Rain beat down on their paper kasa umbrellas as the mud threatened to steal their sandals right off their feet. But somehow the medicine seller was walking just fine in his geta despite the conditions. Kayo had no idea how he was doing it, but she'd seen him walk in mud in geta before in the mountains. He had some sort of miraculous balance about him. Perhaps it was some natural ability for whatever supernatural person he might be. Or he just was a really careful person. She still wasn't certain.
She was happy when they finally hit the stone streets. She was still working the mud off the bottom of her sandals when she nearly collided into the medicine seller's back. He was staring up at an inn with its lights still on. The streets where they stood weren't quite for their class, serving the upper clientele but it was late and their options were limited if they wanted to stay inside and not in the storm.
"Quit standing in the entrance."
The medicine seller turned, bowing at the woman. "Pardon us. We were simply looking for a place to stay."
She was older, her hair drawn up with expensive hair ornaments that accented her expensive kimono. She held an ornate kasa as she seemingly judged the pair and their respectful bows. "A medicine seller and his…"
"Apprentice," he replied, still bowing.
What an odd pair. "Tell me, medicine seller," she continued to stare at them, "do you have goods other than medicines?"
"Many," he replied simply. "Tobacco, salves, less common oddities as well."
"Good, come with me. If you have what I need, then you can stay in one of the lower rooms for the night."
Kayo watched her head towards the inn, veering off from the entrance and heading down the side path. She quickly followed the woman and the medicine seller, wondering if somehow they just got a room in an upper class inn. Well given they had whatever vague thing the woman had wanted, else they'd end up back on the street in the rain.
The woman led them through the servant's entrance in the kitchen. They left their sandals and kasa at the back door before shuffling through the hallway and into one of the side rooms. She shut the door behind them. "My name is Heya. My husband runs this inn. We have a bit of a problem, and if you can solve it, you will have a room and some food. So far, no one has been able to solve the problem."
"Oh~? What sort of problem?" He set the medicine chest down on the floor, sitting down on his feet politely. Kayo settled down next to him.
The woman sat down across from them, placing her hands on the table. "Caterpillars."
Kayo nearly fell backwards off her feet in surprise.
"An unusual pest in late summer," he commented.
"They began to appear recently," Heya said. "My husband believes this is some sort of haunting, but no miko or monks have been able to get rid of them. I believe someone simple like the pair of you might have a better answer."
The medicine seller turned just enough to hook a finger around the drawer. "You would be correct." He pulled several simple ingredients from the chest. Garlic, pepper, a small piece of soap. "The recipe to kill caterpillars is quite simple. Combine these into water, let them soak overnight, then spread around thinly. However, this particular recipe might be a bit fragrant if they have reached indoors."
Heya frowned. "They have, and I'd rather the guests did not know about the caterpillar problem."
He pulled out a small fragrant cloth that smelled exactly like what was inside. Oranges. "These are quite effective against caterpillars and do smell good as well. The process to create the mixture is much like the other."
Heya tapped her fingers on the table. What was one more night for something that would potentially work? "Very well. Brew the mixture overnight. If this doesn't work, you'll need to pay for the room or sell the inn something of equivalent value from your wares."
"Of course," the medicine seller offered a polite bow. "We are grateful not to stay in the rain tonight."
"I look forward to the results." Heya stood up, heading for the door. "Kura is in the kitchen. She can help you with the preparations."
He continued to bow politely as the innkeep's wife left the room.
Kayo sat up, looking at the ingredients on the table. "This stuff really will get rid of caterpillars?"
"Both recipes are quite effective," he replied, "though the orange one certainly would smell less potent."
Kayo wrinkled her nose. "I can't imagine an inn smelling like garlic and peppers. At least not one of these fancy ones. Oranges will smell much better."
He stashed the ingredients, taking the oranges in his hand while slinging the medicine chest back over his shoulders. "We have work to do. Unless you'd like to work off our bill cleaning the place."
"Absolutely not!" Kayo fussed. "I'm done being a servant girl! Let's go cook up some orange caterpillar water, mister!" She shoved him out the door, though not very far. When he wanted to be immovable, it was impossible to push him anywhere. She leaned up against him. "What are you looking at?"
His focus was at the top of the wall. A peculiar series of holes lined the tops of the walls but only on one side. The holes were seemingly haphazardly placed on the wall. They were too high for anyone to bore without being noticed and too irregular to be done with ordinary kitchen tools.
"You must be the medicine sellers Lady Heya mentioned. Though I thought she mentioned two of you."
Kayo stopped pushing him and peered out around him. "There are two of us. I'm Kayo and this is…" she peered at him, puffing up that he wasn't even paying attention. "Mr. Too-distracted-by-the-wall, apparently. You're Kura, right?"
"I am." The servant nodded, peering up at the wall. "I see you've found our caterpillar problem."
Kayo peered up at the wall, finally seeing what had drawn the medicine seller's attention. "They eat wood?"
"There are wood-boring caterpillars, though they often eat trees, not inns," the medicine seller said. "I would say they are wood beetles, utabamushi, but the mistress was quite specific at the cause."
"Wood beetles are definitely not the cause. They are definitely caterpillars," Kura confirmed. "Little golden bastards. All the servants have seen them. They're only on the lower levels, but Lady Heya is worried they'll get upstairs. We lose guests, we'll all be out of a job."
The medicine seller tapped at his chin. The description was odd, the time of year was equally as odd. Perhaps it was a mistake of what these creatures truly were. Either way, the orange water should effectively get rid of them. "How long have the caterpillars been here?"
"A week or two," Kura replied.
"Anything unusual happen?"
Kura frowned. "More unusual than the caterpillars? Not really."
Something still felt off. "Let us create the repellant. It is getting late."
Kura nodded. "Kitchen's this way. I'll start on dinner while you work."
The medicine seller glanced up at the holes on the wall before following the servant down the hallway. There were more holes in the kitchen than in the hallway. Dozens and dozens lined the top of the walls and some even scattered further down towards the dishes and the stove. Some of the holes had been plugged up with cloths or clay but most had been left open. There were simply far too many holes to handle, and all of this happened within one or two weeks. Wood-boring creatures didn't usually work this fast.
"Don't worry, there likely aren't any here right now," Kura fished out a large pot for their work. "They tend to show up in the morning but never at night. We're not really sure when they do, but not during any normal waking hours at least."
"I see." Setting the medicine chest down on the ground, he took the offered pot and started the simple work. The mixture would be incredibly effective if they were normal caterpillars or bugs, but he wasn't certain how normal the source of the holes actually was. The behavior was rather particular and the creatures ate through the wood fast. He could think of a multitude of insect yokai, but none that quite had this sort of behavior.
Then again, he wasn't a bug expert. Perhaps it was a bizarre caterpillar that had come inside to hide from the monsoon. Hopefully that was the case and he wouldn't be selling half the medicine chest to pay for the room.
Still. Something about this bothered him. Perhaps the morning would answer some questions scratching at the back of his mind.
….
Author's musings
It is surprisingly difficult to find traditional bug-killing methods so I had to go for some slightly more modern ones off organic blogs. It works well enough!