CH 135

Chapter 135 – Grande’s Suspicious Behavior

“Brother, thank you for the food! I’ll bring you a gift next time!”

“I’ll do my best, so I can drink more booze tomorrow.”

[T/n: Brother dragon A called Kosuke Aniki.]

After finishing their meal, the brother dragons quickly flew away. Tomorrow, they will bring back the proper catch. It’s also a good idea to donate some of the stuff to the Elven village and exchange it for the specialties of the Elven village. There are many good quality products made by Elves… Wait, what do you mean, “brother”? I don’t know if I have a brother like you guys.

So, I thought I’d talk to Grande about going on a tour to explore the depths of the Black Forest.

“Wait a minute. I-I can’t let you ride on my back…”

“You can’t?”

“N-no… I mean, you can’t… okay…?”

As she said that, she let out an indulgent growl. I knew something was seriously wrong. I wondered what was going on with her? When I was tilting my head, Sylphy called out to me.

“What’s wrong with the negotiations that seem to be going nowhere?”

“No, I don’t know, but it seems she doesn’t want me to ride on her back?”

“I-it’s not that I don’t want you to ride on my back, you know.”

“Is that so?”

“What do you mean?”

“I said it’s not that I don’t want you to ride on my back.”

“Hmm…?”

Sylphy tilted her head. I also tilted my head. Grande is kind of fidgety. What is this situation?

“I bet there’s some beautiful scenery deep in the Black Forest, right? I just want to see the place where Grande grew up.”

“U-umu… there is that, but…”

“I want to see what Grande thinks is beautiful, too. Please.”

“Fuaa… O-okay, fine…”

For some reason, Grande starts to slap her tail on the ground. It’s not like she’s angry; I think she’s more like happy… but I haven’t seen her do this before.

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m not sure what’s wrong with her, but it doesn’t seem like she’s sick or anything. I think she’s okay… Grande, I’ll put the saddle on.”

“U-umu.”

I attached the saddle to Grande, who kept her posture low and quiet. Yes, there seems to be no problem. What’s with her sudden change in behavior?

“Where do you want me to take you?”

“Well, I don’t know anything about the terrain deep in the forest. Sylphy, Grande is asking me where we should go. Do you have any requests?”

“Hmm. How about Grande’s homeland?”

“Oh, that sounds good. Grande, I’d like you to take us to your homeland.”

“W-well, I can’t because I’m not ready yet…!”

Grande rejects my proposal while trembling. I’m not sure what she means by “ready.”

“W-well then, take us to an appropriate and beautiful place. A waterfall, a field of flowers, or a place high up where we can see all around us would be good.”

“Did she refuse?”

“She said she wasn’t ready yet. I’m not sure, though.”

“Hmm…”

Sylphy began to ponder something with a serious expression.

“M-my opinion of a beautiful view and Kosuke’s opinion of a beautiful view may differ…”

“It’s okay. I’m also interested in the view that Grande thinks is beautiful.”

“I-I see. Yeah, I’ll take you to the most beautiful places.”

This time, her tail began to tap the ground in a good mood. Please don’t do it; Mr. Ground’s HP is already zero, you know. The only area that is lower is the area around the tip of Grande’s tail, though.

“Sylphy, now that we talk, let’s get a ride.”

“Hmm, yeah, okay. Thanks for your help today, Grande.”

“What did the black elf say, Kosuke?”

“She said she’s grateful for your help today. I’m grateful to you, too.”

“Is that so? Umu, leave it to me.”

I stroked Grande’s cheek as she groaned, then climbed on her back with Sylphy, sat in the saddle, and secured her body with a leather belt.

Suddenly, I looked towards the Elven village and saw that many Elves had come to watch over the protective wall. Did I startle them with the sound of the grenade explosion?

“We’re leaving!”

When Sylphy waved her hand, the Elves waved back. I waved to them too, and they waved back to me. I was kind of happy.

“Grande, let’s fly.”

“Yeah. Hold on to me.”

Grande lowered her posture, gathered her strength, and folded her wings. It seems that she is planning to take off without a run-up. Sylphy and I followed her advice and clung to the saddle.

Grande leaps up with all the spring in her body and spreads her wings. At that moment, a tremendous wind blew up from directly below, and Grande’s huge body slowly began to rise.

“We’ll head for the rocky mountains deep in the forest first.”

“Oh, I’ll leave it to you.”

“Umu. We’ll fly slowly, but hold on tight.”

“Yeah, okay. Sylphy, we’re going to the rocky mountain at the deep end of the forest.”

“Oh, a rocky mountain. I wonder what’s there.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

I looked at the Black Forest from the back of Grande as she flew slowly. That’s why it’s called the Black Forest; I can’t see the ground at all. The density of the forest is too thick or something like that… Are the trees in this forest special, or is the soil special…? Speaking of soil, I need soil from the Black Forest to make farmland blocks, so I need to dig it up while I’m here.

“Oh, there’s the rocky mountain ahead.”

“That’s a pretty steep rocky mountain… and it’s pretty big.”

“I can’t imagine how it was formed.”

I can see some streaks of white on the huge rocky mountain. It seems that the water that gushes from the top of the mountain is pouring down to the ground as a waterfall. The waterfall turned into a mist as it approached the ground, and there was a rainbow near the base of the rocky mountain.

“Oh, that’s amazing! The rainbow is beautiful!”

