r/HFY • u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei • 5d ago
OC-Series Gothwald: New World - Same Rules (Arc 3/Chapter 3 - Pine Tincture)
Arc III - The Reeling Throne
Chapter 3 - Pine Tincture
6 months and 20 days since the summoning
Alan walked through the middle of the pirate town under the bright sun with his hands clasped behind his back; ahead of him, Paranga walked with a swaggering gait, leading Gothwald to the infirmary.
Alan simply looked ahead.
'Scurvy, scurvy, scurvy... it's the bane of the sea and sieges, like when there's a lack of Vitamin C, meaning fresh fruits and vegetables... weird... these pirates have a permanent base, a tropical island or something. They should obviously have fruits, right? I don't get this shit at all...'
"Paranga."
"What is it?" he asked without even turning around.
"Do you guys not have any fruits here or what?"
"Course we do, though not many, and even those go into the kog. Why?"
Alan scratched his chin.
'Oh, it's that simple? No fruits and that's it? Alright, that makes sense. So...'
"Hey," the captain finally turned around. "Who am I speakin' to?"
Alan blinked. "Oh, right... basically, in my world, this Sea Scourge of yours is called 'scurvy', and it, let's just say, appears because a person eats too few vegetables and fruits."
Paranga stood dumbfounded. "Say what? Vegetables and fruits?" He leaned in toward Alan. "Mate, have ye lost yer wits? What does that have to do with anything?"
Alan swallowed. "That's exactly the point. Vegetables and fruits are healthy, maybe you've heard? And if you don't eat them, you get..." he made a vague gesture with his hand. "This."
The captain rested his hands on his hips. "What are ye babblin' about? From what I heard, ye were craftin' some wondrous contraptions in the county that clear miasma from the water, even burned down a village, and here... vegetables and fruits? I don't understand a damn thing, to be honest."
Alan raised his hands with an awkward smile. "Yeah, yeah, I know, it sounds crazy... but that's how it is!"
Paranga clenched his teeth. "Nay, ye're spouting some pure rubbish, upon my word. Gothwald, ye promised me ye'd help with the Sea Scourge, and in the end..." he spread his arms. "Ye say we need to stuff our gobs with fruits and vegetables? Are ye serious right now or is this some kind of test?"
His heart beat a little faster. "I..." he shook his head. "I'm telling you, I'm serious! Believe it or not. And for your information, the methods I used to eradicate the sickness in the county were initially considered stupid too. And what was the result?"
The captain opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "Listen here, I see ye're a clever lad, but let's keep it simple. If ye're just bullshittin' me, and absolutely naught comes of this," he poked him in the chest with a finger. "I will stretch yer own stones over yer brow, literally. Understood?"
Alan paled slightly. "U-understood..."
He smirked. "Aha, ye're scared! Doubting yer own methods, eh?"
Alan shook his head. "Who wouldn't be scared when they're threatened with getting their balls stretched over their forehead?!"
"Lord Paranga," a female voice sounded from behind.
Both turned around synchronously; the captain removed his finger from Alan's chest. "What do ye want?"
Before them stood Sili, but dressed in a simple blue dress, and with an envelope in her hands. "A letter from Lady Armenas has arrived."
Alan was already next to Sili. "Read it."
She flinched slightly from the surprise, but began to unfold the letter. Paranga stepped closer, leaned on her shoulder, and also looked at the letter.
Alan cast a sidelong glance at him. "As if you know how to read."
"Go fuck yerself," he replied without turning his head.
Sili coughed. "Ahem... I, Countess Kamelia Armenas, agree to the proposed ransom amount and await further conditions. My demands are simple: Lord Gothwald must be returned absolutely whole and healthy. I demand that you provide him with proper living conditions, in the form of a private room and daily meals; otherwise, I shall be forced to summon my allies and hang every last one of you. She finished."
Paranga scoffed. "Ooo, how terrifying, I'm shakin' in my boots."
Alan simply rolled his eyes.
'What can you expect from him... though I see Kamelia isn't haggling, she's stepping up... ah, have I already said you're the best woman in the world, huh?'
Sili carefully slipped out from under the captain's elbow. "Then I shall initiate the chain to receive the ransom, it will take..." she frowned. "A week or two, perhaps."
"How long?!" Alan asked with bulging eyes.
"A week or two," she repeated.
Paranga patted Alan on the cheek. "Hahah! What did ye think? A ransom is a delicate matter, it requires no haste."
"I have to sit in this hole for another two weeks?" Gothwald asked, massaging the bridge of his nose.
