We made a good progress through the forest.
However, the progress was slow as Marne-san collected medicinal herbs, saying things like, "That's good for eye fatigue" and "That's good for joint pain."
"That's good for sobering up. Kumayuru, head over there." (Marne)
Marne-san gave instructions to Kumayuru.
Kumayuru seemed to have given up and started walking, following Marne-san's instructions.
Marne-san descended from Kumayuru and began to collect long-leaf grass.
To me it just looked like a weed, but experts said it's a useful medicinal plant.
"Ah..., sorry" (Marne)
Marne-san noticed my gaze and apologized.
"We're not in a hurry, so feel free to pick as many as you like." (Yuna)
There's no time limit.
There's nothing wrong with taking it easy.
"Thank you" (Marne)
The purpose was to collect the growing herbs, but Marne-san seemed to enjoy collecting them.
"You look happy." (Yuna)
"It's been a while since I've been able to collect wild medicinal herbs, it's fun. I've been holed up in the royal capital for the past few years." (Marne)
She seemed to be really enjoying picking them.
"So, it's been a while since your last gathering?" (Yuna)
"I only gather herbs from the castle's herb garden. If there's something the castle doesn't have, I'll go to the store in the castle town to buy it. But even then, I've started asking the office staff for help. If you think about it like that, it's no good. If you don't check the condition of the herbs with your own eyes before gathering them, your skills will get rusty." (Marne)
Despite that, she was quite skilled at collecting medicinal herbs.
Maybe things were better in the past.
"Kyuu~n" (Kumakyu)
As I watched Marne-san harvesting from a short distance away, Kumakyu let out a soft cry.
I checked my detection skill and saw that a wolf was approaching.
I didn't want to disturb Marne-san.
"Kumakyu, please take care of Marne-san and Kumayuru." (Yuna)
I whispered to Kumakyu and ran in the direction of the wolf.
……it was there.
Walking towards me.
When the wolf noticed me, it began growling.
But the wolf was not my enemy.
I casted wind magic, quickly defeated it, and returned to Marne-san.
"Where have you been?" (Marne)
When I got back, Marne-san was waiting for me.
Apparently, after she finished collecting, she noticed that I was gone.
"A wolf was nearby, so I went to kill it." (Yuna)
"Just say something before going. When I finished gathering the herbs and looked behind me, I was surprised to see that Yuna wasn't there. I'm sure you would be worried if I suddenly disappeared." (Marne)
"Sorry" (Yuna)
"But thank you. You didn't want to make me feel uneasy." (Marne)
"I just wanted Marne-san to just pick them and not worry about it." (Yuna)
"...?! Yuna, you're popular, aren't you?" (Marne)
"...popular? Am I?" (Yuna)
I wondered what she's talking about.
There's no way I'd be popular.
"It's rare to find someone who can show such consideration. The food was delicious, and unlike my room, Yuna's house was clean." (Marne)
"I defeated the monsters before they attacked me. The food is simple and prepared in advance. The reason the room is clean is because it's a house for going out, not a place to live." (Yuna)
I only made simple dishes, either pre-made or prepared by Morin-san or Anzu.
I cleaned my room occasionally, but inside the bear box, dust didn't accumulated and it stayed clean.
Best of all, having the bear box means things weren't scattered around the room.
If I didn't have the bear box, the rooms would be messy or one of the rooms would have become a storage room.
"Well, I think the real reason I'm not popular is because I look like this." (Yuna)
"Men really have no taste. They even call me short and a child and make fun of me." (Marne)
No, if it got close to what Marne-san was like now, maybe that would be a problem in itself.
"Would anyone say something like that to Marne-san?" (Yuna)
"If it's the first time we meet, there's a high chance that someone will say that. It happened a lot in the past. So I want to grow up and get back at those who made fun of me." (Marne)
That might be the real reason why she wanted to grow.
Her expression was serious.
Now that she had finished collecting the medicinal herbs, we set off again.
As I continued on, collecting medicinal herbs several times, I saw something red swaying in the distance.
It's a ribbon.
"I'm glad we found it safely."
Even if you went in the direction where the ribbon nail was stuck, there was a chance that the ribbon would not be there.
It's possible that the adventurer went in a different direction for some reason.
The adventurers might have intended to go in a straight line, but they might have deviated.
Conversely, there was a possibility that we might become misaligned.
That's why I felt relieved when I find the ribbon safely.
Since then, I've been able to find a few ribbons.
"We're progressing faster than expected. It's all thanks to these kids." (Marne)
Marne-san stroked Kumayuru's body.
Even though we had stopped to gather medicinal herbs, we were traveling on Kumayuru and Kumakyu, so we were progressing faster than if we were walking normally.
If we walked, we'd probably take more breaks and had to check for dangers around as we go, so it might take longer.
On the other hand, I had Kumayuru and Kumakyu, so I didn't need to take a break, and they would tell me about monsters.
"If everything is going well, that's great." (Yuna)
"If I go exploring with these kids, I might not be able to go back to normal exploring." (Marne)
She looked wistfully at Kumayuru and Kumakyu.
"I won't give them to you." (Yuna)
"I know. I'm not going to ask for your precious family." (Marne)
Kumayuru and Kumakyu were my family.
I couldn't imagine life without Kumayuru and Kumakyu.
We took a short break under the ribbon and then started moving forward.
"Kyuu~n"
"Maybe it's a monster?" (Marne)
Kumayuru and Kumakyu cried out several times to tell Marne-san about the monsters, and it seemed like she understood them too.
"It looks like there's a monster up ahead." (Yuna)
The reaction was a gator.
It was a crocodile monster that appeared when Fina participated in the dissmantling event in the royal capital.
