WTARS 28

Chapter 28 ….

Twenty minutes later, after emerging from the forest, we reached the main road.

Normally, monsters didn’t come this far, but lately there had been more and more unusual cases, so I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

“Mr. Allen, are you really sure you’ll be okay on your own? At least until you find your companions, why don’t you come with us—”

“Oh no, it’s fine. I’ve already imposed on you more than enough. I can’t trouble you any further.”

Waving his hands as he declined, Allen rummaged through his bag, then pulled out a fairly bulky pouch.

“This… it’s nothing special, but please take it as a token of my thanks. They’re mushrooms used in potion-making.”

When I took the pouch and checked inside, it was filled with yellow-tinged mushrooms. Judging by their clean condition, they hadn’t been gathered around here—he must have obtained them elsewhere.

“Thank you, Mr. Allen. I’ll put them to good use.”

“Haha, don’t mention it.”

Just then, the system displayed a notification.

<Obtain Potion Ingredients!> Quest Complete!

You have received 500 coins as a success reward.

※ Because you perfectly cleared a difficulty C or higher quest within 6 hours, an additional reward has been granted.
Please check your inventory.

“An additional reward?”

Pretending to glance casually at the sky, I summoned the inventory window to check.

Inventory (D)

Stored items:

• A basket of fresh potatoes ×1

• A basket of fresh tomatoes ×1

• A basket of fresh strawberries ×1

• A basket of fresh eggplants ×1

• A pouch of a C-rank monster’s core ×1

• (New!) Introduction to Pharmacology – A Proper Guide for Beginner Apothecaries

Available capacity: 6/50 (items)

The additional reward turned out to be a book titled Introduction to Pharmacology. What? Was it really planning to give me a pharmacology skill?

So that means I purify things, farm, cook, and now even make potions?

I feel like I’m becoming some kind of all-rounder instead of just a simple farmer…

Letting out a small, wry chuckle, I lowered my gaze from the sky. Turning back to Allen, I made up a suitably plausible remark.

“It was clear this morning, but looking at it now, it seems like it might rain soon. Please be careful.”

“Haha, I will. Thank you for your concern! If fate allows, let’s meet again!”

With that, Allen waved his hand energetically and departed.

Rishian and I returned to the farm and laid out today’s harvest on the ground.

“Master—!! I missed you so much—!! …Huh? A monster’s smell?”

Clinging to me, Ninabel tilted her round body to one side.

Since she didn’t have a neck, that was how she expressed herself. I gave the spirit a rough explanation of what had happened.

After hearing the whole story, Ninabel began bouncing excitedly.

“How could this be! Another monster attack! That’s ominous! It’s definitely a bad omen!! Master, please be careful!”

She was being a bit overdramatic, but it was true that this wasn’t a good sign.

It would be best to stay cautious for a while. Still, with Rishian by my side, I felt reassu—

“……”

Ah. I might be relying on Rishian a bit too much.

When I looked at him with conflicted eyes, he tilted his head with a question mark floating over it. Without thinking, I reached out and ruffled his platinum-blond hair vigorously.

Ah, I think I just treated Rishian way too cutely!

I quickly pulled my hand back and cleared my throat for no reason. His slightly lifted lips and peculiar gaze landed on me, but I pretended not to notice.

I’m weak, so it can’t be helped if I rely on Rishian a little. And it’s not like I tamed him on purpose in the first place…! It was an accident!

Having finished rationalizing things, I gathered my pouch and headed inside. One water droplet and one bodyguard followed closely behind.

The moment Rishian shut the door—

Tap.

A sudden downpour began.

Shhhhhh—

“Wow, what the—looks like a sudden shower.”

We almost would’ve ended up soaked like drowned rats.

After leaving the bundles near the entrance, I went to my room first to change clothes.

When I came back to the living room, Rishian was already sitting on the sofa, neatly changed as well.

Approaching him, I asked,

“Aren’t you hungry? Should we eat first?”

“I’m fine. More importantly… are you planning to make potions with those ingredients, Muriel?”

“Uh…”

Instead of answering right away, I scratched the back of my neck and looked toward the bundles by the entrance.

The system’s intention in making me collect those materials was probably… to give me a pharmacology skill.

But there’s still one mission left.

I opened my inventory and took out Introduction to Pharmacology. I was certain I wouldn’t obtain the skill until I finished reading this book.

But…

Why is it so thick?!

It was a hardcover. And incredibly thick. When I opened the table of contents and checked the page numbers, it came out to 817 pages.

You’ve got to be kidding…

It felt like a college student realizing that the entire book was included in the exam syllabus.

When am I supposed to read all this? Isn’t there some kind of speed-reading skill you could give me?

(o`△´)o⁼³₌₃

What is this? Is that an icon saying it’ll beat me up if I make unreasonable demands? I’m the one who wants to beat you up.

I wanted to punch the status window in retaliation, but I held back since there were witnesses.

“Muriel, that book is…?”

As I approached the sofa with a deep sigh, Rishian asked curiously.

I flopped down weakly beside him and replied,

“Homework given by God…”

“Ah…”

He looked like he more or less understood the situation.

Feeling gloomy, I opened the book. I started with the preface, then checked the table of contents.

Man, reading makes me want coffee. I want an iced Americano.

As I reminisced wistfully about my “iced Americano even in winter” days, Rishian’s low voice reached me.

“Looking at that book reminds me of the days I studied under my master. We had to read books like that in a single day and even write a summary.”

“In one day…?”

“If we took longer than a day, we had to copy the entire book by hand. Two days meant copying it once, three days meant twice, and so on.”

“……”

What kind of hardcore education was that?

At this point, I was starting to seriously doubt the character of this so-called master.

“So… did you really read it all in one day? A book that thick?”

“Yes. And I wrote the summary too.”

“……”

That was impossible to believe. Do you have an intelligence stat of 999 or something?

So the real all-rounder wasn’t me—it was this guy…

Feeling a hint of awe, I stared at him as if he were some kind of rare creature.

“Are you good at everything?”

“I suppose so.”

“Is there really nothing you’re bad at?”

As I pressed him, he chuckled and spoke in a casual, offhand way.

“Well, actually…”

The tone was like he was whispering a secret, and without realizing it, I tensed up.

“I’m bad at saying things I don’t mean to other people.”

“…?”

“Flattery, or things like that.”

I thought about it for a moment, then spoke.

“But when you talk to me… you don’t really seem like that?”

“That’s because when I praise you, Muriel, I mean it.”

“Even aside from praise… what you’re saying is that you don’t want to cater to other people, right?”

“Exactly. Why would I bother?”

There it was again—a glimpse of his arrogance, which usually didn’t show when he was with me.

If someone else had said something like that, it would’ve sounded insolent. But with Rishian, it didn’t feel that way. On the contrary, it suited him perfectly, like clothes tailored just for him.

The stories about his master teaching him not only martial arts but academics too… Could Rishian actually be of noble birth?

“But you… you cater to me pretty well, don’t you?”

“You’re you. How could you be the same as everyone else?”

“…….”

I couldn’t think of a good response. I just smiled awkwardly, shrugged, and lowered my gaze back to the book. Then, pretending to be busy, I said,

“I’m going to read now. You can… play with Nini if you’re bored.”

“That’s a bit…”

“What? I don’t want to play with you either!”

After bickering for a while, the two of them ended up heading to the kitchen, competing over who would prepare dinner first.

It felt like they might have stepped away on purpose, noticing my mood since I kept arguing.

Letting out a faint smile, I continued reading in the quiet stillness, accompanied only by the sound of rain pouring down.

The anomaly occurred the next dawn.