I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 211
How on earth did I end up like this? Why did Rufus even assign me such a task?
It had already been a week since Rufus and Sarubia left the kingdom’s capital and went down to the Inferna territory.
Iruel had naturally assumed he would also head to Inferna with Rufus. After all, Rufus had promised, hadn’t he? He had said he would make Iruel a king. So of course, he should have taken Iruel with him.
However, Iruel was denied entry to the carriage heading to the Inferna territory.
“Get off.”
“Huh?”
“There’s something you need to do here.”
With that, Rufus half-forced Iruel off the carriage and tossed him a sack. When Iruel opened it, he found it filled with gold coins.
“What… What is this money? Are you suggesting I enjoy myself in the capital and meet you later in Inferna? You feel guilty for ditching me without a word, so you’re paying me off?”
Iruel, misinterpreting the purpose of the money, began rambling excitedly.
“Hah! Did you think I’d be swayed by such money? Fine! Yes, I’m terribly weak to money, so I’ll happily go along with this! I’ll live it up, have a blast, and meet you later, properly pickled in liquor…”
“Cut the nonsense.”
With his arms crossed, Rufus looked at Iruel as if to tell him to stop spouting crap.
“From today onward, you’ll use this money to become a medicine peddler.”
“A medicine peddler…?”
“That’s right.”
“Out of nowhere?”
“Exactly.”
“Why?”
Rufus shot Iruel a glare, signaling him to stop asking questions.
“…Haha! Since it’s Lord Rufus’s order, of course I’ll shut up and do it. I’ll take my leave, then.”
Reluctantly backing down, Iruel became a medicine peddler on the spot.
Not that it was anything grand.
Following Rufus’s orders, Iruel took the provided funds and visited the leading herbal merchants in the kingdom’s capital. He began buying up the herbs they were selling.
At first, the merchants were reluctant to sell to him, likely irritated by the thought of a clueless noble trying his hand at trade just for amusement. But once they saw the sack of gold coins he held out, their attitudes quickly shifted.
“Oh, Lord Iruel! If you’re free today, why don’t you check out our new stock of herbs?”
“The cost is 10 silver, but for you, Lord Iruel, I’ll make it a special 15 silver!”
“Do you prefer water mixed with potion, or potion mixed with water? Both are equally effective!”
The merchants, eager to take advantage of a clueless noble, were ruthless in their tactics. Their blatant approach was annoying, but since he wasn’t spending his own money, Iruel didn’t mind.
“I’ll blow through this money as recklessly as I despise Rufus!”
As a result, within three days, Iruel managed to spend every last coin of the gold Rufus had given him.
Spending money wasn’t difficult. Whenever he wondered if he was buying too extravagantly, he imagined Rufus’s reaction, which made his blood pressure rise, and he ended up tossing more coins on impulse.
Of course, that didn’t mean he bought any herbs haphazardly.
Iruel held a list of items Rufus had given him when visiting the merchants, and he focused his purchases on specific herbs marked on that list.
In particular, Rufus had instructed Iruel to buy every bit of the herb Cytiro he could find. Following that order, Iruel bought up all the Cytiro he came across, loading it into the carriage.
‘But why did he specifically want me to stockpile so much Cytiro?’
Perhaps it was because of all he’d been through with Rufus, but Iruel found himself developing a slight curiosity about the herbs he was purchasing.
According to the herbal merchants, Cytiro was an herb that only grew in the Empire.
Cytiro, made by drying the petals of a common wildflower found in the fields, was useful for treating various minor physical ailments, such as colds, body aches, or stomachaches.
And it was incredibly cheap. Iruel could buy five sacks of Cytiro for a single gold coin. Even with the merchants likely overcharging him, it was still inexpensive.
For three days, Iruel roamed the capital’s herbal shops, buying herbs, especially focusing on Cytiro.
Eventually, the carriage Rufus had left him before departing became packed with herbs. Despite being a massive covered wagon pulled by six horses, it was completely filled.
He had purchased so much Cytiro that he ended up renting five additional wagons to send a portion of it ahead to the Inferna territory. Yet the wagon he was in was still loaded to the brim with Cytiro.
‘Rufus said to head to Inferna after buying all these herbs, but with these uncooperative horses, we’re hardly moving at all.’
Lying back in the carriage, Iruel chewed on a piece of jerky.
In his heart, he wanted to abandon this trip to Inferna and return to the Demon King’s Castle. There, he could pet the cute feline monsters, and maybe see the adorable scarf he heard his mother was making for him.
But he couldn’t give up halfway.
‘Rufus promised to make me king.’
Iruel still believed Rufus’s promise firmly.
At first, he thought Rufus would disguise him as Prince Tarek and put him on the throne, but that wasn’t the plan.
‘I have no idea what he’s planning, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut and watch.’
Iruel was thinking this as he tried to close his eyes for a moment.
Knock, knock, knock!
There was a sudden knocking on the carriage door.
What’s that?
Startled by the unexpected noise, Iruel sat up. In his haste, a bottle rolled across the carriage floor.
“Oh no!”
Instinctively, Iruel reached for the bottle, but the cramped space of the herb-filled carriage made it difficult to move, and he ended up wedged in the pile of herbs as he tumbled forward.
“Guh!”
A choked gasp escaped Iruel’s mouth. Outside the door, someone audibly caught their breath.
“Hey! Are you all right? Do you need help?”
Suddenly, the carriage lurched as the door was flung open. Against the backdrop of the setting sun, someone appeared in Iruel’s field of vision.
It was a young woman. Her hair was tied up, her clothes were shabby, and her sleeves were stained, likely from digging in the dirt.
Iruel recognized her instantly.
“M-Miss Fertina?”
“Oh my! Could it be… Sir Iruel?”
Standing outside the carriage was Fertina, the doctor who had cared for Rufus when he was critically injured during the demon subjugation campaign.
