Ingrad? Is That Something You Eat? A Noble… Me?! (4)

I laid out a clean cloth on the ground. Then I began setting out a few remedies that came to mind—ones with simple ingredients and strong effects.

First, I placed a blood-replenishing pill good for women, on one side.

It was a tonic that helped produce blood. The strange thing in this world was that women menstruated right up until the brink of death—another cruel facet of the Demon God’s curse.

Because of that, this medicine was extremely popular even in the imperial palace. Agnes had also told me it helped soldiers on the battlefield who lost a lot of blood—used together with healing potions—so I’d taken large orders before.

Its ingredients were so simple that mass production was easy. Of all the medicines I made besides the princess’s salves during that month and a half, I had the largest stock of this one.

I had even made thousands of spare pills “just in case,” and brought the unsold portion with me.

After loading some into a medium basket, I set out a virility tonic next.

Honestly, these two alone could be hits with both men and women. If their effects got around, I’d have lines forming. So I laid out a reasonable amount of the virility tonic and then a fatigue-recovery tonic.

That one I’d made for the palace staff’s chronic exhaustion. The results spoke for themselves; lots of staffers had brought me their odds and ends to barter for it.

With the three items displayed, I sat with my arms crossed, thinking—when the bear beastkin at the neighboring stall spoke to me.

“What do those medicines do?”

“Mm. This one’s good for women—helps make blood. You know, menstruation.”

“Ahh, I’ve seen women faint from bleeding too much. What about the next one?”

“That’s a fatigue-recovery tonic—great for people worn down by labor or lingering tiredness. The efficacy is proven.”

“And the last one?”

“Heh. That would be my flagship product.”

“Flagship?”

The nearby beastkin pricked up their ears, so I raised my voice a little.

“Among humans it’s called the Blessing of the Central God—a true blessing, I tell you!”

At my theatrical tone, the bear beastkin frowned—seemed impatient.

“What is it? Don’t dally.”

“To put it simply… it makes the fellow who’s hanging his head spring up! Pop—spring up!”

“Spring… up?”

I glanced meaningfully at the bear’s crotch.

He flinched, pupils trembling.

“Don’t think you can cheat us. We have an eye for truth and lies… Is it real?”

I met the bear’s serious look; his words trailed off as if he barely believed himself.

“Have you been swindled your whole life? I’ll watch your stall for a moment—if you have a wife, take one pill and go home. First dose is free.”

“Kh… ahem. If it’s a lie, you’ll answer for it.”

He extended his paw, not exactly subtly. I placed a pill in it. After a moment’s conflicted look, he sprang up.

“I don’t trust humans by nature… but your eyes don’t lie. I’ll believe you. And… if it’s real, you may earn our respect.”

The old bear loped off at speed. He must have been up there in years—that would explain bolting off after a few words about “springing up.”

Either way, he vanished, and the quick-witted crowd closed in to inspect my cloth.

Bella, the dog-eared beastkin who’d been tailing me, squatted at the edge and asked:

“Human, what are these for?”

“Not ‘human’—I have a name. Call me Jin-woo.”

Since she’d dropped honorifics, I did too; that detail seemed to amuse her.

“Okay. So what are they?”

“This is a blood replenishing pill—for women who menstruate; it helps make blood.”

“And this?”

“This is… ahem… good for men. You don’t need to know.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“Ah—sorry. I shouldn’t judge by looks…”

Still, Bella looked—at most—like a middle or high schooler. That’s how young she seemed. Yet I had the feeling she was an adult.

“Anyway, that one’s a virility tonic. For men whose heads are drooping—rise and shine!”

Bella snickered, then doubled over laughing. When she finally popped up, she said:

“Give me one!”

“…Planning to use it?”

“No, to give it.”

“To whom?”

“My dad. He’s having a hard time. My dad.”

“Ah…”

The picture was… odd. A daughter bringing her father a virility tonic? Still, my hand moved on its own. I placed a pill in Bella’s palm, then asked—just to be sure:

“You’re an adult, right, Bella?”

“Yup! I’m twenty-one. An adult.”

