Chapter 1-6 : First Combat (part 1)
Alright. Food secured. Now, I think I’m going to buy some recovery items in an item shop.
I think I can find one on the main street, so I have to go back there.
It must be crowded with people, but I have to buy some supplies eventually.
「Aaa…!!」(elderly woman)
「Tsk! Use your goddamn eyes when you walk, old hag!」(young man)
「Hm?」(Alice)
When I was about to head to the main street, I saw a young man bump into an old woman.
The young man then left the old woman who fell to the ground after yelling at her.
What a terrible man with a terrible attitude…
I approached the old woman and checked her condition.
「Obaa-chan, are you okay?」(Alice)
「Ugh… My back… It hurts…」(elderly woman)
「Uhh…」(Alice)
I looked around, but no one came to help except me. Nobody seemed to care about this poor old lady.
Of course, I can’t just leave her alone in the middle of a street like this.
「Obaa-chan, I’ll carry you home, so please bear with the pain for a little longer.」(Alice)
「Thank you, good lady.」(elderly woman)
I turned around and squatted down, showing my back to her.
After she put her arms around my neck, I held her thighs and got up.
「Heave-ho!」(Alice)
「Ugh!!」(elderly woman)
「I’m sorry, did I hurt you?」(Alice)
「No, it’s alright. You have a slender body, but you are much stronger than you look. As expected from an Outworlder.」(elderly woman)
「Hehe. So, where do you live?」(Alice)
「Follow this street and we will eventually get there.」(elderly woman)
「Alright.」(Alice)
After following the street in the residential area while carrying the old woman on my back for about ten minutes, we finally got to her simple brick house.
I entered and slowly put her on her bed.
「Thank you, young lady. I’m sorry for troubling you.」(elderly woman)
「Don’t worry about it. You should get some rest, Obaa-chan. Please take care of yourself.」(Alice)
「Wait.」(elderly woman)
The old lady stopped me when I was about to get out of her room.
I wonder if she still needs something from me.
「I’m sorry, but could you do me a favor, kind young lady?」(elderly woman)
「Umm, what can I do for you?」(Alice)
「I want you to get me some medical herbs.」(elderly woman)
「Medical herbs? Where can I find them?」(Alice)
「There’s a forest west of this town. You should be able to find them easily there.」(elderly woman)
I wonder if this is a quest or… Is this old lady just genuinely asking me a favor?
「If you’re an Outworlder, then you must need some potions, right? If you bring me medical herbs, I can make some potions for you.」(elderly woman)
Oh? What a coincidence. I just planned to get some recovery items at an item shop.
Since there was no reason for me to refuse her request, I nodded at her.
「Alright, I can do that.」(Alice)
「Thank you. If it wasn’t for my back pain, I would have collected them myself.」(elderly woman)
「Please don’t mind it. You said you would make me some potions. Are you a pharmacist?」(Alice)
「I used to be, but I retired a few years ago.」(elderly woman)
Now that I looked around her room again, I could find some pharmacy-related tools on the shelves.
「If you bring me medical herbs, I will give you ten potions in return.」(elderly woman)
Oh, that’s nice. I can get ten free potions from doing this.
「Okay. I will be off now then.」(Alice)
「Ah, wait, there are some beginner’s potions in that drawer. You can take them just in case.」(elderly woman)
「Alright.」(Alice)
I nodded at her, opened the nearby drawer, and found three bottles of potion inside.
〈Beginner’s potion (consumable) : Recover 15% of HP when used.〉
「The content is consumable, but not with the bottles. You can reuse them, so don’t throw them away.」(elderly woman)
「I see. Say, Obaa-chan, can’t you heal your back with this potion?」(Alice)
「Of course, I can’t. I would have drunk them if it could. Potions heal wounds but can’t heal back pain. You need an ointment made from medical herbs for that. That’s why I need you to bring them to me. I will teach you how to make ointment when you return if you want.」(elderly woman)
「Sounds good! Alright, I’m going now!」(Alice)
I left the old lady’s house and headed west to the forest.
ーーーーー
「Whoa… This is a big forest…」(Alice)
I passed a few players on the way here. I wonder if they were going to hunt some monsters.
The old lady gave me some potions, which meant I might encounter some monsters in this forest.
Fighting in a dense forest like this can be difficult, but fortunately, I’ve learned【Perception】and【Stealth】so I can sneak around.
After walking deeper into the forest for about five minutes, I started to examine the surrounding plants with my【Appraisal】skill.
「Weeds… Weeds… Poisonous mushroom… Weeds… Weeds… Poisonous grass… Weeds… There are so many weeds here… I wonder if other players have taken all the herbs around here.」(Alice)
Other than weeds, I also found some poisonous plants. I decided to take some of them, thinking that I might be able to use them as a weapon.
There might be some herbs remaining deep in the forest, so I went further.
While walking, I kept appraising the plants I found on the ground.
「Weeds… Weeds… Weeds… Medical herb ーOh!」(Alice)
After walking for a while, I finally found some colonies of medical herbs.
「Medical herb… Medical herb… Medical herb… Medical herb… Medical herb! Wonderful! There are so many of them!」(Alice)
Without wasting time, I picked as many medical herbs as I could find in the area and put them in my item box.
「I think this is more than enough. Alright, I think I’ll go back to the old lady’s house now.」(Alice)
I planned to get out of this forest as soon as I finished my business here.
However, I suddenly felt a hostile presence behind me with my【Perception】skill.
Unfortunately, because this skill was still level one, it didn’t detect the enemy’s presence fast enough.
As a result, I was hit by something before I could even turn around. I was blown a few meters away and hit a tree.
「Guhh!!」(Alice)
My HP was down by about 40% before I could even realize what just happened.
Fortunately, I didn’t feel much pain since it was in a virtual game, but still, it made my heart race.
While crouching on the ground, I raised my face and looked forward. I saw a huge gray wolf glaring menacingly at me.
Realizing that I’d encountered a monster, I quickly drew my wakizashi, but I couldn’t stand up for some reason.
Then, I noticed there was a debuff icon under my health bar.
〈Bruise (debuff) : You won’t be able to move some parts of your body freely while you are inflicted with this status.〉
I see. It seems that I have been inflicted with a ‘bruise’ status.
I took one of the beginner’s potions I got from the old lady and drank it.
However, it only recovered a little bit of my HP. I’m still inflicted with the ‘bruise’ status.
Looks like this is a type of debuff that can’t be removed by normal potions.
「Ugh… I can’t move my legs properly… This is really bad…!」(Alice)
Since I can’t get up, I have no choice but to fight while crouching on the ground like this.
I never expected my first fight would be a tough one…