Chapter 29: Heaven’s Way (3)

The boy worked, fighting off the heat of the room without so much as a fan to cool him down. In many ways, he was still better off than the clerks tending to customers at the counter, but he couldn’t help but recall how his school turned on the air conditioning after second period, two weeks before the start of summer break, or how the institute provided an electric fan in every room.

“Come on, wind. Come on.” He mumbled to himself. He remembered how Myeong-su used to stretch his arms towards the fan on the wall, reaching for it as he played around. He remembered one of the institute teachers yelling at him for doing so, saying something about how he could get his fingers chopped off. Kyung-eun had mentioned learning how to swim over the summer. Oh. Kyung-eun had been hurt, hadn’t she? Lucid wondered whether she was better now. And what about Hyung-oh?

“Lucid! Time for lunch!”

“Coming!”

Lucid had been placed in charge of checking how many herbs were sold to and from the shop each day, as well as keeping a detailed ledger of the preexisting stocks already in storage. He had had to learn the numbers of this world, but it hadn’t been particularly difficult. Still, Lucid had requested that Shapiro let him keep two ledgers, one with this world’s number system, so that Shapiro may read and understand it, and another with the number system he had learned at school. This was because the boy preferred to work with the system he was most accustomed to. Shapiro had agreed, since he was more than happy to have Lucid compose a ledger in a clean, organized manner. So he let the boy keep his messy, calculations-written-all-over, “Lucidian” ledger to himself.

Another reason for keeping a separate book was to practice his writing. It was important for him to aid his memory, and he could also rearrange and organize his thoughts in a more coherent manner. And perhaps most importantly, he could jot down all the stray thoughts and ideas that occurred to him as he researched magic. He thus had various different approaches he could utilize while learning about magic, much more so than he could manage with his mind alone.

“What took you so long? The sooner we eat, the sooner we can clean up.” A sharp voice rang out. This was Erica, Shapiro’s daughter. At ten years old, she was two years older than Lucid, and had helped out at the shop before the boy had come. Now that Lucid was here, she took on the task of bringing them lunch in the afternoon. She sometimes went into the storage room to organize the many herbs, but she didn’t have much to do since they were all neatly arranged by numbers. This pleased her immensely, since this meant she had more time to herself, but Erica had developed a strange habit of telling Lucid off whenever she saw him.

“I was just organizing the ledgers.”

“No excuses. Come, let’s eat.”

“Hey now. Why are you being so mean?” Shapiro chided. “He’s just doing his job, and he’s doing it really well.”

“Dad! What are you saying? I wasn’t being mean! Next you’re going to say I’m abusing him!”

“Watch your tone! Where did you learn to speak like that?”

“Hmph.”

Erica looked at Lucid with her sharp eyes, and the boy adverted her gaze, too scared to meet eyes with her.

One day, after they had had their lunch, Lucid had been resting with Shapiro at the back of the store when Erica approached them and asked, out of the blue, “How many doses of treatment can you make out of ten Cynedium roots and fifty Angelica roots?” to which Lucid had answered without missing a beat, “Five packs.” He could answer this much without having to think over it at all. Erica then looked over to her father.

“… Is he right?”

“Sweetie, you’re the one who asked the question. Why are you looking to me for answers?”

“Oh, come on! Is he right?”

Shapiro chuckled before answering. “Yes, he’s right. You should be able to do such simple calculations alone.”

“Whatever. What kind of a kid is he anyway?”

“You should study too, instead of going out to play all the time. You’re older than him. Doesn’t that embarrass you?”

“Pfft. I’m still better with numbers than Mister Baker.”

“Sigh. You’re all talk.”

“What, would you rather I was mute?”

“Erica!”

The girl had rushed out of the store before Shapiro could say anything else, and the man only sighed again. Watching all this unravel had left Lucid’s feelings in a bit of a jumble. Frankly speaking, he was living quite well here. Shapiro treated him fairly and was kind enough to offer him meals every day. Mosla, who was probably up in the mountains east of the city by now, also cared for Lucid. Perhaps not as much as he would his own child, obviously, but the boy was still more than grateful for the hunter’s kindness. However, despite all this, Lucid still had things do to, a mission to accomplish. Summer was nearly over, and the late summer heat lingered on the boy’s forehead.

The eastern and northern mountains slowly took on varying shades of yellow, signaling the turn of the season. The impatient few took out their thick cowls, and diligent people took their leather gyphons out of the depths of their wardrobes, laying them out in the sun to dry in preparation for the colder weather. If there are those who are quick to prepare for the new season, it goes without saying that there are also those who are less sensitive to such matters.

For example, Mosla wore a leather jacket during the heat of summer, and he still wore his leather jacket now, even with the colder weather settling in. “This is the way of a mountain hunter,” he had said before approaching Lucid with a cloak in hand. The boy had been making preparations to go over to the shop after breakfast, and the sudden gift caught him by surprise.

