Chapter 3-14 : Saving The Mermaid Village (part 2)
After parting with Roan at the village entrance, I left the cave the mermaids called home, walked along the coast, and followed a river that stretched all the way deeper into the island.
I entered the dense forest after walking along the river for a while. I remembered Roan told me to stay near water as much as possible, so I shouldn’t wander too far from this river.
「Alright. Let’s see what we have here…」(Kako)
I put my hands on my waist and looked around as I took a breather.
There were so many plants here, and they looked different from the ones in the east, where I came from.
So many options. I wonder which one I should try first.
「Hmm… I guess I’ll just pick random plants for now.」(Kako)
I didn’t know where to start, so I decided to pick the plants that looked like medical herbs the most to me, judging from their shapes.
I had no idea whether the plants on this island were poisonous or not, so I put on my leather gloves just in case. I also put my Quagmire Magic Sword unsheathed on the ground next to me since I couldn’t draw a sword fast. This way, I could reach my sword and use it immediately if monsters appear.
「Alright. I think I’ll start with this one. Synthesis!」(Kako)
I picked two plants of the same type and activated my Synthesis ability.
They glowed and merged into one.
「And now… Appraise!」(Kako)
《High-quality Southsark Grass : A weed found in tropical regions. It has resistance to sea breezes.》
「So this is just a weed? How disappointing.」(Kako)
Feeling like I had lost a lottery, I sighed and threw the plant.
「No time to waste. Next one!」(Kako)
Moving on, I picked another plant and did the same. I kept doing it over and over.
《High-quality Fuli Grass : A weed found in tropical regions. A favorite food of seabirds.》
《High-quality Ragus Grass : A weed found in tropical regions. It’s smooth and durable, perfect for children to play with.》
《Bla bla bla grass : A weed found in tropical regions.》
《Another weed.》
《More weeds.》
《Nope. It’s still a weed.》
《Guess what it is. Yup. Another weed with no particular medicinal properties.》
「Gaaaaaahh!! Weeds, weeds, weeds! What is this!? A weed paradise!?」(Kako)
There are too many useless weeds! Does this island even have any medicinal herbal plants!?
「Hahh… I’m done with this area.」(Kako)
After making sure that I had appraised all the plants here, I took my sword and walked along the river again, going deeper into the island.
I looked around for other plants I could appraise along the way, and suddenly, some weird mushrooms growing at the base of a big tree by the river caught my attention.
I’m not sure why, but those mushrooms seem to be inviting me when I see them, as if they’re asking me to pick and eat them.
「Those mushrooms…」(Kako)
Curious, I approached the tree and crouched down to observe the mushrooms closer.
They look weird, but I don’t know why I keep thinking they must taste delicious. Should I eat them…?
Eat them… Eat them… Eat them…
「Eat them… ーWhoa, whoa! Get yourself together, Kako! They clearly look suspicious!」(Kako)
These mushrooms were definitely telling me to eat them. It was as if they had just hypnotized me, but then I managed to regain my senses.
There were many poisonous, dangerous mushrooms on earth, so it’s not weird if those kinds of mushrooms exist in this world as well.
Even so, there’s a possibility that I could use them to make medicine, so I kinda want to appraise them first, but I need to be careful.
I took out a cloth from my magic bag and tied it around my face to cover my nose and mouth. I was guessing they had the ability to hypnotize their target with invisible spores they released into the air or something like that.
After making sure the cloth was tight, I picked two of the mushrooms, synthesized them, and appraised them.
《High-quality Itazerobucos Mushroom : an incredibly poisonous mushroom with a mysterious ability to lure those who see it.》
「I knew it! That was close!」(Kako)
I almost died eating this mushroom. Thank god I was able to come to my senses.
Learning that it was a harmful mushroom, I threw it away and walked away from the tree.
It would be safer if I focus on collecting anything other than mushrooms since the mushrooms on this island seemed to be dangerous.
With that in mind, I kept collecting plants and sometimes nuts along the way. I kept using my Synthesis ability on anything I collected and appraising them.
However, I haven’t found anything useful to make medicine for the villagers. No medical herbs.
