VIO Ch 74 – Looking for a Scholar (VIII)

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Translator: mii

editor: junirenn

Vyasa’s store was located on the main street of 10th Avenue. It was a big store in that neighborhood. He sold liquor, seasonings, tableware, and more, though he focused more on selling tea leaves, herbs, and medicinal plants.

Yuan opened the door and greeted the middle-aged behind the counter reading a newspaper: Vyasa.

“Good afternoon, Mister Vyasa. I came by to deliver herbs.”

“Oh, Yuan? Where’s Dawn?” Vyasa put the newspaper down on the counter and went to the display case.

He was a man with an unpleasant appearance, sporting short-trimmed brown hair. Yuan didn’t really like him, but he was mindful not to be scared of Vyasa since he was a reliable person in this neighborhood.

“Father suddenly had to see a patient, so I came instead. Can you buy this, please?” Yuan spoke politely, holding up the basket of herbs he was carrying.

Vyasa replied with a grin, “Yeah, of course.”

Vyasa took the basket from Yuan and placed it on the counter. He then put away the newspaper and spread the herbs on the counter, inspecting their condition. Once he finished, he calculated and wrote the total price of the herbs on a piece of paper before he handed it over to Yuan, along with the transaction certificate.

“These are slightly damaged, so I can’t pay the full price for them.”

“I understand, I will tell Father. Thank you very much.” Yuan bowed, keeping the money and the transaction certificate in his pocket. Just as he was about to go home, Vyasa stopped him.

“Ah, sorry for keeping you, Yuan. Your father is knowledgeable with plants, right?” He asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s good. I received a rare plant, but I’m not sure what kind of plant it is. I want to ask your father to write a note explaining what the plant is for me.” Yuan straightened his back when he heard that this was a request to his father. “In exchange, I’ll give him a share of it. Ahh… It’s in the warehouse. Can you follow me for a moment?”

“Y-yes.” Yuan followed Vyasa to the warehouse, thinking that it would be bad if Vyasa told him something more complicated than he could understand. He wouldn’t be able to remember it.

Upon unlocking the warehouse that was right next to the store, Vyasa pointed to the back of the dim warehouse.

“Look, that’s the seedling that I’m talking about. Do you know what it is?”

“Umm…” Yuan couldn’t see well from the doorway, so Vyasa urged him to go inside. Yuan entered the warehouse and examined the seedling carefully. “Huh? Mister Vyasa, this is Ioyra leaves…”

The door closed with a rattling noise, engulfing the warehouse in darkness. Yuan began to panic.

“Mister Vyasa!? Wait!” Yuan immediately went to the door and banged on it with his fist, but it didn’t even budge. “Mister Vyasa, what are you doing?! Please stop pranking me!”

“I’m sorry, Yuan, but I was actually waiting for you to come to me alone.,” replied a voice full of spite. Yuan then heard laughter coming from Vyasa. “Pfft, Dawn will surely turn pale, eh. I can’t wait to see it.”

Yuan was confused, unable to understand the reason why Vyasa was doing this. His young mind came up with a simple answer. “Mister Vyasa, do you hate my father?” asked Yuan.

“Nah, I think he’s a good guy. But that doesn’t matter when it comes to money, you know. Do you know Viscount Fores?”

“…Viscount Fores? Ah! Is it the nobleman who wants me to serve the temple?”

“Yes, that Viscount. He offered to tell me about one of the sales channels I’ve always wanted if I capture you. . Anyway, just give up.”

The amount of selfishness lacing Vyasa’s words was so much that Yuan was too shocked to say anything. He knew that bad people existed, but he never expected that the usually friendly man would capture them.

I’m always wondering why Father is so worried about me… So it’s because of this.

Tears began to pool in Yuan’s eyes. Afraid that he couldn’t return to his father’s side anymore, Yuan rampaged. “Please let me out! Let me go home! You’re so mean! Father! Father!” He cried out as he hit the door numerous times. However, it was so sturdy that his struggle didn’t change anything.

And for some reason, his sight was getting blurry.

“…Huh?”

Yuan sat down and eventually collapsed to the floor, unable to keep his body up. The door finally opened, perhaps because he became quiet. Just before Yuan fell asleep, he heard Vyasa’s voice.

“There’s a type of grass in the warehouse that blows pollen. It has the same effect of a sleeping pill when they’re in a dark environment. Sleep for a while, Yuan. You’ll be in the Viscount’s house when you wake up. You should be happy. Becoming the Viscount’s page boy is a great accomplishment for a commoner, you know? ”

****

The patient only had food poisoning, so Dawn went home as soon as he gave them the medicine. He returned home in less than an hour, and called out to Yuan.

“Yuan?” Having received no reply, he realized that Yuan hadn’t come home yet. The thought made him frown.

