Chapter 20: The Pharmacist and the Hunting Festival

Chapter 20:
The Pharmacist and the Hunting Festival

 

FROM INSIDE THE DRUGSTORE, I smelled a delicious dinner cooking in the kitchen. I glanced outside; it was already basically nighttime.

I wonder what’s for dinner today.

I started closing up quickly, eager to relax and eat…only for a young girl to come into the store just before I could lock up.

“Reiji?” It was the beautiful elf girl, Ririka, Kururu’s little sister.

Kururu had evidently been quite busy lately; he hadn’t dropped by the store in some time. On the other hand, Ririka popped up now and then.

“What’s up?” I asked her, annoyed. “I’m closing.”

She headed toward the counter. “No need to be so mean about it.”

“If you’re gonna visit, I’d appreciate it if you did it earlier.”

“I have stuff going on during the day, all right?”

“So, what’s the deal? Try to keep it short.”

“There’s going to be a hunting festival in the forest soon.”

“A what?”

“Basically, an annual contest to see who can hunt the most monsters and animals. No magic’s allowed, so the best archer wins.”

Hrm…I see. I glanced at Ririka.

She blushed slightly. “My brother’s an amazing archer, right? Every year, he ends up winning. This year, though, he’s organizing things, so he won’t compete. That means I’ll be a contestant, but I’m not very good with a bow.”

“Before you continue, let me set you straight—I can’t create a medicine that’ll make you good at archery.”

“Th-that isn’t why I’m here! Don’t be rude.” Seemingly hurt, Ririka turned away from me.

“What’s the deal, then?”

“Can you…prescribe something that’ll help me win, even though I’m a poor archer?” she asked quietly.

Is she kidding? That’s an even more difficult request than “make me good at archery”! “Like hell!”

“B-but why not?! You prescribed my brother medicine that let him hit a bullseye every time! I know all about it!”

“I’ve never created anything like that,” I replied. “All I did was make him some eye drops. They cleared his vision up a bit and made it easier to aim.”

How is it that, almost every time I produce a medicine, people seem to misunderstand its core purpose?

“Have you ever considered having your beloved brother train you in archery?” I added. “There’s no need to rely on medicine for this.”

“My brother treats me like a child. ‘Archery’s too difficult for you,’ he says over and over. So, I don’t want to rely on him.”

“You’d rather fix your problems with medicine, though?”

Ririka stared at the drugstore shelf silently, nodding without making eye contact.

“But what’s the point of that kind of victory?” I asked. “I personally think that if you work hard at archery but lose anyway, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I want to show Kururu up! By winning the hunting festival, I’ll prove to him that he was wrong to treat me like a child. I’ll really impress him!”

Hrm. I crossed my arms. Ririka normally acted tough, but now that she’d showed her true feelings, I started seeing her side of things. She’d already done her best to improve, but nothing had worked. I was her last resort.

It might’ve been unfair to the other competitors, but at the end of the day, I wanted to help her out. It wasn’t like there was a cash prize or anything for winning. To put it bluntly, all that came with victory were bragging rights and the nebulous concept of honor.

“All right, I get it,” I said. “I’ll help you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But there’s no way I can give you a prescription without knowing how good you are with a bow. I also can’t create magic medicine that’ll guarantee that you get first place or become a better archer. Got it? All I can make is something to help you along the way.”

“I understand.”

That was how I decided to help Ririka win the hunting festival.

 

***

 

The next morning, Noela and I headed to the part of the forest where Ririka always trained.

“Morning, Reiji, Noela!”

“Good morning.”

“G’morning.”

After we exchanged greetings, Ririka pulled back her bowstring and released it.

Swoosh! The arrow flew past the target some twenty meters away, striking the mountain of sand behind it. She shot a second and third arrow. Neither hit the target.

“I-If you have something to say, just say it!” Ririka cried. “I-I know I stink.”

“I didn’t think anything like that,” I replied. “Show me your hands.”

She tried to hide her hands; I grabbed them. “Hey, wait, stop!”

I examined the painful-looking blisters all over Ririka’s palms. How will she concentrate on hitting her target when her hands are in such bad shape?

“If it hurts, you should just say so.”

“It’s not like complaining’s going to make me a better archer.”

Jeez. She’s so hardheaded.

