When The Silver Bell Of Charlotte's Pharmacy Rings - Chapter 30

Charlotte thought this should have been enough explanation, but she was mistaken.

Matiel was still standing there, with no intention of moving. He also had a deeply contemplative expression.

Regardless, Charlotte decided to immediately put into action what she needed to do. First, she had to go upstairs to change her clothes.

“Wait.”

Matiel, who stopped Charlotte just as she was about to climb the stairs, furrowed his brow.

“Can’t you see I’m in a hurry?”

Charlotte spoke as if scolding a dawdling child. Then Matiel replied with a still serious expression.

“This is an apothecary, not a place that sells rat poison or traps. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, yes. You’re right. But they say they’ve tried all the rat poison on the market with no effect. And there are too many to use traps. I don’t know why so many rats came in. Did they hide a cheese factory in the basement?”

Matiel said.

“But you’re saying you can deal with all those rats?”

“Yes, that’s right. If you go to the western swamps, there are these spotted beetles that are so creepy they give you goosebumps. I’m going to catch them and mix them with the rat poison sold in the market.”

Then, Charlotte made a gesture of slitting her throat with her thumb.

“Instant death.”

Matiel said.

“Actually, I’ve never had the experience of being pushed to second priority after offering to accompany someone, so I’m feeling quite strange right now. So you’re going to catch those beetles? By yourself?”

“I could catch them alone, but the sooner it’s done the better, so I’m going to ask Taemi for help. And apologize for leaving him behind last time.”

At the mention of Taemi’s name, Matiel’s eyebrows twitched.

“To be precise, wasn’t it him who ‘left behind’ rather than us?”

“Haha, this time it was a bit more interesting.”

Recalling Taemi’s retreating figure full of confidence, Matiel’s eyes grew cold.

Fortunately, Charlotte had turned and gone up the stairs, so she didn’t see his expression change.

Even as bustling sounds could be heard from upstairs, Matiel remained in the shop without leaving.

And he carefully examined every corner that he hadn’t had the leisure to look at slowly before.

The shelves displaying rows of bottles containing tinctures were so old that the corners were smooth and a thick layer of dust could be seen on top.

The dried herbs hanging here and there on the walls looked like they would crumble into powder at the slightest touch.

Judging by the mix of very old and new bottles visible through the cloudy glass, it was clear that she hadn’t newly set up this pharmacy.

But what caught Matiel’s eye most of all was the many odds and ends placed on the counter.

There was an old scale presumably used for measuring ingredients, a mortar and pestle with traces of something half-ground, powdered medicines covered with glass lids, and small brass tools whose purpose was impossible to guess, making Matiel think they might be more suitable for an optician’s or watchmaker’s shop.

And then…….

‘A celestial globe?’

Looking at the celestial globe with dark traces of heavy use, Matiel remembered that he had something similar when he was young.

Of course, what he had was much more expensive than what Charlotte had—made with real gems cut for each planet—but seeing it after a long time made him feel glad.

It was just as he was absently reaching his hand towards the celestial globe.

Charlotte, coming down the stairs, shouted in an enormously loud voice.

“Don’t touch it!”

Matiel, who had quickly withdrawn his hand, slightly parted his lips with a stern expression and furrowed his brow.

“Excuse me.”

“Don’t touch anything in my shop carelessly. Don’t you see that?”

Charlotte gestured with her chin towards the counter. There was a sign that read:

Do not touch anything.

“As for you… You’re not illiterate, are you?”

So this is how she’s going to be. Matiel snorted.

“Is it some kind of treasure?”

Charlotte, who had strode over, abruptly covered the celestial globe with a dusty velvet cloth.

“Why are you still here and not gone?”

“Didn’t you say you were going to catch some beetles or something?”

“So what?”

“I’ll help you.”

Charlotte looked at Matiel with bewildered eyes, as if she had been hit on the forehead.

She couldn’t tell at all from this seemingly indifferent expression whether he was joking or not.

Any noble in their right mind wouldn’t offer to ‘help’ when told about going to catch bugs for rat poison, not to mention picking up jewels.

No, even the matter of being noble or not was irrelevant.

For Charlotte, who was experiencing this for the first time in her life, it was an utterly baffling situation.

“How are you going to help? Surely you’re not saying you’ll catch them with me?”

“That could be possible. An easier way would be to call the servants from my house and have them do it.”

