Books of Chrona

Volume 11: What Sells a Book?

While Syrenne made some preparations for the trip, the three of them waited for her. She packed the root crops inside a large rucksack. When the rucksack was full, she planned to carry it on her back. She wasn't able to lift it off the ground.

"I'll… carry that…" Kryllo stood up and offered to help her.

"Oh, thank you."

He tried to put the rucksack on his back, but when he tried to move, he fell down on his face due to the heaviness of the root crops.

"Are you all right?" Syrenne immediately knelt down to tend to him. 

"So, he's that weak when he is not in berserk, huh?" Jaegar continued to drink his tea.

"I guess it's up to me, then." Brittanya stood up and easily took the rucksack off Kryllo's back using only one hand. "Don't worry Syrenne, I'll make sure we can safely bring these crops to Zokahelm." Brittanya smiled at her.

"Wow. You're really strong for a mage, Brittanya." Syrenne stood up and dusted her skirt. "Well, we can leave now, I guess."

Brittanya laughed at Syrenne's remark. "This is child's play for the greatest mage in world."

Jaegar stood up from his seat. "Hey greatest mage, can you kick Kryllo to make sure he isn't sleeping on the floor?"

---

The party, together with Syrenne, exited the southern gate of Dosael and headed towards Zokahelm. The way towards that town requires people to pass a few grassy planes and a small forest. While they were walking through the planes, Jaegar was on the lookout for possible hiding places of the bandits.

"There aren't any places those bandits can hide and ambush us in this area."

"There is a forest we need to pass through before we can reach the town." Syrenne looked at Jaegar to address his concern. "That would be the possible place where those bandits can lie in wait."

"I see. You really are a merchant, since you're that aware of your destination."

"Actually, I'm not yet a member of the Merchant Union, so I can't call myself a real merchant yet." Syrenne let out a weak laugh.

"Why can't you call yourself a merchant even though you're not a member of the Merchant Union?" Brittanya casually asked her, while carrying the heavy rucksack of root crops on her back like it was a bag of light clothing.

"It's the same for all the eight Job Class Organizations." Jaegar answered without looking at Brittanya. "You can only claim to be a certain Job if you are part of their Organization. That's just the rule." Jaegar paused. "Though I think that's stupid."

Syrenne faced Brittanya and smiled at her. "I'm sure the Mage Academy is happy to have you as one of their mages."

Brittanya forced a smile and looked away without answering.

"The… forest…" Kryllo pointed towards in front of them. "And… bandits…" The bandits came out of hiding one at a time, as the party was slowly reaching the forest.

"Hey." One of the bandits, wearing a red bandana on his head and holding out a knife that was sheathed, stood in front of the party to block their way. There were ten bandits standing behind the one with the red bandana, waiting near the forest. "Hand over whatever that is you're carrying and all your money."

Brittanya walked faster so she could be in front of the party. Syrenne was now standing behind her. Jaegar was beside Syrenne while Kryllo was behind everyone. Brittanya dropped the rucksack to the ground.

"Just to make sure." She looked straight at the guy with the red bandana. "Are you the leader of your bandit group?"

"Bandits? We're just guards." He sneered at her. "Everyone needs to pay if they want to pass through here." Some of the bandits behind him started laughing.

"Well then, here's my payment." Brittanya grabbed the rucksack of root crops and swung it on the guy in front of her and hit him. "Surprise Plant magic attack!" The guy flew towards the forest, past the other bandits. She looked at the other bandits. "You guys want some payment, too?" Almost all of them shook their heads and started to run away. But before they could go far, they all collapsed on the ground.

Syrenne let out a sigh of relief. "What did you do to them, Brittanya?"

"Umm. Nothing."

---

The party hurriedly went inside the town of Zokahelm. They told the people guarding the gates that the bandits collapsed in the forest, and then introduced themselves as the ones who brought the root crops. The guards pointed them towards the town clinic. Once they entered the clinic, they were met by a woman wearing clergy's clothes.

"Hi, are you here to meet the doctor?"

"Yes. Actually, we brought the root crops that he requested from Dosael." Syrenne opened the rucksack.

"Ah, yes of course. Please come inside."

Once inside, they saw a person wearing a long, white coat, attending to people who were lying down on beds. There were about 8 beds inside the clinic, all of them occupied by a person.

"Excuse me, but are you the one who ordered the root crops from Dosael?" Syrenne politely asked the person in the white robe. "We've brought all that is available from our farm."

The robed man turned around to greet them after tending to a person lying down. "Ah, yes. Thank you. I'm the doctor of this town, Arbent. As you can see, these people here are sick."

"Do you know what illness they have?" Brittanya asked the doctor after she placed the rucksack of root crops in the corner of the room.

"That's just it." The doctor shook his head. "We actually don't know what's causing this, or what the illness exactly is. We couldn't risk people go out of town and contract this illness, which is why we asked the root crops to be delivered to us. I'm sorry for the trouble."

Jaegar put both his hands behind his head. "If you don’t know what this illness is, then how did you find out the cure is these root crops?"

"Well, I was boiling the root crop to use it for other experiments, but when the first patient was brought here, I tried using it on him. After a day, he was able to move and then left here, like nothing happened." The doctor scratched his head. "So, it must have been effective. Without nothing to go on, this was the best solution we could go with." He let out a deep sigh. "Even the healers of the Holy Clergy that are in town couldn't do anything. I guess all they can heal are physical wounds."