I’d brought a bunch of potions and energy drinks for this very purpose. “Noela, grab me a potion.”

“Grr?”

Noela was sitting on the picnic blanket we’d laid on the ground, being good. She was drinking the potion I gave her every morning; savoring it had become a favorite ritual of hers.

Noela passed me a bottle from my bag. I had Ririka drink it.

“This stuff’s great at stopping blood loss and healing superficial wounds,” I explained. “It should also work well on blisters.”

“I didn’t say my hands hurt.”

“Just do me a favor and accept the act of kindness like a good girl.” I stepped away.

Ririka resumed her training. Just like I’d expected, with less pain in her hands, about one in five arrows struck its mark. “Well, look at that. You can hit the target now.”

“That’s always been the case,” Ririka retorted. “It’s not like I missed every single shot.”

Still, it was true that she wouldn’t hit a monster running through a thick forest anytime soon.

Noela had apparently grown bored. She picked up Ririka’s spare bow and a single arrow.

“You know how to use that thing?” I asked.

“No.” Imitating Ririka, she pulled the bowstring back and fired an arrow. The projectile zoomed through the air and hit the bullseye.

“Aarrooo! Master! Hit! Hit!” Noela’s tail swished back and forth.

“Whoa! Awesome, Noela!” I patted her head.

“H-how’d she hit it dead center so easily?!”

“Garrooo!” Noela held her head high. She shot yet another arrow, and once again struck the bullseye. “Garrooo! Bow fun, Master!”

The werewolf girl fired arrow after arrow. I saw the determination fading from Ririka’s eyes as she watched the display.

“I think you’re about to break that little elf’s heart, Noela. Actually, it’s already broken. You gotta stop.”

“No, it’s fine,” Ririka sat down and held her knees sadly. “I’m just a worthless, talentless, garbage elf.”

Here we go. I did my very best to cheer her up, finally persuading her to give training another shot. The next step was for Ririka to show me the distance she could guarantee a bullseye from.

“Huh? From there?” I winced.

“Y-yeah. Got a problem with that?”

She’s literally five meters from the target! In a classroom, that’d be something like three desks. I didn’t really have a problem with that, so much as I was shocked that Ririka thought she could win the competition.

No, calm down. You promised to help her. You gotta do something! Hm…it’s not like wild beasts will just trot up close to her so she can hit them. And they certainly aren’t gonna sit still. So, what can I do…?

“Ah!” I exclaimed. “That’s it!”

“What is it?” she asked. “Did you figure something out?”

“I’d like you to practice with a short bow, Ririka.”

She was holding a normal bow. If she could only hit targets from five meters away, however, she didn’t need a long-range weapon.

“No way. Those’re for kids.”

“Are you in any position to argue, considering your skill level?”

“Ugh…” My strategy somehow got a reluctant okay from Ririka, despite her clear distaste for it.

I continued explaining my plan. “The idea is to raise your skill level with a short bow, so that you can always hit your mark within a few meters.”

“And victory will be mine!”

We nodded to one another and immediately got to work. Ririka headed home to grab a short bow, and Consultant Noela and I talked over the materials necessary for her order. Then we gathered fruit, flower nectar, and tree sap.

We returned to the drugstore, and I was able to mix the exact product I’d been shooting for; even Noela gave it her seal of approval.

 

Lure: Scent attracts monsters/beasts. Very powerful.

 

Ririka’s got this in the bag, I concluded.

 

Ririka’s Side

 

On the day of the hunting festival, about fifty familiar elves gathered. Everyone from young elves to older veterans were present. Why did people have to get so excited over an event that came around every year?

Now and then, Ririka heard laughter as people saw her armed with a short bow despite her age. The fluid Reiji had given her was at her hip. “Make sure you open the bottle in a clearing with good visibility,” he’d advised. “Then…”

Ririka still hadn’t used the lure herself, so her anxiousness was understandable. However, Noela gave the fluid her seal of approval, so the elf girl didn’t doubt its effects.

In the distance, Ririka spotted her big brother Kururu waving.

“I’m going to show you what’s what!” she muttered. “Just you watch!”

The start signal was given, and the elves all rushed through the forest at once. Their time limit was nightfall. Whoever took down the most creatures would be declared the victor; last year, Kururu managed to slay sixteen beasts on his own.