“That’s a noble-like way of solving problems.”

“Well, I am a noble. It doesn’t seem to suit your taste.”

Charlotte said.

“Those beetles are poisonous. Ignorant novices who carelessly handle them end up suffering terribly. Don’t think it’s the same as children catching cicadas or butterflies for fun. So I’ll decline both of your offers.”

“Declining both is not what I want.”

Now she was truly on the verge of getting angry.

Charlotte walked towards the door, then turned to look at Matiel, who was still standing there as if nailed to the spot.

“What you want or don’t want has nothing to do with me. But if you really want to come along, suit yourself. That is, if you’re prepared to ruin those expensive clothes with mud.”

* * *

Matiel not only followed Charlotte but even gave her a ride in his carriage, taking her to the western swamps of the capital in no time.

He didn’t say a word the entire way, but he didn’t look displeased either.

The swamp emitted a pungent, toxic smell.

Despite being filtered once midway, the water flowing from the factory district and city sewers was not very clean.

Even after King Lyuen’s New Monarchy came to power and extensively renovated the capital’s water and sewage facilities, this swamp alone remained unresolved.

“It’s because of the land.”

Charlotte, wearing the long boots she had prepared in advance, strode fearlessly into the swamp.

She was wearing something similar to riding pants, which became slimmer towards the calves and clung tightly to her legs, making it easy to tuck into the boots.

With her long hair tied up almost to the crown to keep it from touching the mud, and wearing leather gloves that came up above her elbows, her appearance was, to be honest, bizarre.

If Matiel had seen her while passing by in a carriage, he would have thought she was a madwoman.

But now he had gotten out of the carriage and was standing near the swamp.

He was staring at Charlotte while inhaling the unpleasant and toxic smell.

Although he had offered to help, Charlotte had warned him not to come near in those clothes.

It had become quite a ridiculous situation, but what could he do?

“Because of the land?”

“The land underneath. It’s a story I heard long ago and I haven’t checked it myself, but the land within a radius of two or three blocks centered on this swamp is contaminated. This is the most severe central area.”

“Contaminated, you say?”

“It’s a conceptual thing. Not the kind of filth that can actually be cleaned… ”

After being lost in thought for a moment, Matiel said.

“You mean like some kind of malevolent force?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Charlotte stirred the mud with something like long tongs, searching for beetles.

Soon she caught one and put it into a modified insect-catching jar.

The beetle couldn’t climb up the slippery jar.

Matiel stared at the noticeably spotted, shiny back of the beetle.

“It looks disgusting.”

Charlotte burst into laughter.

“I told you. Did you think it would look like a cute baby rabbit or something?”

“I didn’t expect it to look this horrible. You said it was poisonous?”

“That’s right. If it bites you.”

“Does it kill?”

“Well, it won’t kill you. But the bitten area swells up terribly. You get a raging fever and vomit nonstop without even a chance to breathe. If you use medicine in time, you’ll suffer for a bit and that’s it, but if not, you could die. The poison keeps spreading through the blood vessels.”

Matiel watched, as if watching some kind of trick, as she skillfully caught the beetles and put them one by one into the jar.

There were not only beetles in the swamp but other insects as well, but Charlotte didn’t seem to pay much attention to them.

“Now what do you plan to do with them?”

“With what?”

When Charlotte turned her head, Matiel gestured towards the jar with his chin.

“Those bugs you caught.”

“First, I’ll take them to the shop and knock them out, then scrub off all the mud. After that, I’ll roast them thoroughly and grind them into powder.”

Matiel’s eyebrows furrowed in a strange direction.

“You do that yourself? As an apothecary?”

“Not all apothecaries do. If you just want to sell scents that help ladies relax or ointments for sprains using a few simple herbs, there’s no need to come to a place like this.”

“Then why don’t you do that? I don’t understand why you’re going through all this trouble.”

Charlotte, who had plunged her tongs deep into the mud, looked at Matiel with a short sigh.

“This shop was inherited from my mother. I’m not going through trouble I bought.”

After saying that, she caught a few more beetles and stuffed them into the jar.

The tangled beetles struggled, trapped and flipped over between each other.

Matiel said.

“Your mother…”

At that moment.

With a short cry of “Ah!”, the tongs fell from Charlotte’s hand.

As she staggered backwards, Matiel, with wide eyes, walked into the dirty swamp without a moment’s thought.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”