The Strongest Man’s Fake Wife Wants to Live Chapter 12

A lord’s main source of income was usually the taxes collected from the people of his territory.

However, the polluted land of Swapro was a little different.

The soil was contaminated, so there was hardly any suitable farmland, and constant monster attacks made hunting difficult as well.

Since there were no particularly outstanding local specialties either, there was simply no money to collect from the already empty pockets of the territory’s people.

Perhaps she should be grateful if they did nothing more than stay instead of fleeing to another territory.

‘Of course, if they really squeezed every last bit out of them, they could probably collect some money…… But looking at the state of Count’s Castle, I can tell that Owen isn’t the kind of lord who would be that harsh.’

She had to find a way to make money before the embezzled funds ran out.

Otherwise, she would end up living in a castle where cold drafts blew through every crack, once again crying out for austerity while eating nothing but plain potatoes.

“Money……! I need to make money!”

Pesha put down the ledger, grabbed her head, and agonized over the problem.

At times like this, didn’t the heroines of romance-fantasy novels usually overcome their crises through business ventures?

‘How did they usually make money again?’

Clothing designs, perfume, cosmetics, cooking…….

Pesha tugged at the hair she had been clutching.

“Argh! None of those things have anything to do with me.”

Wasn’t designing something people did at salons?

Perfume already existed.

She had only ever used cosmetics, and had never even dreamed of trying to make them herself.

Cooking? She was good at eating.

Thinking about it this way, she could really feel that she had been reincarnated as a completely insignificant villainess.

What use was a villainess having some unnecessarily flashy ability……? She would probably only use it to torment the protagonist…….

Pesha let out a deep sigh and stared gloomily into the distant mountains.

“It’s not like my knowledge from my previous life is anything impressive either…….”

The occupation she had had in her previous life was neither particularly special nor especially useful in this world.

‘Maybe I should have learned cooking or design so I could actually make use of my profession…….’

Perhaps that was why she had devoted herself even more to studying herbalism.

Because she had never thought that her profession would be something useful that she could pull out like a secret weapon when the harsh waves of life came crashing down.

‘Honestly, all I know about is things that come from the earth.’

Things that came from the earth…….

Her gaze settled on the scenery of the territory.

Tiny people, as small as ants, were scurrying around busily as though they had somewhere terribly important to be.

When she turned her gaze to the side, she saw the mountains.

They were barren mountains with not many trees, but they were low and gently sloping like hills, making them look easy enough to walk through.

Still, it was a forest, so perhaps if she walked around for a while, she might come up with a good idea.

“Okay, let’s go.”

As Pesha happened to be wearing a comfortable dress without any elaborate decorations, she left a note for the maids saying she would be going for a short walk, then left the castle.

It had been a long time since she had walked somewhere instead of taking a carriage, but this was her first time going outside Count’s Castle at all.

She had heard that Swapro had a small population compared to the size of its territory, but the area in front of Count’s Castle was still a bustling district, so she decided to leave through the rear gate, which was the complete opposite.

After showing her identification token and passing through the rear gate, Pesha began climbing the hill.

Since the elevation was low, it was not difficult to climb.

As she walked past the cedar and rubber trees that remained here and there despite most of them having already been cut down, she realized a few things.

“The soil is better than I thought…….”

The earth was moist, dark in color, and soft.

When she looked around, she frequently spotted earthworms, which only lived in clean soil, and she could also see traces of holes dug by moles.

“So this kind of land has been contaminated by monsters…….”

It was a shame.

At last, after reaching the top, Pesha shielded her eyes with one hand and looked around.

She could clearly see the rocky mountains jutting sharply upward all around Swapro’s territory.

“Good grief, only the inside is even remotely usable. The surrounding area is nothing but rocky mountains.”

Well, it was common knowledge that the Emperor did not like Owen Namoi.

A hunting dog that had finished its hunt would only be eaten by its master.

To the Emperor, Owen must have been nothing more than a tool to be discarded once it had become worn out, so there was no way he would give someone like that good land.

“Barren. So barren.”

Shaking her head, Pesha began descending the opposite side of the hill.

That was when a scream reached her ears.

