Chapter 1-6 : First Combat (part 2)
Noticing that I couldn’t move my feet properly, the wolf dashed forward, trying to attack me.
I dodged by quickly lying my body to the side, but then the wolf immediately turned around as soon as it landed and tried to attack me again.
I couldn’t dodge for the second time, so I decided to sacrifice my left arm.
While holding my wakizashi tightly with my right hand, I held my left arm forward as a shield. The wolf then took the bait and bit it.
「Khh…!!」(Alice)
My HP steadily decreased as the wolf bit my left arm, but I could use this opportunity to attack.
I stabbed the wolf’s side with my wakizashi, but it didn’t do much damage, so I did it repeatedly.
「Die! Die!!」(Alice)
Still, the wolf didn’t seem hurt at all. It was still biting my left hand like a trained police dog who was not going to let a criminal escape.
「Ugh!! I’ll die soon at this rate! ーThat’s right! I can use them!」(Alice)
Suddenly, I remembered I took some poisonous plants while looking for medical herbs, I took out a poisonous mushroom from my item box and pressed it against the wolf’s nose.
Grrrrr!!
It then immediately let go of my left arm. It seems that this wolf is weak against poison. It got stunned and temporarily wasn’t able to move.
Of course, I didn’t want to miss this chance, so I quickly stabbed its neck with my wakizashi continuously.
「Hya! Hya! Hyaa!! Please die already!!」(Alice)
Either it had a lot of HP or my level was just too low to fight this wolf since I haven’t leveled up yet, it took me a while but I eventually decreased its HP bar to zero.
The dying wolf collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.
「I did it… I killed a monster that was much higher level than me… but…」(Alice)
Looks like I’m going to die too…
I saw a new debuff icon under my HP bar.
〈Bleed (debuff) : Causing you to lose your HP continuously.〉
I spontaneously drank a beginner’s potion I got from the elderly woman NPC, but it didn’t help much. My health was still continuing to decrease. It only prolonged my death for a few seconds.
「Ugh… This is bad…」(Alice)
My sight started becoming dark when my HP was down below ten percent. I then collapsed to the ground and eventually lost consciousness.
ーーーーー
「…Hmm…? Where am I…?」(Alice)
When I woke up, I realized that I was lying on a large pedestal.
I was in a large room with many pedestals and long chairs. I could also see the altar.
「Am I in a church…?」(Alice)
「You finally wake up.」(priest)
When I heard someone’s voice behind me, I turned around and saw an old man in a priest’s uniform smiling at me.
「You are…」(Alice)
「I’m the priest of this church. When Outworlders die, they will come back to life here. You can see there are a lot of pedestals here, right?」(priest)
「I see. So I died…」(Alice)
I checked my status and I saw the Death Penalty status.
〈Death Penalty : This status will apply when you wake up in the church after you die. It will decrease some points of your status for one hour.〉
I got Death Penalty status, but I don’t really mind since I’m not going to hunt monsters anytime soon.
Besides, I got some skill points because I killed the wolf before I died, so it’s totally worth it… I think.
「Father, I will probably spawn here a lot from now on, so I might see you often here.」(Alice)
「Haha. Please take care of yourself and try as best as you can not to die.」(priest)
「Un! I will be going now. Thank you, Father.」(Alice)
「May the stars guide your soul.」(priest)
He seemed to be a good priest, unlike the evil priests in some manga and anime who call themself God’s representative and do evil things in the name of God.
As soon as I left the church, I headed to the elderly woman’s house.
I hope she won’t be mad at me because I kept her waiting so long…
As I prepared myself to be scolded, I entered the house.
「Finally. What took you so long?」(elderly woman)
「I’m sorry. I was attacked by a wolf.」(Alice)
「What? Are you alright? But, you don’t seem to be injured.」(elderly woman)
「Uhh, actually I died from bleeding and woke up in the church, so…」(Alice)
「You died!? …I see. I’m sorry. I thought there were no monsters near the entrance to the forest.」(elderly woman)
「No, it’s okay. I couldn’t find any herbs near the entrance, so I went deep into the forest. That’s why it happened. It’s not your fault.」(Alice)
「But…」(elderly woman)
She looked like she felt somewhat guilty.
