So this is their base, huh?
“Furutsu, this is...” Grida said.
Yeah. We’re at the vacant house across from Fresa’s place. The building seemed completely abandoned, but underneath the floorboards was a hidden entrance to the basement. Woohoo! This is pretty exciting!
“Why do you seem so happy?”
Hmmm, maybe it’s a guy thing, but I get super excited when stuff like hidden bases is involved. You’re a girl, so maybe you’re more interested in dolls?
“Dolls?”
Never heard of them? They’re toys made in the likeness of humans.
“Hmmm...”
Hm, wait a sec. You’re a World Tree, so if we were to make a miniature version in your likeness... Ha ha, it’d be a bonsai! Not sure if you’re interested in that.
“Look, Furutsu! The thieves!”
Whoa! I need to roll fast before the door closes. Phew, barely made it! That was a close one!
“Make sure to keep the door closed. It’d only be ironic if we let thieves get in here,” the boss said.
“Heh, no kidding,” the lackey replied.
Unfortunately for you guys, the irony ship has long since sailed. Hopefully, this tale will end up as some sort of comedy for you in the future. Phew, in any case, this staircase is long.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Grida said with surprise. Her shock was only natural. At the end of the staircase was an oddly large room.
Isn’t this a little too grand a base for just two people?
“Furutsu, they aren’t alone. Someone else is coming closer!”
Is it their friend? Well, an extra one or two people shouldn’t make a—huh?
“Welcome back, sirs!” a voice rang out. To my surprise, a young girl around twelve or thirteen years of age greeted the two thieves.
“Hey, Berry, why are you still up?” the boss asked.
“Because I was worried!” she replied with a smile.
“Hah! We’re tough, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Now go to sleep. You wouldn’t want this to affect your health now, would you?” the other thief chimed in.
What’s with this situation?
“I’m fine! I want to hear about what you did at work today!” she said.
The boss laughed. “There’s no stopping you when you insist, Berry. I’ll keep it short though, okay?”
“Yay!”
Wait, are you gonna tell her about your thieving?
“Today’s job was to exterminate some vampire wolves that were eating all the livestock at night!”
Huh?
“Vampire wolves?!” Berry said with shock.
“Yep! Not only do they suck livestock blood, but human blood too! They also move around in a pack, so they’re real tough to beat!”
The girl listened to the story with a twinkle in her eyes. The boss spun yarns of how they battled the demon as his underling smiled and nodded along.
“Then we defeated the wolf while protecting the livestock!”
It seems like they’re keeping their thieving a secret from this Berry girl.
“Wow! Oh gosh! You guys really are strong...” Berry couldn’t finish her sentence as she started having a coughing fit. She sank to the ground, wheezing and gasping for air.
“Hey, are you okay?!” the boss cried.
“Berry, you gotta calm down!”
The boss ran over to the girl and started rubbing her back as the underling watched on with worry.
“Hurry, let’s get her to bed!”
The boss took out a bottle of expensive-looking medicine. “Tsk, this is the last of it. We can only pray that it lasts until morning.” He glared at the bottle and gritted his teeth.
Seems like they’ve got their own issues. This is turning more into a tragedy than a comedy.
Perhaps the medicine had done its work; Berry calmed down. She was sleeping peacefully, two rooms away. Based on their conversation, I gleaned that Berry had some kind of incurable disease.
“It’s no good. The medicine isn’t working anymore.”
“But boss, isn’t that the crazy expensive stuff?”
“It’s the best medicine that the best doctor in this city could prepare. One bottle costs thirty gold coins.”
As a side note, thirty gold coins could get someone a pretty decent house.
“We should go to a bigger city and have her looked at by a better doctor! But we need quite a bit of money for that,” he continued.
Isn’t the disease incurable though? Looks like these guys turned to thievery to help Berry.
“Boss, we’ve got the Dragon’s Tear! If we sell that...”
“We don’t have enough time. This is an extremely valuable find—we’re gonna need a lot of time until we find a proper buyer for it.”
Makes sense. It’s treasure that can buy ten to twenty castles. On top of that, they have to hide the fact that it’s stolen. There might not be a lot of takers here.