Just in case, Dawn searched inside the house, though he still couldn’t find Yuan. He then wondered if Yuan was hanging around on the way back from Vyasa’s store, but Yuan was a reasonable child. Dawn knew well that he wouldn’t do such a thing.

“Vyasa’s store, huh?”

Dawn left the house again, confused. As he passed through the rusted iron gate of his house, he ran into Rosa, their neighbor.

“Doctor Dawn, you’re just in time. I received some extra vegetables, so I’ll share it with you. Make sure to have Yuan eat these,” Rosa said, holding up the yellow-skinned vegetables in her hand.

“Thank you, Rosa. But this is not the time. Did you see Yuan? I sent him out for an errand around an hour ago…”

“Yuan? I didn’t see him at the market. You were too lazy to take care of your son again, huh!”

“Someone suddenly got sick so I went to see the patient. They kept coming to me one after another, so I was swamped with work… It’s fine if you don’t know. I’ll look for other people,” Dawn said, before leaving in a hurry.

“Eh? Wait. These vegetables… I’ll leave them at your front door!” Rosa yelled after him. Glancing at said vegetable, she complained to herself, “My, he’s always bad-tempered when it comes to his son.”

Xxx

Unlike the stores on 3rd Avenue, the stores on 10th Avenue couldn’t afford to make iron bars to close up. Hence, they used shutters by stacking wooden boards on the fence in front of the glass windows. The stores around Vyasa’s also did the same thing. With the approaching sunset, Vyasa had been about to prepare for closing up his store when Dawn came up to him.

“Vyasa, Yuan came here, right?” Dawn asked.

Vyasa turned to Dawn. “Yeah, I bought the Ioyra leaves he delivered. And I’ve already handed the money and the transaction certificate to him. Did I make a mistake?”

“I see… So he’s not here. I’m sorry for disturbing you, Vyasa. Yuan hasn’t come back home yet, so I’m looking for him.”

“It’s fine. Yuan is already old enough, so let him be a little naughty, Dawn,” admonished Vyasa, an air of seniority around him.

After thanking him for his time, Dawn looked around the street in front of the store. He scratched his head, wondering where his son went. He then remembered an old couple who loved Yuan like their grandson and decided to visit them to check if Yuan was there.

As Dawn walked down the street, he saw glowing lights in the corner of his eyes. “…Hm?”

A great number of light orbs were gathered around the warehouse right next to Vyasa’s store. Many spirits floated around those they were fond of, but there were usually not that many of them.

Dawn suddenly remembered how the spirits acted before his wife died. The spirits gathered near her in a row, as if they were watching over her before her death. It was thanks to them, that Dawn was able to accompany his wife during her final moments.

Knowing this, Dawn realized that they were trying to tell him something again. He immediately turned his around and headed back to Vyasa’s store.

Once he arrived, he asked, “…Vyasa, is there anyone in the warehouse?”

“Eh?” Vyasa’s hands slipped and dropped the wooden board he was holding at the unexpected question. It dropped to the stone pavement, making a loud clanking noise. “What are you saying? Of course there’s no one in there. My employees are on their day-off today,” Vyasa replied.

Unconvinced, Dawn asked again, “…There’s someone inside, right?” Vyasa didn’t reply, merely shifting his gaze away from him. Dawn noticed. “Yuan came here. So he’s in the warehouse, right? Don’t look down on a former priest.”

Even if there weren’t that many of them, some priests received divine revelation, while others were sensitive to the spirit world.

Many merchants believed in superstition, so this threat should work on Vyasa too.

“I said that there’s no one! What the hell? You’re so persistent!”

“Then show me evidence. Take me to the warehouse.”

“Huh? That’s where I store my important products. As if I’ll take you there!” Vyasa rebuked angrily before he called for the two guards patrolling the street.

The guards rushed over immediately. Dawn informed them about the situation, however, Vyasa had more credibility as the owner of a large store, while Dawn was a drunkard who was labeled as a quack doctor. They seemed to believe Vyasa’s complaint.

“Doctor Dawn, are you drunk again? Stop bothering Mister Vyasa by falsely accusing him like that,” one of the guards said.

“He can open the warehouse and let me check it, right!? You can bear witness to it as well.”

“Yes, yes. The sun will set soon, so go home.”

Seeing how they ignored his words, taking them as drunken rambles, Dawn lashed out. “What’s with that attitude!? My son hasn’t come home yet. And he came here for an errand!”

“Kids loiter around here and there, don’t they?”

“You…! Listen to me for a moment!”

Dawn was so angry that blood rushed to his head. When he unconsciously clenched his fist, a clear voice cut in, “Excuse me. What’s all this noise about?” Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice.

Near them, a beautiful boy with silver hair stood, tilting his head in confusion.