“Argh! Aaaagh! Help me! It hurts so much I’m going to die!”

Hearing what sounded like someone being killed, Pesha was startled and looked around.

Down below the hill, she spotted a white tent.

Smoke was billowing from the tent, as though a fire had broken out inside, and the closer she got, the more incessantly she heard people groaning.

Although bewildered, Pesha approached out of curiosity.

The first thing she noticed was the pungent smell.

“Cough!”

She covered her mouth and nose with her hand and broke into a fit of coughing.

“Cough, cough! Ah, it’s spicy.”

It was so pungent that tears even sprang to her eyes.

“What is that smell?”

“It’s the smell of painkillers.”

At that moment, an answer came from somewhere in response to Pesha’s muttering.

Startled, Pesha turned around.

A woman wearing a white headscarf and an apron had just set down a water jar in front of the tent, as though she had just drawn the water, and smiled.

“You must be from out of town? There’s no one in Swapro who doesn’t know this smoke…….”

At those words, Pesha’s eyes darted around.

What should she say?

She only hesitated for a moment before simply nodding. She was, in fact, from outside the territory.

The woman then kindly explained and introduced herself.

“My name is Sally. I’m a nurse who works at this hospital.”

“Hospital?”

Pesha looked up at the white tent with astonished eyes.

At the top of the tent was the emblem of two snakes climbing up a staff.

Since snakes had symbolized resurrection and regeneration since ancient times, they were a symbol frequently used by physicians.

‘No, even so. They put up one tent like this and call it a hospital…….’

Perhaps reading Pesha’s thoughts, Sally burst into laughter and said,

“Of course, this isn’t the main hospital. The main hospital is over there in the old town. This is more like an emergency ward we set up recently because the number of patients suddenly increased.”

“But why are there so many patients?”

“It’s all because of the monsters, I suppose……. We do have a lord, but he can’t prevent every kind of harm from happening.”

“Ah…….”

Pesha nodded for the moment.

“The fortress has been left collapsed for so long that monsters occasionally make their way into the territory. Most of the patients are people who were injured by those monsters.”

Sally took two handkerchiefs from her pocket and soaked them in the water she had drawn.

Then she held one out to Pesha.

“If you’re curious, you can go inside. If it’s your first time, the smoke will be hard to bear, so cover your nose with this.”

“Th-Thank you.”

Almost as though she were being pushed inside from behind, Pesha covered her nose and mouth with the handkerchief and entered the tent.

She had somewhat expected it from the smoke leaking outside, but inside the tent was practically a raccoon’s den.

Temporary beds were lined up on both sides, and every patient lying there was puffing away at something that looked like a cigarette.

The patients who were not smoking were either coughing or groaning in pain.

‘What on earth is going on here?’

Medical personnel appeared to be attending to the patients whose conditions looked serious, but there seemed to be far too few of them.

As Pesha stood there dazed, staring at the scene, Sally cleared her throat lightly and explained.

“If you dry the leaves of a tree called hoban and roll them into paper to smoke, they make an effective painkiller. Medical supplies are always in short supply, so to at least ease the patients’ pain, we distribute painkillers. Cough, cough. Painkillers.”

“Hoban?”

Good heavens. Pesha was utterly astonished.

‘Hoban leaves do have pain-relieving effects, but they’re incredibly bitter. They can also cause side effects like nausea and hives……. And they’re turning them into cigarettes and smoking them?’

Even Pesha, who had read countless books on herbalism, had never heard of such a method of treatment in her life.

‘Even the things being distributed as painkillers are terribly inadequate.’

The severity of the territory’s situation suddenly became painfully real to her.

She stood there with her mouth slightly open in shock, and a plume of acrid smoke suddenly entered her mouth.

It immediately triggered such a violent coughing fit that tears welled up in her eyes.

“Cough, cough! Cough!”

“Oh my! Are you all right?”

Sally patted her on the back, but once she had inhaled the smoke, there was no way to spit it back out.

‘Even if it’s a painkiller, are these people’s lungs really all right?’

In fact, not only did the medical staff themselves cough frequently, but even the patients who had fallen asleep without smoking the hoban could not stop coughing.

“This can’t go on…….”