I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 354

Countless heinous diseases exist in the world, but among them, dementia can indisputably be called the worst.

Often called the devil’s disease, dementia is every bit as horrifying as its moniker suggests.

Not only does one lose oneself, but it also inflicts varying degrees of harm on those around them.

Losing one’s memory means that every bond built up over a lifetime vanishes into thin air.

Most of the people afflicted with dementia are elderly, and if those elderly individuals have children, the pain is doubled.

Where else could there be something as heartbreaking as a parent failing to recognize their own child?

That is why someone once said dementia is a disease that makes one deny the existence of God.

Furthermore, because dementia is deeply tied to the brain, it is an exceedingly difficult disease to cure.

’There’s a reason for the saying about living long enough to smear shit on the wall.’

Smearing shit on the wall mostly happens when someone becomes senile—meaning they’ve fallen ill with dementia.

The elders of old used to think that the moment senility set in, it meant their time had come.

People used to say that if someone ever invented an effective drug for dementia, they wouldn’t just win a Nobel Prize—they’d be immortalized in history books.

That statement alone illustrated just how horrific a disease dementia was.

’As expected of a fantasy world. Recovering from hair loss and dementia, which are basically incurable diseases.’

Surprisingly, medical knowledge in this world was quite advanced.

Rare diseases like Nine Yin Severed Meridians were systematically analyzed, and surgical techniques were well developed as well.

Plus, there were medicinal herbs comparable to panaceas.

Compared to the general era, many aspects were imbalanced.

Considering that Earth’s ancient surgical capabilities were measured by how cleanly a doctor could amputate an arm, this was in pretty good shape.

’Even if there’s a specific remedy for hair loss, curing dementia requires drinking Empty Sky Stone Milk...’

The efficacy of Empty Sky Stone Milk is so diverse that it’s a waste to single out dementia alone.

Not only does it align malformed physical structures, but it even fixes naturally poor eyesight.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it heals anywhere that hurts.

So even if Empty Sky Stone Milk were disguised and sold as a dementia cure, people would quickly realize it was far more than that, causing a massive headache.

Hypotheticals were meaningless. It would inevitably be exposed.

When a cure for the devil’s disease, dementia, appears, people will naturally arise who scrutinize it closely to see if it has other effects.

One thing leading to another, there was a high possibility its true identity as Empty Sky Stone Milk would be exposed.

If that happened, various accidents would break out as a result. Extremely troublesome.

’Still, it’s hard to just ignore it...’

I heard a lot of stories from Grow Tall and Strong.

His grandfather, who had dementia, was now very healthy and even helping with farm work.

At first, he said he was terrified it might be Huiguang Banzhao.

A sudden surge of lucidity right before death to burn brightly one last time and peacefully close one’s eyes after a happy farewell with family was actually a pretty frequent occurrence.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Thanks to that, happiness visited Grow Tall and Strong’s household.

’If it were just a simple miracle drug, I could have handed it over to the Heavenly Demon or the Icon Merchant Guild. The problem is that it’s too risky for them.’

I didn’t think mere merchant guilds could handle something like Empty Sky Stone Milk.

As for the Heavenly Demon... I wasn’t sure. Currently, she was attending the Martial Arts Tournament.

I felt bad about bothering her unnecessarily. There were also rumors recently that the Demonic Cult was moving busily.

’Then there’s only one person left.’

Someone who wouldn’t face any backlash even if exposed, and whose possession of such a remedy would make sense to everyone.

I naturally logged into the Gallery and sent a message.

[Wild Grylls: Hello, Orange Badge-nim. Are you available to talk?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Yes! A conversation with Grylls-nim is welcome anytime!]

Not as the head admin, but as the Hero Asella. With her reputation, she could easily handle it.

She was already capable of crafting the miraculous liquid known as Holy Water. Tricking people into thinking Empty Sky Stone Milk was a type of Holy Water would work.

One might ask if this would raise the Hero’s reputation too high, but that didn’t matter.

Her reputation had already skyrocketed to the sky the moment she saved the Holy Kingdom.

As long as there was the ability to package it properly, no major issues would arise.

[Wild Grylls: Did you by any chance read the messages between me and Grow Tall and Strong?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I am always watching Grylls-nim’s conversations!]

