Chapter 240: Carsickness, A Dilemma, and Mixed Potions

As the caravan passed the shops and inns along the road on the south side of Dīdì Zhen, many local merchants walked out of their shops, pointing and whispering at Jier's caravan.

When Jier looked over, these people would turn away, pretending they hadn't just been criticizing Jier, the Knight leading the caravan.

In fact, Jier had heard every word they said; many felt the leader of the caravan was a fool, bringing a huge amount of trouble upon himself for no reason. These bankrupt farmers had been wandering around Dīdì Zhen for quite some time, and the dozen or so who had just joined Jier were not all of them; there were still many of these bankrupts struggling to survive in the remote area north of the lake ahead, which made it unsafe for the townspeople to go play by the lake.

Although these bankrupt farmers had never committed heinous acts like murder or robbery.

The bankrupt farmers had no skills and couldn't help much, and they were all gaunt and weak; just nursing their bodies back to a healthy, capable state would be a significant initial expense.

Meanwhile, the Town Guards watching from afar breathed a huge sigh of relief. They had been keeping an eye on these bankrupts from out of town recently, fearing they would do something bad; in fact, if not for the guards stopping them several times, these outsiders would have already caused trouble.

Fortunately, this time, with nearly twenty people taken away in one go by this outside caravan, they could finally relax a bit.

But when Jier's caravan passed by, the Town Guards were still surprised to see that the caravan consisted almost entirely of armored Warriors and armed Dwarf outsiders.

Before they could report this discovery to the lord's family in town, these people continued east along the road, appearing to be in a hurry to reach the Earl's direct territory.

Seeing this situation, everyone naturally understood what such an armed force was going to do—they were surely rushing to participate in the counter-offensive war against the southern neighbor.

Silently offering their blessings in their hearts, the Town Guards watched the caravan quickly move into the distance.

"Mumu, dizzy..."

In the carriage transporting the bankrupt farmers, a tiny child, held in a woman's arms, spoke in a small, crumpled voice.

The child opened their mouth as if to vomit something, but fearing they would throw up the sweet Bread they had just eaten, they forcibly covered their mouth tight.

The carriage sped along the dirt country road; because the sturdy carriage was easily pulled by two Pack Horses, the whole vehicle would jolt violently whenever the wheels hit small stones, and when encountering ruts long pressed out by Caravan wagons, the entire carriage would heave up and down, just like being on a boat.

They were suffering from motion sickness.

In fact, it wasn't just the frail children who were motion-sick; the adults in the carriage were no better off, each forcibly enduring the intense swaying in their heads and the feeling of nausea in their stomachs.

Some couldn't hold it in and passed out in the carriage; perhaps passing out was better?

Even so, no one said they couldn't hold on and wanted to get off and go back.

Because they knew this unexpected acceptance might be the last chance for their families to survive. Besides, even if they got off, where could they go?

Continue begging outside Dīdì Zhen? Return to their hometown?

Continuing to beg in a place that hated and rejected them would only lead them step by step to death. And as for their hometown, ever since they were driven out, they had no hometown.

The few bankrupt farmer families were like tiny leaf-boats in a river, carried along by the current, rushing rapidly toward a 'downstream' that none of them could see.

The carriage caravan quickly passed several more villages along the road on the south bank of the lake, and when Jier saw that the sky was getting late, he had the caravan slow down and pull over to the side of the road, giving everyone in the caravan a chance to rest.

Primarily, it was to let the horses pulling the carriages rest and drink water.

"How is it? Are you all okay?"

Jier rode over, looked at the people in the carriage who were drowsy and lethargic, and asked.

Because of the motion sickness, the people in the carriage had no strength; the women and children were all leaning on each other, fast asleep, and only a few men were trying to muster their spirits, attempting to stand up in the carriage to respond to Jier's inquiry.

But they failed; as soon as they stood up, they collapsed onto the carriage floor, and their arms lacked the strength to even prop their bodies up.

"What's the situation?"

"My Lord, they should all be motion-sick; the one in front seems the same. But I must say, at least they didn't vomit all over the carriage like everyone else did at the beginning."

The driver at the front of the carriage got up from his seat, answering Jier's question while taking a bucket to the water-transport carriage behind to fetch water.

"Mr. Zuojigela! Mr. Zuojigela! Come over and take a look at these people."

Jier summoned the Herbalist; he had originally intended to wait until they made camp at night to have the Herbalist check the health of these newly joined bankrupt farmers. But looking at it now, he had better solve their motion sickness problem first!

