at the neat yard without any trash, I realized that the general store was a very large building.
There was also a small garden made of stones along the outskirts of the yard.
It’s empty now because it’s winter, but I think it will be full of colorful flowers next spring.
Several flower pots were placed around the house.
Uncle Posao used to grow pretty flowers in the past, but at some point he lost interest and the flowers all turned black and died.
However, seeing the flower pot taken out like this, it seemed like they were planning to grow flowers again.
“… What is it?”
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Has there been some kind of change of heart in Uncle Posao?
That slow, frustrated, lazy person suddenly starts cleaning and gardening?
She is almost 45 years old.
It almost feels like he’s making a last-ditch effort to marry her before it’s too late.
For some reason, I wanted to meet you.
I wanted to ask her what made her change her mind.
I went up the stairs of the general store. And the moment you try to pull the door handle.
The air was caught.
“Huh?”
The doorknob was badly broken.
I had no choice but to just push the door and go in.
“Ahaha-! What is that-!”
A bright laugh was heard inside the general store.
“… ?”
A woman’s voice?
That doesn’t fit this space… It was a really awkward sound.
It’s been a long time since the sound of laughter disappeared from this gloomy and gloomy general store.
It’s been a long time since people stopped coming, and since even Tia stopped coming, no women have come to this general store.
Unless they had brought in a parrot that could imitate lively and cheerful laughter, it was definitely not a voice that could be heard in this Modales general store.
What is it?
Did Uncle Posao really get a wife in the meantime?
In that case, I would like to sincerely congratulate you…
“Seriously, if you keep making jokes like that, they’ll hate it!”
… But somehow this voice feels familiar.
I took my hand off the door and stepped back.
And then I slowly approached the glass window and took a peek inside.
There was a fat man sitting inside the table.
It was Uncle Posao. I was talking intently to someone while sweating profusely.
He lifted his heel a little more and looked at the person he was talking to.
Unfortunately, my back was turned, so I could barely see the bottom.
Still, I could tell for sure.
Those thin and soft curves exposed under the pants were definitely a woman’s legs.
Looking at the pale skin and short stature, it seems like he is younger than I thought.
Girls… Is it?
I held my breath and continued to watch.
The girl is resting her chin on her uncle’s table and shaking her boots, as if listening to some interesting story.
… That gesture is also somewhat familiar.
At that time.
The man tried to get up from her seat and ended up dropping something on the floor.
The girl who was talking face to face naturally bent down and picked it up.
“… !”
What caught my eye for a moment was ‘red hair.’
I felt like my breathing had stopped. I was so surprised that I held her mouth and leaned against the wall.
What is it?
Was there a red-haired girl in Taildon?
As far as I know, there wasn’t one.
Red hair was a very rare hair type around here. That’s why Tia received special treatment.
Then that girl…
No, no. It can’t be Tia.
Tia hates Uncle Posao.
She hated it so much that she refused to be in the same space or even talk to her and walked away.
Smiling and talking from such a close distance?
Instead of showing any signs of dislike, you are facing her in a friendly way.
How could that girl be Tia?
You must have read it wrong.
Because it was dusk, they probably mistook the sunset reflected in the glass for red hair. Maybe.
I came to my senses and looked in the window again.
Suddenly, the girl in front of the table was no longer visible. Uncle Posao also disappeared.
Where did it go?
It was at that time that I moved to the next window, wondering if I had gone inside.
Crash!
The door to the general store opened and someone jumped out.
I quickly hid behind the wall.
“Then I’ll go!”
“Okay. Joe, be careful. ‘Tia’.”
As soon as she heard that, she looked right next to her.
Lie.
It was real. That girl was Tia.
Tia waved her hand to Uncle Po Sao with her smiling face, then walked across her yard and up the mountain path.
What. What happened?
Why. Why.
Is Tia coming out of the general store?
Uncle Posao stroked his cheek.
“Whoa-. Ugh…”
The yard changed beautifully, but the man’s unpleasant laughter and bulging stomach remained the same.
It seems like that ‘unpleasant feeling’ that causes rejection in women still remains.
For some reason, Tia never felt like she disliked Uncle Posao.
Squeak-thump.
Uncle Posao entered the store.
I was so surprised that I stayed there for a long time.
His hands and feet did not move. I was dazed because I still didn’t understand the situation just now.
It was only after the sun had set that I was finally able to take my feet off.
She doesn’t remember how she got back to town.
Tia’s lively laughter coming out of her grocery store was so shocking that she just felt dizzy.
She asked Aunt Sherry if she knew where Tia had been.
“Tia? “I heard she went to the village downstairs?”
“…”
It’s a lie. Clearly, he was at that general store.
I had a hunch.
… Definitely.
Something is strange.
