Hell Mode: Volume 7, page 30
However, one of the children noticed something strange and raised their voice. “Hey, look. It looks like the fruits on the lower branches are gone.”
Helmios and the other kids looked around and saw that all the rico fruits were out of their reach. Apparently, they had already been harvested from the lower branches to prevent them from being picked by mischievous children.
“Then I guess we’re riding on each other’s shoulders,” Helmios said, having immediately come up with a solution.
Before they could put it into effect, however, Dorothy whispered to the group. “Everyone, hide!” All the children immediately crouched down on the spot. The six sets of eyes turned to see a man carrying long-handled pruning shears and a basket on his back, walking slowly down the path to the orchard.
“What should we do?”
“Maybe we should give up.”
As the children whispered among themselves, Helmios made a decision.
“This is probably because I was late, so I’ll act as a decoy. In the meantime, work in pairs and pick the fruits.”
“Hey!” Dorothy tried to argue, but Helmios put a stop to it.
“Don’t worry. Pick some for me too.” With that, Helmios started walking away, still hunched down. He circled around to flank the man coming toward the group, then stood up quickly and started running toward him.
When the man noticed this and came to a stop, Helmios started crying loudly.
“Waaah! I wanna go home!”
Seeing the man turn away from the rico orchard to look at Helmios, the rest of the children immediately got onto one another’s shoulders to harvest the fruit. Once they were tall enough and had picked as much fruit as they could reach, they got down from each other’s shoulders and moved on before climbing back up and picking even more fruit.
Meanwhile, the man stared at Helmios with a puzzled look on his face.
“Whose daughter are you? Wait, you’re the village’s—”
Helmios had seen this man, who had just confused him for a girl, before. This was the man who had accused him of stealing rico fruit the previous year.
An awkward silence fell over the two of them. During that silence, the boy carrying Dorothy on his shoulders got caught in the snow and lost his balance. Naturally, Dorothy, who was on his shoulders, was shaken around.
“Hey, what are you— Eek!”
Dorothy’s voice rang out, and the man reflexively turned toward it. Then looked down at Helmios with an expression of realization.
“I saw you last year too! I’m sure you stole my ricos, you little brat!” By the time the man shouted, Helmios had already broken into a run and was kicking up snow.
“I’ve been found out! Everyone run!”
“Helmios!”
“I’ll be fine, so hurry! Whoa!” The man caught up with Helmios and reached out to grab him, but Helmios lowered his body and dodged his hand, then sprinted toward the entrance to the orchard.
The other children took advantage of this opportunity to collect the rico fruit that had fallen to the ground and run in the opposite direction from Helmios. As they left the orchard, they regrouped with Helmios, who had made a wide turn and escaped.
When the children turned around, the man had stopped near the entrance to the orchard. As was the case last year, he did not seem to want to pursue them too far into the field, so he shook his head and returned to his farmwork.
“Well, that went well. Anyway, here’s your share, Helmios.”
Helmios took two rico fruits from Dorothy and put them in his jacket pocket.
“Thank you.”
“Huh? You’re not going to eat them?” Like the other children, Dorothy was nibbling on a rico fruit right then and there, and she wondered why Helmios was not doing the same.
“I’m a little out of breath. I’ll eat it later.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Returning to the residential area of Cortana Village, Helmios and his friends headed for Gatsun’s house. Gatsun’s parents ran a drug store, which was highly valued in this village where there was no doctor. As usual, many people were crowded in front of the store that also served as his home.
“Wow, there’s a lot of people here today too,” Dorothy commented.
“That probably means a lot of people are getting sick,” said Helmios.
Helmios and his friends went around to the back of the store. Dorothy reached for the front door, but Helmios blocked her.
“What?” she asked.
“Gatsun is sick. I’ll bring these to him.”
“Huh?”
“Y’know, ’cause I don’t get sick.”
Dorothy nodded, agreeing with him. None of the other kids objected either.
It was already close to noon, and it seemed like the rico fruit alone would not be enough for the hungry children. They decided that they were done for the day and, before dispersing, Dorothy gave Helmios two rico fruits for Gatsun. He accepted them and saw everyone off, then opened the door to Gatsun’s house as usual and walked through the silent house to Gatsun’s room.
“Hmm? Who is it?”
When Helmios opened the door, Gatsun, who was lying in bed, got up. He was larger than Helmios and had a stocky build for someone his age.
“Hey. I got you some rico fruit.”
“Huh... Sounds like you guys had some fun.”
Gatsun coughed and looked at Helmios enviously.
“You can come with us when you feel better. It was pretty difficult because we didn’t have our decoy.”
“Hey!”
“Kidding. This will make you feel better.”
Helmios sat down in a chair that he had brought next to Gatsun’s bed, quickly peeled off the skin of the rico fruit, and handed the pulp to Gatsun.
“Oh, thank you. Mmm! I’ve been forced to drink such bitter medicine that my tongue was about to go crazy!” Gatsun spoke excitedly as he ate the rico fruit, which had become sweeter due to the winter cold.