[Wild Grylls: ...When you put it like that, it sounds strongly like eavesdropping.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Please call it surveillance, not eavesdropping!]

Surveillance... right? Probably right.

Indeed, when Allfather whined about nukes, didn’t she watch him for a while before slapping him with a ban?

To her, I was beyond a person of interest—a walking time bomb that could detonate at any moment.The source of this chapter is novelping(.)com.

Unlike other fixed-handles, I couldn’t even be banned. She had no choice but to keep her eyes on me.

[Wild Grylls: Anyway, it seems the Empty Sky Stone Milk I found last time has a huge effect on dementia. Could the Orange Badge... I mean, the Hero-nim, spread it on my behalf?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Should I make it seem like Grylls-nim distributed it!]

[Wild Grylls: No. Even if it’s disguised as a dementia cure, it’s still Empty Sky Stone Milk. There will definitely be people who try to use it for other purposes.]

Not only that, but black-market trades and various dirty tricks would arise.

I didn’t designate Asella—who was practically a public figure—as the middleman for no reason.

Nobody could threaten her, and her fame was already peak tier, so there was no risk of things spiraling out of hand.

One might ask if her Gallery fixed-handle handle could be exposed, but that too could be solved by coordinating our stories.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: What should I say if they ask where I got the cure!]

[Wild Grylls: Couldn’t you just say God gave it to you?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: But Grylls-nim is not a God!]

[Wild Grylls: It’s for a good cause, so God will surely forgive us.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I-Is that so...!]

[Wild Grylls: Honestly, if God had a conscience, diseases like dementia shouldn’t even exist.]

Ancient humanity somehow managed to overcome both hair loss and dementia.

I don’t know what happened in the Forest of the Four Seasons, but they surely must have conducted all sorts of experiments.

Asella seemed to ponder for a while, staying silent for a bit before finally opening her mouth.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: But this is a truly great achievement, are you really alright with this!]

[Wild Grylls: I just want things like dementia to disappear from the world.]

It was something from my childhood. Back when my parents were still around.

My grandfather contracted dementia, and day by day, his mental age regressed.

Back then, I clearly saw it. My father crying while laughing.

He tried to brush it off with laughter, but he couldn’t stop his heart from breaking into pieces.

’Back then, I didn’t understand what my grandfather meant when he said he was giving his wisdom to me.’

It was only after my grandfather passed away and I grew up that I realized it too late.

That’s how cruel dementia is. It rightly deserves to be erased from the world.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Mmm...! My conscience is pricking me, can’t I just say Grylls-nim gave it to me?]

[Wild Grylls: Then it will become insanely troublesome. Tons of people will swarm to build ties with me.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I’m the Hero! I already have tons of people like that!]

[Wild Grylls: Let’s think about this slowly. There’s no problem even if we get caught later.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: What if we get caught? People will say we recklessly used God’s name!]

[Wild Grylls: The Forest of the Four Seasons itself is connected to God, so it’s technically not a lie, right?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Oh!]

Truly a cute reaction. I chuckled softly.

Thus, handing over the Empty Sky Stone Milk to the Hero Asella brought things to a temporary conclusion.

Of course, a steady supply needed to be maintained, so it was right to make plans slowly.

’There are plenty of capable people in the world, so someone will surely analyze the Empty Sky Stone Milk.’

Then they’d realize. This wasn’t just a specific remedy for dementia.

It popped out of thin air, so they’d naturally suspect something was up.

I couldn’t do anything about that. I just had to pray Asella spoke convincingly.

Though a total pushover in the Gallery, she was sharp and decisive in reality, so I could trust and leave it to her.

’Before that, I should ask the other fixed-handles.’

If by any chance there was anyone around them suffering from dementia or in poor health.

Fortunately, there was no such person, and in fact, the opposite was true.

[Praise the Sun: Elves and Demons rarely get dementia. If they do, it’s because their brain suffered physical damage.]

[Wild Grylls: What does that mean? Rarely get dementia?]

[Praise the Sun: There’s still a lot you don’t know. You know Elves and Demons have extremely long lifespans, right?]

[Wild Grylls: That’s a famous story, of course.]

They didn’t live for 1,000 years like in some fantasy media.

Honestly, bringing up average lifespan when it comes to Elves was close to absurd.

