Chapter 45

It was 11:20 AM when they returned to Thula Village. They had left the village at 10:00 AM, which meant that between traveling and fighting, they had spent an hour and twenty minutes getting the flower. Although it was a little disappointing that they had failed to defeat the slime boss, if Kai Kisanuki hadn’t pulled it, there was a chance the whole party could have been wiped. Since they had already figured out the gimmick with the ball plants, they vowed to get revenge someday soon, as they made their way through the north gate and headed toward the church. They were taking a short breather in the cafeteria at the back of the first floor when Harlin puttered down the stairs from the second floor. He still looked a little bleary-eyed, but when they told him they had successfully gotten their hands on the white lotus flower, he perked up immediately and led them to a spot in a corner of the nave. At first, it looked like just a normal section of stone, but there was a hidden door in the wall that opened after pressing the right block, revealing a staircase leading below. At the bottom was another smaller chapel, which held an octagonal pedestal in place of an altar. The pedestal was topped with a large silver bowl. The inside of the bowl was filled about 70 percent of the way full with a translucent liquid. Harlin directed Yuuma to place the flower into the bowl. Yuuma retrieved the flower from his inventory and set it floating upon the surface of the water. Something strange then occurred. The petals began to dissolve almost instantly, as if they were made of ice, soon disappearing altogether. The remaining ovary began to dissolve as well, and silver orbs spilled out from inside. Instead of dissolving, these orbs glimmered at the bottom of the bowl, the light eventually infusing the water as whole. There was a bright flash, and Yuuma reflexively turned his eyes away. When he looked again, the orbs were no longer glimmering. Harlin told Yuuma to gather some of the still faintly luminous liquid into a bottle. Yuuma was about to say that he didn’t have a container on hand, when he remembered that he had placed the empty bottle back into his inventory after finishing off his water back at the shelter. Scrolling through the item list, he quickly discovered an entry that read, EMPTY GLASS BOTTLE. Yuuma materialized the item. Back in the real world, Yuuma was pretty sure that the bottle had been made out of polyethylene something or other, but here in Algol, it had become simple glass. No matter how many times Yuuma witnessed this change, he was still amazed. So long as they could stopper it, however, it didn’t matter right now what the bottle was made of. He scooped up some of the water using the silver ladle sitting atop the pedestal and then carefully poured it into the bottle, being careful not to spill any, before replacing the cork stopper. When he tapped the bottle again, the name had changed to PANACEA (3). Yuuma cocked his head, feeling as if he had heard that word before. That was when he remembered. This was the all-purpose remedy that Aoi Soga had mentioned back at the shelter. They dove into AM to acquire a Rubellite Needle, which was capable of removing petrification, but had gotten their hands on what could be considered a strict upgrade instead—panacea. No complaints there. The issue, however, was whether there would still be enough panacea left for six people after curing all the villagers. The “(3)” attached to the end of the item name likely meant there were three uses contained in the bottle, but there were nearly forty villagers in total, adults and children combined, meaning that it would take thirteen bottles of panacea to cure them all. There was still plenty of freshly made panacea left in the bowl, but filling thirteen bottles would likely use up the majority of it. Yuuma expected Kisanuki to suggest just abandoning the villagers and taking all the panacea for themselves, but since returning to the village, he had been strangely distracted and quiet. Yuuma decided to just start treating the villagers and hope that everything worked out. Kenk, Sawa, and Nagi had empty bottles as well, so they filled up all four, returned to the first floor, and made their way first toward Harlin’s parents, out in the plaza. Harlin’s parents were huddled next to each other, petrified. Naturally there was no way to make them drink the panacea, but according to Harlin, the panacea would work whether it was drunk or applied directly on their bodies, so Yuuma and Sawa held their bottles close to the shoulders of Harlin’s parents and slowly, ever so slowly, began to pour. After about one-third of the liquid in the bottles was gone, the bodies of both parents began to faintly glow. Color began to return to the two gray bodies before their very eyes. Their hair and their clothing lost its stiffness, cascading downward softly, while light returned to their eyes, which had previously been like dead stone orbs. The two awkwardly blinked several times. Harlin’s mother and father didn’t seem to know what had just happened, but once they saw Harlin standing nearby, their faces crumpled. “Daddy! Mommy!” Harlin shouted, diving into their open arms.