Fluffy Paradise Vol 8

1 - It’s Only Fun If Everyone Is Enjoying Themselves!

AFTER being threa—I mean ordered—by Karna, Paul announced he would begin by relaying the information that had been confirmed. It was true that a battle had occurred along the national border.

“They defeated the attackers using the combined forces of the knights stationed in the Dierta Province, the Intelligence Department, and the Beast Knights Legion. From what I’ve heard, the casualties were minimal, but I’ve yet to receive more details than that.”

I was close with many of the knights and animals from the Beast Knights Legion, so I was anxious to hear they’d been in danger and may have been injured or even killed. I knew it was their job to protect the country and its citizens, but that didn’t change the fact that I worried about their safety. It was all too easy to lose your life on the battlefield—in this world especially.

“According to my source in the Dierta Province, Lestin was injured.”

I had a feeling that might be the case! Knowing Lestin, he either threw himself in front of someone or risked his neck to save one of the animals.

“The knighthood has excellent healers, so I’m sure he’s already made a full recovery by now,” Paul said gently, probably trying to put my mind at ease.

I was sure glad for the existence of healing magic in this world. It wasn’t all-powerful, but even so, it sped up the healing process compared to Earth by a lot. Even if the wound didn’t close up completely, stemming the blood flow and repairing the damaged blood vessels could save many lives; the rest would heal naturally so long as the person didn’t die of blood loss first.

I’d heard the healers who worked for the royal knighthood used the least amount of magic possible on each patient to increase the number of people they could help before their power was depleted. Once the fighting had ended, the injured could receive more thorough treatment.

So Lestin’s probably all healed up by now.

“However, one thing concerns me. Someone from the Dierta ducal house reached out…”

I didn’t understand what Paul was hinting at. The Dierta ducal house was Uncle Gene’s family. They were on good terms with the Osphe family, so it shouldn’t be strange for their servants to contact ours…

“Reached out to one of our undercover agents, you mean?” Karna speculated.

“Yes.”

Paul went on to explain the details.

Our servants, placed strategically throughout the continent to gather information, would under no circumstances ever reveal their true identities. And even if one of the Dierta family’s spies noticed one of ours, the protocol was to pretend not to have seen anything.

Of course, if the other party were a spy from a foreign country, they would arouse suspicion and be watched closely, but the five ducal houses who’d worked together as allies since the founding of our country—the Osphe, Dierta, Mieuxga, Wise, and Zelnan families—trusted one another. So, the fact that the Dierta family’s agent had broken protocol and made contact meant that they had a very serious reason for doing so.

“The message from the Dierta family was: ‘Be wary of the Helios Earldom.’”

“The Helios Earldom? I wonder if they got their hands on some kind of information that we’re not privy to…” Karna remarked.

Karna, too, seemed reluctant to believe that the Helios family could be an enemy.

“That we still don’t know, but we’ve immediately begun gathering our own information within the Helios Province.”

The members of the Helios family were a little unusual, but I’d thought they seemed deeply loyal to the emperor.

Perhaps someone’s trying to cast doubt on the Helios Earldom?

If Earl Helios fell from grace due to this, Project Roslan might be relocated to another province.

It’s not hard to believe, given what I’ve heard about the fierce power struggles amongst the nobility here.

“Forgive me, but I must ask you both to vow upon your name not to speak of this to anyone until such a time as our king gives his permission.”

It seemed that King Gauldi was worried that if the emperor found out that foreigners, ourselves included, were suspicious of members of his empire’s nobility, it would make a bad impression. This was to prevent an international relations crisis, as well as to avoid sullying our experience here in the Linus Empire.

“I, Karnadia Osphe, vow upon my name not to speak of this until our king gives his permission.”

“I, Nefertima Osphe, vow upon my name not to tell!”

Paul got Shinki, Spica, and Shell to vow on their names as well, and then he faced Karna and me and knelt before us. The way he knelt on one knee with his head bowed was similar to an aristocrat paying homage to a royal, but in this case, Paul was holding his pocket watch, engraved with our family crest, cradled carefully in both hands.

“I, Paul Dasnee, vow upon my name to obey our king’s wishes and not speak of this to anyone.”

Paul’s suited for these kinds of formalities, huh? Even I can’t help being moved by the dignified, serious aura he gives off. But does the fact that he’s vowing upon his name now mean he didn’t do it when he originally received this classified information?

As if noticing my confusion, Karna whispered to me, “Even though he made the same vow when receiving the report from His Majesty’s messenger, repeating the vow in front of his master is a sign of respect and sincerity.”

So that’s what he was referring to with that bit about “obeying our king’s wishes?” That means King Gauldi approved of him sharing this information with Karna and me.

More importantly, who is our enemy? Not knowing is more frightening than anything.

Because the situation was becoming more tense, it seemed that Papa had also increased his wariness towards the Linus Empire. In short, he was increasing the number of our family’s undercover agents placed here.

Perhaps due to this, I began seeing less of Paul in the days that followed. I assumed he was busy receiving reports and dispatching missives of his own.

However, just because Paul wasn’t around didn’t mean I could do whatever I wanted…

“Kai, what are you scheming over there?” I asked.

“…We’re going to play in the water. What of it?”

My guess was right on the mark, then. Haku and Gratia are practically vibrating with anticipation. But have you already forgotten how Paul scolded you the last time you did that?

“Didn’t Paul tell you not to play in the bath?”

“Paul’s not here right now.”

“Mew! Mew!”

I got the feeling that Haku was also saying, “Yeah! This is our chance!”

“Nope! If you want to play in the water, go outside! If you invite Euche and Sache, you’ll have even more fun than in the bathtub in our room.”

When I said that, Haku and Gratia jumped up and down eagerly.

I was worried about the events occurring in the Kingdom of Gaché, but I couldn’t do anything about it. The more I ruminated on it, the more depressed I became. I needed to snap myself out of this funk, and what better way to do that than by playing outdoors?

I immediately prepared to head outside to play with my monster friends, but a moment later, Spica informed me that a servant had arrived with a message from Daux.

“I have a message for Lady Nefertima from His Highness Prince Dauxrouge.”

To summarize, the message was, “If you’re free right now, wanna play?” Of course, the answer was a resounding YES!

“I was thinking of playing out in the garden just now.”

“…Are you suggesting I convey to Prince Dauxrouge that you wish him to meet you outside?”

“Well, yes. If we’re going to play, we might as well do so outside where there’s room to run around…”

The servant is glaring daggers at me right now, but what’s so strange about this request? We’ve played outside plenty of times before!

“Shouldn’t you go meet His Highness, not the other way around?”

…I don’t get it. Is the servant saying, “Tell him yourself?” Well, I suppose that’s fine too.

“Okay. Then let’s go!”

I’d finished my preparations, so I urged the servant to lead the way to Daux.

“You’re going to bring those animals with you?!”

Oh, he’s got a point…

If it was just us, it wouldn’t be a problem, but I should probably leave Inaho behind. Even though she’s still a juvenile, if a kyubi is spotted wandering around the imperial palace, it’ll probably frighten anyone who doesn’t know her.

The emperor had warned me to be careful whenever I took her out of my and Karna’s suites.

Seemingly understanding from the situation that she’d have to stay behind, Inaho’s whole body slumped in disappointment.

I feel so bad for her… I wonder if there’s some way I can bring her along without causing a panic…

“Please wait just a moment!” I instructed the servant to wait while I had Spica get Inaho’s favorite messenger bag.

I stuffed Inaho into the bag and ordered her to make sure her tails didn’t poke out even a little.

What they don’t know won’t hurt them! As long as they can’t see Inaho, no one can be alarmed by her presence while we walk through the halls.

“Kai, can you please carry Inaho and wait for me in the garden? Even if you see some tasty-looking people, you can’t follow them today.”

I would have Kai take care of Inaho until I arrived after retrieving Daux. However, I was a little worried about leaving Kai on his own…

“Nox, will you please go with Kai? If anything happens, let me know right away.”

I had Nox go along as a stand-by messenger, just in case.

Nox agreed with a cheerful “Peep!” and landed on Kai’s shoulder.

“I guess we’ll get going now… Please come meet us quickly, mistress,” Kai said, frowning uneasily in an expression that looked strikingly similar to the face Inaho had been making only moments earlier.

I stroked the top of his head reassuringly and found that his damage-free hair was smooth and silky.

When such a beautiful boy makes a sad face like this, it makes you want to rush to his rescue!

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Until then, I’m counting on you to take care of Inaho, Big Brother Kai!”

When I said “big brother,” Inaho let out an adorable “Kyun!” and gazed up at him with huge, glistening eyes. I got the feeling she was copying me and saying, “Big Brother Kai!”

Kai practically melted at that, his frown morphing into a lopsided smile.

I would leave Haku and Gratia to Shinki, and I didn’t need to worry about Seigo and Rikusei. They were the two most reliable and mature members of my merry band of monsters—after Shinki, of course.

“Sorry to keep you waiting; I’m ready now!”

I rushed out of the room ahead of Nox, Kai, and Inaho and found the servant impatiently waiting in the hall. His gaze was fixed on Seigo and Rikusei, who had been waiting for me just outside the room.

“All right, let’s go!” I called out cheerfully, and Seigo and Rikusei responded immediately, moving to lead the way.

When he saw this, the messenger looked perplexed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried at how the servant seemed to be dragging his feet, but he responded to my question with one of his own.

“You’re bringing your dogs, too?”

I thought it was common knowledge by now that I bring them pretty much everywhere with me.

“These guys are my bodyguards.”

Eliza’s friends had reacted favorably to the kobolds’ presence, speculating that nobles from the Kingdom of Gaché must use animals as bodyguards due to the influence of the Beast Knights Legion.

“Oh! Are you afraid of animals?”

When that occurred to me, I blurted out the question, and the servant responded by furrowing his brows and giving a little, reluctant nod.

“Ever since a shulgi bit me as a child, I’ve been afraid of hunting dogs…”

Oh, a shulgi, huh?

Shulgis were a medium-sized breed among the varieties of dogs found in this world, but they were still plenty large enough to qualify as a “large breed” on Earth. They resembled a cross between a Golden Retriever and a German Shepherd, but the fur at the base of their throat was especially fluffy! Because they looked elegant, they were a popular pet among the nobility.

“It must’ve been terrifying to be bitten by such a large dog.”

I knew firsthand because I’d been bitten by dogs more times than I could count in my past life.

“In that case, Seigo and Rikusei! Please stay ahead of us and make sure you don’t get close to this gentleman, okay? And you, mister, please walk behind them. If you’re behind them, you shouldn’t feel afraid, right?” I reasoned.

“Er, why is that?” he asked.

“In the wild, animals will naturally become wary if you make eye contact with them. And, if you turn your back on them, they may attack. So it’s safer to walk behind them, right?”

That didn’t hold true for all animals, but suddenly breaking eye contact or running from an animal was generally dangerous. It was best to move slowly to avoid startling the animal.

However, the servant said that would be difficult.

“I don’t have confidence in my ability to maintain my calm when I’m afraid.”

Yeah, I get that. I would probably scream my head off if a bear came charging towards me. Too bad I didn’t have this special ability to be loved by animals back on Earth…

If I did, I could’ve played with lions in Africa, grizzly bears in North America, and penguins at the North Pole! Not that I had the money to travel to all those places…

“Hmm, well, the best policy is not to go anywhere you might be attacked.”

In the end, we arrived at that conclusion.

“But don’t worry, these two cuties are very well-trained and won’t attack anyone unless they try to harm me. Let’s hurry up!” I encouraged, and the servant walked behind the two kobolds. He stared at them almost entirely without blinking as we walked.

I, too, watched all three of them, but my eyes kept going back to the two kobolds’ tails. The way their tails pertly wagged as they trotted along was so cute!

When we arrived at a four-way intersection, the kobolds stopped and sniffed the air.

“To the right—” the servant began, attempting to tell us the way, but the kobolds interrupted, racing in the right direction before the servant had finished his sentence.

“It seems they’ve caught Daux’s scent,” I explained.

“They’re very talented.”

There was something amusing about him being able to praise them while looking at their tails.

Encouraged by the servant’s praise, I extolled just how talented and clever Seigo and Rikusei were. The servant listened to me patiently, never once looking away from the kobolds trotting ahead of us.

He doesn’t necessarily seem interested, but the way he’s nodding along politely all the same goes to show how well-mannered he is.

While I was droning on one-sidedly, the kobolds pranced ahead, leading the way, until they came to a door that they plopped down in front of and let out a single “Woof!” in perfect unison.

The servant knocked on the door and told the maid, who answered, that I had arrived.

“…Please come in.”

The maid was expressionless, not bothering with even a polite smile.

I knew I wasn’t exactly popular among Daux’s servants, but it was almost laughable how blatant this maid was about it.

Giving the maid the stink eye, I moved past her to enter the room when I suddenly heard a small voice say, “I’m sorry for her disrespectful attitude.” It was the servant apologizing for the maid’s poor attitude.

“I’m not bothered. Besides, I’m partially to blame for not sending word in advance that I’d be visiting since I have you accompanying me.”

Technically, the servant should’ve returned first and informed them I was coming before leading me to this room. But because I’d been so eager to play, I’d insisted on tagging along. That meant I was also being rude, so there certainly wasn’t anything for him to apologize for.

“Oh, you’re earlier than expected, Neema!” Marie called out, coming to meet me where I stood near the door.

Daux and Marie were practically a set deal; wherever one was, you were likely to find the other. So I shouldn’t have been surprised to see her here.

“We were just about to play outside,” Marie said, taking me by the hand and leading me further into the room.

“Welcome, Neema. We have snacks!”

Did Daux immediately bring up the snacks because he thinks I’m a total glutton? I haven’t been eating that many snacks in front of him!

…No, that’s a lie. I certainly have been eating that many snacks in front of him.

“Why don’t we eat first and then play outside in the garden?” I suggested.

“So you are going to eat them after all, huh?”

It would be rude not to eat the snacks once he offered them! Besides, the Linus Empire’s sweets are super delicious!

I picked up one of the treats and took a bite, finding it had an unusual texture. The exterior was hard—not crispy but more crunchy—but the interior was fluffy. The rich aroma and lingering but not overpowering sweetness were truly divine.

I took a sip of tea, wiping the last traces of sweetness from my mouth. It seemed this tea blend had been intentionally chosen to go with these sweets for just this purpose.

Curious, I asked Koku to tell me what kind of tea it was. Koku claimed it was a variety known as “teabunami,” but it was the first time I heard that word. Most of the teas produced in the Linus Empire were floral teas that used flowers as their main ingredient, so it was possible that “teabunami” was also a type of flower.

Once my mouth returned to normal, I turned and apologized to Daux. I’d done things all out of order.

“Daux, I’m sorry for coming here suddenly without even sending word in advance.”

“It’s fine. I was the one who invited you, after all. Besides, knowing you, I was expecting you’d show up without sending someone to announce you first.”

“Yup, just as we expected!” Marie chirped.

What exactly were they saying about me before I arrived?!

Daux and Marie were looking at each other and laughing furtively.

“So, what should we do today?”

“I was thinking of making a water slide outside!” I announced.

Today, I wanted to create a water slide like Kai had previously made in the bath, except outside and on a larger scale.

“What is a ‘water slide?’ If it’s something dangerous again, I don’t think…”

Marie’s face was frightening.

I’d promised Paul to be careful, so I didn’t plan to make it a particularly extreme water slide.

“A water slide is when you slide down a slope made of water. I’ll ask Euche and Sache to help us create it and have them make it so we don’t slide down too fast.”

Although, to be honest, I wanted to make a super-steep slide that would propel us at top speed!

“I don’t really understand, but it sounds like it might be fun,” Daux said, agreeing to my suggestion. We immediately headed out to the garden.

As we left the room, the leader of the private guard glared at me.

Would it kill you to at least try to be civil with each other?! This is Daux’s free time, so he should be allowed to spend it how he likes!

Hmph, this guy sure is stubborn.

When we arrived in the garden, Kai was there waiting for us. I’d asked him to keep Inaho in the bag for the time being because I was going to summon Euche and Sache.

“Euche, Sache! Let’s play!” I called out loudly, and a forceful geyser erupted from a nearby fountain. Euche leapt from the geyser and ran over to me, then affectionately rubbed the side of his muzzle against me.

I got down to business, asking the holy beast, “Euche, will you please use water to make a tube large enough for us to pass through?”

Euche gave a short whinny, as if saying, “Piece of cake!” and produced a tube of water that floated in the air in front of us.

Sache, who’d made a much less dramatic appearance, peeked at me inquisitively, asking with her eyes what exactly I was planning.

“I need your help too, Sache! I want you to make the tube longer and twist it around like this…”

I ran around the garden, tracing the path of the water slide I envisioned. As I ran, the tube of water extended, following after me.

Heh, it feels kind of like I’m being attacked by an alien lifeform or something! If it catches up with me, I’m done for!

As I ran, I called out instructions to the holy beasts about the degree of the slope for each section of the slide. It was pretty hard work!

At the end of the slide, I asked the holy beasts to create a gel-like cushion made out of water. The jiggly, jello-like texture of the water cushion was distractingly amusing.

Finally, I returned to the beginning of the slide, where I asked the holy beasts to create a ladder. Then it was complete!

The water slide was fairly tall and made a series of long but gentle curves extending its already impressive length.

Pretty decent, if I do say so myself!

“All right, let’s give it a try!”

I began scuttling eagerly up the ladder, but Haku cut in front of me. Gratia was perched on its back.

You two!! Despite my best efforts, the two monsters beat me to the top and stole the coveted title of “first to slide.” Darn it! I wanted to be first!

“Mew, mew, mew!”

I heard Haku chattering happily, having already arrived at the bottom.

“HAKU!”

I pushed off and hurtled down the water slide, shouting Haku’s name as I went.

A water current ran along the slide underneath me, propelling my body forward at ever greater speeds. However, amazingly, Euche and Sache’s magic prevented my clothing from becoming wet.

Looks like I didn’t need to go through the trouble of changing into a bathing suit!

The same magic that prevented me from getting wet also controlled the current so that even in the curved sections, I never moved fast enough to feel afraid, merely exhilarated.

Th-This is so much fun!

Only moments after I noticed a sliver of light coming into view down by my feet, I flew out the end of the slide. My body bounced several times as my momentum carried me across the water cushion before I finally came to a stop.

“Ahhh! This is it! It’s everything I was dreaming of!!!”

It was exactly what I’d been hoping for when plotting to create a water slide. Every single one of my expectations were thoroughly fulfilled!

Although, if we added inner tubes to ride on, it would take things up a notch!

I raced back to the starting point and found that Daux and Marie were still lingering at the bottom.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to slide?”

“I’d like to try, but…”

I addressed this question to Daux, but as he trailed off in his reply, the leader of his private guard stepped in front of him protectively.

“It may be dangerous, so we can’t allow His Highness to use it until we’ve confirmed it’s safe.”

I thought something like this might happen! I know this guy is overprotective by nature, but in this case, it’s fine. Water slides are fun for everyone, children and adults alike!

“Then why don’t you give it a try, unit leader? Or perhaps one of your men? Time’s a-wasting, so please get to it!”

The unit leader didn’t respond for a moment, giving the impression that he’d been expecting me to insist he take my word that the water slide was perfectly safe.

“Hurry! Chop-chop! How about this fellow here, then?”

While the unit leader was still stunned into silence, I grabbed the arm of a nearby soldier and hurried him over to the foot of the slide. After having him pass his sword over to one of his colleagues so it wouldn’t get in the way, I gave his back a little push, urging him to climb the ladder.

“Lie down flat on your back with your hands on your chest… Just like that!”

With a bit of effort, I pushed on the soldier’s shoulders, sending him off on his way down the slide.

Immediately, the soldier let out a shriek.

“Ahhhh!”

I descended the ladder, grinning with satisfaction, only to be confronted by the unit leader wearing a demonic scowl.

“How dare you use one of my men as a guinea pig without my permission?!” the unit leader bit out furiously.

Immediately, a frigid aura rolled off of Euche in waves. I frantically hurried to placate the holy beast.

“Down, Euche! The unit leader has every right to be angry. He’s just worried about his subordinate. I did something wrong, so it’s only natural he demands I take responsibility for my actions,” I explained, assuring Euche that the unit leader didn’t mean any harm. The emperor had ordered Euche to protect me, so he was a bit sensitive where my safety was concerned.

“Unit leader, I’m sorry. The time I spend playing with Daux and Marie is truly precious. So I got a little carried away because I was too impatient, not wanting to waste even a moment of our playtime…”

The unit leader’s expression transformed into one of surprise when I apologized.

Marie tugged on my clothing and whispered in my ear, “You shouldn’t apologize so easily. He’s also partially to blame for not stopping what you were doing.”

Be that as it may… I still feel bad in retrospect for acting so rashly without waiting for the unit leader’s approval…

“It’s only right to apologize when you realize you’ve done something wrong, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps, but those of high social status don’t go around apologizing to just anyone!”

I tried protesting that I apologized to Paul and the other servants all the time, but Marie insisted that was different because they were practically family.

Give me a break! Why am I being scolded for apologizing?!

“…Did I cause trouble for you by apologizing?” I asked the unit leader hesitantly and was relieved when he said no.

“It’s simply the first time a noblewoman has ever apologized to someone such as myself, so I was surprised…”

At the unit leader’s words, Marie made a haughty face that seemed to be gloating, “See, I told you!”

“Lady Nefertima, you seem to possess the sensibilities of a commoner.”

Huh? Is this meant as a diss? Or is he praising me? Hard to tell…

“I imagine that those of common birth would be very pleased with your attitude,” the unit leader added while I was trying to decide which it was.

If they are pleased about it, I suppose it’s a good thing? I pondered, tilting my head to the side dubiously and causing the unit leader to let out a snort. Hold on, I got that message loud and clear! He’s laughing at me for not picking up on a thinly veiled insult, isn’t he?!

“That’s enough, Lex. I won’t stand by and let you say terrible things to Neema.”

Daux stepping in to stop it was the determining factor—the unit leader was insulting me! He’d whispered his final comment under his breath so I wouldn’t hear it, but thanks to the wind spirits, I’d heard every word loud and clear.

“Thanks, Daux.” I thanked Daux for sticking up for me, then turned to face the unit leader.

As a member of the Osphe family, I can’t let an insult pass unchallenged!

“I believe that apologies, just like gratitude, should be expressed openly. When you realize you’ve done something wrong, you should say you’re sorry. When someone does something for you, you should say thank you. Social status has no bearing when it comes to conveying your feelings.”

When I became an adult, the constraints I faced would surely increase, and there would probably be times when I couldn’t allow myself to be entirely sincere.

But even so, if you don’t put them into words, your feelings won’t reach the other person.

“Lex, you’re lucky this is Neema you’re dealing with. Even if she’s a foreigner, she’s still a noblewoman of royal blood. I can only imagine what might happen if His Majesty were to hear of this…”

Although Marie didn’t finish her sentence, it was clear from the way his eyes darted to Euche that the unit leader understood what she was implying.

Come to think of it, some of the elemental spirits who gather around Euche were also assigned to watch me, so it’s possible His Majesty has already heard about it! Hopefully, the water spirits aren’t huge blabbermouths like the wind spirits…

“If His Majesty does hear of it, I will explain the situation. I’m well aware that the adults in both of your lives don’t hold me in terribly high regard, and it would only bring shame to the Osphe family if I were to collapse into tears just because someone said something mean to me.”

I didn’t expect the emperor to be swayed by this argument, necessarily, but I hoped he wouldn’t go against my wishes and punish the unit leader over this incident.

“Let’s keep this just between us!”

Just then, the soldier who’d been shoved down the water slide staggered back over to us, and I wanted to hear what he’d thought of the slide right away.

“How was it?” I asked.

The soldier glanced over at his superior as if confirming that he was allowed to speak to me before responding.

“…I don’t believe it’s unsafe. If anything, it’s more of a test of courage. I believe it depends on the individual whether they’ll feel it’s terrifying or exhilarating.”

A test of courage, eh? I suppose that’s one way of looking at it…

“So, how about you? Did you enjoy it?” I pressed.

“I was frightened at first, but once I regained my senses, I began enjoying it.”

All right! As long as he enjoyed it by the end, that’s all that matters! The unit leader can’t possibly object to Daux and Marie using the water slide now that one of his own men has confirmed it’s safe, right?!

“I’m glad you enjoyed it!”

I’d been worried it might be a bit bland for adults, but it turned out it was just right for someone who’d never experienced a water slide before.

“Unit leader, can Daux go down the water slide now?” I asked.

“…Very well.”

With permission finally obtained, I immediately turned and pushed Daux up the ladder.

“Lie down here and cross your arms over your chest like this. Perfect. On the count of three, I’ll push you down, okay?”

“All right.”

Daux’s expression was a bit stiff with nerves, but he’d been fine riding Barg’s tail-coaster, so I was sure he’d be okay.

If he can handle the tail-coaster, the water slide is a piece of cake!

“One, two, three!”

I gave Daux a big push, and he careened down the slide. He let out a shriek, but it sounded more delighted than terrified.

Only one way to be sure, though—I’ll have to ask him when he gets to the bottom! I want to slide again myself, but I can’t see the water cushion at the bottom of the slide from here, so I have no way of knowing if Daux’s moved out of the way or not… So I’ll have to restrain myself!

I climbed down the ladder and headed over to the end of the water slide, where Daux was sitting completely still atop the water cushion.

…This isn’t the reaction I was expecting.

“Daux, are you okay? Was it too scary?” I asked tentatively, just as a broad smile broke over the young prince’s face. The sunlight shining from behind him only added to the blinding brilliance of his overjoyed smile.

“It was so much fun! You’re an absolute genius for coming up with something this fun, Neema!”

I’m glad he likes it, but I can’t exactly take credit for the invention of water slides… Someone on Earth gets the credit for that, though I have no idea who. In any case, I’m certainly not a genius by any means!

“Actually, Kai came up with the idea.”

It wasn’t a lie since I’d only had the idea to make a water slide after seeing the one that Kai had made in the bath.

“Even so, you’re really incredible, Neema!”

It made me feel a little embarrassed to be praised so enthusiastically. But I couldn’t help being glad to see Daux starting to let his feelings show on his face like this. I’d been a bit unsure about him due to his extreme shyness, but at his core, he was a good kid.

I hope he’ll grow up into a good adult. All of the imperial children have their unique quirks, after all.

“I want to go again!”

While I was reflecting on Daux’s character, he jumped right into demanding another ride down the water slide.

“Marie first!”

I didn’t have any other plans today, so I could wait until later, but Marie could only play for a short while.

Daux was struggling to climb off the plush water cushion, so I lent him a hand, and we made our way over to Marie together.

When I announced that it was Marie’s turn next, she turned to Daux and asked him repeatedly, “Daux, it’s really not scary? You’re sure?”

No matter how many times she asked, though, Daux would answer, “It’s fun!” which didn’t seem to do much to ease Marie’s fears.

Doing my best to encourage Marie, who was clearly battling her fears, I explained the ideal position for sliding, and then she was off!

“…Nooooo…!”

As Marie disappeared into the tube, she let out a momentous wail.

…Huh?

Highly concerned, I dashed at full speed to the end of the water slide. Daux raced after me, but by the time we reached the end of the slide, Marie had already shot out.

“Daux, you liar…! I hate you too, Neema…!”

“Marie!”

I frantically ran up to Marie, who was crying her eyes out. She clung to Daux, repeating over and over again, “I was so scared!” as the two of us did our best to console her.

I stroked Marie’s head, repeatedly telling her, “You were really scared!” “I’m so sorry!” and “It’s okay now!”

The slide had been a little too intense for Marie.

The way things were now, Marie only had a terrifying impression of water slides. But if everyone wasn’t enjoying it, there was no point.

“I’ll make another water slide for you that isn’t scary at all!”

We just have to add on a “beginner-level” water slide that even Marie can enjoy!

When I suggested that, Marie immediately protested that this wasn’t what she was looking for, but even if she didn’t want to slide down it, that didn’t mean I couldn’t build it!

I got Euche to help me again, and this time, we built another slide about the height of a grown man. Unlike the other waterside, it wasn’t enclosed; it was open, like the type of slide you’d see on a playground. In order to make the angle less steep, I designed it so there was a horizontal section right around the middle of the slide. A constant current of water still ran along the slide, but the flow was much slower than on the other water slide.

“…What if I get swept over the side and fall off?!” Marie muttered upon examining the second water slide.

I guess the fact that it’s open on top makes her worry about falling off?

“If you’re worried, you can hold Haku while you go down the slide. It will protect you for sure!”

As if on cue, Haku hurtled down the waterside, and I grabbed the white slime and passed it to Marie.

“What could a tiny little slime possibly do to save me if I fell off?”

“It’s because Haku’s a slime that it can help! Haku’s body absorbs impact, and it can change its shape in the blink of an eye.”

While I’d been sleeping, Haku had perfected the technique of quickly changing its shape to conform to the surface of an object it wished to protect from physical attacks. Shinki had also said Haku was capable of repelling up to intermediate-level magic.

I’d tested it once, and Haku really had transformed in an instant, and despite my concerns, I’d been able to see and breathe just fine despite being encased in its body.

“Haku, please cover Marie so she can see what it feels like.”

“Mew!”

Haku’s form changed from the cute little blob sitting in Marie’s hand, becoming super thin and stretching out to envelop Marie’s entire body.

Once Haku had covered Marie completely, I wound back and punched her. I put a decent amount of force behind the blow and, under normal circumstances, would’ve expected it to hurt.

“How was it? You didn’t even feel it, right?”

Haku completely neutralized one of Shinki’s power punches. Even with its body stretched out this thin, it could deflect punches from members of the kobolds’ Fighter Family.

I don’t know what more proof you could ask for than rendering a Doberman with a set of brass knuckles obsolete!

“Amazing… Haku’s not just cushioning the blow—I couldn’t feel your hand at all!”

“All right! Like this, you’ll be fine no matter what happens!” I instructed Haku to remain as it was, then led Marie over to the smaller slide. “This one you ride on sitting upright. It’s more stable if you stretch your hands out in front of you.”

This was the same pose you were instructed to take when evacuating from an airplane. Just in case you fell over backward, this was the safest position.

“Here you go!” I pushed on Marie’s back, propelling her into the stream of water.

She slid smoothly down the slide, the flat section in the middle reducing her speed just as I’d hoped, then picked up speed again when she entered the second slope.

Everything’s going just like I hoped it would!

The next instant, Marie was plopping down onto the water cushion.

But what did she think?

“How was it?” I asked.

“…I’m not sure how to describe it. I felt frightened, but somehow, that in itself was enjoyable? Shouldn’t it be impossible to feel such opposite emotions at the same time?”

“Not at all!”

Roller coasters and haunted houses are scary, but you always feel like it was fun by the end.

Since Marie enjoyed the smaller water slide, we spent a good amount of time playing uproariously on the two water slides. Daux found the smaller water slide a bit underwhelming, but he rode down the large one over and over again.

After a while, several members of Daux’s private guard remarked that they’d like to try it. They fell silent after being glared at by the unit leader, but not before I’d overheard!

But I knew the unit leader would never allow it if I were the one to ask, so I got Daux to lend me a hand.

“Lex, I’d like the members of the private guard to try out the water slide, too. Would that be okay?” he asked.

“You want us to slide down this water slide?”

“That’s right. I’d like to see just how brave the men in charge of protecting me really are.”

I’d instructed him to say that, but the members of Daux’s private guard reacted with surprise. Normally, Daux never made requests of them.

“Is this an order?”

“Well, I’d rather phrase it as a request. I won’t force anyone to comply.”

Looks like I guessed correctly. As I suspected, the unit leader asked if it was an order. It would be faster to make it an order, but with Daux’s personality, he wasn’t the type to issue orders easily. And anyway, the other person is more likely to want to oblige if he phrases it as a request.

“…Very well. Don’t make fools of yourselves, men.”

And so, we obtained permission for the members of Daux’s private guard to try sliding down the water slide, too!

Most of the men didn’t scream as they went down and reported that the high speed was exhilarating, though a few admitted to being afraid of small enclosed spaces or experiencing motion sickness when they moved too fast.

“Forgive me for my cowardice, Your Highness,” the soldier who suffered from claustrophobia apologized to Daux. It seemed he hadn’t even known until this moment that he was claustrophobic. I joined Daux in reassuring the soldier that it was fine.

Although some of the soldiers, the claustrophobic man included, didn’t enjoy the water slide, others were captivated by its thrilling speed. One of these men used wind magic to boost his speed, allowing him to slide even faster. I was surprised by this innovative use of magic.

Just as Daux reached the bottom of the water slide, the unit leader called out to him.

“Your Highness, it’s about time to be going.”

Although Daux had already slid down the water slide over a dozen times, he still wasn’t satisfied.

“I want to play just a little longer…”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

There’s nothing I can do to help Daux here, unfortunately.

“Daux, we can make another water slide whenever we want. Next time, let’s change the design and make an even more awesome slide!” When I promised we could make another water slide soon, Daux nodded happily. “Members of the private guard, please help us again next time!”

I wanted to gather ideas from everyone who’d experienced the first water slide so we could make an even better course next time. Not only that, but we’d also need them to test the next water slide to make sure it was safe before we could slide down it ourselves.

“Neema, don’t forget to make a slide I can use too!”

I assured Marie that I would, and then she and Daux left.

Now I’m the only one left in the garden… I wonder what my monster friends are getting up to?

2 - My Monster Friends’ New Discovery

THE garden felt huge after everyone cleared out of it all at once.

Haku and Gratia were playing by themselves, so I figured it was fine to leave them to it. As for Kai, he was using Sache as a pillow and taking a nap.

That looks really comfortable… Wait a minute, where did he put Inaho’s bag?! Inaho doesn’t like to get close to Euche and Sache, so maybe she ran off?

“Inaho! Where are you?”

“Kyun!”

I shouted for Inaho and was surprised to hear her answering cry coming from closer than expected. I glanced in the direction her voice had come from and noticed that Shinki had Inaho’s bag hanging from his shoulder.

…Hmm, messenger bags aren’t Shinki’s style, are they?

“Sorry for keeping you waiting, Inaho! Let’s play!”

Once she got the okay to come out, Inaho erupted from the bag, her four tails wagging furiously with excitement.

“First, should we try sliding together?”

“Kyun!”

Even though she’s afraid of water holy beasts, I guess she’s fine with things created by them? I’d been a bit concerned, but Inaho showed no sign of fear of the water slide.

“Okay, then let’s go!”

I slid down the water slide with Inaho riding on my lap.

“Kyuuuu!”

Each time our bodies were rocked to the side as we went around curves, Inaho let out another keening cry. She didn’t look frightened, but did have her tails wrapped protectively around her body.

Once we reached the end of the slide and stopped atop the water cushion, all the strength went out of Inaho’s body, and she lay limply across my lap.

“How was it?” I figured I’d better ask what she thought.

Inaho gave a little “Kyuu!” and gazed up at me, but her middle two tails were standing straight up, and the two outside tails hung weakly. Her ears were also fixed at an unusual halfway point, leading me to think that fear and excitement were warring within her.

Her unexpected reaction flustered me. She’d enjoyed the water slide that Kai had made, so I’d expected she would enjoy this one too, but…

Was it too scary for Inaho?

“Would you like to try the smaller water slide?”

That one doesn’t move as fast, so I don’t think it will be scary for her.

But Inaho shook her head emphatically.

Hmm, it seems she’s not satisfied with the small water slide.

“Then how about I ask Sache and Euche to reduce the speed of the water’s current so this larger slide won’t be so fast?”

But once again, Inaho shook her head so vehemently that her entire body shook.

Then what does she want to do?!

I was stumped, trying to figure out how I could make it so Inhao could enjoy herself, but thankfully, Shinki threw me a line.

“Inaho says that because you made it, she likes it just the way it is.”

“Aw, Inaho!!”

I was so touched by her bravery that I threw my arms around Inaho and hugged her tightly. I rubbed my cheek against hers, using my whole body to express how much I loved her.

“Kyuu!”

Even without Shinki translating, I could tell that Inaho was saying, “I love you!”

After that, I got Shinki to translate so I could ask what about the water slide scared Inaho. She explained that the sound of the wind was too loud, and the strong breeze made breathing hard.

I’ll have her try sliding down facing backward next time, then!

“Wait until it’s your turn again, okay, Inaho?”

A few rascals in our midst had trouble waiting their turn, but they were currently engaging in an unusual game and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Somehow, I felt bad ruining their fun by scolding them, so I let it slide just this once.

It seemed Haku had been inspired by the sight of the guard who’d used wind magic to boost his speed and wanted to try it. However, Haku couldn’t use wind magic, so instead, it was sucking in water and expelling it behind it with incredible force. I was impressed with this show of innovative thinking.

“Seigo and Rikusei, which of you wants to go first?”

Before I’d even finished asking, Rikusei bounced up and down, then launched at me.

“Me, me! I want to go first!”

Not only was Rikusei’s jumping ability impressive, but it was rare to see him get this worked up about anything.

“Fine, I get it! Calm down a little, will you? Seigo, you can go right after Rikusei, so please wait a little longer!”

I grabbed Rikusei in my arms and called the last bit out to Seigo.

“Okay!”

Seigo and Inaho watched as I made my way back over to the water slide carrying Rikusei.

I laid down on the slide, then laid Rikusei down on top of me so we were stomach-to-stomach. I warned the little kobold that Inaho had said it was hard to breathe, so he probably shouldn’t turn to look in the direction we were traveling, but he didn’t listen, positioning himself so he was sliding head-first.

“Here we go!”

I shoved off, pushing us into the stream, and we rapidly picked up speed. Rikusei’s tail wagged back and forth energetically, thumping against the sides of the slide, and at one point, he even let out a joyous howl…

Once we reached the bottom, Rikusei immediately leapt onto the ground and ran in excited little circles, yipping, “That was amazing!”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Yeah! Mistress, I wanna go again! Please let me slide again!”

I felt bad denying his request when he pinned me with those sparkling eyes, but I told him he had to let Seigo and Kai go first since they hadn’t gotten a turn yet.

Although, since kobolds are pretty tough, he could probably slide on his own.

…Oh! I’ve got an idea!

“Euche! Hey, Euche!”

Determined to put that thought into action, I asked Euche for help.

I’ll have him alter the water flowing inside the slide just a bit!

The idea was simple: I had Euche create a surfboard out of water. That way, we could sit on it and ride it down the water slide. And because Euche made it so that the surfboard would automatically disappear once it reached the bottom of the slide and reform again at the top, it would not only cut out any unnecessary wait time but also allow Rikusei to slide by himself!

I suggested to Inaho that she test the surfboard out after Seigo and I went down, but she said she wanted to slide with me.

She’s so cute, I can hardly stand it!

“In that case, would you mind letting Rikusei go in front of you?”

“Kyun!”

I could tell what Inaho had said based on Rikusei’s response. The energetic kobold ran in happy circles around the kyubi, barking, “Thanks, Inaho!” over and over.

“All right, let’s go, Seigo!”

“Okay!”

Seigo’s tail was wagging happily as well, signaling how excited he was about trying out the water slide.

I lay on top of the surfboard, and Seigo lay down on my stomach.

Let’s see how well this water surfboard works!

With a grunt, I heaved, pushing off and into the stream flowing down the slide. Compared to sliding without the surfboard, this ride was a bit smoother.

Our speed built as we slid down, and Seigo trembled every time we rocked around a corner. He let out a pathetic whine that sounded a lot like Inaho’s trademark “Kyuu!” and began inching backward.

“It’s okay, Seigo. We’re almost to the end… Pfft!”

Since he was sliding face-first like his brother had, when he backed up, Seigo’s tail pressed against my face.

It sure is fluffy! But I’m not sure about this pose…

Not only is my all-important vision obstructed, but it’s also a rather undignified position for a well-bred young lady!

Seigo continued to recoil, shoving his bottom even closer to my face. I could feel the muscles straight through his copious fur; that’s how firmly he was pressed against me.

If you keep backing up, you’ll go over my head and fall off, Seigo!

I held on to Seigo tightly so he wouldn’t fall, and somehow, we safely made it to the end of the slide.

“You did really good, Seigo!”

With effort, I pried Seigo off of me and set him on the ground, where he stumbled almost drunkenly as he tried to walk away from the foot of the water slide.

At almost the exact same instant as I climbed off the water cushion, Rikusei burst out of the end of the water slide. He bounced across the cushion, leapt to the ground, and in a flash, raced back towards the ladder again.

While I was watching Rikusei, Haku popped out of the end of the water slide as well. With an almost audible WHOOSH, it soared right over the water cushion and landed on the ground on the far side of the smaller water slide.

I was pretty sure Haku was fine, but I was a bit worried about Gratia. More than that, though, I was surprised by how different Seigo and Rikusei’s reactions to the water slide had been.

“You take a little rest, okay?”

I scooped up Seigo, who was still stumbling as he tried to walk, and brought him over to where Shinki was lying on the ground, setting the dazed kobold down on top of Shinki’s stomach.

“I’m sorry, Mistress.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Seigo.”

Plenty of people on Earth could ride a motorcycle with no problem but hated roller coasters, after all. Not to mention, Seigo had only just reached the age of physical maturity. As he grew and gained new experiences, he would overcome his fear of high speeds.

When I stroked my hand over Seigo’s head and along his back, he was still trembling slightly. I pet his back over and over, whispering words of gentle encouragement such as “It’s okay, everything’s okay now,” and before long, Seigo’s eyelids began to droop. It seemed the frightening experience had tired him out.

“Shinki, please take care of him for me, okay?” I whispered to Shinki, who merely opened one of his eyes, looked down at Seigo, and then closed his eye again.

…It’s unfair that attractive people still look attractive no matter what they do!

I tiptoed away from Shinki and Seigo, doing my best not to make any noise, then made my way over to where Inaho was waiting patiently for me and picked her up.

“Okay! This time, let’s try sliding down with you facing backward!”

When we reached the starting point, Rikusei’s ecstatic howling echoed from inside the slide.

I’m glad he’s enjoying it!

Once Rikusei had finished sliding and the surfboard reappeared at the top of the slide, I lay on top of it with Inaho on top of me, her face pointing towards mine.

“All right, here we go!”

“Kyuuuun!”

At first, Inaho had her eyes squeezed firmly shut, but perhaps because she was facing backward now, after a moment, she experimentally cracked her eyes open. Her four tails were lifted by the wind blowing up from behind her, making them look like the tentacles of an octopus.

Foxes’ tails have bones in them, so I wonder if that hurts? As the fluffy tips of her tails blew around in the breeze, Inaho’s facial expression began to change. Why does she look so blissful and relaxed suddenly?

It looked a bit like the face she made when being pet, but even more than that, it looked like the expression she wore while soaking in the bath.

I’m pretty sure this is a pleasant expression, but… Why “pleasant” rather than “fun?” What is so pleasant about riding on a water slide?

In the end, we reached the bottom of the slide without Inaho seeming afraid, except for a moment there at the very beginning.

“Kyuu…”

Inaho lay sprawled out on top of me listlessly.

What is up with her?!

I looked around, searching for a translator, but Shinki was taking a nap, and Kai was still cuddled up to Sache, sleeping as well.

Based on the feeling I was getting from her, she didn’t seem to be in mortal danger. The emperor had told me I would get a creepy feeling, almost like ants crawling under my skin, if any of the monsters I’d named were in danger. The fact that I’d never experienced this sensation myself meant that the monsters on Mount Reitimo must be living peacefully, hunting and foiling the adventurers without too much trouble.