There were plenty of Elves who couldn’t even reach 200 years due to various reasons, and plenty of opposite cases.Find the original chapter at novelpin‌g.com.

What was the reason? Praise the Sun gave me a pretty plausible reason.

[Praise the Sun: I don’t know for sure, but according to the elders, a massive war breaks out once every 100 years. Even recently, tensions grew between Alfheim and Mountain, right? Especially for the Demon Race.]

[Wild Grylls: Is there no one who lives out their full natural lifespan?]

[Praise the Sun: It’s not that there’s none. It’s just that old people are rarely seen. Either way, long lifespans mean memory capacity gets insanely good. Do you remember what you ate around this time last year?]

[Wild Grylls: Nope. I can’t even remember what I ate yesterday.]

[Praise the Sun: We remember everything. So dementia rarely happens to us. Humans, on the other hand, forget things easily, which is why they have the habit of keeping records.]

[Wild Grylls: Oho...]

So that’s how inter-racial differences manifest. Truly fascinating.

Of course, being an Elf or a Demon didn’t mean complete immunity to dementia. Dementia was a disease, after all.

Just in case, I handed over some Empty Sky Stone Milk to Praise the Sun as well.

It might come in handy later, so there was no harm in keeping it.

[Princess Chaenggu: Thank you! This will actually be super useful for the Demon Race.]

[Wild Grylls: Don’t Demons have good memory like Elves?]

[Princess Chaenggu: We fight and beat each other up all the time, so amnesia is super common!]

[Wild Grylls: ;;;]

A truly Demon-like reason. Seriously, thank goodness sports culture developed.

If not for that, they were a race that would’ve fought several full-blown wars by now.

Laughing softly to myself, I moved on to the next one. Next up was Passing Dwarf.

[Passing Dwarf: Do we get dementia? Of course we fuckin’ do.]

[Wild Grylls: Don’t you guys live longer than humans?]

[Passing Dwarf: Regular dementia doesn’t hit us, but alcohol-induced dementia patients are everywhere.]

[Wild Grylls: ;;;;]

Come to think of it, I’ve heard about this before. The average lifespan of humans and Dwarves is similar.

To be precise, Dwarves have a longer natural lifespan, but because of that damn alcohol, many die young.

Alcoholic dementia was part of it. It boasted an overwhelming proportion among dementia types.

[Wild Grylls: You fucking bastard, I’m gonna give you Empty Sky Stone Milk every day, so make sure to drink a glass. I’m telling you this because I’m genuinely worried.]

[Passing Dwarf: Oh. I can just brew booze with it and drink that. Healthy liquor? That’s fucking sweet, right? lol]

[Wild Grylls: ;;;;;;]

An answer that elicited admiration beyond mere sighs.

What kind of brain structure does he have to process thought circuits like that?

Still, with Empty Sky Stone Milk, there shouldn’t be much of an issue. In the first place, all of that Dwarf’s brewing ingredients were top-tier.

Starting from Mature Mandrake to World Tree fruit and Empty Sky Stone Milk. Ingredients even Dionysus would marvel at.

’Distribution is mostly done with this, and as for the rest...’

Among our group, there was only one person with memory issues.

Even that one person was closer to an AI(?) than a living creature, so it didn’t mean much.

’Still, would he get better if I soaked him in Empty Sky Stone Milk?’

Holding that thought, I stared intently at Cain.

Cain, perhaps feeling quite uneasy under my gaze, asked bluntly:

[What are you staring at like that?]

"Do you remember everything from the past by any chance?"

[Even if I didn’t, I would answer that I do.]

His wits seem to have gotten ridiculously sharp. I put my lingering regret behind me.

’By the way, if I drink Empty Sky Stone Milk, will my memory get better?’

Since it even cleanly cures dementia, wouldn’t it boost memory retention?

If I drank a glass every day, maybe I could gain a memorization ability rivaling Lackey’s.

"Master."

"What?"

"Sowing good seeds is meaningless if the field is bad."

"Shut up. I’m not sowing seeds, I’m cultivating the field."

Hearing my words, Lackey thought for a long while, and then—

"Even if Master cultivates the field, it feels like only the land area will expand."

"..."

He landed a scathing jab.

What a bad bastard.