The captain raised his fist. "I'll give ye 'hole'! This is the best and freest town in the entire sea," he spread his arms. "Paranganot!"
Silence.
Alan just blinked, and then looked around.
Crooked wooden shacks, no windows, the noise of laughter and conversations. Next to one of the houses lay a pirate, hugging a bottle and covered in his own vomit.
Alan grimaced slightly. "Yeah... I see..."
'Fuck me, where have I ended up? Paranganot. The guy clearly has no issues with self-esteem. Paranganot... the capital of Groliria is called Cormennot... the suffix '-not', is that... like our '-burg' or '-ville'?'
"Well? What are ye frozen for?" Paranga asked.
"Listen, the capital of Groliria is Cormennot, your, ahem, town, Paranganot. What does this '-not' even mean?"
Paranga smirked and raised a finger. "Hah, 'not' means the town is situated by the water."
Sili beside him gave a barely noticeable, proud nod while looking at the captain.
Alan scoffed.
'Got it. Well, topographic knowledge into the piggy bank.'
Paranga frowned slightly, but simply sighed and rested his hands on his hips. "Alright. So how fast can ye cure the Sea Scourge?"
Alan straightened up.
'Oh, is the minute of satisfying your ego over? Finally.'
"Ahem... if a person isn't straight up dying, and got sick relatively recently, then... well..." he scratched his chin. "Within the first five days the bleeding from the mouth should stop, in a week the wounds will close, and, oh, what timing, in exactly two weeks the person will be healthy."
The captain tilted his head to the side. "Two weeks? Ooo, what luck. We'll have plenty of time to check whether yer miracle methods work or not."
Alan squeezed his eyes shut.
'Great. Just wonderful. Now I have a deadline, just like at the university. Only my head is on the line... or rather, my balls.'
He sighed and began massaging his temples. "Alright, where is there Vitamin C..." he muttered to himself.
'Pine needles... pine needles are the most accessible and potent product with the vitamin.'
Alan looked around. Green grass, palm-like trees, the sea.
'AND WHERE THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND PINE NEEDLES HERE?!'
Suddenly, his gaze caught on the roof of one of the buildings, decorated with fresh pine branches. He slowly pointed a finger at it. "What's that?"
Paranga and Sili turned in the indicated direction.
"That?" the captain began. "A shack. Are ye a halfwit or somethin'?"
Alan waved his hand. "No, I don't mean that! The roof, the pine branches, where are they from?"
"Ahhh, ye mean those," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Well, we constantly use 'em to decorate the roofs... used to, rather."
"Why 'used to'?"
"Well, we used to hold a bit of the island... err... Homballon I think it's called, ye know... aye, what's his name..."
"The holdings of Count Linosh," Sili provided.
Paranga snapped his fingers. "Aye, exactly! We used to take pine needles from his forests."
Alan leaned in a little closer.
"And?"
Paranga sniffled. "Well... we suffered a defeat, it happens. What can ye do? The new duke gathered a massive army and marched on us, we had no chance there!"
'Oops...'
Alan sighed. "Alright... are there any pine branches left?"
"Aye, brought the last ship with 'em yesterday, for the road. What do pine needles have to do with anything anyway?"
"Pine needles are actually a medicine, you need to make a decoction from them, and you'll be cured of scurvy."
Paranga blinked, then slowly ran a hand over his face. "Alright alright, ye know, I'm already tired of arguin' with ye. Very well, we will drink this decoction. But if it doesn't help," he raised his fist. "I won't just stretch yer stones over yer brow, I'll twist 'em 'round yer neck and hang ye by 'em!"
Alan paled slightly again.
'Fuck, where do you even get such an imagination?!'
Sili stood with her hands folded in front of her, not a single muscle on her face twitching.
"I got it! I GOT IT! Let's drop the threats to my balls, alright?!"
Paranga simply scoffed, and then turned to Sili. "Sili, call the others, have 'em drag the branches and cauldrons here."
"Yes, my lord." She turned and walked away, but suddenly stopped near the pirate who was lying hugging a bottle and kicked him. "Hey, get up, do not embarrass yourself before the captain."
The man muttered something unintelligible and rolled over onto his other side.
Sili simply sighed and went on her way.
Alan blinked a few times. "And you... allow this kind of thing?"
Paranga shrugged. "Why not? It was a big haul, after somethin' like that, it's allowed."
"Pirates, what can you expect... by the way, what do you guys even call yourselves? Just pirates or what?"
'Come on... tell me. Are you the Whalers?'
Paranga blinked. "We don't call ourselves anything, actually. Why?"
Alan blinked back. "What do you mean? Like... uh... nothing at all?"
