Chapter 159
Chapter 159 -- A 10 Year Old's Firm Resolution
"Sorry to keep you waiting . " I announced as Sui-chan and I re-entered the clearing .
"Oh, you're back-" Dora-chan was gliding in lazy circles above a recumbent Fer who raised his head to stare at me .
"Nuu, what took you so long?" Fer grumbled, quietly for once . It took me a few seconds to notice Darryl and Eris were both asleep, lying propped up on Fer's side . Well, they were just children and they had walked a long way in the forest before being chased for their lives by Orcs so it wasn't surprising they were tired . The fact they were using an S-ranked nation-destroying Fenrir as a comfy pillow was something else, of course . . .
Never mind . We were all done here . "Well then, ready to go back to Doran?"
"Umu . " Fer said quietly, swivelling his head around to check on the sleeping children and making sure they weren't being disturbed . I slung Sui-chan's bag across my shoulder and opened the flap .
"Get inside, Sui . "
"Yeah-" Sui-chan pyonged up and into his travelling bag . I looked at the two sleeping kids and sighed .
”It’s a shame to wake those two up but if we don't get going soon it'll be dark before we get back to Doran . " I gently shook them by their shoulders . "Eris, Darryl, sorry to wake you up but we're going back to town now . "
""Nnnn . . . "" The kids rubbed their eyes, obviously still tired .
“Darryl, Eris, I found some medicine that should cure your mother . ” I said . That brought them both completely awake in an instant .
“Uncle, is that true?” Darryl exclaimed .
“Will it really make mother well, Uncle?” Eris asked as both of them hugged me desperately . They both cared for their mother so much . . .
“You see, I thought I had some medicine that would cure your mother's disease but I had to search through my entire Item Box to find it . That's what took so long, sorry . " The children's eyes lit up and big smiles crossed their faces .
“But I can't simply give it to you . ” I added . When I said that they both froze and Eris' face fell like she was about to cry as I raised a finger .
“Darryl, you have one Orc right now, don't you?” I said .
" . . . Oh, yeah I do . " Darryl had caught on to what I was hinting at . I had given one of the Orcs Sui-chan and Dora-chan had subjugated to Darryl to hear his story so he now owned that Orc, not me .
“How about exchanging it?” I offered .
"The Orc, ah MY Orc in exchange for the medicine?" He made sure he understood what I meant before he offered payment . He would make a good Merchant if he decided on that career in the future, I reckoned .
"That's right . How about it?"
When I said that Darryl smiled widely and nodded . “Yeah, of course it’s okay” .
“Right then, there’s the medicine . " I handed him the bottle of Sui's Special Elixir (Degraded Version) . "I'm sure this will cure your mother's illness . Get her to drink it as soon as you get home . " I passed over the pot of egg rice porridge too . "This is a little extra free of charge . It's something that's easy to eat even for someone who's sick . You can eat it together with her . "
"My, my mother will get better . " Darryl whispered, tears floating in his eyes as his sister clung to him, staring at the bottle . They had had a hard time of it but now they had hope .
“Darryl, you said you had an Item Box? Put them in there where they'll be safe . "Darryl nodded and carefully put Sui's Special Elixir and the egg rice porridge in his Item Box .
“If the pot gets cold, warm it up before you eat it . ” I told him .
“If I put hot food in my Item Box, it doesn’t cool down that much so it should be okay . ” he said, sniffling and wiping his eyes with his sleeve . Afterwards he looked up at me .
“Uncle, thank you . " he said firmly . I patted his dishevelled hair to hide my embarrassment .
"Oniichan, is our mother going to get better?" Eris looked between me and her brother, unsure and uneasy, not fully understanding what was going on .
"Oh, yes . I got medicine from Uncle here that will cure her . "
"Really really? Yay! Yay! Mother's going to get better!" Eris jumped up and down happily . "Thank you, Uncle!"