“Let’s buy as much medicine as we can with the gold we stole today! That should buy us some time until we sell the Dragon’s Tear. Then we can go to the royal capital and have a good doctor treat her.”
These guys have no intention of using the stolen money for themselves. If I were to change what they said at Holmer’s room from “we’re rich!” to “we can save Berry with this,” I’m left with a completely different impression of them.
“There’s none left.”
“Boss?”
“The medicine we used today was the last bit. There’s no more available for a month.”
The medicine was that precious? No wonder it costs thirty gold coins.
“Besides, Berry’s body is at its breaking point. The medicine can only help so much.”
“No...isn’t there anything we can do?” the underling murmured.
“You idiot. That’s what I want to know.”
The two sighed, their shoulders slumped.
“Furutsu, are these two thieves, but also good people?” Grida asked.
No, Grida. Whatever the reason, it’s not good to steal other people’s things. These guys had been part of a very large band of thieves a few years ago. The other members had kidnapped the sickly Berry, but these two decided to leave the band with her. Ever since, they’d been continuing their thievery to pay for her costly medical expenses.
“We’ll definitely save her, all right?”
“Of course, boss! You got it!”
Stealing things is definitely bad, but I don’t hate these two.
Grida chuckled. “Me neither!”
“In any case, we need to take Berry to a doctor tomorrow,” the boss said.
An incurable disease, huh. These two, like us, have a goal that may be a journey without a destination.
“Oh no, Furutsu! Berry-chan’s turning pale! She looks like she’s suffering!” Grida cried.
What?! This is bad. Those two don’t even seem to notice. I rolled toward Berry’s room.
“Berry-chan!”
This is really bad. She’s pale as a sheet, and she doesn’t even have enough strength to cough. Only her feeble gasps for air echo throughout the room. Looks like my hand is forced here. I don’t know if this’ll work, but use the water magic, Grida!
“Okay! Break the water’s seal, thieves!”
Ding! “Confirmed activation of spell. Strength is at two percent.” A blue light surrounded Berry as her feeble gasps slowly calmed down.
Seems like we were able to help her a bit, but this clearly doesn’t solve the root of the problem. She still looks like she’s in pain, and she’s still got that little cough.
“Furutsu, is there nothing we can do?”
There’s...one way.
“Really?!”
Yeah, I think there is, but...
“Furutsu, please! Save her!”
You’re right. A little pain here won’t kill me. Okay, here I go! I’ll bless you!
Ding Ding! “The transfer ability from the blessing card will be activated. 3...2...1... Preparation complete. Please be consumed.”
Ugh, this announcement sucks as always.
“Wait, Furutsu!”
I think this ability will heal her illness, but we’ve got two problems.
“Isn’t that really painful for you, though? I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean...”
Yep. First, it’s super-duper painful. That’s nice of you Grida, but this isn’t your fault at all, now is it? Besides, this ability is made for times like this. I hopped onto the bed and rolled toward Berry’s face. I gently touched her cheek, and she looked over at me with a puzzled expression.
“An apple?” She grabbed me, sat up, and cocked her head to one side. “Did they leave this for me?” There’s no way she had an appetite, but she also didn’t want to ignore the kindness of the two thieves. She took a small bite.
Crunch.
Owwwwwwww! Oh my God! Dear lord!
Roll! Roll! Roll!
“Furutsu?!” Grida said.
Ow ow ow ow! This hurts, my God this hurts!
Roll! Roll! Roll!
See, I didn’t think it’d hurt as much this time ’cause her mouth is small. But I was wrong! I’m gonna die! This hurts! Save me, this hurts! Owwwww!
Roll! Roll! Roll! Roll! Roll!
“Furutsu, hang in there! It’s almost over!”
So you see, here’s the second problem. Thanks to the effects of the blessing, Berry’s now much more inclined to take another bite of me. She’ll chase me around, wanting more of me. Ugh, owwwww! My God this hurts!
Roll! Roll! Roll! Roll! Roll!
“Delicious! More! I want to eat more! More!” Berry said.
See? I knew it! Owww! Owwww!