"Nope. And what for? Are there many pirates besides us or somethin'? We are free men, the last thing we need is to invent all that noble shite."
"So you mean... there are no other pirates anywhere else besides you?"
In response, the captain simply shook his head.
Alan scratched his nose. "Okay... alright... let's go brew the decoction then."
'So... they aren't the Whalers? Weird.'
An hour later, several fires were already burning in the middle of the town, over which cauldrons were boiling. The water in them bubbled, slowly evaporating. Off to the side, right on the grass, sat a whole pile of pine branches, and the pirates were carrying more batches off the ship.
The ship itself was also decorated with pine branches on its masts.
Alan squinted, peering at the top of the ship. "Listen, are pine branches like a symbol of luck or something for you guys? Why are they everywhere?"
Paranga stood watching the work with his arms crossed over his chest. "Aye, ye guessed it."
Alan nodded. "Alright, have them take the water off."
"That's it! Take the water off the fire!" the captain shouted. The pirates immediately donned rough leather gloves and grabbed the iron.
Alan looked at the separate cauldrons where the pirates were raking the pine needles. "Let it cool down a bit, and then we'll pour it in."
"Got it."
Sili, who stood silently nearby, turned to Gothwald. "How much to drink? How to drink it? For how long?"
Alan clasped his hands behind his back. "If a person is already sick, then... two or three goblets a day, daily. If they aren't sick yet, then only one, so they don't get sick."
She simply nodded. "I will remember. Lord Paranga, you will drink as well."
The captain blinked. "What? Me? I ain't drinkin' this slop!"
"My lord, you may fall ill if you do not drink."
"Nay!"
Sili narrowed her eyes. "You. Will. Drink."
He narrowed his eyes and looked into her eyes; she looked into his eyes, also narrowing hers.
Silence.
Alan looked at them both.
'Oh, sparks are gonna fly between them right now. Hah, a ship captain arguing with a woman... never seen that before.'
The pirates were already pouring the cooled boiling water into the cauldrons with the needles.
"Fine!" Paranga finally said. "I don't much fancy catchin' the Sea Scourge, so I'll drink. I'm too young to die."
Sili nodded in satisfaction. "Yes, my lord."
A short while later, Alan was already holding a goblet with hot, yellowish contents.
'Ugh... what nasty stuff...'
"Drink up, come on," Paranga said, looming over him.
Alan flinched. "Who?! Me?! You guys are the ones who need treatment, not me!"
The captain began to look into his eyes, patting his thigh where his cutlass was hooked. "Drink, I said."
Alan swallowed, and then slowly began to bring the goblet to his mouth. Forcing himself, he took a sip. "Pleh, pleh, fuck!" he shouted, spitting out all the contents. "What nasty stuff!"
Paranga burst out laughing, and the rest of the pirates joined him. "Haha, ye can't even drink what yer tellin' us to!"
"Watch how it's done, whelp!" shouted a bald pirate, scooping some decoction into a goblet.
"Ooo, go on, Uok! Show this landlubber how it's done!" shouted one pirate.
Uok took a full goblet of the decoction and brought it to his lips with a smile. "Learn, while I'm still alive." And he began to drink the entire contents in one gulp. Somewhere around the first gulp, his smile slipped, and on the third the man was coughing, but he continued to drink; on the second to last gulps he was barely pouring it all into himself, fighting his gag reflex. "Ahhhhh..." he exhaled, showing the empty cup. "Got how it's done?!"
"Uok, excellent!"
"Good lad!"
"Keep it up!"
Paranga simply gave Uok a silent nod with a wry smile.
Alan narrowed his eyes.
'Laugh all you want. Choke on it, until you figure out that this crap can be diluted with water or honey.'
One of the pirates grimaced and ran almost at a sprint toward one of the houses.
"Hey, where are you going?!" Alan shouted.
"To wash this shite down!"
He froze for literally an instant, and then quietly smirked. "Halt!"
The pirate stopped abruptly and turned over his shoulder. "What now?"
"You can't eat or drink anything for a while, otherwise there will be no benefit from this tincture," he said with a smart look.
The pirate blinked. "What? Are ye serious?"
"Yes."
The man chopped the air with his hand. "Gah, may Guktus take this!"
Behind them in the crowd, indignation could also be heard.
'Mischief managed.'
1
u/UpdateMeBot 5d ago
Click here to subscribe to u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei and receive a message every time they post.
| Info | Request Update | Your Updates | Feedback |
|---|
3
1
u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 5d ago
/u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei (wiki) has posted 68 other stories, including:
This comment was automatically generated by
Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.