Ririka had to at least tie that number. She rushed through the woods, opening the bottled lure as soon as she arrived at a clearing.

Just like that, a wild dog appeared and advanced on her. “Garrooooo!”

“Whoa! I-It really worked?!” The wild dog’s fierceness took Ririka aback.

Then she remembered Reiji’s advice. “Stay calm. Lure them in. Once they’re within the range you practiced, let it rip.”

Now! she thought.

Swoomp! The arrow made a muffled sound as it flew a short distance and jabbed deep into the wild dog’s flesh.

“I did it!” Ririka exclaimed. One down.

Just as she started to feel relieved, the other wild dogs came running.

“Garrroooo!”

“Arrroooo!”

“Garoorrroooo!”

“Grrroooo!”

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Ungh…” Ririka grunted. “Stay calm. Lure them in. Once they’re in range, let it rip!”

From her hunting spot, Ririka could see her surroundings clearly. There were boulders and large trees in the area. If her prey headed her way, they would thread down the narrowest path. That meant that, no matter what, the terrain would force them into a straight line.

Ririka fired another arrow from her short bow. Swoomp!

The wild dog in front collapsed. A moment later, Ririka’s next arrow collided with the beast behind it.

“All you have to do is attract creatures with this lure, then draw your bow once they’re in range. That’s it,” Reiji had explained. “Don’t go looking for them. Let them come to you. Nice and simple, right? As long as you have this lure, they should run directly at you. That’ll make them easy to read and hit.”

Ririka shot the fourth and final wild dog, finally earning some time to catch her breath. “It’s just like Reiji said. He’s amazing.”

Ririka remembered his joking words: “Try not to get scared.”

She immediately responded aloud. “I’d never be scared of wild dogs!”

Rumble…rumble… It sounded like the ground itself was roaring.

Ririka narrowed her eyes. “What is that?”

Soon, the next creatures came into view, their paws slamming hard against the earth as they made their bloodthirsty way through the underbrush.

“Hmm…? Huh?! Th-there’re so many! This ‘lure’ stuff works way too well!”

She’d chosen her spot well, though—even in those numbers, the wild dogs and small monsters were forced to approach her one at a time.

“Stay calm. Lure them in. Once they’re in range, let it rip,” she whispered, shooting repeatedly into the front of the pack.

 

***

 

As for the results, Ririka came out on top of her debut hunting festival with a whopping eighty-nine kills. Every arrow found its target.

After receiving first place, she rushed into town to Kirio Drugs.

Ririka stopped for a moment and tilted her head. She’d competed to prove herself to her brother, yet the first person she wanted to tell about her victory wasn’t Kururu. She’d heard Reiji’s voice in her mind throughout the entire contest; he’d kept her going.

She wanted to tell Reiji that her win was all due to him and Kirio Drugs. Still, Ririka thought she might be too stubborn to get out an earnest “thank you.” Even if she did, Reiji would probably just smile and say something like, “That’s nice. Glad it worked.”

Her heart aflutter, Ririka peeked into the drugstore. “Is Reiji in?”

There were no customers, and Reiji sat with Mina at the nearby counter.

“What shelf should this go on, Mr. Reiji?” Mina asked.

“Oh, that? Let’s see.”

“By the way, Noela was…” Ririka couldn’t make out Mina’s words.

“Ha ha ha! For real?” Reiji laughed.

They seemed to work together beautifully. For some reason, seeing that caused a sharp pain in Ririka’s chest.

Zing, zing, zing!

There was a dull tinge to the pain that Ririka couldn’t put her finger on. She felt as though she was watching something she shouldn’t, yet seeing Reiji and Mina was nothing new. However much she thought it over, she couldn’t figure the feeling out. Her knees locked, freezing her in place.

Noela was just arriving at the drugstore when she noticed the elf. “What wrong, Ririka?”

“Ah…um…I wanted to thank Reiji, and…”

“Master! Ririka here!”

Noela made her way inside to fetch Reiji; he answered her.

Suddenly, as if some kind of magic had been undone, Ririka’s legs could move again. She’d come to see Reiji, yet now, she didn’t want to. She found herself running through town, her chest aching.

“What am I going to do? I… I…”

I think I’ve fallen in love.