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Chapter 1 Probably, We Are Similar to Each Other
Section 1
Sitting on a bench outside a bar, Luca Fortunato was looking around while drinking the diluted red wine bit by bit. The villagers who finished their farm work were drinking cheap wine to relax from one day’s work while being blown on by the evening breeze. The olive branches cast their long shadows onto the dry ground. Although the church bell had informed people of the evening time, the sky was still as light as that of a day as a result of the late sunset during the summer.
It was the best time and place for Luca’s business.
He started to talk to the man besides him, acting casual.
“Are you a villager here? The landscape is so amazing. This is such a relaxing place to stay at.”
“Right. Everything is the grace of Mistra.”
“True. I appreciate Mistra the God.”
As if he was thinking about God’s kindness, he paused.
“As a student travelling around the world, I obtained something wonderful because of the divine protection of Mistra. I received a panacea, which means it treats everything, from a renowned doctor. It seems like it’s not sold ordinarily, but he gave it to me.”
“It treats everything?”
The man across him asked as if he was curious. It was music to Luca’s ears.
“Since it is a panacea, it definitely treats everything. Headaches, indigestion,stomach aches, dizziness, neuralgia1, overdrinking, bruises, liver pain… This is only between us, that it also treats ‘night problems!’”
Laughter erupted around Luca.
Luca became surrounded by people before he noticed it.
“What about period problems?”
“Dissolve it in diluted wine and drink it.”
“What about toothaches?”
“Just place one on the affected part and it will work well.”
“Will it help with kids who keep on peeing at night?”
“Of course.”
Luca smiled.
The smile seemed quite confident to the women and the men who were near Luca’s father’s age.
Since his figure was skinny, he looked younger than the age of twenty-two. Luca’s high cheekbones and slim chin contributed to the impression of an educated young man. Because of his blonde hair, which sometimes looked like the color of steel at the right angle, and his green pupils, which reminded people of jade, he seemed like an angel from heaven, like the ones from paintings.
However, Luca disliked this hair color.
It looked like the color of pyrite, otherwise known as fool’s gold. In other words, it was the color of fake gold.
“If you like it, I’ll sell it for one Lira2 per bag.”
“That’s too expensive.”
“There are twenty pills in a bag. It is only one Soldo3 per pill.”
“Then sell them one pill at a time.”
“That’s impossible. Why don’t you buy them with other people?”
The villagers looked at each other meaningfully. They took time to calculate how much soldi to pay and how many pills to buy when buying with how many people.
Just one more push.
With one Lira, he could stay in a cheap hotel; with two, he could stay in a good hotel which provided meals.
Luca pulled out a black pill from his bag and then raised it high.
“If you buy it now, I’ll add one more pill for free…”
Then, a man moaned and crouched down while pressing his chest.
“Tonio, what happened?”
“Isn’t it because of heatstroke? It’s hot today.”
“And Tonio’s heart is weak.”
A woman who looked like the man’s wife rubbed his back. The man dropped onto his knees and laid down slowly while groaning.
“Sweetie! Sweetie! Are you alright…?”
He was not alright at all. The collapsed man’s eyes rolled back and he started foaming at the mouth. His face was dark and his lips were as purple as ripe grapes. The wife was yelling with a desperate expression.
“Student! Give me a pill!”
“Umm… One Lira…”
“I’ll pay for it later! Please, hurry up!”
“Ye… Yes!”
Forced by the spirited woman, he passed over the black pill he had previously displayed as a sample. She quickly put it into her husband’s mouth.
The villagers held their breath and stared at them. They waited for the effects of the panacea to appear momentarily.
No changes occurred.
Luca started to want to escape.
It would have no effect. The pill was purely a mixture of the powder of rosemary and thyme, which could be found over ‘there,’ solidified with charcoal.
Although it was not toxic, it was not a medicine either.
Should I escape right now…? I could take advantage of the commotion.
The woman clung to her collapsed husband. Her sunburned face was wet with tears.
“Sweetie… Hold on…! Please don’t leave me alone… The kids are not even ten…!”
Although he wanted to escape, Luca’s feet stopped. In any case, if he was caught escaping, he would be ganged up on and beaten…
The man looked to his wife.
“Madam, please let me nurse him. Although I don’t have a doctor’s license yet, I have some medical knowledge. I could probably help…”
“Student! Please! Please save Tonio!”
Kneeling down beside the collapsed man, Luca placed his hand near the man’s heart. The man’s body convulsed slightly and Luca could not hear his heartbeats at all.
Even people who were not real medical students would know that it was not due to a heatstroke. It was a heart attack.
If I leave him like this, he might die. I should do something. I should do something…!
“Everyone, please step back a little bit.”
The man’s wife tightly placed her hands together and prayed to Mistra the God.
Right. Please pray that I can finish this successfully.