“It’s getting colder in the mornings and at night. Put this on before you leave.”

Only then did the boy notice that the cloak Mosla was holding was indeed much too small for the hunter to wear.

“Uncle Mosla… Isn’t that a winter cloak…?”

However, Mosla simply lifted the cloak higher without so much as a change in expression (though it was getting harder to tell, now that his beard had grown to cover most of his face. His forehead was now the only visible indicator of changes in expression), and simply told Lucid to wear it, ignoring the boy’s remark altogether as if to imply that he wouldn’t be taking no as an answer. This in turn made the boy blush awkwardly, and he simply took the cloak without another word.

“I’ll be going first,” said Mosla before turning to leave. Dumbfounded, Lucid greeted him back a moment too late.

“Take care!”

The boy watched as Mosla walked resolutely towards the mountains. When he saw that the hunter wouldn’t show any more signs of having heard him, Lucid donned on his new cloak and make his way to the store. As soon as she had seen him, Erica once again poked fun at him.

“What’s up with you? Are you cold? You can’t even tell between autumn and winter?”

However, Lucid saw no need to even reply to her and simply took off his cloak, folding it neatly before setting down in a corner.

“Erica, why do you say such things? He can wear whatever he wants to if he feels cold. And you’re not one to talk. You should dress better, as a girl. What happened to the cowl I gave you this morning?”

“What am I, a child? Can you stop telling me what to wear? Besides, a tunic is still more than enough.”

With that, Erica ran out of the store, unwilling to listen to any more of her father’s incessant nagging.

“I wonder if she’ll ever grow up”

Lucid felt Shapiro’s gaze on him, though the boy chose to not answer. Feigning ignorance to the whole situation, he went into the storage room with his ledgers in hand. He had quite some difficulty keeping track of all the supplies, since there were frequent changes in stocks from trades. However, thanks to Shapiro’s will and encouragement to get the supplies organized before the change of the season, the boy had been spending more and more time in the storage room, and he had decided that today was the day he would get it done. Out of all the cabinets in the room, he only had two left to check. If he could get it done by the end of the day today, then he would have a complete ledger with an accurate record of all their products. This meant that from now on, he only had to check the items that were sold or bought at the store.

Content that the messy storage room was finally clean and proper, Shapiro had decided to give Lucid a big bonus once the work was all done. Lucid in turn decided to use that money to buy Mosla a gift, especially since he had received a cloak earlier in the day. Unbeknownst to all, Lucid had been rather touched by Mosla’s kindness, and he smiled to himself as he wondered what to get. It was his first time buying something for others, and the idea that he could make someone happy with a gift he had bought himself made him feel rather proud.

Strangely enough, Erica had accompanied her father on his way to work today, though when she came back with the lunch boxes, she had arrived later than usual. And, unusually still, her first words were completely unexpected.

“Dad, they saw a herd of wild boars on the mountains.”

“Oh, really? Well, if things go well with Mosla, you might feast on some meat today, Lucid.”

Lucid smiled at this as he came out of the storage room, but Erica’s expression showed something other than excitement. It was different than usual. It reminded Lucid of… OF when Myeong-su had gotten hurt. Pale and frightened.

“Dad, that’s not it. A herd. A whole herd of them. A whole herd of scrofa! They’re coming down to the castle from the western mountains. All the guards are on alert.”

At this, Lucid’s face went as pale as Erica, if not paler. Turning a ghastly shade of white, he continued to listen.

“Really? A herd? How is that possible? Autumn is just now here. Lucid, which mountains did Mosla go to today?”

Lucid didn’t have the wherewithal to appreciate Shapiro’s worry for Mosla. Where had he gone? The boy had no idea. Mosla hadn’t disclosed his hunting routes. Seeing that Lucid’s complexion was worsening by the second, Shapiro sat him down and tried to comfort him.

“Don’t worry, Lucid. Mosla is one of the most experienced hunters in this city. It’s strange that scrofa are acting up now instead of late autumn as usual, but I’m sure Mosla will be able to deal with them without issues. Who knows, maybe he’s in the eastern mountains and completely out of danger.”

The boy hung his head down low. He felt this every time something happened, but things always turned sour. It was as if misfortune followed him wherever he went, bringing disastrous results no matter what. Even now, he felt the same creeping dread taking over him.

“Shapiro! Have you heard? About the boars!” It was the fur vendor across the street, coming into the shop to discuss the news.

“My daughter just told me. The western mountains, right? Any other news?”

“I just heard word too, but my wife says that there were quite a lot of people who said they’d be going there. You know that’s the best place for herbs. The guards sealed off the castle gates for now, and they’ll send a rescue team once we stop the scrofa.”

Shapiro frowned and took off his hat, pushing his hair up as he sighed. That’s when someone called out.

“There’s people! They’re being chased by scrofa!!”

Lucid stood at once.

<Heaven’s Way (3)> End.