Chapter 5 - Blight
Girl’s House - A few moments later.
Simon finished tying the cloth around his waist before exiting the building.
The surrounding crowd dispersed shortly after he went back inside. Fortunately, the Elder was still situated outside the building when he reemerged, semi-clothed.
“Simon,” Simon said while pointing towards himself and motioned for the Elder to do the same.
“Kuro,” the Elder replied with a nod.
Simon motioned towards his mouth and made an exaggerated chewing motion. At first, Kuro’s expression was one of confusion before the realization hit him. His expression darkened suddenly as he nodded solemnly, motioning for him to follow.
Their journey was short, the mess hall only being a few streets over. Simon glanced around the village as they passed several burnt-out remains. Villagers stood around the wreckage, casually picking bits and pieces out of the debris, while others began piling corpses along the road.
Not many beastmen died, it seems. Simon thought to himself as the duo passed by a particularly large pile.
As far as he could tell, all the buildings appeared to be made of wood, or at least a material resembling wood. No real rhyme or reason could be seen as to building placement, seemingly constructed haphazardly throughout the years, wherever someone decided a building should be. His thoughts briefly pause on this surprising fact before shaking his head.
Back on earth, not even those in the highest echelons of society had anything made from such a rare material. After all, it had been almost 300 years since the last tree on the surface had been destroyed by orbital bombardment.
While there were trees left behind within the few remaining bio-vaults buried underneath large mountain ranges, none of them would be cut down for something as frivolous as this. Even if they were, one look at the surrounding people proved they couldn’t possibly have afforded it.
Shaking his head to clear away the swirling thoughts, Simon once again focused his gaze. The center road thoroughfare comprised lightly packed dirt and the occasional rotting wooden plank. Various potholes littered its surface as the villagers skillfully stepped around them, paying no heed to the would be obstacles. However, as the two continued on, something bothered him, or more specifically, the absence of something.
All the villagers here are children or elderly. Where’s everyone else? War perhaps?
Before he could deliberate further on the subject, the two arrived at the most prominent building in the village. At first glance, it would appear to be the Elder’s home, but upon stepping inside, that assumption was instantly proven wrong as dozens of tables came into view.
The large hall’s floor was made from the same packed earth as the road, unlike the floor of the houses that he had seen earlier, while a vast number of tables and chairs evenly spaced throughout. Towards the far end of the building, a small shielded partition with a bar top counter, most likely leading to a large kitchen capable of producing food for the entire village, sat recessed in the wall.
That would certainly explain the lack of cooking utensils inside the village’s houses. Simon thought to himself. Communal dining had always been one of his favorite pastimes. Offering a brief respite from the horrors of everyday life back on earth. A smile formed across his face as he recalled sitting in a muddy trench around a gas powered stove.
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“Oi, Bossman, 10 credits says not even you will eat the shit Archers cooking over there, smells worse than fresh orchid goo.” James said with a smile.
“Seriously James? If you don’t like it, you come over here and cook this. Trust me, it looks far worse than it smells.” Archer replied with a grin, while Smith simply shook his head at Abraham, pretending to die from poisoning beside him.
“You know I can just turn off my sense of taste and smell before swallowing it, right?” Simon said with a grin, casually strolling over to the cook pot before lifting the lid.
His hazel eyes went wide as he stared at the bubbling atrocity inside. What the hell. Simon thought to himself before Artoria chimed in, {You are not eating that. }
Simon shook his head in reply, {No, no I’m fucking not. Where the hell did he get actual Yolrkn smile from? }
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
{I have no idea.} Artoria replied while her avatar shook her head.
“See?” James said with a smile before retrieving 10 credits from Abraham and Hector, “Told you not even Dracula over there would eat that shit. Pay up Smith.” He finished with a grin.
Wait, even Smith bet? Simon thought before determination filled his eyes. {Simon. Don’t. No. Bad Simon!} Artoria said with a stern gaze.
He merely shook his head before taking the ladle from a wide-eyed Archer. A frown appeared across his face as he pulled the ladle up and revealed that it had already partially dissolved.
James’s grin quickly turned into a frown as Simon used his hand as a cup and drank some liquid. Artoria let out a disappointed sigh while Abraham vomited onto the ground.
For his part, Archer stood motionless, as if he were trying to process the horror he had just seen. Meanwhile, Smith gleefully pried the credits from the still frowning James.