The Herbalist was much more professional in handling this; when his children first set off with the caravan a few days ago, they often got motion-sick too, so he had long prepared Herbs for dealing with such things.

This was a plant leaf with an extremely pungent and acrid smell, kept in a box; the thing was quite thick and fleshy, looking like a cactus or those thick-leaved plants that grow on the roofs of country houses.

Just smelling this thing was unbearable, and it seemed completely impossible to put in one's mouth.

Sure enough, just as Jier guessed, Mr. Zuojigela simply used Linen Cloth Gloves to pinch a leaf of this plant and waved it in front of the noses of every motion-sick farmer in the carriage; these people, who were originally drowsy or already asleep, woke up instantly.

The men quickly regained some strength, and although the women and children were mentally alert, their bodies were still limp and listless, so they could only let their men help them move and get off the carriage.

Once they got off the carriage and their feet touched the ground, everyone's condition improved significantly.

Jier saw that the children, who had previously quite liked the carriages, were now crawling away from the carriages they had just been riding in at the first opportunity, while the women knelt and kissed the earth, not caring if it was clean or if it was dignified.

Only the gaunt, dark-skinned old man who had spoken to Jier before seemed dissatisfied seeing the women act this way, muttering that kissing the earth was an act of praying for the Earth Goddess's grace, and that as Nongshen Believers, they should be picking up hoes and tilling the land.

But no one paid any attention to the old man's dissatisfaction; all the bankrupt farmers just wanted to lie on the calm and stable earth and rest for a while. It was just enough that everyone had been given some Bread before getting on the carriages at noon; having a full stomach and sleeping for a while in the shadow of the carriage was already the most wonderful enjoyment they could imagine.

"Given their physical condition, can they hold out until evening when we make camp or find lodging? The adult men seem okay, but these women and children don't look like they can hold on."

Jier pulled Mr. Zuojigela aside and whispered to him to discuss the matter.

"My Lord, if we were just traveling slowly, they would likely be fine. But I see the caravan is in a hurry to make time; I don't want to say this is bad, but if you want their bodies to hold up, ordinary methods won't work," Mr. Zuojigela said with difficulty.

"Ordinary methods won't work? Does that mean extraordinary methods can? Tell me what kind of extraordinary." Jier asked curiously.

Mr. Zuojigela didn't waste words, directly taking out two small bottles of Potion, one green and one yellow, from the medicine bag at his waist. These two Potion bottles were covered with two pieces of colored cloth by the Herbalist, making it clear that these were the two new Potions Mr. Zuojigela had recently concocted.

Jier raised an eyebrow: "Do you want to give them these Potions?"

The Herbalist looked troubled: "Yes, My Lord. They are too weak, and just by looking, I can see they have many problems within their bodies, and for many, the problems are not small. To bring their bodies to a healthy state, it will require a lot of treatment in the future. And right now, it will cost expensive Potion just to keep their bodies going; otherwise, don't look at how they are now, by evening, I estimate the weakest children will definitely have problems."

"Not to mention there is a whole day of travel tomorrow; even if we aren't in a hurry, the fatigue of riding will still cost these children and women their lives."

Mr. Zuojigela shook his head: "If the result is that it costs them their lives, then they might as well have stayed near Dīdì Zhen to beg in the first place. Heh, at worst, the Warriors willing to help them could have left the money in their pockets for them, which would have been a meager help."

Jier didn't hesitate: "You're right, but since they have already joined my team, then proceed with your method. Can this Potion be safely administered to them? After all, their bodies are so weak."

"It can, because the original purpose of this Potion is for injured Warriors and Warriors who are extremely physically exhausted. It's just that, My Lord, not counting the rare Monster materials obtained by Warriors slaying Monsters, the price of the other auxiliary materials used to concoct this Potion is not low..."

Jier waved his hand: "That's not a problem. Potions are made to be used; keeping them won't make them more valuable. On the contrary, using Potions for those who need them is the perfect realization of the Potion's purpose. Take them and use them. But for these twenty or so people, is the Potion you have enough? Do you need me to go to my carriage to get some?"

Mr. Zuojigela shook his head: "No need, My Lord. Among them are women and children; the dosage of the Potion is naturally much less than for an average adult male. Plus, I have some unbottled Potion stock in my carriage, which is enough; there is no need to touch the Potions you have already prepared."