I'd seen them at dismantling events, but I'd never seen a live gator.
"I'd like to go around it, but it looks like there's a small pond up ahead."
So there were gators.
Marne-san knew that there were monsters, but she didn't know what kind they were.
Because I couldn't explain why.
It couldn't really be called the bear's blessing.
"Maybe the monster they noticed is a gator. It's most likely one that lives in the pond." (Marne)
As expected, she has a wide range of knowledge.
Marne-san was worried.
"What's wrong? Aren't we going?" (Yuna)
"I'm trying to think which way to detour." (Marne)
In other words, there seemed to be no option to head to the pond.
"But I think it would be better to go towards the pond." (Yuna)
"That's true, but there's no need to go out of your way to risk going to a place where you know there are monsters." (Marne)
Marne-san was right.
There's no need to take risks.
This was the general idea.
This was also due to the cheat bear equipment, which made my sense of things different from that of ordinary people.
"Thanks to these kids, I don't have to walk, so I don't have to waste my energy. There's no need to waste my energy fighting monsters." (Yuna)
Without Kumayuru and Kumakyu, I would have to walk this far.
Walking on unpaved roads was stressful and draining.
I'd never been mountain climbing, but it might be something like that.
"I think I can beat a gator." (Yuna)
I'd never fought one, but maybe I could easily defeat a crocodile.
"I know Yuna is strong, but your mana isn't infinite. If you know where monsters are, you should avoid them. That's the basic principle of exploration." (Marne)
"You seem more adventurous than I am." (Yuna)
"You're the one being ignorant. You didn't even prepare a ribbon." (Marne)
"There're Kumayuru and Kumakyu." (Yuna)
"You're just wearing light clothing." (Marne)
"It's clothing with the bear's blessing." (Yuna)
"And you're carrying around a weird house." (Marne)
"That would be convenient." (Yuna)
"You've done all this preparation, I feel so stupid." (Marne)
After discussing it, we decided that since it would be possible to escape quickly if we were on top of Kumayuru and Kumakyu, we would go near the pond and make a decision there.
"Almost there." (Yuna)
Once we got through the bushes, we came to a pond.
And there were crocodiles around the pond.
"There are gators, after all. And there are quite a few of them..." (Marne)
It looked like there were six. There were also some reactions in the pond. The reactions were overlapping, so I didn't know the exact number.
"That is……" (Marne)
"What happened?" (Yuna)
"Nothing." (Marne)
Despite saying that, she seemed to be reacting to something.
If Marne-san reacted to it, did that mean it's a medicinal herb?
I understood this reaction because I'd seen it many times.
"Did you get some rare herb?" (Yuna)
"...Yes, there was. But it has nothing to do with this incident, and it's dangerous." (Marne)
It's too late now. We'd already collected medicinal herbs many times.
It's no problem if there was one more.
"Where? Unless there's a special way to collect them, we'll go and get them." (Yuna)
"...the back of a gator." (Marne)
"Back?" (Yuna)
I squinted my eyes and looked at the gator.
"There's nothing here." (Yuna)
"There's moss on it." (Marne)
Now that she mentioned it, there was certainly something that looked like moss.
"That moss is a valuable ingredient used in special eye drops." (Marne)
"Eye drops?" (Yuna)
"You'll be able to see people just a wall away." (Marne)
"That means..." (Yuna)
"Yes, it can be used to infiltrate enemy hideouts." (Marne)
"That you can see people naked." (Yuna)
"…………" (Marne)
"…………" (Yuna)
A quiet moment passed between us.
"Sorry, my mind was polluted." (Yuna)
I felt uncomfortable and apologized.
"Unfortunately, we can only see people faintly." (Marne)
"I see" (Yuna)
Thermography?
Is it something like that?
"Moreover, the effect only lasts for about 1-2 seconds after you put the eye drops in, close your eyes, and then open them again." (Marne)
"Is it really that short?" (Yuna)
"It's enough if you just want to check where a thief or villain is when breaking into a room."
Certainly, when entering a room, if you knew where your opponent was located, you could attack the moment you entered the room without having to search for them.
The risk could be reduced.
"Did Marne-san develop it?" (Yuna)
"No, it was my mother who developed it. An acquaintance of mine once went in to capture a dishonest businessman but didn't notice the enemy behind the door and was seriously injured. So, my mother made it, hoping that it would help to find the enemy's location." (Marne)
"She was an excellent person."
"Yes, that's right."
"However, the side effect after using it is that it makes your eyes itch. My mother tried to do something about it, but it seems she couldn't." (Marne)
Anything that was convenient had its weaknesses.
Even my strongest equipment, the bear costume, had a weakness.
Author's Note
Marne-san looks like she's having fun.
Please wait a little longer for Wednesday's post.
*Posting dates are Wednesday and Sunday at midnight.
If I will be taking a break, this will be announced in the postscript, and if I am suddenly unable to post, I will let you know in an activity report or on X (formerly Twitter).
[Book release schedule]
Book volume 20.5 was released on May 2, 2024. (The next volume, volume 21, is planned and in the works.)
The 11th volume of the comic was released on December 1, 2023. (The 12th volume is scheduled for release on August 2, and is currently in preparation.)
The second volume of the comic spin-off was released on March 5, 2024.
The paperback version of volume 10 was released on May 2, 2024. (The deadline for the campaign to win a big acrylic stand featuring Yuna and Sanya on the cover is August 20, 2024. 20 lucky winners will receive a prize.) (The next volume, volume 11, is currently in the works.)
Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Some of the kanji have been corrected to match the book, so please understand that there are some parts that have not been corrected.