Ugh, the atmosphere is getting heavier. I have to do something!
「A, Anyway, here are the herbs you requested. I hope it’s enough.」(Alice)
I took out the medical herbs I collected and handed them to the old lady.
「Thank you. It’s more than enough. As promised, I will teach you how to make ointment.」(elderly woman)
「Umm, can I really learn it? I haven’t learned【Compounding】skill yet.」(Alice)
「That skill is only necessary when you make complicated drugs. You don’t need it to make a simple ointment.」(elderly woman)
「I see. Alright, what should I do?」(Alice)
「Can you take the mortar and the wooden container over there for me?」(elderly woman)
I nodded to her and took the things she asked for from the shelf on the wall.
「Alright. First, crush the herbs with the mortar until they become smooth and put them in the wooden container. After that, add a little bit of water. Be careful not to add too much water.」(elderly woman)
「Understood.」(Alice)
I followed every step the old lady told me really carefully.
And thenー
「I did it!」(Alice)
「Well done. It’s easy, isn’t it?」(elderly woman)
「Un. Thank you, Obaa-chan!」(Alice)
〈Ointment (consumable) : Cures small injuries and relieves pain.〉
「Now, would you apply it to my back?」(elderly woman)
「Alright. Pardon me.」(Alice)
I lifted up her shirt a little to expose her back and then gently spread the ointment from her waist to the back of her neck.
「Ahh~ It helped a lot. Thank you. Now I can move my body and make you some potions as rewards. You can use the mortar to make more ointment while waiting.」(elderly woman)
「Okay.」(Alice)
The old lady left the room and went to her workshop to make potions.
By the way, making potions is much more complicated than making ointment, so it requires【Compounding】skill.
While waiting for her, I used the remaining herbs in my item box to make two more ointments.
She then returned while holding a tray with ten bottles of potion on top of it.
「Here’s your reward as promised.」(elderly woman)
「Thank you, Obaa-chan.」(Alice)
〈Regular Potion (consumable) : Recover 35% HP when used.〉
「Do you know that the potions sold in stores are five percent less effective than the potions made by pharmacists?」(elderly woman)
「Is that so? I didn’t know.」(Alice)
「Beginner’s potions and regular potions sold in stores only recover 10% and 30% of your max health, you know?」(elderly woman)
「I see.」(Alice)
The beginner’s potions she gave me can recover 15% of HP, and these regular potions can recover 35% of HP. I see, so her potions are slightly better than the potions normally sold in stores.
As expected from a former pharmacist. She has retired but she still has the same skills as when she was a professional.
「Obaa-chan, you must have been a great pharmacist back in the day!」(Alice)
「Haha. You think so?」(elderly woman)
「Un!」(Alice)
「…Honestly, I don’t like Outworlders very much, but I like you. You’re an honest sweet girl.」(elderly woman)
「Ehehe~」(Alice)
I scratched my head. It was kind of embarrassing, but it felt good.
「You were the only person who helped me when I was in trouble on that street. We haven’t introduced ourselves. My name is Nansa. Would you tell me yours?」(Nansa)
「I’m Alice.」(Alice)
「Alice-chan… I will remember you. You’ve been so kind to me.」(Nansa)
「I will remember you too, Nansa obaa-chan.」(Alice)
「Thank you. You may go now. Please visit me again if you need anything. I might be able to help you as a former pharmacist.」(Nansa)
「Un! I will come again! Please take care, Nansa obaa-chan!」(Alice)
I bowed to her and left her house.
It feels good when you make acquaintance with the NPCs in this game, especially after you did something good for them.
…At that moment, I was hoping that the NPCs could live peacefully with the players.
However…
I was still naive back then…
I hadn’t realized that not all the players were good people who were willing to treat the NPCs as human beings…
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