#494 The Stall of Salvation

Heyo, it’s me, Shabe, the adventurer.

Mayday!

Our entire party is in danger of being wiped out!

We didn’t expect to encounter such a vicious monster!

Monsters in this stratum of Lord Alexander’s dungeon are still low class.

Alas, such carelessness caught us off guard.

I was even more careless because the monster we encountered looked like the plant monsters hanging around the area.

Turns out it was a mutant!

The plant had acquired poison through its mutation and is now spreading the toxic substance!

Thanks to this, our front-line allies were utterly exposed to its venom.

We managed to escape while carrying our poisoned pals, but the situation remains bad.

Our comrades are getting weaker and weaker from the poison!

“Shit! This is terrible! The antidote isn’t working at all!”

I was not poisoned because I was too cautious or too late to throw myself upon the enemy.

However, the other three team members were poisoned, and despite first-aid, it wasn’t helpful at all. 

I always carry antidotes as a precaution, but they’re useless in a situation like this!

“It’s no use! This is a deadly poison. Ordinary antidotes won’t work...!”

“No way!”

One poisoned comrade says in a hoarse voice, “There’s supposed to be a more potent form of antidote found in the higher stratum... But there’s no way such a high-grade item can be conveniently found here...!”

“What are we supposed to do then?!”

“If you leave the dungeon now and reach town... you might be able to find a shop that sells that antidote or find a priest who can use detoxifying magic.” 

That’s absurd! It would take too long to get back the way we came here and leave the dungeon.

I could tell just by looking at my friends that their lives would not last that long.

Damn it, at this rate, I’ll lose my pals who’ve been with me through thick and thin!

I won’t accept that! I won’t let the party members I’ve made bonds with die like this! 

“Raaaamen~ Anyone wants to try some raaamen?~”

Then, a sluggish voice intrudes.

Don’t tell me, it’s...

“The rumored ramen shop!”

It’s the mysterious entity that wanders around the dungeon and distributes a bizarre food called ramen!

I, too, got seriously wounded at the dungeon before, but I recovered after just one bite of the ramen.

...Ah!

In that case...!

“Ramen! May we have some ramen for my pals?!”

I ask the little girl dragging the food cart.

It’s a big mystery that such an innocent girl is wandering around this dangerous dungeon, but now’s not the time to worry about that.

If I recovered from my near-death experience by eating her ramen, does that mean my friends suffering from poison have hope?

The goddess of salvation has appeared before us!

“Ha? Hm... No.”

“Huh?!”

“My ramen can’t counteract the poison in their bodies. Besides, the dragon extract used in gonkotsu ramen is poison in a broader sense. It may be possible to counteract the poison by strengthening the body, but with a body this weak, it will only die of shock.”

“No...”

I despair at the girl’s composed analysis.

Does God not exist in this world?!

“Hmm... I guess I need some preparations so they can eat my ramen. I’ll be using that.”

“That?”

The girl takes something out of her stall.

What is that green powder?

She pours it into a cup of water, shuts the cup’s lid, and shakes it up and down... 

“What is she doing...?”

“Done. It’s a special aojiru that I got from Platy. Drink it.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

Are you sure this is... drinkable?!

The cup is filled with a dense green liquid...

This looks somewhat toxic, too, if you ask me! 

Should I really let my pals drink this?!

“Quit your whining and just let them drink it in one gulp. If they’re not well, they can’t eat my ramen either!”

“Glug, glubub!!!”

Heavens! This girl forced my friend dying of poison to drink the suspicious liquid!

Ahhhhhh! Not them, pleaseeeeee!

“The poison’s gone!”

“The hell?!”

My pals, poisoned just a moment ago and about to die, have fully recovered!

Was it thanks to that poisonous liquid?

Can you actually fight poison with poison?

“As expected of aojiru infused with Yggdrasil Leaves. It makes the best detoxifier. Platy did a great job this time.”

“Yggdrasil Leaves?!”

 Are you talking about the same luxurious recovery item that costs several gold coins?

It purifies all kinds of toxic substances and, according to one theory, can even bring the dead back to life!

“Yeah! This is the farm’s special aojiru containing Yggdrasil Leaves! It comes with a special shaker for an amazing price if you avail one now!”

“A shaker?!”

You mean the cup with a lid that you just mixed water and powder in?

“Do I need that?”

“Umu, let me show you how valuable this shaker is! Aojiru made without a shaker... can only be stirred. So...”

My other poisoned pals were given a cup of aojiru, and...

“Go ahead, drink it! We know it can eliminate the poison now...!”

“Bleurgh! Clumps! The undissolved clumps got stuck in my throat!”

Is this the hidden trap of mixing aojiru without using a shaker?

Just stirring does not dissolve it perfectly and leaves clumps!

“You have to bear with it a little and drink it all! Otherwise, the poison might not disappear!”

“Glubbobobob...!!!”

This is horrifying.

I guess a shaker is a must in order to dissolve the powder perfectly!

But thanks to the little girl’s aojiru, more and more of my pals are recovering from their badly poisoned state!

Way to go, ramen shop girl! She must be the goddess of salvation roaming this dungeon!

“No! The poison didn’t go away! We didn’t make it in time!” 

There’s one fellow that wasn’t saved by aojiru!

He was the first to be poisoned, so his progress was too fast for the antidote to work.

“He’s not breathing! We were too late! He’s dead...!”

To think our party would suffer a casualty...

Ugh! If only I had assessed the situation faster!

“Not even Platy’s aojiru would help if he has stopped breathing. In that case, it’s this guy’s time to shine!” 

Huh?!

Little miss, are you telling me there’s another way?! 

“Sakura mochi!”

Huh?! What is that... mysterious jelly-like thing wrapped in leaves?

“Just gotta stuff this at the back of his throat like so... Hyah!”

“SHE REALLY SHOVED THE SAKURA MOCHI INTO HIS MOUTH?!” 

He’s already dead, so he shouldn’t even be able to chew it, but the whole mochi just went inside his body, and...

“Sakura mochi tastes great!”

“HE’S BACK TO LIFE?!”

Did I witness a miracle?!

The poison had taken the life of a comrade, but he was completely detoxified and revived!

“The sakura leaf that wrapped the mochi was as effective as an Yggdrasil Leaf, further strengthened by Master’s power! We succeeded in reviving him since it hasn’t been long since he died. Ever heard of the three-second rule?”

Bless this sakura mochi!

Even the dead can be brought back to life, just like the legendary effects of Yggdrasil Leaves!

“I was actually going to serve them as dessert after the ramen, but since I’ve gone to the trouble of serving them, I’ll let you have some too. I’ll give you one each, so enjoy them to your heart’s content!”

With this, I can survive even if I am mortally wounded in the dungeon!

“Thank you! We’ll keep this in a safe place for when the time comes!”

“No, eat it now. Fresh confectionaries have a short shelf life. I'll kill you if you don’t savor what Master made.”

“Whaaaaa...”

Poisoned or not, if we don’t eat this, we’ll die?

The sakura mochi we were forced to consume right away was delicious, and thanks to it, we all made it out of the dungeon in one piece.

The goddess of salvation that we met in that hellish dungeon...

Words aren’t enough to express my gratitude toward that little girl.