I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 111
CHAPTER 111
What’s this?
I furrowed my brow as I watched about a dozen black shadows rushing towards me.
Yet, I weakly summoned the power of Sylphid on my arms.
I didn’t want all my energy to drain out in one go like the first time I used it, so just a little.
Then I swung my arms.
Whoosh!
“Ahh!”
A strong wind blew, causing the dozen shadows charging at me to stumble backward.
“Ugh.”
“Oh my….”
Groans could be heard all around.
What ghosts?
They’re human.
They were people wearing worn robes with a certain blue pattern inverted.
From small to large frames.
As I scanned the fallen people, my gaze narrowed.
“What’s going on with the Rath Tribe here?”
The Rath Tribe.
A tribe that didn’t stay in one place but roamed across many countries.
Approaching lost travelers to show them the way.
Offering advice to those in need based on various experiences.
Skilled in various herbs, they also treated people’s illnesses.
So in remote villages without physicians or herbalists, it was common to invite the Rath Tribe.
‘But the most famous are the prophets, of course.’
Once every few hundred years, even thousands.
A person who could prophesize the future was born in the Rath Tribe.
So many leaders sought prophets.
But they were so rare, and since the Rath Tribe was spread across several continents, they couldn’t be found.
Moreover, the prophets looked no different from ordinary people, so even within the tribe, there were cases where they didn’t know each other.
So they became legends.
‘If I hadn’t heard it from Goddess Detmé, I would have thought it was just a legend.’
Since I’ve never seen one.
“What’s strange about us being here?”
A person wearing a robe with the Rath Tribe emblem spoke up.
It was a somewhat rough voice.
“Indeed, the Rath Tribe can go anywhere.”
“That’s true, but you haven’t come to this region before, have you?”
Not everyone welcomed the Rath Tribe.
With unfamiliar people flooding into territories, various problems arose.
So some local lords rejected the Rath Tribe, and this lord here was one of them.
“The Rath Tribe that sets foot here will likely be whipped and expelled.”
“…We know that too.”
A brief reply came back, and I furrowed my brow.
Wait, something’s odd.
‘They attacked knowing they would be whipped and expelled?’
Even attacking a noble like me?
I may have dressed relatively comfortably, but my clothes still differed from those of commoners.
So they couldn’t have been unaware that I was a noble.
‘Moreover, the Rath Tribe tends to avoid causing disturbances as much as possible.’
Just causing trouble would result in punishment.
If those who supported them turned away, the consequences wouldn’t be trivial.
Yet, they attacked…
Ah.
I roughed up my face with an irritated touch.
To have missed this after resting for a few years!
“What are you doing?!”
I grabbed roughly onto the hem of the robe of the person who was responding to me, stepping closer.
“Don’t! Stop it!”
As the person caught in my grasp struggled, others rushed in to try to restrain me.
But their hands fell weakly to their sides before they could even reach me.
Eyes unsure whether to hold me or not.
And bandages peeking through the robes.
I gritted my teeth.
“I said stop it!”
“Stay still!”
At my shout, the people around momentarily flinched.
“When did this start?”
I asked, brushing my hair back.
“When did you contract Rigonta’s disease?!”
The eyes of the man whose robe I had grabbed widened at my words.
“You, you know about this disease?”
“I do, indeed.”
How could I not?
I had once died from this disease.
Rigonta’s disease.
A horrific illness that caused the flesh to rot gruesomely from the surface, gradually penetrating deep into the body.
The bigger issue here was that it was a highly contagious disease.
‘If someone with this disease appeared, the entire village would be quarantined.’
But the villagers who weren’t infected wouldn’t appreciate that.
So before they could be found out by others or lords.
They expelled the patients from the village.
Those who were expelled from where they lived ended up in mountains, deep forests, and places where no one lived.
They wandered until they died.
‘So that’s why they were here.’
Certainly, these people must have been expelled from their tribe.
Avoiding others, fleeing from monsters.
They settled in abandoned houses where no one came.
And that attracted rumors of them being murderers or ghosts.
“…….”
I pressed my fingers to my forehead.
After gnawing on my lips for a while, I finally managed to speak.
“There must be a cure for Rigonta’s disease.”
I couldn’t just leave it as the disease that killed me.
After succumbing to Rigonta’s disease and dying, I spent a long time developing a cure for the disease.
Next to Nectar, the Rigonta’s cure was the longest and most effort-consuming.
“Why didn’t you take the medicine?”
“Do you think we just wanted to get kicked out?!”
Someone else shouted.
It was a resentful, almost accusatory tone.
“We knew there was medicine and we wanted it! But how could we afford it, not just a few pennies?!”
“What?”
That can’t be right.
Admittedly, compared to other medicines, Rigonta’s cure was expensive.
Both in terms of ingredients and the labor involved.
But it couldn’t have been unaffordable.
‘After all, I personally decoded the formula for this medicine.’
When I completed the formula for the Rigonta’s cure.
It was just before the candle of my life went out.
So, I handed over the formula to a trustworthy medical guild.
‘They monopolized the medicine and profited from it.’
When I saw patients buying the medicine at more than ten times the agreed price, I grabbed their collars.
[Rigonta’s Cure Formula]
The very next day.
The formula for the medicine was plastered in the middle of the square where herbal shops and other medical guilds gathered.
The medical guild rushed over, but it was too late.
The formula had already spread far and wide.
Thanks to that, the monopoly and profiteering came to an end.
‘And yet, the medicine is still expensive?’
I narrowed my eyes, waiting for the next words.
“It’s not just the medicine. After taking it, you have to stay in a treatment center for a long time… How are we supposed to afford that?”
“Even if we want the medicine, they won’t sell it.”
Ah, these guys.
Hearing the continuation, I slapped my forehead.
Right.
Renting an entire treatment center?
It wasn’t unreasonable.
Since Rigonta’s disease was contagious, it was better to be safe.
Staying in a treatment center for a long time was expensive?
That wasn’t unreasonable either.
If you had to hire someone to take care of you, it wouldn’t be just a few coins.
Add to that the expensive medicine, and it might be a price most people would give up treatment for.
But.
Was all of that necessary? I asked myself.
‘The answer is no.’
Certainly, a brief isolation after taking the medicine was necessary.
But as long as you avoided contact, that was enough.
Just staying in your room was sufficient.
By unlocking the medicine formula, the monopoly was broken.
Now they were adding extra costs to the medicine.
“Ugh…”
These bastards.
Humans were getting more and more advanced.
“For now, all of you. Take off your robes.”
“…What?”
“Untie the bandages around your bodies too. If you wrap Rigonta’s disease with bandages or cloth, it only gets worse.”
The man who had been listening to me blankly twisted his face.
Thwack!!
He slapped my arm loudly, then screamed.
“Why should we listen to you?!”
“Because I’m going to cure your disease.”
I brushed my hair back and looked at the patients.
“Listen well.”
I won’t say it twice.
“Follow my orders without question. I won’t accept ‘I don’t want to,’ ‘Why should I,’ or anything like that.”
I lifted my arm and stared intently.
“Take them off.”
“….!!”
Where was their courage to attack me?
The patients began to step back.
One who was already farthest from me was running toward the forest.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
Thud!
Using Gnome’s strength, I blocked the path, then step by step, approached.
“If you don’t want to undress, I’ll undress you myself.”
I’ve nursed a couple of times, you know?
I’d tear off those filthy robes and burn them to ashes.
I’d wipe their bodies clean with towels soaked in clean water.
And lay them down on clean sheets, dried crisp in the sunlight!
Yaaargh!!