Sweet But Poisonous

Vir smiled broadly as he shrugged his shoulders. "Well, maybe I'll be able to find one of them. I have good luck, old man."

"Uh-Huh!" the merchant snorted again. "Then, why are you still a hobo like this if you have such good luck?"

"Come on!" Vir chuckled. "With this way of earning money, I can have more fun than those who are busy going here and there, then finally get stressed and go crazy."

"Oh, God..." the merchant let out a long sigh. "You're only good with your tongue, young man!"

"See for yourself!" Vir spread his arms wide. "I look so happy and having fun, don't I?"

"Only in your dreams, you fool!" said the merchant. "You're lazy, with no skills other than collecting firewood. And you tell me you're going to have fun? Oh, God... I think you've lost your mind!"

Vir laughed. At least, the merchant could always cheer him up even if the words coming out of the merchant's mouth were always rude to him, and Vir didn't feel offended at all.

After all, I can definitely have fun with the money I get. Vir thought about the money in the rider's cloth bag last night that he had looted, well hidden under his clothes.

"All right, Mr. Merchant," Vir said as he grabbed the rope of his cart. "I'm leaving now."

"Go!" said the merchant as he moved his leaf fan. "Hey, one second!"

Vir glanced back at the old merchant.

"I heard that the forest on the east side is flowering," said the merchant. "You can use that to make more money, silly man!"

Vir nodded and laughed softly, then walked away. At least, he was planning to go to the Southeast and then the East. Of course, from the Southern Lands, he would have to move eastward first.

However, he was not at all interested in what the old merchant had told him earlier.

The fruit in question was a type of plant that grew abundantly in the eastern forests of the Southern Country. This season was the season when the forest plants would flower before bearing fruit, and it was the flower that the old merchant was referring to.

The flowers were quite valuable to the shamans for their medicinal potions for certain diseases. That is before the flowers turned into fruit.

Yeah, Vir was not interested at all.

He just wanted to get to the Eastern Lands as soon as possible. At least, he was already doing this in a pattern. If one country was abuzz with news of the disappearing riders, Vir would stay away, moving on to another country.

He did this with various considerations. First, to avoid suspicion of him because he was the cause of the disappearance of the riders and their mounts.

And second, to make his next hunt easier.

If a country becomes crowded and excited with the news of missing riders, it will be difficult for him to hunt down the remaining riders.

The only way is to move to another country, then hunt down the riders who live there.

It was this pattern that Vir had been following, so that until now he had not been spotted at all, and had never failed in his hunt.

Vir pulled his cart away from the village, heading towards the forest to the east, even though, the twilight sky was getting darker and darker.

***

Vir arrived at an area in the middle of the eastern forest. He paused for a moment, then looked at the moon that had appeared not long ago. His gaze fell on the stone bridge that connected the forest where he was now with the forest on the other side of the river.

"There's no harm in staying here for the night," he muttered.

He brought his cart to the riverbank, a few meters to the right of the stone bridge that already looked very old.

The river was seven meters wide, the flowing water was clear and the riverbed was white sand.

Feeling that there would be no one around at this time, Vir casually stripped off his clothes until he was naked.

After placing his clothes in his cart, Vir descended into the river which turned out to be only knee-deep.

He suddenly turned his head to the right when he heard a crunching sound like someone or something stepping on branches on the ground.

"Oh, God!" Someone let out a small cry while covering her face with one hand while the other hand held a torch.

Vir frowned but also smiled at the person who turned out to be a young woman, around 20 years old.

"I'm, I'm sorry," the woman said. "I-I didn't know that there would be people going down to bathe in the river on a night like this."

The man smiled even wider, then sat down in the stream until his lower body was below the surface of the water.

"It's okay," Vir said. "Uhmm, are you collecting Tria-petalis?"

A basket of woven leaves was wedged between the folds of the woman's elbow, the hand she used to cover her face.

Tria-petalis Corona was the type of plant that the old merchant had previously mentioned to Vir.

This plant is a kind of shrub that is only as tall as an adult's waist. It has short, heart-shaped leaves of bright green color. But when it is about to bear fruit, the leaves will turn dark green.

The plant has faded yellow flowers with only three petals. When the pistil appears, the three petals dry up and fall off, the fruit itself is the size of a big toe and is bright purple in color.

The fruit of the plant was so poisonous that no one dared to eat it even though it was very sweet.

And the woman was one of many who often sought out the three-petaled flower before it became a fruit.

The flowers would only bloom after sunset, which was why those who searched for the three-petal flowers to sell to the shamans only searched at night.

The woman nodded nervously in response to Vir's question. But Vir knew she was peering at him through the gaps in her fingers.

"Wh-What about you?"

Vir laughed softly, almost silently, "No, I'm not interested in collecting those poisonous flowers," he said as he poured water over his shoulder casually.

And he hoped that she would take off her clothes and go down to the river to accompany him.

But that seemed to be wishful thinking. Well, the old man was right, he thought.

"Yeah," said the girl.

She turned toward the grove in front of her, pretending to pick the three-petal flowers. However, she occasionally stole a glance at the man taking a dip in the river.

"Tria-petalis hasn't been producing much fruit lately," she said.

The girl gulped as the moonlight helped her vision of something in Vir's crotch.

"Uh-huh," Vir nodded. "That's why I'm not interested in collecting those flowers."

"Th-That's the big one!" the girl said without realizing it.

"I'm sorry?" Vir frowned because he hadn't really heard the young woman's words just now. "Did you say something?"

"Oh, hmm... No." The girl looked away with a blush. "I-I didn't say anything!"

"All right," Vir said. "If you don't mind," he asked, "can you leave me alone?"