Checking the Drops

From Carlo's memories, I obtained the knowledge for each of the three medicines. One by one, I opened each of the pouches to check how many pills I was left with.

The first one had small, red and spherical pills, eleven in number. They were painkillers. They would nullify any kind of pain. The side effect was that they would severely damage some internal organs.

The second pouch had blue pills, twelve in number. They were nothing but broad-spectrum antibiotics like penicillin. The problem with them was that they were too effective. While killing the pathogenic bacteria in the body, they would also kill the good bacteria! This would result in an upset stomach and indigestion after taking the medicine.

The third had green, oval pills, five in number. They were stimulants that stimulated the brain and increased mental agility. Its effects were similar to caffeine, found in energy drinks and coffee. However, the pill was addictive and would cause temporary erectile dysfunction depending on the amount that was taken.

There also was a single yellow pill lying stranded inside the pocket. It was nothing but an aphrodisiac for men. This pill wasn't something Carlo was supposed to bring on a mission. It was there because he would use them the most and this one just mistakenly made its way here. Carlo didn't know the side effects for this one but I was pretty sure that it also would damage the heart just like the ones back on Earth did.

After putting back the pills, I looked at the knife. It was really an amazing one! It was completely made up of a metal which resembled stainless steel.

All the weapons that needed blacksmiths to make were traded with the people from the city as there were no blacksmiths in the village. This knife was no exception.

The silver colored knife was similar to one of those foldable, multipurpose, pocket knives. Its handle had differently sized holes in it. One side of the blade was sharpened while the other was ridged.

The knife was never used as a weapon. It was mainly used to temper with the Baruga, cut ropes, mark trees and various other utility stuffs.

The scissors and bandages were just normal items amongst some other first aid stuffs. They were all freshly put into the jacket right before the mission.

The bronze coins, which were eight in number, were nothing but a token that represented the credits of the knight. The more one had, the higher their position was. This much was all Carlo had. It was also obtained from the traders from the city.

After checking all the stuffs which were in the inner pockets, I placed them all in the inventory. Then I took out a dart and a bullet and started to study them.

The conical dart was the size of a thumb. It was made up of some kind of sturdy wood which resembled a cork but was incompressible. There was a long nail passing through the axis of the dart. About an inch of it was protruding from the tip of the conical edge of the dart. The needle was supposed to be dipped in different kind of concoctions and then shot at the target.

The metallic bullets were just simple bullets. They were half an inch in size, which is about a centimeter. There was no gun powder in them so they were just supposed to be shot at close range to deal heavy damage.

I didn't put all of them into the inventory. Around half of them were placed back into their respective pockets.

After finishing with sorting through the jacket, I placed it back in the inventory in a different slot. The jacket was supposed to be worn over the leather armor, which was now drying in the sun.

Then I called out to my inventory and took out the two daggers, the old man's knife, the Baruga and the belt with the multiple pouches that Carlo was wearing.

One of the two daggers was the black dagger that Princess Josephine had given me. The other was the one that Carlo had dropped. Just like the knife, it was also traded with the city people and given to him by the elders. It was similar in quality as the black dagger.

After placing the daggers on the thick branch, I looked at the old man's knife that took Carlo's life. Although the blade was still somehow attached to the wooden handle, it was certain that it would break anytime.

'I don't know if I could use it anymore for cutting the fruits. It's a knife that had a human's blood on it and has taken a life, only a psychopath would be able to use it on food!'

The knife was now destined to be put in the 'Trash Slot', Slot 9 of Space 1. It was where I kept items that I didn't need and would throw them without a doubt if I needed more space.

Then, I picked up the storage belt. The belt had four small bags, two in the front and one on each side. Each pocket had two small metallic bottles containing different colored liquids.

The silver colored metallic bottles in the front right bag had blue colored sedative in them. The black painted metallic bottles in the right bag had their cure. This concoction was green in color.

The front left bag had red colored bottles with a red poison. Its antidote was kept in the left pocket in black colored metallic vials. The concoction was golden yellow in color.

None of the small bottles were empty but the amount of liquid in each vial was varying. It was clear that Carlo had used them while chasing me.

After going through the belt, I started checking the Baruga. As I picked up the red bamboo gun, it already started to feel familiar in my hands.

The gun was based on a catapult mechanism. The strong and flexible bone was the arm. It was supposed to be bent inwards and then released to shoot out the darts or the bullets.

I held the weapon in my right arm and started to tighten the bone. It wasn't easy. The bone wasn't as flexible as I thought it would be. It felt like I was bending an iron rod with just one hand.

After successfully arching the bone, I placed a dart directly from the inventory into the gap between the tip of the bone and the barrel. Then, moving the gun, I targeted it at a mark on a nearby trunk.

Bang!

Fwoosh!

As the bone hit the dart, a light bang resounded around me. It wasn't too loud so only the people around me or I would be able to hear it. Right after the bang, the dart moved outside the barrel and directly hit the mark.

Although I was processing the details in my head while using the weapon, it all actually happened naturally. It was as if I had already been using the weapon for a long time. It felt natural to shoot from the Baruga.

Also, I was pretty sure that I would hit bull's eye if I were to shoot from a stable position at a stationary target which was under atleast 5 meters. For a moving target, the range would be around 2 meters.

However, if I were in an unstable position, forget shooting, I couldn't even load the gun!

After checking the items, I placed them all back into the inventory in their respective slots.

Then, I took out the cloth bandage from the inventory. It was nothing but a strip of white cloth. With the help of some twigs, the scissors and the bandage, I gave my sprained right foot a better first aid than the rope I had crudely tied earlier. Before taking the bath, I had placed the rope back into the slot it was taken out of.

After the treatment was done, I put back the remaining cloth and the scissors and took out a komita. Along with the komita, I also took out the 'Colorless Starlight Fruit' and the utility knife.

With the help of the knife, I successfully removed the red crown of the fruit and quickly placed it inside the inventory. Then, I cut a small slice of the fruit and also placed the remaining fruit and the knife in the inventory.

I took a bite out of the slice that I had just cut. The fruit was so sore that even my teeth started to feel numb as I chewed on it. It was the sourest thing I had ever eaten! Its texture was exactly like the yellow starlight fruit. The only difference was the taste.

As it was getting difficult to hold the sourness on my tongue as I chew on the piece, I also started to bite on the komita. The tastelessness of the komita started to blend with the sourness and balanced it.

Although the taste was quite strange, it actually felt refreshing to eat something different after a long while. If I were to give an idea of the taste, it would be similar to a slice of hard and coarse bread which was cooked after adding a pretty high amount of vinegar in the dough!

After finishing my meal of two komitas, a piece of a very sour fruit and a whole sweet fruit, as I had also eaten a yellow starlight fruit, I lied back on the branch. I didn't sleep as I was afraid of falling down again and my senses were also constantly monitoring my surroundings for any danger.

As I was relaxing, with a hopeful voice I whispered into the air, "Delta!"

***