The only edible things I found were wild vegetables called starleaf grass and tower butterbur.
《Starleaf Grass : A wild vegetable that has five leaves. It’s perfect to make into tempura because of its unique shape and texture.》
《Tower Butterbur : A tall wild vegetable grows near water. It has a unique bitterness which is perfect to make into tempura.》
I was in the weed paradise, but now I’m in the wild vegetable paradise, it seems.
「Tempura…」(Kako)
Thinking about it makes me hungry.
They’re not medical herbs, but at least they’re not completely useless like those weeds. I can use them as food for later.
I put as many edible vegetables as I could find in the area into my magic bag and continued searching for medical herbs while following the river.
After walking for a while, I noticed that the river branched into two.
The branch to the right went all the way to the mountain, which was in the center of the island. Following it means that I will keep moving away from the mermaid village. I’m afraid no one would come to rescue me if something happened and I went too far.
I have a magic sword, but I want to avoid encountering any beasts or monsters as much as possible.
That means the best and safest route here is to follow the branch to the left. Also, I didn’t have to cross the river if I followed it.
Now that I have decided, I continue walking, but now I’m walking in the opposite direction from the center of the island.
I was hoping I would find something useful if I followed this path, but the vegetation was almost the same as the areas I had passed.
Also, the number of useless weeds here was higher than in the last areas.
「Dammit. Why does this island have so many useless weeds?」(Kako)
I kept walking, stopping to collect plants, using my Synthesis Skill, and appraising stuff. Still, no useful medical herbs were found.
I didn’t know how much time had passed, but now I could see the beach.
It seemed that I had reached the other side of the island before I realized it.
I noticed there were many fish swimming in the river. If I remember correctly, it’s called brackish water, the area where seawater and freshwater mix.
「Hm? What is that?」(Kako)
As I stared at the water, I noticed there was a part of the water that was reddish-brown. I followed it and found out that it spread all the way to the sea.
It seemed that it was coming from the sea.
「Is this what is called red tide?」(Kako)
Red tide sometimes occurs at the beach. It’s the part of the sea that has a reddish color. If I’m not mistaken, it’s caused by some kind of harmful microorganism.
「I’ve witnessed a mystery of nature… Woops, I don’t have time to be impressed by Mother Nature. Medical herbs~ Medical herbs~ Where are you~?」(Kako)
After admiring the unusual sight for a moment, I continued my mission.
Then I noticed a strange-colored grass nearby.
「Hm? That’s…」(Kako)
It looks like southsark grass, but the color was different. Normal southsark grasses are green, but this one is kinda red, similar to the red tide.
While wondering if it was a different type of southsark grass, I picked two of them, synthesized them, and appraised them.
《Slightly Contaminated Southsark Grass : A weed found in tropical regions. It has resistance to sea breezes. It is contaminated with some kind of poison.》
「Contaminated with poison?」(Kako)
Hold on… If it’s contaminated, that means…
I see now! It all makes sense!
The thing in the water is not the red tide; it’s the poisonous liquid Roan was talking about. It contaminated the southsark grasses in this area. That’s why their leaves have a reddish color.
In order to learn about the poison that had polluted the sea, I asked Roan to collect some contaminated seawater as a sample, but I never thought I would find it myself.
I wanted to collect the water, but then I remembered how dangerous it was. I don’t want to put myself into that water.
「Hmm… That’s right! I can use these grasses!」(Kako)
After thinking for a moment, I got the idea of using the contaminated southsark grasses in this area instead of collecting that harmful water myself.
If I synthesize these grasses into the highest tier, I might be able to get myself the grass with the highest concentration of the poison, and I might be able to learn what exactly that poison was.
Still with my leather gloves on, I collected a bunch of the red grasses, batch-synthesized them at once, and appraised the result.
《Highly Contaminated Southsark Grass : A weed found in tropical regions. It has resistance to sea breezes. It is heavily contaminated with the waste substance from the failed process of making Lost Potion. It is extremely harmful to the human body.》
「What!?」(Kako)
Waste substance from the failed process of making… Lost Potion!?
Wait a minute… So, the humans who have been polluting the sea are trying to make Lost Potion!?
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