40 – A Choice

Alan sat beside a bed, looking at a small clear glass vial in his hand. That thing is only enough to hold one sip of liquid.

"Matilda's Potions." A gray-haired female healer commented, looking at Haruna lying on the bed. She had just checked the female rogue's condition. "A potion that can transfer all kinds of poison from one person to another."

"Yeah, I know that. I felt the effect firsthand."

The healer resumed. "If the potion has absorbed the poison in your body but is not taken by someone else immediately, then the potion will creep into your body, spreading poison to your body again. I wonder how she got the potion. Nobody even has the recipe anymore."

"Well, I don't know either." Alan felt no need to explain the truth that some random potions were given to them when they first came to this world. "So, how is her condition, madam?"

The healer sat down in another chair. "I've already given her the most powerful painkilling potion. But as time passed, the potion's effectiveness decreased every time she drank it. Ultimately, it won't work anymore. Or you can give her another berserker potion to temporarily quench her thirst."

Alan rubbed his face. "Is there really no cure for this?"

"Well…." The healer looked up, silent for a moment. "You can make an elixir. I can sell you the ingredients, except for one; leaf of life."

Alan's brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Because the emerald forest is the only place to get it." The healer wore a bitter smile. "Even before the apocalypse, people had a hard time getting that leaf."

"Ah, that thing is not raised to the sky." Alan massaged his forehead. "The governments of this world have priority over what they take to the sky, huh?"

"That forest is so vast, after all. Unless you dare to descend below, forget it." The healer looked at Haruna again. "You better do what you have to do. I'm just saying. Dying is better than getting that pain. In the end, she will try to kill herself because she can't take it anymore."

Alan clenched his fists. He couldn't accept this. What kind of man would he be if he let the woman who had saved him suffer?

"Please tell me the location of the emerald forest and how to get the leaf of life, madam" Alan looked down. "I will do anything to save her."

He then raised his head, giving the healer a look of full determination.

"Damn it." The healer took a deep breath. "You look like you'll kill me if I don't tell you this."

"Please." Alan used a firmer tone. "Maybe I'm really going to kill you if you don't say it."

"Okay then." The healer chuckled and shrugged. "I will also tell you some things about the Elixir and its ingredients."

"Thank you."

***

Alan, Celia, and the other members gathered on the outskirts of town for a 'funeral' ceremony at night. More than half of the people living in that house had died.

Those who survived stood on the edge of the land, some shedding tears. They had just dumped the bodies of their friends down.

Since people live in the sky, they prefer to throw the deceased down just like that. Lands are very limited, after all. In addition, burning corpses is taboo for them. It is believed that it can prevent the spirits of the dead from going to heaven.

The guild members didn't want their cremation ceremony to anger the other citizens.

"They will go west according to the information from Haruna." Alan, standing a few feet behind those people, muttered. "But I'm not going with them."

Celia didn't answer and just looked at the remaining guild members. This time they all cried and hugged each other.

"Going west is something that is not certain. We don't have any information about what's in there." Alan continued. "Meanwhile, I have details regarding the materials for making an elixir, the thing that can heal Haruna. There is one ingredient that you have to get from somewhere. It's up to you to join them…"

"I will come with you, Al." Celia interrupted her friend's words with a firm tone.

"You should know, Celia," Alan said in a cold tone. "This mission may be very dangerous. We have to go down below. Who knows what kind of terrible monsters we will encounter...."

"I told you. I will come with you." The female fighter cut Alan's words again.

The young mage glanced at Celia, finding a look full of determination from her. With just that, Alan knew that his argument would be useless.

"Suit yourself." Alan closed the conversation.

Celia gulped hard and decided not to speak anymore.

***

A woman in a black mask landed on a land and immediately approached a body wrapped in a white cloth. There were some bloodstains on that thing.

When she opened the top part of the wrapper a bit, she found someone's face covered in wounds.

"Finally, I found you, Sigmund." She sighed. "But you were lucky to land here instead of below."

And then, she stood up, moving her hands in a specific pattern.

"You don't deserve to die like this, Sig." The woman continued. "You still have much to do to fulfill the goddess Ode's wish. We need you."

The man's body lifted slightly upward on its own.