I collected the five Orcs and put them away in my own Item Box . I'd get them disassembled at the Adventurers Guild tomorrow back in Doran and replenish our meat supply somewhat . Fer's haul from his hunt went into my Item Box too, several Cockatrices and a Rock Bird as well as some kind of large ostrich-like bird I had never seen before . Fer assured me it was good eating, whatever it was .
"Now let's all get back to Doran . " I announced . "Hey Fer, can you carry Darryl and Eris as well as me on your back?"
"Fun-" Fer said dismissively . "Two children and yourself, is that all? What sort of weakling do you think I am?"
Yeah yeah, if you say so Fer . Let's get going shall we? I got on Fer's back then Eris climbed up in front of me while Darryl sat behind, obviously excited to be riding on the big white fluffy thing . "Eris, make sure you hold onto Fer properly . " I looked back over my shoulder . "Darryl, you hang on my waist so you don't fall . " They both acknowledged my instructions .
"Fer, go slower than you usually do . " I told him telepathically . His normal rate of progress when I was riding alone on his back would have dislodged the children in an instant .
"I got it . " Fer ran back to the city of Doran but much slower than usual . Saying that it was still a lot faster than I could have managed on foot . At the city's gatehouse I showed my Adventurers Guild card to gain admittance while Darryl and Eris had resident cards which let them back inside the city's walls .
"Where is Darryl and Eris's home?" I asked as we passed through the gate .
"Not too far from here, near the wall . " Darryl answered . Oh, near the wall? That was the place poor people lived, wasn't it?
"Do you want us to take you there?" I offered .
"No, it's okay because it's close . " Darryl said .
"I see . " I asked Fer to kneel down and the two children climbed off . We looked at each other for a moment, then before I could say anything Darryl spoke .
"Uncle, I'm not going to be an Adventurer like my father when I grow up . Instead I'm going to be a Merchant who can make a good living . Adventurers are poor a lot of the time and, well, my father-" he shrugged .
"When I'm 13 I can apply to the Merchants Guild to become an apprentice to a Merchant in this city . I have my Item Box skill so I think I can do well as a Merchant . I will definitely have my own store someday and I'll be able to make Eris and mother happy, I swear . " He looked down for a moment, then he faced me again .
"I will surely repay this debt I owe you someday, Uncle . Can you wait until then?" I looked down at him from Fer's back, seeing the determination of a ten-year-old boy to take care of his mother and his sister . He had cried after being chased by Orcs but the eyes that looked back at me now were filled with nothing but sure resolution .
"Well . . . ah, no hurry, I can wait . " I told him, unsure what to say . He had obviously seen through my attempt to trick him into exchanging the Orc for the medicine so he wouldn't feel indebted . Was he really only ten years old? Maybe I'm just not as cunning as I thought I was . "Thank you very much, uncle . " Darryl said, bowing his head to me .
"Thank you, uncle!" Eris chimed in .
Then the two of them held hands and went off in the direction of their home .
"Darryl, Eris, I'll do my best too . " I murmured in the direction of the two small backs . I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, sniffling for some reason .
"Snort . . . Uhh . . . "
Fer looked round at me . "Huh, what are you crying for?"
"Sniff . . . . whaddya mean? I'm not crying, I just got some grit in my eyes . " Stupid Fer . I never cry, a man never cries, ever . Dora-chan came flying down and hovered in front of my face .
"Hey, you really are crying . Wow!"
"I'm not crying, I told you . I just got something in my eyes like I said . " You're too noisy Dora-chan .
"So you cry when you get stuff in your eyes?" Dora-chan said, dodging left and right to try and see past my hands . He blinked, the nictating eyelids of his own reptilian eyes flickering back and forth . "Weird . "
Yeah, well Dora-chan, you're not a human, you're a Dragon . You wouldn't understand how we feel sometimes . I looked back but the two small figures had disappeared around a corner . Darryl, you're the main pillar of your family now . I'm sure you'll do your best to look after Eris and your mother .
Feeling relaxed, I told Fer to take us back to our inn .