“Can you give me some of that medicine? Mom isn’t feeling well.”
“Ah. The starry grass one, right? I don’t know. Everyone was buying it because it’s good for epidemic diseases, and I think they said they ran out of stock.”
Helmios was taken aback by Gatsun’s response.
“Huh? So you can’t get it anymore?”
“Well, if there’s no starry grass...probably not. There are monsters living in the mountains to the west, so it’s dangerous to go and get it. We’ll just have to wait until it gets warmer and the adventurers come.”
Starry grass was said to be effective against all kinds of illnesses, but it only grew in highlands and was not readily available. Near this village, it only grew in the mountains where monsters lived, so it was necessary to ask for help from adventurers.
Unsure of what to do, Helmios peeled another rico fruit, gave it to Gatsun, and hurriedly left the boy’s house. Still feeling anxious, he hurried back to his own house, opened the front door, and climbed from the dirt floor into the living room.
“Dad, mom, look! I brought ric—”
His parents were not there, so he walked out into the hallway and headed to his parents’ bedroom. As expected, he could hear his mother’s coughing coming from within. He hurriedly opened the door and jumped inside.
“Hey, Kalea, pull it together!” Lucas said as he noticed his son. “Ah, Helmios, you’re back.”
“M-Mom? Mom?!”
Helmios saw his mother coughing violently as his father rubbed her back, a blanket soaked in her blood.
“Look after your mother! I’ll go buy some medicine!”
After saying this to his stunned son, Lucas ran out of the room with a sense of urgency.
“M-Mom.”
Helmios did not know what to do, but he felt that he had to support her, so he approached his wheezing mother. Kalea wiped her mouth, looked up, and smiled at Helmios, but she quickly turned stern when she saw the rico fruits in his hand.
“Where’d you get those?” she demanded to know.
Helmios wondered for a moment what to do with his hands. Knowing that he should not lie to his mother, he spoke honestly.
“I’m sorry. I wanted you to eat...” the boy confessed.
“Come here.”
Helmios obediently obeyed his mother’s command and stood by her bedside. Her hand suddenly reached out toward the top of his head, and he instinctively flinched, thinking that she was going to hit him. But her hand gently stroked his head instead.
“You’re truly a good child, Helmios,” she said. “But no matter how much you need it, you mustn’t steal what others have worked so hard to raise. That goes against the will of Lord Elmea, who created this world.”
Helmios’s mother spoke in such a calm voice that he could not believe she had been coughing up blood just moments ago.
“Growing fruit, using a sword, making medicine, listening to the voice of God—Lord Elmea created this world to be harsh, but bestowed upon us enough power to live by helping each other. That power is what made us grow the rico fruit. Someone worked hard to grow it in hopes that it would help another person. If someone were to steal that fruit, they would be disregarding the grower’s power and the Talent that Lord Elmea gave them. It will stop people from helping each other. They’ll have no choice but to survive all on their own.”
Helmios listened to his mother in silence. Then, he realized that his mother probably would not live much longer.
“If that happens, the wonderful Talent you received from Lord Elmea will be for naught. I wouldn’t want that to happen.”
Helmios quietly wept at his mother’s words. At the very least, he hoped that she would live until his Appraisal Ceremony. What could he do to ensure that, though?
While the two of them were having their quiet conversation, Lucas returned, out of breath.
“Any luck?” Helmios asked, and his father shook his head silently.
“Tomorrow, I’ll go to the next village with the peddler as planned. There might still be medicine there,” he said slowly, as if trying to squeeze the words out. Helmios sensed more anxiety in his voice than he had expected there to be.
“That’s not enough!” Helmios shouted almost involuntarily. “How many days do you think that will take?! I’m going to ask the church!”
“H-Hey! The church is also—”
Despite his father’s protest, Helmios ran out of his house and headed to the Elmean church in the village.
Many villagers were inside the wooden church. From the entrance to the altar where the priest was, there was a line of sick-looking people and their attendants, confirming the story Helmios had heard from Gatsun that they had run out of medicine.
Dorothy, who was handling the line of worshippers, noticed Helmios rushing in and called out to him.
“What’s wrong, Helmios?”
“Dorothy! My mom! She needs to be healed by a priest.”
Seeing Helmios’s desperation, Dorothy panicked and called for her father, a priest. The priest came over from the altar to the entrance of the church and spoke to Helmios.
“You’re Helmios, aren’t you?”
“Please, my mom is in danger. Please come to my house and heal her,” Helmios begged with tears in his eyes, but the priest shook his head sadly.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that right now.”
“Why not?!”
“Look at all these people. They are suffering just like your mother.” The priest’s face turned pale as he said this, and there were dark circles under his eyes. His healing power was not limitless, and he had all but run dry.
Helmios looked at the line of people. He could see the fatigue and pain on their faces. There was no medicine in the village, and there was no hope for healing. Moreover, the priests were also exhausted.
Even if his father went to the next village, it would take him five days to get back. Was there even medicine in the neighboring village in the first place?
