I’m the Only One With a Different Genre

15 – What’s this Bloodstain?

***

Thud!

Shoulders tensed at the resounding sound once again.

“Rania, there’s been this noise since earlier. Do you happen to know why?”

“It’s probably because of that.”

Rania pointed with her index finger. Following her gaze, a strangely shaped man was writhing on the ground.

“Gasp…! Wh-when did that happen?!”

“It’s been there since before I arrived.”

“What?!”

“Ugh, huff, cough!”

The man, with eerily robust arms, giggled while rolling on the floor.

“By the way, where did you hide the cookies? I’ve been smelling something delicious since earlier.”

“Oh, I’ll bring them right away with tea.”

“Just give me a few now to eat on the way.”

“Would you like that?”

I took about five cookies from the shelf and handed them to Rania. She piled them on a plate and then picked up a teapot.

“I’ll bring the tea quickly.”

“That girl… huh?”

While munching on a cookie, Rania, upon seeing the teapot I was holding, widened her eyes.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, gulp.

Rania quickly stuffed a cookie into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed before speaking with a tone of disbelief.

“Could it be that I’m being poisoned today?”

“What?”

“The thing you’re holding right now is a poisonous herb.”

“Really?!”

I immediately dropped the tea leaf bottle I was holding.

Rolling, thud!

The bottle rolled and fell to the floor. It was made of thick glass, so it didn’t break as it rolled across the floor.

“Th-that was a poisonous herb?!”

“You didn’t know? That’s incredibly toxic. Of course, it won’t affect me much.”

Rania answered as she put another cookie into her mouth. Suppressing the urge to cry, I said,

“So, what do I do? I don’t have tea leaves at home…”

“Never mind. I don’t like that stuff.”

“But… Oh! Come to think of it, Mia-nim bought some fruits for us!”

I remembered that when Mia brought vegetables and meat, she also bought a few fruits. I quickly took out cold fruits from the refrigerator and said,

“I’ll make juice and bring it to you.”

“Oh, that sounds good.”

Rania smiled and lifted a plate stacked with cookies like a mountain.

“Then I’ll go now. Oh, what about him?”

“Ah…”

Only now did I remember the strange man who had been rolling on the floor. Somehow, he had foamed at the mouth and fainted.

“Um, Mia-nim should see him first…”

“I’ll take care of that.”

Rania shrugged, raised her hand lightly, and drew a magic circle in the air. Chains shot out from the magic circle, tightly binding the man.

“Uh, ah, good night.”

“What?”

“Uh, yeah, good luck. Be careful in the future. These kinds of guys might come in again.”

“Oh, then I should prepare some security tools.”

Rania nodded and left the kitchen.

“Phew… It’s a relief that there’s no major problem.”

After exhaling a sigh of relief, I scanned the kitchen to find tools for making fruit juice, placing my hand on my chest.

“Huh?”

Before spotting the tool for extracting fruit juice, I noticed the tea leaf bottle I had dropped earlier. Whether the man had taken it while dragging me or accidentally knocked it over, the lid was open, and tea leaves were scattered.

“Oh… it’s going to take a while to clean that up. Since it’s poisonous, I can’t leave it like this, ugh…”

I reluctantly placed the fruit to the side and grabbed a broom. Holding the tea leaf bottle upright on one side, I used the broom to gather the scattered poisonous weeds in one place.

“I don’t know what kind of poisonous weed this is, but I’ll leave what hasn’t spilled, in case Mia can use it, and discard what has spilled.”

Without a proper dustpan, I looked around. Seeing no suitable tools, I reluctantly used my hands to gather the poisonous weeds and threw them into the trash. After repeating this about three times, the poisonous weeds were neatly gone.

“Phew, done -… ugh!”

As I habitually tried to wipe my forehead with the back of my hand, a dizzying pain struck. My palm had swollen as if I were wearing oversized gloves, perhaps due to the application of a comedic filter.

“Ah, I thought it wouldn’t have much effect unless I drank it directly because it’s dried herbs.”

I sighed, shaking out my swollen hand.

“This will last quite a while.”

It was difficult to handle delicate tasks until the swelling subsided. However, simple tasks were not too challenging. I first closed the lid of the glass bottle.

