小嫂子的味道

I rested the cloth bag—in which I had all the stuff—on the bed beside me, removed my hood, and took out three healing potions from the bag. The potions were stored in tubes like the ones they used in chemistry labs back in my former world.

I removed the crock and poured the liquid from all three tubes into my mouth at once. I gulped it all in and threw the empty tubes on the bed. I took three more and did the same, then repeated the process until I'd consumed twelve tubes worth of potions.

I put my hand inside the bag and grabbed a loaf of bread I'd bought. Ate it while gulping it down with another tube of healing potion. Wiped my mouth, took the herbs and pills and swallowed them along with another potion.

"Are you sure taking that much is not bad for your health?" Req queried. While I was busy with myself, she was sitting on the chair at a distance.

"It's alright. Healing potions are the only piece of medicines that doesn't have any side effects. I'll be fine," I waved her off as I took off my cloak and then started unbuttoning my shirt.

"Ooff!" she buried her face in her hands and blushed. "What are you intending to do by undressing in front of a girl like me in a locked room where no one can hear us!" she said in a shy tone.

I thought of ignoring her at first, but then… "The room is not locked and the walls are so thin that even a rat can hear us," I couldn't help but say that.

And received her usual disappointed look as a result. She sat there not looking at me, maybe angry, like a little girl whose toys had been snatched away. I continued what I was doing.

Taking off my shirt, I put it on the bed, then I grabbed the remaining two bottles of healing potions and carefully poured them over the injuries I had on my arms—where I'd skinned myself when the klauth slapped me with its tail.

I picked up a roll of bandages from the bag and rolled it over the healing potion I'd applied on the wounds; first on my right arm and then on my left. I did the same with the injuries I had gained on my chest, neck, and feet.

However, it didn't quite work when I tried to do the same with the wounds on my back. My hand was not reaching there and even if I somehow put the potion there, I won't be able to wrap the bandage. I tried again and this time while standing up, but the result was the same.

I turned, titled my body, and bent my spine as much as I could, but all I was able to do was rub a bit of healing potion on some of the wounds. It was all because while I was able to feel where my injuries were, I wasn't able to see them.

Suddenly I felt a touch, someone was touching me, holding me from the back, their hands were on my shoulders.

I knew who this was. "Let me do it," Req said and held out her hand, asking for the tube of potion and the roll of bandage.

I thought for a moment, not moving, then realized there was nothing to think about this.

"No. I'll do it myself," I replied. Then stepped away from her.

"But you won't be able to see back there. Don't be stubborn here and let me do it already!" she was persistent.

I glanced at her from the side of my eye, "I said… I will do it myself. End of conversation."

It was the end of the conversation, and she went back to the chair afterward. Then, when I got a bit of space for myself, I used my elemental magic and created a thin sheet of white and freezing-cold ice that rested against one of the walls.

It was a perfectly flat sheet of ice and reflected the light just the way a mirror should. Yes, the image shown was not as clear and sharp as you see in mirrors, but enough for me to get my work done.

I then looked in the mirror and while bending my body to its limits, I applied the potion and wrapped the bandages on my back. When everything was done, I had the look of a mummy straight out of those classical movies.

Both of my arms were wrapped in white bandages from the wrist to the shoulders, the same was the case with my legs too. They were covered in white between the ankles and knees. The bandages on my upper body surrounded my abdomen and went up to the chest, covering my back too.

And if you're wondering why I applied the healing potion on my wounds instead of drinking it. Well, it doesn't speed up the healing or anything…you are just able to use those body parts more precisely as it lessens the pain and stops the bleeding.

Because I wasn't going to rest anytime soon, this was at least better than nothing.

As I was now done with the medications, I picked up my shirt and wore it with the dark-green, hooded cloak over it. Took out two loaves of bread from the cloth bag—that was all left in it, passed one to Req, and ate the other.

"Get up. We're…leaving," I commanded, chewing the bread at the same time—time is indeed a valuable thing.

"What! Already leaving?! Look at yourself in that mirror you created, are you even aware of how rugged and torn up you are!?" she shouted as she smacked the floor and stood up, filled with fury.

"No. I don't have time to rest. We'll set sails right now," I said, and it was more like a statement.

Oh, by the way. Thanks to her, I remembered about the ice mirror. The stress must be taking over me, I almost forgot about it. Hence, I turned and turned the frozen sheet into nothing.

"Hurry up, I'm not gonna wait for you the whole day," I mentioned and stepped out of the room.

She had no choice but to follow, and she did. I had already paid the money for the inn when I booked the room, so checking out was all I had to do before I was standing alone on the road in the middle of Gannett town. Well, not exactly alone, since I had Req with me.

For some reason, she didn't want to go back into the sword form—probably because she was stuck as a sword for many years, therefore she wandered with me in the human form. I was willing to let it pass as long as it didn't prove to be a hindrance in my way.

I stopped and looked around the town for a while. It was night already, the streets were illuminated mostly with lamps since magic lights were expensive—the only ones in this town had been in the central area. People were walking down the road, doing their usual chores.

Adventures were coming back from the quests they had taken at the adventurers' guild, it was only reasonable that some succeeded and some failed. Those who did reach their goal will probably celebrate it in the guild building, will have drinks and dinner, will host some parties, will boast about how they did this and that, will flirt with women, and all that.

But the ones who lost will have a gloomy mood. They will probably enter the guild building with a fake smile, some with no smile at all. They will get cheap drinks, and a not-so-fancy dinner, and instead of flirting with beauties, the topic of discussion will shift toward what they should've done and where things went wrong. But of course, the chances of the latter happening were slim, very slim.

A small town like this doesn't have many threats. The adventurers don't go out every day fighting monsters, even if they do, they only go up against weak and low-level monsters who mostly hide all the time.

That's why the majority of adventurers who come and stay in towns like this get easy quests connected partly with day-to-day things.

There are only a few who take on a suspicious quest, go inside an unknown labyrinth, and get their whole part annihilated. The chances of that happening are as slim as a single strand of human hair.

I don't know when I started walking, but I was on the border of the town by now. All the buildings combined at the center of grass and wheat fields looked like a single huge lamp glowing in the dark.

I saw a wagon passing by, it had just dropped a few people at the town and was now about to head back. It was the same way from where I came, so without wasting more time I went to the wagon with Req and booked a ride.

We got inside, the wheels of the wagon rolled, and we left for Sofrora city—the capital.