kscans

Chapter 26 - Leaves of Grass, Medicinal Herbs

Spurred by his anxiety over the pyrethrum incident, Yuri devoted himself to using Appraisal on every plant in the village's vicinity, searching for medicinal herbs and the like. Thanks to his efforts, he was able to find medicinal herbs, and poisonous plants as a side effect, with various effects ranging from antipyretic, antitussive, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, diuretic, and stomachic to antidiarrheal, anti-itch, and treatments for bruises, stiff shoulders, and even children's irritability. He brought back the useful-looking ones and was also trying to cultivate them. The fields were more than plentiful anyway. However...

"There's no Cinchona tree or anything close to it..."

In the other world, he could obtain quinine, the specific drug for malaria, from the Cinchona tree. Since malaria was the quintessential disease carried by mosquitoes, it was only human nature to want to obtain its specific cure if it existed.

"Well, I don't know if malaria exists in this world, but I'd still like to be careful just in case."

The Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries dengue fever and yellow fever might have difficulty distributing in this climate, but it felt like the Anopheles mosquito that carries malaria could easily be here. He had his doubts about how things were in this world, but if there was a possibility, he wanted to at least take some countermeasures. That's what he thought as he searched, but...

"Hmm, I seem to remember reading that the Cinchona tree is distributed in places over two thousand five hundred meters in South America. Maybe it doesn't grow around here..."

Considering the climate zone, it was questionable. But that meant he would have to venture deep into the mountains...

"I don't have the strength or experience for that right now. Besides, I just realized, there are mosquitoes in the forest too..."

Forcing his way into the forest with insufficient strength, experience, and equipment, only to be struck down by rampant magical beasts or rampant epidemics, would be putting the cart before the horse.

"For the time being, I'll just quietly continue my exploration and gathering in the grasslands..."

If he improved his strength and gained more experience, he would be able to enter the forest. Then, he should be able to obtain more medicinal herbs and stones. Now was the time for training for that.

Having come to that conclusion, Yuri decided to change his way of thinking.

"I can't get a specific cure for diseases at present, so it should be fine as long as I have the strength to heal myself even if I get sick or injured, right?"

In his previous life, this would have led to things like nutritional supplements or health foods, but this was another world. A world of swords, magic, and magical beasts. It was only natural that his way of thinking would be different.

"I can't believe I didn't check until now. If there's magic, there must be potions, right?"

Of course there were. They were in his Storage as a gift from the god.

"Yes, well, let's leave the details aside. Does Rural Life Guide-shishou have... it does!!"

Normally, the skills of Pharmacology or Alchemy would be required to create potions, but for some reason, the recipe was listed in his Rural Life Guide. It seemed that creating high-level ones required various special ingredients, but he could apparently create several types of potions with just the materials available around here.

Needless to say, the completely elated Yuri rushed back to the village and went on a creation spree until he ran out of ingredients. Thus, containers filled with potions ended up lined up all over the floor, but...

"Hmm, just making them with Earth Magic doesn't look very good."

He didn't think the appearance of the container would affect the efficacy, but he couldn't feel any sense of gratitude, or preciousness. It made him feel like it could contain soy sauce, and he might even actually mistake it for that.

"Is it the material or the design? Maybe I should think about differentiation..."