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 seemingly dispersed shortly after he went back inside. Fortunately, the Elder was still situatied outside of the building when he reemerged semi-clothed.

"Simon," Simon said while pointing towards himself before motioning for the Elder to do the same.

"Kuro," the Elder replied with a nod.

Simon motions towards his mouth and makes an exaggerated chewing motion. At first, Kuro's expression was one of confusion before the realization hit him. He nodded his head slowly before motioning for Simon to follow him.

While following the elderly man, Simon decided to use the time to observe the village more thoroughly now that things have calmed down a bit.

As far as he could tell, all of the buildings appeared to be made of wood, or at least a material resembling wood. No real rime 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 out of such a rare material. After all, it had been almost 300 years since the last tree on the surface was 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 have been cut down for something as frivolous as this, and even if they were one look at the people around him proved that 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 of the village was made up of lightly packed dirt and the occasional rotting wooden plank. Various potholes littered its surface as the villagers skillfully stepped around them without paying any heed to the wouldbe obsticals. However, as the two continued on, something started to bother him, or more specifically, the absence of something.

All of the villagers here are either 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 within the village. At first glance, it would appear to be the Elder's home, but upon stepping inside, that assumption was instantly proven wrong.

The large halls 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 amount of tables and chairs were evenly spaced throughout. Towards the far end of the building was a small shielded partition with a bartop counter, most likely leading to a large kitchen capable of producing food for the entire village.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

That would certainly explain the lack of cooking utensils inside the villager's houses.

The two men approach one of the nearby tables before Kuro motioned for Simon to take a seat. It didn't take more than a passing glance for him to realize that the chair could not possibly support his weight, and instead, Simon decided to sit cross-legged on the floor. Kuro's eyebrow twitched upwards in confusion but offered no complaint as he walked off towards the partition.

A few moments later, Simon's keen hearing managed to pick up Kuro's soft voice through the thin wooden wall along with the voice of a woman. A hint of fear present in her voice he assuumed as he could litterally hear her teeth chattering against each other. Several moments later, Kuro reappeared with a small bowl in his hands, sweating profusely.

Simon accepted the bowl and examined its contents. A thin broth composed mostly of water filled the majority of the bowl. Inside a blob of bluish-green mush floated across the surface. Several small red flakes of what he resumed to be dried meat rested atop the bulbing surface.

Noticing the lack of presented utensils, Simon decided to quickly pour the foul-smelling concoction down his throat. He grimaced unconsciously as the waterly 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.

At least it wasn't poisonness. At least he didn't think it was as his anyalaiss system hadn't displayed a warning.

With his 'meal' complete, Simon slowly pulled himself to his feet before heading towards the kitchen, unsurprisingly Kuro attempted to stop his advance, but Simon simply picked up the elderly man and moved him to the side.

Upon entering the kitchen, He stood face to face with an elderly woman seemingly shocked by his appearance in the kitchen as her knees shook uncontrollably. He gave the woman a quick bow before proceeding further to assess the situation.

The kitchens 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.

Simon approached one of the barrels, lifted the lid, and looked inside. A foul-smelling order seeped forth from the opened barrel. Inside, a heaving mass of vegetables that looked like the diseased and rotten remains of potatoes sat among the liquified remains of its brethren.

{Analyze.}

[Analysis complete. WARNING: High Concentrations of [Phytophthora infestans] present. Bodily Consumption is not advised. 99.6% Match. Standard genetic deviation detected.]

Simon's eyebrow raised slightly at the result.

Phytophthora infestans? Potato blight?

While the news itself was quite dire, the implications of its existence proved far more enlightening. Despite being in a seemingly unknown world, Simon's analytical system was able to accurately identify the disease infecting the crops while also identifying the odd looking crops themselves.

Regardless of whether or not 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 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 much to ponder.