I cannot promise that I can finish this successfully. Even if I can handle this successfully, it might be troublesome. However, I should help the man in front of me first. If both ways were going to be troublesome, then I might as well help him first.精神を集中し、自らの意識の奥深くに手を伸ばす。
Concentrating, he reached his hand towards the inner part of his consciousness.
(Come to me. Wake up…)
Although he had not tried this in a long time, something similar to an entangled spring inside Luca responded to his call immediately.
Behind his eyelids, the golden light jumped around freely.
It came…!
This was the “mana” that Luca had been born with.
Great… It’s going smoothly so far.
He cast down his eyelids softly.
During the moment he used the “mana,” it was unlucky for him to let the surrounding people see his eyes.
“Mana,” take the form of “search…!”
The “mana” jumping around turned into the form of “search.”
Faintly, light came from his palms. There was no need to worry about the light being seen by others, since the light was only visible to Luca. Although people such as Luca who possessed “mana” should be able to see it, Luca had not encountered anyone else who could besides him and his father.
However, the moment when the “mana” was used, the pupils behind the downcast eyelids were dyed with the same golden color as the light. He could not let others see this.
While casting his eyelids down, Luca gently placed both of his hands onto the man’s chest.
Flowing out from Luca’s fingertip like waves, several lines of the golden light slipped into the man’s chest in torrents.
The heart. Where is it…?
Luca felt something from his palms which were placed on the man’s chest. It was a piece of convulsive muscle in a moribund state. Luca noticed that this was the heart. It was only trembling without pumping any blood.
What’s wrong…? “Search” was touching the heart. It focused into an image inside Luca’s gently closed eyelids.
It was a blood clot. The clot was preventing the blood from flowing.
If the blood clot was removed, the man’s heart might start working again.
Luca concentrated on something he felt through the clothing and skin. He applied “mana” into his palms and forcefully “pushed” as if he was trying to dissolve the concretionary blood clot so that the blood could flow.
He could feel the blood clot breaking apart and dissolving beneath his palms. However, the heart was still not moving.
Damn it…! Move. Move. Move…!
The thin golden light extended from Luca’s fingertip surrounded the man’s heart, and directly infused “light.”
Thumping.
The heart contracted.
Thumping. Thumping. Thumping. Thumping.
The man’s heart started to pump out blood vigorously at a regular pulse.
Great. Good job! Keep it up!
Incidentally, Luca infused all the “light” he had called out until it disappeared.
The man’s complexion, which had been deathly pale, returned to normal. His cheeks and lips started to return to a healthy rosy color.
“Phew… He’s alright, Madam.”
Standing up, Luca wiped away the sweat from his forehead. It was a huge success. To be honest, he did not think that everything would go through this successfully.
“Th, thank goodness…! Student, what can I do to appreciate you…”
The man faintly opened his eyes. Getting up half of his body, he looked around with a confused face while still sitting on the ground.
“Sweetie! Are you okay…?”
“Yeah… The pain is completely gone… I can breathe easily”
“Sweetie! Sweetie… Great… The student saved you…”
The wife clung to her husband and started crying. The crowd cheered joyfully.
“Goody, Tonio! ”
“I thought I was going to die this time.”
One of the men who surrounded Tonio turned to Luca and asked.
“What saved Tonio was that pill…?”
For a moment, Luca was afraid that that man might say something negative, but he soon noticed that the man actually believed in the panacea, fortunately.
“O-of course! It’s all because of the pill!”
“Great! Such a worthy panacea!”
“That’s so cool!” “The efficiency is so good! ”
The villagers spoke to each other with excitement.
Isn’t this in my best interest? Not only did it misdirect them away from “mana,” but it also helped publicize the pills.
Luca raised the sack of the pills high before the villagers.
“Luckily, he took the pill quick enough! If not, he would have been in danger! Although I massaged Mr. Tonio’s heart to supplement the movement of his heart, it would have been helpless if he did not take the pill!”
The man who asked first yelled.
“Those pills, I will buy some!”
“Me too!” “I want some too!”
The villagers demanded the “panacea” as if they were in a race. There were no stingy people who bought one bag with several others, and there were ones who even bought two bags.
The patient who was close to death stood up, and walked around with a blank and dreamy-eyed face.
“Sweetie, since you just collapsed, don’t force yourself!”
“Well. I feel really good. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve felt so great… My body is light…”
The man kicked the ground with his feet and jumped up.
He jumped up several times delightfully. He jumped higher and higher every time.
Looking at that, Luca noticed something bad. Something extremely bad.
Maybe, I did too much.
Yeah, I surely did too much. Actually, something went wrong.
“No! Mr. Tonio, don’t jump like that. Your wife is worrying about you…”
“It’s light… It’s like a feather!”
The man who was moribund until now jumped up easily as if he was a fawn–but he did not land onto the ground.
He was hovering at the height of a human, floating lightly.
“Sweetie…! What’s going on…!”
“I don’t know… I don’t know, but I feel extremely well…”
The villagers’ mouths were opened, yelling, and they looked up to see Tonio flowing in the air.
“This is amazing…!”