“Inaho, are you okay?”

“Kyuun.”

Rikusei, seeming worried about Inaho, stopped playing on the water slide and came over to lick her cheek.

“…Woof?”

…That’s right! Because he and Inaho are always communicating with animal noises, I almost forgot, but Rikusei can speak Larshian too! Of course he can speak Larshian. He was just talking to me earlier…

“What did Inaho say?” I asked him.

“She said it feels nice riding backward. Her tails are hot, so it’s… refreshing, I guess?”

Huh? What does that mean…? Is it something like the refreshing feeling you get from using the “hot air dry” feature on a bidet toilet? Or like when you get out of a super-hot bath and race into an air-conditioned room? Everything’s taken care of by magic in this world, so I kind of miss those uniquely pleasant, modern experiences.

“I’m gonna go try sliding backward too!” Rikusei called over his shoulder, already dashing off towards the slide.

Inaho, too, had already forgotten her initial unpleasant experience as she hurried to chase after Rikusei, crying, “Kyun, kyun!”

At least through this incident, I’d determined the need to figure out a way to deal with the heat for Inaho when the weather turned warmer. I could just picture her parking herself in front of one of the electric fan-like magical items with her butt facing the breeze. That would be pretty cute, but I would feel bad for her if the summer heat made her lethargic and ill. After all, it was part of my job as her master to look after her physical health.

I left the monsters playing to do their thing and called out to Kai. “Kai, do you want to try too?”

“…I’m fine like this.” Kai sleepily rubbed his face against Sache’s side.

It looks like he’s enjoying using Sache as a bed! I understand how he feels. Sache and Euche are so soft and springy, and their skin is always refreshingly cool. They’re firmer than Shizuku and the other slimes and provide good back support, but aren’t hard enough to be uncomfortable. Maybe I’ll lay down against Euche for just a minute myself…

Ahh… I can’t get enough of this refreshing chilliness!

But, come to think of it, this entire immediate area feels a bit cooler than elsewhere in the imperial palace… Does the presence of water holy beasts somehow affect the climate in their vicinity? I wonder how they do it? Vaporization? Or maybe they give off minus ions or something?

Wait a minute, could that mean that water holy beasts are a living, breathing, renewable power source?!

…Okay, that’s enough of that train of thought for now. Time to rest a bit.

🐉 🐉 🐉

“LADY Neema, please wake up. Lady Neema!”

“Hmn…?”

“Mr. Paul will scold you if you don’t wake up now!”

As if it were an ingrained automatic response, my eyes snapped open the instant I heard Paul’s name.

“Even if you’re in the presence of holy beasts, it’s still dangerous to fall asleep outside,” Spica scolded gently.

I apologized, and Spica held out a cup and told me to drink. I did as instructed, but was surprised by the taste of the unfamiliar beverage.

“It’s delicious!”

It’s even more refreshingly zingy than mint! What is this?!

“It’s water infused with lulu senna.”

“Senna can be used as a medicine?”

I knew of senna—a plant that produced tiny white flowers and was a favorite snack for the dragons at the dragon stables back in my country.

“According to Mr. Paul, it’s a relative of senna. Lulu senna produces a refreshing beverage when infused in water.”

“It’s really good! I want more!”

When I requested a refill, Shinki held out his cup and said, “Me too.”

Spica had even poured some infused water into a bowl for Seigo and Rikusei because they were chugging it down with gusto.

Hey, Gratia! Stop trying to climb into my cup! You’re going to fall in for sure!

I retrieved Gratia and, feeling a bit guilty for my poor manners, stuck a finger into the cup so I could feed a few drops of the infused water to my frost spider friend. I wasn’t sure whether Gratia was even physiologically capable of perceiving the refreshingly minty flavor or not, but that didn’t matter.

All right, everyone’s well-hydrated!

“Time for an encore!”

Shinki, I’ll pretend I didn’t just hear you grumble, “You’re still not done?!”

“Do you want to try, Spica?” I asked.

“Um, well… What kind of game is it?”

As I explained how a water slide worked, Spica’s ears gradually drooped until they were lying dejectedly against her head.

“Beastpeople who have tails can’t lie down flat on our backs…”

…Oh, I see… That makes sense; it must hurt to have your tail folded underneath your body. It seems dangerous to slide down on your stomach, but maybe she can still use the smaller water slide?

I had Spica try sliding down the smaller water slide sitting upright to see if the speed was okay for her. She said she was fine, so I next tried having Euche add a surfboard made of water to this smaller slide and having Spica sprawl out on top.

I also tried riding the surfboard down the smaller water slide and was delighted that changing positions made the experience totally different.

Seigo also bravely stepped up to try out the smaller slide, but the sight of a dog surfing made me chuckle.

If we could make a video of this, it would go viral online! Man, I wish I had a camera…

When Kai finally woke up from his nap and began moving, Sache also roused herself.

Hmm, they’re so buddy-buddy I can’t help being a little jealous! They seem almost like parent and child or siblings or something.

Kai made his way to the beginning of the water slide, and in front of my eyes, the gel-like water cushion at the end of the slide transformed into a pool of water.

How is that going to work out, I wonder?

I watched intently to see what would happen, and a few moments later, a huge torrent of water exploded from the end of the slide, carrying Kai in his mermaid form.

Oh, is it even faster if you’re swimming compared to riding atop the flow of water? Kai dove gracefully into the pool and swam around like a fish in water. Now that looks refreshing!

“No fair, Kai!” With a wild cry, I cannonballed into the pool, and my monster friends all hurried to copy me. “Gratia! You’re going to drown!”

I raced over to where Gratia was perched on top of Haku, kicking up huge sprays of water as I trudged full speed through the pool and scooped him up. He clacked his fangs together irritably, but I ignored him.

This isn’t like the bath!

I experimentally dipped my hand in the water so just a bit flowed into my palm for Gratia to play in. It seemed that Gratia could float, at least a bit, but I was terrified that he wouldn’t be able to breathe if the bottom of his body was in contact with the water, so I quickly pulled my hand back up out of the pool.

Is this pose he’s making, waving two legs in the air while clacking his fangs together, meant as a complaint against me?

“Kai, can you make it so Gratia can walk on the surface of the water?” I asked.

“…Sure.”

Kai called Gratia over, and the little frost spider happily jumped onto his hand.

When Kai set Gratia down on the water and removed his hand, Gratia’s legs were floating with his torso out of the water. Even when he jumped up and down, somehow, he landed back on the surface without falling in.

But now he looked like a water glider instead of a spider.

While we’re playing in the pool, there’s one more thing we have to try!

“Sache, will you please create a current that goes around in a big circle?”

The water in the pool began flowing. It was a gentle current, so there was no danger of losing your footing and being swept away. Seigo and Rikusei’s tails were thumping back and forth, sending up little sprays of water as they happily doggy paddled around.

Turns out Inaho can swim, too! Seeing how the fur on her tails trailed on top of the water’s surface like seaweed made me realize that she had more fur than Seigo and Rikusei. She’s going to need a good shave when summer comes, no doubt about it!

Once we all got used to the current, I asked Sache to speed it up a bit at a time until it was like a lazy river, and we could float along, carried by the current without having to expend energy to swim.

This is it!

“All right, now, everyone, swim against the current!”

Next is the thing that everyone who’s ever been in a lazy river inevitably attempts out of curiosity: swimming against the current! The feeling of the current overwhelming you and sweeping you away is hard to describe but really fun to experience!

The only enjoyable part about swim classes in elementary school was when we made a current like this and called it “the washing machine!” I remember feeling like I could only tolerate those classes because I knew we’d be allowed to do “the washing machine” at the end. Ah, that’s a good memory…

I was so lost in my memories that my feet accidentally got swept out from underneath me. The current carried me forward until I bumped into Kai.

“Get on.”

Kai helped me climb onto his back and maneuvered us towards the center, where the current wasn’t too strong, then swam against the current.

Th-This is it! The Triton game! The one where you climb on top of a dolphin-shaped floatie and have someone pull you around! Everyone does that, right?!

Ahhh, this is so fun!

It seems that because we’re in the water, my added weight doesn’t bother Kai at all. If I knew this would be the case, I would’ve suggested playing in the pool way earlier!

“Kai, me too! I wanna try, too!” Rikusei begged, then traded places with me to ride around on Kai’s back.

That looks… a little weird. Since Kai’s upper body is still human, it looks like some bizarre caricature of a pet dog dominating its master—it just feels off.

Next time, I want to try having Sache and Euche make floaties out of water in various shapes for us to ride around on!

After Rikusei was done, Inaho, Haku, and Gratia all piled onto Kai’s back at the same time.

Seigo, I can see you just itching to join them, but there’s no more room, so please give poor Kai a break!

I suggested to Kai that he create a surfboard out of water for Seigo to ride on, and that way, he could pull Seigo around as well without adding any more weight on his own back.

I want to join them…

“Lady Neema, Spica, have you been enjoying yourselves?”

Eeek! Paul caught us! We’re sure to get a scolding now!

Small Talk - A Butler’s Busy Days (POV: Paul)

A long time had passed since Lady Neema left her suite. She’d said she was going to play in the imperial palace’s gardens today, but then His Highness Prince Dauxrouge summoned her, so perhaps she was simply visiting with him in his private chambers… But I doubted it.

More likely, she’d talked Prince Dauxrouge and Lady Marie into playing with her in the garden. I usually let her do as she liked since Shinki, Seigo, and Rikusei always accompanied her, but it seemed I would need to rethink this approach.

I’m also going to have to prepare a formal apology to His Highness Prince Dauxrouge…

I headed to the imperial palace’s kitchens to make contact with one of our agents who was undercover as a kitchen hand. My cover story was that I was there to procure a drink for my mistress, but my actual objective was the procurement of information.

The kitchen hand I was there to meet suggested water infused with refreshing lulu senna, saying it was perfect for this unexpectedly hot season.

After tasting the water for flavor and poison and confirming it was fine, I conversed briefly with the kitchen hand, under the pretense of chatting about current affairs. A piece of paper was affixed to the bottom of the pitcher the kitchen hand had given me, which I assumed must contain information that wasn’t safe to speak out loud.

I left the kitchens and returned to our rooms, where I immediately issued orders to Spica. I instructed her to deliver the lulu senna-infused water to Lady Neema.

Spica was unfamiliar with lulu senna, so I had her drink a bit of it and explained what kind of plant it was. If Spica didn’t know of lulu senna, it was likely that Lady Neema didn’t either and might ask about it.

After Spica left, I went to my sleeping chamber and read the paper.

The report stated that Earl Helios had been coming to the imperial palace often as of late, but there seemed to be a shift in the lines drawn among the factions due to Project Roslan. The person we most needed to keep an eye on was Lady Marie’s mother, Marietta Enlance, but until this point, Lord Towen had forced her to toe the line and not do anything too extreme.

Next, as for Earl Helios—who the Intelligence Department was keeping a close eye on—it seemed she’d been very busy indeed.

I figured that was due to Project Roslan and other aristocrats trying to cozy up to her, hoping to benefit from the profits it would bring to her province. Perhaps because of that, even some of the factions that had previously distanced themselves from Earl Helios were now reaching out to her. There was a list of aristocrats reported to have interacted with Earl Helios, but none of them overlapped with those who’d approached my mistresses.

I doubted anyone could infiltrate this room, but it was an inviolable rule to never leave behind evidence that might prove incriminating.

I burned the paper.

Next, I read a periodic report from Aurphan. It stated that all of the Osphe family were in good health and included a summary of information gathered by our spies dispatched to various locations.

There were no notable movements other than those in the Linus Empire and Farshia, and nothing more had been heard of the ragtag army composed of Icouxian and Alliance of Nations soldiers since their defeat at the border.

We’d increased the number of agents in the Linus Empire and were working to gather information. The report stated that we’d obtained proof that a group within the merchants’ guild was making deals with nefarious sources.

It was inevitable that when a country’s situation became unstable, those who dwelled in darkness became more active. Not only that, but more than a few merchants, for the right price, were more than willing to do business with people who may not exactly be on the up-and-up.

The real problem, though, was the contents of these dealings.

The proof we had pointed to human trafficking. There was no way we could overlook such an atrocity.

We’d already wiped out all of the Runohark agents who’d been dealing in human trafficking within the Kingdom of Gaché. And the knights working with them had also been dealt with in secret, behind the scenes, by Prince Wilhelt.

It had been theorized that the human trafficking was to extract magic from the enslaved individuals, but there might have been more to it than that. The fact that Lady Neema had also been targeted suggested this.

Where did the people who were sold ultimately end up?

If this might bring harm to my mistresses, all the more reason we should put an end to it as quickly as possible.

I drafted a reply to Aurphan addressing the points that stood out to me, added the information I’d gathered on this end, and sent it off.

When will I finally have the luxury of focusing exclusively on looking after my mistresses?

I sighed and glanced at the clock, confirming that I’d finished dealing with my communications exactly at the time I’d planned. But Spica still hadn’t returned, or if she had, she hadn’t come to inform me of her return… Perhaps she’d stayed to play?

Seeing no other option, I went to the garden I expected Lady Neema to be playing in.

At first, I doubted my own eyes.

However, I understood once I caught sight of the holy beasts further in the garden.

Right in front of my eyes was a structure similar to the one Kai had created in the bath, only many times larger. I would’ve suspected that Haku and Gratia had begged them to make it, but I knew better—Lady Neema was the main culprit.

I wanted to believe she hadn’t been playing on this thing with Prince Dauxrouge, but…

I looked around for Lady Neema and found her swimming in a large pool of water. All I could do was clutch my head in exasperation.

Surely, no other butlers have to chase their mistress around to keep her from swimming in puddles, right?! Come to think of it, this is the same Lady Neema whom I previously caught swimming in the pond in the garden at the Osphe manor.

Back then, I’d still been inexperienced and couldn’t keep up with Lady Neema’s unpredictable behavior, instead standing frozen in horror, staring. Afterward, my father, the Osphe family’s steward, subjected me to a rigorous “reeducation program.”

It was said that from time to time, a person like Lady Neema, who just didn’t fit the mold, was born into the Osphe family. According to my father, he believed that Lady Neema had inherited an extra dose of her great-grandfather’s blood.

Seeing this, I can believe she is her infamous ancestor’s direct descendant.

“Lady Neema, Spica, have you been enjoying yourselves?”

I was smiling pleasantly, but Lady Neema and Spica’s faces tensed the instant they noticed my presence. In short, they were well aware that they’d been doing something I would scold them for.

“I believe you’ve been told before by Marjace to please stop doing things that are unseemly for a young lady of the Osphe family, isn’t that correct?”

“…Yes, I was told.”

Although Lady Neema was doing her best not to change her expression, how her eyebrows drooped gave away her dejection.

“With that in mind, what do you think of your actions just now, swimming carelessly in a public space in the imperial palace—where you are a guest, may I remind you—without considering who might happen by and see you?”

“…It was in poor judgment.”

“That’s right.”

She always obediently recognized her transgressions after the fact, which was something at least, but the fact that she would repeat the same lapse in judgment the next time she got too caught up in playing was proof of her youth and immaturity.

“I won’t do it outside of the house again!”

I’m glad she’s willing to promise, but is it impossible for her to agree not to swim at all?!

“You mustn’t do it unless either myself or Lord Ralf are present, do you understand?”

“Yes!”

That was an enthusiastic reply. But I’ll still be informing Lady Osphe about all of this.

I’d been reporting all of Lady Neema’s tomboyish antics, so she was sure to receive a doozy of a talking-to when she returned home, of that there was no doubt.

I would save Spica’s scolding for later, but I needed her to toughen her resolve so she could stand up to Lady Neema when necessary. We couldn’t allow those who didn’t know our mistresses a single opportunity to badmouth them. That was part of our greater duty of protecting them.

“Water holy beasts, thank you very much for protecting Lady Neema,” I said, putting as much sincerity and reverence as I could into the words, and the holy beasts flapped their wings in response. In the blink of an eye, the entire massive structure Lady Neema and her friends had been playing with disappeared.

“Thanks, Sache and Euche! Let’s play together again soon!”

The holy beasts rubbed up against Lady Neema, and after allowing her to pet them goodbye, they took their leave.

“Now then, let’s head back ourselves.”

Lady Neema took Spica’s hand and earnestly recounted all the fun she’d had today.

So she really did drag Prince Dauxrouge and Lady Marie on that water contraption… I’ll also have to prepare a suitable apology for the prince’s private guard…

On our way back to our suite of rooms, I spotted an unexpected pair of individuals seemingly deep in conversation. It was one duo I particularly didn’t want to encounter right this minute…

“They seem not to have noticed you, Lady Neema. Thank goodness for small miracles…” I whispered, watching as Lady Neema’s head bobbed up and down once as she continued walking, now in complete silence. She wore a tense expression, and her short little legs were moving in a nervous, shuffling gait that was charmingly adorable but left me wishing she was a bit more skilled at moving covertly.

The monsters seemed to know without being told because they moved as silently as possible to avoid drawing notice to us.

As soon as we arrived at our suite of rooms, Lady Neema sighed, the tension leaving her posture.

“Hey, Paul…”

“I will explain, but please change your clothing first.”

I was sure she wanted to ask why we needed to avoid being noticed, but getting changed took precedence over satisfying her curiosity.

I instructed Spica to help our mistress change, and while they were at it, I busied myself preparing tea. This time, I didn’t set out any snacks, as it was close to dinner time, and I didn’t want to ruin my lady’s appetite.

When Lady Neema sat down at the table, freshly changed, her expression quickly flickered between disappointment, desolation, and longing when she saw that no sweets were laid out.

However, I had a trump card to play.

“Tonight’s dinner is foux carteau. Should I ask the kitchen staff to reduce your portion so you can have sweets now?”

When I told my lady tonight’s menu, her eyes sparkled…

“No! I can wait!” she all but shouted in response.

She stroked her stomach, leading me to suspect she was speaking telepathically with the slime inhabiting her body.

I guess the parasite is not so keen on the idea of waiting to eat?

“So, why did we have to hide from those two?” she asked.

“At Lady Karna’s instructions, I’ve increased our observation of Prince Aisent, and while we’ve not been able to uncover anything concrete, it’s clear he’s up to something. His movements have been incredibly subtle, so we can’t so much as speculate as to his motives or future actions, but based on what we’ve observed of him thus far, I would expect nothing less.”

I’d known he was formidable, but it was rare for me to encounter anyone who was this difficult to gather information on, which made me even more suspicious of him.

One of the members of the unexpected pair we’d spotted earlier had been Prince Aisent.

As for the other…

“I’ve also assigned spies to get close to Earl Helios, and at present, the information I’ve received suggests that she’s been in contact with a large number of people. These people are not limited only to those whom one might expect her to do business with regarding Project Roslan and the management of her province.”

Earl Frantina Helios… Despite being female, she habitually dressed in male attire, earning her a reputation for being eccentric, yet the citizens of her province adored her.

“But she’s an earl, after all. Doesn’t interacting with various people kind of come with the territory?”

Lady Neema, knowing that Earl Helios was very invested in the success of Project Roslan for her people’s sake, probably didn’t want to doubt her.

“What does it say, though, that Prince Aisent, who has been suspicious all along, is at this crucial moment meeting with the very person who has come under suspicion, Earl Helios?”

It should be obvious that, following the defeat of the militant group who’d attacked our country’s border, we would have examined their supplies.

King Gauldi had conveyed the information about Earl Helios to the Linus emperor under the strictest secrecy, but could Prince Aisent somehow have found out? There was also the possibility that Prince Aisent possessed some other information we were not yet privy to and was approaching Earl Helios because of it.

It might be time for us to attempt to covertly initiate dealings with Prince Aisent ourselves…

“Hmm… Well, the two of them might be suspicious, but I really don’t think either of them is a bad person…”

“I understand your desire to trust them, but caution comes before all else. I could not bear to see you harmed again, my lady.”

On that day, if I hadn’t been one step behind the enemy, Lady Neema might have avoided experiencing so much pain and sadness. I’d lamented over it every day since.

No matter how much I dedicated myself to training, as a mere human, some things were simply beyond my ability. However, when it came to that which was within my power, I would do anything I could to protect the things precious to me.

“Paul… Thank you for worrying about me.”

“It’s my duty to stand beside you and Lady Karna and protect you until the day comes that you no longer need me.”

To me, this was inevitable.

Since the moment I was born as the heir to the Dasnee family, serving the Osphe family and becoming the young ladies’ personal butler were all tied to my ultimate fate of one day succeeding my father. Once my mistresses married, my father would retire, and I would become the family’s steward.

And one day, when Lord Ralf’s children grew and were all married off, I would pass on my position to my child.

“…The day will never come that I don’t need you, Paul…” Lady Neema protested, her head tilted to the side in confusion.

“Once you and your sister marry off into different noble families, there will no longer be anything I can help you with.”

“That’s okay, I’m never going to get married! I’m sure Father will allow it.”

Knowing His Lordship as I did, I could easily picture him saying it was fine if his beloved daughter never married so he could keep her with him forever. Once he retired, he could take her with him to the family’s villa so she wouldn’t cause trouble for Lord Ralf.

“Your feelings may change when you get older if you happen to fall in love… Although, whether there exists a man alive in this entire world who your father would approve of remains to be seen…”

I was sure the duchess and Lady Karna would support Lady Neema, but Lord Ralf would probably be just as strict and unrelenting as his father in his requirements for Lady Neema’s future husband.

“We’ve returned.”

Lady Neema reacted instantly to Shell’s voice, standing and running to the door.

“I’m back, Neema!”

Lady Karna, having just returned from the Hall of Learning, opened her arms to receive Lady Neema for a hug.

“Welcome back, Karna!”

I couldn’t help the faint smile that tugged at my lips, watching the two sisters greet one another.

“What exactly were you so deeply involved in discussing that you didn’t notice us approach, Paul?” Karna asked.

“Listen to this, Karna!”

Lady Neema launched into a boisterous recantation of what we’d discussed earlier.

“Paul, we’re daughters of the Osphe family, you know? Even if we get married, that won’t change.”

Lady Karna is trying to say that even if they get married, that doesn’t mean their ties to the family will all be severed, yes?

“You know that your job consists of more than just taking care of us, right?” Lady Karna chided, then laughed prettily, remarking, “Perhaps you didn’t realize?”

Yes… My mistresses are always teaching me things, so I suppose I, too, am still a bit inexperienced.

At dinnertime, I learned about the situation at the Hall of Learning from Lady Karna.

“Was Lord Aise at the Hall of Learning today?” Lady Neema asked quizzically.

“No. Lady Eliza seemed angry, so I think he must be skipping school.”

That had to have been the case for him to be in the imperial palace when we saw him.

However, after that, Prince Aisent was not seen again for some time. I’d uncovered that he’d gone off somewhere, but not where to.

When Lady Neema tried asking the emperor, he evasively answered that the prince had gone off on his own for a bit, even leaving his private guard behind. Apparently, the emperor had laughed and declared that his son was simply “at that age.”

Personally, I thought that this imperial family was a bit too irresponsible, but that didn’t mean I didn’t understand either.

In any case, I’d assigned my people to keep an eye on Prince Aisent, so I suspected it wouldn’t be long before I received word.

Or at least, so I thought…

🐉 🐉 🐉

SEVERAL days later…

When he was finally located, it was a sight sure to render even the most battle-hardened veteran speechless with horror. It was my colleague who’d been assigned to search for Prince Aisent.

When they’d found him, it was in a rural area of the Linus Empire close to the border with Milma. He’d been disposed of in a deep forest. The scene was gruesome—his throat had been slit from ear to ear. In short, it was an assassination most likely carried out from behind.

My colleague wasn’t weak by any means, so his opponent must’ve been incredibly skilled.

The disarray his attire was in suggested that the assassin had rifled through my colleague’s possessions following his death. It was uncertain whether this was an attempt to make it look like a burglary or because the assassin was looking for something.

However, the information the man had gathered fortunately escaped discovery.

The day following his meeting with Earl Helios, Prince Aisent had used the palace’s teleportation circle to travel to a certain town.

I’d ordered my undercover agents working in the imperial palace to narrow down which town Prince Aisent had traveled to and search for traces of him. Fortunately, they discovered which town, and the agent who was ultimately sent after him to that town was the very same colleague who was now dead.

He’d written down all of the information he’d gathered, and according to his report, Prince Aisent had enthusiastically toured all around the city, speaking and interacting casually with the residents. This was hard to believe based on how he acted at the imperial palace, but that wasn’t really unusual for a member of the imperial family.

In two days, Prince Aisent visited a total of four towns, traveling consistently in a northwest direction, so my colleague planned to circle around and get ahead of him. With Prince Aisent’s destination clear, he’d planned to make the first move and head to Farshia.

That was the last entry in my colleague’s logbook.

We would need to confirm if Prince Aisent truly had gone to the Church of Divine Creation’s headquarters.

Members of the Intelligence Department should be working undercover in Farshia at this very moment.

If the prince of such a massive and powerful country had visited, there was no way he could’ve avoided causing rumors entirely, no matter how careful he was.

After issuing additional orders, I finally finished work for the night at an unconscionably late hour. When I returned to the bunkroom I shared with Shinki and Kai, Kai was still awake.

“It’s because you stay up so late that you’re always oversleeping,” I chided.

“Yeah… But I can’t fall asleep early after always taking an afternoon nap.”

That was certainly true. I’d received numerous reports of Kai suddenly going missing, only to be spotted sleeping in the strangest spots all around the imperial palace.

“Paul, you’re human, so you need to be especially careful to make sure you get enough sleep…”

“Don’t worry about me. I can get plenty of rest on the days Lady Neema falls asleep early.”

On the days Lady Neema played especially hard with her monster friends, I enjoyed a peaceful and relaxing evening to myself. Lady Karna, too, made a point of not staying up late on the days Lady Neema fell asleep early, so we servants were able to end work early for the day as well.

“Come on, then, let’s both go to sleep now, Kai.”

“Okay.”

After watching to make sure Kai actually got into his bed, I laid down on my own.

“May you pass the night in safety and peace.”

3 - What We’re Looking for Is a Magic Potion!

“WHAT are we going to do about that troublemaker Aise?”

While one wore a genuinely worried expression, the other appeared casually annoyed by the entire topic.

“I can understand that he feels smothered within the confines of the imperial palace and longs to experience the outside world, but would it have killed him to at least bring one guard along for his personal protection?”

Clay mercilessly railed against Aise.

Louis, on the other hand, was doing a remarkable job of ignoring his nephew.

They made the perfect picture of a loving but overbearing older brother and a carefree, borderline negligent uncle.

As for me, I was only here because I’d blindly followed along when Louis invited me to spend his break with him.

“I’m quite surprised that His Majesty approved Lord Aise’s outing without even knowing where he was going!” I remarked.

“Aise’s more than capable of looking after himself. Clay here is just too much of a worrywart.”

This crazy imperial family reminds me of that Chinese legend about lions who would toss their children off a cliff at birth with the reasoning that only those capable of climbing back up on their own are worth the effort of raising—really hardcore!

I’m so glad that I was born in the Kingdom of Gaché! Not that I’m a royal anyway, but still!

“Lord Clay, I’m sure Lord Aise will return safely.”

Maybe the fact that he’s gone off on his own multiple times in the past has somehow created a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby he can wander around safely?

“Right, right. Besides, from what I hear, he headed north, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Louis, do you have any idea what you’re talking about?

“If he’d gone south, I would’ve dragged him back, no questions asked!”

I was forced to endure plenty more of their banter, but essentially, it boiled down to the usual pattern of Louis always insisting that, from an educational standpoint, it wasn’t good to interfere too much and Clay championing his younger siblings because he couldn’t stand to see anything happen to them.

Normally, Theo and Eliza would be drawn into it, but those two were in the enviable position of being able to flat-out refuse to listen.

Once they finally released me and I returned to my room, I found Paul holding a letter.

“It’s from Lord Ralf.”

“From Ralf?!”

At first, we’d been exchanging letters almost daily, but since Runohark had become more active, Ralf had gotten busy, so this was the first letter from him in several days.

I tore the letter open and read the contents, horrified by the words on the paper.

Lestin had been injured during the battle along the national border and was transported back to the royal city. The royal knighthood’s healers had been unable to completely heal him, so Grandpa Gouche had come to request Ralf’s help.

But even Ralf was unable to completely heal Lestin’s injury.

Ralf had suggested that Lestin go to the Shiana Special Region. He reasoned that Hanley might be able to heal him, and if not, there was always the possibility of receiving a miraculous healing from the “tears of the God of Creation” in the hot spring’s waters.

But Lestin was adamant about returning to work immediately, even though he couldn’t move the injured leg. According to Ralf’s professional opinion, the leg itself should be completely healed, so he couldn’t understand why Lestin was still unable to move it.

Doesn’t that indicate nerve damage? Either that or an after-effect of some other issue? In any case, it would take an advanced-level healer to heal him, but…

Hm? Wait a minute, on the topic of the hot spring, aren’t the pevans that live in that cave like a cure-all drug? Oh, wait, maybe they are only effective against illness, not injury…

I was curious, so I headed to the library to look it up.

When I entered the library, the head curator, whom I’d become quite familiar with over the course of my many visits, came over to greet me. “Curator” seemed to be the title given to librarians here. They maintained and repaired the books and were deeply knowledgeable about anything related to books.

I asked the head curator to help me search for books about pevans being used for medicinal purposes. None of the books the head curator brought me said anything more than that by roasting and grinding the pevans, you could create a medicine that would cure all kinds of illnesses. But while flipping through books, it occurred to me that by combining pevans with something else, you might create another kind of medicine.

I next tried searching for alternate ways of using pevans but came up empty-handed.

Maybe such a medicine doesn’t exist…

In the end, despite researching the topic for several days, I didn’t find anything of use.

I was wallowing in my failure when the emperor, perhaps having been informed by the head curator, appeared in the library. The area of the library I was sitting in was the imperial family’s private reading room that Louis had told me I could also use, so it wasn’t unreasonable for the emperor to be there. However, this was the first time I’d ever seen an imperial family member use this room.

“I heard that you’ve been researching something for some time and are depressed because you haven’t been able to find what you’re looking for.”

“I’m researching the uses of pevans…”

“Hm. You mean other than as a cure-all medicine for illness…?” The emperor trailed off, maybe because he had no ideas about other ways to use pevans.

Something suddenly dropped from above, landing between the emperor and me.

It was Gratia, who was supposed to have been playing with Haku.

“Gratia?!”

Gratia swung back and forth, his spider string still attached to the ceiling.

“I have one idea… I’ll bring the book here, so why don’t you play with him while you wait?” His Majesty suggested.

“Huh? If you tell me where to look, I’d be happy to get it myself…!”

“It’s fine, really.” The emperor patted my head and left the room.

“Gratia, weren’t you playing with Haku?”

Gratia clacked his fangs together, trying to tell me something.

Sorry, buddy, I have no idea what you’re saying.

Seeing no other option, I searched for the missing piece—Haku.

Surprisingly, whenever we came to the library, Shinki would always read. He always chose the type of books guys seemed to prefer—things like adventure tales and war stories.

I’d been surprised the first time I’d seen him reading one of these books and asked him what he thought of it, but when he’d responded that humans had a strange way of thinking to call those who’d killed dozens of their own species “heroes,” I’d found myself unable to formulate a response.

In some ways, human wars are similar to animals and monsters fighting over territory, except we tend to fight to the death. It’s kind of sad when you think about it. You’d still be the winner if you just drove your opponent out and let them flee with their life.

I also didn’t know the reason for that. In fact, I was pretty sure I still wouldn’t understand it even if someone were to explain it to me.

However, I was well acquainted with the feelings of someone who killed out of hate. To describe it further, it was a blend of loathing and rage that burned in your gut. Your heart clenched in your chest, and something hot hurtled upward from the pit of your stomach. You laser-focused on only the target of your hatred, and somehow, before you even knew it, they were already dead. And you were left thinking, “I’m glad they’re dead,” and wondering where along the way you became such a terrible person.

“Miss, is something wrong?”

Shinki was staring at me as if worried by the sight of me standing motionless with Gratia sitting on my hand.

There’s no way I can talk about something so horrible with anyone. If I told them, it would only make them feel bad, too. Besides, it’s not only me. Both Ralf and Karna have killed to protect our family. Even if the people they killed were bad people who’d killed countless others, knowing my kind-hearted brother and sister, I’m sure they are pained by taking those lives.

But the two of them never speak of it. I’m sure this is also a reflection of their kindness, trying to spare the feelings of those around them.

“I’m fine. More importantly, I don’t see Seigo or Rikusei anywhere… Oh!”

The two kobolds, who normally waited patiently next to either Shinki or me, were missing. Not only could I not see them, but I couldn’t sense any trace of them at all.

If Gratia’s here, it can only mean one thing!

“You’re playing hide-and-seek, aren’t you?!”

Gratia waved his front legs as if to say, “That’s right!”

In that case, I suppose I’ll have to join them while I’m waiting for the emperor to return!

Although this room was in a corner of the library, it was large and had plenty of good places to hide. Still holding Gratia, I wandered around the room, searching for my three monster friends.

“I wonder where they could be!”

I searched the room thoroughly, looking under the sofa and between the bookcases—anywhere I thought they could be—but didn’t find them.

I would expect nothing less of a slime with chameleon-like powers and two members of the Herb Family. They’re so good at hiding that I have no clue where they are!

I searched especially carefully in the area Gratia pointed out to me, but…

“They’re not here either!”

I got Shinki to pick me up and let me ride on his shoulders so I could look on top of the bookshelves, but there wasn’t so much as a speck of dust up there, let alone two kobolds and a slime.

I wandered around a bit more and suddenly noticed something I’d overlooked before.

There, at the base of that tall lamp… Doesn’t that leg look a little bigger than the others? And suspiciously round?

“I found you!”

I touched the bloated-looking portion of the lamp and found it soft and springy, so I continued to pet and lightly squeeze it. Maybe I touched it too much because with a little SHUDDER! and a POP!, it grew ears and legs and then shook its little body out.

“Woof!”

It was Rikusei pretending to be one of the lamppost’s legs. He’d done an excellent job hiding the light-brown portion of his fur, twisting his body so only the black fur showed, and tucking his limbs and tail in.

“Rikusei, you’re really good at hiding!”

Just as I was praising Rikusei, the emperor returned.

I guess I’ll have to take a time-out…

“Sorry for the wait. …What kind of game are you playing?” he asked.

“We were playing hide-and-seek. Although, I only managed to find Rikusei.”

“Hide-and-seek, huh? That brings back memories…”

I guess children’s games are pretty much the same no matter the world because they have hide-and-seek and tag in this world, too.

“Did you also play hide-and-seek as a child, Your Majesty?”

“Yeah. I was still pretty young when Euche chose me. After that, I used to play together with my brothers Towen and Louis a lot.”

Once he’d bonded with a holy beast and been confirmed as the heir to the throne, the machinations of the aristocrats decreased, and the brothers were able to develop a close relationship since they were no longer pitted against one another.

The emperor remarked in a wistful tone that he hoped one of his children would also be chosen by a holy beast soon so that they, too, could form a closer relationship while they were still young.

“Now then, why don’t you take a look at this book, Lady Nefertima?” the emperor said, handing me a single, old-looking book.

It may have been old, but the ornate cover looked valuable.

“Gratia, can you do me a favor and keep looking for Haku and Seigo?”

Gratia did his usual bizarre dance, which I took to mean, “You got it!” then leapt from my hand and dashed off. Rikusei was lying at Shinki’s feet, relaxing. Apparently, he had no intention of helping Gratia search for the others.

You can do it, Gratia!

As for me, I did my best to concentrate on reading through the book. At first, I thought the only sound in the room was the rustling of turning pages, but then I realized I could hear Gratia faintly scuttling around.

This book contained medicine-making techniques handed down among the elves. There were several references to pevans, and after checking through each, I found one entry that mentioned being able to restore movement to a paralyzed body.

“This is it!”

I looked over the ingredients list, and in addition to pevans, it also called for two plants called anniley and toma. I’d never heard of either before.

“What kind of plants are anniley and toma?” I asked.

“I think they’re both some kind of magical plant, but…” His Majesty trailed off.

We had magical plants growing at our house back in the Kingdom of Gaché. Personally, I found them a little unsettling. They lived by feeding on magic from the surrounding environment, and because of this, they took on an alarmingly vibrant array of colors.

“I’ve never seen them in person either, so I don’t know much about them, but I’ve heard they are exceedingly valuable.”

Meaning they’ll probably be even more difficult to get ahold of than pevans…

“Even if you put in a job request with the adventurers’ guild, it would probably take quite some time before they could procure these ingredients, if at all.”

Not only that, but the method for brewing the potion is a little unique… It seems to be based not on magic but on elemental power.

“The only place I can think of that might have these ingredients would be the Elven District here in the Imperial City.”

The Imperial City’s Elven District? Oh, right, it’s that area that’s grown into a dense forest despite being inside a major city, right?

I’d seen it from a distance but hadn’t actually been able to tour the city yet.

Besides, with Runohark on the loose, I can’t leave the palace…

“I’m guessing the fact that you’re so desperately searching for this must mean that someone in the Kingdom of Gaché wants to use it?”

Since he’d asked, I explained Lestin’s situation to the emperor.

One animal lover to another, I wanted to do everything in my power to help heal his leg. If he didn’t regain movement in that leg, it was likely he’d never even be able to ride his beloved Uwaz again.

“But he doesn’t want to pursue treatment, right? The costs might not be too big a concern for a duke’s family, but for a knight, it would be difficult to pay.”

Urk! He has a point…

I’m going to have to find some way to get Lestin on board with the idea of pursuing treatment. As for the cost… I’ll discuss it with Papa.

Perhaps there was a way to get the country to contribute, considering the injury had occurred in the line of duty. After all, Lestin was often said to be one of the most distinguished knights in the entire history of the royal knighthood. There wasn’t anyone as skilled at handling animals as he was. If he had to retire as a legion commander, it would be a grave loss for the entire kingdom.

“I’ll do my best to convince him!”

And at the same time, I would search for anniley and toma.

Since Shinki can use elemental power, we should be able to brew the potion, no problem. All we need to do is find the ingredients!

“I’ll put out some feelers to see if I can find a source for you, but please don’t get your hopes up,” His Majesty told me.

“Okay. I’ll also consult with my father.”

In the end, that was as much as we could do for today.

With that decided, it was time to head back to Karna’s and my rooms, but when I looked around for my monster friends, I immediately spotted Seigo.

“Gratia, it looks like you found Seigo, huh? Great job!”

Gratia happily clacked his fangs together in response to my praise.

“You’re pretty incredible too, Seigo! I couldn’t find you, no matter how much I looked! Where were you hiding?”

“Woof, woof!”

Seigo ran in circles around a specific spot, barking boisterously, which I took to mean that this was where he’d been hiding.

Unbelievably, the spot he’d indicated was inside a storage cabinet with tightly closed sliding doors! I asked how he’d managed to hide in there, and Seigo helpfully offered a demonstration. He deftly rubbed his body against the door, which rattled as it slid open along the track, then closed again.

Can all dogs do that? Or is Seigo only able to do it because he’s a high kobold?

Haku was the only one who hadn’t been found yet, so we banded together to look for it, but we still couldn’t locate the little white slime.

Where is it hiding?! We’re going to be late getting back, and Paul will scold me again. I guess there’s no other choice, then…

“Haku, we give up! Please come out!”

As soon as I said that, a section of the wall rippled. Then something detached from the wall and reshaped into a small white ball—it was Haku.

We never would’ve found it there! Who would’ve guessed it possessed the ability to literally blend into the wall like a ninja?! Wait a minute! That means that at one point, Gratia walked right over Haku’s body, right? But even if he touched Haku, if he didn’t notice, then I guess that doesn’t count as “finding” it?

“Haku’s the winner! I’ll ask Paul to prepare you something tasty as a reward!”

I thought Haku deserved a treat for avoiding our eyes so completely. Haku also seemed to favor this idea, if the way it bounced up and down excitedly was any indication.

I always end up surprised and amazed every time I play with you guys!

🐉 🐉 🐉

I sent a letter to Papa, requesting information about anniley and toma to make a potion to heal Lestin.

Papa quickly responded just as the emperor had earlier: if Lestin didn’t want to pursue a cure, it was pointless.

I wrote back that I would handle convincing Lestin, so could Papa please figure out the financial aspect?

Once again, his response came back immediately, making me wonder if he was waiting in front of the magic circle tapestry or something.

In this letter, he wrote that I had a certain amount of money set aside in my own name, which I was free to use for procuring the ingredients for the potion. He also wrote that he would ask Uncle Gene if he knew anything about where to get anniley and toma.

What does he mean, there’s money set aside in my name?!

When I asked about it, Papa responded in his next letter that a portion of the profits from Project Shiana had been put into a trust for me. He wrote that this trust was intended as either start-up costs for some future venture of mine or as part of my dowry when I married. However, the writing was notably darker and messier in the portion of the letter referring to my potential future marriage. I could picture Papa gritting his teeth in indignation and pressing down far harder than necessary as he forced himself to write those words.

To alleviate Papa’s emotional turmoil, I immediately wrote back that I had no intention of ever marrying, so he should use that money to benefit our province’s residents.

Next, I wrote a letter to Ralf, asking him to help me convince Lestin.

Ralf’s reply also came back right away.

They really must be gathered around that tiny magic circle tapestry, just waiting with pens in hand!

Ralf wrote that he would help me with Lestin and also look into the ingredients for the potion.

Thank you so much, Ralf! Oh, but if I don’t send Mama a letter, too, she’ll probably send me a frigid message like, “Why am I the only one you didn’t write to?”

While I waited for Papa’s next letter, I received a summons from Louis. That was unusual since, normally, he just showed up without warning whenever he wanted to speak with me.

“Good day, Lord Louis.”

“Sorry for making you come all the way here.”

To my surprise, Louis wasn’t alone—Lady Zeiatiel was also there.

“I heard you are searching for the ingredients to make eviban, Lady Nefertima…” Lady Zeiatiel said, explaining her presence.

“Eviban” was the name of the potion I was hoping to brew for Lestin. Since it had been found in an elven medicinal text, it wasn’t strange that Lady Zeiatiel knew of it.

“Yes. I want to heal someone important to me.”

Lestin was the one who’d brought Nox and me together. Not only that, but he was also an indispensable figure in the lives of the animals I’d befriended at the Beast Stables.

“Even among the elves, eviban is considered a secret potion. So even if you manage to gather the ingredients, there aren’t many elves who can brew it for you.”

“It said in the book that elemental power was required to brew the potion. Can’t I just have the elemental spirits teach my protector who can use elemental power how to brew it?”

“No, I’m afraid not. I’m familiar with the book you speak of, which is in the possession of the imperial family, but this potion requires an additional ingredient not listed in that text. I cannot tell you more myself, so please meet with the chief elder of the imperial city forest.”

So there’s a secret ingredient needed to brew this potion…? But is it really okay for me to go out into the imperial city?

“Is it okay for me to leave the palace?”

“I will prepare an escort for you. Please be patient a little longer while I arrange it; it may take a few days.”

I’m sorry for always causing you trouble!

“And, of course, I will also accompany you,” Louis added with a cheeky grin.

…Why am I always accompanied by at least one member of the imperial family whenever I go anywhere? Are they just really not that busy? What about work?!

“Although I’m grateful for Lord Louis’s offer to accompany me, is it really okay?”

I couldn’t directly come out and accuse Louis of tagging along as an excuse to play hooky from his public duties, so I addressed this carefully worded question to Lady Zeiatiel instead.