Having received Jier's permission, Mr. Zuojigela first loudly explained the situation to the people on the ground who were suffering from motion sickness. The two small glass bottles wrapped in colored cloth he held in his hands made the bankrupt farmers look at each other in dismay; they never imagined that their lowly lives would one day be worth taking expensive Potion.

Back in their hometown, some ordinary water blessed by Priests with the Divine Power of the Agricultural God Church could only be distributed to the pious Nongshen Believers in the village during festivals; as for ordinary believing farmers like them, at most they would be given some common, ordinary Herbs by the Priests of the Agricultural God Church, which they would take home and add to their meals themselves, a simple way to heal or ward off some illnesses.

If it was more serious, they would have to sell some valuable items from home to raise money to find Priests to use Divine Power for healing.

Even then, they had to wait in line, and some didn't even get the chance to wait in line.

Mr. Zuojigela brought over some raw potion liquid that hadn't yet been filled into small glass bottles (there weren't enough small glass bottles bought to hold that much). He poured some of both types of potion liquid into a large water jug, added some drinkable fresh water, stirred it well, and then the Herbalist invited everyone to partake.

The crowd had some misgivings in their hearts and dared not drink this stuff; it wasn't that they suspected Mr. Zuojigela of wanting to harm them, or that Jier and the others wanted to harm them—it wasn't worth the trouble.

The Warriors each had weapons in their hands and could easily kill them; it wasn't worth the extra effort to prepare something poisonous for them to drink. Their misgivings lay in whether they were truly worth the owner of this caravan spending such a great price to treat them.

They knew clearly in their hearts just how low the status of a Farmer who had lost their land was. In a rural society where agricultural cultivation was the primary mode of production, a person's value lay in how deeply they could participate in agricultural production and life.

Why did women have a lower status in the family? Wasn't it just because it was difficult for women to participate in agricultural production that required heavy physical labor! Consequently, the girls in the family were often not valued either.

And they, these bankrupt Farmers, had even completely lost their land. If someone could hire them to till the fields, that would be fine, but the problem in the hometowns of these Farmers was often not a lack of young labor, but that there was too much labor.

The land that had been taken from them would immediately be distributed to the male descendants of other families who had difficulty splitting the household because they lacked land; they had no chance of being hired at all. And after wandering for so long since losing their land, they were discriminated against by the locals wherever they went.

Places like Dīdì Zhen, because there was a lake, were still relatively easy to survive in; at least they could drink water from the lake for free. In some places where water sources were tight, taking water from the village's water source without cause would result in being heavily beaten and driven away.

Seeing that they dared not drink, Jier thought they were afraid that the contents of the water jug were harmful, so he stepped forward, took a large wooden spoon, scooped some up himself, and drank a full spoonful into his mouth.

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

After swallowing a few mouthfuls, Jier felt his body change slightly; the effect of the potion was immediate. But because Jier was not injured, one of the potion's healing effects could not be displayed. He could only feel a warm sensation in his body, which seemed to bring a positive boost to his entire body from head to toe.

On the contrary, the effect of immediately replenishing physical strength and refreshing the spirit was excellent. It instantly invigorated Jier's body, which had been slightly fatigued after riding a Tianxuecao for most of the day; his body suddenly had energy!

It was like drinking a can of Red Bull, a can of Monster, and a can of Eastroc Super Drink all at once.

"Whoa, this stuff is so potent?"

Jier looked at Mr. Zuojigela in surprise.

"Have you drunk this stuff yourself before?"

Facing Jier's question, Mr. Zuojigela was baffled. Of course he had drunk the potion beforehand and personally tested its efficacy. This was Jier making a fuss over nothing; these potions in this different world were all this potent and had immediate effects! Especially potions that had Monster materials added to them.

Not to mention Magic Potion; under the concoction of a potion master, they could come up with all sorts of strange effects. There were even heaven-defying effects like turning a whole person into a Lizardman because of a bottle of potion. Just refreshing the spirit and replenishing physical strength was, in Mr. Zuojigela's view, a perfectly normal buff potion.

"Everyone come over, this is good stuff, come and drink!"

Jier excitedly picked up the water jug, took the large wooden spoon in his own hand, and walked forward to feed the stunned bankrupt Farmers one by one.

Now that everyone felt embarrassed to drink this potion that looked expensive, facing the large wooden spoon Jier fed to their mouths, they had to open their mouths and drink it obediently.

?? It's not that I don't want to write more, it's just that my computer is too hot. The place where my left palm types, the base of the palm, is exceptionally hot, and I can't keep it on there for long.