“What’s going on?”
“Isn’t it because he took that pill…?”
“I got it. That might be a magic pill. Think about it, it will be too good if it can treat everything. ”
“What! That’s not true!”
“But, what else can make Tonio float? I can only think of magic.”
“It’s magic.” “It should be magic.”
Several people crossed their index and middle fingers.
They believed this was the spell to drive out demons. Of course, they understood that Luca’s pill wouldn’t cause anything like this.
“In the first place, if those pills are that great, why did that person give them to you instead of selling them?
“The doctor who gave the pills to me was expelled from the Arte4 of Doctors and Medicines. It’s illegal for him to sell medicine himself…”
“So who is the doctor who was expelled from the arte?”
“I cannot say his name…”
“Why not?”
Luca could not say that it was because he hadn’t thought of a name yet.
“… Be-because this will bring trouble to the doctor!”
The villagers glanced at each other subtly. It was clear that they did not believe it. They glanced back and forth at Luca and his sack of pills with suspicion. Just a few minutes ago, they were swarming around the panacea, but now they were suspicious about the pills they bought, which were possibly made by a demon.
It was bad. Although it was better than the fact that Luca could use magic was exposed, it was still bad.
“Isn’t that doctor actually a demon?”
“Right. I’ve heard of demons transforming into humans.”
“Is magic a skill of demons…?”
Right now, most of them had their fingers crossed.
“The acquisition of making a deal with a demon is called sor something… cer…?”
“Right. I remember it’s… sor… sorcery!”
“What! It’s sorcery.” “It’s sorcery.” “It’s sorcery.”
The villagers all shifted their gazes back to Luca.
Magic. It was hard for ordinary people to imagine it. Most of them would not encounter it even once in their entire life.
According to the Mistraist Church, a person who made deals with a demon was a sorcerer. Being a sorcerer was a sin. A sorcerer would be condemned and burned at the stake for even walking or breathing.
“Everyone, calm down! I’m not a sorcerer…”
“You bought pills from a demon, meaning that you made a deal with him?”
Although making a deal with a demon signified selling a person’s soul to the demon instead of buying something from a demon, Luca didn’t think they would understand even if he explained it.
“No! I swear to Mistra’s thousands of arms. I did not make any deals with demons…!”
Saying that, the man flowing in the air fell down immediately as if a string was cut through. Falling down straightly, his two feet contacted with the ground. The man’s wife jumped into his arms.
“Tonio! Ah, thank goodness! Thank goodness! Please don’t go anywhere!”
“Ah, Marietta, I won’t go anywhere. Not only doesn’t my heart hurt anymore, I can also breathe easily.”
“It’s all the student’s contribution! Thank you, Student!”
“I’m glad that I could help, though…! It’s not the time for this…”
One of the villagers yelled.
“Marietta, that student might have made a deal with a demon. He’s a sorcerer.”
“It’s a rule for us to report any sorcerers to His Majesty.”
Suddenly, Luca was surrounded by people.
What should I do…? Should I use “mana?” Will it work…?
Under this situation, how and what should I do…?
Concentrate and search in the brain. Come to me. Wake up…!
He desperately reached towards the innermost part of himself.
Come! Come to me…! Wake up, please!
He could not feel anything. Nothing moved. No matter the feeling of mana, which was similar to an undulated spring, at the bottom of his mind, or the lines of light behind his eyelids.
During such a time, the “mana” abandoned Luca.
Damn it. Why didn’t it work…?
“Student! Run away!”
He quickly opened his eyes and saw that the wife was standing between the villagers and himself.
“Marietta, that guy might be a sorcerer!”
“I don’t care! The student is Tonio’s lifesaver!”
The wife brandished a pitchfork, which was used for hay, over a circle of villagers in order to intimidate it.
“Run away immediately! Student!”
“Ye… Yes!”
Grabbing his backpack, Luca ran away from the villagers in his full speed.
“Wait for usss!” “Catch that sorcerer!”
There was no such fool who would wait merely because he was told so. Fortunately, Luca was confident in his speed.
He ran, ran, and ran. He was in desperation. Breathing hard, he felt like his heart was going to shatter.
The roars of the villagers were becoming more distant.
Since he was now far away from the village, Luca could finally slow down.
Since I’m far now, I should be fine. Thanks to that wife for stopping the villagers so that I could have time to escape. While thanking the wife in his heart, Luca walked on the dry and dusty road, tottering.
Whenever there was a rumor he was a sorcerer, he had to leave. Although he was not sure if he could arrive at the next village before night fell, he had no choice but to push himself to his limits.
1. Neuralgia – a stabbing, burning, and often quite severe pain that occurs due to a damaged nerve.↩
2. Lira – an Italian medieval currency. Plural: Lire.↩
3. Soldo – an Italian medieval currency which was equivalent to 1/20 of a lira. Plural: Soldi.↩
4. Arte – (Italian) a guild.↩
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thanks for the chapter. I’m interested.
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