“The only people capable of stopping Prince Louivence when he sets his mind to something are Their Imperial Majesties, the retired emperor and empress…”

Right. Basically, she’s telling me to give up and accept his offer to join me, then, right?

“That’s right! So you can rest easy, Neema—myself and my private guard will serve as your escort.”

Essentially, what he’s saying is that he can force all of his staff to abandon their duties as well and guard me, right?

In any case, it was decided—I would finally be going out into the imperial city!

Small Talk: A Letter from Neema (POV: Ralfreed)

WITH Karna and Neema off in the Linus Empire, the house was very quiet.

I guess it’s inevitable; I’m lonely without my cute little sisters around.

As if picking up on my feelings, Neema sent me letters every day.

It seemed that the imperial family members were an array of unique individuals, and I could just picture all the trouble Neema was having dealing with them.

A short while after she arrived, she made friends with the youngest imperial prince and a young noble lady with blood ties to the imperial family. After that, her letters started to contain reports of the kinds of things they did while playing together. Given how few chances she’d had to interact with other children her own age, she must’ve been overjoyed with this turn of events.

What surprised me the most, though, was the letter where she told me she’d met with the elemental kings.

Because she was bonded with the fire dragon, Neema was technically qualified to enter the elemental palace. I’d known this since the same was true for Will, but when it actually came about, I was surprised by how easy it had been for her to meet with them.

I’d been thinking that if things continued as they were, my sisters would be able to enjoy a pleasant stay in the Linus Empire, but unfortunately, our enemies had other plans.

Runohark agents were confirmed to have infiltrated the Linus Empire’s borders. Apparently, they’d attacked the ogres living in Wildwood.

Paul had sent a report before we’d gotten the details on our own. He explained that, unbelievably, the ogres bonded to the emperor of the Linus Empire had been attacked. It was hard to wrap my head around for several reasons.

First of all, it was inconceivable that an emperor would deem it a good idea to give names to monsters and would furthermore fight with them himself.

We were fastidiously looking into their movements within the Linus Empire as well, but the enemy made the first move: they attacked the Kingdom of Gaché’s border.

At first, I thought it must’ve been a small scuffle caused by refugees fleeing from Icoux, where the situation was getting bad. But then we received a report from the fortress revealing that the attackers were soldiers armed with weapons.

Our country immediately sent in the royal knighthood, and the skirmish turned into a full-on battle. Although the attackers had been suppressed fairly quickly, some sustained injuries amidst the fighting.

I received a formal request from Grandpa Gouche, acting as general of the royal knighthood, to assist in healing the wounded. In particular, he wanted me to tend to the wounded leg of Lestin Ogma, Legion Commander of one of the royal knighthood’s special divisions, the Beast Knights Legion.

Lestin was a close friend of Neema’s. She’d gone so far as to say that he loved animals even more than she did, which was saying something.

Since he’d been so good to Neema, I eagerly agreed to see what I could do to help him, but the real problem was Commander Lestin himself.

“Long time no see, Commander Lestin.”

“Lord Ralfreed?! For you to trouble yourself to come see me… This must be Lady Nefertima’s doing, right? Or perhaps it was General Zelnan?”

Lestin was laid up in bed in a private room in the barracks beside the beast stables. He chuckled almost self-deprecatingly as if implying this was entirely unnecessary for someone such as himself.

“It was General Zelnan. He was quite beside himself at the thought of losing one of his most capable subordinates.”

“Oh, really? But aside from being unable to move my right leg, I’m perfectly fine now.”

He said this with a smile, not showing so much as an ounce of despair. His mental fortitude blew me away. For a member of the Beast Knights Legion, who rode into battle on their animal mounts, being unable to move a leg would normally be considered a fate worse than death.

“You’ve done so much for my sister, so please allow me to at least try to return the favor a little,” I said, using my healing magic on him without allowing him to argue any further.

However, something felt off.

The injury on Lestin’s right thigh was already closed. There was still a bit of internal damage, but even when I healed that, it didn’t affect his ability to move the leg.

In that case, the cause of his paralysis isn’t due to the wound on his leg?

I carefully examined Lestin’s entire body, looking for other injuries, but try as I might, I couldn’t pinpoint the source of the strange feeling I was getting.

“I’m sorry, it seems my power is insufficient,” I said.

“…I thought that might be the case. None of the royal knighthood’s healers could restore movement to my leg either.”

“What if you took some time to convalesce at the Shiana Special Region? Among the kobolds Neema befriended are several very skilled healers. It’s possible that you might be able to receive a miracle from the God of Creation if you bathe in the hot spring there.”

In addition to the Goddess’s power, the waters of that hot spring also contained elements that could heal injuries and illness. It had been proven that even drinking the water was an effective treatment, so perhaps the hot spring could cure Lestin as well.

“No, I’m determined to return to work as soon as possible.”

“How can you work if you can’t move your leg?”

“…I’m sure I’ll be able to ride my beloved horse, Uwaz… Probably…”

He sure is determined, I’ll give him that, but… In his current state, won’t the other knights also be at a loss as to what to do with him?

“Forgive me for being harsh, but in your current state, won’t your subordinates be so worried for you that they won’t be able to concentrate on their work? Do you intend to be a burden on your men?”

“I haven’t trained them to be so weak. That goes for the knights and the animals both.”

“…I see… When Neema finds out, she’ll be very sad.”

She wouldn’t just feel sad and pity him; I knew Neema well enough to know she’d never let it go at just that.

“This is Lady Nefertima we’re talking about here. I’m sure she’ll insist, ‘There’s got to be a cure!’ and do something unpredictable.”

“If you understand that much, then why don’t you let me help you help yourself?”

“But aren’t all of the members of the Osphe family looking forward to seeing what Lady Nefertima does next?”

I could see why he’d managed to become a legion commander of one of our country’s esteemed knighthood’s most elite divisions. He was shrewd, calculating, and unyielding.

“More than that, we’re concerned. We don’t want to see her lose anything else precious to her. You’ve got experience with that, right?”

Lestin had surely seen countless deaths. After all, the lifespans of humans and animals were very different. If it were a natural death due to old age, there was usually time to come to terms with the inevitable. But the animals the beast knights trained were essentially weapons for war. If something unexpected happened, their lives could be snatched away in the blink of an eye.

“…Yes, I’ve seen many of our animals off on their journeys to be with the Goddess. But if I don’t do this now, the erosion Runohark is causing will only worsen.”

“I understand your feelings. But when Neema does inevitably find a way to cure you, will you accept treatment then?”

I had no hope of forcing this proud warrior to do anything he didn’t want to. So, the final decision would have to be his.

“I suppose that will depend on Lady Nefertima.”

He was saying he had no idea what Neema would do, but he might accept treatment depending on her actions.

Personally, I still find it more likely that he’ll try to resist, but…

“She is a very persistent little girl, Commander. Prepare yourself; you’ll have a fight on your hands if you try to resist.”

“I understand.”

I felt the smile on his face was directed at Neema because it was very gentle.

🐉 🐉 🐉

WHEN I informed Neema of Lestin’s situation, she did exactly what I suspected and immediately began formulating some kind of plan. According to Paul’s reports, she locked herself up in the imperial palace library every day doing research. Once she found whatever she’d been searching for, a letter arrived addressed to Father.

“Well, it’s just as I expected, but still, I wish she would be a little more obedient and docile…”

In the letter Father handed me to read, Neema wrote that a potion called eviban could restore movement to a paralyzed body. I’d never heard of such a potion, but apparently, it was a tightly guarded secret potion invented by the elves.

She once again found something incredible.

When I was done reading the letter, I passed it to Mother, who reacted to the names of the plants Neema had written about.

“This is certainly a surprise… Anniley and toma? Those will surely prove difficult…”

“Are they very rare, then?”

“Yes. Both are magical plants, but they only produce flowers when grown in certain regions and under certain conditions.”

If even Mother doesn’t know very much about them, it’ll be difficult indeed to get ahold of these plants. But even if we move heaven and earth to obtain the ingredients for the potion, it will be for nothing if Lestin refuses to take it.

“Commander Lestin intends to return to active service despite being unable to move his leg,” I said.

“Meaning Lestin doesn’t feel that further treatment is necessary?”

“I don’t think he feels it’s unnecessary, so much as he’s given up. Even now, the likelihood that we’ll be able to produce this potion Neema has discovered is very low…”

Father thought it over, then wrote a reply to Neema.

I suspected the letter was warning Neema not to get carried away. Although Paul was with her and could mostly be counted on to keep her in line, Karna was prone to indulging our younger sister.

Almost as soon as Father sent his letter, he received a reply.

“It seems she’s intent on convincing Lestin to accept the treatment. And she wants me to figure out how to pay for it.”

“That girl has never been one to give up easily. What should we do about the fees, then?” Mother mused.

All of our family understood Neema’s response. So, Mother also proceeded under the assumption that Neema would successfully persuade Lestin to go through with the treatment.

“It would be a bit of an overstep for our family to pay for it, wouldn’t it?”

“I agree. No matter how much he’s helped Neema out over the years, the country should take responsibility for this, considering it was a work-related injury.”

However, there was no way the country would agree to write a blank check to fund such a wild goose chase. We didn’t know if we would even be able to find the ingredients, never mind begin to guess how much it might cost.

Normally, knights injured beyond what the healers could repair would either be moved to desk jobs or paid a fixed settlement and allowed to retire early.

For this reason, Father said it would likely be possible to get some funding from the government, but either way, it wouldn’t be enough to cover the cost of producing this potion.

“If Neema is determined to do this on her own, I think she should pay for it. What do you think, dear?” Mother asked Father.

“Hmm, come to think of it, the original technology using mieux-fly thread that Karna registered under the new law also listed Neema as a coinventor, didn’t it?”

Oh, he’s talking about that technique Karna invented when she was making the Hanley stuffed animal for Neema. She sure doesn’t let anything slip, does she?

“Not to mention that, as the person who came up with the idea for Project Shiana, she’s being paid a suitable founder’s fee. So I’m sure it will work out.”

That had been a request I’d made to Father.

Neema had said she wanted to build a hot spring resort geared toward the nobility, so I’d thought it might be helpful if she had some money to invest in such a project. If we left it to Father, a lot of factors would need to be considered, given his role as provincial lord, but if Neema was using her own money, she could do what she wanted with it.

“I was hoping to let that money accumulate until she marries,” Mother said reluctantly.

“…M-Marries…?!”

Oh, no. Mother, you know what will happen if you talk about Neema or Karna marrying in front of Father…

“Yes, marries. I seriously doubt that child will suddenly become quiet and obedient just because she’s gotten married, and for any endeavors she wants to undertake, she’ll need funding.”

Mother makes an excellent point, but Neema’s still a little kid. I think it’s fine to wait to start thinking about things like engagement and marriage until she’s a bit closer to a marriageable age!

“…Goodness, Dayle— are you crying?”

There’s no way a respectable nobleman such as Father would be… Whoa, he really is crying!

“Father, you don’t need to force yourself to continue to write while crying…”

“Sniff… But Neema’s probably waiting anxiously for my reply!”

Even so, if Neema knew you were crying while writing to her, she would be very upset!

“We’ve still got at least 10 cycles before we need to worry about such things, dear. There’s no need to get so emotional about it now,” Mother pronounced mercilessly, looking exasperated by Father’s tearful reaction.

“B-But you know as well as I do that it’s very common for the bonded partners of holy beasts to marry one another…”

I’m not sure where this information came from, but the retired emperor and retired empress of the Linus Empire were both bonded with holy beasts, so perhaps there was some truth to it.

“Not only does Prince Wilhelt fit that criterion, but we never know when one of those imperial princes might bond with a water holy beast!”

As a beloved child who all the holy beasts seemed to adore, it wasn’t strange to think that some royal might find himself being urged by his holy beast partner to make Neema his queen.

“I would like to believe His Majesty would never do such a thing, but if we were ordered to offer Neema’s hand in marriage to secure a political alliance…”

The tears that had almost stopped flowing poured again like a raging river. Father must’ve been more distraught by Neema’s absence than he’d been letting on.

“Then she’ll just have to marry Prince Wilhelt, so she’ll remain in the royal city where we can visit her whenever we like,” Mother reasoned.

“I won’t allow it! Not that prince!”

For whatever reason, Father had always been vehemently opposed to the idea of Neema marrying Will… And it wasn’t just Father; Karna was against it as well.

As for me, I didn’t want Neema to marry off at all, but I figured at least, if it was Will, I could trust him to take good care of her. Well, if he refined a few of his rougher edges first, that was.

“You really are impossible. I am the last person who would want to force Neema into a marriage she doesn’t want. We should respect Neema’s wishes.”

Does that mean that Mother also plans to let Neema live at home forever if she says she doesn’t want to get married?

“More importantly, what do you intend to do about the anniley and toma?”

“…I’ll have Gene look into it.”

Is Uncle Gene even in the country at the moment? But, out of anyone, he might actually know how to get his hands on these ingredients. After all, there’s an elven village in the Dierta Province.

“The Dierta family are trusted by the elves, after all.”

From what I’d heard, during a time when the agricultural products in his province all failed, the first-generation Duke Dierta had approached the elves for help and, over the course of multiple negotiations, convinced them to teach him some of their knowledge. After that, the elves he’d been dealing with moved to the Dierta Province and founded a village there.

When Father finished writing all of this down and sent the letter to Neema, her reply again came back right away. After reading it, Father began crying again. I was a bit worried about what the letter might contain.

“Oh, Neema…”

I took the letter from Mother, who was chuckling to herself, and immediately understood Father and Mother’s reactions.

“I have no intention of ever marrying, so you should use that money for the benefit of our province’s residents.”

At least for the moment, Neema had no desire to marry. Essentially, she was saying that since she was refusing to do her duty as a daughter of the nobility, the least she could do in exchange was offer up the money set aside in her name to make our people’s lives a little easier.

At that point, I’ll have already inherited Father’s position. If circumstances allow, I’d like to respect her wishes and do as she asks.

While Father was fighting through his tears of happiness to write a reply, another letter arrived addressed to me.

“Dear Ralf,

You seem busy recently, but please remember to take breaks now and then. Rest is important too, you know!

I would like you to help me persuade Lestin to get on board with the idea of healing himself. He might be fine with how things are now, but I’m sure the beast knights and animals who all adore him are very worried about him.

Oh, and if you have any information about anniley and toma, please let me know!”

The way Neema always worried about my health was so sweet. Karna always started her letters with an announcement of “I am doing remarkably well!” and never conveyed so much as a hint of concern for her older brother’s health.

I immediately set about penning a reply when Mother let out a dissatisfied huff.

“That’s not fair; why do only you two get letters?”

Mother was only letting her emotions show because we were in private. Personally, I liked this side of her much better. Although, when she was angry, Mother was truly terrifying.

“This is Neema we’re talking about, so she’s probably writing to you as we speak,” I assured her.

“Perhaps… But that girl does tend to get so caught up in one thing that she forgets everything else, doesn’t she?”

I can’t argue with that. She’s been scolded for it many times but still can’t seem to break the habit. Although, I think it’s kind of cute, personally.

Shortly after, a letter addressed to Mother arrived.

In her letter to Mother, Neema had written about playing hide-and-seek with her monster friends. She said she’d been surprised when Haku stretched itself out super thin and clung onto the wall to hide.

It seemed that Neema often described her monster companions’ unusual behaviors to Mother, who wanted to know everything about the biology of monsters. When she heard that Neema had added a kyubi to her monster paradise while in the Linus Empire, Mother’s eyes shone with interest. Maybe she was planning to conduct some more experiments once Neema returned.

Kyubi were strong but rare, and I didn’t think she could get away with letting it run around openly, so I was curious how Neema was getting by. At least Seigo and Rikusei could be passed off as dogs, but the same could not be said for a kyubi.

One more thing was written at the bottom of Neema’s letter to Mother.

“I love you, Mama!”

I knew Mothers hold a very special place in their children’s hearts.

But even so, I couldn’t help being a little jealous that Neema hadn’t written “I love you!” in my letter as well.

We all sent responses to Neema, but no more replies arrived that day.

The following day, we received word that it had been decided Neema would visit the elven forest in the imperial city.

I’d only read about the elven forest in books, but from what I’d read, the forest was like a maze, and one could obtain spells, magical items, knowledge, and many other things from the elves that lived there. However, the elves would refuse to do business with anyone they didn’t like. They looked at the moral character of each person who came to them with a request and would refuse to grant it if they felt the person would not use what they were given properly.

I didn’t think Neema would be turned away, but there were always instances like what had happened with the guild master of the adventurers’ guild. Elves wouldn’t just do whatever Neema wanted simply because she was a beloved child.

I wrote back, warning her not to do anything reckless, but Mother told me she’d written that if Neema saw any interesting magical items, she should buy them.

Mother had been to the elven forest only once before she married Father, but she eagerly recounted her experience to us in detail. She strongly recommended I also visit at least once.

She claimed that the magical items the elves crafted with their unique perspectives were more refined and beautiful than those crafted by humans.

I was so interested even just hearing about it that I became a bit jealous of Neema.

If Neema really does buy a magical item for Mother, I’ll have her show it to me, too.

It wasn’t to the same extent as Mother or Karna, but I, too, got a thrill out of taking apart magical items to see how they worked. I would always put them back together afterward, but in Karna’s case, she modified the original design more often than not. And when she failed, her failures were epic.

Was it selfish of me to miss even her chaotic antics when she wasn’t here?

I’ll have to do my best to make it safe for my sisters to come home as quickly as possible.

4 - I Really Want to Go Sightseeing Soon!

I was presented with a set of simple clothing that commoners in the Linus Empire wore. However, this specific garment had been embroidered with written magic spells for protection, where the embroidery wouldn’t be seen.

“Oh, you look adorable! The plainness of the dress emphasizes your cuteness even more, Neema!”

With her raging sister complex, Karna would probably think I looked cute dressed in a potato sack.

“No one will think you’re a noble lady dressed like this, that’s for sure. Just make sure to take care with the way you speak,” Paul pronounced, giving my disguise his seal of approval.

I don’t know if this is going to work… I’m overflowing with natural dignity and grace, so I’m sure to be found out immediately!

Just kidding! All I have to do is act true to my boorish instincts, and I’ll be fine! Piece of cake!

Louis had instructed me in advance not to bring Shinki or Kai, so Spica accompanied me to our meeting point to see me off. I could only bring my smaller monster friends along on this outing, so my entourage consisted of Haku, Gratia, Seigo, Rikusei, and Inaho. As we made our way through the imperial palace, Inaho was in her usual spot, hiding in the messenger bag she was so fond of.

When we arrived at the meeting point, Louis was there with the leader of his private guard and a woman I’d never met before.

“Good day, Prince Louis. I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“Heeey, Neema… Pfft!”

Thanks for the nice reaction!

Louis clapped one hand over his mouth and clutched his stomach with the other, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hold back his laughter.

“It would be less painful if you just went ahead and laughed already!”

Once he’d been permitted to let loose, Louis laughed so uncontrollably that I worried he might have trouble getting enough oxygen.

Even I’m aware that this “disguise” suits me more than my own clothing. Go ahead and laugh it up!

“Prince Louis, it’s terribly rude to laugh at a young lady’s appearance!” the unfamiliar woman scolded, but Louis ignored her completely.

“My apologies, Lady Nefertima. When His Highness gets like this, it will take a little while before he recovers his senses…”

The unit leader appeared aggrieved by Louis’s behavior, but I was unfazed. After all, I’d been the one who told him to go ahead and just laugh already.

“No, but… It’s just… Everything I was expecting and more!” Louis was uproariously laughing while trying to speak, making his words difficult to understand. “Dressed like this, we really look just like commoners, right?!”

Louis was also wearing much simpler clothing than usual. However, in his case, his good breeding shone through in his mannerisms and bearing.

I stand out next to him for being too perfect at playing the part of a commoner!

“Today, you’ll be playing the role of the child of my wife and I.”

“Your wife?”

Huh?! Is Louis married?! Surprised, I looked back and forth between Louis and the woman who stood beside him.

“When Prince Louis goes out in disguise to avoid being noticed, I am usually assigned as his guard since I can join the ruse by pretending to be his wife or girlfriend.”

Oh, I see… So that’s how they play it off. She is very pretty, in a cutesy sort of way, so it’s believable that a hottie like Louis would be with someone like her.

…But no one will believe these two exceptionally attractive people produced a child like me! Although, come to think of it, I’m always being told I look nothing like my actual family, too…

“Forgive me for the late introduction. My name is Meltina Rutarleigh; I am a member of His Highness Prince Louivence’s private guard. Please call me Mel.”

I introduced myself to Mel in return, and then the unit leader introduced himself. I was grateful for that since I’d already forgotten his name.

“I am the leader of His Highness Prince Louivence’s private guard, Foedor Arban. Today, I will be playing the role of an uncle tagging along to dote on his favorite little niece.”

“Uncle, which of my parents is your younger sibling?” I asked.

He appeared to be older than both of them, so it would be strange for him to pretend to be a younger brother.

“I have no desire to even pretend to be one of His Highness’s older brothers, so I’ll be Mel’s brother if that’s all right.”

“That’s mean!” Louis protested with a chuckle.

Perhaps it was due in part to Louis’s personality, but the leader of his private guard was very friendly and easygoing… Completely different from another unit leader I often crossed paths with…

“You’re all very close, aren’t you?” I observed.

“Foed was my playmate when we were kids. Back then, his father was the leader of my private guard. We were always getting scolded by him, along with Kwon, of course.”

Kwon…? Oh, right, the commander-in-chief! I can’t picture the three of them being naughty rascals and getting scolded by Foedor’s father. Louis used to be an ethereal beauty and a mischievous brat? Even though he was an imperial prince?!

I suppose Will was also a trickster when he was younger despite his looks… Maybe that’s just how energetic young boys are? But Daux and Ralf aren’t mischievous at all…

“Prince Louis, we’re getting off topic, so will you please stay quiet for a bit?”

Phew, despite her cutesy appearance, Mel sure doesn’t mince words, does she?! When you’re undercover, I bet she doesn’t go easy on you, eh, Louis?!

“Lady Nefertima, today I would like to request that you refer to Prince Louis and me as ‘Father’ and ‘Mother,’ if that would be okay…” Mel said.

Hmm… If Mama and Papa heard me calling someone else “Mother” and “Father,” I’m sure they would be very sad…

Not to mention, it would feel really weird for me, too!

“If you’re uncomfortable with that, you don’t have to force yourself to say it. Plenty of parents and children have a more friend-like relationship, so it should be fine.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?” I fretted.

I didn’t know much about families in this world, but at least among the nobility, a “friend-like relationship” between parents and children was entirely out of the question.

“Of course. Why don’t we arrange our hair the same so everyone can see how close we are?” Mel pulled a comb seemingly out of thin air and broadly grinned as she said this. Our servants always wore the same smile when they wanted to play with me like a dress-up doll.

I sat on a ledge nearby and let Mel have her way with my hair.

“I’ve always wanted to do this, arranging my hair the same with a daughter of my own…”

“Are you married?” I asked.

“…Unfortunately, I’m too busy cleaning up after Prince Louis to have time for romance. He’s a terrible boss, right?”

She must be joking if she’s saying it right in front of him, aware that he can hear, but either way, I don’t dare agree or disagree!

“Perhaps if Lord Louis married, the burden on your time might lessen?” I ventured.

“Everyone would love to see that happen, but no matter how many portraits of eligible young ladies he’s shown, he’s extremely picky…”

Louis had rejected even Lady Zeiatiel’s daughter. I was shocked to hear that Lady Zeiatiel had a daughter of marriageable age, considering her youthful appearance, but I didn’t have any difficulty believing that this daughter was widely held to be one of the most beautiful ladies in the whole of the Linus Empire.

It was true that Louis’s wife would need to either be as stunningly attractive as him or cute like Mel in a way that complemented his masculine beauty.

“It’s not a matter of looks, Mel. She needs to have what it takes to be a member of the imperial family.”

It seemed Louis had learned his lesson by observing his older brother Towen’s marriage. Marie’s mother was an influential person in society, but she also had a dark and scheming aspect to her personality that Louis couldn’t accept.

“The day will come when Towen and I must give up the names Taux Linus. However, even if we become dukes, we will support Celly just as we have while still officially members of the imperial family. For that reason, I’m searching for someone who I believe is prepared to make whatever sacrifices may be necessary for the betterment of the empire.”

Louis was currently called “Your Highness,” but according to tradition, once his Father, the retired emperor, passed, he would lose his status as a member of the imperial family and receive a new name and the title of duke. Furthermore, this title was not generationally inheritable; his child would become a marquess following Louis’s death.

From the aristocrats’ point of view, the prospect of marrying their daughters to Louis wasn’t terribly appealing. After all, until Louis lost his status as a member of the imperial family, his wife would retain her birth family’s name and rank, and while she would be referred to as “provisional royalty,” this wasn’t an official social rank.

And even if there was the appeal of marrying their daughter to a future duke, it was tempered by the fact that their grandchild would only be a marquess.

So, for any decently powerful family with the rank of marquess or above, marrying their daughter to Louis would be like throwing away a valuable chess piece. If that were the case, it would be a safer bet to go after one of the imperial princes while there was still the possibility that any of them might become the next emperor.

“But if it were Karna, she could surely hold her own against our scheming aristocrats, so she’d be a good fit, don’t you think?” Louis said with a grin.

“No, I most certainly don’t! You can’t have my sister!” I growled.

What nonsense is this guy spewing?!

I mean, I suppose… If you’re just considering social rank and international relations, it would be a wise move, in theory, for Karna to marry into the Linus Empire.

But, but, but! I’ll never give my big sister over to a foreign country!

“Karna needs a man who understands her and lets her pursue her passions of studying magic and spoiling her little sister. A kind gentleman like our brother Ralf would be perfect for her,” I declared passionately.

For that reason, Will is no good either. I wish they’d rule him out entirely as a potential fiancé for her already! If they’re willing to consider men as much older than her as Louis, then that would make Uncle Gene a contender as well.

Uncle Gene is familiar with Karna’s temperament, and he would bring her home plenty of interesting stories and presents from his travels to satisfy her curiosity; plus, he’s always nice to me, too! And that would let him graduate from family friend to actually part of the family!

“I could always be the one to go live in the Kingdom of Gaché, you know. Karna wouldn’t necessarily have to move here.” Louis was probably just joking around, but at this, Mel and the unit leader both protested.

“Lady Relena is already living in the Kingdom of Gaché.”

Both of them looked aghast as they accused him of attempting to upset the delicate balance of international relations.

As I understood it, it was because Queen Relena had married into the Kingdom of Gaché from the Linus Empire that the king’s younger brother had married into the Milma royal family and gone to live there. If there were accusations of the Linus Empire becoming excessively friendly with the Kingdom of Gaché, it might negatively impact international relations with Milma as well.

“The Osphe family are in a very tricky position when it comes to marriages. That goes not only for Lady Karna but also Lord Ralf, right?”

Ralf? He’s the heir, so he’ll have to get married, but I’ve heard a princess from Milma suggested as a potential bride…

“My brother can’t decide on a fiancée for himself until Will marries.”

The ducal families in our kingdom maintained balance within the country, so if Will chose his wife from inside the country, Ralf would marry a royal or noble lady from another country.

This time, our family was the only one with children similar in age to the king’s children—in this case, Will—but in the past, there had also been cases of multiple marriages arranged to carefully balance one another out.

In my great-grandfather’s generation, the king and his younger brother, my great-grandfather, married women from our own country, so the sons of the other three ducal houses all took brides from foreign countries.

My great-grandfather sure caused a lot of trouble for everyone, didn’t he…

“There’s also the option of Neema here marrying one of my nephews…” Louis said.

Nope, nope, nope!

I was aware that I’d grimaced at this suggestion, but if the way Louis clutched his stomach and laughed uncontrollably again was anything to go by, my expression must’ve been even more extreme than I realized.

“There, it’s all done.”

Mel handed me a hand mirror, so I peeked at it to see what kind of hairstyle she’d chosen for us. She’d said she would give us matching hairstyles, so I assumed she was doing my hair the same as how she was already wearing hers, but somehow the result surpassed my expectations. She’d gathered my hair into a high ponytail, but also accented the look with a French braid that wove across the top of my head like a headband.

“Wow! It’s so cute!”

It wasn’t flashy and elaborate like the updos many aristocrats had their servants arrange for them, but more of a relaxed, soft, and stylish look that suited our plain clothing.

“Now that that’s done, let’s get going, shall we?” Mel held out her hand to me, and I took it with a smile.

I couldn’t bring myself to call her “Mother,” but it was easy to picture her as a close female relative, maybe an aunt or older cousin.

“Seigo, Rikusei, Inaho. Take good care of Lady Neema, you hear me?”

“Woof!”

“Kyuu!”

Perhaps because Spica had called out to the three of them by name, they all gave energetic responses.

“Inaho, right now, it’s okay, so please show your face when you respond.”

Inaho had obeyed my instructions and stayed hidden in the messenger bag, merely poking one of her tails out as if raising her hand in farewell. But at my prompting, she scuttled around inside the bag until she was facing right-side-up and poked her head out just the tiniest bit, resting her chin on the side.

“Kyu—achoo!”

Inaho started to redo her reply, with her face showing this time, but a sudden sneeze interrupted her. How her tails all puffed out involuntarily when she sneezed was really cute.

“Mew! Mew-meeew!”

Suddenly, Haku jumped out of the messenger bag where it had been riding with Inaho. I was pretty sure it was trying to express its disappointment that it hadn’t been mentioned by name. Gratia, too, was busily clacking his fangs in displeasure from his perch atop my right shoulder.

“Haku and Gratia, you mustn’t leave Lady Neema’s side for even an instant. If you run off to play as usual, I’ll tell Mr. Paul,” Spica warned.

When Paul’s name came up, the two of them instantly became serious, with Haku even trembling a bit, its body jiggling faintly like jello.

Yup, I thought that might do it! The thought of being scolded by Paul is enough to scare anyone into behaving! I know that first-hand!

“Your Highness Prince Louivence, please take care of Lady Neema,” Spica said, bowing formally to Louis.

“Of course. Don’t worry about anything, we’ll protect Neema.”

Since we were traveling incognito, only Louis, Foedor, and Mel would be with me, but I’d been told the other members of Louis’s private guard were already in position along the route we’d take and inside the elven forest, dressed in plain clothes and mixing in with the citizens.

We exited the imperial palace through a small side gate.

I was almost overwhelmed with excitement about the prospect of finally seeing a place I’d only been able to gaze upon from afar up to this point.

Outside the gate, a wagon was waiting for us. It wasn’t one of the grand carriages aristocrats typically rode in; this was a simple covered wagon like the ones I’d seen in Lenice and the Shiana Special Region.

Foedor approached the driver and spoke with him, so I figured the driver must also be a member of the private guard in disguise.

“We’ll ride in this wagon most of the way there.”

Louis picked me up and set me inside the wagon. A bench to sit on inside was made of bare planks, with not so much as a cushion in sight. There wasn’t even a carpet on the floor of the wagon!

“Whoa!”

Once the wagon started moving, I was slightly dismayed that it swayed and rocked terribly. Perhaps because only a single horse drew the wagon, it also moved much more slowly than I was used to.

I tried to peek out from the back of the wagon to get a glimpse of the scenery as we passed through the city, but Mel stopped me.

“It’s dangerous back there. If you want to look outside, look from the front.”

It took Mel saying that for me to notice an opening at the front of the wagon where I could peek out from behind the driver. I grabbed onto a board that seemed like a partition between the driver’s seat and the wagon bed and pulled myself up to look outside.

“Woooow…!”

I’d thought the royal city in the Kingdom of Gaché was lively and bustling, but the imperial city took things to a whole new level.

Does the fact that all the buildings are stark white mean they’re covered with plaster?

The roofs of the houses were triangular, giving the architecture a distinctly European feel, but in contrast to the uniform white exterior walls, the roof of each house was brightly colored. The only colors used were the elemental colors: red, blue, green, and yellow, but the choice of color seemed to depend solely on the personal preference of the occupants. It added an element of individuality to the buildings and made them very interesting to look at. While some buildings had solid-colored roofs, others were painted in patchwork-like designs made of multiple colors. The largest buildings seemed to have some kind of symbols written on them.

All the shops lining the main street were crowded with customers, and passersby hurried past down the sidewalks.

There especially seemed to be a lot of clothing and accessory shops geared towards female customers in this area.

I spotted what appeared to be a café, and judging by the fact that all the tables on the terrace were full, it seemed to be a popular one.

Oh man, something smells delicious! I think it’s something fried… Oh, and there’s a person eating something that looks like a cheeseburger!

I was torn between wanting to ask someone what the name of that food was and not wanting to miss any of the scenery as we passed.

Going for a “food stroll” through this city would be nice! The food back home is good, too, but there’s something fun about trying new foods while exploring a foreign country.

“Neema, sweetie, are you enjoying our outing?”

“…Y-Yes! Very, very much!”

I was surprised that Louis had called me “sweetie” so casually, but I somehow forced myself to respond normally. His acting skill only went to show how accustomed Louis was to going out in disguise.

The edge of the forest came into view out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look more closely and saw puffs of white smoke rising out of the forest in several places.

That’s not a forest fire, is it? Maybe those are chimneys hidden amongst the trees…?

“Hmm…”

“What is it?”

“I was just wondering what that smoke is…”

Saying, “What smoke?” Louis leaned over behind me and stuck his head outside to look. He turned in the direction I’d pointed and, after muttering, “Oh, that,” pulled his head back inside the wagon.

“There are a lot of shops inside the elven forest. The restaurants, blacksmiths, and apothecaries all use fire.”

I’m just glad it’s not a forest fire! More importantly, I wonder what elven food is like? Do they only eat vegetables?

Everything I caught sight of as we passed was fascinating, and I didn’t feel even the tiniest bit bored during the entire ride.

Once the wagon came to a stop, we all climbed out. It seemed we would walk from here.

I tied ropes to Seigo and Rikusei’s collars to complete their disguises as normal dogs out for a walk with their owner. This arrangement also had the added benefit of signaling they were pets and not a danger to anyone.

The elven forest loomed in front of us. Like the elemental forest, this forest seemed almost foreboding with its tightly packed tree trunks that left no space for a person to enter.

I was told there was only one path for entering and exiting the elven forest, and it could only be accessed on foot. Louis explained that to me as we strolled along leisurely.

Seeing my chance, I tugged on Louis’s clothing and asked him a question that had been eating at me: What was that cheeseburger-like food?!

“Hey, hey! I was wondering… What was that round thing that looked like a palas that I saw some people eating as they walked?”

“A palas? …Oh, you mean appas?”

Palas was a general term for ingredients such as vegetables, meat, and even fruit served inside bread, but apparently, an appa was something else.

“The dough for appas is made out of ground sauda nuts, and the filling is fried gardola fish.”

I should’ve known! Every food in the world seems to incorporate sauda in some way! If the meat is deep-fried gardola, I guess an appa is more like a fish burger than a cheeseburger.

“Let’s buy some appas when we’re done with our business here.”

“Is it really okay?!”

“Of course!”

Neither Louis nor Foedor objected to Mel’s suggestion, so we really would go to buy appas later.

All right!

I skipped along, feeling light as a cloud, and at one point Louis reached out and took my hand, explaining that he was worried about me getting lost.

How can I possibly get lost when there’s only one path with no turns or side roads? And now Mel’s coming up on the other side of me… Oh! I’m sure the two of them are just trying to keep up the roles of a loving family, but this scene looks just like an alien abduction!

Unfortunately, no one in my present company would understand the reference even if I mentioned it, so I’ll just have to keep it to myself.

As for Seigo and Rikusei, their tails said it all. Their tails were wagging so hard that even I couldn’t help being happy just from watching them.

Foedor was holding the two kobolds’ leashes, but they were clearly the ones walking him because he practically had to run to keep up with them as they tugged him along. As high kobolds, they were much stronger than any ordinary pet dog, that much was for sure!

“Seigo and Rikusei, don’t drag Uncle like that!” I called after them.

“Urk… I knew it would happen, but that still hits hard!”

It hits hard? Huh? Is it that much of a shock to be called “Uncle?” But he’s clearly at the age that any kid would categorize him as an “uncle” rather than an “older brother” or “cousin”…

No one can escape the aging process!

“Don’t worry, brother-in-law! In a few more cycles, you’ll get very used to being called ‘uncle.’”

Eep, Louis is wearing a huge, shit-eating grin! He’s clearly enjoying teasing Foedor…

“Louis, don’t tease my dear older brother,” Mel chided with a petulant look.

Mel has a natural talent for acting! Just looking at her expression, even I feel guilty for upsetting her!

We walked along, chatting together and appearing, for all the world, as nothing more than an ordinary family, and before long, we arrived at the entrance to the elven forest.

Well, this is certainly not what I was expecting at all!

5 - The Mysteries of the Elven Forest

WHEN they spoke of “being stunned into silence,” this might be what they were referring to.

Before us, two armed elves stood with their feet firmly planted, wearing severe expressions and looking like unmovable statues. However, despite clearly being on guard duty, there was no door behind them.

Louis showed a letter to one of the guards. He’d told me in advance that it was a letter of introduction from Lady Zeiatiel.

The elven forest was closed to outsiders. Only those with letters of introduction from elves or one of the guilds would be permitted entry. The guilds were very strict about who they would provide a letter of introduction to, and if you’d caused trouble even once in the past, you were out of luck.

“I’ve confirmed your letter of introduction. You may enter.”

While I was wondering incredulously where exactly the guard wanted us to enter from, Foedor made the first move. He got down on all fours by the elven guards’ feet and crawled forward until he disappeared from sight.

Looking closer, I finally noticed a knothole in one of the trees.

Without hesitation, Seigo trotted after Foedor into the hole.

“Watch your head,” Mel said, urging me towards the hole in the tree, and I nervously stepped forward.

It was frightening crawling forward into the pitch-black darkness on my hands and knees, having no idea what I was getting myself into.

“Eek!”

Suddenly, something touched my face, and I reflexively let out a panicked shriek.

“Woof!”

Oh, it’s just Seigo. Phew, that scared me!

Next, something plowed into me from behind.

“Whoa! I mean, uh… Woof.”

It’s just Rikusei.

It was clear that in his surprise over bumping into me in the dark, he’d forgotten and started to speak before realizing and switched to a bark partway through.

The tunnel wasn’t terribly long, but I was still majorly relieved when we reached a dimly lit area. It seemed the tunnel was intentionally dark.

I mean, I couldn’t see even a glimmer of this light from in there!

Rikusei exited the tunnel right behind me while I climbed to my feet and looked around at my surroundings.

We were in a domed space that appeared to be constructed out of tree roots. In addition to the tunnel we’d crawled through to get here, there was only one other door in the “room,” and the dim light seemed to be coming from a magical item.

When Louis and Mel arrived, the door swung open with suspiciously perfect timing.

“Welcome to the elven forest. My name is Nicarche Juze Seroifen, and I will be your guide today.”

Elves’ names are hard to remember! Is it because of their unique pronunciation? My ears can’t seem to process the sounds as words!

Our guide had even brighter red hair than Papa or Karna, which told me he must be a member of the elven ethnic group affiliated with fire spirits.

“On behalf of all the elves of this forest, it is an honor to receive a visit from a beloved child.”

Because all elves could see and hear elemental spirits, it wasn’t strange that he knew I was a beloved child.

“Thank you for showing us around today,” I said, trying my best to respond to his polite greeting with equal politeness.

“Now then, if you’ll follow me, I will lead you to the person in charge here.”

Hmm, I can’t tell if he’s cold or just a bit aloof. For a member of the group affiliated with fire spirits, I’d been expecting he’d be a bit more… fiery? Like the elemental king of fire!

I also wasn’t expecting him to be quite so macho-looking!

Ardo, a member of the ethnic group affiliated with wind spirits, was tall. Vel, a member of the ethnic group affiliated with earth spirits, was short and slender. Lady Zeiatiel, a member of the ethnic group affiliated with water spirits, was a willowy, statuesque beauty. Of them all, Lady Zeiatiel was the most similar to my preconceived impression of an elf.

Maybe all the elves from the group affiliated with fire spirits are naturally super muscular?

It was like an entirely different world on the other side of the door.

In addition to the soft green light filtering through the dense leaves, countless twinkling lights from tiny magical items looked almost like bugs.

Multiple levels were built into the seemingly labyrinthian forest, some composed of solid-looking paths carved directly into tree trunks, while others were little more than rope bridges made of living vines.

I spotted some buildings that looked like tree houses and other trees that seemed to have windows built right into the trunk as if the tree itself had been hollowed out inside to create a shop or perhaps even a dwelling.

Are those houses? But, if so, what is the purpose of those things that look like tents hanging from tree branches?

As we progressed, the trees appeared increasingly ancient, giving the impression that we were approaching the heart of the forest. The roots protruded up from the forest floor, and moss grew abundantly on the exterior of the tree trunks. Despite this, it was still bright, producing an almost ethereal atmosphere.

As less light penetrated the forest, the light from the magical items shone brighter in compensation, changing the appearance of the forest.

The almost mystical ancient trees that towered above us like silent giants seemed somehow cold and foreboding, and the gnarled old trees that had dropped all their leaves reminded me a bit of monsters.

And, as if protected by all of these ominous trees, in the center of the forest was a building that appeared to have been constructed out of piled-up stones.

“Elder, I have brought the beloved child,” our guide called out, surprising me by not waiting for a response before entering the building.

We followed him inside, and the interior of the building was much larger than it appeared from the outside. All kinds of plants were hanging from the ceiling, and the space had a unique smell.

Hm? That over there is no ordinary plant! I’ve seen one of those at Mama’s workplace!

If I was correct, it was a magical plant that survived by capturing living creatures and consuming the magic from inside their bodies. The mad scientists at the Magical Research Center had offered to let me observe them being fed, but I humbly declined.

“Welcome. I am the elder of this forest, Sharvel Judeau Coggfen.”

Based on the elder’s dirty-blond hair color, I pegged him as a member of the ethnic group affiliated with earth spirits. Like Vel, he was small in stature. His back was bent with age, making him appear even smaller still.

His clothing included a long, robe-like jacket tied with a wide belt. If he’d been wearing a pointed hat, he would’ve been the spitting image of a gnome.

“It’s an honor to make your acquaintance. My name is Nefertima Osphe.”

“I knew that the elemental spirits favored beloved children but never expected it to be to this extent…” the elder said, gazing at me with a faint smile.

I knew this expression very well. It was the same look Ardo and Vel got when looking at elemental spirits.

He must be referring to the elemental spirits surrounding me.

“Honored spirits, forgive me, but could you please allow me to see the beloved child?”

…Huh? Are there so many elemental spirits congregating around me that he can’t even see me?! Does that mean Shinki often can’t see me either? I’ll have to ask him when we get home!

While I was pondering this revelation, the elder nodded several times. It seemed the elemental spirits were saying something to him.

“I’ve received word from Zeiatiel that you’re searching for eviban?”

I responded to the elder’s inquiry with a firm “That’s correct.”

Next, he asked me the reason for my quest. I’d been warned about this by Lady Zeiatiel and had my answer prepared.

“In my homeland, the Kingdom of Gaché’s Beast Knights Legion, there is a man named Lestin. He was injured in battle recently and lost movement in his right leg. He is truly beloved by all of the animals in his care. I want to help him be able to ride on the creatures he lovingly refers to as his ‘partners’ once more.”

“You say this man is a knight? In that case, was he not prepared for possible injury or even death in battle?”