"So, were there anything unusual that happened before people started getting sick?"

The doctor crossed his arms. "Actually, there is. The guards said that they sighted a large mushroom monster in the forest. They haven't seen that monster before, according to them."

"I knew a monster was involved!" Jaegar puffed his chest in vindication.

"I was… the one… who thought… of it…" Kryllo looked at Jaegar and pointed at himself.

"See?" Brittanya pointed at Jaegar. "You didn't even want to do this request, at first. Good thing I was the voice of reason."

"Will you do something about that monster?" The doctor cautiously asked the party.

"Once a monster is involved, we can't ignore it." Jaegar now thumped his chest.

---

The doctor invited the party to stay in his house that was connected to his clinic. The party decided to rest for the night and look for the monster the next day. Dinner was prepared by Syrenne using the ingredients graciously offered by the doctor. While eating, they talked about the request they accepted from the doctor.

"Maybe you should wait for us, before going back to Dosael?" Brittanya looked toward Syrenne, who was now pouring tea on each of their cups.

"Thank you for your concern. At first I was planning to go back after we delivered the root crops." Syrenne now sat down on her chair. "But now that I know the situation here, I can't just leave." She stared at her cup while holding it with both hands. "I would like to help here while you guys are dealing with the monster. I'm sorry that I'm useless in battle." She smiled at Brittanya.

"No, it's alright. The three of us are enough to deal with that monster." She smiled back at Syrenne.

"Still, I'm surprised the healers from the Holy Clergy can't cure them." Jaegar interrupted the silence. "As far as I know, their healing magic can cure physical injuries and some conditions like poisoning and paralysis. This illness must be really something else."

"So… what are… doctors for…?" Kryllo curiously asked as he sip some tea.

"Well, for those that is something else."

"Can mages from the Mage Academy use healing magic as well?" Syrenne, with an eager look in her eyes, asked Brittanya.

Brittanya looked back at her then looked up. She was quiet for a while, then finally spoke up. "When I was studying there, I learned that mages are those who use Elemental magic: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Lightning, just to name a few. Those who can use support magic, like healing and barrier magic, are taken in by the Holy Clergy. As you already know, not everyone can use magic. Usually a person who can use magic can only use one type of elemental magic. When a person casts a magic spell, colored aura envelopes their body. The color of the aura indicates the type of spell they are casting, red for fire and so on. I heard that there are rare ones who can use two types, while others can use Arcane type magic." She paused for a moment. Then she faced Syrenne and smiled. "But they are no match for me, because I can use all types of magic!"

Jaegar just quietly looked at Brittanya the whole time. Kryllo was already dozing off.

---

The next morning, the three of them went out to the forest while Syrenne stayed behind in the clinic to help the doctor tend to people still inside.

"I wonder what this monster looks like." Brittanya has her finger on her chin while looking up.

"Probably its color is purple, since it's poisonous and all." Jaegar was in front of the two while walking.

"So, it… really is… poison…?" Kryllo was looking around the forest, with trees almost covering the skies and bushes growing everywhere.

Jaegar answered without looking back. "What else could it be?"

The bushes in front of them suddenly rustled. The party stopped moving, with their backs against each other. "What was that?" Brittanya alertly scanned the area. All the bushes surrounding them shook wildly. Then, one by one monsters came out of hiding.

"Slippery salamanders, wild wolves and grizzly bears? That mushroom must be one heck of an alpha to boss these guys around." Jaegar smirked while going into a stance, ready to jump out and attack. The monsters, furious and agitated, surrounded the party.

"I guess… we don't have… a choice…" Kryllo reached back at his shoulder, as if to grab something, but there was nothing there. "Oh… I don't have… a bow…"

Jaegar looked at Kryllo. "You're just going to smack it on the monsters, anyway." Then he swiftly punched and kicked the monsters one by one, sending them flying away or crashing to the trees.

During Jaegar's indiscriminate attack, a tree branch fell beside Kryllo. He picked it up. "This… will do..." He used it to smack away any monster that attacked him.

Meanwhile, Brittanya grabbed a bunch of leaves from the nearby bush. She then threw each leaf one by one quickly at each of the monsters approaching her in every direction. "Leaf slicing barrage magic that hurts!" Some leaves hit the head of the monsters, as if it was as sharp as a blade.

Most of the monsters went down due to the party's attacks, while the others started to run away. After a few moments, the monster attacks have stopped.

Brittanya dropped the excess leaves she had on her hands. "Glad that's over—" The ground started to shake. Loud footsteps were ringing throughout the forest. Then, a large mushroom monster with orange color, appeared in front of the party. Its short but big legs were the cause of the noise; its height is twice as tall as Jaegar.

"You finally decided to show up, huh." Jaegar started to run at the giant mushroom, winding up his punch. "Time to finish this—" He then quickly fell to the ground, with his face first.

"Oh no, it got Jaegar." Brittanya crouched down to gather some of the leaves she dropped. Before she could stand up again, her body forcefully fell to the ground. Kryllo was just standing before his body dropped to the ground. "Jaegar!" Brittanya shouted because she wasn't facing in the direction where Jaegar was lying. "This isn't poison!"

"Yeah…" Jaegar was grimacing as he tried to turn his head towards the mushroom monster. "This is… magic!"