Chapter 493

Meeting with the Eight Seats – Medicine of the Isles of the Eight Gods
“Is there any risk of addiction with this medicine? Also, is there anything dangerous about handling it?”

Naturally, when it comes to medicinal products, trade negotiations have to be handled with caution.
Especially with something as potent as a high-recovery medicine—one wrong step and it could become a spark for war.
I need to be sure this is safe.

“There’s no risk of addiction. Actually, it’s an oral medicine, but it tastes so awful that most people never want to take it a second time. As for handling… well, it doesn’t catch fire or anything, but if it dissolves in water, it becomes useless, so you’ll need to be careful about that.”

“I see… But could this medicine become a catalyst for war? If people know how powerful it is, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to try to seize control of it.”

“That’s covered as well. See, the ingredients for the medicine come from a particular type of monster. All the apothecaries are under the protection of those monsters. So, if anyone tries to steal the medicine, they’d have to deal with those monsters first.”

“What kind of monsters are we talking about?”

“Ryuujins.”

The Ryuujins, huh…
I’ve seen a bit about them in the Tamers’ Guild’s materials.
In terms of my previous life’s knowledge, Dragons are like the western kind, while Ryuujins are more like the eastern variety.
Meaning, they’d have long, serpent-like bodies, clawed limbs, and horned heads.
I’ve also heard both dragons and Ryuujins possess intelligence far beyond that of humans and generally avoid human settlements… but maybe that’s different on these islands?

“Um, do Ryuujins actually live here on the Isles of the Eight Gods?”

“There’s an island among the Isles of the Eight Gods called ‘Ryujinhou’—Ryuujin Peak. That’s where many of the Ryuujins reside. The medicine we’re talking about is made by grinding the shed scales of the Ryuujins into a powder.”

“... Are the Ryuujins okay with this?”

“The Ryuujins have granted permission for humans to freely use their shed scales and skin. Of course, we still seek their approval before turning them into trade goods, but it should be fine. We’ve traded it in the past, after all.”

So they’ve done this before…
Wait, if they’ve traded it before, why aren’t they doing it now?

When I asked about that, I got a surprisingly simple answer.
Apparently, someone tried to seize the medicine by force, so the Ryuujins wiped them out.

“If you get greedy, the Ryuujins will come down and destroy you. After that, the Ryuujins still allowed us to use the medicine for trade, and in small amounts, we’ve been exporting it ever since. So, what do you say? Not a bad deal, is it?”

It’s not a bad deal, but the key issue is how the Ryuujins will react…
Maybe I should pay my respects to them personally.
I wonder what a Ryuujin actually looks like…

What do you think about this chapter?