Not only Lestin but all the knights who rode into battle were prepared for those possibilities. The reason for this would differ depending on the person; for some, it came from a deep-seated loyalty to the king and country, while for others, it came from a desire to protect those precious to them.

“Yes, I believe that Lestin was fully prepared to do whatever it took to fulfill his duty as a knight. However, for my own sake as well as the sakes of the other knights and animals who respect and care for him, I want to help Lestin.”

According to Ralf, Lestin was in a hurry to return to active duty with the Beast Knights Legion. Was this due to a strong sense of responsibility when it came to his job or to avoid abandoning his men and the animals? Knowing him, I suspected it was a mix of both, but either way, I thought he deserved to take some time to properly recover after being so gravely wounded.

Although, as a former Japanese who literally died from overwork, I must admit I respect and admire his strong work ethic.

“Oh, so it’s for your own sake, then?”

“Yes. Lestin is someone I greatly respect.”

His knowledge of animals is really incredible! And that goes not only for the animals living in the beast stables, of course, but pretty much every single species of animal found on this continent! I wouldn’t be surprised if he even knew about some of the mysterious creatures found only in the elemental forest.

“I understand your feelings, beloved child. However, we elves can’t carelessly let our secret potion out into the world.”

The elder told us an ancient story that took place before even the Linus Empire had been founded. Back then, the elves lived simply, in accordance with nature, borrowing the power of the elemental spirits. They sometimes had interactions with demons and occasionally with humans as well. However, a group of humans attacked the elves after learning of the existence of the elves’ secret potion through these interactions. A potion that could heal illnesses and injuries that even healing magic couldn’t fix was a strong lure for many humans. Fed up with the greed and cruelty of humanity, the elves relocated their villages deep into the wilderness.

However, the first emperor of the Linus Empire, Roslan, hated this closed-off and isolated lifestyle so much that he broke free, venturing out into the wider world. After leaving home, Roslan encountered many difficulties, but in the end, succeeded in founding a country where elves, humans, and beastpeople could all live together in peace.

In any case, due to this tumultuous history, the elves didn’t want to allow any outsiders to use their secret potion.

“Would it be okay then as long as we conceal all connection to the elves?” I asked.

“What do you mean by that?”

“In my family’s territory, there is a natural hot spring that contains the power of the God of Creation and the Goddess Cresiolle. I could play it off as if these healing waters were responsible for his recovery.”

Lying didn’t really sit well with me, but it was true that the hot spring waters contained a mysterious element called “the tears of the God of Creation.” I thought it would be easy enough to make it seem that Lestin’s healing was a miracle brought about by that. Since it was a “miracle,” it didn’t matter that we couldn’t prove or replicate it, and the only person to be bothered by this ruse would be God.

“A hot spring? …Yes, I think I recall hearing about such a place from my granddaughter, who lives in the Kingdom of Gaché.”

“Oh, you have a granddaughter?”

“I believe you know her, beloved child. My granddaughter’s name is Velcia.”

Huh? …Wait, “Velcia”?!

The elder is Vel’s grandpa?! What a coincidence!

At this point, we hadn’t needed to implement Vel’s birth control spell yet, but she was still playing a very crucial role as the Shiana Special Region’s resident healer.

“Due to the kindness you’ve shown Vel, I am willing to help you so long as you promise to completely conceal any connection to the elves.”

“Thank you very much. I promise to use the full power of the Osphe family to keep your people’s involvement hidden.”

With that decided, I finally learned all the details about the potion called eviban.

First of all, the area where anniley grew was apparently inside a cave at the very peak of the highest mountain in the Karwarna Mountain Range in the northeast of the Linus Empire. Furthermore, it only bloomed on the night of the full moon and had an unfortunate habit of nullifying all attempts to cast a preservation spell on it.

Only the nectar of the anniley flowers was required for the spell, which we could extract using a special magical item made by the elves for just such a purpose. Elder Sharvel said he would lend us one of these magical items, an offer I gratefully accepted.

As for toma, it was a weed that grew on a cliff at the southernmost edge of the Linus Empire. Oh, and once it was picked, it needed to be fed a constant stream of wind magic without pause from the moment of harvest until it was used to make the potion.

It’s going to be quite a task just getting to these places located at the extreme opposite ends of the empire. Not to mention, neither are places I can go myself…

But wait!

A whole bunch of trustworthy adventurers are in the Shiana Special Region… And if I can get Sol to carry them, transport will be pretty simple. I know he doesn’t like entering the Linus Empire, but if I explain the situation to Sache and Euche, I’m sure they’ll be fine with it. Not to mention, if Sol shows up, people will be too distracted by him to have any inkling of the elves being involved.

“I plan to hire adventurers to actually collect the anniley and toma, but myself and the fire dragon Sol will go along to assist them.”

“Neema?!”

Louis had stood by silently up to this point, but it seemed that the excessive shock of my statement was too much for him.

“Are you suggesting using the revered fire dragon to serve others?” Elder Sharvel asked, sounding shaken by the mere suggestion.

“It’s not serving others, it’s serving me!”

I knew it was splitting hairs, but ultimately, I was determined to cure Lestin for selfish reasons. So, getting Sol to help with this mission also counted as serving me.

“I don’t see any reason why you need to go along in person,” Louis sputtered.

“Sol won’t agree to carry people around if I’m not there.”

“If it’s just about transport, they can use teleportation circles…”

“Plus, I have a feeling that Sol’s presence will help conceal the elves’ involvement.”

At this, Louis muttered, “I suppose that’s true…” and fell silent.

“Do you have certain adventurers in mind for this task, then?” Elder Sharvel asked, and I confidently announced my choice for the job.

“I’m planning to ask the members of Purple Gandal.”

Uncle Phillip and his party were the highest-ranked adventurers of our time, so I knew that not only could they be trusted to maintain confidentiality, but also their skill couldn’t be beaten. Plus, it didn’t hurt that they were used to me and my eccentricities.

“Purple Gandal are said to be incredibly selective with what jobs they accept. How do you plan to hire them?” Louis said doubtfully.

Is that the reputation they have? I suppose it’s not that hard to believe… I can totally picture Uncle Phillip being infuriatingly picky.

“Purple Gandal have made their base of operations at the Shiana Special Region. Oh, and Uncle Phillip is Father’s best friend.”

Louis seemed satisfied with this explanation, because he remarked, “I see, so Duke Osphe has a connection with Purple Gandal…”

It seemed that not many people knew that Uncle Phillip was a former member of the Gachean nobility.

“Purple Gandal are famous among the elves as well. If it’s them, perhaps they have a hope of scaling the dangerous mountains of Karwarna,” Elder Sharvel said.

To put it another way, he’s saying that no one who isn’t on Uncle Phillip and his party’s level would be able to make it to this place? Thank goodness Papa is friends with Uncle Phillip! Although, I suppose I shouldn’t count my chickens yet since they haven’t actually accepted the job.

“When you see them, please tell Purple Gandal to stop by to visit this forest.”

“Oh, but, um… It’s not guaranteed that they’ll accept the job…”

Uncle Phillip seemed very fond of Mount Reitimo, so there was every possibility he might refuse to leave.

“Well, I suppose we’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. If you encounter any issues, please have the elemental spirits tell me.”

Oh, that’s right… If I have anything I want to say to Elder Sharvel, I can just ask the elemental spirits to tell him. Although, the wind spirits are so mischievous and carefree that I’m worried they’d spread the message all over the place, not just directly to the recipient!

“As for the pevans, I have heard that some live in the elemental forest, so it should be no problem for you to collect them yourself, beloved child.”

“Do the pevans need to be alive?”

“No, their remains will suffice. I would like to avoid unnecessary loss of life, so please collect those who’ve reached the end of their natural lifespan.”

Actually, there are some in my room at this very moment.

Miss Belle had recently sent a package containing presents from everyone on Mount Reitimo. I’d been curious to see what everyone had sent, and it just so happened the sirens’ gift was a bag of deceased pevans.

Did they send me this gift so that I could use the pevans if I got sick or something?

In any case, I had plenty of pevan remains and was eager to have an opportunity to actually use them.

“In that case, I have pevans we can use that came from Mount Reitimo.”

After I explained how the pevans had come to be in my possession, Louis let out a rueful chuckle.

“It must be due to your status as a beloved child that you can build friendly relations even with monsters.”

Elder Sharvel seemed to take this news in stride, but honestly, I’d been shocked and alarmed by the package’s contents when I opened it—as I think almost anyone would be if they suddenly received a box of strange things like dead bugs and unidentified animal bones! Although, after I’d gotten over the initial shock, I’d been warmed by the care my monster friends had demonstrated in sending me things they viewed as treasures.

“Once you’ve gathered all the ingredients, return here and I, Sharvel, will take responsibility for brewing the eviban.”

“Thank you! I’m counting on you.”

“Before you leave, feel free to have a look around the forest. I’m sure the residents will be thrilled to be able to meet a beloved child.”

Since Elder Sharvel had given his permission, I would gladly take him up on the offer of a tour around the elven forest.

I wonder if I’ll be able to find any interesting magical items for Mama?

After that, we parted ways with Elder Sharvel and followed our guide back outside.

“Based on what I’d heard from Zeiatiel, I figured it would take some time to convince the elder to work with us, but I should’ve known you’d win him over easily, Neema.”

Louis seems strangely impressed, but what does he mean by ‘I should’ve known?’

I tilted my head to the side and narrowed my eyes in confusion, prompting Louis to explain, “Because you’ve got a talent for seduction.”

Say whaaat?! There are so many things wrong with this statement that I don’t even know where to begin!

“You look surprised, but you shouldn’t be. After all, both Theo and Eliza, despite their difficult personalities, dote on you, and you’ve somehow even made friends with terminally shy Daux. Heck, even my older brothers and the entire Linus Imperial Army are practically eating out of your hand.”

I’m just living true to myself here! I can say with absolute certainty that I’ve never done anything to “seduce” anyone!

“Lord Louis, I think it’s best if you learn how to interact with ladies a bit more. This isn’t a case of manipulation; people are just naturally drawn to her personality.”

Louis merely brushed Mel’s chastisement off with a laugh.

As a member of the imperial family, I would expect Louis to be pretty experienced in keeping up appearances and always maintaining a pleasant front. So the fact that he speaks to me in such a frank manner must mean he’s gotten comfortable enough around me to speak his true feelings, right?

Since Elder Sharvel and our guide knew that Louis was a member of the imperial family, we’d been conversing as normal inside the stone building. However, other outsiders were visiting the elven forest, so we had to resume our façade of being a family once we stepped outside.

“Is there somewhere you’d like to see?” our guide, who’d been silent this entire time, spoke up to ask.

“I want to see magical items!”

Mama, an undisputed expert on magical items, had said that the magical items in the elven forest were amazing, so I absolutely wanted to see them while I was here.

“I see. In that case, I will take you to several workshops.”

I noticed something as we followed after the guide—the road was different than it had been on our way to meet with Elder Sharvel. On the way there, we hadn’t crossed paths with anyone at all, but now elves were coming and going, passing by us as we strolled along.

The elves from the ethnic group affiliated with wind spirits stood out among the crowd because of their impressive height. And I couldn’t help but notice that the females whose hair was the same shade of red as our guide were also muscular and macho-looking. It was frankly a bit shocking.

They don’t even have boobs, just bulging pectoral muscles, the same as the men!

I suppose it was unavoidable that all of the elves we passed turned to stare straight at me. Based on their expressions, which looked just like the expression Elder Sharvel had been wearing earlier, I could tell that they were looking at the elemental spirits swarming around me.

At the moment, there weren’t any non-elves around aside from us, so I thought this might be a residential area.

“That tree is covered in windows!” I exclaimed.

Compared to the other trees, this one sported significantly more windows.

I guess that means that this massive tree contains a lot of rooms?

“That tree is known as ‘the single tree.’ It contains many single-occupancy rooms where young elves who’ve just left their parents’ home for the first time live.”

It was a shared house of sorts for young singles. I was itching with curiosity to see what it looked like inside, but resisted the urge to ask for a tour. I was sure the occupants would be surprised and perhaps even a bit alarmed if a group of strangers barged into their house and demanded a look around.

As we continued, the number of people increased, and before long, we arrived in a lively area where people of all different species were bustling about. There were adventurers and merchants and plenty of beastpeople. This seemed to be where the majority of the shops were located.

“That over there is the workshop of the greatest magical artisan in this forest.”

“Magical artisan” was a title given to makers of magical items whose skill had been officially recognized by the country. Only a few people in our entire country held this title, with Elder Salzar being the prime example.

Even Mama hasn’t been awarded the title of “magical artisan” yet, so that goes to show you just how amazing they must be!

“How does a person receive the title of magical artisan here in the Linus Empire?” I asked.

In my own country, you needed to be nominated by several members of the nobility, at which point you could present your work to a panel made up of the king and the department heads from the Royal Magical Research Center for consideration. If they judged you worthy, you would be awarded the title.

“In this country, an organization is in place to screen magical artisan applicants. Anyone with a recommendation can go before them for consideration.”

Oh wow, they have an organization dedicated just to vetting potential magical artisans? I suppose the people judging would also have to possess a high level of knowledge and ability themselves… In any case, if this workshop is run by someone with this highly selective title, there’s no doubt it must be full of really amazing magical items!

I can’t wait!

6 - What Matters Is How You Use It

EXPECTATIONS could sometimes be cruelly shattered to pieces.

The workshop that our guide brought us to sure was incredible.

However, everything inside was familiar to me from my past life. In the first place, magical items were originally created for the sake of people like me, who had little or no magic. For this reason, the majority of magical items made daily life tasks such as cooking, laundry, and cleaning easier. Essentially, items known as “home appliances” in my previous life.

I’d seen plenty of these kinds of items in the workshops in the royal city, too. However, the overall level of the appliances here was higher. Many were multi-purpose in ways that would’ve never occurred to me.

For example, the microwave-like contraption could not only heat food up; it could also quickly cool food down. And the item that was similar to an electric fan also had an air-purifying function.

There was even a range of dishware enchanted to preserve the temperature of the food served on it. Apparently, this dishware was treasured by restaurants. Aristocrats, on the other hand, preferred to buy their dishware from famous artisans and leave the matter of the food’s temperature up to their kitchen staff’s skill, so nobles didn’t typically purchase these magical items.

Aristocrats are pretentious like that.

While searching for an interesting appliance—er, I mean, magical item—I found something that looked familiar. This magical item had a hollow spot in the center and a slot at the back where you could insert a magical stone. It seemed that if you pushed the button on the top, something would happen, and I had an idea of what that was based on a similar item I’d seen in my past life.

All it’s missing is the part that spins!

“That’s a magical item for making marina thea,” the workshop owner called out to me, having seen me staring at the magical item. He was a member of the ethnic group affiliated with water spirits, with hair the clear, bright blue of a summer sky and almost chillingly beautiful features.

This is what I think of when I picture an elf!

He looked like a young man in his early twenties, but since elves’ lifespans were so different from humans, that didn’t tell me much about his actual age.

“You can make marina thea with a magical item?!” I gasped.

“Marina thea” was essentially what we’d call shaved ice on Earth.

On one particularly brutal hot summer day, I’d dragged Ralf along and invaded the kitchens at our family’s manor. Through trial and error, the two of us had somehow made shaved ice with the help of our family’s servants. Despite the monumental effort it had taken to figure out, the finished product was delicious.

“I hear that marina thea originated in the Kingdom of Gaché.”

That’s right. Our chef shared the recipe with his network of colleagues, and from there, it spread out first throughout the royal city and then the entire country before eventually even making it into other countries.

I was sleeping when it started to catch on, so I didn’t even know about it until I woke up!

In our family, both Ralf and Mama could make it themselves, so I’d never eaten it anywhere else, but I knew the typical process involved using water magic to create ice and then using wind magic to shave it before topping the entire thing with syrup made of stewed fruits.

However, I’d heard that a huge incident had occurred around the time shaved ice started becoming popular. There was an area in the Osphe Province where there was still snow on the ground, even in the summer. Someone had gotten it into their head to make and sell marina thea using this snow. But as anyone from a snowy climate will tell you, you shouldn’t eat snow. Its pristine white color may be deceiving, but in truth, it’s incredibly unsanitary and not safe to eat.

Due to this, many people got sick. I’m sure the seller had thought themselves very clever for saving money by using snow to eliminate the need to pay magic users, but in the end, they’d lost much more when they got caught by the authorities, were forced to pay reparations to the customers who’d gotten sick, and were banned for life from selling food and beverages.

This shaved ice food poisoning incident had earned marina thea an unflattering nickname among the populace: danna thea. In Larshian, “marina thea” meant something like “fleeting snow,” whereas danna thea translated to “frightful snow.”

I guess even snow can be frightful in the right circumstances! Anyone who’s witnessed an avalanche will tell you that…

“It was very difficult to refine the technique for making the shaved ice just right so it’s tantalizingly ephemeral without being so fine that it melts right away.”

“I can imagine.”

We’d gone so far as to have a family meeting about the topic, but even Mama needed time to get it right. At first, Mama had been trying to use just water magic to create the perfect light and fluffy ice. It had been Ralf who’d come up with the idea of a two-step process using water and wind magic. In the end, Mama admitted his technique was easier and produced superior results.

It may be easier, but using two different types of magic is way more impressive, too! It must’ve been difficult to fine-tune a magical item to precisely replicate the steps. All the other magical items on display near the shaved ice maker also seem related to cooling…

Although I have no idea why a pillow appears to be among these items?

Next to the pillow was something that looked like a lantern. I picked it up to scrutinize it and discovered it had another function besides producing light.

“That is a light with cooling and heating features.”

“Why would those features be necessary?”

Small lights like this are used mostly outdoors by adventurers and the like, right? But if you’re outdoors, a temperature-regulating magical item would be sufficient to keep you comfortable, wouldn’t it?

“The same goes for this pillow as well. Depending on the profession, some people don’t use temperature-regulating magic.”

Temperature-regulating magical items dampened the sensations of hot and cold weather to the wearer’s body, at least to a certain degree. Even magic hadn’t been enough to completely protect against the frigid cold in the Osphe Province, though.

“I’ve heard this is especially common with adventurers.”

Louis also looked curiously at the item I was holding.

“Yes, adventurers are usually already wearing magical items for protection and buffs, and besides that, there are situations where it would be dangerous not to notice subtle temperature changes.”

This magical item was useful for when you just wanted something to make the interior of your tent a pleasant temperature while you slept. A good night’s sleep was indispensable for healing and recovering from a hard day of work, and using a magical item allowed you to avoid depleting your personal magic to regulate the temperature, assuming you were even capable of doing so. And the fact that it could also be used as a light reduced the amount of gear you needed to carry.

I have to admit, I can see how convenient it could be to have such a small but effective portable air conditioner on hand! I have no need for such an item, though…

I put the lantern down and returned to browsing. A moment later, I spotted another familiar-looking item.

“Th-This is…!”

It looked just like a water slide, except much smaller. Bowls were at the top and bottom of the slide, and it was clear that something was meant to be sent down on a water current.

The first thing that comes to mind when I see this is nagashi-somen!

In Japan, it’s a common family activity in the summer to gather together and eat chilled somen noodles by grabbing them off a “noodle water slide” like this and dunking them into your sauce cup.

But they don’t have thin noodles like somen in this world… The closest thing they have are thick noodles made from a grain similar to buckwheat, more like soba noodles. Well, there’s also pasta, but that would be even weirder!

“This is a noodle water slide. You send chilled wauma noodles down from the top and try to grab them before they reach the bottom. It’s especially delicious on a hot day.”

I can attest to that! There’s something satisfying about grabbing the chilled noodles and dunking them in your cup of strongly flavored, ice-cold sauce before sucking them down. Ahh, just thinking about it brings me back to my roots as a Japanese…

“What’s wrong with just eating a bowl of noodles? Do you really need this whole water slide contraption?”

“Absolutely! It’s way more fun to capture the noodles and eat them bite by bite!”

Mel made a completely unfounded argument, which I quickly refuted.

Nagashi-somen tastes better because of the special feeling you get when hurrying to catch the noodles before they flow past! If you just ate it out of a bowl, it would be nothing-special-noodles!

“…Oh, really?”

Mel still looked unconvinced, but the artisan seemed touched by my enthusiasm.

“It’s such an honor to meet a beloved child who has such a deeply felt appreciation for water slide noodles!”

This would be fun to buy, but something tells me this isn’t what Mama was looking for.

I looked around the shop a bit longer, but nothing stood out, so we moved on to the next shop.

The next workshop our guide brought us to specialized in making magical items geared toward children. Essentially, it was a toy store. I didn’t really play with toys, so I looked for one I thought my monster friends might like.

And you’ll never believe what I found! Something that made my nerdy heart sing with delight! I immediately picked it up and cut through the air in front of me with it. As I did, a tinkling tune played, and light spilled forth from the tip.

“Woooow!”

It’s a magical girl witch’s wand! It’s cute, but the best part is how the light lingers like this! I’m so impressed by the lingering ribbon of light floating in the air on the exact path I traced with the wand! It feels like I cast a real spell!

“Do you like it?” Mel asked with a chuckle after watching me brandish the wand several more times. It was a kind laugh, but it still made me a little self-conscious.

Looks like I got a little carried away!

“Heh, it’s nice to see you have a childish side in there somewhere, Neema.”

Louis, this has nothing to do with being a child or an adult! People of all ages dream of being able to use magic!

“It feels like I’m casting a real spell all by myself. I don’t have any magic, so it’s not something I’ve experienced before, and it made me happy…”

With a stricken expression that conveyed his worry that he’d accidentally struck a sore spot with me, Louis hurried to reach out and stroke my hair, saying consolingly, “I understand.”

Don’t mess up my hairdo! Mel worked hard on that!

I rushed over to Mel, who noticed the problem immediately and quickly finger-combed my hair back into place.

I thanked Mel, then noticed something strange directly in my line of sight. It was about the same size as my bunny backpack, but when I picked it up, it was unexpectedly light. It was shaped like a music note, with an oval-shaped body and a stick protruding from it.

“What’s this?”

I couldn’t guess what kind of toy it might be, but thankfully, the elf who’d made it stepped in to explain.

“You play with it by using sound to control this ball.”

The elf set a small ball sitting beside the music note on the floor. It was a toy set consisting of the ball and the music note. The elf, a member of the ethnic group affiliated with earth spirits, had the small stature indicative of his race and looked really cute holding the toy.

Next, he picked up the music note and demonstrated how to play it.

The “stick” portion produced a twangy, string-instrument sound similar to a guitar or a bass. The oval-shaped portion produced a toned, tinkling noise similar to running a stick across a xylophone from one end to the other in a single stroke.

As the elf continued, the “sounds” became a discernible melody. It was rhythmical, and listening to it alone was enjoyable. But then, making things even more fun, the ball the elf had placed on the ground moved in time with the song he played. At first, it was just rolling around slowly, but then it began spinning in place before suddenly bouncing up and down.

“Whoa! Why did it do that? How did it do that?!” There was no doubt that the sound and the ball were linked. However, I couldn’t determine quite how it worked. “Normally, you have to speak a chant to cast a spell, right?”

Really talented magic users can abbreviate the spell words or even cast spells silently, but yes, as a general rule, you have to speak a chant to cast a spell…

“Do you know why speaking the chant causes the magic to ignite? It’s because the voice carries magic with the words it produces. In short, any sound that carries magic can act in place of a chanted spell,” he explained.

“So… The ball is moving by magic, right?”

I guess it’s kind of like a magical remote control, then?

“Can I do it too?” I asked.

“Of course.”

Because it was a toy, it contained a magical stone so that even children who hadn’t manifested any magical ability yet could play with it. Either the magical stone’s power or the user’s own magic could power the toy.

The elf handed me the music note, and I experimentally touched the oval-shaped portion, spreading my fingers out on the instrument’s surface and moving my wrist in a small circle.

It seemed I’d applied a bit too much pressure because instead of a tinkling sound, the instrument produced a weird, almost clanging sound. In response, the ball shuttered and leapt straight up into the air, barely avoiding crashing into the ceiling.

Next, I slowly and gently stroked the stick portion. The ball rolled around in response.

“Woof!”

Suddenly, Seigo leapt towards the ball.

Stop that! This product is for sale, so if you break it, we’ll have to buy it! Not you, too, Rikusei!

I quickly moved the ball, attempting to avoid their attacks. However, no matter how deftly I maneuvered the ball away from them, the two kobolds pursued it relentlessly.

“Nooo!”

The ball rolled, bounced, and at one point even changed directions suddenly to go flying in the other direction, but in the end, it was no match for Seigo and Rikusei, who eventually caught it.

“Rikusei, that’s enough. Let it go,” I instructed, and Rikusei obediently carried the ball over to me in his mouth. I examined the ball closely and found that although there weren’t any holes from his teeth, it was covered in spit.

“I’m sorry… I’ll buy this.”

“No, don’t worry about it,” the elf said kindly, but I was determined. Not only did the kobolds love playing with this toy, but personally, I was fascinated by how it worked. Plus, there was something I was curious about, so I wanted Karna to take a look at it, too.

“I’ll take two of them!”

“Two of them?”

“Yes, I’d like to give one to a friend.”

It might be a suspiciously expensive thing to buy as a gift for a friend, but since Mel was pretending to be my mother, I couldn’t very well come out and say it was a souvenir for Mama.

“Very well. In that case, I will gift wrap one for you.”

Louis, as my “father,” quickly paid the bill. Paul would repay him once we returned to the imperial palace.

As soon as I received my purchases, Foedor snatched them from me.

“You don’t want to risk dropping and breaking them, right?”

“Thanks!”

After that, we visited another workshop, an apothecary, and a clothing store as well. The elven-made clothing used a unique dyed fabric and was super cute.

“I was instructed to give this to you, beloved child,” our guide said, handing something to me when we were getting ready to leave.

It was an earring. Or rather, it was more like an ear cuff, a decorative piece meant to be worn on the outside of the ear.

“If you have this, you’ll be able to enter this forest whenever you like.”

I guess rather than an “all-access pass” to the elven forest, this is more like a token of special recognition as a trusted friend of the elves?

The guide was wearing a duplicate of the ear cuff he’d given me.

“Thank you very much. I’ll come visit again!”

I didn’t know when I’d get the opportunity, but I vowed to myself that I’d bring Karna with me the next time I came.

With the guide waving us off, we got down on our hands and knees and crawled back out through the tunnel, an experience I really could’ve done without repeating.

When we made it back outside, I took Mel’s hand, not feeling the least bit awkward about it.

“We’ve still got some time, so let’s go eat appas like we promised,” she said.

“Yay!”

And so we headed over to Foedor’s favorite appa restaurant. The restaurant was in an alleyway off one of the main streets, but because it was widely known that members of the imperial army often frequented it, it was generally very safe.

The private guard’s primary duty was protection, so they didn’t have the authority to arrest anyone who hadn’t attacked their charge, but that didn’t prevent them from knocking a few heads when the need arose. As such, it seemed they occasionally took care of tossing unruly customers out. That made them very welcome regulars from the proprietors’ perspective.

The appa restaurant Foedor had suggested was smaller than I’d imagined, and there weren’t many tables inside. At the moment, they happened to be full, and a long line of people was already waiting to be seated, so we got our appas to go and eat them in the wagon.

I wanted to eat while walking around, but I guess I’ll have to give up on those dreams for today.

Because the restaurant was small and it would cause unnecessary crowding if we all went in, Louis and Foedor elected themselves as the representatives for our group and bought the food while the rest of us waited outside.

I was holding Seigo and Rikusei’s leashes and chatting with Mel about our impressions of the elven forest when an unfamiliar man approached us.

“Can I help you?” Mel asked, stepping in front of me protectively, and the man grinned in a decidedly unsettling manner.

“I’d like to get my hands on that thing you have, little lady.”

As if picking up on the uneasy tension in the air, Seigo and Rikusei crouched down, ready to pounce at the slightest provocation.

“I don’t have anything to offer an adventurer like yourself,” I said, keeping my voice firm.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. The cuff on your ear is quite valuable. How about you sell it to me for three silver coins, eh?”

By “ear cuff,” he’s referring to the one I received from our guide in the elven forest, right?

“No thanks. Why would I ever sell something like this to a complete stranger?”

“Your daddy’s an elf, right? I bet he can get another one for you easy as pie, so you can afford to part with this one, can’t you? Come on…”

He’s pretty rude for someone asking a favor of someone else… But, more importantly, what on earth gave him the idea I’m part elf?

…Oh, that’s right—Louis!

Louis didn’t inherit as strong a dose of ancestral genes as his brother Celiunos, but he certainly got his distinct ethereal beauty from his elven blood.

While Mel was squaring off with the man, his friend took the opportunity to sneak up beside me.

“Here, little girl, you can use this to go buy some candy or something, so why don’t you give me that useless trinket, eh?”

Gross! This is practically the dictionary definition of a creeper trying to lure children!

The man reached out towards me, attempting to force me to take the silver coins from him, when suddenly…

“Grrrrr…”

“Woof!”

Rikusei growled, and Seigo leapt at the man with a ferocious bark.

The man cursed and frantically tried to shake off Seigo, who’d bitten down on his arm and refused to let go.

“Pipe down and do as you’re told already, you little brat!”

The man made a desperate attempt to grab me, his face a mask of rage as he rushed towards me. Unfortunately for him, Mel’s powerful kick caught him right where it hurt, causing him to double over in agony.

Everyone knows where a man’s greatest weakness is, and if they get hit there, they’re in for a world of hurt!

However, while Mel was exploiting the great weakness of the man who’d attacked me, the man who’d originally spoken to me, seeing his chance, raced straight at me.

Not only that, but several more men appeared seemingly out of thin air.

He had even more friends waiting in the wings?!

“Haku!”

I screamed Haku’s name, and immediately, it stretched out, covering my entire body in a protective shield, but that did nothing to dissuade the man.

With all other options exhausted, I grabbed the pendant hanging around my neck and was just about to say the magic word when—

“Kyuu!”

Inaho popped her head out of the messenger bag and shot a fireball out of her mouth. It plowed straight into the man who was only a few steps away from me, and the flash of light that followed was almost blinding.

Terrified, I crouched down and covered my head with my hands.

“Agggggh! I’m on fire! I’m on fire!!”

I heard a CRASH! followed by some rustling sounds that I took to mean the man had thrown himself on the ground and was rolling around, frantically trying to extinguish the flames.

A moment later, the rumble of many sets of running feet drowned out those sounds.

“Kyuuuu!”

Is that Inaho’s version of a victory cry?

I wanted to praise her for protecting me, but I was still too frightened to so much as lift my face.

I don’t want to see another black lump…

“Neema, are you okay?!”

I was curled up in a ball and probably looked like I’d been injured. Louis raced over to me and picked me up. Even then, I still couldn’t force myself to look around.

“…A person burned up…” I eked out.

“It’s okay, he’s not on fire. He did pass out from terror, though.”

Huh? He’s not on fire?

“Really?”

Unable to believe it, I buried my face against Louis’s arm.

“Really. Those weren’t real flames. They were just an illusion created by the kyubi.”

“What?!”

I raised my head in surprise. That put my face awkwardly close to Louis’s, and I instinctively looked away. That was when I spotted the man lying prone on the ground. There was no sign of burns anywhere on his body or clothing.

He really wasn’t on fire? But the ground is wet… Oh.

Yeah, let’s not think too much about that. I’ll just pretend I didn’t see anything.

“Inaho, that wasn’t a real fire?” I asked Inaho, who was still peeking out from inside the messenger bag.

“Kyuu!”

…There’s no one here to translate for me, so I guess it’s pointless to ask her. When we get back to the imperial palace, I’ll have Shinki ask her for me.

In any case, I thanked Inaho and pet her head for a few minutes until I finally calmed down.

Nothing beats the healing power of petting fluffy cuties!

Once I’d regained my composure, I looked around and noticed a large number of people were bustling around, busily restraining the man who’d approached me and his accomplice.

“Don’t worry, all of these people are undercover members of the private guard.”

When Louis said that, it finally dawned on me that the men I’d seen earlier and assumed to be more of my attacker’s friends were actually members of the private guard in disguise.

They rushed in at the first sign of trouble to help Mel out.

“Let’s leave this mess for my men to clean up. My priority is getting the two of you back safely,” Foedor said, ushering Louis—still carrying me in his arms—back to where the wagon was parked. Mel and a few members of the private guard followed to protect us.

“Neema, let’s eat the appas together when we get back to the imperial palace, okay?” Louis had successfully procured the appas, at least.

I suppose eating them back at the imperial palace will be more enjoyable, where we don’t have to worry about surprise attacks.

“…Is it okay for Karna to join us too?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind inviting me to your rooms.”

As if a lack of an invitation has ever stopped you from invading our suite before!

🐉 🐉 🐉

“WELCOME back, Neema!”

Karna was waiting at the door when I returned to our rooms, and she immediately grabbed me in a tight hug. This time, I found her bone-crushing hug comforting.

“I’m back!” I hugged Karna back fiercely.

“It looks like something happened while you were out. Would you care to explain that, Prince Louis?”

Eep, I’ve got the chills! It’s like she’s summoned Mama’s spirit to possess her body for a terrifying scolding!

But how did she know something was up? Does Karna have some kind of mind-reading ability or something?

“Oh, Karna, stop making such a scary face, won’t you? I promise to explain everything,” Louis said.

The fact that he’s able to call her “scary” right to her face proves he’s not the least bit scared of her.

“Paul, could you heat these up for us, please?” Louis said, thrusting a paper bag at Paul before striding over to the sofa and making himself comfortable as if this were his own room.

With an incredulous expression on her face, Karna took a seat across from Louis.

Once Shell had served tea, Karna struck.

“Now then, please explain.”

Louis, continuing to calmly ignore the implied menace in Karna’s voice, explained what had happened without leaving out a single detail.

“I see. Then, I will need to thank this woman named Mel. As for Seigo, Rikusei, Inaho, and Haku, you did very well today. I will prepare a reward for all of you.”

My monster friends whose names were called all began wagging their tails happily, whether from a sense of pride at being praised or simply in anticipation of the promised reward. I wasn’t sure.

I would prepare a reward of my own for Gratia, slumped with disappointment on my shoulder.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to thank Mel. She was only doing her job,” Louis protested.

“Regardless of whether it was her job or not, she protected my precious little sister, so as Neema’s older sister, it’s only natural I should thank her.”

That’s right! You have to make sure to express both ‘thank you’ and ‘I’m sorry’ properly.

“As you ladies wish.”

Does the fact that he agreed so easily mean he’s planning to arrange a meeting for us with Mel?

At the end of the day, Mel was a member of Louis’s private guard, so even if we summoned her ourselves, she would need his permission to meet with us.

“However, you may rest easy knowing that the men who bothered Neema don’t seem to have any connection to Runohark.”

“Then why did they attack Neema?”

“Their objective was the ear cuff she received from the elder of the elven forest. This ear cuff is an elven custom. The elves recognize the wearer as a member of that forest.”

As I’d thought, this was a gift given to those who’d earned special trust. It turned out that, depending on the design and markings engraved on the ear cuff, you could even tell which forest the person wearing it hailed from.

“Those guys had caused trouble in the past and were barred from receiving letters of introduction from any guilds. And they didn’t have any elven friends willing to vouch for them. Then, they spotted Neema right after she exited the forest. She was wearing an ear cuff, and based on my appearance, they mistook her for having mixed elvish blood. During their confession, they admitted to believing they would be let into the forest if they said the daughter of an elf had given them the ear cuff,” Louis explained.

Not a very well-thought-out plan… Besides, even though it’s not out of the question to mistake Louis for an elf, anybody with eyes should be able to tell that I don’t have even a drop of elven blood!

Louis explained that the men had been arrested, stripped of their status as adventurers, and sentenced to hard labor.

I can’t say I disagree. There’s no need to go easy on perverts who target little girls and try to steal from them!

“Oh! I just remembered; there’s something I wanted to show you, Karna!” I took out the toy I’d purchased and handed it to my sister. “It uses sound to cast a spell. Isn’t that amazing?!”

“You mean the creator of this item found a way to use sounds in place of chanted spell words?!” Karna cried, her eyes almost glowing with a strange light. She examined the toy closely, turning it this way and that to examine it from every angle. “This is wind magic. But it’s a very complicated spell… The magical formulation is unique for sure, but what drew your interest to this item in particular?”

“I was curious if it might be possible to replicate this, but with sounds that the human ear can’t hear,” I said. “Like the whistles the Beast Knights Legion use.”

“So that humans can’t hear it, but animals can?”

Karna ran her fingers all over the toy, then experimentally played it herself, using different noises to move the ball around on top of her hand.

“I think it should be possible if you adjust the elemental runes specifying the sound range. But even if I made it so you can’t hear the sound, it would still take a lot of fine-tuning to make it so the ball would actually move.”

Then there’s no immediate concern? But, still…

“I might just be overthinking it, but I’m a bit worried that this magical item could be made into a formidable weapon…” I said, laying out my concern in an attempt to allay my uneasiness.

“What do you mean?” Louis cut in, just as I suspected he might.

I suppose anyone would be curious if someone suggested something as unexpected as a children’s toy might be used as a weapon.

“If sound can make this ball move, then doesn’t that mean you can also use attack spells within the range sound can travel?”

If you raised the pitch of the sound, it would make high-frequency sound waves, and if you lowered the pitch, it would make low-frequency sound waves. Low-frequency sound waves could reach far distances, making it perfect to use like a remote control.

Using animals’ cries as an example, I explained the properties of sound waves, and gradually, Louis picked up on what had me so worried.

“So you’re saying that if you used the low, far-reaching sound range, you could cast spells that would be able to kill people?”

“But if the sound bumps into anything, it will be repelled, so it’s not terribly reliable…”

Karna had a point. Another of the drawbacks of operating the “weapon” from a distance was that you wouldn’t have a good view of it the further away from you it moved.

“No, there are several methods,” Louis responded, playing devil’s advocate.

There were spells and magical items capable of amplifying sound, so you could use this weapon in tandem with one of those. You would set up several in a circle around the source of the noise.

“Also, if you changed the appearance of the magical item, you could probably get pretty close to the target without drawing suspicion.”

“That’s certainly true… If you made it round in shape and hollow inside, I don’t think it would affect the magical formulation in any way,” Karna speculated.

What kind of item is round and hollow and wouldn’t look out of place no matter who was carrying it?

I thought about it for a while, but nothing came to mind.

“Now that we’re aware of the potential risk, I will have a plan for countermeasures drawn up, so there’s nothing you need to worry about, Neema,” Louis assured me.

“Thank you very much. Oh, and… Would it be okay for me to send this to my mother as well?”

I asked because I had a feeling it might be difficult to get permission to send a magical item that could be repurposed into a weapon of mass destruction directly into the hands of a foreign country.

“Hmm… I can’t decide something like that by myself, but I’ll ask His Majesty, so would you mind waiting for his reply?”

I thought that would be the case.

However, if the technology of remote controls existed, I thought it would make magical items more convenient. After all, the same could be said of all tools: whether they were used as weapons, to save people, or to make people’s lives easier ultimately depended on the person using them. Although some people would use it to kill, others would use it to protect.

This kind of duality wasn’t easy to resolve. But it should be possible to prevent misuse, at least to a certain degree.

“I think Mother would likely be able to find a way to make it safer. So please convey my request to His Majesty.”

“I promise I will.”

Just as the conversation was wrapping up, a delicious scent reached my nose.

“This was a gift from His Highness Prince Louivence. Since he requested I serve it to you all now, I have done as instructed, but…” I could tell Paul was not happy about the idea of me eating at this time of day, but the delicious smell brought my hunger raging to the foreground.

If I have trouble finishing my dinner later because of this, I’ll just ask Koku for help!

“Wow! It looks so yummy!” I exclaimed.

“Is this a traditional dish here in the Linus Empire?” Karna asked curiously.

While Louis explained what appas were to Karna, I grabbed one and dug right in.

“Mmm! It’s delicious!”

The bun, made using sauda nut flour, was soft and pillowy, perfect for soaking up the oil and meat juices from the fried filling. The gardola was perfectly seasoned and went well with the slightly sour sauce.

This sauce is also made with sauda, isn’t it?!

“Lady Neema, that’s poor manners,” Paul scolded, but what did he know?! With food like this, eating like a slob was the correct way to eat it! If you tried to eat it neatly with refinement, you would miss out on the full experience.

“It’s fine! This isn’t the kind of fancy fare you eat at a formal banquet or anything,” I protested.

“Appas are meant to be eaten as a casual snack while strolling around outdoors, after all. Here, there are plenty, so the rest of you can all have some, too. I think you’ll understand once you try it, Paul,” Louis said, coming to my defense.

That’s right! This is a precious cultural experience!

Since Louis had invited them to join us, Shinki and Kai both helped themselves to an appa.

“Neema’s still too young to be able to eat something like this in a dignified manner. Give her a break and turn a blind eye to it, just this once, okay?” Louis said to Paul.

“So you say, Your Highness, but I get the feeling my eyes are turning blind to Lady Neema more often than not these days…”

Eep… Guilty as charged! But, but, but! There’s no other way to eat this but to take a bite so huge you can hardly close your mouth while chewing!

Just as I was thinking this, Karna picked up her knife and cut her appa into four perfectly even pieces, then picked up one piece with both hands and gracefully brought it to her mouth, taking a dainty little bite.

Oh, man! It didn’t even occur to me to eat it like that! Way to make me look bad, Karna!

I was worried I’d get another scolding from Paul if this continued, so I hurried to change the topic.

“Oh, that’s right! Today, Inaho produced a fire that didn’t burn anything, and I was wondering if you could ask her about it!” I blurted out, asking Shinki—who’d finished his appa in just two bites—to translate for Inaho.

“It’s called phantom flame. She says it’s a not-hot fire, but because it doesn’t burn, it’s not really fire, making it ‘fake.’”

Huuuh? I only understand this explanation slightly better than Inaho’s animal sounds! I know that “fire” is produced by burning some kind of substance, but all substances burn at different temperatures, right? But in the case of fire magic, I’m not sure if the magic itself is burning or maybe it’s the oxygen in the air…?

“My goodness! You can already change the temperature of your flames despite still being so young? You’re really incredible, Inaho!” Karna praised the kyubi enthusiastically.

“Kyun!”

Inaho’s four tails all wagged happily at Karna’s praise.

“Can you do that too, Karna?” I asked.

“Of course. I can lower the temperature of my flames to around body temperature. On the other hand, I can also raise the temperature higher than that of natural fire as well.”

Ho-ho! This opens up so many possibilities… I bet you could use this as a kind of health treatment, having a talented fire-magic user wrap your body in pleasantly warm flames to promote blood flow. Maybe I’ll ask Karna to try it on me before I go to bed sometime!

“I’m not surprised that you can do it, Karna, but I guess this just goes to show that even if she’s still young, Inaho is a kyubi after all,” Louis remarked.

The powers of kyubis weren’t very well known. They were a rare species of monster who didn’t often interact with humans, and those humans who did encounter them by accident in the wild seldom lived to tell the tale.

In any case, Inaho saved me today, so I’d better give her lots of praise, too!

“Oh right, I wanted to give this to you, Neema,” Louis said, dropping a proverbial bomb on his way out after we’d all finished eating.

The item he’d handed me was wrapped in paper and tied with a thin string. It seemed he wanted me to open it then and there, so I did just that. Inside, I found… the magical girl witch’s wand!

“You looked so cute playing with this that I just couldn’t leave it behind.”

With a wink and a playful little wave, Louis left, but I couldn’t formulate a coherent response.

