194 - - 192nd photo shoot.

We showed off the park to the kids and confirmed the distillation of the wine. Now we should move on to the sanctuary. To be designated as a sanctuary, we need to increase our base by five times and build pedestals of wind, water, earth, light, and darkness.

The magic wands for the pedestals are to be found in the treasure chests in the labyrinth and to be gathered by Marie. We also need to get a lot of soil in the forest and a lot of rocks, so we'll have to disappear some more rock piles.

Well, if we go to the forest, we should also get animals. I'm not good at animal hunting, so I'll leave it to Sara and Gina and the others and just collect dirt in the meantime. Maybe we can bring back some insects too.

That's why we are going to the forest today.

Breakfast is over and everyone is informed of the day's plans.

"What's the plan?"

Gina asks me with a puzzled look on her face. Yeah, I think we've had this conversation before. At any rate, I tell them that I'm going to secure the soil and Gina and the others are going to secure the animals. Sarah and the others seem to understand since they went to get small animals last time.

I don't know if Belle and the others understand, but they seem to be having a good time, so I guess they'll be fine. I am sure they will find many animals when they get to the forest.

****

"Well then, let's start exploring this forest. This time it can be a predator, but make sure you catch an animal that won't get too big. Sylphy will put you to sleep when you get back here, so don't forget where you are. There will be demons too. Understand?"

"yessaaa", "cu-cu-cu-cu", "yessaaa", "coo-coo-coo", "yessaaa", "ho-ho-ho", "pppgghhhh", "wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah".

Okay, I'll be careful, I'll get lots of them, and Kikka will look for the cute ones.

The spirits and Sara and the others are very motivated.

"Hey master, I've heard that forests are dangerous because the monsters that come out aren't fixed like in a labyrinth, but is it safe?

Ah, so that's why you seemed worried. There must have been some adventurers talking about that in the cafeteria.

"Sylphy has chosen a somewhat safe forest for us, so we'll be fine. And Dine will be with us just in case...so don't worry about anything.

Even if there is a demon that Gina and the others can't beat, it is only prey if Dine is around. Even a fire dragon can easily defeat a great spirit, but there will be no demons of that class in this forest.

Gina is relieved to hear that Dene is coming with her. She seems relieved because she has heard about the power of the Great Spirit.

"Well then, we'll meet here at noon.

Gina and the other floating spirits are solidly together with Dine, and Belle and the others go into the forest separately. It will be interesting to see what kind of animals will gather. It will be interesting to see if any of the animals are as unusual as the jade rabbit.

"Sylphie, when the animals come, please ask them to come..."

I wave to Sylphy and I walk into the forest with Dolly.

"Yuta-san, what about the trees to be thinned?"

There are plenty of trees ...... left in my magic bag at the moment, and I don't really need them, but the fact that Dolly is asking me about them suggests that she wants to thin out the trees and keep the forest in good shape. We may use the trees for something, so let's keep them in the magic bag.

"You don't have to gather the trees, but if there are trees that need to be thinned, just let me know and I'll keep them in reserve.

"Yes, sir."

Yeah, I think Dolly's mood has improved a little bit. She always smiles a lot, so it's hard to read her expression in a different way from Sylphy's. Since she has been so kind to me, I should return the favor a little at a time like this.

"Yuta-san, this area will be fine.

"Yes, sir."

We dig with a magic shovel where Dolly said it would be safe and store the soil. The remaining bugs are sorted and placed in a cloth bag. It's a pain in the ass to sort them out, but there are hardly any insect-eating creatures in the land of the dead, and if there are too many G's and the like, I'm going to lose my mind. I'll make sure to sort them out.

**

"Ah, I'm tired. I don't want to see any bugs for a while."

I feel like most of the morning has been spent sorting bugs. The magic shovel can scoop up and store the soil in an instant, so the amount of bugs is just too much. At the end of the day, I put all the insects back into the soil except for the earthworms, which are said to be quite beneficial. But the worms in this forest are huge. I have a cloth bag full of them like mountain worms, and to be honest, they scare me.

Even if they are beneficial insects, is it safe to have so many of them?　Dolly said she was fine, but please don't give me a mass outbreak of worms, too.

"Hmmm, it can't be helped after all the soil we put in there," she said. You did a great job."

It's hard to know how to respond when a beautiful girl who looks younger than you exerts herself like this. But I don't feel bad.

"Thank you, well, it would have been perfect if the mole had been harmless.

"I don't have a problem if you want to quarantine them, but you don't want to do that, do you?"

"Yes, I gave up on the idea of going that far, but it's still a shame because they were so cute."　　

When the shovelful of dirt was stowed away, the mole remained on the shovel in a blur. The way it twitched its nose and flapped its arms and legs was very cute. I debated whether or not to take it home with me, but decided against it.

Dolly told me that they move freely in the soil, devour crops, and are difficult to kill. In a sense, they are more hated by farmers than demons.

In my mind, I thought that moles dig holes in the soil and eat earthworms or something, but it seems that moles in other worlds are much more aggressive. If they're going to devour our crops, we can't take them home with us, can we?

