Chapter 3 – HOT SPRING
「Onii-chan, over here!」
「Hanna-chan, wait up…」
Today, Jin and Hanna are hiking together… or rather, they came to the mountains to harvest medical herbs.
「Haa… haa… Hanna-chan sure is lively…」
「Yep!」
As expected from someone who grew up here, the foundation of her physique seemed to be different to Jin. Although, Jin had the handicap of carrying the basket.
Furthermore, when he was transferred, his physical strength, stamina, and all that for the supplemented parts of his body that was burnt to tatters were reset to their initial values. In other words, those parts were reverted to the state before his training and the person in question did not notice that.
「Haa… finally reached the top…」
A slightly elevated mountain to the north of the village. The elevation is probably about 200 metres. After an hour of climbing, the scenery came into view.
「Look, there’s the village!」
The wind blew Hanna’s hair while she pointed into the distance, there he could see a small Kaina Village.
「Ohh, this is a good view」
「Of course!」
The area around the summit is a prairie and looking down, one could get a clear view of the village. Looking back towards the north is a range of tall snow mountains.
「Ahhh, so there’s an abundance of water because of this snow」
Although it seemed like a land with little rain, because of the snow on the tall mountains there is plenty of underground water, is what Jin assessed.
And to the west.
「… a bare mountain, huh?」
There was one mountain where neither grass nor trees grew. Looking closely, the mountain surface was yellow in some places and something like steam rose form there.
「Could that be a volcano?」
was what he thought when Hanna,
「Onii-chan, here, take this」
returned with a lot of medical herbs.
「This is a medical herb?」
「Yep. You grind it up and apply it to wounds. Drying this one here will make medicine」
It seems to be called a salve and decoction. Jin used what Hanna had brought as a sample to search for medical herbs.
The two were able to harvest the target amount immediately. Although they were prohibited from being greedy and taking too much.
「Well then, shall we have lunch?」
「Yeah!」
Bread and a fruit like an apple. He shared it with her and ate.
「It’s delicious」
「Yes it is. As expected, eating it in this place makes no difference」
Jin observed the volcano and its topography while eating. Hanna noticed where he was looked.
「Onii-chan, are you looking at the Mountain of Death」
「Mountain of Death?」
「Yep. The birds that approach the mountain fall down. Sometimes there’s also a strange smell. The adults said it was 『Miasma』」
「Miasma?」
Volcano gas. Hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide is poisonous to living things that inhale it. It isn’t funny even with that kind of name.
「I see, it’s alright as long as we don’t get close to it. Well then, let’s go home」
「Yeah!」
The objective to harvest the medical herb was finished and having just eaten lunch, they slowly descended. Dangerous beasts don’t appear in this region so it is an important harvesting ground for the village.
「Also demons won’t appear」
Because from the story he heard from Martha, at the time of the 『Magic War』, it seems that most of the demons and beasts that lived on this continent were destroyed. The remaining demons retreated to the north.
「We’re home grandma」
「Welcome back Hanna, Jin」
Martha welcomed us home.
「Ah, you’re covered in sweat」
「Go fetch some water over there and wipe your body.」
「Yesss」
Hanna quickly took off her clothes and began wiping her body. She was only 8 years old and Jin was able to watch her calmly. Jin had bathed the children at the orphanage and he was not fazed. There wasn’t any feeling of them growing up.
「After all, I want to take a bath」
Although drawing water is now easier with the installation of the pump, fuel is valuable. It is a luxury to be able to bathe in hot water.