Behind me, I could sense Karna’s eyes sparkle as her sister-complex kicked into hyperdrive.

My goose was cooked—I was going to be spending many hours in the near future forced to demonstrate to my family how I played pretend as a magical girl witch!

7 - The Indomitable Siblings

EXHAUSTED from being forced to demonstrate my magical girl pretend play, I set out on a journey in search of healing.

Well, a “journey” within the boundaries of the imperial palace.

At present, I was waiting for responses on multiple fronts: the emperor’s response, my family’s response, and Uncle Phillip’s response. The emperor and Papa would probably be reluctant, to say the least, but with Karna as my ally, I was optimistic about my chances.

When I told Karna that if Uncle Phillip agreed, I would go along with him, she said something unexpected.

“I’ll go too!”

I thought she was just going to encourage me, saying something like, “Adventuring is fun! You’ll have a blast.”

I knew there was no dissuading my sister once she made her mind up about something, and besides, it wouldn’t be a convincing argument against her coming along if I told her it was too dangerous. So, in the end, I accepted it with a simple: “I’m so happy we can go adventuring together! It’s going to be great!”

Paul did his best to dissuade us, but he was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it. Ultimately, Paul and I came to an uneasy truce: Karna and I would begin preparations for the journey under the assumption we would be joining the expedition to find anniley and toma, but we also agreed to accept Papa’s decision if he refused to let us go.

And so, I was strolling around the imperial palace aimlessly in search of something fun to do when I encountered someone I wasn’t terribly interested in seeing.

However, if he’s here, it probably means that Daux’s here too… Huh? Is that Theo with him as well?

“Neema!”

Daux’s waving at me with a huge smile on his face. He’s so adorable.

Daux’s presence was soothing to my frayed nerves, but the sharp glare of the man at his side—Lex, the unit leader of Daux’s private guard—was anything but.

I wanted to run over to Daux, but found my steps faltering as I hesitated to get closer to Lex. But when even Theo called out to me, “What are you waiting for? Come over here!” I couldn’t very well refuse.

I slowly made my way over to the group.

“Good day, everyone.” I performed the simple bow customary in the Linus Empire, and Theo patted me on the head.

Is this meant as a form of praise, I’m guessing?

“You must’ve had a hard time keeping up with my uncle, right?”

Oh, so he’s heard about my trip to the elven forest with Louis? I wouldn’t say the trip was a hardship, but I wish he hadn’t given me that magical girl wand at the end!

“Not at all!”

He’d protected me just as promised, and it was also thanks to Louis that I’d been able to try appas, so I really couldn’t complain.

“Do you have plans today?” I asked since it was unusual to see Daux and Theo together.

Daux answered. “Theo is going to the training area to practice sword-fighting, so I asked to join him.”

I’d seen the imperial army soldiers’ training sessions, but I’d never seen one of the members of the imperial family practicing sword-fighting.

The emperor’s skill with the sword was incredible. I wonder if Theo’s good too?

“I want to see too!” I turned to Theo and asked if it would be okay for me to join them.

“Fine, you can come too.”

Once Theo had agreed, Daux and I exchanged secretive smiles that said without words, “Nice!”

We followed after Theo, who led us to the private guard’s training area within the imperial palace’s walls. It seemed even better furnished than the Linus Imperial Army’s training grounds that I’d visited on several occasions.

I suppose a certain degree of preferential treatment is to be expected for the elite soldiers in charge of protecting the imperial family.

I would only be watching, so I decided to cheer Daux on from the seating area set up for spectators.

“I didn’t expect Daux would ask on his own to come join sword practice,” I said.

“…You’ve rubbed off on him, Neema. He’s starting to realize it’s okay to make requests of his family,” Theo said.

“Yeah…”

Daux’s really making progress! I couldn’t help but grin at this proof of how hard Daux was trying to measure up to his siblings. In comparison, Theo’s usually blank expression seemed a bit stiffer than usual.

Maybe he’s kept his distance from Daux because he doesn’t know how to interact with him due to their large age difference?

Before the training session began, one of Theo’s private guards produced a small sword.

“This is the sword I used when I was younger and first began learning sword-fighting. I’m giving it to you now, Daux.”

“Is it really okay?!”

“Yes. The blade is dull, but make no mistake—this sword isn’t a toy.”

“I understand! Thank you very much, Brother!”

Daux’s face sparkled with such joy that I had a strange thought…

If Daux had a tail, it would be wagging a mile a minute right now, no doubt about it!

When it came to hand-me-downs from your siblings, the more important the item was to its original owner, the happier you would be to receive it.

However, there was an exception to that rule.

It was probably different in different families, but I’d hated being forced to use hand-me-down school supplies in my previous life!

All elementary schoolers want to pick out their own calligraphy set and sewing kit with their favorite characters on it, right?! Not that I can’t understand my mother’s feelings. It would’ve been a waste of money to buy new things when my siblings’ school supplies were sitting in the closet, still perfectly usable.

That hadn’t done anything to allay my disappointment, though, when I’d been sent off to school with my sister’s boring red calligraphy set and my brother’s standard-issue sewing kit, their names crossed out on the labels, and mine scribbled in on the margin.

Just remembering it is almost enough to bring me to tears!

“Prince Theoval, forgive me, but isn’t Prince Dauxrouge still a bit too young?”

While I was lost in reminiscing about my past life, the leader of Daux’s private guard raised a carefully worded protest.

He really is overprotective…

“What’s wrong with receiving a sword at a young age?”

“For example, the possibility of the receiver accidentally injuring themself…”

Expressionless as always, Theo merely tilted his head to the side in response to the unit leader’s words. “What of it?”

He genuinely doesn’t seem to understand what the unit leader is trying to say.

“Lex is worried about Prince Dauxrouge’s safety. It’s dangerous to give a sword to a young child who doesn’t know how to use it properly yet,” the unit leader of Theo’s private guard explained more directly, bridging the gap between the two.

“If someone wants to master the sword, they won’t get anywhere if they’re too afraid of injuries to even begin practicing. What kind of excuse is his age? I was using that very sword from an even younger age than Daux is now.”

It was surprising for Theo to say so many words at once! Furthermore, for once, he wasn’t acting like everything was troublesome; he was advocating for Daux.

“That was because of your great aptitude for sword-fighting, Prince Theoval…”

Theo snorted derisively at Lex’s comment. With his face so blank and emotionless, it was hard to tell if he was truly angry or simply astounded, which made it even more terrifying.

“Aptitude—or lack thereof—is no excuse. We are the imperial family. It is our duty to constantly strive for greater skill than what is desired of us by others.”

Clearly, the adults in Theo’s life hadn’t babied him one bit. The same could be said for all of his siblings… All except for Daux.

“What Daux studies and practices is for him to decide. You all trying to make such decisions for him is a gross overreach of your meager authority.”

It was incredibly satisfying to hear Theo say this so bluntly.

Seemingly having no desire to bump heads with the first imperial prince further, Lex bowed his head and stepped back.

Theo tossed the child-sized sword into the air. It spun several times as it descended, and he gracefully caught it by the sheath. Then he held it out towards Daux, hilt-first.

“I will do my best to become strong like you, Theo!” Daux vowed as he reverently accepted the sword.

“Then let’s begin.”

Using the sword he’d just received, Daux started practicing with Theo. Although, despite me calling it a “practice fight,” the match merely consisted of Daux clumsily attacking his brother over and over and Theo deflecting all of the strikes.

“Focus on your feet—push forward!”

“Okay!”

Theo was merciless to his younger brother, who valiantly wielded the heavy sword without complaint. I knew this was Theo’s personality, but just watching it had me practically biting my nails off with anxiety.

Oh no! Daux got thrown again!

“Stand back up right away. The enemy won’t wait for you.”

“Okay!”

Despite his face being twisted with pain, Daux immediately leapt to his feet.

There’s a Japanese saying that goes something like, “If you close your eyes on a boy’s efforts for three days, you’ll be shocked by what you see when you open them,” but this situation fit that saying to a T.

Daux, normally so gentle and timid, fought with all his might.

Not wanting to distract him by cheering, I settled for rooting Daux on silently in my head.

Then I sensed someone come up behind me.

“Oh, this is certainly a rare sight, now isn’t it?”

I turned to look and saw that it was Eliza.

She’s just as beautiful as ever!

“Good day, Princess Eliza.”

“Good day to you as well, Lady Neema. I’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about you lately.”

Huh? What kind of rumors? I wanted to know, but was too scared to ask.

“In any case, I wasn’t expecting to see Theo practicing sword-fighting with Daux.”

I wasn’t expecting to witness such a thing today, either!

Eliza sat beside me, and for a while, we watched the brothers practice in companionable silence. But then the princess muttered, seemingly to herself, “It should be fine now, right?” and suddenly stood up from her seat.

“Theo, you’ll fight with me next, right?”

Huh?! Eliza can use a sword, too?!

I can see the sense in all members of the imperial family, regardless of sex, being trained in self-defense, but there’s no way she intends to charge in there right now, dressed like that, and fight with Theo, is there?!

It seemed, though, that this was exactly what she intended, so I decided to sit back and watch it all play out.

“Daux, stay close by and watch carefully,” Theo instructed before raising his sword and bracing himself for the next practice fight to begin.

Despite not holding a sword, Eliza stared Theo down fearlessly.

Just as I wondered how she would sword fight without a sword, Eliza pulled out a short sword concealed in the folds of her clothing.

I’m not surprised that, as a woman, she favors the short sword, I thought just in time to be proven wrong when the sword suddenly elongated. I’m assuming she’s using magic?

It looked like what the emperor had previously done when he wrapped his sword with a thick layer of ice. The ice-blade certainly looked cool, but I was concerned it might be brittle and shatter during the fight.

The high-pitched clash of swords announced that Theo and Eliza had already begun sparring while I was distracted.

Eliza dodged Theo’s next slash, dancing lightly backward to put space between them. A breath later, Theo charged, closing the distance, but again, Eliza easily avoided his attack.

Eliza’s movements were unique. It looked like they were dancing rather than fighting.

Eliza rarely took the offensive, hazarding a strike at Theo herself, but he also had yet to successfully land a strike on her, either.

The fact that she could move so deftly in the formal dress appropriate for an imperial princess was proof of how skilled a fighter she was.

It felt like their fight went on forever, but in reality, it probably wasn’t all that long. Neither of them was even breathing very hard.

“Eliza, your fighting style seems to rely entirely on avoidance.”

“If I’m only facing one or two enemies, I can take them down myself, but if a large number of enemies attack me at once, the most important thing is to buy myself time for help to come.”

I see. So, her sword training is focused mainly on protecting herself while the members of her private guard eliminate the threat.

“Daux, you should also develop a fighting style that suits you.”

Daux was a boy, so it was expected that he would develop strength and endurance as he matured. But Theo was telling him that, until such a time came or if he never turned out particularly athletically inclined, he should develop a technique that leaned into his own strengths, as Eliza clearly had.

I’m just realizing it now, but the ice sword never broke despite being struck by Theo’s sword multiple times. Could this mean she used another type of magic to reinforce it somehow?

…I wonder if it’s possible to do something similar with fire magic.

If I had a fire sword, not only would it double as a light at night, but then I could also play pretend as one of those copyrighted “force warriors” from the copyrighted “Space Battle” series! Play-fighting with a “light sword” is something everyone’s dreamed of at some point, right?!

If they have magical girl witch wands, why not make a sword that lights up? I’m going to have to ask Karna to help me with this!

While I was lost in my fantasies about light swords, someone came up behind me again.

“Oh, there you are… Huh?! Is that Theo and Eliza down there?!”

The owner of this astounded voice was none other than Clay.

Heh, he’s so surprised that his voice broke partway through like a teenage boy.

“What are Theo and Eliza doing with Daux in the training arena!? Oh no—are they ganging up on him over something?!”

“Calm down!”

Clay seemed to have come to a mistaken conclusion about what was going on, so I took it upon myself to explain the situation. Once he was calm enough to listen to reason, I recounted how Daux had asked Theo to train with him, and Eliza had happened to walk past while they were at it and asked to join in.

Although this seemed to clear up the misunderstanding, it only further surprised Clay.

“Daux asked Theo to train with him?!” Clay was so shocked that he nearly lost the ability to form coherent speech. “The sword Daux’s holding… Isn’t that…?”

“It’s a hand-me-down from Prince Theo.”

“Back when I was first learning to sword fight, I asked him for it, and he said no way. That’s how precious that sword is to Theo.”

Theo had given something to Daux that he’d refused to give to Clay. This could be Theo’s unique way of expressing love… With him, it was hard to tell.

“Prince Daux took the initiative, so Prince Theo responded favorably,” I said, explaining the situation in a positive light, but Clay shook his head. He claimed that because this was Theo we were talking about, the only possible explanation was that he and Eliza were up to something.

Theo, your younger brother doesn’t trust you at all!

“Daux!”

Before I could stop him, Clay ran over to Daux and wedged himself between his youngest brother and their other two siblings.

Uggh! They were finally talking together normally as siblings for practically the first time ever, and Clay just had to go and interrupt! Although… Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve seen them all together since the night of our welcome banquet.

If Aise were here, then it would be a full family reunion! I wonder where Aise is right now…

Clay seemed to be tearing into Theo without giving him a chance to explain, while Eliza looked on in disbelief, and Daux frantically tried to calm Clay down.

“Prince Clay, weren’t you looking for someone just now? Do you really have time for this?” I called out to Clay, feeling I should do my part to diffuse the situation.

As if finally remembering why he’d come in the first place, Clay returned to where I was standing, dragging Daux along behind him.

“Neema, His Majesty would like to speak with you, so please come with me.”

“You should’ve started with that very important news!”

No matter how friendly we’d become, this was the emperor we were talking about! The most important person in the country! I couldn’t just keep him waiting!

I grabbed Clay’s hand and attempted to drag him away to go speak with the emperor, but the second imperial prince insisted there was no need to hurry.

There is every reason to hurry! Even if the emperor wouldn’t be angry due to his magnanimous personality, it would make me look bad!

“Prince Theo, Princess Eliza, I’ll be leaving now. Good day to you both.”

When I announced I was leaving, the two looked at each other and then… began walking towards me?!

“We’ll go with you!” Eliza announced with a wide grin.

Clay responded brusquely, “He didn’t ask to speak with the two of you.”

“That’s okay.”

And there goes Theo, being as intentionally obtuse as usual.

When you’re caught in the middle of their bickering, it’s tedious, but they can be amusing to watch as a bystander.

In the end, a whole pack of imperial princes and one imperial princess escorted me as we made our way to the imperial family’s private lounge, where the emperor was allegedly waiting to speak with me.

When we entered the room, not only the emperor but also Marie’s father, Towen, and Louis were there.

“…It’s rare to see all of you together in one place.”

You know it’s bad when their own father is surprised to see them together!

“It’s a coincidence.”

Entirely unplanned, Theo and Eliza said the exact same thing at the exact same time. Then, as if irritated that the other had said the same thing as them, the two siblings turned to glare at one another. Well, Eliza glared. Theo stared back at her with his usual expressionless face.

“I see you’ve gotten closer recently,” Louis chuckled, watching the two supposedly “close” siblings.

Maybe the relationships between the imperial family’s children have been changing in small and subtle ways?

Each family has its own way of doing things, but personally, it made me sad to see that some families felt they had to hold back and couldn’t show their true selves to even their closest relatives. I was happy for Theo and his siblings to grow closer, even if it was only a tiny bit.

“In any case, everyone, have a seat.”

At the emperor’s urging, we all took a seat wherever we liked.

“I heard all about the visit to the elven woods from Louis.”

The emperor wasn’t wearing his usual “easygoing and approachable” face. The seriousness of his expression was enough to make me nervously sit up straight.

“If I may be perfectly frank, as the one entrusted with guarding you and your sister’s safety, I would very much prefer you did not accompany the adventurers.”

Daux looked back and forth between his father and me curiously, and Eliza’s eyes widened just a little—the only tell that this was news to her.

“We’ve yet to receive an official response from the Kingdom of Gaché, but if your country allows it, we will accept their decision. But with one stipulation.”

“What stipulation is that?” I asked.

“That no matter what may happen to you, the Linus Empire will not be held responsible.”

I was fine with that—I thought it was only reasonable, really—but what would the Kingdom of Gaché have to say about this requirement? When politics became involved, it was prudent not to jump to any hasty decisions.

“If King Gauldi refuses to give his permission, that would be because it’s not in the best interests of both countries, right?”

“Yes. We’re particularly concerned that, should anything happen to you, Lady Nefertima, the rage of the holy beasts and elemental spirits might rain down on everyone living on this continent.”

The emperor was saying that because I had holy beasts and elemental spirits protecting me, there was virtually no danger of losing my life. However, if I were injured, Sol would be furious at whoever harmed me, and when he retaliated, the elemental spirits would follow suit. And there was no convenient way to target only Runohark agents, so it was inevitable that in the heat of the moment, everyone in the vicinity would be caught in the crossfire.

“Then I’ll just have to stop Sol and the elemental spirits,” I countered.

“Forgive me for being harsh, but you’ve already lost control of the holy beast’s power once. We cannot afford to rely on your ability in this situation.”

As much as it stings, he has a point. In that case, I don’t see any alternatives…

“I’m certain that, should they grant permission for you to accompany the adventurers, the Kingdom of Gaché will have their own conditions as well.”

Hm… I have a feeling my family will be firmly against it, but I wonder what the king will say.

“Regardless of what conditions are imposed, the final decision will fall to you and your sister.”

Essentially, the emperor was saying that we were free to follow the emperor’s wishes and give up on accompanying the adventurers, or we could accept the conditions and proceed at our own risk. In the case of the latter, we would be doing so without the assistance of the Linus Empire.

“I will discuss it with my sister.”

“Please do. If you request it, I’m sure the holy beasts and elemental spirits will deign to protect Lady Karnadia as well, but don’t forget that you are their top priority, and all else—even your sister—comes second to them,” the emperor said, driving home the message that I should truly consider the danger this mission would put not only me but also my sister in.

“That’s all I have to discuss. Please feel free to relax here for a bit before you return.”

Standing from his seat, the emperor tussled Daux’s hair fondly, then exited the room, taking Towen and Louis with him.

“I knew you’d gone to the elven forest, Lady Neema, but what were you looking for?” Eliza asked while preparing tea for all of us with her own hands rather than delegating the task to a servant.

Clay and Daux thanked her for the tea, but Theo picked up his cup and drank from it without a word.

“Theo, should I take your failure to say anything when I’ve poured you tea to mean it doesn’t taste good?”

Heh, Eliza’s scolding him!

“The tea is so delicious that one finds themselves speechless with delight!” I interjected, and Eliza chuckled, replying that she was glad somebody liked her tea.

After glaring at a still-silent Theo one last time, Eliza sat down. “In any case, I would appreciate it if you would answer my earlier question…”

“Prince Theo and Prince Clay, do you already know?”

I already knew that Eliza and Daux didn’t know, but I wanted to confirm how much the two older imperial princes knew.

Clay admitted Louis had only given him a brief overview of the facts, while Theo said that, like Eliza, he only knew I’d visited the elven forest. I wanted to explain everything, but since the elder had instructed me to conceal the elves’ involvement, I was torn about what to do.

“Do you still not trust us?”

“What if we vow upon our names not to tell anyone?”

“I want to know what you’re trying to do! …And besides, I might be able to help somehow.”

Clay looked dejected, Eliza was being considerate, and Daux was burning with curiosity.

Ugggh! I want to take them into confidence about this, but…!

“We already know all about the elves,” Theo finally spoke up, holding his teacup out towards Eliza for a refill.

Umm, if that’s the case, then maybe they already know about the elves’ secret potion? Come to think of it, the book the emperor showed me is available to all the members of the imperial family, right?

“We’re well acquainted with how secretive the elves love to be. Besides, there are plenty of secrets about the elves that only the imperial family knows. Roslan’s private journals are chock-full of nothing but the basest vulgarity you could imagine, but if I learned anything from reading them, it was never to trust humans.”

“Vulgarity? Well, I guess I can’t argue with that; he certainly had a distinctly… crude way of writing.”

Clay chuckled wryly as he reluctantly agreed with Eliza’s observation, but I was having a hard time following what they were saying.

Does this mean that, in addition to complaining endlessly to the elemental kings, Roslan also went out of his way to record it all in writing to torment his descendants with?! Or perhaps he never expected those journals to survive to the present day?

It must be an incredible text if it’s enough to make someone lose all faith in humanity… I kind of want to read it now!

Before I could come to a decision, everyone took it upon themselves to vow upon their name not to speak of this to anyone else, so I cracked and told them everything.

When I got to the part where I announced my intention to accompany the adventurers to search for the ingredients, Clay and Eliza seemed gobsmacked, Daux looked worried, and Theo muttered that he was jealous.

Theo seems to idolize Uncle Phillip, so I had a feeling he might say that! I’d better change the topic quickly before he starts saying he wants to go, too.

And so, I diverted by asking Daux what he’d like to do the next time we played together. He happily accepted the sudden change in topic, replying that he’d like to build a water slide again.

“I’m free right now, so if it’s okay with you, Neema, why don’t I join the two of you for a bit?” Clay proposed, causing Daux’s eyes to light up.

Is it just me, or do the other two also have a distinct sparkle in their eyes?

“In that case, I think I’ll join you,” Eliza primly said as if trying to hide her excitement.

“Don’t you have any plans after this?”

“Nothing that can’t be rescheduled. Isn’t that right, Theo?”

Theo nodded his agreement.

They’re skilled at anticipating each other’s moves and working together at times like this.

Eliza was using the fact that Clay wouldn’t dare complain if she had their older brother on her side to her advantage. And it seemed Theo had gone along with it, fully understanding what she was up to.

And so, we all made our way out to the garden, where we summoned Sache and Euche and asked them to help us build another water slide. Euche enthusiastically agreed, but Sache directed an exasperated look at Theo and Clay.

At Daux’s request, we created an even more elaborate and thrilling water slide than last time.

Without any prompting from me, Theo and Eliza intuitively used their water magic to boost Clay and Daux’s speed as they hurtled down the water slide. I asked them to give me a magical boost as well, and it transformed the water slide experience into a perfect replica of riding a roller coaster.

Perhaps because I weighed so little, I burst out the end of the water slide with such momentum that if not for Sache, I would’ve plowed right into the dirt on the far side of the cushioned landing pad.

Is this what it feels like to be fired out of a cannon? Thank goodness Sache reacted so quickly to extend the water cushion!

8 - All Our Ducks Are in a Line!

A letter arrived from Papa.

It was so thick that you almost couldn’t call it a “letter” as it was encroaching on “manuscript” territory, but nearly half the pages were full to the margins with grumbling complaints against King Gauldi.

To summarize…

The Osphe Family’s official stance was strong opposition against allowing their precious daughters to accompany the adventurers, even though the adventurers in question were the continent’s greatest, Purple Gandal.

However, the king had said this would be a “good experience” for us and gave his permission.

Papa had directly and vehemently opposed his sovereign, who’d ultimately been forced to play his trump card.

“This is a royal decree.”

Essentially, he was coldly saying, “I am the king here, and you are merely the prime minister.”

Papa had not taken this well at all. He’d threatened to quit both as prime minister and as provincial lord. Surely, even Papa should be aware that he couldn’t go through with that…

Currently, he claimed he was on strike, but knowing Papa, I was sure he would never do anything to cause trouble for the residents of our province and the citizens of our country. Anything that absolutely couldn’t be done by anyone else, he would still do himself, no matter what he claimed.

I had a feeling the king was also well aware of this, and it was why he was patiently allowing Papa to have his tantrum.

Shortly after the letter from Papa, another letter arrived bearing the royal seal of the Kingdom of Gaché. It was from King Gauldi.

The wording was formal and stuffy, but essentially, it was a royal decree commanding that I accompany Purple Gandal on their search for anniley and toma.

On another sheet of paper, the king had penned a quick note in his own hand saying that he was sending an escort from the Kingdom of Gaché who would be joining the mission. If we attempted to subvert this escort, Karna and I would be forcibly recalled to the Kingdom of Gaché immediately.

What concerned me, though, was the fact that he didn’t say who this escort would be.

Maybe it hasn’t been decided yet?

Personally, I suspected it might be Dan. He knew me and was skilled enough to have earned the position of legion commander of the Dragon Knights Legion. Plus, he could ride lindblooms and lindrakes.

I bet Dan could even ride a wyvern if he got the opportunity.

Besides, if Sol was going to be there, Ghizel—the leader of the dragons living at the dragon stables—might even allow Dan to ride on his back just so he could come along.

Based on Papa’s and the king’s letters, I figured Uncle Phillip and his companions had agreed to take on the job. They would travel to the Linus Empire along with the king’s mysterious escort, so they would take a little while to arrive.

In the meantime, I had the formidable task of convincing Papa. If I didn’t, it seemed highly likely I’d be forcibly sent home by Paul.

Karna, being Karna, announced that she would write to both Mother and Father.

“But I think a request from you, Neema, is the one thing most likely to work against Father.”

He’s got a weak spot for you, too, Karna!

Papa’s response was relatively quick.

With obvious reluctance, he’d granted his permission, but it was from Mother’s letter that we learned something shocking: Karna’s letter had made him change his mind. According to Mama, Papa had cried while reading the letter from Karna.

“Karna, what did you write in your letter to Papa?”

“I wrote that, in his place, I will go forth and witness sights Father has never seen.”

As it turned out, back when I’d been on the tour of our province with Ralf and Will, Uncle Phillip had been summoned to our family’s manor to escort Karna to meet up with us. At that time, she’d learned about how, when he was still a young man, Papa had spent some time adventuring with Uncle Phillip. Based on the look on Papa’s face while listening to Uncle Phillip recount their adventures, Karna had gotten the impression that if he could have, Papa would’ve preferred to travel the world with Uncle Phillip rather than inherit his father’s titles and responsibilities.

“Our grandfather was still quite young when he journeyed home to be with the Goddess, so Father had no choice but to succeed him. So, in Father’s place, I want to experience the Linus Empire and the Karwarna Mountain Range so I can tell him all about them and let him get at least a little taste of the adventures his circumstances denied him.”

For this same reason, she’d also reported to him in borderline-excessive detail everything she could remember about the caves on Mount Reitimo and all the monsters she met there.

Papa must be happy to have such a dutiful daughter!

We showed the letter in which Papa had granted his permission to Paul, who heaved a long-suffering sigh and finally relented.

All that’s left now is to wait for Uncle Phillip and the others to arrive!

While waiting, I spent the time relaxing and playing with Daux and Marie.

“You sure have a strong sense of curiosity, don’t you, Neema?”

Hmph, way to low-key insult the person whose rooms you’ve come to play at!

“You should just leave it to the adventurers. Even if you go along, you’re only going to be a burden, you know?” Marie continued, bluntly hammering her point home.

“The truth is you’re going to miss Neema terribly, isn’t that right, Marie?”

Despite blushing beet-red at Daux’s observation, Marie didn’t bother denying it.

She’s such a tsundere!

I gave Marie a tight hug, and she whispered in my ear, “You’d better come back safely.”

“I will. I’ll bring you back a souvenir, so look forward to it!”

A short while later, we were sipping our tea when Louis appeared.

“Your highly anticipated guests have arrived.”

These guests were, as we spoke, being formally received by the emperor, who’d told Louis to go get me.

“Uncle Louis, would it be okay for us to come too?”

“We want to see for ourselves if these people are worthy of being entrusted with Neema’s safety.”

Louis was just as surprised as I was by Daux’s and Marie’s requests.

“Heh. You kids sure have gotten close, eh? Well, it’s not a formal reception or anything, so I think it should be fine for you to tag along.”

And so, Daux and Marie would come with us.

“If they’ve attained purple rank, there’s no doubt they’re strong, but that doesn’t mean they’ve got good personalities,” Marie remarked.

“Uncle Phillip is a fun-loving and cheerful man,” I said.

“In other words, he’s a typical, inconsiderate man.”

Ouch, she’s merciless! What about me describing him as a “cheerful” man makes her assume he’s inconsiderate?

“Uncle Phillip was originally the son of an aristocrat, you know,” I argued.

“It’s incredible that he was willing to give up his aristocratic rank to be an adventurer. That’s so cool.” Daux, on the other hand, viewed Uncle Phillip’s lifestyle in a romanticized light as the epitome of adventure and manliness.

While chatting about Uncle Phillip, we’d made our way through the palace until we arrived in front of the throne room.

The large doors were opened by footmen, revealing not only the emperor seated atop the raised dais but also the retired emperor and retired empress.

As could be expected, Daux and Marie both froze when they saw this.

“So you two decided to tag along as well? Come on in, then.”

At the emperor’s gentle urging, my two friends snapped back to their senses, bowed to the emperor and his parents, then lined up off to the side with Theo and the others.

Er, what should I do?

While I scrambled to figure out what I should do, someone picked me up from behind.

Huh? This floating sensation is very familiar…

I’d been lifted up by the scruff—or rather, the clothing right between my shoulder blades—putting pressure on my torso.

The only person who picks me up like this… isn’t a “person” at all!

“Lars?!”

Because he was carrying me in his mouth, I couldn’t actually see Lars.

Darn it! All that fluffy fur is so close, but I can’t reach it! This is torture! I tried begging Lars to put me down, but he ignored me. Such a cold reception after we’ve been apart for so long!

When I was finally set down on my feet, it was in front of someone who shouldn’t be here.

I mean, if Lars is here, then it only makes sense that he’s here, too, but why?!

“What are you doing here, Will?” I asked.

“It seems you’re out of control again, so they sent me to clean up the mess.”

How rude! I haven’t lost control yet!

“It would appear that Will is here as your escort, Lady Nefertima.”

…HUH?!

No, no, no. It’s total nonsense for the crown prince of our entire country to be acting as a noblewoman’s bodyguard!

“Technically, I’m just a lucky bonus.”

“Growl.”

So Lars is my real escort?

“Thank you, Lars!”

I flung my arms as far as they would go around Lars’ neck for a hug, and he rewarded me with a rumbling PURR! that I could feel with my whole body. With my face buried in the muff of fur around his neck, I can smell Lars’ nostalgic scent!

I may have inhaled Lars’ scent a bit too enthusiastically because a piece of his fur made it into my nose, causing me to let out a huge sneeze.

Sorry, Lars!

“…Pfft!…”

I looked in the direction the noise had come from and spotted Uncle Phillip doing his best not to laugh.

“Neema, you’re in the presence of the emperor and the imperial family. Have a little decorum, would you?”

Feeling only the tiniest bit repentant after Will’s scolding, I forced myself to stand obediently at Lars’ side.

“You’re too serious, Will. For those who rule, you must remember to temper your harshness with tolerance, or your subjects will shrink back in fear,” the retired empress admonished Will, but her eyes were kind as she looked upon her grandson.

“I would like to follow your wise advice, Your Majesty, but trust me when I say that Nefertima is no wilting flower.”

What’s up with him calling me by my full name all of a sudden? You make it sound like you’re praising me, but I know a veiled insult when I hear one!

“I can tell she’s someone you can’t take your eyes off for even a moment.”

Like mother, like daughter. That faintly smiling expression the former empress is wearing right now is just like Queen Relena. They might be thinking the same thing… Whatever that is.

Will was about to say something else, but the emperor stopped him with a raised hand.

“That’s enough chatting among family. Let us hear from Purple Gandal now.”

Uncle Phillip, seemingly recovered from his fit of barely controlled laughter, wore a serious expression as the emperor turned to him and continued, “The ingredients Lady Nefertima is searching for, anniley and toma, fall into uncharted territory for us as well. In particular, regarding the Karwarna Mountain Range, it’s said the mountains themselves are determined to keep people out.”

“I see. That will certainly be challenging. Neema said something about caves?” Uncle Phillip looked like a little boy eager to set off on a treasure hunt.

He sure loves cave exploration! I suppose it makes sense; one of the first things I associate with “adventure” is “caves.” Even as an adult, the idea of exploring caves is still exciting!

Uncle Phillip asked for more detailed information about the locations where anniley and toma grew. The emperor responded that he would share the basic information we had already gathered, but that they would need to ask the elves for the details.

“We’ve also been told that you’ll need a special magical item to successfully harvest the nectar of the anniley flowers. We will prepare letters of recommendation for you, so please visit the elven forest to collect it along with the information you require.”

I was told in no uncertain terms that I’d have to stay behind this time.

After also being attacked by people with no connection to Runohark, I can see the sense in waiting patiently right here where I’m safe. Besides, Elder Sharvel is familiar with Purple Gandal, so I’m sure it will go smoothly.

“Very well. We will depart as soon as we’ve gathered the necessary information and supplies.”

Without much information about the geography and climate of the places we’d be going, we had no way of knowing what we’d need. We also had to decide whether to start with the northern mountain or the southern cliff.

I suppose there’s always the option to return to the imperial city in between destinations, regardless of which order we visit them in.

The official audience concluded there, but we immediately launched into a strategy meeting with Uncle Phillip and the members of his party.

However, for some reason, most of the imperial family decided to join us.

All of the Purple Gandal members, except Uncle Phillip, have frozen up… Are they going to be okay?

“Why are you lot joining this meeting?” Will asked dryly, voicing the question everyone was wondering.

“It’s an honor to be able to hear what Lord Phillip has to say,” Theo said, his hero-worship of Uncle Phillip showing.

“Besides, what kind of hosts would we be if we didn’t attend to our guests?”

I’m guessing Eliza’s here… just out of curiosity?

“It’s my first time meeting adventurers in person…”

You’re more than welcome, Daux! Feel free to ask lots of questions about adventuring once the meeting is over.

“I’m here because Daux and Neema are!” Marie said almost aggressively, clearly trying to cover her nervousness with indignation. Marie seemed to be doubting, all too late, whether it was okay for her to be here, so I reached over and squeezed her hand to reassure her that it was fine.

“I will intrude upon your meeting to keep an eye on my younger siblings.”

Clay seems genuinely concerned for Daux and Marie and feels that Theo and Eliza require supervision.

“I’m involved in this now, so I might as well see it through to the end.”

Louis… isn’t wrong; he is involved. He went with me to the elven forest, after all.

Will frowned as he listened to each of their excuses.

Knock that off, Will, you’re going to scare Marie!

What was most frightening, though, was the way Karna held her silence. Normally, she’d be the first to tear into Will.

“We’re happy to have them join us,” Uncle Phillip assured Will as he spread out the map Lady Zeiatiel had provided on the table.

“We’ll fill in the details once we get more information from the elves, but to start with, I’m thinking we should go south first. According to what Neema’s told us, anniley only blooms on the night of the full moon, so if our preparation takes too long, we’ll switch and start in the north.”

There was a mark on the map in the bottom right section of the butterfly-shaped continent of Larshia.

It’s at the extreme southern edge of the continent, so I’m guessing it’s probably really hot? Hopefully, it won’t be so hot that my temperature-regulating magical item can’t keep up!

“We’ll need to cross this desert to get there, but if the fire dragon is willing to carry us, it will be easy.”

There’s even a desert? It doesn’t look as big as the Sahara or anything, but… I’m not sure what kind of scale this map is drawn to, so the continent could be much larger than I realize.

“The real problem is the Karwarna Mountain Range. Even if the fire dragon carries us there, he’ll only be able to take us partway. We’ll have to hike up to the cave that’s allegedly located at the mountain’s peak by ourselves, but we’ll need to leave you behind to fend for yourselves until we return…”

“I will be fine. The real issue is whether Karna and Neema can tolerate camping out in the elements,” Will said.

I’ve never been mountain-climbing on a snowy mountain before, so I don’t know much about it, but how can Will be so confident that he’ll be fine? Is it because he has Lars?

I must’ve been making a doubtful face because Will scuffed my head gently and said, “I’m stronger than you realize.”

You don’t look particularly strong! But if he’s that confident, then I guess it must mean he’s been putting a lot of effort into training lately or something?

“Karna would be perfectly fine camping out under normal conditions,” Uncle Phillip interjected.

“I was personally trained by Uncle Phillip, after all,” Karna said.

“Camping under normal conditions?”

Something tells me the kind of camping they’re talking about is significantly more rugged than the leisure camping I’m thinking of…

“Paul and the others will also be there, which should help a bit.”

Will’s saying this like it’s a foregone conclusion, but is it true? I glanced at Karna, who nodded to indicate “Of course they’re coming!”

I see… If Paul’s coming, I have a feeling he’ll impose various restrictions on me.

“I’m sure you’ll also need time to prepare, so we’ll plan to leave five days from now at the earliest.”

“While we’re waiting, I think I’ll use the time to train Neema a little.”

“Huh? What do you mean ‘train me’…?”

Alarmed by Will’s ominous announcement, I asked what kind of “training” he had in mind.

“Just simple things. How to prepare food and make camp. Since Karna and the fire dragon will be with us, there’s no need for you to learn to build a fire.”

“And you’re going to teach me these things?”

“You got a problem with that?”

It wasn’t so much that I had a problem with him teaching me, as I was curious why a crown prince would have such a command of wilderness survival skills that he could instruct others.

I roughly shook my head from side to side, expressing that I had no problem with Will teaching me about wilderness survival.

“Um… If it’s okay, I’d also like to learn.”

Will wasn’t the only one surprised to hear Daux shyly voice this request.

“Daux, even if you learn such things, when would you ever need to use that knowledge?”

I could see why Louis was wondering that because I was wondering the same thing!

Daux answered in a quiet, bashful-sounding voice, “I’d like to travel someday like Aise…”

“Damn Aise! Now his bad influence has even begun to rub off on Daux!”

…Could it be that Aise learned these kinds of things so he could be more like Will? He seems to idolize Will, after all…

Clay immediately launched into a lecture about how, as an imperial prince, there was no need for Daux to do such things.

“Perhaps this is just a cultural difference between our countries,” Will interjected, “but from the standpoint of increasing one’s options, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to know these skills, even if the possibility of having to use them is low.”

It’s certainly true that, as an only child, Will has had a lot of expectations and demands put upon him. Here in the Linus Empire, all of the imperial family’s children who don’t marry off and go to live in other countries will end up like Louis, using their strengths to support whichever of their siblings inherits the throne.

“But Daux’s still so young…”

Theo immediately rebuffed Clay’s protest. “I get the feeling I’ve just said the same thing to someone else recently, but being young is no excuse. If Neema, who’s even younger than Daux, can do it, then so can he.”

Theo, have you forgotten Lex so easily?! Although, I suppose I’m in no position to criticize other people’s poor memory…

“Daux is good at working with his hands, so I bet he’ll be really good at cooking!” I chimed in.

“You think so?”

Daux didn’t seem very confident, but the sandcastle he’d made that time had been truly marvelous.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I’m the type that is perfectly capable of cooking but rarely bothers to do so. Cleaning up afterward is too much hassle! Instead, in my past life, I’d perfected the art of reheating premade foods without producing any dishes that would need to be washed.

“If her friend is there, it will probably help Neema focus more, so why not?”

Although I found the second bit of his comment entirely unnecessary, it seemed Will was fine with Daux joining us.

As for Clay, he could see he was outnumbered because he finally relented, saying, “If you all feel that way, then I suppose it’s fine…”

“Isn’t that great, Daux?!” I said cheerfully.

“Yeah!”

Marie looked jealous, but she didn’t intend to join us.

Maybe she’s afraid of Will?

“Then I’ll leave Neema to you, Prince Wilhelt, while I focus on helping Karna brush up on her skills,” Uncle Phillip concluded.

And that was how it was decided that we would learn wilderness survival skills before setting out on our journey!

🐉 🐉 🐉

THAT night, after we’d climbed into bed, I asked Karna, “Did you know Will would be coming?”

I couldn’t come right out and ask her why she’d not been as antagonistic as usual towards Will, so I chose another approach.

“No, I had no idea. But it certainly is better for us to have Lars join us, so if it means ensuring his assistance, I can tolerate him bringing along an accessory.”

An accessory?! What kind of way is that to treat our country’s crown prince?! Well, whatever helps her control her animosity towards Will is fine, I suppose.

“Besides, Uncle Phillip told me once that if I let my enemy distract me by riling me up, I’ll fail to predict their next moves. Since Uncle Phillip’s done me the honor of naming me his disciple, I can’t disappoint him by acting so uncool, right?”

Apparently, the change in her attitude was due to her wanting to look cool in front of her teacher.

Uncle Phillip’s charisma could practically be called a superpower; that’s how much it affects those around him.

No wonder people always share information about where he’s been sighted in the Shiana Special Region.

“All right, let’s get some sleep. We’re going to have a busy day tomorrow.” Karna patted my back, helping to ease me to sleep.

I know our main objective is to heal Lestin, but I can’t help getting a little excited about the idea of going on an adventure! I’m going to do my best!

9 - I’m Not Sure I’d Call This “Practicing Survival Skills”

THE time had finally come for Will’s cooking class to begin!

I wore easy-to-move-in clothing that I wouldn’t mind getting dirty while we worked outdoors in the imperial palace’s garden.

On the menu for today was a classic: stew!

It should’ve been a simple dish. Just cut the meat and vegetables, boil them, and season the broth. But…

“Neema, start by peeling the vegetables,” Will ordered.

I don’t even have a proper knife! Peeling vegetables with just this dagger I received from Grandpa Gouche is hard!

“The peels contain nutrition, though, so…” I muttered to myself.

If you boil it long enough, the peels will be edible, so it’s fine!

I gave up on trying to peel the vegetables and started chopping them haphazardly with my dagger, but… What I wouldn’t give for a kitchen knife!

Oh, that’s it!

“Lars, could you cut this into pieces about this big?”

“Growl.”

At my request, Lars used razor-sharp gusts of precision-controlled wind to cut the unknown variety of potato into tiny pieces. Next, I had him cut the vegetable that looked like a pale green eggplant into the same-sized pieces, and while he was doing that, I used my dagger to cut up the meat.

“Aren’t the ingredients a bit too small?” Will observed dubiously.

“They’ll finish cooking faster if they’re smaller.”

Besides, it’s hard for me to eat it if the ingredients are too big! When cooking, it’s important to be mindful of who’ll be eating the dish!

“You’re supposed to put the ingredients that take longer to cook in first.”

When I dumped all the ingredients into the pot, Will complained again.

What a nag!

While I was getting lectured by Will, Daux was following his instructions to a T, carefully peeling and cutting his vegetables.

“Neema, maybe you should just give up on cooking and ask the elemental spirits to help you.”

This might go without saying, but professional chefs use knives for delicate work like decorative peeling and carving when they need to feel the sensation with their fingertips as they work. However, they often used wind magic to cut through tougher ingredients, like meat on the bone.

If I asked the elemental spirits for help, just like with magic, they probably wouldn’t be able to do any of the more detailed work, but their powers would be fine for my simple needs.

For seasoning, I’d specifically requested this world’s equivalent to miso paste: yube made from sauda berries. However, after I added the yube, I realized that adding the meat to the “stew” I’d just created was technically more like tonjiru pork-broth soup, not traditional miso soup.

There’s something missing in the flavor profile, though… Oh, that’s it—tonjiru usually contains dashi in addition to the pork!

If I could find dried seaweed or some kind of small dried fish, I could probably make dashi here, but I’d have to give up on it for today.

Paul sampled the tonjiru I’d made but said it tasted bland.

“How’s Daux’s stew coming along?”

Because he’d been working so carefully, it had taken him longer. I took a peek into Daux’s stew pot to see how his soup was looking.

“Whoa, it’s bright red!”

The soup was even redder in color than the spicy Japanese hotpot known as kimchi nabe.