I was relieved. She dashed off, and I fielded a flood of curious questions from other beastkin. Then I played the benefactor, calling out, “First 20 customers!” and handed out samples.

Let them witness results and come back on their own.

After an hour, then nearly two, reactions started rolling in. Women arrived first.

“That ‘pop-up’ pill—I’m interested!”

“Me too!”

“No cutting!”

“My, my, already? Do you have enough?”

They were mostly married women—and all of them beauties. Lucky beastkin men. But I couldn’t just hand them out.

“Ladies, I’m delighted you came—and I do have stock! However!”

Silence fell; all eyes turned to me.

“I’m not a charity worker. Only the first twenty are free. From now on we do this your way—barter. Do you have anything that might tempt me?”

At that, the women told me to wait and sprinted off. Their speed was impressive—beastkin really did seem stronger than humans and readier to act on emotion.

Word of mouth spread fast—just like back in Korea. Think of the kimchi refrigerator: it became a mega-hit on word of mouth alone.

My virility tonic, for beastkin—and in this world—was probably just like that: not strictly necessary, but you’d really miss it once you knew it, and be grateful to have it.

Vigor waned with age.

Women here might not lack it the same way, but for men it was the natural course—and the curse turned it into a near certainty.

Some men stayed vigorous past forty; others lived like ascetics. The comparison held: it was a “kimchi-fridge” kind of item.

“It might become essential someday.”

That was my goal: a staple medicine—with no side effects.

The only “side effect,” if any, was that one spouse might become… very eager. Hardly an adverse effect—more a path back to love.

A synergy, really.

Then a massive figure came thundering in—carrying someone on his back.

‘Bear beastkin… what did you do?’

The one on his back appeared to be a female bear beastkin. Looked like things had gotten… out of hand.

“W-what have you done to me?!”

“…Pardon?”

“That pill—it was terrifying. I nearly lost my reason!”

Well, mister, that was your famine turning into a feast. My tonic had no adverse effects.

“Was your wife satisfied?”

“…As you can see—she wanted to meet the maker, so I had to carry her. Honey.”

At his call, the female bear beastkin lifted her head with effort. She was quite beautiful—just utterly spent. Her skin glowed, her cheeks were flushed: clearly satisfied.

“Are you the one who made this?”

“I am.”

“Give me… ten pills.”

“Ten? And in exchange?”

“I heard on the way—barter, right? Then I’ll give you all the herbs my husband’s selling today. How about it?”

“H-honey, that’s too much…”

“Oh! Didn’t you see the other wives on the way? Soon you won’t be able to get even one pill for that much!”

“But…”

He looked pained but couldn’t defy his wife. This world’s gender dynamics were… interesting.

“Well?”

A glance at their herb pile told me the value was substantial.

Even the simplest herb here—if from the Forest of the Demon Dragon—outclassed human-realm stock by a lot.

So the trade more than covered it.

“Deal.”

The bear wife smiled; the bear husband still looked grumpy. She took ten pills, then said:

“Next time I’ll bring you something even better—please, keep trading with us. All right?”

“If you do, I’ll be the one grateful.”

I swept their herbs into my extra-dimensional pouch. As they left, the husband’s steps were reluctant, but the wife—still on his back—waved energetically at me in thanks.

This was going well.

‘The reaction is stronger than expected. At this rate… I’ll run out.’

Time to apply a new recipe and brew a second-gen virility tonic.

After that, the flood of beastkin women cleaned me out of virility pills, and then, amusingly, the fatigue-recovery tonic started to vanish.

“This one really works. Amazing!”

“I underestimated humans, but to think a human could make such medicine… you’re impressive.”

“For a human, you’re exceptional.”

“I almost want this human to live among us!”

I’d clearly won points with the women. The men, too, went home with satisfied faces—even if they’d paid dearly in barter—which told me I’d be very busy from now on.

“Getting started is half the battle. With the herbs I just took in, I could probably buy hundreds of times more by making the right trades…”

I’d scored a trove—and even if I didn’t know every use yet, I’d invest the time to expand my repertoire with related remedies.

It was a successful first step.