11 Got a Little Herb? (1/2)

Old Thane grunted as he carried his wagon uphill. The slope was relatively steep, almost forty-five degrees, give or take, and Li worried for a second that the old man's knees would just collapse on him. However, the elderly farmer had plenty of life pumping through his veins. His shoulders, rounded with muscle as they were, stood as a testament of a lifetime of conditioning and a bulwark against his advanced years.

”Don't worry about me, young lad,” said Old Thane. He maintained a slow and steady pace up. Thankfully, the grass on the hill was rough and thick, perfect for maintaining traction. ”I make this trip every month when the food runs low. Never had an injury.”

Li walked a few paces behind just to make sure he could catch the old man if he slipped back. ”And you don't mind me, old man. Just treat me like insurance and keep your eyes, I mean ears on the road. Anyways, how long do we have to go? It's been an hour, almost, and we already put in an hour getting to the knights in the first place.”

”Patience, my boy. Just up this slope. Modeste lies atop rolling hills, but none are as steep as this one, so on the brighter side, the trip down will be much easier.”

”I know you come all the way out here to avoid getting scammed by the marketplace at Riviera, but is it really worth it? There'll come a time when you can't make this trip, you know.”

Li put a hand into his trouser pocket and willed coins from his inventory. He felt their cold metal scrape against his flesh. Taking items out of his game inventory was still a strange process. He had to think of the item, very clearly visualize it in his head and remember its name, and then think about wanting it. It would then just magically materialize in whatever storage he had on him, which in his case, usually meant his pockets.

Thankfully, the coins in Elden World were the exact same coins here, although there were only gold coins in the game whereas there seemed to be other denominations such as bronzes and silvers here. He had thought about giving Old Thane some coins, storing them here and there and making up a story of how he had gotten them, but he had decided against it. It would hurt the old man's pride if he found out it was essentially a donation and Li didn't want him to start asking questions either.

”Aye, and that's why I roped you into the farm, hah! To take care of me when my bones grow brittle.” Old Thane laughed. ”Just a jest, lad. When the time comes that I can't stand on my own two feet anymore, well, that'll be my time. The young burdening themselves to care for the old is the greatest waste of youth I can ever think of, and to be honest, I would rather sod off with my dignity intact without anyone else wiping my arse for me.”

Old Thane paused and wiped a sheen of sweat from his wrinkled forehead. ”And you don't get much better deals on herbs than here, Li, trust me. When the Duchess came into power, she tightened the trade laws with a mighty hand. Restricted the sale of valuables like herb seeds to cities and their growth to villages on city outskirts. That's where she can have her lords keep a close eye on em', after all.”

”Any reason why? Can't see why anyone would get their underwear in a twist over some sprigs to put in their tea.”

”That's the basic usage of herbs, aye, but the valuable ones, the ones with magic flowing through their roots, are precious like gold and dangerous in the wrong hands. Before the Duchess, it wasn't rare to see dens of addicts in every village and city full of skinny fools wasted away from smoking mist poppy. But on the other hand, that very same mist poppy can distill into an elixir capable of turning even the most cowardly of soldiers into fearless heroes or ease the sharpest of pains.”

”Basically, the duchess wants to control the supply and the distribution,” said Li as he recalled his economics classes from university. He had taken a couple introductory ones just out of curiosity, but he could confidently admit he had a basic functioning knowledge of how trade was done.

Old Thane scratched his beard. ”Precisely. And, to be honest, Li, it makes my instincts worried. She's done it all under the guise of tightening up drug laws, improving public health and morality and all that good talk, but I daresay this has all the stench of a war to it.”

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Li raised a brow. ”And why do you say that?”