Chapter 73: Memory and Lifespan
The old lady seemed to be accustomed to such a reaction. She shakily put the watering can on the wooden shelf holding a flowerpot, and then knocked on the ground with her cane. The wooden fence door of the courtyard opened in response.
“You have to tie those two goats outside,” she muttered in that pleasant voice. “They can’t chew around… Well, which one has the problem?”
She approached with her cane and took out a pair of glasses that looked like the bottom of a wine bottle from her pocket. “Let me see…”
The old woman little sandy golden eyes peeped out from under her flabby eyelids. It looked hard at the group. The orange cat slipped out of the open courtyard door and began to circle around the two fuller goats. Its fluffy tail stood upright, and finally selected White II, who had no luggage on his back, and jumped on the back of the sheep neatly. White II remained motionless and even chewed up some leaves of grass.
“It’s me,” Nemo admitted honestly, taking a step forward from the team. The gray parrot was still standing firmly on his shoulder, staring vigilantly at the cat not far away. “I’m missing… Well, maybe a very important memory.”
“Well.” The old lady stretched out her right hand like a chicken claw, grabbed the front lapel of Nemo’s robe, and pulled his upper body down. “Get closer and let me see your eyes… Very well, you’re not lying. But before I invite you in, you have to know the price first.”
She took a few steps back slowly and put away her glasses: “You can pay for physical illness or injury, but if it is an invisible injury caused by mental problems or magic… you need to pay with your natural life span.” She coughed a few times.
“Life span?” Oliver’s voice was a little nervous. “What do you mean?”
“For a simple analogy, such as this beautiful young man—” she raised her chin to Nemo, “he may have just hurt his head, or he may have been cursed by magic from some other creatures. Both conditions could cause memory loss. If it’s the former, you pay some money, and I can deploy potions for him… But if it’s latter, and he wants to restore his memory for those few years, I will take away his life span equivalent to those years. You can come back after you think about it. My bones are brittle, so I don’t want mess around in vain.”