Next, I took out a cutting board and a knife. Despite the throbbing sensation in my hand, which felt like it had been hit with a tropical mallet, the pain was not severe enough to hinder cooking.

After rinsing my hands thoroughly with cold water in case there was any poison residue, I placed the fruit on the cutting board.

“What kind of fruit is this?”

The fruit, shaped like a donut, was composed of multiple layers of peel resembling corn husks. The only difference from corn was that the peel was slightly firmer.

Chop.

As I cut one side with a kitchen knife, a red liquid oozed out. The cross-section of the fruit was a deep pink, reminiscent of raw meat. Even the flowing juice seemed redder, intensifying the impression.

“Is this… really a fruit?”

It emitted a slightly tangy and sweet scent, making me naturally suspicious. Just to be sure, I cut a tiny piece and tasted it. A pleasantly tangy and sweet flavor enveloped my tongue.

“Mmm!”

“Contrary to its appearance, it’s incredibly sweet and delicious?! I could put this in cookies or cakes later. Or just make juice and give it to the kids.”

Internally musing, I peeled off the tough peel, extracted the flesh, and cut it into pieces. Then, I took out a pot large enough for five servings and poured all the fruit inside.

“It seems ripe enough to crush it by hand.”

Since there were no blenders or juicers, I had no choice but to wash my hands again and start crushing the fruit by hand.

“Oh, this is convenient!”

As easy as my swollen hand allowed, the fruit crushed effortlessly. Utilizing the survival skill learned in the comedic world—positively navigating through any situation for survival—I joyfully crushed the fruit.

“Phew… done.”

I fetched two cups and cleanly poured the juice into one, placing it to the side. I intended to tidy up the kitchen to some extent and bring it to Mia.

“This is a mess…”

Juices were overflowing everywhere – not just on the kitchen table but even onto the floor, turning it into a crimson puddle. The beige clothes weren’t spared either; they were stained with a hue of crimson, as if dyed.

“It looks like a crime scene.”

There’s a saying that if you spill mustard, it looks like blood. The floor was exactly in that state.

“Let’s clean up quickly.”

While the floor and table were made of easy-to-clean tiles, the cutting board was wooden, and the knife handle was also wooden, making them easily stained.

After swiftly washing the basin, cutting board, and knife, I wiped the table first with a towel. The towel quickly turned red. After cleaning the table to some extent, I knelt down and began wiping the floor.

“The towel was quite worn, but it’s coming in handy now. I should probably throw it away soon.”

From Noble mtl dot com

After using the towel to absorb the pooled juice on the floor, I squeezed it out in the sink to extract the juice. Then, I knelt down again and wiped the floor. When the juice had mostly disappeared,

“Rian, our meal -“

“Ah, Noah. Sorry, something came up. I’ll just finish cleaning this up and get ready.”

Smiling awkwardly at Noah, who was standing at the kitchen entrance with a stern expression, I finished wiping the floor. Almost everything was clean, leaving only a reddish trace.

“Just a couple more wipes should do it.”

Thinking that, I stood up and squeezed the red-stained towel in the sink.

Drip, splash.

The crimson liquid spilled into the sink.

“Oh, am I going to get my hands wet like this?”

Looking at my juice-covered hands, I sighed. As I was about to kneel down again, Noah walked towards me.

“Hey, what’s this?”

“Huh?”

Noah grabbed my hand holding the towel. The swelling had slightly subsided, but it was still there.

“Uh, well…”

It was foolish to say that it happened while trying to catch a bug. No, let’s say it was a mosquito bite.

It’s not a foolish thought. This is the land of the demon king, where terrifying monsters live! If a monstrously large mosquito bit his hand, it wouldn’t be strange for something weird to happen.

“I got bitten by something like a bug. It’ll go away soon, so don’t worry.”

Knowing that Noah tends to worry a lot, I said with a wry expression. Then Noah, with a grimace, spoke in a menacing tone.

“Is this… because you were stung by a bug? Then where is that bug?”

“Well…”

“And what’s this… what’s with this bloodstain?”

Noah pointed at the juice that splashed onto my clothes with a trembling gaze.