“It sure is beautiful… Hmm, I didn’t know there were places like that deep in the woods.”

“Fufu, that’s right, that’s right. There is always a rainbow there. But it’s always raining there. You’ll get wet if you get too close, and the footing is not good. There are a lot of water-dwelling monsters, so it would be dangerous for humans to get close to that place.”

“I see. It’s beautiful, but it’s not safe for us to approach.”

“Yeah. But it’s enough to see it from a distance. It’s not often that you see such beautiful scenery.”

Sylphy then continued to look at the rainbow with a bit of excitement. Waterfalls that create rainbows, huh? In this fantasy world, it seems that there are precious materials in such places — something with rainbow-colored magic condensed in it. There seem to be powerful monsters living there. It might be a good idea to go there sometime.

“Let’s go up there.”

“Oh!”

Grande began to rise rapidly, and I felt as if my body was being pushed against the ground. Grande seems to be rising quite fast.

“There is a spring at the top of the rocky mountain with clean water gushing out. It’s beautiful there, too.”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to it.”

As Grande circled around the sheer rocky mountain, she rose higher and higher until we finally reached the top of the mountain.

“Wow… this is incredible.”

“This is a beautiful place…”

The top of the rocky mountain was like a paradise. A spring with clean water was gushing out, and beautiful flowers were blooming around it. I wondered if it was some kind of high mountain plant.

“It’s safe there. Let’s go down.”

“Okay. Sylphy, she says we are going down to that spring.”

“Really? I’m looking forward to it.”

Sylphy was also fascinated by the flower garden and the beautiful spring, and her voice sounded happy.

Perhaps adjusting the landing point, Grande circled over the rocky mountain for a while and then gently landed on the top of the mountain. She was very thorough in landing on the rocks so as not to crush the flowers.

“That’s impressive, Grande. It must have been hard to land on the rocks without crushing the flowers.”

“Fufu, it was no trouble at all. It would have been a shame if I had trampled all over the beautiful scenery.”

Grande turned her head around and looked at me while making a happy whimpering sound. It looks like she’s trying to make a smug face.

“Okay, we’re going down. Hold still for a moment.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Thank you. Sylphy, let’s get off.”

“Yeah!”

I unfastened the belt that was holding my body in place and carefully climbed down from Grande’s back. As soon as I got down to the ground and approached the flower garden, I could smell the scent of flowers softly. It seemed to be a flower with a strong fragrance.

“It smells good.

“Yes, it does. I’ve never seen these flowers before… Why don’t you take some of them as a gift for Isla?”

“That’s a good idea. Grande, can I pick some of the flowers?”

“As long as you don’t uproot them, I guess it’s fine.”

“Sure. Let’s go.”

I took out a one-handed gardening shovel from my inventory and carefully picked the flowers, soil, and roots, and all. Eh? Why don’t I use the Mithril Shovel +9, you ask? If I use that thing, I’ll uproot them.

After collecting about five flowers of each type, I approached the spring with Sylphy. I don’t see any fish or other creatures.

“Can we drink it?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you put it in your inventory to see if it’s drinkable?”

“I suppose so.”

I drew some water from the spring into a wooden canteen and put it in my inventory. It seems to be clean water.

“It says it’s clean water. It’s drinkable, but it doesn’t seem to have any special effects. I had high hopes for it.”

“Hahaha, I guess you can’t conveniently find anything rare.”

I shrugged my shoulders in disappointment, and Sylphy chuckled.

“This is a beautiful place, nonetheless…”

As we sat by the fountain, Sylphy looked around with an enraptured expression on her face. The spring is surrounded by colorful flowers, and when the wind blows, the fragrance of the flowers tickles our nostrils. It’s certainly a beautiful place.

“It’s just a little cold, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s a high place, after all. It’s good that the wind is calm today, but when it’s blowing hard, it can be scary.”

“That’s true.”

I looked at Grande to see what she was doing, and she seemed to be standing still on the rock, watching us or sniffing the flowers in the field. I walked over to the rock where Grande was.

“Oh, the flower garden is beautiful, but the view is amazing! I don’t want to get too close to the edge of the cliff because I’m afraid of falling off.”

“Yes, it’s quite a view.”

How high is the altitude here? I’m not sure how high it is, but it seems really high because of the sheer rock cliffs. The top is not very wide. I think it’s smaller than a school ground, even with all the rocky terrain.

But seriously, I don’t know how this rocky mountain was formed. Magma spewing out of the ground wouldn’t have hardened it into such a shape, and if it was a big rock carved out by wind erosion, I’m sure there are other rocks nearby. Hmm. I’m not a geologist, so there’s no point in worrying about it.

“Whoa, what is that place? Isn’t that tree really big?”

There was an unusually large tree growing in front of where I pointed. It was clearly taller than the other trees, not just by a head or two, but by about five. The trunk of the tree looks quite thick as well.

“Hmm… that’s pretty big. The tree at the village meeting place is also magnificent, but that tree is probably more than twice as tall as the tree at the village meeting place. It’s definitely the tallest tree in this forest.”

“Shall we go? With my wings, I can fly over it.”

“Great, I’d love to see it up close. Sylphy, Grande says she’ll take us there.”

“Really, I’m looking forward to it.”

Sylphy and I climbed on Grande’s back, who lowered her posture and sat down in the saddle to steady ourselves again. The next stop is the big tree at the far end of the Black Forest. Hopefully, this time we’ll find something unusual, material-wise!