“I remember reading in a book that eating spicy foods warms your body, so I tried adding beageen to my stew,” he said.

I’d been picturing something similar to a chili pepper, but what Daux held up to show me was a bright red root vegetable of some sort. He’d grated this up and added it to the soup, turning it an almost alarming shade of red.

However, when I tried a taste to see how the spice level was…

“W-Water, please…!”

It was extremely spicy. It felt like my mouth and esophagus were on fire.

Well, I can confirm now that even one sip of this soup is enough to spike your body temperature immediately! Just look, I’m sweating!

“Sorry, is it too spicy?”

While I was practically breathing fire, Will and Paul were casually eating Daux’s stew.

“This is the perfect spice level for us, but it seems it’s a bit too much for Lady Neema at this age,” Paul explained.

It’s not my fault I have delicate tastebuds! I’m still a child, after all. I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m a bit older before I can enjoy spicy food.

Daux hesitantly brought a spoonful of the soup to his mouth, and the moment it passed his lips, his face turned beet red, and he freaked out. I hurried to hand him a glass of water, but he was still reeling from the spice even after chugging it down.

I cast around for something else to give him, and something among the ingredients that had been laid out for us to choose from when making our soup caught my eye.

“Daux, bite down on this!”

The item I’d all but shoved into Daux’s mouth was a dried leysea. Raw, they were inedibly sour, but once dried, the sourness mellowed out to about the same degree as a Japanese umeboshi dried plum.

“Itsh sho shour…!”

After the back-to-back spicy and sour assault on his mouth, Daux struggled to pronounce words correctly, so his attempt at “it’s so sour” came out with a heavy lisp. Between that and the tears running down his cheeks, Daux looked so adorable it was enough to stir my protective instincts.

“Has the spiciness gone away?” I asked.

“Yeah, but now the area below my ears feels kind of tingly?”

That’s probably the after-effects of being suddenly stimulated to produce so much saliva.

I practically salivated reflexively just from thinking about umeboshi and lemons. Although, having been traumatized by leysea in the past, thinking of them produced a feeling of terror rather than an excess of saliva.

🐉 🐉 🐉

THE next day, we grilled meat.

All we had to do was put it on a skewer and grill it.

I asked the elemental spirits to help me grill the meat I’d skewered, but the first attempt ended up burnt to a crisp. Just as I was lamenting over what a waste it was that there was no possibility of salvaging the burnt meat, Haku began making noise, trying to tell me something.

“Huh? You want to eat this??”

“Mew!”

Haku habitually ate garbage, so I didn’t think eating this burnt meat would actually harm it, but…

Gratia and Nox both fixed me with pleading gazes as well.

“Gratia and Nox, you’ll have to wait your turn, okay?”

I gave the burnt meat to Haku and set about grilling the next skewer.

“Listen up, fire spirits! Please grill this meat at a low temperature for a long time so it cooks slowly, okay?” I said, being sure to make my instructions clear this time so they wouldn’t try blasting the meat at a high temperature again.

I slowly and patiently rotated the skewer over the flames until aromatic juices bubbled out of the meat.

Just a little more…

The tantalizing smell was enough to make me drool!

“I think it’s about ready!”

Just to be safe, I removed one of the chunks of meat from the skewer and used my dagger to cut it in half.

It’s cooked through!

“That’s perfect, elemental spirits, thank you!”

The moment I praised the fire spirits, the fire in front of me suddenly flared up. Daux had built this fire to practice his fire-building skills, but he was so surprised by the sudden flare-up that he jumped and fell backward, landing on his butt on the ground.

I sternly called out for the elemental spirits to knock it off, and the fire returned to normal, but this incident was enough to drive home the lesson that I shouldn’t thoughtlessly praise the elemental spirits.

Next, I turned to Gratia and Nox, giving them the perfectly grilled meat I’d just finished cooking. Nox performed an amazing feat of gulping the chunks down whole while Gratia wrapped all of his legs around a single piece of meat and tore into it.

I reached out to pick up another skewer to start grilling when a thought occurred to me…

There’s a fire right here… And we’ve got several varieties of vegetables in addition to the meat skewers… Couldn’t I grill them all up at once, hands-free, kebab-style?

I decided to give it a try. I pulled the meat off the remaining skewers and re-skewered the ingredients, alternating between meat and vegetables, before stabbing the base of each skewer into the ground near the fire, leaning ever so slightly toward the flames.

“What are you doing?” Will asked in an incredulous tone that he seemed to be using far too often with me.

“I think it’ll be tastier—not to mention easier—this way!” I explained.

There’s no “maybe” about it! It’s definitely going to be delicious! The best thing about camping is sitting around the campfire chatting with everyone. The second-best thing is working together to prepare the food!

“There’s no point in doing any of this if you don’t let Daux finish,” Will pointed out, essentially saying that even if I was determined to goof off, I’d better not interfere with Daux, who was taking the lesson seriously.

Sorry…

Properly chastised, I turned to watch Daux studiously preparing his skewers. He worked quickly, and all of the ingredients were cut into same-sized pieces. I would’ve expected nothing less from him!

My ingredients, on the other hand, all varied in size, so there were bound to be a few undercooked pieces while other pieces were already burnt. As if to prove this point, I immediately bit into a huge half-raw piece of vegetable with the first skewer I picked up, causing me to wince in disgust.

“Both of your personalities show in your manner of preparation,” Will remarked, chuckling at my reaction.

I couldn’t argue with him on this one since I had only myself to blame.

I’ve learned my lesson: when grilling skewers, make sure all the ingredients are uniform in size!

🐉 🐉 🐉

I expected another cooking lesson the next day, but I was wrong. As long as we could grill and boil, that was enough.

I kinda wanted to practice frying in a frying pan over the open flames, too!

The most I could produce was a simple vegetable stir-fry, but by changing up the vegetables and seasonings, you could make endless varieties. Plus, it was a good way to use up leftover ingredients without creating too many dishes.

Although I hadn’t taken the past few days’ cooking lessons terribly seriously, it had been fun to chat as we worked, so I was disappointed that we were done with that topic.

“Today, I’m going to teach you how to hang a tree sack.”

“What is a tree sack?”

I frowned at the unfamiliar word, and Will responded with, “That’s a tree sack,” pointing his finger at a familiar object hanging from a tree a short distance away.

It’s one of the strange tents we saw in the elven forest!”

“You can sleep in there and use it to store your gear.”

Apparently, the idea was to store any unnecessary gear in the tent, which could be pulled up into the trees and out of the way when cooking on the ground.

But if you tried to sleep upright in that thing all night like a vertical sleeping bag, I have a feeling all the blood would settle in the lower half of your body, becoming very uncomfortable.

“It looks hard to sleep in…”

“Well, you’re not meant to sleep in that position for an entire night. At most, a little nap.”

I thought so! Although it looks like it might be fun for a short while, it would be uncomfortable to be swaddled, unable to move, in that fixed upright position all night.

“When you sleep at night, you attach both ends to tree branches so it becomes like a hammock.”

Will climbed deftly up the tree and pulled on the rope, lifting the tent off the ground. The practiced ease with which he executed this move indicated extensive experience, but when would a prince ever have the chance to experience sleeping in a tent?

“I’m going to have you two practice until you can set up a tree sack on your own.”

My experience setting up a camping tent in my previous life isn’t going to be at all helpful here.

I was good at climbing trees, so I easily made it to the branch without falling, where I pulled on the rope I’d tied around my waist. However, although the branch was thick and sturdy, pulling the rope while balanced precariously on top of it was still hard.

“Don’t yank on it. Just let the rope down bit by bit in front of you.”

Using the branch like a pulley, I slowly, haltingly pulled up the tent. Once I’d finally pulled the tent all the way up, I was instructed to wrap the rope around the branch and tie it securely so it wouldn’t come undone.

Couldn’t you at least give me some guidance on what kind of knot is best to prevent the rope from coming undone? I guess I’ll just go with a bowline knot. It’s easy.

I tied the tent off to the branch in two different places and finally let out a sigh of relief.

“When you want to get into the tree sack, pull it towards you and put your feet in, then slide off the branch into the sack.”

That’s not completely terrifying or anything!

Regardless, I gave it my best shot, sticking my feet into the tent and flinging myself off the branch. I shot straight into the tent and felt myself swinging lazily from side to side.

This has to be what it feels like to be a pill bug! But, you know, this narrow, restrictive space and gentle swaying is surprisingly comfortable! This might be the perfect place for a little nap…

“Don’t fall asleep,” Will ordered, and I obediently attempted to extricate myself from the tent… but I couldn’t!

I reached out with my hands, grabbed the tent’s opening, and tried to wiggle out, but I wasn’t strong enough to lift myself straight up and out the top of the tent.

“What’s wrong?” Will asked, sensing something was off about my strange movements.

“I can’t get oooout…!”

“There’s a coil of rope inside the tent, right? Use your legs to climb up on that to get out.”

I searched around for the coil of rope, and just as he’d said, it was there, at about the level of my waist. I had a feeling it would be difficult to get my legs on top of there, but I didn’t dare say so to Will.

Instead, I painstakingly drew my legs up inside the constrictive sack and eventually got them into position, well aware that if not for the fabric of the tent surrounding me, I would be flashing absolutely everything for the world to see in this scandalous pose.

From there, I forced all of my strength into my legs, pushing myself up until I could reach the tree branch and finally climb out of the tent.

Somebody, please redesign this thing to make it easier to get out of!

Once I climbed down from the tree, it was Daux’s turn.

However, it seemed Daux had never so much as climbed a tree before, so he was fighting a losing battle from the start.

“It’s okay, Daux. Put your toes in this groove here,” I said, doing my best to both encourage Daux and show him where to grip on. “Focus on the feeling of your hands and feet. You have to use your senses to judge whether each handhold and foothold is stable enough to hold your weight.”

He’d just have to develop this judgment through experience, so there was nothing I could do but let Daux work it out for himself.

Once he got the basic technique, he started spreading his weight out between his arms and legs and was able to scuttle—albeit a bit awkwardly—up the tree. He continued practicing tree climbing for a while and then, after a quick break, moved on to setting up the tree sack.

“Climbing trees sure is hard…” Daux remarked, sounding discouraged that he hadn’t been very good at it.

“It’s something you get better at with practice!” I encouraged.

“Don’t worry, Daux, Neema’s the only noblewoman in existence who’s mastered the art of climbing trees,” Will quipped.

There’ve got to be others!

We were drinking tea and eating a light snack while going over what we’d learned when this topic arose.

Is Will diseased with some bizarre illness that requires him to always tease me or something?!

“You were climbing those trees pretty fast yourself, Will, despite being a prince,” I countered.

“Well, yeah, I’ve been climbing trees since I was little.”

“So that makes you the same as me, then!”

I wasn’t about to stand by and let him lecture me about poor manners when he was doing unprince-ly things himself.

“I suppose so. If you were a man, you could get away with running wild to your heart’s content.”

Something tells me that even if I were a man, I’d still end up being tormented by Will using me like his personal plaything. Unless maybe he would keep his distance because I’d have Ralf on my side?

Either way, whether I’d been reborn as a man or a woman, I’d still be a beloved child, which means I’d still inevitably get dragged into all kinds of struggles.

“If I were a man, I could learn sword-fighting alongside Daux…”

“I wonder what kind of sword you would wield… It’s a bit terrifying to consider.”

Will and Daux are laughing, but I might’ve wielded a super-cool epic sword for all they know!

“I have a feeling any sword would feel big and heavy in my hands… Oh, but that’s right! Karna’s working on creating a toy sword for me, so let’s play with that together when it’s finished, okay, Daux?!”

I’d asked Karna if it would be possible to create a “light sword” based on the magical girl wand, and she’d said it would be a piece of cake and easily agreed to make one for me.

If she makes two of them, I’ll be able to live out my dreams of having a sword battle with light swords! We can reenact scenes from a certain copyrighted movie franchise!

For now, though, I’d have to wait until Karna actually produced the light sword.

“Hey, Neema… She’s making just a toy, right?” Will asked skeptically.

“When you put it like that… I can’t be certain!”

Knowing Karna, there was every possibility she’d tweak the magical formulation according to her fancy, so I couldn’t say for certain what she might end up creating.

“I mean, I asked for a toy sword, so I don’t think she’ll put anything too weird in there…”

Even if it were just a toy, if Karna tacked on some kind of offensive magic spell, it could easily become a formidable weapon. Knowing her, I didn’t think Karna would go so far as to put a dangerous weapon in my hands.

Unfortunately, I didn’t dare rule it out completely.

“What kind of sword is it?”

Daux was probably asking about the material the toy sword would be made out of. But, seeing I’d caught his interest, I cut straight to advertising the main attraction.

“A sword that lights up!”

“All right, Daux, time to get back to work.”

“Oh… Um, yes, sir!”

Hey! How can you be so callous, Will, ignoring such an epic announcement?! I just said I’m going to create a glowing sword! Every nerd near and far has dreamed of getting their hands on one of those at least once in their lifetime!

Let’s see you be so callous when I show you the real thing!

🐉 🐉 🐉

“SO that’s why I want to make the light sword super-duper cool! So cool that even Will can’t help being overcome with envy!”

“I understand that, but the design you sketched out for me is incredibly simplistic?”

That’s true…

I’d just drawn a basic stick shape and explained that one section was the “handle” and that the rest of the blade came out when you turned it on, then disappeared when you turned it off.

“It’s mostly finished, but…” As she said this, Karna handed me a cylindrical item that seemed to be made out of stone.

When I spoke the spell words Karna taught me…

“Appear, red light!” Red light stretched out from the hilt of the sword. When I touched it, it felt solid. “Retract.”

I was surprised by the puff of white smoke that appeared when I spoke the spell word to extinguish the light sword. I looked over at Karna, worried I’d broken it, but she confirmed this was how it worked.

“The blade is made of ice. I made it so when you extinguish it, the blade turns to mist and disappears.”

By changing the hardware on the handle, you could change the color of the blade, and the activation spell would change automatically to the name of the color you’d equipped. She explained that this was to prevent malfunctions.

As an added safety feature, she’d set it so that if the blade came into contact with anything other than ice, it would automatically dissolve into mist. This way, you didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone or breaking anything if you accidentally hit something or someone.

Karna really is a genius! She does the Osphe family name proud. The only thing that could improve this would be if it incorporated cool sound effects…

“Can you make it so the sword makes noise?”

“When the magic is activated, you mean?”

“Yeah, and also when the light sword strikes another light sword.”

Karna said it would be easy enough to add to the magical formulation, but wasn’t sure it would be the same kind of noise I was picturing.

If the toy I’d bought in the elven forest was anything to go by, it seemed that replicating different pitches of sound accurately using magic was quite tricky. According to Karna, creating aggressive sounds like with the Air Strike spell was easier.

“I was thinking a kind of… FWOOSH sound, I guess?” I said, doing my best to replicate the distinctive sound of a “light sword” activating.

“Since it’s for you, Neema, I’ll do my best.”

“I love you, Karna!”

I hugged my sister tightly, putting all of my overflowing feelings of love and gratitude into it, when she suddenly whispered something unexpected in my ear.

“Personally, I prefer watching you play with that magic wand toy, though.”

…Huuuuh?!

I already did it so much that I think I gave myself a repetitive movement injury! Is that still not enough for you?!

10 - They Weren’t Kidding When They Said That “Danger Is an Inevitable Part of Adventuring”

TODAY, we were having a strategy meeting in preparation for our trip to search for anniley and toma. Not only Purple Gandal but Paul, Shell, and Spica would also be attending.

“Lady Karna, Lady Neema, it’s about time.”

I moved to stand up from the sofa in response to Paul’s announcement when a surge of pain ran through my body that froze me in my tracks. It seemed I was suffering from muscle pain as a result of our tent-building practice the previous day.

Dang, it’s just a small pain, but it’s annoying!

The pain wasn’t unbearable, and if I was focused on something, I almost forgot about it, but when I wasn’t doing anything, it seemed to be all I could think of.

“Can you please use healing magic on me?” I asked.

“My lady, you’re supposed to leave the pain that comes from training to heal naturally.”

“Why?”

“Because if you heal it with magic, muscle won’t form.”

Oh. Is that how it works? I understand the basic premise that muscle is formed by a process of stress and rapid regeneration, but I guess if healing magic is used, it interrupts the process? But that doesn’t matter in my case, does it? The people who care about building muscle are professional soldiers and the like.

My skepticism was clear on my face because Paul said with a devious smile, “If you’re unable to pull your tree sack up into the trees, you’ll end up having to sleep on the ground where any number of predators can easily get at you.”

But I have Sol! As long as he’s there, I’d probably be fine, even without any tent. I know from personal experience just how toasty warm it is under his wings.

“But Sol—”

“Those who depend on others do not survive long.”

Quit interrupting me before I’ve even finished speaking to quote universal truths at me, will you?!

Somehow, in the time it took for Paul and me to have this conversation, we arrived at the appointed room. Paul opened the door, and I began with a polite greeting.

“Hello, everyone. I’m sorry for keeping you waiting!”

The only people in the room were the members of Purple Gandal. Will had yet to arrive.

I hope he gets here soon so I can play with Lars before we start!

“Shell, please see to the preparations for tea,” Karna said, ever the perfect hostess.

“Yes, my lady.”

While Shell was brewing the tea, Spica prepared the accompanying snacks. It didn’t slip my notice that the snacks today were one of my favorites—pechenne.

“Let’s chat while we wait,” Karna said, gesturing for everyone to help themselves to the tea and snacks.

I eagerly obliged, reaching for the pechenne, when a menacing aura drilled into me from behind. I didn’t even need to turn and look to know it was Paul, wordlessly threatening me that I’d better not overeat and ruin my appetite for dinner.

Pointedly ignoring Paul, I picked up one of the tiny cakes and gracefully brought it to my mouth.

Karna asked the members of Purple Gandal about the situation in the Kingdom of Gaché and, in turn, told them about her daily life at the Hall of Learning. Meanwhile, I engaged in a silent battle of wills with Paul, somehow succeeding in taking another piece of cake.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Lady Zeiatiel appeared.

“His Imperial Majesty has arrived.”

Lady Zeiatiel moved to the side of the door, and we all stood to greet the emperor and members of the imperial family.

In order, Louis, Will, and finally, Emperor Celiunos entered the room. Once the emperor had taken his seat, he called out, “Sorry to keep you all waiting. Please be at ease.”

While Shell and Spica were serving tea and snacks to the newcomers, Lars came over to me and lay on the floor at my feet.

Lars and I can communicate without the need for words!

I felt certain that Lars had come over to me to let me pet his soft fur without me even having to say anything. I immediately set about doing so, running my fingers through the thick, silky strands as the meeting commenced.

“Members of Purple Gandal, in which direction will you begin your quest?”

“We’ll start by going to Cape Senante to the south.”

According to Uncle Phillip, Sol could bring us quite close to the cape, and we would need less gear for the trip to the snowy mountain, which was why he’d chosen to go to this location first.

“Um…” There was one thing I needed to discuss with everyone. “Sol says he doesn’t want to fly with people on his back…”

Surprisingly, Sol hadn’t opposed the mission to search for anniley and toma. However, he staunchly opposed carrying Uncle Phillip and the others. I’d been relentlessly trying to convince him, but he showed no sign of giving in any time soon.

“I thought that might be the case,” the emperor said, glancing at Lars.

Everyone said that a holy beast would never let anyone other than their bonded master ride on their back. Because I was a beloved child and Shinki was my knight, the two of us had become the exception to this rule.

“There’s a basket that the dragon corps use to transport people. Try asking the fire dragon if he’d be willing to acquiesce to using that.”

I didn’t have any idea what this “basket” was like, but I assumed Sol could carry it in his talons while flying. If only he agreed…

“Excuse me, grumpy Mr. Sol!”

“What is it? Have you finally given up on that ‘carry adventurers around like a packhorse’ nonsense?”

“Do you take me for the kind of person to give up on something I’ve set my mind to?”

“…No, I suppose not.”

All right then. At least he knows me that well! But all is not lost! I’ve brought a tiebreaker to help us compromise and end the hopeless stalemate we’ve been stuck in for days.

“I’ve been permitted to borrow a basket that the wyverns use to carry people. Would you be willing to carry everyone in that?”

After what I thought was an excessively long moment of consideration, Sol finally relented, saying, “I suppose I have no choice.”

When I conveyed this message to the emperor, he said he would have the basket brought not to the imperial palace but to a separate location far from other people.

That’s probably a smart move. Apparently, it caused quite a commotion in the imperial city the last time Sol came directly to the imperial palace.

Uncle Phillip remarked that the basket was actually preferable because it would allow us to ride underneath Sol’s body, shaded from the harsh rays of the sun. Moving through the sky should provide a cool breeze to keep us comfortable in addition to Sol’s shadow.

“Now then, once we’ve harvested the toma, I would like to request that Prince Wilhelt be in charge of holding on to it, if that would be okay?”

“Sure. That’s the one that needs to be continuously exposed to wind magic, right?”

“That’s correct. I would dare say that Your Highness would be better equipped than us to judge the correct amount and quality of wind magic to be used.”

The plan was for Uncle Phillip and one of his colleagues, a wind-magic user named Shou, to actually harvest the toma from the cliff.

Once we collected the toma, we would return to the imperial city and hand it over to Elder Sharvel in the elven forest for safekeeping. He had agreed to take care of the toma while we went to collect the anniley. It would be a tedious task to keep the toma in usable condition for very long, and our plans would be thrown off if it wilted, so we would need to move quickly.

Therefore, we would immediately gear up for cold weather and head off to the Karwarna Mountain Range.

“Here comes the problem, though. According to the Elder, there’s a cave at the top of the highest mountain in the Karwarna Mountain Range, Mount Dotal. However, the summit is surrounded by nothing but sheer cliff faces, and there isn’t anywhere for the fire dragon to land.”

Uncle Phillip showed us a map he’d received from Elder Sharvel while he explained. Marks were written all over the map, including a winding line that I presumed was the route they were meant to follow to climb to the summit.

“I spoke with an elf who has climbed Mount Dotal in the past, but he told me that the mountain is home to one of the most dangerous of the various types of mamushi.”

“Mamushi?”

We’d encountered mamushi before, but my main impression of them was that their meat was delicious once cooked.

“The mamushi in this area are a variety of shell-type mamushi that are carnivorous and tend to live in massive groups known as ‘swarms.’ A human who encounters even one of them has a very real possibility of being killed.”

“Among adventurers, they’re known as ‘atrocious shell-type mamushi,’” the magic user, Colenan, explained.

There were also “atrocious flying-type mamushi,” and “atrocious illusion-type mamushi.” All of these traveled in swarms, and anyone who encountered one of these swarms had virtually no possibility of escaping with their life.

I couldn’t picture what these mamushi looked like, but if they liked to attack in swarms, I had no desire to meet any to see for myself, either.

“Is there any method for dealing with them?” Will asked, and Uncle Phillip smiled silently back at him.

When I protested loudly, “You’re not going to tell us?!” Uncle Phillip winked playfully at me.

“It’s a secret. It’s one of the secret techniques responsible for us rising to purple rank as adventurers, so we can’t very well go around blabbing it to just anybody.”

Essentially, he’s saying it’s a trade secret?

If this technique became public knowledge, other adventurers would become stronger, and the jobs would become easier to complete, causing fierce competition.

“Fine, we’ll stop asking then. But you’ve got a way to ensure success, right?” Will pressed.

“Yes, leave it to us. We will, without fail, return with the anniley.”

The absolute certainty of his response spoke volumes to Uncle Phillip’s confidence in this “secret technique” of his.

“So, when do we leave?”

“How are your preparations coming along, Prince Wilhelt?”

“How’s it coming, Paul?”

When the question was thrown to him, Paul smoothly answered that everything was ready.

Hey, Will! Would you stop using my family’s servants like your own?! I mean, yeah, Paul was already preparing everything for the rest of us, so I suppose it didn’t make much difference to add in one more person, but still!

Besides, if our family’s servants are so skilled that they can look after a crown prince, I doubt they even blinked twice at the request.

“In that case, let’s leave in two days from now. Until then, get your physical health in order.”

🐉 🐉 🐉

WOOOW, when the wyverns turn out in force like this, it truly is a magnificent sight!

Ten wyverns in full livery were lined up in the southern courtyard. Among them, the most eye-catching was Darson, dragon mount to Lieutenant Gaen Corsass, leader of the Dragon Corps.

“Come to think of it, where should I tell Sol to meet us?” I asked, eyeing the baskets—which looked more like cages than anything—sitting beside the wyverns dubiously.

“At the Coss Wetlands, east of the imperial city.”

Hearing it was a “wetlands,” I pictured a treasure-trove of plant and animal life, but that wasn’t the case with the Coss Wetlands. I was told that the Coss Wetlands contained numerous bottomless swamps, making it a place that travelers and locals avoided. An advanced-level earth magic user could use their powers to stabilize the ground enough to pass through, so occasionally, someone would be brave enough to use the Coss Wetlands as a shortcut, but that was rare.

I conveyed that to Sol, who said that he wasn’t familiar with the area but would follow my presence to where we were.

Everyone had gathered, so the first order of business was setting off to the Coss Wetlands.

Uncle Phillip, his colleagues, Paul, and the others would be carried in the baskets, which would be hooked up to the wyverns for the time being.

Will was mounted regally on Lars, and I wanted to ride on Lars’ back, too, but Euche intercepted me before I could make my way over to him. Apparently, Euche had no intention of letting me ride on Lars.

“…Will you be going as well, Your Majesty?” I asked the emperor upon seeing Euche’s determination that I ride on his back.

“Just as far as the Coss Wetlands.”

Since I’d get to spend plenty of time with Lars over the coming days, I relented and decided to ride on Euche’s back for now. The emperor picked me up and settled me on Euche’s back before nimbly leaping into the saddle behind me.

I hope one day I’ll be able to mount so gracefully, too!

“Let’s go then, shall we?”

The emperor signaled to move out, and Euche leapt into the air. Following on his heels, Lars and the wyverns all soared up into the sky. Kai followed along in his bird siren form, playfully circling around Nox as they flew.

The imperial city quickly disappeared behind us, and a wide road stretched out below. The road split off into several smaller roads that gradually disappeared entirely, leaving rolling green fields spreading out below us as we continued to fly. These “rolling fields” were actually a part of the Coss Wetlands.

We landed in an area where the ground was stable, but not far away, I noticed a mud pit emitting a roiling, bubbling sound.

Is that one of the bottomless swamps?

“Lady Nefertima, look at that.”

The only thing of notice in the direction the emperor had indicated were weeds commonly found in marshy environments. I didn’t think the emperor would go out of his way to draw my attention to a bunch of weeds, though, so I squinted and looked again, examining the area very closely.

Just then, something popped out and began slinking towards us, undulating its body as it moved.

“What’s that?”

“It’s called an anfivena boa. Look carefully.”

I’d only ever seen snakes large enough to compare to giant anacondas in this world, so I was surprised that they had normal-sized snakes here.

I observed the anfivena boa closely, as the emperor had instructed.

Its head is kind of round for a snake…

The way it moved, poking its head up with each expansion and ducking it down as it contracted, reminded me of a spotted garden eel. As one ducked its head down, another anfivena boa poked its head up. It appeared there were actually two anfivena boas moving with alternating gaits, one popping up just as the other ducked down. As I watched, I spotted more snakes, moving in pairs similar to the first two I’d noticed.

…Do they come in sets of two? Maybe they’re mated pairs?

“Do anfivena boas travel in mated pairs?” I asked the emperor curiously.

“Close. They are a two-headed species.”

Two…headed? …A two-headed snake?!

Normally, two-headed species are split at the neck, with two heads directly next to one another, right?

I was trying to work out how the arrangement of heads worked on the anfivena boa when the emperor kindly explained it to me.

“One head is on the front, where you’d expect the head to be, and the other is at the end of its tail.”

Well, I certainly wouldn’t have guessed that! So that’s why only one head comes up at a time while it’s moving…

“Anfivena boas are non-aggressive and don’t generally attack other creatures, but they possess a powerful venom. If you were bitten, you’d die in less than two colors.”

Whoa. If the venom kills in less than an hour, how can you counteract it?

“What should you do if you’re bitten?”

“Here in the Linus Empire, you can buy anti-venom in just about any town or village. Even near the Coss Wetlands, there should be at least one town selling anti-venom that you could make it to in time.”

When setting out on a journey, it pays to do your research in advance and learn about the areas you’ll be passing through!

However, the fact that anti-venom for anfivena boa bites was available throughout the empire indicated that they lived in other areas as well, not just in the Coss Wetlands.

“Why do anfivena boas not usually attack other creatures?”

“They’re picky eaters and only eat bhadi.”

The emperor snatched a sword from one of the members of his private guard and almost carelessly stabbed at the ground. When he raised the sword, a slug-like creature was impaled on the tip… No, actually, it looked exactly like a leech—one of those creatures that fed on blood to survive. Despite being stabbed through by a sword, it wasn’t dead—it continued to wriggle around disgustingly.

“These bhadi are the most feared creatures living here in the wetlands. These guys can chew straight through leather boots to feast on living flesh.”

Yikes! That’s even more fearsome than a normal leech!

Some kind of liquid—I couldn’t tell if it was blood or something else—was leaking from the bhadi, and after a long moment, it finally stopped moving. I fearfully moved closer to get a better look and saw that it had a round mouth ringed in jigsaw-like teeth, just like a lamprey.

“Anfivena boas sometimes use their poison to kill other creatures to use their bodies as bait to lure in bhadi to eat.”

Eek! This is an extremely dangerous environment! We’d better set off quickly before something attacks us!

“Sol, are you almost here?! There are lots of scary creatures here!”

“Scary creatures? The water holy beast is with you, so I don’t think you need to worry about being attacked…”

“Even so, please come quickly!”

“I’m arriving now.”

I glanced up to confirm this claim and spotted Sol just coming into view, still high up amongst the clouds. As he approached, the wyverns fidgeted excitedly in response to his presence.

“The fire dragon has arrived,” the emperor observed out loud.

Sol landed amongst the weeds, seemingly uncaring of the swampy terrain underfoot.

I wonder if those snakes are okay?

The wyverns ignored the snakes and leeches and made their way to Sol, bowing their heads reverently before him. Apparently, snakes and leeches were below the notice of dragons, who stood at the pinnacle of the food chain in this world.

All right! Sol’s here now, so it’s time to go!

However, our party had traveled here in two baskets, so we’d need to consolidate down to just one. It would be a very tight squeeze, so I valiantly took one for the team and volunteered to ride on Lars’ back.

“Kyuu!”

It seemed that Inaho wanted to run over to Sol, but she couldn’t make it because of the uncertain footing. As such, she was begging Shinki to carry her over.

Shinki picked Inaho up and, in an incredible display of athleticism, jumped in one great leap over to Sol’s side. Then, after a moment of discussion, Shinki and Inaho casually climbed onto Sol’s back. Apparently, the great fire dragon was willing to allow my named monsters to ride on his back.

In that case, I’ll let Sol and Shinki sort them out!

I asked Kai to carry Seigo and Rikusei over to where Shinki was sitting on Sol’s back. Haku and Gratia would ride with me on Lars.

“Take care on your journey.”

“Neigh!”

The emperor, Euche, and the wyverns, along with their riders, all waved goodbye as we departed, heading to the southernmost tip of the Linus Empire, where Cape Senante was located.

Ahhh… I can’t get enough of Lars’ soft and fluffy fur! At the very least, I plan to take full advantage of every minute of this flight to enjoy petting him while I can!

11 - Appetite Comes Second to Nothing

THE best part of traveling by flying is, without a doubt, the phenomenal view.

I was excited about the view at first, but riding on Lars’ back was just so comfortable… There was no unpleasant bumping and rocking like traveling in a carriage, and the wind directly surrounding Lars’ body was gentle. It should’ve been cold this high up, but thanks to Lars’ magic, I didn’t feel that either.

As a result, I was fighting a losing battle from the start, as I soon succumbed and fell deep asleep.

When we stopped to take a break, it was beside a beautiful lake.

“You’ve sure got a lot of guts to fall asleep on Lars’ back.”

Wa-hoo, Will praised me for once!

…NOT! Don’t think I’ll be deceived, you big jerk!

“It’s Lars, after all. Even if I fall off, I know he’ll always catch me.”

“He wouldn’t fly in such a way that you would fall off, but you never know what might happen, right?”

“What might happen…?”

I couldn’t figure out what he was trying to suggest might happen that could possibly disrupt the flying of a wind holy beast such as Lars.

“For example, a wild dragon attacking or a sudden change in the weather…” Will trailed off partway through, letting out a big sigh. It seemed that he’d realized the error of his logic while speaking.

No dragon, wild or not, would dare attack us while we were with Sol. And even if the weather did turn suddenly, the elemental spirits would warn us in advance.

“So, in conclusion, it’s perfectly fine for me to nap on Lars’ back, right?” I chirped just a tad smugly.

“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use this, but you leave me no choice.”

As he said that, Will pulled what looked like a belt out of his bag. I watched apprehensively to see what he would do with it and was surprised when he reached down and fastened it around my waist. A thin chain was attached to the belt, connecting it to a second belt, which Will fastened around his own waist.

This is…

“A lifesaving rope?”

“That’s right. I asked Duchess Osphe to make it for me.”

If this was one of Mama’s magical items, it must be a very sturdy lifesaving rope indeed.

I tried various things, testing what effects the lifesaving rope was imbued with.

First of all, it was possible to adjust the length of the chain. However, it was impossible to break the chain using either Will’s sword or magic. Well, I tested it with Will’s wind magic, Karna’s fire magic, and Colenan’s earth magic, which were all insufficient to break the chain, so I assumed the same must be true of water magic, though I had no way of testing that at the moment.

“She said that the power of holy beasts and elemental spirits should be able to break the chain, but you’re only to do that if I give permission,” Will explained.

I see…

Only a few rare people could harness the power of holy beasts and elemental spirits. That way, even if someone wanted to kidnap me, they wouldn’t be able to take me by myself. And it didn’t necessarily need to be Will—Mama had clearly presumed that the other belt might be attached to any number of people, including Shinki, Paul, Spica, and Karna.

Like this, we’d be prepared no matter what came our way!

“In case you were wondering, I am in control of the key,” Will added.

He has no intention of setting me free until we get back to the imperial city, does he?

…He’ll at least take it off at night while I’m sleeping, right?

“Extend the chain! I want to go play in the lake!”

Kai and the others had been playing in the lake since almost the moment we landed. I wanted to join them!

“Don’t drown.”

“I’m not going to drown!”

I had plenty of experience playing in rivers and the ocean in my past life, and I’d engraved a healthy appreciation for the inherent danger of water into my subconscious.

After confirming the chain was extended as long as it would go, I hiked up the hem of my pants to just above my knees. These pants were a design that was popular here in the Linus Empire. The length could be adjusted using a drawstring at the hem, making them convenient for a variety of situations.

Next, I kicked off my shoes and ran barefoot straight into the lake!

Once I’d made it to about shin-deep in the water, I stopped and looked around to see if I could spot any living creatures. However, Seigo and Rikusei were energetically doggy paddling in circles around me, scaring off any animal life that might’ve been in the area.

“Mistress, here. This is for you.”

The item Kai, in his mermaid form, handed to me looked like a marimo—a type of aquatic moss ball that grew in lakes. However, this was much heavier than a typical marimo. Perhaps an item at its core had become encased in moss-like algae underwater?

“Haku, can you eat the surface layer of algae for me, please?”

“Mewww…”

I could understand what Haku was trying to say even without using Shinki-translate. The slime was complaining that it didn’t look very tasty.

But you happily eat trash and rocks!

Haku swallowed the marimo whole and rolled it around inside its body. I figured it would take some time for Haku to digest the exterior layer, so I might as well play more while I waited, but just as I was about to do so…

“Mew!”

Haku forcefully spit something out.

I frantically reached for the item, trying to catch it before it tumbled into the water, but I lost my balance, and then it was me pitching forward face-first towards the water!

“Urk!”

Someone caught me just inches from the water’s surface.

“Are you okay, Miss?”

Shinki had been the one to catch me, but I wished he’d been a tad gentler! However, he’d also caught the item that had slipped from my hands in the kerfuffle, so I couldn’t complain.

“Thanks. Let me see that!”

I looked at the item Shinki handed me, finding it round with a pattern of engraving on the surface that looked like cursive lettering. An unbroken line went around the center, leading me to wonder if it was some kind of container.

“Ugh!”

I tried to open the supposed container, but no matter how I tugged and turned it, it wouldn’t open.

I guess there’s no other option, then. I’ll have to ask Karna to help!

“Karna, can you open this for me?”

“What is it?”

“Kai said he found it on the bottom of the lake.”

Karna tried various things, but she didn’t have any more luck than I’d had.

“What are you two up to over here? …Hm? What’s that?”

Uncle Phillip wandered over and peeked at the item Karna was clutching in her hands. Karna handed it to him, and Uncle Phillip turned it over quizzically in his hands, examining it closely.

Then he passed it to Eligeena.

“…From what I can see, this style of manufacturing was all the rage four ages ago. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably a donation box.”

A donation box from four hundred years ago?

“What’s a donation box?” I asked.

“In the past, when making donations to the Church of Divine Creation, it was considered distasteful to give coins.”

The exact reason was unclear, but this distaste for coins was believed to stem from the fact that money only had value to the humanoid races living in the mortal world. However, that didn’t change the fact that the church needed money to support its day-to-day operations.

Therefore, the custom arose to hide the money you donated inside a donation box when presenting it. The donation box itself had value as a work of art, so it had been fashionable among the nobility to present donations in extremely costly, intricately crafted donation boxes.

“There were cases where aristocrats would hand their donation box and its key over to a specific priest as a form of bribery.”

I raised my eyebrows, not surprised to hear that corruption was as much a part of life back then as it was today, when Colenan joined the conversation.

“There isn’t any kind of magic cast on this donation box.”

When Eligeena was done looking at it, Colenan had taken the donation box from her and examined it for traces of magic. He said that he assumed a preservation spell had been cast on it at one point, but if so, it had worn off over the years.

How can he tell that just by looking at it?!

“Shall we open it?” Uncle Phillip suggested mischievously, and the donation box was passed to Erid. In his other hand, Erid was holding a thin rod.

“Leave it to me!”

Erid maneuvered the thin rod deftly, making clicking and clanking noises as he attempted to manually pick the lock.

Eligeena possessed vast knowledge of furnishings and decorations, Colenan was the resident expert on all things magical, and Erid had particularly agile fingers, as well as being light on his feet for a spearman. He was suited for secretly infiltrating dangerous locations. Shou’s natural charisma made him good at gathering information. However, I didn’t have a hard time believing when they told me it was Colenan’s job to examine and verify the validity of the information Shou gathered.

Uncle Phillip was in charge of giving orders based on each party member’s individual knowledge, skills, and information, but just like with the cave exploration at Mount Reitimo, it wasn’t uncommon for him to let his special interests get the better of him.

In any case, having a wide variety of skills and knowledge is clearly crucial to being successful as an adventurer.

“I got it!”

It was only a matter of seconds before Erid announced he’d opened the donation box.

We all peeked inside eagerly, and…

“Well, I suppose that’s about the most we could expect to find.” Uncle Phillip chuckled wryly at the sight of the two gold coins of Linus Empire currency nestled inside the donation box.

“At that time, the value of these coins would’ve been only about half of what it is now.”

When I asked Eligeena why this was, she went on to explain. Four hundred years ago, the land was suffering from famine, and fighting broke out often. In that environment, the market for decorative items such as this donation box was flooded with inferior quality pieces. Furthermore, due to the socio-political climate of the times, people often reverted to bartering goods and services, relying less on currency. As a result, the value of money was much lower in those days.

“Look here.”

There was a portrait of someone’s face in profile engraved on the front of the coins. It reminded me of the kind of design I’d often seen on foreign currency in my past life.

“In the Linus Empire, coins are required to display the image of the current emperor at the time the coin was manufactured.”

That made it easy to identify the period when this coin was produced. According to the members of Purple Gandal, nearly all of the gold coins from this era had been removed from circulation.

“If this coin isn’t in circulation anymore, wouldn’t that make it more valuable due to its rarity?” I questioned. I figured there must be collectors of rare coins in this world as well, and if so, I bet they would pay a premium for rare coins like these.

“Heh, you know your stuff, little lady! If we brought these coins to the merchants’ guild in the Linus Empire, we could easily get five modern gold coins for each of these antiques.” If Shou, who claimed to have heard this directly from a member of the merchants’ guild, said this, then it must be so.

“Really?!”

Uncle Phillip seemed to have no idea how valuable these old coins were. His face contorted into such a comical expression of intense shock that it was amusing to witness. I suppose it was only natural to be surprised after suddenly learning that the coins he’d expected to hold only half the value of their modern counterparts were actually worth five times as much.

“The lady who found this should hold on to it.”

With that, the donation box was returned to me.

As more time passes, the donation box and the coins inside might become even more valuable. With this in mind, I decided to have Paul put it away with my other treasures when we returned.

“If everyone’s rested enough, let’s get back on the road, shall we?”

At this signal from Uncle Phillip, everyone made their way back to their individual forms of transportation.

“Kai, why don’t you ride on Sol from here?”

Kai had flown the entire way here on his own, but there was still a considerable distance to cover before we reached our destination.

“Yeah, I think I will.”

Obediently agreeing to my suggestion, Kai picked up Inaho and leapt onto Sol’s back. His jump was not quite as eye-opening as Shinki’s, but I was still impressed that he made it onto Sol’s back in a single leap. Maybe this was a trait from his horse form?

After confirming that all of my monster friends were safely settled on Sol, I was loaded onto Lars courtesy of Will.

I could’ve climbed onto Lars by myself, thank you very much!

We left the lake behind, flying until a rocky mountain came into view. Allegedly, we’d be able to see the desert once we made it past this mountain.

Closer to the mountain was a deep valley. I tried to glimpse the valley floor, wondering if a river ran through, but everything below us was stark red.

For a second, I was seriously freaked out, thinking I was seeing a river of blood.

“It looks pretty terrifying from above like this.”

Will told me that the bottom of the valley was covered in magical plants that fed on fire magic.

Even for magical plants, their coloring is alarmingly vibrant! These plants look much closer to the real thing than any “blood red rose” we have on Earth!

After we made it over the mountain, a stretch of flat, colorful, bare earth spread out before us.

Is this coloring also from magical plants?

“Those are salt flats,” Will told me. “The desert is a bit further ahead.”

When I heard the words “salt flat,” the first thing that came to mind was the Salar de Uyuni, also known as “heaven’s mirror,” but nothing about this place made me think of salt at all!

It’s rainbow-colored! How am I supposed to believe salt caused that?!

“On the way back is fine, but could we stop here to take a quick peek?” I asked.

“Unfortunately not. This salt flat is under the protection of the empire.”

I suppose that made sense. With how beautiful it was, the salt flat was a valuable tourist site, in addition to its value as a natural resource. I gave up on stopping to view the salt flat during this trip and would instead ask the emperor for permission to visit again later.

When that time comes, I’ll bring Daux and Marie with me too!

On the far end of the salt flat, the very edge of the desert had begun to come into view.

“Whooooa, it’s a real desert!”

The protruding dunes and unique swirls and dips carved into the sand by the wind just screamed, “This is it! 100% authentic, real live desert!”

“Shall we fly a bit lower so you can see it better?”

“Yes, please!”

As Lars reduced our flying altitude, I sensed the heat more strongly.

