Hot Spring Yahagi suddenly became noisy that afternoon.
“Out of the way! We’ve got wounded!”
“We need four cups of recovery tea!”
It sounded like they’d brought in some injured adventurers. Worried, I went to have a look, but they weren’t serious injuries. I was relieved to see they healed with Miss Mirai’s recovery tea. However, one mage remained lying limp on the ground, not moving a muscle.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked a nearby adventurer.
“A Gas Ghost got her. Those things go straight for mages.”
As the name implied, they were gaseous ghosts. They were weak to fire-type magic, and if you defeated them, they’d drop at least a ten-thousand-rim coin. Of the monsters on B2, they were especially lucrative to go after, thanks to those factors. However, they seemed to be aware of their own weaknesses, so they targeted mages before anyone else. Also, they could prevent mages from reciting their spells by placing a silence curse on them. People who were possessed by them lost their strength and even their ability to talk.
I squatted next to the collapsed mage. The woman’s face was pale, and her lips were purple. She was trembling a little, and her condition didn’t improve even after drinking Miss Mirai’s recovery tea.
“Wait a sec. I got just the thing for you.”
Product name: Sour Kelp
Description: Kelp with vinegar-based flavoring. Cures silence curses upon consumption.
Price: One hundred rims
I fetched the item from my store and slipped a piece of the white-powdered Sour Kelp through her slightly open mouth. When it came to curing curses, the grape-flavored Powdered Drink Mix would have worked too, but it was a pain since you needed to dissolve it in water. Also, the Sour Kelp specifically helped with silence curses, so it was nice and easy.
“How are you feeling?”
The woman didn’t say anything. Uh-oh. Did it not work?
Then she suddenly started coughing. “Oh my god, it’s sour!” she sputtered. “What the hell is this?!”
“Oh, you can talk now.”
“Huh? Wow, you’re right!” The mage had successfully gotten her voice back and, thanks to that, I sold four Sour Kelps. I was happy that I’d made some decent sales, but Michelle, who had come to hang out at my shop, started to pout, turning her back to me.
When I went over to see what was up, she was using her Mobile Force Kian to single-mindedly beat the stone wall over and over again. I don’t think this is a part of her Mobile Force training...
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
There was no way it was just nothing. It looked like we needed to talk, but Michelle was a wanted criminal. She usually lived her life as the Shinigami Minerva, so we had to keep our lovers’ talk to a minimum.
I checked our surroundings. There weren’t any customers around right now, and the room was empty. We could at least talk a little. I gently poked her shoulder.
“Hey, tell me. Did I do something wrong?”
“You fed her that.”
“Fed her what?”
“The Sour Kelp. You fed a woman, and it wasn’t me.” So, she was pouting because I fed some kelp to a mage who had been cursed?
“I had to. She was basically sick.”
“I know...” Even so, Michelle’s Kian didn’t stop bashing the wall.
“Mister Yahagi! Lemme at that Rocket Bomb lottery.” Whoops, I got some customers now.
“Just hold on a second. Stay here,” I told her as I left to go tend to the customers. Afterward, I took one of my store’s products and brought it back to her.
“Minerva, stand up a bit and face me.”
“...What?”
“Here’s a little something from me. Say ‘aah’ and open wide.” I gently slid the Blueberry Cigar between her lips through the opening of her mask. Then I also took out one for myself and put it in my mouth.
(Don’t be angry anymore. Let this overwrite that bad memory. This is my new product, Blueberry Cigar.)
With Cocoa or Blueberry Cigars, you and anyone else holding one in their mouth could converse through thought alone.
(...)
(Now we can convey our feelings to each other without saying anything aloud. Are you still upset?)
(I’m not...)
Judging by the way she’d said that, she really wasn’t mad anymore.
(Still, I should’ve thought to use these Cocoa Cigars sooner. We could’ve talked to each other like this even in front of other people.)
(Yeah.)
(But let’s be careful. If anyone else holding a cigar in their mouth comes within a ten-meter radius of us, they’ll hear what we’re talking about.)
(You’re right.)
Even though we could finally talk to each other one-on-one, Michelle still didn’t have much to say. It felt more like shyness rather than pouting though. Oh right, Kian isn’t punching the wall anymore.
(Yusuke.)
(What’s up?)
(Sell me ten each of the Cocoa, Blueberry, and Cola Cigars. I want to stay like this forever.)
(Ha ha, thank you for your continued patronage! But I don’t need money. Just take them.)
(No.)
Michelle could be a stickler for obligations at some weird times. It appeared I would have to keep holding this cigarette-like snack in my mouth for a while longer. I feel like a chain smoker. It was far too sweet, in multiple senses of the word.