Suddenly, his mother’s words came to mind: “Lord Elmea created this world to be harsh, but bestowed upon us enough power to live by helping each other.”
Helmios looked up at the statue of Elmea displayed in the back of the church. The statue silently looked down at him.
“Even so, Lord Elmea...!” he said. He turned on his heel and ran home.
After passing through the front door, he picked up his father’s wooden training sword. He lifted it up and found that it was rather heavy, but the weight actually gave him courage.
“Mom, I’ll save you.”
Later that day, after putting Helmios’s mother to bed early, his father announced that he would be heading to the next village tomorrow as planned, saying that it was the only option they had left. Helmios nodded in response and also went to bed early.
The next morning, as the sun peeked over the eastern horizon, Helmios left the house. On his back, he carried a basket for medicinal herbs, and in his hand, he held a wooden sword. He overtook villagers going out to work in the fields, and once he had climbed over the village fence, he followed the wide road heading west.
This was not Helmios’s first time leaving the village. Until now, however, he had always been with his father. Still, he had no worries at all. It was the first cloudless morning in a while, and the air was still cold and dry, but instead of snow, the sunlight was falling and reflecting off the mountain slopes in the distance.
After walking for about an hour on the snow-white road toward the sparkling mountain, Helmios noticed something. As he looked around, he saw that some of the snow that had piled up a little off the road was slowly but surely moving. He readied his wooden sword, remembering what his father had told him: “There are monsters outside the village, so don’t leave the village without permission.”
Boing.
What appeared in front of a nervous Helmios was a horned rabbit. It stood up on its hind legs and looked around, its nose twitching, but now there was no wind and it did not seem to catch Helmios’s scent. It started kicking up the snow and running toward him, then dug up the snow on the roadside, found a new flower bud, and started munching on it.
Seeing this, Helmios suddenly thought that if he brought home this horned rabbit, they would have a truly glamorous dinner. Although he had seen horned rabbits before, he had never thought to try to catch one himself. Today, however, he was willing to try anything. He slowly approached the horned rabbit, one step at a time, careful not to make any noise.
When the horned rabbit looked up, Helmios was one step away. The moment it turned around in a panic, he swung his wooden sword down at its head. He could feel his weapon crush the hard skull beneath the horned rabbit’s white fur.
“Gyafu?!”
With a single cry, the horned rabbit stopped moving. Helmios let out the breath he had been holding, and in the next moment, he felt a strange power surge through his entire body.
“Whoa, what is this?” he asked aloud. When he tried to move his arms and legs, he noticed that they seemed lighter. Even the wooden sword moved much more quickly when he swung it.
Curious, Helmios buried the dead horned rabbit in the snow at the base of a nearby tree. No matter how much the sun shone, the piled-up snow would not melt. Thinking he could just dig it up and take it with him on the way home, he continued along the road that led west.
By the time he reached the foot of the mountain to the west, he had found and killed two more horned rabbits. When he had defeated the third one, his body had grown even lighter and he had become able to swing the wooden sword even more quickly. He had not yet learned about leveling up from his father, but he forged onward with high spirits, thinking that it might be a miracle bestowed upon him by the God of Creation to save his mother.
The sun was directly above Helmios when he reached the base of the mountain along the gradually sloping path. Despite having walked a route that would have taken an adult more than half a day to walk in just a few hours, he was not tired at all.
After taking a short break to eat the bread he had brought for lunch, he finally started climbing the mountain path. He walked for a while before entering a forest. The snow had piled up on the tops of the trees and was obscuring the sunlight, making the forest dark and cold.
“Um, if memory serves, it grows at the base of trees and glows.”
Remembering what Gatsun had told him, he searched for the grass that got its name because it apparently emitted light like twinkling stars.
“Oh? That must be...”
A blade of grass peeking out from the thin layer of snow caught his eye. When he bent down to look, he realized that it was not starry grass but a medicinal herb that he had seen hanging in Gatsun’s house.
Thinking he could use it for something, he picked it, put it in the basket on his back, and moved on. In continuing his search, he found plenty more medicinal herbs, but none of the starry grass he was looking for.
“It’s hard to find. Maybe it grows higher up?”
Helmios walked up and down the dark forest, picking the medicinal herbs he found. Before he knew it, he had climbed quite high. Though there was not much wind at the base of the mountain, he found that a strong gust would occasionally blow past him at higher altitudes. With each powerful gale, he heard snow falling somewhere within the forest.
Eventually, he saw a faint light up ahead. His heartbeat quickened.
As he approached the light while suppressing his excitement, he noticed that even though he was in a dimly lit forest, the roots of several trees were clearly glowing. He crouched down at the base of one and pushed aside the snow to reveal blades of grass with tightly curled buds, glittering like stars.
“This is it. The flowers haven’t bloomed yet, but it’s probably okay.”
Just as Helmios was about to reach for the starry grass, there was a sound similar to falling snow nearby. A figure approached him from behind. He quickly turned around, and the figure swung something down at him.
“Whoa!” Helmios managed to dodge the large sword blow, but he was immediately kicked in the stomach and sent flying backward.