“Since this is a rare opportunity to experience the climate of the desert, I thought we should also get a little taste of its trademark heat.”

It seemed Will had dismissed the spell keeping the temperature around us stable and comfortable.

I still had the temperature-regulating magical item that Mama had given me. However, by the time we reached a flying altitude of about three feet above the ground, I felt extremely hot.

I’m guessing the heat here exceeds the limit of what my temperature-regulating magical item can handle?

There was no humidity, so at least it was a dry heat, but in the amount of time it took me to even make this observation, I already felt like all of the water was being sucked out of my body. My nasal passages were dried out, making it hard to breathe, but when I changed to breathing through my mouth, my throat became dry next.

“I’m so thirsty…”

Will passed me a water bottle, and I drank from it in great, greedy gulps.

“Ahh!”

It’s more delicious than a refreshing, ice-cold soda in the middle of summer!

The thought of soda gave me a sudden, intense craving for the familiar tingle of a carbonated beverage, something I’d not had since before reincarnating into this world.

However, my attention immediately returned to the unbearable heat. Even though I’d just drunk water, I felt thirsty again already.

“I can’t stand this anymore…”

“It’s not been very long, you know?”

As someone who’d experienced plenty of brutal Japanese summers, I had a certain degree of tolerance for muggy, tropical heat, but I was entirely unprepared for this degree of dry, burning heat.

I wouldn’t last long in this climate, that’s for sure!

Chuckling to himself, Will recast the spell to stabilize the temperature around us. He even called up a cool breeze that helped cool my heated skin.

“Phew! I’m returning to life!”

“That’s a relief.” Will reached forward and ruffled my hair, but his hand felt cool and refreshing against my flushed skin, so I couldn’t find it in me to complain. “Oh, it’s come into view ahead.”

From our perch on Lars’ back, now that he’d regained altitude, it appeared that the horizon was shimmering off in the distance where Will pointed.

We made it out of the desert and landed in an area littered with large boulders here and there.

“The scenery is incredible,” Karna remarked, gazing upon the giant, spear-like protrusion of land that seemed to stab out into the ocean.

We were still a good distance from the cape’s edge, but I could understand why Sol had stopped here. Below the edge of the protruding cliff, waves rolled in to crash violently against the rocks. The tides had eaten away at the cliff, making the cliff wall more than just a sheer drop. It was actually concave. Because of this, the further you ventured out on the cliff, the thinner the ground underfoot became. If Sol landed too far out, the entire cape probably would’ve crumbled away and dropped into the sea.

“You can proceed further out, but be careful.”

Since Uncle Phillip had said it was okay, I eagerly ran toward the edge of the cliff. The wind was powerful up here, to the extent that when it hit me straight on, it was difficult to breathe.

Not far offshore, the tops of underwater boulders of various sizes peeked up from the water’s surface, producing eddies and small whirlpools between them. As I watched, on more than one occasion, I noticed one of the small whirlpools disappear, only to reappear a short distance away. There were also larger whirlpools that continued spiraling unwaveringly, giving no indication of disappearing any time soon.

I wonder what kind of natural phenomena is responsible for the appearance of so many whirlpools?

The famous Naruto Whirlpools in Japan are created by the movement of the tides through the narrow strait at a high rate of speed multiple times per day, but those whirlpools only appear at specified times during the changing of the tides. These whirlpools seem ever-present, so maybe they’re the product of continuous sea currents?

“Now then, as for where exactly the toma is growing…”

While I was reveling in the miraculous wonders of nature, Uncle Phillip was rummaging around in his sack, preparing to procure the object of our mission.

“I want to swim…” Kai, who at some point had come up beside me without my noticing, said as he gazed longingly out over the sea before us.

“Hmm, I think this section of the ocean might be a bit too dangerous even for you, Kai,” I said, torn between worry for his safety and the niggling suspicion that with his ability to control water, Kai would probably be fine swimming even in these rough waters.

“There are even more incredible waves in the ocean near Zigg Village. They sometimes can get as big as Sol,” he said.

To be larger than Sol, they would have to be tidal waves!

Zigg Village, where Kai was born and raised, was in the northwestern portion of the Osphe Province, and the ocean there was fruitful for fishing but became rough in winter. It wasn’t unusual for tidal waves to occur offshore due to the fierce winds.

Even on Earth, it was common for waves exceeding thirty feet to be recorded during hurricanes and typhoons, often leading to accidents where ships would roll over and sink. It was enough to make you realize that not even magic could stand up to the tremendous power of nature.

But, in any case, Kai was either unable to give up so easily or absolutely determined to find some way to swim.

“I bet it would be fun to go inside that really big whirlpool over there.”

I understand the essence of your feelings, in theory at least, but don’t you dare do something so dangerous!

“I bet if we asked Sache and Euche, they could create a whirlpool for us to play in, so let’s skip swimming in these for now, okay?” I said.

If they make a big enough “washing machine” effect in the pool, it will essentially be the same as a whirlpool.

Somehow, I talked Kai off the proverbial ledge just in time to hear excited voices announcing that the toma had been located.

I quickly raced over to where the voices were coming from. “Where?!”

Uncle Phillip and Shou were nowhere to be seen. When I reached the spot where Eligeena and the others were waiting, I noticed a rope by their feet. Peering over the ledge to see where the rope led, I spotted the two missing adventurers dangling from the rope about halfway down the side of the cliff. It was a considerably terrifying sight.

I scrutinized the area where the two of them were but didn’t see any sign of toma—or anything else, for that matter—growing there.

Furthermore, because the eroded cliff face sloped away from the adventurers as they descended straight downward, even if there was toma growing on the cliff wall, I didn’t see how they could possibly reach it.

What are they planning?

“Let’s do it, Shou.”

“I’m ready when you are.”

Uncle Phillip swung his body forward and back like a pendulum, then used both legs to kick Shou’s back. I couldn’t see what happened to Shou after being propelled forward by the force of Uncle Phillip’s kick, but based on the fact that he didn’t immediately reappear, I assumed he’d grabbed onto the cliff somehow.

I hadn’t expected to see them use such a forceful technique!

“Is Shou using some kind of magical item to hold onto the cliff face?” I asked.

“No, he’s wearing climbing talons on his hands and feet.”

Erid showed me a set of “climbing talons,” and they were different from what I’d imagined upon hearing the word. I’d pictured something more like a weapon, but these were more like gloves with metal claws on the ends like the talons of a carnivorous animal. Looking closely, I could see that the claws were serrated like the blade of a saw. The footwear was similar in design to mountain climbing cleats, but they looked more weapon-like than the gloves.

Still, I found it hard to believe a person could cling onto a cliff in defiance of gravity using just these climbing talons.

“These are made out of a special type of suntate, so they can pierce straight into stone. It’s interesting to see.” To demonstrate, Erid stabbed the climbing talons into the rock at our feet, and true to his word, it cut straight through.

Curious, I asked to borrow one of the gloves so I could try and see if it was possible to stab it into the rock with my weaker arm strength.

THUNK! THUNK! Over and over, I stabbed the talons into the rock, making holes in the ground.

This is strangely satisfying!

“Heeeey, guys! Pull us up!”

It appeared that, while I was making holes in the rock, Uncle Phillip and Shou had successfully harvested the toma.

Erid and Colenan, with help from Paul and the others, pulled up the rope.

“What is the purpose of making so many holes?” Will scoffed, taking in the aftermath of my experimentation.

“I was just having fun, but I might’ve gotten a little carried away…” I felt a bit sheepish, taking in the sight of the dozens of tiny holes I’d made across a pretty large area, but there wasn’t much I could do about it now.

“Here you go, Your Highness!” Shou, who’d just crested the edge of the cliff, called out to Will, waving a strangely shaped jar above his head.

When Will moved, I was forced to move with him, so we both headed over to where Shou was now standing near the cliff’s edge.

What I’d thought was a “jar” was actually a unique type of container I’d never seen before, combining a triangular portion and a square portion. The triangular portion was designed to open up from both sides, and I presumed that the plant nestled inside must be toma.

Seeing it for the first time, I thought that toma looked an awful lot like green fluff. Looking closer, though, I could make out that it wasn’t just fluff like a dandelion gone to seed; hundreds of tiny, fine threads were woven together. I was told that these fine threads gathered wind magic, which protected the nucleus hidden in the center. The nucleus was essentially a seed, which would open once it gathered a certain amount of magic, release the magic, and then close back up and begin collecting magic again.

It was believed that the toma would immediately wilt if it were in a place where the wind wasn’t constantly blowing because it relied on magic to sustain its life.

Will took the container with the toma inside and sent a stream of wind into it. It was kind of cute how the green fluff rustled in the breeze.

“Shou, can you come back down here?”

“Is there some kind of problem?”

Uncle Phillip called Shou over to him, gruffly insisting, “Just come!”

Still having no idea what was going on, Shou lowered himself back over the side of the cliff.

“I wonder if he found something?”

Eligeena and Colenan watched Shou make his way back down the cliffside with unperturbed expressions that told me this was not an uncommon occurrence.

Erid looked visibly excited as he gazed down over the edge, but I was becoming concerned that he might seriously fall off with how far forward he was leaning…

“That’s incredible!”

“Right?!”

The excited voices of the two adventurers dangling from the rope reached us. I didn’t know what they’d found, but despite their periodic cries of amazement, they didn’t seem to be making their way back up.

Before long, the sun had already begun to set.

“Mr. Colenan, we will begin making preparations for camping out overnight, so please let me know when you need our help to pull them up.”

“Sorry, we’ll all help you finish setting up camp once they get back.”

Paul, Shell, and Spica worked in perfect harmony to quickly and efficiently set up a massive tent. The frame was metal, made of suntate, and despite how heavy it must’ve been, Spica was lifting the beams as if they weighed nothing.

Following Paul’s instructions, they connected the pieces of the frame, driving what looked like wedges into the structure to hold it together, and almost before I knew it, the tent was complete.

After they finished setting up the first tent, they began assembling a second, smaller tent.

“Guess we’d better set up our tents as well.”

Sick of standing around watching, Erid started moving. In no time at all, he’d set up two smaller tents entirely by himself. These tents were more primitive than the others, similar to the ones the kobolds used while traveling.

“Are two tents enough?” I asked.

“Yeah. We won’t all be sleeping at the same time. Not that I’d want to squish into a tent with these lot all at once anyways.”

Erid explained that the male adventurers would take turns keeping watch, so only a few would be asleep at any given time.

The reason Eligeena didn’t take a turn keeping watch wasn’t because she was a woman but because she was a healer. If a party’s healer was in tip-top shape, it increased their chances of survival significantly, so this practice was an unwritten rule among adventurers.

“Prince Wilhelt, please use this tent.”

The smaller tent Paul and the others had set up was for Will.

“There’s the written magic exclusively used by the royal family. Every time I see it, I can’t help but be impressed by its formulation,” Karna commented, examining the runes embroidered into the cloth covering Will’s tent with an almost worshipful expression.

“These runes have been improved upon by each director of the Magical Research Center for generations. They really are a work of art, aren’t they?”

“Indeed. Seeing them inspires me to hone my own skill.”

Her distaste for losing getting the better of her, Karna went around looking at the other written magic spells as well.

Karna also has certain otaku tendencies, huh? Does being raised by Mama have something to do with that?

“Heeeey, guys! Pull us up!”

The sun hadn’t completely set, but the sky had begun to darken when Uncle Phillip finally came back up. His bag was full to the point of bulging, and maybe it was just my imagination, but it almost looked as if the contents of that bag were moving?

I’ve got a bad feeling about this… It calls to mind that time Shinki collected a whole bunch of insects and stuffed them in a bag.

“Uncle, what did you find?” I asked.

“Take a look at this!” With a mischievous grin, Uncle Phillip opened his bag and pulled something out.

“Whoa, it’s a nasrin!”

“Incredible! There are so many of them!”

“I had no idea they lived here…”

All of the members of Purple Gandal were enthralled by the sight of the nasrin, but one glance around told me that the rest of us, Karna and Will included, had no idea what was so “incredible” about this discovery.

All except for Paul, it seemed.

“This is quite impressive. You can’t get nasrin this big even in the royal city.”

“Let me see!” I cried, bouncing up and down, trying to get a peek at whatever was in the bag that Paul was holding.

Paul crouched down to let me look inside the bag.

“This is…”

To my eyes, it looked just like an axolotl.

Also known as the Mexican giant salamander, axolotls were a type of amphibian known for their characteristic cute face and the pink stalks lining both sides of their heads. These stalks were called “external gills” and functioned similarly to the gills of a fish.

However, this creature in front of me, the “nasrin,” had a frilled crown like a frill-necked lizard instead of the external gill stalks of an axolotl.

“They’re cute, but when you collect this many of them, they become kinda gross.”

I agree with Karna! Just one is cute. Its beady little eyes, haphazardly undersized arms and legs, and the wave-like pattern in which its frilled crown moves are all endearing. But with this many of them teeming around in that bag, the creepiness reduces their cuteness by at least half!

“If you stew these guys for several hours, they taste amazing!” Uncle Phillip exclaimed.

He wants to eat them?! Oh! Do these guys fall into the category of “exotic cuisine”?! Even for a glutton like me, the idea of eating exotic animals is a bit outside my comfort range…

“Nasrin need to be cooked at a low heat for a very long time, which isn’t possible here.”

“Too bad, huh? We’ll have to wait until we get back to the imperial palace and ask the chefs there to prepare it for us.”

We could manage the basics of boiling and grilling over a campfire, but didn’t have the equipment necessary for delicate heat-controlled cooking.

“I’m sure the imperial palace chefs will be excited too.”

Apparently, nasrin were well-known to highly trained chefs as an extremely rare delicacy that one didn’t often get the opportunity to prepare.

I’m sure the chefs will be happy to get their hands on such a rare ingredient, but does Uncle Phillip seriously plan to drop the whole bag of slithering amphibians in front of them?

🐉 🐉 🐉

WE successfully handed the toma over to Elder Sharvel for safekeeping.

After that, we returned to the imperial palace, and as anticipated, our dinner that night consisted of the aforementioned nasrin.

Whole-simmered nasrin, to be precise.

Four nasrin were laid out on platters, cut into pieces for ease of serving, but assembled in their original shape for display purposes. The way their cute little faces, still recognizably intact, seemed to be saying, “Hello!” was a bit disturbing.

“I’ve heard of this rare dish before, but never thought I’d have an opportunity to try it myself.”

The emperor and members of the imperial family were also in attendance at this formal dinner, but the members of Purple Gandal focused on the delicacy before them as they smacked their lips in anticipation.

Heh, it looks like their appetite has won out over nerves!

I selected one of the more edible-looking portions of tail meat, scooping it up with my spoon. The piece of tail jiggled on my spoon like jello. The aroma was slightly gamey but overall resembled the scent of pork bone broth.

I nervously took a bite of the meat, which instantly melted in my mouth.

Th-This is unbelievably delicious!

The meat was so tender it was almost jellied, producing a wonderfully tender texture, and the flavor was intensely concentrated. As I chewed the meat, some bits interspersed throughout had a surprisingly pleasant crunchy texture, which I assumed must be bones.

It was softer than the chicken cartilage, a popular dish in Japan, so I guessed that meant it was closer in texture to the much less common shark cartilage?

I have a feeling this would be even tastier if you deep-fried it, giving the exterior a crispy texture!

“Are there any nasrin left that haven’t been cooked yet?”

“I would imagine so; we brought back quite a few of them.” Uncle Phillip asked me why I was asking, and I answered frankly, sharing my impression. “Fry it in oil, eh? That sounds tasty, too.”

Overhearing our conversation, the emperor conveyed the request to the kitchens.

In a matter of minutes, the servers brought out two more types of prepared nasrin; one that looked like fried chicken and another that looked like yakitori grilled chicken, except without the skewers.

“This one has been fried in oil, and this one was grilled with just salt for seasoning.”

The servers dished out both of the new morsels on each of our plates.

This tantalizing aroma… It’s everything I was hoping for and more! I started with the grilled version.

“It’s grilled to absolute perfection.”

I nodded in silent agreement with Uncle Phillip’s observation. My mouth was too busy at the moment to form any words.

Grilled with only salt like this, it tasted a lot like salt-grilled pig feet. The exterior was crispy, and the interior was soft and juicy. Plenty of the cartilage had a satisfyingly crunchy texture.

This makes me want a beer to wash it down with!

The members of Purple Gandal felt the same because I heard someone remark that they’d kill for a drink from a cheap tavern right about now.

As for the deep-fried version, it was dredged and fried cartilage.

Just as I’d expected, it was delicious!

“The chefs here are incredibly skilled, especially considering how tricky nasrin is to cook.”

As Colenan explained, if the heat was too strong, the meat would disintegrate, but if it was too weak, the resulting dish would be half-raw and disgusting. For this reason, most chefs stuck to the easiest preparation method, simmering it whole, not daring to experiment with other cooking methods.

If the meat has the consistency of collagen, I can see how it would disintegrate easily!

Perhaps it was just my imagination, but everyone’s skin looked especially springy the following day, which I took as proof that nasrin meat was indeed composed primarily of collagen.

Small Talk: The Mountains Are Merciless (POV: Phillip)

HOPING to gather information about the Karwana Mountain Range, we stopped in a village at the foot of the mountains. We asked the fire dragon to land partway up the mountain, so we had to hike down to get to the village.

Many villagers spotted the fire dragon, which caused quite a commotion, but they calmed down after catching sight of Prince Wilhelt’s holy beast. It didn’t look like they made the connection and recognized him as the crown prince of the Kingdom of Gaché, but nevertheless, the presence of the holy beast eased their fears.

“What business do humans have here in a beastperson village?”

A group of well-built male beastpeople from the ice bear tribe surrounded us.

I assumed that Karna and Neema would be frightened and quickly moved to stand protectively in front of them, but I needn’t have worried. Karna was wearing a well-mannered smile, and Neema was gazing at the ice bear tribe beastpeople with stars in her eyes.

“We want to know about the recent situation on Mount Dotal.”

“You planning to go mountain climbing or something?”

“Yeah, we need to retrieve something on that mountain at all costs.” When I explained that, the men said they would take us to meet with the village chief. “Is it really okay to let us meet with such an important person so easily?”

“The chief is the strongest warrior in this village. He’s in no danger of being defeated by the lot of you.”

Oh, really? If he’s really that strong, I’d love to have a practice fight with him sometime…

The so-called village chief was the very picture of a warrior.

His physique was even more impressive than the other beastpeople, and his eyes drilled into us unflinchingly, sizing us up. It felt like he could see every scar on my body straight through my clothing.

“So you’re Purple Gandal, are you?”

“That is correct. I’m Phillip, the leader of Purple Gandal,” I announced with cool confidence, projecting my own intimidating aura to avoid being swallowed whole by my opponent’s.

However, the leader of the ice bear tribe beastpeople seemed unfazed as he turned his gaze to Prince Wilhelt and his holy beast.

“Isn’t that the prince of the Kingdom of Gaché? I’ve heard their prince is bonded with a wind holy beast.”

Heh. Even in a remote location like this, they’ve got ways to get information from the outside.

“Do you find it strange that we know about the Kingdom of Gaché?” he asked.

“Not at all. His Highness is famous, after all. It’s not unusual for anyone to know of him,” I replied.

Prince Wilhelt’s mother was originally from this country. From what I’d heard, she’d been very popular among the citizens back when she was an imperial princess. Many people probably made it their business to spread the news about their former princess’s married life in her new home.

“Hm. And what do you think about all this, little lady?”

I was surprised when the man suddenly dragged Neema into the conversation, but she had been staring at him the entire time.

“Well, I… I was actually wondering… Why do all of you have white ears? The only member of your tribe I’ve met had gray ears, so I couldn’t help but be curious why…”

I was surprised to hear that Neema was friends with a member of the ice bear tribe, but I failed to see what was so noteworthy about such a small difference between white ears and gray ears.

“Gray? …And you’re saying that this person claimed to be a member of the ice bear tribe?”

“That’s right. His name is Luck.”

The moment Neema spoke this name, all the beastpeople other than the chief gasped.

It turned out that, incredibly, this “Luck” person was from this very village. I thought it was an unbelievable coincidence, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. This was Neema, after all. Fate had a way of tugging her exactly where she needed to go.

However, the shared acquaintance was enough to warm the village chief up to us a bit because he seemed to feel safe enough to let his guard down long enough to go over and offer a formal greeting to the holy beast. This might also have been because beastpeople viewed holy beasts as objects of worship, so his instincts telling him to show reverence to the holy beast outweighed those warning him to be wary of us.

After that, the conversation flowed much more smoothly, and we obtained valuable information from the beastpeople.

Just our luck that the trail we’d been planning to climb was blocked off by an avalanche, making it unpassable!

“If you’re determined to make the climb, I think this is the best route. It will probably be a steep and difficult climb for humans, but it’s outside the snow wolves’ territory, and if there’s any sign of a white moose herd, you can consider yourselves safe.”

The beastpeople also told us that the weather looked like it would hold for the next few days, so if we were going to make the climb, it was now or never. They helpfully taught us the signs that the weather was about to change or an avalanche was about to occur and offered advice about the gear we’d need and where the best places to make camp were.

“Sorry for troubling you so much. Next time we’re in the area, I’ll bring you some great alcohol as a token of my thanks.”

In response, the village chief grinned and said he’d be looking forward to it.

We’d spent much longer than expected in the village, so we had to hurry to set off on our trek.

With the beastpeople waving us off, we hurried back to where the fire dragon was waiting for us, and then we flew to a predetermined point about halfway up the mountain.

I was making a final check of my gear when Neema approached carrying a box of seeds she’d received from the ice bear tribe children, who claimed they repelled atrocious shell-type mamushi.

“This is for you, Uncle Phillip.”

I was honestly touched that Neema was so worried about us.

“The children gave those seeds to you. You hold on to them.”

But Neema wasn’t about to be dissuaded so easily, so I was forced to explain why I didn’t need the seeds.

We knew of the existence of a seed that repelled atrocious shell-type mamushi. However, we’d never used them before. To feel comfortable using something we’d never used before, we would need to test it multiple times to learn all about it.

We needed to understand the ideal timing to scatter the seeds when they were needed and how long it would take for them to take effect. If we tried to use them blindly without knowing those details, we’d undoubtedly leave ourselves open.

“When venturing into dangerous territory, carry weapons you’re accustomed to using” was the golden rule of adventurers.

Just like Karna, Neema was also a clever child, so she had no trouble understanding what I’d told her.

“All right, then, you guys wait for us here. If we don’t come back in five days, leave without us,” I instructed the others.

If everything went according to plan, it should only take three days. Even if something unexpected happened, I didn’t see it taking more than five.

And…

“If ten days pass without any sign of us, you should presume we’re dead.”

In this harsh terrain, even using all of our combined abilities, that was the maximum time we had any hope of surviving. So if ten days passed without any communication from any of us, it could only mean that every last one of us had been wiped out.

Not that I expected that to happen, of course.

“But, Uncle Phillip—”

“Neema, we are adventurers. We can never say with certainty that we’ll make it back.”

I stroked the top of Neema’s head reassuringly as she gazed up at me with concern in her eyes. She was wearing an adorable hat to keep her head warm, so I couldn’t feel her hair.

“I’ll be counting on you to take care of things here, Prince Wilhelt.”

“Leave it to me.”

Leaving the base camp where the largest tent had once again been assembled for Neema and the others behind, we set off hiking towards the summit of Mount Dotal.

At first, we traveled a steep but manageable uphill path covered in heavy snowfall. All of us were wearing snowshoes, so that wasn’t too bad.

After getting past this snow would come the real challenge.

“Speaking of snow, do you guys remember that time we went worm-hunting in the northern mountains?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me!”

Erid’s question brought the experience to the forefront of all our minds. Despite Shou’s disgusted reaction, Erid pressed on eagerly.

“Of course you all remember it! How could you forget when Shou nearly got eaten by one of the worms that we all expected to be easy prey? What a mess that was!”

The job had seemed simple enough: several giant worms had taken up residence in the area the client used for hunting in the winter, so they wanted us to exterminate them.

Even blue rank adventurers could generally defeat giant worms, but this was the northern mountains in the dead of winter, which raised the difficulty level of the job considerably. The snow was even heavier than what we were facing in the Karwarna Mountain Range, and it had been quite the battle just to get to the hunting grounds.

Just remembering that snow made me shiver, relieved that we were here and not there.

“I suppose I shouldn’t say he was ‘nearly’ eaten—he got swallowed whole after all! I’ll never forget how he popped out of that thing’s stomach, covered in blood!”

The giant worm had appeared just as we were spreading giant boar blood on the ground to lure them out. It swallowed Shou—along with a hefty mouthful of the bloody snow at his feet—and he had to resort to using his wind magic to cut his way out from inside its stomach.

However, this giant worm wasn’t the only creature drawn by the scent of blood.

The client had told us a few giant worms were in the area, but there were far more than a few.

That winter, the animals the giant worms normally hunted were scarce, so dozens of them had converged on the hunting grounds where animals were known to gather in search of food and were lying in wait, hidden beneath the earth.

Looking back on it now, I was sincerely grateful it had been us who’d taken that job. Blue or even red rank adventurers would likely have been wiped out.

“Who knows, there may even be a worm or two lurking somewhere in the ground below us at this very moment…”

“Don’t say such terrifying things, Erid!”

Erid couldn’t help teasing Shou about the giant worm phobia he’d developed since that incident.

If there were only a few of them, Shou could easily decimate the worms in the blink of an eye using his magic and his sword, but if there were a lot, he lost his nerve. Although, we’d never encountered such a large number of giant worms before or since.

If they’re in good enough spirits to mess around and tease each other, I’ll count it as a good thing.

When the slope became too severe, we changed tactics, preparing to climb the ice wall. As we removed our snowshoes and put on climbing talons, Shou called out a challenge to Erid, almost as if in good-natured retaliation for his earlier teasing.

“Erid, let’s see who can reach the top first!”

“I’ll accept the challenge if you agree that the loser has to buy a sanpegrim for the winner.”

Sanpegrim was a type of liquor that was as delicious as it was expensive. The refreshing aroma, faint sweetness, and the strange sensation it evoked on the tongue were addictive.

“All right, count me in!” I called out.

Adventuring was always more fun if there was something to look forward to when our work was done, after all.

“Don’t forget to avoid the places where the sunlight is touching,” Colenan called out in warning before we began climbing side-by-side.

“Got it. You two can take your time.”

“Of course. I have no desire to be dragged into an avalanche, thank you very much.”

I was well accustomed to that guy’s sharp tongue by now, so I let it go with a chuckle.

“Colenan, you call out the signal to start!”

Each of us picked our best route and got into position to begin the climb.

“Fine. Are you all ready? In that case… Go!”

The moment the signal came, Erid, positioned next to me, leapt into the air.

Hey, hey! Where do you get the energy to jump so high loaded down with all of that gear?!

Erid may be in the lead, but I was far from giving up. Immediately, I began scrambling up the ice wall. However, with how unfazed Erid was by the burden of his gear, try as I might, I couldn’t catch up.

“Damn!”

“I win!”

In the end, Erid won.

Beyond the ice wall, the path became a manageable slope again. According to the chief of the ice bear tribe village, this area was prone to avalanches.

“Shou, search for the cave the village chief told us about.”

The ice bear tribe sometimes ventured into this area to hunt, and they’d told us they had established a place to take refuge in case of emergency. Of course, they’d given us permission to use it.

“Heh, so ‘Lord Erid’ gets to take a rest as a reward for winning, is that it?”

Shou, too, was a bit salty about having lost to Erid.

I can relate. Erid’s around the same age as me, so I can’t even blame it on him being younger.

“Phillip, what should we have for dinner tonight?”

“Hm, I don’t care as long as it’s hot!”

Today was Erid’s turn to prepare the evening meal, so he seemed to be thinking about what to make, but frankly, anything was fine with me so long as it was edible.

“Hey guys, I found the cave!”

Shou’s voice carried up from a ledge just a bit below us, and Erid announced that he would go in first to start the preparations for our camp that night.

I would wait here until Colenan and the others arrived. I had a feeling I’d be subjected to an intolerable amount of grumbling if I didn’t.

“You certainly took your time, eh?”

“It was quite difficult to climb after somebody made holes all over the cliff face.”

“Heh, sorry about that.”

Our headlong sprint to the top had destabilized the ice wall for our friends who would come after.

“Erid’s making dinner. Let’s go.”

Inside the tent where we’d be spending the night, we discussed our route for the following day while we ate.

If we wanted to avoid the area where avalanches were likely to occur, our only option was to take a path known as “the ice road.” There, we would need to keep a close watch for cracks in the ice or risk plunging to our deaths.

We’d been told that if we followed the ice road upward, it would take us almost the entire way to the mountain’s peak.

From there, we would follow the ridgeline back down a bit until a lake that would never freeze, no matter how cold it got, came into view. The cave was said to be near this lake, although we hadn’t been able to gather any more concrete details about its exact location.

I wanted to find the cave before sunset. Either way, we’d be forced to wait until the moon rose, but we’d surely appreciate the opportunity to rest our weary bodies in the meantime.

“A lake that never freezes, huh? I wonder if any fish live in there.”

“Don’t even think about stopping to go fishing.”

I could already picture Erid using the excuse of “replenishing our supplies” to goof off and go fishing, so I preemptively warned him off.

“It looks like we’re going to have an even more grueling day tomorrow, so I’m going to turn in early.”

“Yeah. We’re going to be counting on you tomorrow especially, Eligeena.”

Without Eligeena using her healing magic to help ease our exhaustion, it would be hard to make any progress in this wild terrain.

After we’d determined the lookout schedule, I followed Eligeena’s lead and got some sleep while I could.

🐉 🐉 🐉

WHEN we arrived at the start of the ice road, its magnificence floored me.

“Is this really ice?”

A giant mass of built-up ice was sparkling like a jewel in the reflected light of the sun. There were several of these, and depending on the location, the colors were different.

“Phillip, do you hear that sound?”

“Yeah, it sounds like the ice is moving.”

A dry, cracking sound could be heard periodically. It was the sound of ice breaking. I’d heard this same sound long ago at a lake in the Osphe Province. At that time, I’d been goofing around with Dayle, and we’d nearly fallen into the lake when the ice fractured under us.

So, there was a high likelihood that running water was somewhere underneath this ice road as well. However, if we fell into a crack here, we’d be crushed to death between the pieces of moving ice long before we had to worry about freezing or drowning.

“Listen carefully as we proceed. We aren’t likely to get much warning before a crack opens up.”

I was in complete agreement with Colenan’s suggestion. It was clear that traversing this ice road would be another life-or-death situation.

“Shou, look!”

Around the time we’d all gotten fairly used to the ice road, we discovered a particularly large crack in the ice.

Currently, Erid was pretending to stab his spear into the crack. “When I do this, doesn’t it look like I’m breaking the ice open with my spear?”

“Yeah, totally! I wanna try, too!”

Shou headed over to the crack and swung his sword toward it from above his head. Sure, at the very end of his swing, there was a moment when it appeared as if he’d cracked the ice open with a single blow from his sword, but…

Are all of you too stupid to recognize the very real danger coming from behind you? I can feel the frigid waves rolling off of Eligeena from here, not to mention her furious glare that looks sharp enough to kill! If you don’t stop messing around, she’s going to stop helping you recover your energy!

Somehow, even with the guys fooling around the entire way, we still made it safely to the mountain’s peak without losing too much time.

Along the way, just as I’d suspected, Eligeena got fed up with Erid and Shou’s antics and announced she wouldn’t be using any more restoration magic on them, and they were forced to bow down until their foreheads touched the ice and apologize before she finally relented. That had been amusing.

“Woo-hee, that’s sure an impressive view!”

Shou whistled in appreciation of the beautiful scenery, but my impression was a bit darker. From here, you could see the many dangers that made this mountain so lethal, all laid out before us.

The northern face of the mountain was essentially a sheer cliff that dropped straight down to the foot of the mountain. There was no snow piled up, which I took to mean that all the snow that fell immediately tumbled straight to the bottom.

…Maybe the fact that there’s no accumulated snow packed down holding the mountainside in place actually makes avalanches more likely?

“Is this where we’re supposed to descend along the rim?”

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be much further now.”

The footing was poor here, so we were forced to proceed slowly with an abundance of caution.

Just as I called out, “Don’t you guys dare fall!” Shou’s leg slipped.

“Ahhh!”

“Shou!”

Colenan reacted immediately and used his magic to stop Shou’s descent, but he’d already slid down about two mino.

“I’ll make steps for you to climb back up.” Colenan drew out a pouch from inside his bag. It contained nothing but plain old dirt.

On a perilous mountain such as this, it was possible that using magic would only worsen the situation, causing cliffs to crumble and rockslides to occur. I wouldn’t rule anything out here.

For this reason, to create steps for Shou without destabilizing the existing mountainside, the only other option was to use soil brought in from outside.

However, since he only had a limited amount of dirt, Colenan could only make two steps at a time, alternately dissolving the soil from one and reforming it again a step higher. Fortunately, Colenan was an experienced magic user, and Shou was no stranger to such situations either.

I was impressed by how well they moved in tandem, Shou deftly climbing up the cliff at the same speed as Colenan created the steps. Although it was a simple spell, there weren’t many magic users who could cast it again and again so many times in such close succession.

…That’s not entirely true; I have a feeling there are more than a few people capable of such a feat among the Osphe family and their servants. That family’s servants are highly unusual in a variety of ways.

“Phew, that was sure surprising!”

“We’re the ones who should be saying that.”

We had several more close calls after that, but somehow or other, we made it safely to the lake.

“It’s gorgeous,” Eligeena remarked almost wistfully.

The ice-free lake was incredibly clear, and you could see straight to the bottom. There was no sign of any fish, though.

“All right, let’s look for that cave, then, shall we?”

We started by searching the area around the lake, but didn’t find anything resembling a cave.

We did find something unpleasant, though.

“I was hoping not to run into them…”

I heartily agreed with Shou’s disgusted remark.

They were here—those damn atrocious shell-type mamushi.

“Has anyone else noticed that although a lot of footprints are concentrated over there, they cut off suddenly?”

I glanced over at the spot Erid had pointed to, and there were indeed a large number of footprints in the snow. However, the fact that they suddenly disappeared indicated that they were coming and going over that cliff.

I gazed up at the top of the cliff and noticed a narrow ledge with several rocks of varying sizes scattered below it.

“Is that it?”

“I’ll go take a look,” Erid said, having already put on his climbing talons. He quickly put down his pack and began scaling the cliff.

In an attempt to avoid detection by the atrocious shell-type mamushi, Erid circumvented the ledge in a large arch, choosing instead to peek down at it from above. Once he’d reached a position where he could see the ledge clearly, he immediately began making his way back down.

“There’s no doubt about it, that’s definitely it. There are animal bones and the dead bodies of atrocious shell-type mamushi near the entrance.”

“In that case, let’s get somewhere we can see the mouth of the cave and do a bit of surveillance.”

In order to get at least a general idea of the scope of this atrocious shell-type mamushi hive, we decided to set up our tree sacks along the opposing cliff face.

Taking turns on surveillance duty, we counted the atrocious shell-type mamushi entering and exiting the cave. The same individual might have been counted more than once, but that was fine; the more activity we observed, the larger we could presume the hive was.

We also set up a tent on the ground to use to rest, which we camouflaged with stones and tree branches to hide it from the mamushi.

We couldn’t risk producing any smell from cooking food, so we had to make do with eating bland, dry rations. It was a flavor we’d all become accustomed to over the course of our careers as adventurers, but after the delicious fare we’d been treated to at the imperial palace, these rations tasted disgusting.

Once we’d each finished taking a turn on surveillance duty, we met to discuss our observations and mutually concluded that this was the largest hive we’d encountered thus far.

This was hardly good news.

The first rays of moonlight had begun shining down on the lake’s surface, so we broke down our makeshift camp and got ready to move in.

“Everyone, stick to the plan, okay?”

“Got it. I’ll go first.”

With this, Shou began climbing the cliff.

His appointed task was to secure the entrance. With his ability to use wind magic, Shou could create a breeze to deliver a sleeping drug deep inside the cave.

Shou dropped the drug—a smoldering bundle of herbs—from directly above the ledge, then sent the smoke into the cave on a gentle gust of wind. After waiting a short while, he climbed down onto the ledge and spread another dose of the sleeping drug.

Once Shou gave the signal, the rest of us made our way up to the entrance.

Atrocious shell-type mamushi were known for building their hives into a complicated system of tunnels resembling a maze. This cave was no exception.

All of us covered our faces and entered the cave.

Several atrocious shell-type mamushi were already lying unconscious on the ground as we made our way deeper into the dark interior of the cave, where the moonlight no longer reached.

We pulled out magic-item lanterns and proceeded forward, where Shou spread more of the sleeping drug. We continued this pattern, spreading more of the sleeping drug as needed while we explored the interior of the cave system.

We made our way through a series of interconnected caves, but so far, we hadn’t located the anniley we were here for. Just as we were about to continue, an ominous scuttling sound echoed through the cave from up ahead. Or rather, should I say multiple scuttling sounds?

“Use two bundles at once.”

As the drug took effect, the sounds became fainter.

Once the scuttling sounds had faded completely, we entered the next cave, only to come face-to-face with a truly horrifying sight.

“Why are they all gathered in here?”

“Perhaps to protect that?”

Eligeena pointed at what looked like a white cocoon. Based on its size, it was likely an atrocious shell-type mamushi egg sack.

“In conclusion, it looks like this might be the center of the hive.” Colenan explained that by his reasoning, the mamushi would likely protect important things like their eggs at the very center of their hive.

We left the egg room and entered another cave further in, where we found a flower that could only be anniley.

Seemingly, due to the mountain’s natural structure, the ceiling of this cave was open to the outside. Looking up at the moon, I lamented that if we’d known this would be the case, we could’ve asked the fire dragon to scout from above.

Bathed in moonlight, the flower’s petals were large and luscious, making it visible even from a distance.

“I’m sure that’s what we’re looking for, but we’ve got another problem—some of those guys are still awake.”

“Indeed, it seems the deviations are still moving around energetically.”

One of the reasons these creatures were called “atrocious” was because, despite being magical insects, their species sometimes produced deviations. Normally, deviations only occurred among monster species, but they were also found among the “atrocious” varieties of magical insects that built hives and lived in swarms.

And, of course, being deviations, they were much stronger than their already formidable “normal” counterparts.

“Why are they swarming around the flowers?”

“I imagine they’re drinking the nectar. It could be that the anniley nectar is what’s making the sleeping drug ineffective.”

I see… I suppose it’s not strange for a magical plant to have some kind of unknown effect like that. Come to think of it, considering it’s an essential ingredient for the elves’ secret potion, it would be more surprising if it didn’t have any effect on creatures that ate its nectar.

In addition to the deviations gathered around the flowers, another even larger deviation appeared to be awake but wasn’t moving. The other deviations were carrying nectar over to it and feeding it as if taking care of it.

“What should we do? Should we try the sleeping drug again, even knowing it probably won’t work?”

“Isn’t this the time to put plan B into action?”

Looking proud of himself, Erid dragged over a piece of an atrocious shell-type mamushi corpse.

“Remember how last time we encountered these guys, they stopped attacking after we got covered in the gore from the first few we killed? I have a theory that was because we smelled like one of them in that state.”

The piece of carcass he was holding was the stomach portion, and it was large enough that he needed both hands to carry it.

Where the heck did he find that?! And more importantly, don’t come up with a “plan B” all on your own without consulting the rest of us!

“So you’re suggesting we rub ‘mysterious body juices’ all over ourselves on the off chance your theory’s correct?!”

This mamushi hadn’t been dead all that long because it was leaking some kind of thick liquid. Whether from an innate aversion or due to unpleasant memories, Shou point-blank refused.

“Me, Erid, and Colenan will go,” I announced.

There was only a certain amount of mysterious body juice to go around, so we had to limit the number of people who used it. Colenan was the best suited for using the magical item we’d received from the elves to collect the nectar from the flowers, and with his agile frame, Erid could grab the magical item and make a run for it if the situation called for it.

Shou crowed, “Yeah!” in elation over being excluded from having to go, but I wasn’t about to let him off that easily.

“Don’t get too excited, Shou. When it’s time to run away, you’re taking the lead.”

It would be his job to open up a path for Erid and the rest of us to flee outside.

Once we’d confirmed each of our roles, it was time to liberally douse ourselves in mysterious body juices.

“Blegh! What is this foul stench…?!”

It smelled an awful lot like a type of fruit named bonpon, which was famous for its horrible smell.

“If we make it out of here alive, I’ll use magic to clean you all up, so deal with it for now,” Eligeena promised, and with that, the three of us went to retrieve the anniley.

We moved slowly, concealing our presence and not making a sound until we were right next to it. At that point, the atrocious shell-type mamushi noticed us.

The antennas on their heads extended in our direction as if they were trying to use them to determine something. We stayed perfectly still, and after a long, tense moment, the atrocious shell-type mamushi seemed to lose interest and wandered off.

“See, we managed to trick them!”

“Shh!”

The moment Erid spoke, the antennas perked up. All the atrocious shell-type mamushi who’d just left returned instantly to surround Erid.

This was our chance.

I signaled to Colenan with my eyes, telling him to collect the anniley nectar while Erid was distracting the atrocious shell-type mamushi.

Once he was done, I registered out of the corner of my eye that Colenan had backed away from the anniley, so I moved as slowly and unobtrusively as possible to take the magical item from him.

Sensing movement, the atrocious shell-type mamushi turned their attention towards us.

Colenan, moving slowly enough not to antagonize them, did his best to draw their attention to himself so I could discreetly pass the magical item to Erid. Once he’d received it, he gave a little nod, then silently crept away from us.

As Erid disappeared from sight, the atrocious shell-type mamushi converged around Colenan and me. We had to stay still and hold their attention until Erid reached Shou and the others, so we had no choice but to stand there and endure the creeping feeling of their antennas brushing up against us all over our bodies. I was pretty sure they were trying to confirm whether or not we were one of them, but either way, it was more than a little unsettling.

One of the mamushi clacked its long, wickedly curved fangs together threateningly, and the atmosphere around us changed instantly.

“It looks like they’re onto us.”

I frantically searched for Erid through the narrow space between the mamushi, but he was only about halfway to Shou and the others.

Damn, he’s not there yet.

“Shou, Erid, run!”

My shout seemed to settle the matter for the atrocious shell-type mamushi: I was decidedly not one of them.

In what seemed to be their equivalent of a growl, the mamushi all began clacking their fangs together threateningly as they converged on Colenan and me, with a few breaking off to chase after Erid and the others.

“Colenan, jump!”

One of the atrocious shell-type mamushi’s natural weaknesses was the fact that they had a blind spot directly above their heads. They were magical insects that crawled along the ground, and while the “ground” they walked on might sometimes be a wall or even the ceiling, they weren’t capable of tilting their head back to look up.

Colenan and I leapt into the air and used the magical insects’ bodies as stepping stones to escape being surrounded.

Colenan used his fire magic to roast the few atrocious shell-type mamushi who’d gone after Erid and the others.

“Block this tunnel.”

After confirming that the other three had already run ahead, we made sure that the deviations in the interior cave couldn’t follow us. Just as they were about to burst out of the cave in pursuit, Colenan summoned a wall using silent spellcasting.

Almost immediately, a ruckus of crashing noises came from the other side of the wall. It seemed the atrocious shell-type mamushi were attempting to head-butt their way through.

“Shou, the drug! They’re starting to wake up!”

“I know!”

