CH 159

With X-Stick in hand, I poked and rustled my way through the forest.

「It’s great that you’re enjoying yourself, but tone down the noise, alright?」

Retze scolded me.

「Ye~s! 」

Well, we’re not here to traverse the forest but to look for monsters, so I guess he’s got a point.

The monsters living in this area of the forest aren’t so powerful that they’ll attack our group of five. Some of them are even smart enough to stay out of our way.

The advance group caught a few monsterfied birds — great grouse and partridges. The great grouse looks like a cross between pheasants and turkey. I remember reading that Poirot failed to eat the red grouse in Agatha Christie’s novel. I wonder if that red grouse also exists here?

「… How rare. 」

「Hm? 」

Retze quietly said while gesturing for us to stop.

「A fawn… with horns. 」

Dean narrowed his eyes and stared at the object of Retze’s line of sight.

It’s a fawn monster, apparently. Except for certain breeds, monsters very rarely give birth to young, so fawn monsters are considered rare. They also taste good, apparently.

「It’s a bit far away! 」

Chris’s accent was still strong despite whispering.

On top of the distance, it’s also in a clearing, so it’ll probably be difficult for us to approach it.

「I’ll miss it if it’s this far. 」

I watched Ash practice shooting her blades earlier.The more mana she pours in the more the range increases, but the ice blades end up flying askew. She can only hit targets accurately if they’re not more than 10 meters away.

The fawn was around 30 meters away from us.

「Will mine reach it? 」

Retze drew his sword.

Out of the two, three vines that came out, only one stretched out and slithered. It could probably stretch more, but just one could work with the distance.

「Ack, I can’t. It’ll be dangerous if it sucks more than this. 」

Seems like Retze’s mana wasn’t enough.

「I’ll lend you my mana! 」

I tried touching the sword, but the remaining vines retracted back.

「…Seems like it won’t work? 」

「Hm? 」

I tried again, stretching my hand this time, and one of the ivy tendrils wrapped around it. The limp ivy suddenly became energetic, slithering towards the fawn and successfully entwined it.

「Is it because you’re the manufacturer? 」

「Maybe it just easily gets attached? 」

Ash and Dean stared at the ivy.

It looked quite happy with its leaves rustling.

「— Can I water it later, too? 」

「 I don’t think that’s the problem. 」

Chris timidly asked. Retze’s face was somewhat puckered.

「Spirit swords usually work with affinity to spirits. I think it’s a question of whether you’re favored or not. 」

「Just give it up. 」

Ash said with a somber face. Dean grinned while patting Retze’s back.

Dean dealt the final blow to the fawn and cut the delicious meat.

Afterward, horned great grouse also appeared, but Dean completely charred it black so we couldn’t bring it back.

「Hmm~ fire is nice and all because of the power, but then, the materials… Alright, maybe I shouldn’t put mana in it for normal use, just for emergencies. Maybe I should find a chance to fight against strong guys to practice, but — Wolf King, you looked really cool. 」

Heh, instead of sword practice, this guy will probably practice imitating Dinosso’s way of wielding his sword. Kinda like little kids copying their heroes.

「My sword is probably suited as a light source for caves and the labyrinth. It’s quite difficult if I’m going to blind my enemies with it, since I also have to close my eyes too. Not sure if it would work on wraiths and undead, but it sure is romantic! 」

Eh, I thought I gave you a troublesome sword, but it’s romantic for you, huh.

After every one took a turn defeating the monsters with their respective swords, I poked around to my heart’s content.

「Oh? 」

I discovered some mushrooms while rustling around and parting the dead leaves around the roots of the trees.

「Lille, huh. Come to think of it, they’re in season, right. 」

「Yeah. Is it the one you told me to look for when you gave me the mushrooms? 」

【Appraisal】 said it’s a relative of morels.

「Yup yup. These guys are also tasty, but you can’t eat them raw. 」

Dean explained, but no need to worry, I’m not used to the culture of eating mushrooms raw.

「There’s a similar-looking mushroom called elp, but the fragrance is just so-so, so it’s cheap. These can fetch a higher price. 」

I see, so with Retze’s method, I should just poke around heaps that are taller than the surroundings, huh. I approve, so yep, rustle, rustle.

Lille has a mesh, honeycomb-patterned hood that’s hollow inside. The umbrella part appeared as if the exterior of the handle-like body simply stretched outward to form that hood. That made it look like they’re attached to each other instead of the umbrella part protruding out from the center, like the case with elp.

I no longer poked things with X-Stick but stuck to rummaging the leaves to look for lille. A toad monster suddenly jumped out, which I promptly stabbed with X-Stick, so it’s quite the harvest.

「Heh, X-Stick is convenient, huh. 」

「I know, right? 」

I don’t have to squat while rummaging, and I can even stab monsters that jump out!

We carried loads of lille and the fawn back to the campsite.

「I see, it’s the season for lille, come to think of it. 」

Butler brewed the tea while waiting for us.

「Oh goodness, what a bountiful harvest~ 」

It’s decided that I’m going to make lille cream pasta, and Shiva’s gonna make partridge pie and she’ll wrap it up for us..

It’d be nice if everyone could gather ‘round the table and enjoy them together, but we don’t have enough space, so they have to come over and get their food once it’s done.

Hmm, maybe I can just smash the second floor’s guest room and convert it into a dining room? Nobody’s gonna sleepover there, after all.