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Simon snapped back to reality as the two men approached one of the nearby tables. Kuro motioned for him to take a seat. It didn’t take more than a passing glance for Simon to realize that the chair could not possibly support his weight, and instead, he opted to sit cross-legged on the floor. Rather not break one of their chairs, he thought to himself.
Kuro’s eyebrow twitched upwards, confused, but offered no complaint as he walked off towards the partition.
A few moments later, Simon’s keen hearing picked up Kuro’s soft voice through the thin wooden wall, along with the voice of a woman. A hint of fear was present in her voice, he assumed, as he could literally hear her teeth chattering against each other.
Several moments later, Kuro reappeared with a small bowl in his hands, sweating profusely.
Why is he so concerned? Simon thought before accepting the bowl and examining the contents. Ah. That’d do it.
A thin broth composed mostly of water filled the bowl. Beneath the surface, a blush green mush sloshed against the base, peeking out between rotten looking grains of barley. Several small red flakes of presumably dried meat rested atop the bubbling surface.
His thoughts drifted back to the villagers he had seen along the way, along with the small girl’s protruding ribs. They’re starving. He concluded before picking out one of the floating kernels and biting into it. Its exterior was hard with a grainy texture, while its insides were soft and smelled of decay. Rotten.
Noticing the lack of presented utensils, Simon opted to pour the foul-smelling concoction quickly down his throat. He grimaced unconsciously as the watery liquid passed across his tongue, forcibly suppressing his gag reflex while giving the now emptied bowl back to Kuro.
Simon had eaten his fair share of disgusting concoctions during his long life. Still, that soup- no, that foul concoction easily ranked highly among the worst of them. Not on the level of Archer’s bioweapon, though.
At least it wasn’t poisonous. Well, not to him, at least. Even in sleep-mode, his system should have displayed a warning after he consumed it.
With his ‘meal’ complete, Simon slowly pulled himself to his feet before heading towards the kitchen, unsurprisingly Kuro attempted to stop his advance, but he simply picked up the elderly man and moved him to the side. “Sorry,” Simon muttered.
Upon entering the kitchen, He stood face to face with an elderly woman shocked by his appearance in the kitchen, her knees shaking uncontrollably. He gave the woman a brief bow before proceeding further to assess the situation.
The kitchen’s interior was rather clean, for the most part at least. Unlike the rest of the mess hall, the floor here was elevated slightly off the ground and made from tightly packed boards. Most likely to deter pests and the like from reaching what food storage the village still had.
Several empty sacks lined the kitchen walls, hanging from neatly placed hooks. Each of them revealed themselves to be empty when inspected, save for one resting atop the counter. Inside, similar sized grains of barley to what he had eaten earlier sat, each off-color and smelling of decay.
Grains rotting. He thought as he examined the building roof. No tale-tale signs of water damage were present throughout the kitchen, even around the window. Meaning, the grain was rotten before they brought it in here. Poor storage conditions outside? I didn’t see a mill or grain silo, so it’s possible.
Simon took another handful of decay grains and rolled them across his fingers, carefully examining each one. Some were still hard, while others squished like grapes in his hand. No, this isn’t normal decay. Something blighted the crops, perhaps? He mused while stroking his beard. What about the vegetables? Stored in barrels?
Simon approached one barrel, lifted the lid, and looked inside. A foul-smelling order seeped forth, quickly filling the kitchen with a smell strong enough to cause the cook and Kuro to gag. Inside, a heaving mass of vegetables that looked like the diseased and rotten remains of potatoes sat among the liquefied remains of its brethren. Something tells me Darlin wouldn’t have been happy I ate that, either.
[ Analyze. ]
[ Analysis complete. WARNING: High Concentrations of [ Phytophthora infestans ] present. Human consumption is not advised. 99.6% Match. Standard genetic deviation detected. ]
Simon’s eyebrow raised slightly at the result. Phytophthora infestans? Potato blight? Wait, those are supposed to be potatoes?
While the news itself was quite dire, the implications of its existence proved far more enlightening. Despite being in an unknown world, his analytical system had accurately identified the disease infecting the crops, while also identifying the odd-looking crops themselves.
Regardless of whether the crop and the disease originated originally from earth or if it had somehow developed here on its own. Simon decided that now was not the time to deliberate on this fact and quickly closed the barrel, satisfied with the results of his short but fruitful investigation.
Turning towards the elderly woman, Simon stretched out his hand and gently patted the woman’s head, exactly like a father would have to comfort his worrying daughter.
The strange gesture left the elderly woman in a state of bewildered shock, unable to move, as he quietly left the building with an aching stomach and much to ponder.