Shou ignited the sleeping drug right in his bare hands and used a strong gust of wind to spread the smoke as quickly as possible while running through the tunnels without stopping. He had to be badly burning both of his hands holding onto the lit bundle of herbs, but he didn’t dare let go.

We’d marked the path we’d taken to reach this point, so we thankfully didn’t have to worry about getting lost. All we had to focus on was running for our lives.

“It’s no use! There are a bunch of them up ahead!”

Colenan reacted immediately to Erid’s report.

“Shou, I need wind!”

Colenan chanted a short spell, and when he got to where Erid was, he cast another.

Coupled with the wind magic Shou had unleashed, this caused a tremendous explosion. He’d quickly erected a wall using magic to block the flames from burning us, but even the shockwaves from the blast were powerful enough to cause us to stumble.

“I reinforced the cave with magic, but it’s still possible it might collapse.”

So that’s what the first spell was for: to reinforce the cave before he cast the fire spell.

“Nicely done!”

While we were dealing with the atrocious shell-type mamushi in front of us, the deviations started to catch up from behind.

“Shit! Run, run!”

The deviations stabbed at us with their front legs, which had sharp spikes on the ends. I used my sword to deflect the spikes, then took the offensive, aiming for their joints.

Even one of Shou’s powerful blows wasn’t enough to sever the mamushi’s legs; it took two or three strikes per leg. We quickly gave up on trying to kill the atrocious shell-type mamushi and instead focused on evading them.

However, they just kept coming from behind. Without making any noise and showing no particular malice, they simply followed their natural instincts, which drove them to attack us.

“I can see the exit!”

“Jump straight down! Eligeena, get your healing magic ready!” I ordered.

It was a considerable drop from the ledge to the ground below, but not enough to kill us. If Eligeena timed it right and cast a healing spell while we were in the air, we should still be able to run to escape.

“Jump, now!”

The moonlight came into view, and still at an all-out run, I launched myself off the cliff.

“Seleite Dieusahé Cresiolle!”

I was too far outside of the range of the healing spell, so when I landed on the ground, it was accompanied by a thundering impact and instantaneous, excruciating pain.

The timing was off!

I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t made it; somewhere off to the side, I could hear Shou groaning.

“I hurt all over…”

“Me too.”

I tried to drag myself to my feet, but the pain was too intense, and I couldn’t.

I think I’ve got a broken bone somewhere…

Eligeena hurried to cast another healing spell on Shou and me, but the atrocious shell-type mamushi were already pouring out of the cave and heading straight for us.

“Hurry!”

If we tried to go back the way we’d come, they would catch up to us on that narrow, slippery path along the ridgeway.

“This way!”

We fled in the opposite direction from where we’d come, and the frozen ground underfoot acted like a slide, sending us scrambling and skating as we tried to control our free-fall down the mountainside.

There was no time to even call out a warning, but it wasn’t necessary. We all laughed from the adrenaline high as we flew downhill.

Sorry, Neema.

It looks like we’re going to be late…

We’re taking the long way back!

12 - How to Play on a Snowy Mountain

UNCLE PHILLIP said he wanted to stop in at a village at the base of the mountain, so we got Sol to put us down a short distance away out of sight. While we were making our way down to the village on foot, Uncle Phillip explained the reason for this detour.

“The people from the village often go hunting on this mountain, so they’re very familiar with the terrain.”

So, he wanted to ask them about the recent weather and any places to avoid.

It’s important to check the weather before going mountain climbing!

When we reached the village, I was surprised to learn it was a beastperson village. These beastpeople were clearly some variant of the bear tribe, but their ears were white.

Which must mean they’re polar bears!

I was getting excited about meeting what I thought were “polar bear tribe” beastpeople for the first time when, to my surprise, they announced they were from the ice bear tribe.

That’s the same tribe Luck’s from! But then why is their fur a different color from Luck’s?

Beastpeople surrounded us, which gave me the perfect opportunity to examine their furry white ears up close.

While Uncle Phillip requested information about the mountain, I considered these beastpeople’s differences from my friend Luck.

I got the feeling that Luck’s ears were more rounded than theirs. Their skin was the same shade of sun-kissed beige as Luck’s, though. And I could only assume that being huge and muscley was a universal trait among all of the sub-divisions of the bear tribe.

But their ears sure are cute, huh?

Those cute ears attached to such a fierce face seemed like a juxtaposition, but in the end, cuteness won out!

At some point, we were led to the village chief’s house.

Several tough-looking men were already in the room with the village chief when we were led in, and all of them had white ears as well.

Come to think of it, it’s actually kind of unusual that there’s no individual variety in the color of their fur.

Without warning, the village chief suddenly drew me into their conversation, but I had no idea what they’d been talking about. It was painfully clear that I hadn’t been paying attention, but while I had the chance, I made the most of it and asked the question that had been bothering me this whole time.

“Well, I… I was actually wondering… Why do all of you have white ears? The only member of your tribe I’ve met had gray ears, so I couldn’t help but be curious why…”

When I mentioned the difference between their ears and my friend’s, the village leader reacted with surprise. I shared Luck’s name, but never in a million years would I have guessed that Luck was from this very village!

Whether it’s Vel or Luck, I keep finding unexpected connections with my friends wherever I go.

As I explained the details of my encounter with Luck, I got the feeling that the village chief began to soften a bit.

“So you’re the ‘unusual young noblewoman’ Luck mentioned in his letter.”

Luck! What exactly did you write about me in that letter?! I didn’t do anything weird to warrant being described as “unusual,” did I? I only recall asking him to let me touch his ears and having him help me carry some food to Belgar and the other street kids…

“As you say, Luck’s coloring is different than the rest of the ice bear tribe. That’s because his mother is from the rock bear tribe, and he inherited their coloring.”

I see, so he inherited the best traits of each parent! But if the ice bear tribe are descended from polar bears, I wonder what kind of bear the rock bear tribe are descended from?

I pictured their animal ancestor as a brown bear, but it could also be a variety of bears that didn’t exist on Earth. Unfortunately, Luck’s parents had both passed away, though it seemed his siblings were still alive.

Uncle Phillip wanted to discuss the situation on the mountain in detail with the village chief, so we were permitted to look around the village.

The ice bear tribe may live in one of the most extreme climates on the continent, but in their village, things were peaceful and idyllic. Everywhere I looked, children were running around energetically.

“There sure are a lot of children here, huh?”

The children’s ears were rounder than the adults’, and their hair was wild and fluffy. I really wanted to pet it!

Suddenly, a small boy called out to us, “Hey, you guys are humans, right? Is it true you know Luck?”

Several other children were with him, and all of them were looking at us with their eyes glimmering with curiosity.

“My dad said that thanks to Luck, he was able to meet a holy beast!”

Is that why they were looking for us? Because they wanted to meet a holy beast, too?

The children gazed up at Will and politely asked if it would be okay for them to pay their respects.

I wish they’d looked up at me with those adorable begging eyes! Although, considering how short I am, I guess they wouldn’t be looking “up” at me even if it was me they asked…

“That’s up to Lars.”

Yeesh, you’re so cold, Will! It wouldn’t kill you to ask Lars for a favor, would it? Just look how disappointed the children look! Hm, that’s interesting… Unlike a dog, their ears don’t droop when they’re upset.

All right! If Will won’t do it, I’ll ask Lars!

“Lars, pretty please?” I bowed my head to Lars and asked him in my most angelic tone of voice, and he caved, lying down on the ground to put him at eye level with the children.

I wasn’t allowed to hug Lars where people could see, so I’d have to thank him properly later.

“Lucky for you, it seems Lars is willing.”

The children cheered in response to Will’s observation. Seeing their overflowing joy made me smile as well.

The first child approached Lars and knelt in front of him.

“I am Stan of the ice bear tribe. It’s… Um, it’s… It’s a huge honor to be able to meet a wind holy beast!” Stan got so nervous that he froze up for a moment, but in the end, he successfully completed his greeting.

I got the impression that the other children viewed him like an older brother.

I’m guessing he chose to go first to show the other children an example of how they should greet a holy beast?

Lars didn’t respond, but that didn’t dissuade the other children from copying Stan and greeting him formally one after another.

Beastpeople considered it of the utmost importance to show respect to holy beasts, so they wouldn’t have cared even if Lars had closed his eyes and fallen asleep. Not that Lars was asleep, but he clearly had no interest in the proceedings whatsoever.

“Thanks! This is for you, to thank you for your help.”

With this, Stan handed me a small box. It was small but looked kind of familiar.

“What’s this?”

I stared curiously at the box until, all at once, I realized why it looked so familiar—it was a bento lunchbox! It looked just like old-fashioned bento boxes made out of thin strips of wood curved into an oval shape.

“If you have this, atrocious shell-type mamushi won’t come anywhere near you.”

I assumed he wasn’t referring to the box, but whatever was inside it. I cautiously opened the lid and found the box was filled to the brim with what looked like green-colored grains of rice.

“We call them ‘the fountain of tears.’ If you bite one, your nose will hurt like crazy, and you won’t be able to stop crying, so whatever you do, don’t eat them!”

If you tell me not to eat them, it somehow makes me want to try…

I took just one piece and put it in my mouth. The instant I bit down, I understood what Stan had meant.

“Ahh! I told you not to eat them!”

An intense stimulation ran straight up to my nasal cavity, accompanied by a slightly different sensation of “spiciness” than hot peppers, and my tear ducts went into overdrive, producing a torrent of unintentional tears.

This flavor was very familiar to me.

That’s right, it was the same as the condiment indispensable to sashimi and sushi—wasabi!

“Neema, are you okay?” Karna gently wiped my seemingly endless tears for me.

“Yeah. These seeds have a really powerful taste; I think they’re only suitable for grown-ups!”

The spice level was too intense for my child’s tongue, so I couldn’t tolerate much of it, but I wanted to try making a paste out of these seeds and putting just a little of it on some raw fish to recreate the authentic taste of sashimi.

Saying that if I could eat it, he should be fine, Will also ate one of the seeds and instantly let out a groan.

“…Is this some kind of spice or something?”

I suppose you could say that… More importantly, though, I count this as a precious experience, seeing Will with tears welling up in his eyes!

He seemed to be doing his best not to cry, but his unfairly beautiful face was twisted in a grimace of suffering.

“I’m surprised you were so unfazed,” he remarked to me gruffly.

It looks like Will really can’t handle the spiciness of wasabi. He was totally fine with that root vegetable that tasted like hot peppers, though.

It somehow made me secretly happy to learn that there were some things Will wasn’t naturally good at.

Hehe, I’ll have to sneak one of these into his food the next time he annoys me!

“Neema, when you’re scheming, you need to be more careful not to let it show on your face,” Karna chided.

Eek! My expression revealed my wicked thoughts again! I need to be more careful!

Following our memorable interaction with the group of children, we met back up with Uncle Phillip and the others, and together, we returned to where Sol was waiting before flying further up the mountain. A decently sized plateau was approximately halfway up the mountain, and that’s where Sol landed.

Excitement welled up inside me at the sight of the wide expanse of light and fluffy snow, which looked perfect for playing in, but I knew this wasn’t the time.

I tried to give the wasabi-like seeds to Uncle Phillip since he was much more likely to encounter the atrocious shell-type mamushi than us. However, he turned the offer down flat. He explained that he couldn’t afford to rely on an untried method in an emergency.

I suppose it can’t be helped; he has his own way of doing things. In that case, I’ll just have to keep these seeds to use as wasabi on my sashimi!

Uncle Phillip and his companions quickly readied their gear, and before they left, he told us, “If ten days pass without any sign of us, you should presume we’re dead.”

“But, Uncle Phillip—”

But Uncle Phillip just calmly reminded me that they were adventurers.

He’d said the same thing before, but even the most straightforward, easy job came with the possibility of death, and the more experienced the adventurer, the more mentally prepared they were for that possibility.

From his expression, I got the feeling that he enjoyed the thrill of danger, so I tried to tell myself that it would probably be fine and that I shouldn’t worry.

We all gathered to see the members of Purple Gandal off on their mission, and then Paul and the others began preparing our camp, including digging a fire pit. They’d already begun setting up our tent as soon as we arrived, so the outside was already complete. All that remained was the interior, neatly arranging our gear inside the tent and creating a water source, a fire pit, and so on.

Shinki was roped into helping, but Karna and I weren’t allowed to assist, so we were left to simply watch the others set up camp.

In short, I was bored.

The lifesaving rope had been fully extended, and after confirming with Paul that it was okay to go play, I set off to do just that.

I was playing in the snow with my monster friends when I realized something was off about Kai.

“What’s the matter?”

Kai wouldn’t come out of the basket on the ground beside Sol. “It’s cold out there, so I don’t want to come out.”

“What if I ask Karna to cast a spell on you?”

But Kai shook his head emphatically, no.

Hmm, in that case…

“Inaho, come here!” I called out to Inaho, who was chasing Seigo and Rikusei around in the snow.

“Kyun?”

“Kai is cold; can you please warm him up?”

“Kyun!”

Inaho gave a little cry that seemed to mean something like “Piece of cake!” and bounded into the basket with Kai.

I then instructed Kai to hold Inaho.

“…I feel warm now…”

Inaho’s tails were constantly warm, and if you touched her, she could give you a little piece of that warmth.

“All right, then let’s play!”

I led Inaho and Kai to an area a short distance away from the tent, where I scooped snow into a pile.

“Seigo and Rikusei, give me a hand!”

I wanted to mound up as much snow as possible, so I had the two kobolds use their hind legs to kick snow on top of the rapidly growing pile.

We built a domed hill out of snow. I attempted to pack the snow down by stomping on it, but I was too light to make much of a difference.

“Paul, do we have a sharlo?”

We’d come to a snow-covered mountain, so I assumed we’d brought one, but when I asked Paul, he responded with a question of his own.

“What are you planning to do with it?”

I could practically hear the undertone of what he was implying. “Behave yourself until we’re done setting up!” But that was exactly what I was doing—entertaining myself by playing so I didn’t get in anyone’s way.

“It’s a secret!”

I had a feeling he would forbid me from continuing with my plan if I told him, so I would keep it a secret until what I was building was complete.

“Shinki, you stay with Lady Neema. And make sure she doesn’t get her hands on a sharlo.”

How heartless can you be, Paul?!

Oh, in case you were wondering, a “sharlo” was essentially a shovel. It was a necessary tool for clearing snow.

Shinki brought over a shovel, which he used himself to avoid going against Paul’s orders, and I informed him we were building a massive snow pile.

I worked with Seigo and Rikusei to gather the snow, which we had Shinki shovel up on top of the growing mound. Thanks to Shinki’s considerable arm strength, we ended up with a snow pile taller than Shinki.

I tidied up the shape a bit, and then it was Kai’s turn.

“I’d like you to pour water all over the exterior.”

“Okay.”

It was cold enough that the snow pile didn’t melt like shaved ice. Instead, it absorbed the water and hardened.

All that’s left now is to dig out the center!

I marked the area where I wanted to create a fairly small entrance. Although we were just going to dig out the snow from the inside, we had to be careful not to let the walls get too thin or risk the entire structure collapsing.

Shinki insisted on following the letter of Paul’s order and not letting me touch the shovel, so I had no choice but to give him orders and let him do most of the work.

When the snow pile was about halfway hollowed out, we took a break.

The tent was already set up, but Karna and Will were sitting outside elegantly reading. It was rare to see them in close physical proximity without arguing, but they certainly made for a beautiful picture sitting side-by-side like that. In terms of physical attractiveness, they were well-matched, but when it came to their personalities, their compatibility was very, very poor.

“Are you done already?”

Sol had been quietly watching as we worked, but now he roused himself to scrutinize the snow pile we’d created.

“Not yet. We have to make it bigger inside.”

At this point, we’d hollowed out the interior just enough for me to stand up straight, but there wasn’t room for my monster friends to join me.

“Inside?”

It seemed that Sol was trying to peek inside, but misjudged the distance because the next thing I knew, Sol had shoved his snout through the side of the snow pile.

“Sorry.”

Instead of speaking out loud, for some reason, Sol apologized directly to me using telepathy. It was rare for Sol to make such an uncool slip-up.

I suppose I should count myself lucky to have witnessed such a rare sight.

“It’s okay, we can fix it!” I responded energetically, hoping Sol wouldn’t become depressed over his mistake. It worked because Sol, seeming relieved, went to pull his snout out of the snow pile.

Just then, a tremendous blast assaulted us.

I was sent flying, landing hard in a cushioned snowbank a short distance away. I didn’t feel any pain, but I was extremely startled.

“Neema!” Karna frantically raced over to me and helped me to my feet.

“What happened?!”

Will, Paul, and the others all gathered around, and Lars let out a short “Growl!”

“Huh?!”

What did Lars just say to Will?

Will’s voice had broken as he cried out in disbelief, making me achingly curious to know what Lars had said.

“…The fire dragon sneezed?”

“…I’m sorry. Again.”

Sol looked terribly ashamed of himself as he apologized with the utmost sincerity. Perhaps it was a trick of my eyes, but he almost seemed to be shrinking in on himself, and I couldn’t help but think it looked adorable.

“The snow got inside my nose.”

It turned out the snow was to blame for Sol’s sudden sneeze.

I didn’t even know Sol was biologically capable of sneezing. Does that mean Lars can also sneeze?

Cats’ sneezes were super cute, so I hoped I would get to see Lars sneeze someday. I could only hope it didn’t cause an explosion like Sol’s sneeze.

Seigo and Rikusei, who’d been lying right next to the snow pile resting, had been sent flying by the explosion, but they quickly righted themselves and raced over to me, barking uproariously.

Their ears are pressed flat against their heads… I guess they got quite the shock?

“Are you guys okay?” I stroked the kobolds’ heads, reassuringly muttering, “You must’ve been so surprised, huh?”

Hmm… Kai and Inaho are nowhere to be seen…

“Kai! Inaho!” I shouted, and from a good distance away, a faint voice called out, “Mistress!”

I made my way toward where I thought the voice had come from and quickly came across a deep, person-shaped indent in the snow so exaggerated that it resembled something out of a manga.

“Kai?!”

“…I can’t move.”

Kai was more or less buried in the snow. In a stroke of bad luck, in exactly the spot he’d landed, the snow was deeper than elsewhere, and with how forcefully he’d been thrown, he was driven deep enough that the snow prevented him from moving.

If I did it, I’d probably make the situation worse, so I asked Shinki to clear away the snow, freeing Kai and Inaho.

Kai had been holding Inaho the whole time, which turned out to be a stroke of luck since he’d been able to protect her much smaller and more delicate body with his own when they were thrown.

After we’d all been confirmed safe from the dragon sneeze disaster, we moved to a new spot and began piling up snow again. The first snow pile had been blown to smithereens, so we cut our losses and started fresh.

By the time we created a mound the same size as the first snow pile, the sun had begun to set, and it was about time for dinner, so we had to call it a day.

Tonight, Paul and the others had prepared whole roasted chicken for our supper. When they removed the lid from the pan, a tantalizing smell spilled forth, causing my stomach to rumble.

The juicy, perfectly cooked chicken and the assorted vegetables that had sucked up all the chicken’s juices as they roasted looked so delicious! But before we dug in, I had a plan to enact: I asked the elemental spirits to put one of the wasabi-like seeds in Will’s food!

To me, it looked like the little green kernel was floating, but I thought—or rather, hoped—that since Will could see the elemental spirits, their bodies would block his view of the seed.

But the elemental spirits took my request a little too literally.

They dropped the green seed on Will’s plate of food. That’s right; they didn’t hide it among the vegetables or stuff it under the meat; they dropped it on top of a chunk of chicken right in front of Will’s eyes.

“Neema, are you under the delusion that because I’m a prince, I won’t be severe?” His eyes were deadly serious.

I knew from experience that Will was true to his word; when he was angry, he made it known without holding back. Often in the form of tugging on my cheeks.

He reached towards me, and I braced myself for what I assumed would be another cheek-tugging punishment. But instead of pinching and tugging, he cupped my cheeks with both of his hands. Then he dug his fingers in and squished my cheeks, so I was making a “fish face.” It didn’t actually hurt, but the weird face he was forcing me to make was more than a little embarrassing.

“Let goooo…”

Why isn’t anyone coming to my rescue and making him stop?!

“It’s not a big deal this time, but you must never do something like this when other people are around,” Karna said, her voice uncharacteristically serious.

“Why?”

Even I had better manners than to play a prank in front of strangers, but I found it strange that Karna felt it necessary to warn me off.

Is it because I asked the elemental spirits to help?

“Are you dumb? If you’re caught mixing something into my food, you could be executed for trying to assassinate the crown prince using poison,” Will scoffed.

“No way!”

I’d just intended it as a little prank, but he had a good point; if the wasabi were mistaken for poison, I would be done for.

“…I’m sorry.”

Will still wouldn’t let go of my face, so it was hard to speak, but I forced out the words to a simple apology. But even after I apologized, Will still didn’t let go. Instead, he squished my cheeks back and forth in yet another undignified manner.

Knock it off! You’re going to cut the inside of my cheeks on my teeth, you big brute! I growled in frustration, and Will finally stopped squishing my cheeks.

Before I even had a chance to let out a sigh of relief, Will used his grip on my cheeks to steer my face until I was looking straight into his eyes.

“I’ll punish you for real next time.”

Hey, hey, Mr. Handsome Prince! Aren’t those words supposed to be accompanied not by cheek-pulling but by dominantly grabbing the young lady’s chin?

No, wait a minute, uh-uh, no way! That may be the trope, but I have no desire to act out such a scene with a jerk like Will! At least change the male lead out for someone kind and handsome, just like my brother Ralf!

“I can tell from the look in your eyes that you haven’t learned your lesson at all.”

“Yes I have!”

“If you do anything to me, I’ll never let you touch Lars again. So if you want to make a move, come and get me—but be prepared for the consequences.”

“Whaaaat?!”

That’s horrible! He would seriously steal Lars away from me?! This demon! Blackguard! …Er, what else was there, again?

“Furthermore, I will prohibit you from eating all sweets. I suggest you put out of your mind any idea of troubling His Highness like this again.” Paul’s ruthless threat left me teetering on the verge of despair.

If it means not being able to touch Lars or eat sweets, the cost is too high! It’s not worth it just to be able to prank Will. Petting Lars is more important than getting back at jerkface Will.

“I won’t do it again!”

Seriously, Will, I would love it if you would let go already!

“In that case, I’ll have you eat this so it doesn’t accidentally find its way back onto my plate.”

Will brought the piece of meat the wasabi seed was sitting on to my mouth.

…He’s going to force-feed me by hand?!

“I’ll eat it by myself… Urk!”

As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, the piece of meat was stuffed inside.

I couldn’t bring myself to waste food, so I chewed and swallowed the wasabi-seasoned chicken, but immediately, my nose started tingling, and tears sprang to my eyes.

It turns out wasabi doesn’t really go with chicken. Other than raw fish, beef was the next best meat to pair with wasabi. For chicken, I preferred a citrus-black pepper seasoning blend.

When the lively meal was finally finished, we returned to the tent.

There was nowhere to take a proper bath, so I settled for washing my hair and having Spica help me sponge-bathe the rest of my body.

Now that I was all clean, it was time to sleep… right?

Wrong! The night was just starting!

My lifesaving rope had been transferred from Will to Shinki for the evening, so I brought him with me and headed outside. When I moved, Seigo and Rikusei automatically followed, but Inaho was still trapped in Kai’s arms. Kai was already asleep, and Inaho didn’t look like she felt like going anywhere. Figuring Kai must be tired from so much flying, I did my best to be quiet as we exited the tent.

When I lay down against Sol’s flank, the temperature of the air around us suddenly rose, becoming pleasantly warm. I thanked Sol, then turned my eyes to the sky.

This world really is beautiful. Everywhere I go, there are beautiful things to see. Unlike Earth, the people here don’t actively seek out and destroy nature.

…Although, even here, plenty of things are broken as a result of people being overcome by their greed.

Sitting here like this, I couldn’t help but remember the scenery that Sol had shown me. The northern mountains that Sol called home had been cold and deadly but stunningly beautiful.

“It’s really beautiful.”

Is God watching, too? If so, I bet he’s smirking and saying, “I created all of this.” As for God… I can’t tell if he’s amazing or a weirdo. I just can’t get a read on him.

On another topic, I wonder how long I’m going to have to keep living like this. Karna’s here with me, and Will and Lars are here for the moment, but it’s lonely not being able to see Ralf.

I really wanted to go home, but for that to happen, Runohark would need to be dealt with first. It was clear that Runohark had some kind of connection to the Church of Divine Creation, but since they were a religious organization, it wasn’t easy for the country to act against them.

In short, we’ll have to either find a way to take care of things from within the church, or create an organization that can openly oppose them. But I would like to avoid a religious war if at all possible. That would undoubtedly end up spiraling into the worst imaginable situation.

Hmm… It would be a piece of cake if I could just waltz right in and announce to the Church of Divine Creation that I’m a beloved child of God, so they have to listen to me… After all, God isn’t the kind of figure the church made him out to be for their convenience. The God I met was very human-like and relatable.

Oh, you know what would really straighten this whole mess out quickly? If God would come down and tell everyone to stop fighting and get along!

Why doesn’t God interact with mortals?! If not for that annoying rule of his, I wouldn’t have been dragged into all this.

After unleashing all my complaints against God in the privacy of my mind, I felt a little better.

“Sol, tomorrow night, let’s go flying together, just us. We haven’t been for a while.”

Until Papa discovered and scolded me, I often snuck out at night and flew through the nighttime sky with Sol. While we were here, I figured Karna and the others would probably allow it, so I wanted to do it as much as I could while I had the opportunity.

“Sure. I also have to make amends for destroying the thing you were making.”

He’s still hung up on that? The new and improved snow pile will be finished tomorrow, so he doesn’t need to worry about it.

“It’s okay! We’ve still got plenty of time, so we can make a whole bunch of them!”

At the earliest, Uncle Phillip and his party members wouldn’t be back for two more days.

There’s still a lot of playing I want to get done before then!

Of course, we have to go sledding and have a snowball fight. I could also try having Seigo and Rikusei pull my sled, kind of like dog sledding. Oh, and I can’t forget to build a snowman! …If Daux were here, we might’ve been able to make a snow sculpture.

In any case, when everyone’s together, there’s no limit to the fun and creative ways to play that we’ll come up with!

I told Sol about all the different activities I had in mind, and he chuckled, saying, “That’s just like you.”

But if it meant Sol had snapped out of his funk, I was happy to be laughed at.

🐉 🐉 🐉

I fell asleep at some point while I was chatting with Sol. When I awoke the next morning, I was inside the tent.

After breakfast, it was time to continue where we left off yesterday. Once again, I asked Shinki to do the digging while I supervised.

“Kyuuuuun!”

After a screeching cry, there came a PUFF! sound.

“Woooof!”

The pattern of screeches and PUFF! sounds continued.

“What kind of weird game are you guys playing now?!”

Apparently, being thrown by the force of Sol’s sneeze yesterday had been so much fun that my monster friends had invented a game that involved clinging onto Sol’s nose until he breathed out a forceful breath through his nostrils that sent them flying.

You don’t have to go along with it, you know, Sol!

I made my way over to Sol to scold the lot of them, and just as I was about to open my mouth, Haku latched onto Sol’s snout.

…Oh! Any game that involves flying through the air is Haku’s favorite!

Haku thinned out its body to cover as much of Sol’s snout as possible, and a moment later, it was sent forcefully flying through the air. Since I didn’t feel any breeze from Sol’s exhale, I assumed that I must’ve been mistaken in my initial assumption, and Haku had actually been propelled by either magic or elemental power, not Sol’s breath.

Haku flew significantly farther than Inaho or Seigo, but it was just as quick to return. Haku rolled end-over-end back to where we were standing, inadvertently accumulating snow like a giant snowball as it went.

“Mew!”

With a cry, Haku burst out from inside the snowball, and then, without so much as a moment’s hesitation, it suctioned onto Sol’s nose again.

As Haku repeated this pattern over and over, the snowballs began to pile up. But Kai came up with the idea of piling them on top of each other. He piled up three, then four snowballs before Seigo and Rikusei plowed into the strange, featureless snowman, destroying it.

“You two! You should know better than to mess with something Kai’s working on!”

“It’s fine. Knocking it down is as much fun as building it.”

Since Kai had said it was okay, the kobolds took him at his word, eagerly destroying each stack of snowballs he created.

While I was watching them play, Shinki finished his task.

“Miss, is this okay?”

“Wow! This is exactly what I was looking for!”

As you may have guessed by now, what I was trying to create was the quintessential element of all snow play—an igloo! I called my monster friends together and gave them a tour of the completed igloo. It was large enough for even Kai to stand up inside, so I thought we could all probably fit in there.

“Let’s go inside!”

The entrance was small, so it was dim inside, but since the wind couldn’t get in, it should be relatively warm. I had a spell cast on me like the one Papa had used during my first visit to the Osphe Province, so I couldn’t feel whether it was actually warmer inside the igloo or not.

I bet if you lit a candle in here, it would heat the area even more and fill the igloo with a warm and inviting light.

“Is this what you were trying to build?” Karna asked, peeking into the igloo from outside the entrance.

There wasn’t enough room for even one more person to squeeze in with us, so Shinki and I elected to exit so Karna could go inside. Once she ducked through the small door, the interior of the igloo lit up.

“I think a regular flame might be better than a ball of light.”

As she said this, Karna released the light spell and, in its place, materialized a small flame that danced in her palm. As she’d speculated, this flickering and warm light was more suitable for the scene than the lantern-like light she’d first created. Bathed in orange, the faint dips and imperfections in the igloo’s hand-carved interior walls were cast in shadow, creating an inviting atmosphere.

This is exactly what I was trying to create!

“If the temperature is too high, it’ll melt the snow. I’ll lower the temperature and make it float just a bit…” Just as I realized she was up to something, Karna suddenly announced, “I’ll be right back! Wait here!” and rushed back to the tent.

I waited as instructed, and a moment later, Karna returned carrying a box.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a very simple one, but this is a written magic spell to contain fire.”

Inside the box, a small flame was hovering a bit off the bottom. Beneath the flame, a sheet of paper was on the bottom of the box on which elemental runes had been drawn. In the center of the runes was a single small stone, which I assumed must be a magical stone.

“With this, your secret fort is complete!”

Karna put the box inside the igloo, and the cozy fire-lit atmosphere she’d previously created returned. The fire would continue to burn until it consumed all of the magic stored in the magical stone so we could stay in the igloo even after it got dark outside.

“Thank you, Karna!” I hugged my sister tightly to express my gratitude, and she hugged me right back.

After that, Will and Lars came to check out the igloo, too, although Lars was too large to fit inside.

Unexpectedly, Seigo and Rikusei loved the igloo more than anyone else.

“It’s like our old home!”

“A house where everyone’s together!”

I didn’t understand what they were saying, so I asked them what they meant, and the kobolds explained that they were talking about the place they used to live before their pack joined up with Sicily’s.

“What kind of place was it?”

“A cave!”

“We all slept together in a big pile!”

I can just picture it: all the members of the kobold family sleeping tightly packed together like sardines in a can!

“From what I’ve heard, in their previous pack, not only nuclear families but everyone slept gathered together in a single large cave,” Spica summarized for me. Then she explained that, unlike the lifestyle families, the hunting families didn’t like to spend much time building things, so they weren’t picky about where they lived as long as they had shelter out of the wind and rain.

So that’s why they all sleep in a big pile in a cave, hm?

“But as long as you have the sense of comfort and safety that comes from having your entire family sleeping all around you, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a cave or a treehouse; any place is fine.”

I bet that until she entered my service, Spica had spent every night curled up beside Sicily while she slept.

There’s nothing that can take the place of that sense of security that comes from being with your family.

Later that night, I was awakened by Shinki moving around.

“Shinki, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing; I thought I heard a noise, but I guess I was mistaken…”

I didn’t believe it was truly “nothing,” but after that, Shinki settled back down to sleep. I was a bit unsettled by the whole thing, but my sleepiness won out in the end, and I, too, fell back asleep.

After that, three more days passed.

And yet, Uncle Phillip and the others still didn’t return.

Side Story - Papa’s Secret Room (POV: Dayland)

AFTER leaving work at the royal palace and returning home, Marjace and Aurphan came out to greet me. If they were both here, it must mean they had something to report.

There was still a little time before dinner, so I decided to return to my office to hear what they had to say.

The first report was about inclement weather in the Osphe Province. We’d already prepared plans in advance to deal with various kinds of weather-related disasters, so I was confident this would be simple enough to resolve.

That was thanks in part to the knowledge that Karna had gained in the Linus Empire. It would’ve never occurred to me that the water dragon’s passing would cause the rain to stop falling. It seemed that she was making excellent progress in her studies in the Linus Empire, but it made me sad nonetheless not to be able to watch over my daughter’s growth for myself.

The next order of business regarded the remaining members of Runohark scattered throughout the kingdom in hiding. According to the report I received, they had already been dealt with. We’d taken several of them captive and interrogated them, but nothing significant was amongst the information gathered.

When it came to Runohark, the Intelligence Department was taking the lead and had enacted a new mission with the hopes of dealing with them once and for all, so I figured there was no need for me to get too worked up on that front.

According to His Majesty, they’d turned to the absolute last resort, so I was looking forward to seeing what would happen.

“Your Lordship, your face looks like a villain planning some evil plot. Please don’t let your guard down just because you’re at home. You wouldn’t want Lady Neema to see and start crying, would you?”

My face stiffened in response to Marjace’s comment.

Was I really making such a terrible face just now?

Enough to make Neema cry?

That’s a bit unnerving!

“…I will be careful.”

A lot had happened today, so perhaps I’d let control of my emotions slip just a bit.

I sighed and informed my two most trusted aides about a matter of grave importance. “Oh, that’s right. Today, I told His Majesty I’m quitting as Prime Minister.”

“…Forgive me, but may I ask what set of circumstances led to such a thing…?”

Marjace, ever the perfect steward, didn’t visibly react, but Aurphan clutched his head in exasperation.

“That jerk is using a royal decree to send the damn prince over to Neema and Karna!”

“Your Lordship, do you not recall that I just advised you not to let your guard down?”

I knew he was scolding me for my disrespectful language, but at the moment, I couldn’t find it in me to care. Just recalling my conversation with the king brought my anger boiling to the surface again.

When he’d grinned like the damn cat that got the cream and said the words, “It’s a royal decree,” I’d been sorely tempted to drag him off his throne.

Although, since I’d vowed upon my name to serve the king when I inherited my father’s title, if I’d actually dragged that very same king off of his throne, the mark of the fallen would’ve immediately appeared on my forehead. If that happened, I would lose my position in line to inherit the throne.

But there was still Ralf. I would feel bad pushing my duties off on him, but it was for Karna and Neema’s sakes.

“I won’t bother asking how serious you are about this, but please consider your daughters and don’t do anything that would make them sad.”

“Ugh…!”

Marjace knew all too well just how to proverbially twist my arm. I couldn’t get anything past him.

“In any case, I won’t do any work until that jerk apologizes!”

Regardless of my declaration, Aurphan placed a document on my desk. Unable to help my ingrained response, I immediately read it over and signed at the bottom.

“Allow me to screen your work. I will bring only those tasks which absolutely cannot be done by anyone else.”

Grrrr.

I suppose that’s the best offer I’m going to get. It’s not as if I want to cause suffering to the citizens because of my petty squabble with the king…

I signed off on several more documents before dismissing the two of them.

Once alone, I sent magic spiraling into the ring on my finger, opening a secret door in a corner of my office. In here, I kept my children’s things. Each was a token of a different but equally precious memory.

There was a picture Ralf had drawn when he was younger, depicting Cerulia and me, along with Ralf and Dee. It was an amazingly detailed depiction, considering his age at the time, capturing each of our distinctive features.

Beside it hung a picture Karna had drawn when she was around the same age. It was similar to Ralf’s family portrait, except that it also contained Karna herself. Unlike Ralf’s drawing, though, you could only differentiate the figures pictured based on their relative size and hair color. She’d drawn Dee with a white crayon on white paper, so you couldn’t even tell he was there except for the two black dots representing his eyes.

And then, there was a picture drawn by Neema. In Neema’s picture, she’d included flowers and birds in addition to our family members. In terms of artistic ability, it was pretty on par with Karna’s drawing, but hers was more decorative.

Aside from the standard family portrait, several other drawings of Neema’s hung on the wall. All were of animals.

From the time she was born, that child has always been surrounded by animals… Maybe that’s because animals are instinctually able to appreciate her unique personality?

After Neema’s drawings, the next thing displayed on the wall was the first written magic spell Karna had ever attempted. She’d tried to squeeze too much into the spell, and it didn’t actually work, but her creative attempt to cobble it together was interesting. Afterward, Cerulia had written a spell that actually did what Karna had been attempting to achieve, and Karna had cried in disappointment over her failure. It had been difficult to comfort her after that, but several days later, she’d come around and was back to creating magical items with Cerulia.

Above Karna’s written magic fail, I’d hung the first sword Ralf had ever used. It was a child-sized sword with a blunted edge, but Ralf’s reaction when I’d given it to him had been adorable. So adorable that I couldn’t help but give him a big hug!

Beneath both of these, a favorite blanket of Ralf’s was folded and placed on a shelf. It was more the size of a throw blanket than anything, but there’d been a time when he’d taken that thing everywhere. If anyone tried to take it from him, perhaps due to being a sweet and sensitive boy, he would get this look like his heart was broken, but would bravely fight back the tears. It had been so adorable that even Marjace had always eventually relented. As he grew, Ralf’s attachment to the blanket had waned on its own.

Karna also had a special stuffed animal she was similarly attached to. Of course, I had it sitting on my shelf right beside Ralf’s blanket.

Additionally, the shelf also contained a stack of neatly folded clothing that the children had outgrown. Not only did it serve as a visual reminder of how much they’d grown, but picturing Ralf and Karna as the smaller versions of themselves who’d once worn these clothes filled me with pride at how big they’d gotten.

Ralf hadn’t ever been particularly picky about his clothing, but perhaps because Karna was a girl, her preferences changed significantly as she got older.

Neema was attached to all of her clothing, and because Olive had designed her dresses to grow with her, I didn’t have many pieces of hers for my shelf… yet!

Oh, I know! When the girls return, I’ll have an entirely new wardrobe commissioned for each of them!

There were also several practice sheets covered in adorably shaky writing from when the children first learned their letters, and a stack of old study books. I’d also kept all the report cards Ralf and Karna had received from the Royal Academy, as well as magical items they’d built for school projects, and a motley assortment of writing utensils and stationery goods that had special meaning to them at one point. All of these school-related treasures were stored in a cabinet, organized in drawers by year.

Before too much longer, Neema will start contributing to this cabinet as well. I wonder what I should get her as a present to mark her entry into the Royal Academy? I’ll discuss it with Cerulia. I’m sure she’ll be able to think of something that Neema will love.

…Hopefully, Neema doesn’t say she doesn’t want anything from me, and all she wants is Lars!

I took friendly fire from the direction my thoughts had wandered, but recalling how Neema had recently announced that she would never marry went a long way to repairing the damage.

As my children began venturing out into the world, I kept every single one of the letters they sent me from the destinations of their various adventures. Each and every one of them was a precious treasure, but today, I took out the letter where Karna had told me she would go out into the world and witness sights I’d never seen in my stead and reread it for the umpteenth time.

I’d never come out and said as much to my children, but the days I’d spent adventuring with Phillip had made a big impact on me and were a precious memory.

But I was my father’s heir, so I’d had no choice but to return.

For a while, I’d been lost in internal turmoil, but everything changed due to a chance encounter at a ball I’d attended.

The first time I set eyes on Cerulia, she shone brighter than anyone I’d ever met.

Without missing a beat, I’d gone right up to her and asked her to dance, but she turned me down flat with a frigid glare. Thinking back on it now, it was like they described in legendary tales: love turns people into fools.

It had been a long, hard road to getting Cerulia to choose me, and it had been even more difficult to fend off her many, many admirers while I was at it!

Eventually, we married, and then Ralf was born, and as our family grew, we made so many memories together that I couldn’t possibly remember them all.

There had been that time Karna had gotten it into her mind that she wanted to try wearing makeup, so she’d beguiled the servants into applying it for her, and when she came to show me the results, I couldn’t believe my eyes. She looked so lovely, I seriously wondered for a moment if my oldest daughter might not be the long-lost princess of some distant country.

After that, my fiercely curious daughter announced that she needed to practice so she could apply makeup herself next time, and I was forced to sit still and allow her to apply foundation and lipstick on me with untrained hands and an intent, focused expression on her face. I figured that this, too, was a father’s job, so I tolerated the ticklish brush strokes and let Karna have her way. When she saw the results, normally prim and proper Cerulia broke down in unladylike guffaws.

They were all clever and talented children, but when they were young, they, like all children, occasionally made mistakes. Ralf once lost control of a spell he was practicing and accidentally cut down most of the trees in the garden, and there was that time when Karna accidentally blew out one of her bedroom walls.

I’d thought that Neema, at least, would be safe since she didn’t have any magic, but then she’d fallen into the pond in the garden while trying to reach a light-producing magical item below the water’s surface.

After that, she’d somehow gotten it into her head to go sledding down the stairs on a wooden plank and had fallen off, injuring herself in the process. Completely ignoring the stern scolding she’d gotten from Marjace, Neema did the same thing again several days later, this time using a broken chair… or rather, a chair she’d broken the legs off of.

After realizing this was beyond the scope of what the servants could handle themselves, Cerulia stepped in to harshly scold Neema and her co-conspirator, Karna.

Neema didn’t often intentionally play pranks on people, but occasionally, one of her hair-brained ideas would snowball out of control.

One night, I’d gone into Neema’s room hoping to catch a glimpse of her adorable sleeping face, only to discover she was gone. Thinking she’d been kidnapped, I immediately ordered a search, only for her to suddenly return home, claiming she’d gone out for a bit with the fire dragon.

I haven’t had a moment’s rest since the day Neema was born!

Then I caught sight of a crown of flowers tucked away on the far corner of the shelf. I couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on my face as I recalled the memory associated with this treasure.

Neema had gotten quite skilled at making flower crowns after Ralf taught her the basic technique. After that, she’d made one for Ralf and one for Karna and given them to her siblings as gifts. I’d thought nothing could surpass the precious gift of seeing my three beloved children giggling together happily. But then, Neema presented flower crowns to Cerulia and me as well. Her wobbly smile as she said, “It looks good on you, Papa!” was one of the cutest things I’d ever seen to this day.

I’m never going to marry her off, no matter what!

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Fluffy Paradise Vol 8

Table of Contents

1 - It’s Only Fun If Everyone Is Enjoying Themselves!

2 - My Monster Friends’ New Discovery

Small Talk - A Butler’s Busy Days (POV: Paul)

3 - What We’re Looking for Is a Magic Potion!

Small Talk: A Letter from Neema (POV: Ralfreed)

4 - I Really Want to Go Sightseeing Soon!

5 - The Mysteries of the Elven Forest

6 - What Matters Is How You Use It

7 - The Indomitable Siblings

8 - All Our Ducks Are in a Line!

9 - I’m Not Sure I’d Call This “Practicing Survival Skills”

10 - They Weren’t Kidding When They Said That “Danger Is an Inevitable Part of Adventuring”

11 - Appetite Comes Second to Nothing

Small Talk: The Mountains Are Merciless (POV: Phillip)

12 - How to Play on a Snowy Mountain

Side Story - Papa’s Secret Room (POV: Dayland)