"I'm sure everyone has caught a lot of cute animals by now, so you can heal yourselves with them. And since we're going to force you to move them out of this forest, please take good care of them."

"Yeah, I'll take good care of it."

I never really had much of an interest in pretty things. But after coming to the other world and playing with Belle and her friends, my constitution seems to have improved to the point where I'm completely healed by cute things. The lower class spirits and floating spirits who are making a fuss are so cute and destructive that it can't be helped.

"Hey, I don't know if this is a new thing, but Dolly, as a great spirit of the forest, doesn't she like to catch animals that are a part of the forest?"

I mean, I was catching them because I had to, but when I thought about it, wasn't I doing something that made Dolly feel bad?　It's a little chilling.

"Well, the forest is a world where the law of the jungle is the law of the jungle, but overhunting and senseless killing certainly makes me sick. But it's a world where if you get caught you have no life, and you can move to a lush forest where there are no demons even though you got caught. I don't know how the animals feel about it, but I consider myself lucky to have the chance."

Hmm, well, he seems to think it's no problem. That's a relief. Then let's go back to Sylphy's soon, and let the sleeping little animals heal us. She probably won't take care of them when she's awake. I am reminded of the animals of the Mohammedan Kingdom that run away in an instant.

**

"Yoo-ta, I got so many berries!" "Coo-coo!" "Fluffy!" "Coo-coo!" "Yoo-ta, I got a great one, but Shilfie lost it!"

When we returned to Sylphy's, Belle and the others greeted us with reports of their success. I guess Gina and the others haven't come back yet.　

But I'm a little concerned about what Flare said. What did Sylphy catch that made the animals run away?

"Yuta, Belle caught him!"

I guess we need to see what Belle has accomplished before we can talk to Sylphy. At the spot where Bell's tiny finger points, several raccoon-like animals are lying with their tongues hanging out. They're not dead, are they?　I was a little freaked out by the faint ups and downs of its belly to see if it was still alive.

But ...... it's a little scary because it's so lazy, but its fuzzy tail is fascinating. But don't raccoons look skinny when it's hot because their fur is missing?　...... Well, it's a different world. Let's just wash and mooch.

"You got a good one. Thank you, Belle."

He praises Belle while fluffing her tail. Belle jumps around with joy. Next, Rain pulls me along. Rain squeaks and points with his flipper at a fox lying beautifully on the ground. ...... I wonder how foxes and raccoons are like in other worlds. Do you think they don't get along?

In the first place, do Japanese foxes and raccoons really get along?　...... I just thought they were not good friends because of the images of old stories and scarecrows, but in fact I don't think they are. I'm going to praise Rain a lot for now, and I'm also going to mooch off the fox's tail.

Next up is Tulu, right?　...... I turned to Tulu, who was single-mindedly comparing the tails of a fox and a raccoon dog. Let's leave it at that.

A tamamo jumps into my chest, and I hold it in my arms and ask it to tell me what it has caught. What is this ......?　It's a mysterious creature, though it looks very silky. All I know is that it's brown and four-legged. It looks like a Yorkshire terrier with about three times the amount of hair. ......

Let's just try ...... wash and mooch. ...... this is the one. It's very silky. I can't say it's fluffy, but the silky feel will become a habit.

Hey Sylphy, I've never seen this animal before, what is it?

That animal is a silkie. There used to be many of these animals, but their numbers have dwindled because humans have targeted them for their laid-back nature and their silky hair. Good job Tamamo for finding her."

Silkie is slightly different from Sylphy by one letter. That's pretty confusing. But does that mean that five of these precious animals should be ...... bred in a safe place?　It seems to be difficult to reproduce, so we should make a special block for Silkie for safety.

"I really would have caught more ......"

Flare looks frustrated. So Flare caught three ...... deer. ...... Huh?　Didn't deer have a problem with a large population?　But if we let the deer go because they look like they might be in trouble, Flare might get depressed.

"Thank you, Flare. I know you let some of them go, but it's still great that you got three deer."

When I gave him a compliment, Flare puffed out his chest a little proudly. The fact that her mood immediately improved, even though she was imitating If, was still very childish and made me smile.

（So, Sylphy, what did Flair get?)

（A wolf and a bear.)

(I see. ...... Thank you, Sylphy. (I see. Sylphie, thank you.) And the wolves and the cormorants you released are all right?

（Yes, I led them to the herd and their parents.)

I bow deeply to Sylphy. I don't think we'll lose to bears and wolves now that we're up to the next level and have pioneering tools, but I wouldn't feel comfortable if bears and wolves were breeding in the immediate vicinity.

For now, the animals we have gathered so far are six raccoons, eight foxes, five silky, three deer, and more than ten rats. ...... It seems that we will have no problem bringing the spirit of life.

I'm afraid of the breeding of the rats, but they are food for the foxes and we have to make sure we have enough of them. The rest will wait until Gina and the others come back. And I know it's a little late for this, but how did Flare catch the animals?　You don't have scorched fur or anything, do you?